Pheromones for Tribbles

Posted on 16 Jul 2014 @ 12:59pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim

2,043 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 06 - 0835 hrs

[ON]

The door to sickbay swished open and Lirha delicately strode into the ship's small medical bay, then came to a halt in the middle of the room and glanced around. It was early in the morning -- only a half-hour into her alpha shift duties -- and the Orion commodore had hoped to catch one of the medical staff when they weren't too busy. Judging from the lack of other crew members present, it was apparently a good time to have arrived, and she politely clasped her hands together behind her back while she waited for a medical officer to attend to her needs.

Allyndra was finishing her notes and updates that she had for the alpha crew. A lot of them had begged her to stay as long as possible since the tribble outbreak had started. For some reason, the little furballs did not like her and tended to 'disappear' when she was around. As soon as she would leave they would invariably be back and into everything yet again. She wondered how ops and security were handling the problem. As she mused on that for a moment she heard the sickbay doors open but that was an alpha crew problem so she did not respond immediately until one nurse coming onto duty hurried into her office, her face almost ashen pale and said sotto voce, "The Commodore is out there."

Allyndra nodded and stood, she wondered what the newly made Orion flag officer wanted that brought her to sickbay. Two main possibilities came to mind, either the mine investigation or the tribble problem and she was not sure she could much or offer much about either.

Straightening her uniform, she stepped out of the office and crisply said, "Commodore, how my I be of service this morning?"

The Orion gave Allyndra a pleasant smile when she saw the winged woman appear from her office. As always, her soothing and melodic voice was a pleasure to hear. "Good morning, commander. I was hoping to get my weekly pheromone suppressant injection, if you are not busy?"

"No just finishing up notes to hand over to the Alpha crew." Allyndra replied and then turned to get things prepared but stopped as a thought hit her. "You know we should really try to get a longer term osmotic pump going."

Allyndra waved a delicate hand. "The current problem with the Tribble infestation is only going to be worse...." She trailed off. "I just had a thought Commodore."

The mention of tribbles caused Lirha to glance around sickbay, and sure enough, within a few seconds she'd managed to spot at least three fluffballs in various corners of the medical bay. It seemed the problem was slowly spreading all over the ship despite their best efforts to contain it. "A thought? Yes...?"

"Well at first, I was wondering how Orion female pheromone would act on the Tribbles. Presumably might excite them to even higher..." Allyndra tried to keep from snickering even though she was supposed to be a professional. "shall we say increased reproductive efforts, but what if that is all they thought about?"

Lirha wasn't sure if she was following the Akkadian's train of thought properly, but the first idea that popped into her head might have been a clue. "Well...I suppose a tribble's main priority is to eat and reproduce...so if they consumed all their time thinking about only one and not the other...?"

"Exactly! Perhaps so involved that they forget to eat. It would of course require that you be somewhat of source specimen though I suppose I could approach Nesh."

A specimen? The commodore wasn't very sure she liked the sound of that, and she really wasn't keen about being experimented upon. And of all people, the last person she wanted to be treated in such a way was her sister. "I admit, I am not very fond of the idea of being used for an experiment...let alone Nesh." She paused to reach up and push a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. "However, if you can tell me more about your plans, I might consider it."

Allyndra tapped a finger on her chin. It was not really all that much of a plan, just a quick idea. "Well, I have not thought through it all, and not tested at all but perhaps if I may get a sample of pheromone and test have it tested on some."

She then shrugged, "Two problems that I see. One is that it means not getting your suppressant and the other is someone would have to test it. The little things do not seem very found of me." Allyndra added as an explanation.

"That is a bit problematic," Lirha agreed. The thought of going without her pheromone suppressants while mid-mission was a bit terrifying to her, and the last thing she wanted to add to the compounding tribble problem was having to deal with over-stimulated male crew members who accidentally happened to spend too much time around her. The other issue was more workable, in her opinion.

"How long would I have to refrain from taking suppressants for?" the Orion proceeded to ask.

Allyndra again tapped a finger to lips and concentrated on the question. "Considering your in now and that is usually to give a lee way of time of a few days I would say at least a week."

Lirha slowly began to shake her head the more she thought about the idea. A couple days might have been something she could live with if she limited her exposure to the rest of the crew, but an entire week? It was much longer than she was willing to go and potentially risk affecting her fellow crew members.

"I am sorry, commander, but that is too long," she replied. "We are all in close quarters on Galileo and Orion pheromones are very potent in confined spaces. Not only would it be against Starfleet regulations, but it could jeopardize the mission and the crew's health."

"I understand, just a another thought though. It would be nice if we could do the same with mediation. The pheromone shifts as you know, it has been observed that a group of Orions can exert calmness amoung themselves and others. Just make the little things go to sleep, hibernate or whatever. Anyway, just another thought, now let me get things prepared Commodore." Allyndra turned to replicator and begin to dial in the proper medication to put into the hypo that would be made.

Allyndra had brought up a good point, one which Lirha hadn't previously considered. Her pheromones did have a strong communal emotion quality to them in addition to persuasiveness, and perhaps it could -- through careful and proper research -- be somehow adapted to pacify the tribbles.

"That is an interesting idea, commander," she replied while waiting for the winged woman to return.

Allyndra held the hypo but did not press it yet. "Last chance, we could just put you to a calm mediation and then collect."

"...And then you will give me my suppressant?" Lirha asked. If this new proposal only called for a quick sample to be collected and did not interfere with her weekly injection schedule, she didn't have much of an objection.

Allyndra pulled the hypo back. "Yes, we do could that, it will still take some of your time though and..." She looked guilty, "Putting you into isolation chamber here so I can collect and concentrate."

Lirha grumbled internally. She had intended her visit to sickbay to be a brief and curt one, a simple in-and-out procedure to get her hypospray. Now, it appeared, she'd be stuck in the ship's cramped medical bay for much longer than she'd anticipated. She still wasn't very thrilled with the notion that her pheromones would be essentially 'harvested', but if there was any chance they might be of assistance dealing with the tribble outbreak, she at least owed it to Warraquim and the rest of the crew to try.

"Very well," the Orion simple said. "The sooner we can begin, the sooner I can return to my duties."

Allyndra nodded. "Now in order for this to work, you can not be worrying about duties. You need to think calmness, fun stuff, meditate." She lead the Commodore over to biobed one and then put the isolation curtain on and waited while is shimmered into place. "A selection of music or what will help you?"

"Computer, access musical compilation Saalm-one-zero-zero-five," Lirha said, then proceeded to sit cross legged on the biobed with her hands casually folded in her lap. "Begin playback and repeat cycle," she instructed, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes as the familiar Yrevish melodies began to quietly play through the nearby console's speakers.

While the tunes continued to play, Lirha's mind raced through dozens of thoughts per minute, a combination of past reflection, desires, experiences, and emotions. The idea of simply calming one's mind was far from an easy task, let alone for an Orion and especially for a busy Starfleet commodore. Several minutes passed during which she found herself fluctuating between mood swings, and she found herself beginning to fidget on the bed and huff with mild uncomfortableness.

Allyndra watched the monitor but finally she could see the little experiment was not going to work. Shaking her head she said, "I think too much on your mind." She then shut down the containment field. "A noble try Commodore. I am guessing too much on your mind. Well not all experiments work out." Allyndra said that with a shrug of her shoulders.

Lirha let out a quiet sigh and opened her eyes when Allyndra spoke. Indeed there was much on her mind, but rather than simply give up on what she thought was a promising experiment, she wondered if the early hour of the morning was a possible culprit. The beginning of alpha shift was always the busiest time of day for her and perhaps she would be less stressed in the evenings when she was off-duty.

"Maybe we can try later today?" she suggested.

"If you have the time. I will make a point to come in later. I do have an appointment during beta shift at sixteen hundred hours so perhaps then depending on what works with you...." Allyndra stopped as she thought about something about Orion physiology. "Sir, when is one of your sleep cycles? If I remember correctly Orion women tend to have several short ones. Going into an alpha wave would be perfect."

The commodore realized she'd never given it much thought before. Generally she was busy throughout alpha shift and a few hours afterwards, but then liked to retire to her quarters around 2000 for a short nap before Siren came home from beta shift. "I try to get some rest after dinner. Around 2000. Then I am usually awake at midnight and try to sleep again from 0300 to 0700," she answered.

Allyndra nodded, "The later should work best. It is usually quite here without distraction. Shall we try again then...sir?" Allyndra visibly winced on that word. Her world was much more gender specific and she still had problems with that sort of generic idea and she still associated that Federation standard word with male.

"Yes, that should be fine," Lirha answered while glancing around at a small collection of reclusive tribbles hiding in a nearby corner. "I hope you do not mind coming to my quarters. I have never felt very comfortable in sickbays and my apprehension might make it harder to relax and get you the sample you require," she admitted, then rose off the biobed and began to move towards the exit. "See you at 0300?"

Allyndra made a curtsey. She had never been invited or had seen the Commodore's quarters. She would be interested to see what private tastes she had. It was a curiosity and she felt the sting of embarrassment in her cheeks. "That would be fine. Oh three hundred it is." She then waited politely until the flag officer left.

[OFF]

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CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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