Diving Deeper

Posted on Sun May 14th, 2023 @ 8:26am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr

Mission: Unknown Colony
Location: Sickbay

Sam turned to the Captain after taking the samples from the colonists that were currently on board the Washington. "Captain, I have some scans from some of the patients suffering from this Kilrathi fever, as well as some from the well colonists. Would you mind if I start running some comparisons in the hope for finding a treatment or cure?" She asked, inclining her head in deference towards the Commanding Officer.

"By all means Sam. Perhaps you should work with Shon. "She was working with Jon and Deanna with the Kilrathi prisoners. She is a virologist."

"Trust me - I will be using all the help I can get my hands on" Sam smiled as she nodded and left the room, heading down to sickbay to start working on the disease. As she entered she spotted Shon working at a nearby consol.

"Got a minute?" She asked, heading to the main data terminal.

Shon looked surprised to see Sam and smiled. “Always got a minute for my boss,” she joked. “I’m just working on the Kilrathi samples I obtained. I have found evidence of a virus that the samples have in common. Of the three DNA virus recognized: Duplodnaviria, Monodnaviria, and Varidnaviria. Varidnavira is present in both systems. This must mean that at some time in the distant past they shared a common heritage.” Shon shrugged her shoulders. “I cannot work out how in the hell this happened but..and this a big one. If we work with the samples maybe we can find a cure for the plague that is sweeping the colony?” She waited for Sam.

"That's the plan, and if we can't find a cure, maybe some kind of treatment that is more effective." Sam mused. " We saw evidence of cloning, do you think this may have made the virus more virulent through each successive generation?" She asked thoughtfully.

Shon stood and stretched holding her back. “No no quite the opposite There are three different types of artificial cloning: gene cloning, reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. “She paused and began to excitedly discuss her favourite topic. “You see Sam gene cloning produces copies of genes or segments of DNA. Reproductive cloning produces copies of whole animals. Therapeutic cloning produces embryonic stem cells for experiments aimed at creating tissues to replace injured or diseased tissues.

Gene cloning, this is what I suspect they have been doing over the generations, also known as DNA cloning, is a very different process from reproductive and therapeutic cloning. Reproductive and therapeutic cloning share many of the same techniques, but are done for different purposes. so” she paused for a minute. Cloning has probably managed to keep the disease at bay for many generations so why?” She paused the though, “why has it broken through? I am trying to introduce the Kilrathi samples to the ones we received from both infected and non infected colonists to try and manipulate a cure with the Naradnavina virus, it may take a while.” She stopped, realising she had just been preaching to her boss.

Sam watched as Shon worked to her strengths, using the time to work through the various scenarios that may have permeated its way through the civilisation. " The cloning I think it a big thing, but sooner or later there had to be some kind of genetic drift or distortion as the DNA was copied over and over again. Maybe that's what's causing it?" She mused, moving to the nearby workstation to test a few theories.

"Duplicate fading" Deanna chimed in unexpectedly, standing in the doorway. "My apologies if I startled you. I am on my way to grab one of the Kilrathi prisoners. The captain requires him for peace talks he is attempting. Sam, the captain has requested your presence for these talks as our chief medical officer."

Sam's head snapped up at the new voice, having been startled out of her mental musing. "Oh, of course, Shon - I'll leave this in your capable hands" she smiled at her 2IC and followed Deanna out the door.

"Do you believe the Kilrathi are suffering from duplicate fading doctor? I have only heard of that happening to humans, and that was from a colony the Enterprise encountered a decade ago. It would be fascinating to study the phenomena in another species and see if we can correct it. As I recall, the solution devised by Dr. Pulaski was to interbreed the clones with other humans from another colony. Perhaps we may use the Caitians for that sort of solution" Deanna mused as they walked down the corridor.

"It's a distinct possibility, but we're a ways off a definitive cause just yet. It's our working theory though" Sam admitted as they headed along the corridors towards the turbolift.