Jha'zat spinal growth

[GoddessofGaia_]

TO: 38th Fleet Command CC: Starfleet Command; FCAPT Perim; Doctor Soa Lindresko. FROM: Lieutenant Junior Grade Caelia Bida SUBJ: Jha'zat spinal growth Stardate 92675.2

Captain Aurelia and Lt Lettra docked at the station with the Andorian Jha’zat, who has been confined due to an incident involving Commander Keth, with the purpose of undergoing a medical examination.
I was asked to do a medical evaluation of the patient, using his two months old medical files as a reference.

The first scan revealed an abnormal growth on the patient's spine, but further examination showed something different.
The abnormal growth was in fact a calcium-based organism growing in a thin layer on top of the spine and nervous system¹. The fact that it is calcium based is what tricked the scan to view it as abnormal bone growth. The structure of the growth bears similarities with a synaptic network².

I deemed it necessary to do a biopsy on the organism in order to accurately determine what it was and how it is affecting the patient.
During the biopsy the organism displayed major activity. The activity resembles the same pattern a brain accessing an old memory³.

During the biopsy it was also revealed that the organism, somehow can communicate through telepathically abilities. After the the biopsy was done, LCDR Katriel Sedai tried to communicate with the organism. However it would appear that the organism was sleeping.

The patient was deemed healthy enough to return to his confinement, however I did request that his quarters would monitor any abnormalities, in case the organism would try and spread to other crew members.

1. The nervous system is a network of nerve cells and fibers that transmits nerve impulses between parts of the body.

2. A synaptic network allows a neurons or nerve cells to pass an electrical or chemical signal to other neurons.

3. The brain has possibly 100 billion neurons, each of which connects to up to 10,000 other neurons.As information flows through the neural circuits and networks of the brain, the activity causes the connection points to become stronger or weaker in response, also known as synaptic plasticity. This is how the brain stores information.
From here, it then leads to the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a region of the brain that is specialized to coding and structuring memories, particularly memories about people, places, and events

//SIGNED//
Lieutenant Junior Grade Caelia Bida
Chief Medical Off. USS Gainsborough

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[Dae]

TO: Lieutenant Junior Grade Caelia Bida CC: FCAPT Perim; Doctor Soa Lindresko FROM: VADM Rilem SUBJ: Jha'zat spinal growth

Lieutenant,

Good job on your medical evaluation. Safety of the patient is important, but does not supercede safety of the fleet. Until the full extent of the organisms biological development and capabilities is understood I want a level 4 biocontainment quarantine set up around the patient, and any personnel going to or coming from the USS Robau need to be scanned for the organism.

Additionally, I want to be briefed on options for removal and the risk to the patient, as soon as possible.

VADM Rilem

[Katriel]

TO <DS13/Security>; <DS13/Medical> CC VADM Rilem; CAPT Perim; CMDR Lindresko; SCDR Aurelia FROM LCDR Sedai, Katriel SUBJ Summary and update on Denovora neural organism findings :: Standard Level 2 Encryption ::

Good afternoon, ALLCON.

Providing a formal addendum of my experience with the organism and some follow-up from the incident that occurred post-alpha today. As noted, the organism seems to be calcium-based and shares many characteristics with that of a neural synaptic network, especially mnemonic and motor neurons.

As Dr Caelia noted, the organism is capable of performing memory recall and as I happened to be present when this occurred, I was able to hear the memories in question.

1 - the first was Subcommander Aurelia's voice, speaking the name "Denovora". The memory was replayed repeatedly.

2 - the second was a male voice, one that I did not recognize, speaking the word "home". This memory also replayed repeatedly, though with interstitials of the previous.

As an aside, 'Denovora' is the name of the planet that LT Jha'zat and several others were surveying prior to their return to the station.

I did attempt to communicate with the organism and chose to project a memory of someone greeting me, since that seemed to be the most likely method to garner a coherent response, without potentially alarming it. However, the organism seemed to have expended too much energy and was unresponsive.

--

At this point I'd like to note other precautions that were being taken. As LT Jha'zat was an officer on the Robau, Subcommander Aurelia was in comms contact with Captain Buchanan and was requesting that he and the other survey team members subject themselves to full body, subdermal scans to locate anomalies, to which Captain Buchanan seemed to agree.

However, it appears his methods were insufficient, as has been made clear by the other reports filed, Captain Buchanan became an unwilling instigator of an altercation in tactical. (see attached report) LCDR Ferguson requested my assistance and I was able to confirm, via telepathy, the same mental presence in Captain Buchanan now, this time located closer to his cranium, probably at his brainstem.

--

Formal speculation regarding data known so far:

- the organism may attach itself to the central nervous system via spinal cord or brain stem, which gives it access to a victim's cognitive functions and motor control

- the organism may simply be interested in returning 'home' to 'Denovora' and is utilizing the memories it has recorded to communicate this, however poorly

- LT Jha'zat mentioned that he had fallen down a steep hill and sprained his ankle, with Captain Buchanan assisting him from the locale. As this event is the single common element with none of the other away team personnel affected, it is likely that this location is where the organisms naturally reside and where the original infection took place

Unanswered questions:

- how the organism enters a person in the first place, if it even can spread, or if it's possible to remove without damaging the 'host'

- even if we return the organism 'hosts' to Denovora, there is no certainty that the organisms will depart on their own or through what method they will do so

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FINAL NOTES

At this point, a lockdown on the Robau has been initiated by security and confirmed by Admiral Rilem, so there should not be any additional altercations on station, assuming the organism does not spread from host to host in any way. With only two confirmed cases and both hosts having a commonality of visiting the origin planet, it seems unlikely that they are capable of moving this way.

A biofilter upgrade has been completed on all station transporters and is being distributed to all starship vessels. The upgrade contains identifying markers for the organism, so it will be flagged on transport and personnel will be immediately informed if its presence is detected.

If we have not yet done so, I recommend an additional quarantine on Denovora itself; no away teams or surveys until more information is known.


//SIGNED//
LCDR Sedai, Katriel
DS13 Counseling

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//ATTACHMENT// aar_starlight-cantina-altercation
//ATTACHMENT// SEC_FOOTAGE_92677.8-tactical-deck.log
//ATTACHMENT// planetary_data_DENOVORA