The Autopsy

Posted on Thu Oct 14th, 2021 @ 11:17pm by Lieutenant Kennedy Ryan Walsh & Andrew Munro & Lieutenant Cassian Pell

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Main Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 6 at 0900

Doctor Kennedy Ryan Walsh felt refresh from the events of the following forty-eight hours. The memories on the planet still haunted him but he was focused with the autopsy on the prime specimen of the Chameloid they had found. He thought it would be beneficial if Science sent someone to assist him and observe and report anything of note for the report. He would check in with the Chief Science Officer Lieutenant Cassian Pell whom he hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet.

He tapped his commbadge, "Doctor Ryan Walsh to Lieutenant Pell."

"Pell here," Cas replied. He was, at least for the moment, seated at his desk, reading over reports. He'd still go visit with individuals, see how they were doing and listen to the generally more enthusiastic, and often more detailed, verbal versions of the reports. That was a given. Still, he read what came over his desk and if that came with a good cup of tea, all the better.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Doctor Ryan Walsh here. I plan on conducting an autopsy on the Chameloid specimen today. I was hoping to have someone from Sciences assist and help me catalog our findings. Preferably a biologist."

"That would be Doctor Munro, I believe," Cas said and, after a brief consultation of the duty roster, added, "I'm not seeing anything that would conflict. If you could let him know when you plan to start, I'll let him know to clear his schedule."

"Thank you," Kennedy replied. "I'm hoping to get underway in about an hour or two. I will reach out to Doctor Munro, thank you Lieutenant Pell."

"My pleasure," Cas said as he closed the connection and sent a message off to Doctor Munro to inform him of the chameloid autopsy along with a request to clear time in his schedule so that he could attend. With that taken care of, he returned to reading reports and making notes, in preparation for the in-person visits.

[ Sometime Later ]
[ Sickbay, Autopsy ]

Doctor Kennedy Ryan Walsh had made the arrangements for the prime specimen for the first autopsy was laid out. Nurse Lal was doing last minute preparations in assisting while the two of them waited for Doctor Munro's arrival. Kennedy looked at the Trill woman intently, "Thank you for yesterday."

Lal looked up with a smile, "It's not a problem, Doctor. I'm glad to see you are in better health after a good day's rest."

Kennedy nodded as he turned to the door as it swooshed open.

Andrew appeared in the doorway, looking apprehensive. It felt good to be needed, but he was unsure if he was ready to see the remains of a Chameloid when the only other one he'd encountered was his partner.

"Doctor Walsh?" he asked. "I'm Andrew Munro, Lieutenant Pell sent me over to assist."

"Thank you for assisting me today," Ryan Walsh smiled, "When you are ready, we will begin preliminary scans."

“I’m happy to help,” Andrew replied as he donned the necessary protective gear and approached the table. “What do you need me to do?”

"I would like you to catalog and report anything we find and provide any feedback as a biologist would be beneficial to this discovery."

"Understood," Andrew confirmed. He put on a headset to record visual images and set up a PADD to take notes. "I'm ready to begin."

"Unidentifiable species of origin, female in appearance. Carbon dating suggests that she passed away approximately two hundred years ago," Kennedy continued to provide with the face first. Kennedy took a cotton swab and swabbed around the eye. Nurse Lal came by to take the sample putting it into an airtight sample bag, "Let's get this sample tested immediately, please."

"Yes Doctor," Lieutenant Lal walked over to the nearby console to run the sample using the Captain's biometrics and other data to compare the specimens to in order to confirm they are Chameloid.

Kennedy grabbed his medical tricorder and the scanner from the nearby medical table to complete a full scan, "She has appeared to have died from natural causes."

"Doctor," Lal called from her console. Kennedy looked over at her.

"The test results have come back non-inclusive."

Kennedy nodded as he placed the tricorder back and grabbed a few tools to get a better sample. He looked at the body laid out before him in almost a whisper his Irish accent became more noticable, "Madame, I'm sorry." He took a few small deep skin grafs almost to the bone.

Lieutenant Lal had returned to the table to collect the samples to run them. He took in a deep breath as he lowered his head waiting to hear from Lal. He looked up at Doctor Munro, "Any thoughts so far, Doctor Munro?"

"We don't know just how variable Chameloid physiology is. It may not be possible to get an exact match like we would expect from other species." Andrew sighed, he didn't like where this line of logic was leading and he hated to be the one suggesting it.

"Their biometrics may depend on the form that they have assumed at the time. Their eyes don't change, but we don't have eyes here."

"The eyes on Madame, Specimen Number One have eroded but there are traces of the gold in the eyes still but there's not much else to go on. Madame," Kennedy continued, "Madame, is an unidentifiable alien species so I cannot confirm if this is the true physical form of a Chameloid or that of another species they took the form of. When we conduct the autopsy on Specimen Number Two I think we will have a clearer idea. I am hoping to get a pristine sample from both Specimens to see if there are any comparable markers. What do you think, Doctor Munro?"

"I think it's the best approach," Andrew agreed. "It's a shame we have only two specimens for comparison."

Andrew's fingers danced across the console controls as he extracted notable information from the scan results and catalogued it in the databanks. "For the moment, I'll index the catalogued data against 'Ch'othil: unidentified humanoid species alpha' "

Kennedy nodded his head in agreement with the scientist as he took another sample to run as an analysis. Nurse Lal had returned to them to grab the next autopsy, "Could you please prepare Specimen Number Two, please?"

The Nurse nodded and brought the sample back to the diagnostic machine and begun to do her prep on the second specimen, "We did come across a few others but these were the two best." Kennedy's tried to keep the Orion ambush to the sidelines, "I don't recommend ever being ambushed by an Orion grounding party. Their not... nice."

"Oh, I didn't mean to imply that someone should have put themselves at risk to collect more specimens," Andrew stammered. He chastised himself for the careless statement. "I guess I meant that it's a shame the hostile situation prevented that."

Specimen Number Two looked much less degraded than the first. "This one looks promising though," Andrew commented as he opened a new file for the new subject.

Kennedy nodded, "It is... unfortunate, yes. From both a scientific and medicinal standpoint." He walked over to the replicator as he required a drink of water. He looked over at Doctor Munro, "Could you use a refreshment doctor?"

"No, I'm good, thank you." Andrew replied. He did crave a mug of coffee but the thought of eating or drinking around decaying remains was a little off-putting.

Kennedy nodded as he ordered a single serving of ice water as he downed the glass as the second specimen was prepped and ready to go. He walked over, "Shall we, Doctor Munro?"

"I'm ready whenever you are," Andrew replied.

He watched as Doctor Ryan Walsh began the procedure. The second specimen evoked mixed feelings in Andrew. Scientifically, it was wonderful - much less degraded than the first - and as a result of that he could clearly see that it was a Chameloid. The appearance was Klingon, but the eyes were most definitely not, and Andrew had gazed into Chameloid eyes more than most. These ones were lifeless though, and he could see that the body had been hit by some kind of energy weapon. He'd known that someone was hunting Chameloids but it still unsettled him to see the result. He was eager for the data to start flowing, not only because it promised to be enlightening, but because it'd would occupy him and take his mind off of those lifeless golden eyes.

Kennedy carried out the autopsy getting blood samples and took some of both of the eyes to run as he had done on the first specimen. Due to the body being in a better state to Madame, he decided to remove some stemcells and other DNA infrastructure that he could bring to the table to run diagnostics on, "Anything else you think you would like to conduct, Dr. Munro?"

Andrew thought for a few moments. He recalled Björn shifting his skin into various items of clothing that all appeared, and felt, like different materials. "Could I have some samples of the skin and underlying flesh?" He wasn't sure what he'd be looking for, but it seemed like there should be something interesting there to find.

"Of course," Kennedy took some surgical utensils to comply with the scientists' request and placed them into a container. He sealed it and handed it over, "Please report back any of your own findings, I would be very interested. Once we've analyzed the samples, I'll reach out to you tomorrow and we'll go over it. I think this concludes the autopsies."

"I will," Andrew replied as he accepted the sample container. "Thank you Doctor."

=/\= A Mission Post By =/\=

Lieutenant JG Kennedy Ryan Walsh
Acting Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Cassian Pell
Chief Science Officer

Andrew Munro
Biologist

Lieutenant Miriam Lal
Head Nurse