Getting to the Marrow

Posted on 05 Jun 2025 @ 5:11am by Story Teller & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Kennedy Monroe M.D. & Lieutenant JG Shay Mitchell

1,348 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Bait and Switch
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: June 30, 2390 || 1730 Hours

Ensign Thi Ng, the hulking Brikar Security Ensign finally made his way to Sickbay after communicating with Ens..making that Lieutenant Mitchell of what Commander Geisler had ordered him about the patients. He knew Doctor Monroe had beamed them to Sickbay, but didn't know their status as he approached the duty station and looked around.

"Where's the aliens being kept that were just beamed here?" He asked.

“The morgue,“ Kennedy replied. “May I help you with something?“

"Pardon me, Doctor," Thi said. "I meant the living ones. Commander Geisler sent me down here to talk to them."

“Of course,” Kennedy replied, gesturing for Thi to follow her into a more private ward where the two surviving patients were resting as comfortably as they possibly could. She and the medical team had managed to stabilize both of them, but they Each had been given something for pain and had been going in and out of sleep. “I understand the importance of talking to each of them to find out what happened, and I’d like to stay in the room to monitor their vitals. Just keep the interviews as short and sweet as you can because they’re still recovering.“

"Will do, Doctor," Ensign Ng said as he followed her and planned to wait for Commander Geisler before he started, but Lieutenant Mitchell definitely had to be there.

Shay made her way into sickbay, taking a quick look around. It didn't take long before she spotted Ensign Ng and Doctor Monroe. "Has anyone spoken to our guests yet?" She asked as she approached them.

"Not yet," Ng said as he gave a nod to the acting Chief of Security.

"Then let's get to it. Are they under guard?" The Acting Chief of Security/Tactical asked as she gestured for someone to lead the way.

"I just got here," Ng said as he turned to follow Doctor Monroe to the private ward where the two surviving patients were.

Kennedy offered a nod of acknowledgement to Shay and led the two of them to the ward. She would remain present for the interview to monitor the patients' vitals.

Inside the ward, the two survivors lay in their beds. One, the Tosk, was barely conscious, his eyes fluttering in and out of a waking state. The Paradan, despite his bruised, bloodied, and marred condition was awake, but his irises wide open as the pain medication expertly performed his task. "Star...fleet..." he muttered, seeing the team arrive in the ward.

Shay looked to the Paradan as they moved farther into the room. "Yes, we are Starfleet. I am Lieutenant Shay Mitchell, Acting Chief of Security/Tactical, and we would like to ask you some questions," she said, but instead of waiting for him to acknowledge that, she decided to jump right into questioning him. Who knew how long he would remain conscious. "Who attacked your spacecraft? And how did you come to be inside the nebula?"

"Questions?" he asked softly, the medication making it difficult for him to follow the universal translator. "Attacked...?" The Paradan struggled to concentrate.

Yes, attacked. You and your Tosk companion were the only two that survived. The other two didn't make it," Shay answered. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Um," the Paradan replied, his voice still slow and slurred. "Attacked... out of... nowhere... No... no reason..."

Ensign Ng looked at the Paradan and then over where Doctor Monroe was. "Do we have anything to get him more alert, Doctor?" He asked politely in his gravelly voice. "He's not very coherent."

Shay looked toward the doctor. "That's not a bad idea. What can you give him so he's a bit more with it to answer our questions?"

Kennedy didn't blame them for looking to her to lighten her patients' analgesic dosages so interviews could be more productive. She wanted answers as badly as they did, but she also had an obligation to see to the welfare of her patients. Considering her options, she said, "I can give him a small dose of cortropine to increase alertness, but even so, the effects may not last too long, and I won't risk anything stronger as it could undo his progress."

Monroe loaded the hypospray and approached the biobed slowly so as not to startle her patient in his drugged haze. Before presenting the hypo, she explained carefully, "This will help to clear your mind and give you a bit more strength, but still keep you comfortable. You let me know if you start to feel uncomfortable, ok?"

Kennedy waited for his weak nod of assent before pressing the hypo to his neck and depressing its contents.

The Paradan groaned as the medicine was injected into his bloodstream. It took a few seconds, but his body began to react positively. The dialation in his eyes was reduced, and his breathing was not as deep. "We're a small cargo hauler," he fully answered, though it was clear his voice was weak. "Our engines aren't as fast as others, so we cut through the nebula to save time. We're just passing through when all of a sudden, we were attacked."

"Who attacked you?" Shay asked.

"We don't know who," replied the Paradan. "I just know they were a very large ship with very powerful weapons."

Thi stepped up beside the bed. "Did the ship look something like this?" He held up a PADD that had the image of G90B on it and showed it to the Paradan.

The Paradan strained for a moment to look at the image and then nodded. "That's the one. I hope you catch it and blow it out of the sky."

Shay cocked her head to the side. "Why would a ship that large attack you? As far as I'm aware, your craft wasn't transporting anything, but we're still waiting to get word from our Chief of Intelligence on that front."

"It's not our first time in the nebula," replied the Paradan before coughing almost violently. "Our... our sensors... they can see further in the nebula than most. We picked them up on sensors, got a good scan, and the next thing we knew..." The Paradan coughed again, this time choking.

Kennedy had been observing the interview passively but she primarily kept her eye on the monitors, watching to make sure the Paradan's vitals remained as stable as they could be under the circumstances. She saw the drop in oxygen saturation before the sustained coughing fit made itself known. She moved forward quickly to place an oxygen mask on her patient and to up the dosage of pain meds to the original dose. "We'll have to suspend the interview for the time being," Kennedy replied. "He needs rest."

Right as the pain medication was administered to the patient, the deck plating lurched to starboard. Klaxons began to sound as power levels flickered throughout the room. The Paradan himself slipped into unconsciousness, but not before a smile crept across his face.

"What the h-?" Kenneedy didn't get to finish her sentence as she was too busy scrambling to reach for a biobed to keep herself from toppling over as the ship lurched. Once she righted herself, she looked up at the monitors and placed two fingers against her patient's neck. "He's alive but unconscious. What I gave him should not have caused that."

Shay grabbed the bed to keep herself upright and looked at Kennedy. "We're done questioning him for now," she said. "There are far more important things to figure out. Like what the hell that was. Ensign Ng, with me." Instead of waiting to be acknowledged, she was already on her way.

Thi gave a nod and headed out after her. "Should we assign someone to watch them?" he asked.

"Yes," Shay confirmed, then tapped her combadge to have someone dispatched to guard the two individuals in sickbay.

As security left, and the medical crew shifted their duty to address the red alert and power loss, the Paradan laid on the bed, his grin fading away. His sacrifice would not be in vain.

RSS Feed