Meeting Ranul Again-Part Two

Posted on Sun Jul 6th, 2025 @ 5:26am by Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: WHAT IF?
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Unknown Stardate, 2130 hours
1239 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Throughout the entire walk to Sickbay, Ranul couldn't help but steal more than a few passing glances over to Ranul, the man that was in Orin before it was in Andrinn himself. They were going to Sickbay because Andrinn wanted to see if Orin was still in Ranul or if it was still within him, as well as to see if there was maybe some time issues going on with all that was happening with the Zynari. Lord only knew that there might have been two Orins in the same place at the same time, which meant that Andrinn's temporal mechanics training from the Academy would come into play.

Ranul on the other hand was still the stone cold person that he had always been. Whenever Andrinn would take passing glances at Ranul, he would look back with those intense eyes that he was always known for. However, something else that Andrinn was noticing was that Ranul was trying to cover up something as well. It was the quick flicker whenever Andrinn and him would lock eyes, as though he was trying to process something with Andrinn. It was as though Ranul had lost some of that fierce confidence that Ranul was known for and it was replaced with uncertainty.

When the pair finally made it to Sickbay and the doors parted to allow them access, the lights were dimmed due to it being nighttime. It was casting an eerie glow that aligned with how Andrinn and probably Ranul were both feeling at that moment. Walking further in, a lone Bolian nurse was manning the nurses' station in the middle of Sickbay. Andrinn and Ranul both gave soft waves and the poor nurse was confused as to who both the men were.

Ranul looked at Andrinn before looking back at the nurse and said, "Sorry for coming in so late at night, but it appears that we've got a situation that I think we need sorted out. Sorted out with medical first before we do anything else."

The nurse's eyes darted between both of the Trills, confusion evident on her face. She looked back at Ranul and asked, "Who is your friend, Ranul? He somebody new onboard?"

Ranul looked at Andrinn and replied, "He....he was....my former host."

That's when some of the looks that Ranul were shooting at Andrinn earlier were starting to make sense, but added to Andrinn's confusion. That was due to the fact that from Andrinn came from, Ranul was the former host and Andrinn was the current host of the Orin symbiant. Not the other way around.

Andrinn turned to look at Ranul. In particular, his Trill spots, which were some of the biggest physical markers of who was Trill and who wasn't. Something that Andrinn noticed was that Ranul's spots were similar to his own, meaning that he was only part Trill. From what Andrinn remembered from before and after joining with the Orin symbiant was that Ranul was fully Trill and that was part of the reason why Ranul didn't want Andrinn joining.

Looking at Ranul and the nurse, Andrinn asked, "Could I have a mirror, please? I wanted to check something out." The nurse went to one of the replicators within Sickbay and had a mirror made up. She brought it over and she asked, "What are you looking for?"

Once she handed the mirror over, Andrinn held it up to his face and saw something that wasn't possible. His spots were more pronounced and it almost appeared that he was fully Trill, where Ranul wasn't.

Something wasn't adding up and Andrinn wanted some answers.

Handing the mirror back to the nurse, Andrinn asked Ranul, "Tell me about our relationship and what it was like? I know that you said I was your previous host, but I was your mentor as well?"

Ranul shook his head in the affirmative before replying, "Yeah, you were my mentor and you were an amazing one. But, you were also a stickler about the fact that I wasn't fully Trill either. You hated the fact that I was half Trill and half El-Aurian and almost derailed my time in the Symbiosis Commission. That was before you were killed in a tragic shuttle accident back in the 21st century or so. That was when the emergency transfer of the Orin symbiant happened."

Andrinn took everything in and was a bit shocked. He wasn't sure what was going on or if this had anything to do with what was going on with the current mission. He knew that one of the first steps would be to get a medical checkup to see what was going on and if he still had the Orin smybiant in him.

Andrinn could still feel his connection to Orin and he felt like he was still in place. But, that could be anything. So, Andrinn looked at the nurse and kindly asked her to run some scans on both him and Ranul. She looked at Ranul for confirmation. When he shook his head slightly, she grabbed a medical tricorder and started to scan Andrinn first before scanning Ranul.

After the scan was completed, she walked over to one of the consoles in the middle of the room and started to upload all of the information from the tricorders into the main computer for better analysis. When the computer finished the uploaded and analyzing the data, the nurse was shocked at what came back.

Pulling up the information and putting the two men's scans side by side, she said, "Well, what I can tell is that our little visitor isn't supposed to be here. He has a slightly different quantum signature from our universe. Not only that, but both of you are carrying the Orin symbiant and both of you are actually half Trill and half El-Aurian. I think that might be why you asked about the mirror, isn't it? The spots that you have were shaded in a bit darker with a dermal regenerator or a cosmetic surgery. It would be something similar if we had someone go undercover, but since you already had the spots, it was much easier for the person to shade them in."

Andrinn and Ranul shared looks between one another before Andrinn asked the nurse, "How do you think I could have gotten here? Was there anything medical that might help us figure that out?"

"Well, I'd have to get Dr. Sthilg to help me out with that and it would take a little bit to run that sort of test. Maybe two to three hours? But, I can go ahead and get that started for you, if you guys would like," the nurse replied. Ranul nodded and said, "Yeah, go ahead and do that. Once it's completed, send the results to my office and we'll go from there. Until then, I'm going to take our guest to my office to figure out what's next."

The nurse simply nodded and started running the tests and put out a call to the doctor. Ranul tapped Andrinn's arm and said, "Lets go down to my office. I'd like to run a few tests of my own and figure some stuff out." Andrinn simply nodded and the two men headed out of Sickbay to Ranul's office...wherever that might be and hopefully to figure out what was going on.

[OFF:]

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium