The Thane Games, 2nd Edition

[Rhurek Thane]

[member="Anemone Nivalis"]
[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]
[member="Vina Zomo"]
[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

In a smaller auditorium sat about thirty hopeful ducklings. Thane had chosen a team once before in a familiar fashion. The hopefuls had to go through various tests, some orthodox, some not so orthodox. Either way, that team was now gone. The only lone member on his staff was Dr. Nivalis. I am pretty sure there is a euphemism joke in there somewhere....

Nevertheless, here they were again. He needed to fill two spots. Those before him now had all been hand selected by Thane, or he was bribed to invite them. They were the best of the best, but just because you thought you were the best, did not mean you got an automatic spot on the differential team. They each had the opportunity to work with the galaxies most brilliant diagnostician. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he could feel the uneasiness of the unexpected in the room. Or maybe it was just the stale air. Thane liked the interesting, the non-boring. And he was going to find the rest of his team just like he had before. But this time, with a little twist. Instead of going through carefully thought out tests, and impossible errands, this time they would all be helping out diagnose a patient.

A harmonic rhythm of blues echoed through the auditorium as he plucked a few strings on his vintage electric guitar. He paused and addressed his ducklings, " Sometimes, I am right. I have a gift for observation. For reading people in situations. But sometimes, I am wrong. This will be the longest job interview of your life. I will test you in ways that you will often consider unfair, demeaning, and illegal. And you will often be right. Look to your left. Now look to your right. By the end of this trial, one of you will be gone. As will twenty-eight more of you. Wear a cup." The steely notes of the guitar rang out once more.

 

[Armand Temi]

Armand shifted in his seat, trying not to invade the space of either candidate seated next to him in this auditorium. There was no room to cross his long legs so he tried to keep himself still. His mother T'ga had gotten him the interview with this enigmatic doctor named Thane. And as usual, Armand didn't ask her too many questions about what he was here for because they weren't likely to be answered. He did as he was told.

The doctor played a minor blues chord on the guitar. Melancholy, Armand observed. The doctor was not immune to sadness and self-contemplation. It was something Armand tucked away for future reference as he listened to the litany of tribulations he and his fellow medical residents would be subjected to. But his mother knew only the best - the best military tacticians, political advisers and diplomats. So one thing was for sure - this doctor was one of the best in the galaxy.

[member="Thane"]
[member="Anemone Nivalis"]
[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]
[member="Vina Zomo"]
[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

 

[KitKat]

Meanwhile Somewhere In a Hospital Room


She was heavily sedated at the moment, mostly because if the girl was not sedated she had a variety of odd symptoms and appeared to see things in her head. The machines all around her hissed and poped as they kept her alive. She looked like a sleeping beauty... well you know if sleeping beauty was ill, had papery white skin, was way too thin, had a body temperature alarmingly low, muscles were atrified and had tubes and needles sticking out of her everywhere....

The nurses would wake the patient when the team needed them to but they didn't want to before that because of all the odd symptoms the girl displayed.


Anemone Nivalis
[member="Thane"]
Armand Temi
Manu Xextos
Vina Zomo
Alexandra Lianne Feanor

 

[Manu Xextos]

What was the overly tall and waifishy pale Echani doctor to do with this stuffy room and tiny seat? Hum along to the tunes, man. [member="Thane"] had a handle on the guitar - one Manu Xextos hoped carried through to the diagnostics they'd be dealing with today. Having become a doctor eight hundred and twenty odd years ago, the ancient son of [member="Ahani Najwa"] propped his feet up on the top of the next chair and owned his space. A happy sigh burbled through his lips as he hummed along to Thane's chord changes and eventually gave a tiny salute and a grin bright enough to say "I'll do my best, dude."

Why was the Jedi Master, Admiral and Monarch of Sabarene here? Easy, his medical degree was eight hundred and twenty odd years old! If he didn't need a refresher course he was either a fantastic liar or the best student in the universe and with the way he surfed every morning? He wasn't the best student ever. Alas, med school hadn't changed much in the procedures department, and as the influx of new treatments and diagnostic machinery had changed, Manu did more than okay. So it was that Manu hopped up on his feet and flicked open the air vent to bring in a cool breeze. This was after he looked left and right, of course.

Diagnosis number one: folk were getting stuffy in there and no one benefitted from a needlessly cranky doctor.

 

[Rhurek Thane]

After setting the guitar back onto its stand, Thane reached into his pocket and produced a small vile. After popping the lid off, he popped one of its contents into his mouth. Or was it just one? He hopped off the table he'd been sitting on, blue folder in hand, cane in the other, and limped over to the white board. He spun it around, revealing a list of symptoms he had scribbled earlier with a dry erase marker.

"Today, you will all be participating in an actual differential. We have a human patient, female, possible early twenties..." he informed them before turning to address them. "What causes hallucinations, loss of pigmentation, weight loss, low body temperature, and degeneration of cells? Go...." He gave them a moment to process. "Please, don't everone speak up at once now."

[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[Manu Xextos]

Manu glanced up at the white board and quirked his head to the side.

"Generally I'd start with a test on environmentals and psychotropics. There are tons of drugs, toxins and poisons that could elicit such responses with over exposure. Ixetal Cilona, radiation or heavy metal poisoning could be the culprit. Outside toxins, I'd test her for necrosis of the liver and kidneys, keep watch of her spleen and bone marrow to see if she's producing enough blood to stave off a severe case of anemia, check white blood count and scan for endocrine or renal cancer, get a psych in on passive mode to see if it's psychosomatocis or a radicalizing mental condition inciting her to hallucinate and avoid food. Check her for raised calcium and sodium levels in her bloodstream, get her on a detox and put her on intravenous fluids & nutrients while we run tests and prep patient for dialysis in case it is her kidneys."

[member="Thane"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Armand smirked at how quickly the extremely tall Echani male answered the question. Show off, he thought. But as far as he could tell the fellow student was correct in his preliminary diagnosis. And Armand wouldn't have been the first one of them to answer anyway. His specialty was less in diseases and conditions and more in battlefield medicine and bio-implant surgery. Still, he didn't want the Echani to take all of the credit just yet.

"I would also rule out any type of psychosis as other conditions present in the patient point to a disease or as this fellow pointed, out a type of poison or foreign substance in the body," Armand added.

[member="Thane"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]
[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[Rhurek Thane]

Thane listened as the two doctors gave their expert opinions. Clearly the Echani felt he had something to prove. He also didn't fail to note the bitter glances he was receiving from his colleagues. Thane approved of this. Bitterness breeds competition. Competition breeds opposing ideas. Opposing ideas bred results. After his long list of ideas, Thane quipped, "That's a catchy diagnosis. You could almost dance to it."

Just then Temi broke in, but just basically reconfirmed what Xextos had said. Thane nodded. "Good. Temi, take nine others with you and start the labs. Find out what's keeping our sleeping beauty a drooling vegetable. Xextos, take two others with you and find out where she's visited last and where she's been residing. Check for toxins, poisons, or drugs. If you need answers, feel free to wake her from her coma, Ambien usually does the trick, at least long enough to get some answers. The rest of you, I'm backed up at least forty hours of clinic duty. Spend some time wiping noses and rears...which reminds me. I kinda feel like a bagel." He grabbed his cane and started for the door. Whether it was fair or not to have Xextos do the grunt work when he was the original one to have the ideas was not the issue. Putting him at odds with the others was, if mainly just to screw with him.

[member="Manu Xextos"]
[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[Armand Temi]

"Very well," Armand said, rising from his chair. He turned to acknowledge the Echani. "And when you're back I'd like to consult with you on your preliminary diagnosis. I'm not one to steal anyone's thunder and you had some good ideas there." He selected nine of the doctors-in-training and shepherded them behind him. Before the doctor left the room altogether, he asked, "Where is our patient anyway? Can you point me in the right direction?"

[member="Thane"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[Anemone Nivalis]

Sighed loudly as stood to the side of the door, outside the room, watching as the enigmatic doctor hobbled through the door. It was like everything always had a way to come full circle. This was the same way that she had gotten her start with Omega Pyre. Now, here she was again. Except this time, she wasn't playing the game. Heck, she wasn't involved in any way! She wasn't on the crazy doctor's team, trying to prove herself, or anything. Yet, still, here she stood. There was definitely something wrong with her...

Hearing the voice from with the room, Anemone blinked as she leaned to the side, peering into the room as she spoke. "Did you really expect him to tell you? Believe me, he doesn't things that easy. I should know. I worked with him before. But, apparently he's giving you guys an actual patient this time. And it has to do with actual medicine." Her eyes bounced from one being to the next, looking to all the potential candidates. "I don't know what he's got you guys on, and if it's not surgical, I don't wanna know. But, since you did ask, labs are on the next floor down. Good luck..and try not to die."

With that Anemone pivoted off her foot, her small feet making a rhythmic pitter-patter as she sauntered down the hall in the same direction the cane wielding maniac had gone. For some reason, she had a feelings whatever aptient he had was in more danger than the applicants this time..

[member="Thane"] [member="Armand Temi"]/ [member="Manu Xextos"]/[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[Armand Temi]

"Thanks!" Armand called after the female doctor who appeared to be a colleague. She had given him a fair warning. He supposed that nothing about this residency would be simple. "Erm, okay. All of you follow me." Armand and the nine other students moved into the hallway. "We'll need to locate the patient in order to start the labs. I'd like to get fresh samples from them." Armand began looking in each room for signs of a comatose patient.

After a bit of a search, he finally located a young woman lying on a hospital bed who looked as if she were asleep. She was very pale and thin and this made her appear far younger than Armand suspected she was. Whatever illness she was suffering from made her look like a fragile little girl.

Armand turned to the students. "Pull on some gloves so we can begin to take blood and urine samples." He grimaced not relishing waking this poor sick girl. Pulling on his own pair of medical gloves, he selected an Ambien vial from a nearby cabinet. The patient was in a coma after all - no need to lock up the meds. He gently added the medication to the patient's IV solution. Then they waited.

[member="Anemone Nivalis"]
[member="Thane"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]
[member="Katarine Ryiah"]

 

[Rhurek Thane]

Thane stood at the end of the hallway that lead to the elevators. Thane was very fond of elevators, not because of his leg but because riding in elevators guaranteed to make you look ten times cooler. The tip of his cane pressed the call button, and as he awaited his carriage, he didn't bother looking back, but instead just spoke to the familiar presence that lurked from behind. "It's interesting that you find so much interest in my new case, but what's even more interesting is how much you can't seem to be away from me." He squinted as his head turned slightly, almost as if a new thought had just recently formed in his head. "You're hanging around means one of two things. Either you just have this obvious school girl crush on me, or you want back on the team. If you want back on the team, all you have to do is be more clever than your fellow counterparts. If you want back on me, then all you have to do is...well, something that I'm sure HR wouldn't approve of." He glanced back just to give her a quick smirk as they heard a ding as the elevator doors opened. Thane limped his way into the elevator, wondering if he'd have company on the way up or not.

[member="Anemone Nivalis"]

 

[KitKat]

Katarine felt like she was coming out of a deep confusing sleep but something was off. It was a bit as if the sleep wouldn't fully go away. She blinked a few times but the blackness would not go away. She became aware that she could smell and hear people around her but she could not see anything. She could feel people faintly in the Force but even that sense seemed dull. Was she blindfolded? Drugged?

"Hello? W-W-W-Wo-oo is th-th-er-there?" She started to shiver. What as going on? Where was she? What was the last thing she remembered? It was all disoriented and confusing. What was her name? Who had her?

"Wh..wh..why .. am... I..I.III..he..he..her..here?" The shiveres seemed to intensify. She tried to blink and turn her head but she couldn't see anything.

[member="Thane"]
[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Anemone Nivalis"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[Armand Temi]

As the young patient grasped for a sense of her reality, Armand felt truly bad for having to wake her. He checked her chart and saw that her name was Katarine Ryiah. He went over to her bedside while the other residents began the exacting task of taking both blood and urine samples for analysis.

"Katarine, can you hear me?" he asked. Armand leaned in closer to try and shield her from what was going on around her in case she came out of her coma too suddenly. "I'm Dr. Temi," he said. "You are very, very sick and I'm here to find out what's wrong with you and hopefully make you better." He turned his head to look at the residents who buzzed around them. Those who weren't gathering samples were standing aside watching. "When you feel awake enough, I'd like for you to let me know what is the last thing you remember? Can you do that for me, Katarine?"

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Thane"]
[member="Anemone Nivalis"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[KitKat]

Katarine was shaking and felt so cold yet she could hear people around her. A man's voice flooded her senses but she still could not see him. "Doc..do..doctor?" Her shivers were more violent for a moment. Her head felt fuzzy. She couldn't think straight.

"If.. yo..you...ar...are...a...doc..tor... ta...take...th..th..the...bli..blind...blindfold...o..o...o..oooffff." Why was she being detained where she could not see anything? What had he asked her? What was the last thing she could remember? She felt like she was being stored in a freezor and knew this could not be a medical unit. She had to be a prisoner, otherwise why would her sight be gone and the temperature be so frigid? Did they want information? Did she have information? What had he asked her? Why couldn't she think straight!?!

Katarine? That was her name? Yes... yes it seemed like her name. But who was she? She had no memory of anything personal. "I .. ca...can't...remember...any...any...thing.... I... .. le..le...let...m.m..m.mm...me ..go"


[member="Thane"]
[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Anemone Nivalis"]
[member="Manu Xextos"]

 

[Armand Temi]

The young patient was shaking with cold and Armand felt her forehead with the back of his gloved hand. She wasn't feverish and in fact as Thane had pointed out earlier her body temperature was too low. He quickly glanced at the vital sign monitor but she was stable.

"Can one of you get an extra blanket, please?" Armand asked one of the students. "And take the labs down." Four students left the hospital room and the rest stayed to watch.

"Katarine, I'm not going to hurt you." He took a pen light out and shined it in one of her eyes looking for cornea damage." And you are not a prisoner. You are in a hospital room. I'm here to help you. Can you see anything at all?" He waved his hand in front of her face to see if her eyes would follow.

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Thane"]

 

[KitKat]

The man speaking to her said something about labs. Labs... was it really a hospital? She felt his hand on her forehead. His skin felt normal despite how cold she felt. That did not make sense to her. Nothing made sense to her right now.

She heard a click but didn't know what it was. Then came the question asking if she could see anything. Her reply was automatic as if it was something she had rehearsed.

"No...No... bu..but mmy... eyy..eyes...can...decieve me... do...don't...trust... them." What? What did THAT mean? Katarine closed her eyes, mostly because she was shivering, and noticed something. She could feel... almost see the room. It wasn't sight... it was... it could only be....

"I'm a ..F..F..Force U...User?" Even as she asked she tried to concentrate on what she could see in the Force... and unfortunately lifted something very heavy in the room off the ground.

[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Thane"]

 

[Armand Temi]

When the young patient said that her eyes deceived her, Armand recalled how Thane did say she was having hallucinations. When Katarine mentioned The Force, the doctor concentrated on his own burgeoning powers. He felt an intensely strong connection and it dawned on him that her illness could be related to a darker entity rather than a medical condition. But what kind of entity? The hospital was a normal, mundane place and he hadn't felt any sign of The Force until now. All of a sudden his attention was drawn to an increase in noise nearby. There was an audible gasp in the room from the other residents.

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Thane"]

 

[KitKat]

Katarine was still shivering and now aware that she had lifted something with the Force without meaning to. Actually she had lifted several things. A cabinent, a fancy looking medical machine, one of the people in the room.... She gave a violent shiver and suddenly felt her grasp of those things slip. It was all the girl could do to catch the person with the Force before they hit the floor. Unfortuantely she couldn't stop the other things and they crashed to the floor with a loud bang. Security sounded and she heard running footsteps as guards came in to make sure nothing was amis.

"I'm s..s...sorry! I did..didn't k..k...know... I..I.. c...could...d..do..do..do that."

[member="Armand Temi"]
[member="Thane"]

 

[Armand Temi]

As the furniture in the room came clattering down, Armand instinctively ducked. But once the patient's Force outburst was over, he turned to her and said, "Katarine, that was amazing!" Maybe the girl wasn't sick after all, he started to think. Maybe she was afflicted by something on the Dark Side of the Force. "Did you always know you were Force-sensitive?"

He did a quick scan of her vital signs to make sure she was doing okay.

"What do you see, dear? Can you see me finally?"

[member="Katarine Ryiah"]
[member="Thane"]