stardate 84300.21

Personal log.
Captain, USS Madhav.

I received a communiqué from Earth this morning. Seems that dad’s fallen ill and had to be taken to the hospital for medical care. It shouldn’t feel like such a shock – he’s been sick for a long time. It seems as though Iverson’s is finally going to win out. He’s still mentally capable, but his body can’t carry on. In the message, mom said that his lungs and heart are starting to fail. They could maintain him artificially, but he’s already made the decision that it’s time to go.

For someone in this age to die at 65 is unbelievable, but it shows me that even with our advanced medical understanding, there’s still more to know. Mom and dad talked and decided to end support tomorrow at noon. I won’t be able to get back – the border patrols are extremely busy as of late. The Romulans seem, more and more, to be taking shots at our border colonies. Mom understands, and said that dad did too. I contacted command and they indicated that we could return to Sol in a week, once the Antigone gets here to replace us on patrol. Mom said she could hold the memorial once I get back. I always knew this was inevitable given dad’s condition, but it doesn’t make the reality any easier. I just hope that I can help Arthur to understand.

stardate 84297.7

Personal log.
Captain, USS Madhav.

A special day today – Arthur’s third birthday. The senior staff organized a wonderful party in the observation lounge. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many balloons or so much cake (or eaten so much cake, for that matter, as my stomach continues to remind me). Arthur seemed to really enjoy the festivities and he got some extremely thoughtful gifts. I was particularly surprised at Draymen (my Chief Medical Officer) who had a sol’neth built on Vulcan and transported to the ship, during our last stop at Starbase 23. The sol’neth is a Vulcan toy, not unlike a wooden puzzle, but the shapes are made to fit together in several configurations to form different polyhedrons. According to Draymen, “it is an educational tool for building spatial and sensory awareness.” All I know is, Arthur loved it.

I can’t overstate how lucky I am to have command of such a wonderful ship and crew. My senior bridge staff are among the best and brightest officers I’ve ever met. Even our less experienced staff members and NCOs give an amazing effort. Even more than that, though, many of my bridge crew have become my friends. I’m lucky to have the opportunity to know all of them, and to have command over such a group of tremendous individuals is a remarkable gift.

stardate 84284.29

Personal log.
Captain, USS Madhav.

Well, so much for a few months in the Afehirr Nebula to test out my theories. Seems there’s a dearth of ships patrolling our borders with the Romulans and so the Madhav has been recalled to border patrol. As part of our patrol duties, we’ve also been instructed to “extend a hand of friendship” to any Romulan world or colonies who might be interested in Federation protection. It seems that with the general collapse of the Romulan Empire, the Federation is hoping to make friends out of our one-time enemies. The Madhav is well suited to spreading good will among the Romulans. We just recently put in to Starbase 39 and restocked our medical and humanitarian supplies (the latter is Starfleet code for food rations for colony worlds that are starving).

As an interesting aside, the Madhav, and by extension her crew (including myself) have been assigned to the Sierra Defense Fleet. This shouldn’t have a major impact on our assignments or missions, but with this new assignment we may be called upon to participate in general fleet movements or actions as coordinated by our Fleet Admiral, Admiral Allahweh Lucia Brahman. It seems Starfleet is looking to create more cohesive battle groups in order to facilitate the movement of ships and troops throughout the various sectors. For the most part, the fleet seems to be a good bunch, though I’ve met only a handful of the officers so far. But, as they say, the more the merrier.

stardate 84284.07

Lab Report (MADHAV-912A-1231C2)

Working with Mr. Laroche, I’ve been able to make some modification to the cortical stimulator we’ve been using to test my theories on neural decay. However, until further simulations are completed, I am holding off on further tests. Based on my calculations using the results of the first test, I failed to take into account the potential interference of Higgs boson particles and tauons. Fascinatingly, it seems that a major part of our synaptic activity is controlled not only by the movement of electrons through the neurons and axons, but that the spin of the elementary particles, the interaction between the electrons and other elementary particles and the wave pattern of both the electrons and other elementary particles within the brain tissue. Essentially, it seems that the interaction between the various elementary particles within the brain tissue (as very clearly delineated in the works of Dr. T’Sol of Vulcan) creates what is, in essence, a personal sub-space “pocket”, for lack of a better word, in which the interactions between the physical brain tissue and the elementary particles operate in ways that are not described by the typical laws of physics, but operate according to an entirely different set of laws, which I have not yet fully begun to explore.

This sub-space pocket is extremely intriguing insofar as it corresponds to many cultures idea of a “mind” as separate from the merely physical and chemical reactions of the body. Further exploration of this idea may even allow me to understand how brain injuries, mental illness and other neurological diseases are the result of improper connection between the physical object of the brain and the sub-space laws which influence its operation. Fortunately, the Afehirr Nebula is an ideal testing ground for these theories. With the proper instrumentation, the naturally occurring sub-space pulses in the nebula allow for brief observations into the mental sub-space pockets of a given patient and an examination of the laws governing interaction of the particles therein. If we can have a few months to test the theories we may be able to refine my calculations and make my modified cortical stimulator effective and practical for real-world medical applications.

stardate 84281.55

Lab Report (MADHAV-912A-1231C1)

After running the requisite simulated tests (200 tests, referenced in file MADHAV-912A-1231A1), and achieving a 99% success and safety rating (as per Starfleet Scientific Procedures Regulation 3.22.1A), I have received authorization from Starfleet Medical to attempt testing of the modified cortical stimulator on human subjects. Given the sensitivity of brain tissue, and the potential danger to the test subject, I have elected to test the device on myself (Commander Daniel Carver).

After positioning the Madhav within range of one of the naturally occurring sub-space pulses in the Afehirr Nebula (1.25km from the centre of the pulse, optimal distance based on simulations), the device was applied by my Chief Medical Officer, Lt. Commander Draymen. Upon activation of the device, initial scans indicated a 97% decrease in neural degradation.

After approximately 1 minute, the test subject (Commander Daniel Carver) lost all sense of time and memory. The device was applied for a total of 5 minutes, 12 seconds. Neurological scans performed after the testing period, indicate that Commander Carver accrued only one minute of new memories and suffered only 1 millisecond of neural decay. This seems to indicate that the device, coupled with the sub-space pulses, does slow, and nearly halt, neurological decay. However, it would seem that in doing so, the device also inhibits neurological function and the accumulation of memory. Further research into the role of muons in memory acquisition and neurological function is required in order to further refine the device.

End report.

stardate 84280.19

Personal log.
Captain, USS Madhav.

Good news today – I’ve received a communiqué from Starfleet authorizing me to take the Madhav to the Afehirr Nebula where the crew and I will have the opportunity to run a number of experiments. The Nebula has a number of variable pulse sub-space pockets that interact with normal space in a very unique way. I know that the Astrometrics and Stellar Cartography staff are extremely excited as they’ll get to chart some previously unexplored systems. My real interest, though, is in testing some of my theories around the interaction between sub-space fields, brain tissue, and naturally occurring muons. If my theories prove correct, I may be able to create a process by which neural decay due to age can be slowed, or even eliminated. This kind of process could help to cure a number of diseases – Clarke’s Disease, Bendii Syndrome, and even Pa’nar Syndrome, to name a few. In essence, if we can understand how neural tissue degrades at the sub-atomic level, and use sub-space pulse technology to slow, or even stop, that degradation, we can eliminate almost all degenerative neural conditions.

With the help of my Chief Engineer, Lt. Commander Laroche, I’ve managed to create a prototype device using a modified cortical stimulator. If my theories are correct, we should be able to force the sub-space pulses in the Nebula to interact with the modified stimulator in order to completely halt all neural degradation (even the normal degradation caused by the simple passage of time). If I’m successful in doing so, my next step will be to incorporate some sort of sub-space pulse generator into the device, so we won’t have to rely on the naturally occurring pulses in the Nebula. However, Laroche assures me that once we have a proper survey of the pulses, this shouldn’t be a difficult task.

stardate 84272.65

Personal log.
Captain, USS Madhav.

That couldn’t have gone better.

I just finished my meeting with Admiral Quinn. It seems the fleet is in dire need of medical ships – the various border conflicts the Federation has been experiencing have left a number of outer colonies without adequate medical care. Due to my training as a doctor, and my experience in the field, Admiral Quinn has given me a promotion to Commander and ordered me to take command of the USS Madhav, one of our newly commissioned medical ships. Admiral Quinn explained to me that we may still be called for active combat duty, when we’re needed, but that our main mandate is to provide medical care to any who might need it. I feel very fortunate to have been given the new command, and Admiral Quinn was generous enough to let me take my senior staff from the Brahe with me. Things are really coming together – I have Arthur onboard, Carol and command of one of the most advanced medical ships in the fleet. I only hope my good fortune doesn’t stop.

stardate 84267.62

Personal log.
Acting Captain, USS Tycho Brahe.

Our trip to Earth was a smashing success. The crew loved the break from the field and my paper was extremely well received – I even had some interest from the Daystrom Institute in expanding on my research. Most importantly, Carol and I had an opportunity to see Arthur. I can’t believe how big he’s gotten. He’s walking and starting to speak in simple sentences. It’s amazing to see the changes in him over the past few months. I talked to Carol, and after a lot of debate, we decided to bring Arthur onboard with us. It wasn’t an easy decision – we know the risks, but both of us feel like we’re missing out on his whole childhood. Neither of us wants to give up those experiences.

On another note, I’ve been called to a meeting with Admiral Quinn tomorrow. I’m curious to see what it’s about. I suppose I’ll know soon enough.