Levin Autopsy

Posted on Mon Nov 5th, 2012 @ 6:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Terrell Kona & Lieutenant Commander Ophelia Payne

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: C.H. Mayo Medical Station
Timeline: Before Post "That wasn't supposed to happen"

*** C.H. Mayo Medical Station - current location of ACMO Office ***

Terrell gazed around his new appropriated office. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to accomplish the tasks that CMO Harding had given him. It had seemed logical that since he was responsible for organizing the satellite medical centers on the station that he should have his office in one of them. Originally he believed that he would have his office in the Henry Gray Medical Station since it was on the same deck as his quarters, deck 14. Convenience was a nice perk. But as he worked toward this goal, he was overcome with a feeling of disappointment. Terrell knew this feeling was coming from the symbiont, and directly from one of the former hosts, but he didn't know why. Having his office somewhere that would always make him feel disappointed though, would be a major problem. Possibly the feeling was from the previous host Ticotin, formerly an investigator in the Trill Security Service who had a real sensitivity to laziness or anything he saw as laziness. Terrell had learned about Ticotin's sensitivity during the zhian'tara ceremony where Terrell was given the chance to speak with all the previous hosts individually as their personalities were transferred to his friends. The ceremony allowed the new host to get to know the previous host's and help to identify the emotions and memories and from which specific host they may be coming. This interaction was one on one, which was completely foreign to the host/symbiont relationship experienced everyday as a joined trill.

So since Terrell could not hide from the emotions of the previous hosts, he did what he could to bring himself inner peace. With that said, here he sat on deck 271 in the C.H. Mayo Medical center of the station, almost as far from his quarters as you could possibly get and still be on the station. As it turned out the C.H. Mayo Medical Station was suggested by Nurse Payne due to its close proximity to the Promenade. A place, as she said, everyone should visit as often as possible. Terrell sat in his office organizing the pads containing all the reports he had received on the satellite medical facilities of the station. The reports covered everything from current inventory of medical supplies to personnel assignments and current patient rosters. He had been through them all several times and didn't believe there was any real need to go over them again. Nurse Payne, as always, had been a fantastic help with the organization efforts and the other Medical Officer, Lieutenant Mi Lo-Tseng, to be honest, had already successfully organized the majority of the satellite stations prior to Terrell being assigned this duty. So after looking over his report to CMO Harding one last time, he sent it off to his CO. With that done, that left only one other matter to attend to.

=^= Kona to Nurse Payne. Can you come to my office please? =^=

=^= On my way Doctor =^=

Several minutes passed before Nurse Payne arrived. As she entered the office, Terrell was surprised by how little she had changed in the two years he had been away from the station. Ophelia was, even by human standards, petite, standing just over one and a half meters in height. Her dark hair was a little longer than he remembered and her gray eyes still held the same light they had those years before. Ophelia had been his right hand when he was CMO on the Berkley and again here on the Station after they were both transferred here. As was the norm, each time he saw Ophelia, he had a conflict of emotions. He believed that the positive emotions he felt were his own and were because she was an exceptional Nurse with compassion and a true nurturing spirit. The negative, in some cases outright hostility, must be coming from one of the previous hosts, most likely Yelina. Yelina had been a diplomat and a very strong woman. In Terrell's zhian'tara ceremony, Yelina had told him that she despised weak women and that she had very strong feelings to that end. Ironically, Ophelia was anything but weak, or at least in Terrell's own eyes, but obviously one of the previous hosts didn't feel the same. Like all joined Trill, Terrell had learned to keep his mix of emotions from being outwardly seen. The constant flow of different emotions and memories wreaked havoc on a newly joined Trill and one of the first skills the Symbiotic Commission taught was the portrayal of outward calm.


"Nurse," he started. "I need to conduct the autopsy on Mr. Levin. Can you have his body brought to this center and are you available to assist me during the autopsy?"

"I would be happy to assist Doctor," she said in a voice that could very well have belonged to a mouse. It was quite, soft, and soothing, all the things needed for a nurse to be very good at her profession. "As it turns out, I have already had Mr. Levin's body transported here so it would be available when you were ready to do the autopsy."

She never ceased to amaze him. "Thank you Ms. Payne. What would I do without you? For that matter, what did I do without you for the last two years?" he finished jokingly. "Shall we get to it," asked Terrell.

"Let me get things setup in Surgery Room two and we can get started. How about in ten minutes?"

"Sounds perfect, thanks again."

"No need to thank me. That is my job. I will remind you in ten minutes when/if you get distracted," answered Ophelia with a smile.

Terrell laughed. His laugh was a rare occurrence, or had been for at least the last two years. He was always so serious that he never really seemed to let his guard down. "You know me too well. Once again, how did I survive the last two years without you?"

Nurse Payne smiled and left the office and Terrell began to go through the medical files of Mr. Levin that he had been able to find. There weren’t many, which was strange, but some people didn't like doctors, a concept that was foreign to Terrell as he was a positively charming individual, or so he thought. He received another flowing emotion from the symbiont. This one could only be described as contempt. Maybe Terrell was getting a little full of himself, but being back here on this station and working with Ophelia again. He was truly happy. Especially considering what he had been through at Starfleet Medical the last two years. Looking back through the medical files, he couldn't help thinking there was something strange that he was missing.

Nurse Payne returned and let Terrell know that everything was ready.

"Well then let's get started!"

Walking into Surgery Room two, Terrell commanded, "Computer, begin audio and video log now."

"Recording," was the only reply of the computer.

"According to records, deceased is a thirty-one year old human male. His last physical was eight months ago, performed by CMO Harding." He walked around the biobed examining the body, taking note of the wounds in evidence and noting their locations and sizes. "Deceased has multiple wounds in what can only be described as overkill. Any one of these wounds would have killed him, given time, with some of the wounds taking a lot less time than others." Terrell sighed, "Wounds consist of near amputation of the right forearm, five centimeters above the wrist, a laceration that is just less than one meter in length to the abdomen that has perforated the large intestine, as well as large individual punctures to each kidney, that caused immediate kidney failure. There is also a severe laceration transcending from right to left down and across the chest approximately two meters in length with one deeper puncture wound directly to the heart. I believe the latter was what should be ruled as COD, even though all the others would have been contributing factors. The puncture wounds were caused by a large serrated knife of some kind and the lacerations seem to be from the same. It is my opinion that the near amputation is also from the same weapon. There is also some bruising on the forehead from some kind of blunt force trauma and numerous contusions across the rest of the upper body, origin unknown, but sustained during the same event." Shaking his head, Terrell turned to Nurse Payne. "So who do we have to thank for the severe brutality of this man's condition?"

The computer, thinking Terrell was talking to it responded. "Senior Chief Petty Officer Levin was apprehended on the Trill ship by several crew members including Lieutenant Tigan, Ensign Bren, and Master Chief Petty Officer Nick Marcinko. He was attempting to be detained for questioning in regards to the murder of the Archadian Queen. During the apprehension, SCPO Levin resisted and he was killed during the conflict that ensued."

"Thank you," he replied, nodding to Nurse Payne with a smile. "My guess is that the weapon in question would be Mr. Marcinko's Daqtagh. A Klingon weapon that is very efficient at what it was created for, death and dismemberment, and something I know from past experience that Mr. Marcinko has on him at all times."

Terrell moved to the head of the biobed and typed a few commands into the biobed controls. "Begin full body scan of deceased and display holographic image of scan results." A hologram was displayed hovering over the cadaver laying on the biobed. The scan showed the trauma areas already mentioned, as well as a few other things. Terrell, touching a section of the hologram's leg, down near the ankle, commanded, "Magnify and display." A new holographic image was displayed showing just the magnified body part. It clearly showed a foreign device of some kind that would not normally be part of a human body. "Analysis?"

"Implant made up of titanium, platinum, and nitrium. Possibly a brace of some sort to reinforce the ankle for repair or replacement."

"Interesting," replied Terrell. "Is there any mention in the Senior Chief's medical records of such a device or of any type of surgical procedure of any kind?"

"Negative," replied the computer.

"So, Nurse Payne," he started, making a special effort to use her name so the computer didn't reply again in place of her, "is this just an honest omission by our CMO or something else?"

"Good question. I suppose he could have just missed it during the last physical. It would not be readily apparent during anything but a full body scan."

"True, but I would like to be sure." Terrell had a deep frown on his face now. "Computer, discontinue holographic display and begin full neural pathway analysis and organ analysis on the deceased. Compare results with any and all scans of Senior Chief Levin to be found in our medical database or that of Starfleet Medical."

"Scan commencing. Completion of scans in approximately fifteen minutes"

Turning to Nurse Payne again, he said, "Hopefully I am just being over cautious, but considering it is believed that Mr. Levin had ties to Section 31, a little extra time on the autopsy might not be such a bad idea. Let's go look over his medical records again while we wait for the scan to complete."

Returning to his office he showed Nurse Payne the files he was viewing on the computer from before. "I can't shake the feeling that I am missing something, but I am not sure what it is. Maybe another set of eyes will help."

The nurse looked over the files for several minutes and then stated, "One thing I notice is that every file, no matter when it was taken over the last several years, says that Mr. Levin is thirty-one years old. That seems strange and something that wouldn't be just an omission."

"Agreed," said Terrell, slightly dejected. "Not sure why I missed that." He felt that wave of contempt again and ignored it. Hopefully our scans will show something. Why don't we go see how they are progressing?"

Returning to Surgery Room two, Terrell commanded, "Display holographic projection of neural pathway development from current scans."

A holographic image of a brain materialized above the corpse. "Scan still in progress," replied the computer.

It was obvious from the partial results that something was odd about Mr. Levin. He had a very large number of neural pathways shown already with the scan not completed and according to his records he was only thirty-one. It would take considerably longer for a humanoid to form that many neural pathways.

"Scan complete," stated the computer in its nonchalant way.

"Analysis of results, please," replied Terrell. Why he should even have to ask for the results, was beyond him. Obviously he wanted the results or he wouldn't be standing here.

"Subject has a neural network consisting of developed pathways consistent with that of a sixty-three year old human. Organ pollutant levels also show approximately the same range of exposure, even though tissues of the organs themselves are much younger. Liver organ is the most polluted showing signs of extended pure alcohol consumption, equating to much more than thirty-one years. Results do not match any of the medicals records available for SCO Levin."

"Thank you computer. Please encrypt and secure scan results and logs of this autopsy to medical personnel only." Turning to Ophelia he said, "It seems we have a major mystery on our hands. I will let CMO Harding know so he can make the upper management aware of what we have found." Smiling he finished. "Thank you so much for your assistance."

"Anytime Doctor," she returned the smile. Her smile was really infectious. She turned to leave.

"Oh, and one other thing," started Terrell. "Let's not let anyone know we have Mr. Levin down here in the bowels of the station. I would be willing to wager that his friends at Section 31 wouldn't be too happy with what we have found."

"Understood Doctor," she replied as she proceeded to move the corpse back into storage.

Terrell returned to his office and started typing up his report to CMO Harding. Out loud he said, "Some days you get the goat and some days the goat gets you." Looking up, he was surprised by his outburst as he had no idea where that saying had come from and furthermore, didn't even know what a goat was. He would have to look that up sometime and try to figure out which of the previous hosts had a propensity for colorful sayings.


Lieutenant Commander Terrell Kona
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Neural pathway expert

NPC Nurse Ophelia Payne
Head Nurse
Infectious Smile