Compiled by Calvin Capps
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(Beta Aquari III - Research Labs - ACSO Ensign K'Palla - 0700)
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(Beta Aquari III - Research Labs - ACSO Ensign K'Palla - 0700)

K'Palla returned to the facility after her evening with the dying man.  He had quietly passed away in his sleep, which bothered the Klingon to no end.  Everything in her conscious being told her to end his life with honor and dignity, but her duty and responsibility kept her from doing so.
 
In the end, she was forced to watch the man die from his illness.  And to die in one's sleep was a horrible way to go, at least in the mind of a Klingon.
 
After waiting for the bureaucratic red tape to unfold, the vault was opened and the needed original virus sample was brought to her so that the Science Officer could examine it.  If she was correct in her theory, she would be able to report that the virus was engineered.  K'Palla was certain that she was correct and she hurriedly set-up her station to find her answer.
 
She scrolled through the nucleo-tide sequencing until she reached the area in question: the area that would hold the encased extra amino acid protein.  She continued to scroll through the entire sequence and suddenly saw that she had reached the end.  She backed up and cycled through it again.
 
Nothing.  She scrolled through again.  Again nothing.  She went through once more, this time slower and with determined attention.  Still nothing.
 
The Klingon brought up the mutated version that she had been studying: the one that no longer infected the livestock samples and compared the two.  There was nothing to suggest that amino acid was dormant in the original sample, or that it existed at all.  Apparently the virus was unique in its mutation to no longer affect livestock.  Was she seeing things, or was she simply mistaken?
 
"Frak!" she exclaimed loudly, slamming her fist down on the desktop.  The outburst caused several heads to turn and look up at her.
 
At a loss, K'Palla was uncertain where to look next, but she knew that she would have to start over from the beginning.  As she saved her work and cleared her creen to begin again, she unbuttoned the top button of her uniform.  For some reason, it was starting to get a bit too warm inside.

(posted by John)
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