Kim Ye-jin was nervous. For months now, she had been forced to live with nearly unbearable pain. Her nerve staple, a Coalition-made mind control implant had come back online for the first time in years. Like a horrible shadow from the past, it had been feeding the Volkhan's propaganda directly into her thoughts and even her dreams. When it judged her insufficiently loyal to a dead man and his failed cause, it triggered the pain center in her brain, causing it to feel like every nerve ending in her body was on fire. She had managed to find some help in Natio Octavarium, but their doctors could do little more than mitigate the staple's worst effects, and even their efforts were bound to fail eventually as the staple adapted.
Ye-jin had found hope, however. Everyone she talked to directed her to Doc Holliday, and the man himself claimed to have experience with nerve staples. She was trying not to get too hopeful, however, in case even his efforts proved to be in vain. Even the slimmest hope was worth reaching for, though, and that hope brought her here to the Omega-49 system. Ahead on her shuttle's scope was Med Force One, right where she was told it would be. She opened a comm channel.
"Med Force One, this is Specialist Kim of the Fourth Octavarium Fleet aboard shuttle Eureka Two requesting clearance to dock. Doc Holliday is expecting me at Outpatient Services on a pre-arranged appointment."
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"Specialist Kim, your appointment is confirmed and you are cleared for docking. Welcome to Med Force One".
When she docked, she was greeted by a man in medical whites and a security guard.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Kim," he greeted with a smile. "Dr. Holliday is expecting you so I will escort you to where he is."
"Ma'am," requested the guard, "I must ask for any weapons. They will be returned to you upon your departure from the ship."
The doctor and Miss Kim made small talk along the way. The guard was quiet, just doing his job and showed no hostility toward her.
"This whole ship was Doc's dream," the doctor explained, "He dreamed it, created it and finances it himself. Fortunately, a lot of what we have here we develop or produce ourselves on ship in labs or biodomes or can produce planetside which helps reduce costs and still patients aren't charged for services."
He then smiled. "When you meet Doc, tune your ears in a bit. He has an old accent and speaks old English. We're just not sure why but we love him."
They entered a turbolift that took them to a large area of rooms. The guard stood down, taking a position near the lift. The doctor escorted Kim to her room.
"While we wait, I need to take some vitals. Doc will be along shortly."
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Doc had time on his hands and all of his research projects at his disposal, many of which were near completion. The biotoxins, entrusted to him, were his next near complete project. Antidotes weren't hard to make, just often time consuming. It was one of the projects now in a box, in a lab, far from where anyone could get it.
"Now for a final test," he said out loud to himself as he drew a syringe full of the antidote.
Doc hated using animals for tests but he wasn't going to sacrifice a human. A lab rat was the only subject. First, he subjected it to the biotoxin.
"Sorry, but it us for the good of many," he told it. Within a minute, the rat started convulsing with blisters beginning to form. It was quickly a grizzly scene but he quickly injected it with the antidote and placed it in a sterile environment. Rather quickly, the symptoms stopped and with a gentle smile, he treated the blisters and gave the rat some food.
"Thank you," he told it, "humanity is most grateful."
"Now," he thought aloud, "I have someone to inform of this."
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Med Force General and Research, Baffin System
Personal Log
So much construction going on this base but it is progress I very much welcome. During my trip to Kyushu yesterday, I met a young lady. Sonja she called herself. She had a cat on her lap in her ship. She spoke of her being a former sex slave, someone with trust issues. I suppose if I were in her shoes I would feel the same way. She did, after all, wear the scars of a battered past. Sadly, the scars that I know she has are not the kind I am qualified to fix, the mental scars. I set her up with guest quarters here at the station since she helped me out with some goods. It was the least I can do.
So, more plasfoam conduits today after I complete an emergency appendectomy. I hope to meet her again. Perhaps with some treatment and training, she would make a good counsellor. Medical school is great but nothing is better than personal experience.
![[Image: 7Md2x4D.png]](https://i.imgur.com/7Md2x4D.png)