Putting the Sick In Sickbay

Posted on Wed Sep 2nd, 2026 @ 4:47pm by Captain Cassandra Hawk & Lieutenant Dorian Vox

1,207 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: A New Sheriff in Town
Location: Sickbay, Starbase Mojave

The corridor leading to Mojave's sickbay was fairly calm at this point in the afternoon. While there were officers heading to and from their duties, the crowds were minimal. Which was good, Cassandra figured. If there was a great influx of traffic to sickbay, that might indicate a bit of a problem.

Having just wrapped up approving three different freighters' outgoing manifest, Cassandra had finally decided to follow up on one of the less appealing rumors that had made it to her: reports of infectious disease.

The Rigelian freighter’s visit should have been routine. Cargo manifests had already been cleared, there were no outward signs of trouble, and the crew eager to offboard and get on the station. That's where the sticking point had arisen, a single member of their crew had tripped a passive medical sensor and, in the process, locked down the entire wing of Docking Ring 6. Once the loud emergency klaxons had been silenced and medical crew had arrived, the Rigelian crew had been ordered to remain on their ship, and medical personnel had transported the sick crewman directly to a quarantine field.

That was the extent of what Cassandra had heard. A non-issue in some ways, but certainly eventful enough to be on her radar...and the talk of the town at the replimat that she'd just passed. An entire docking ring bathed in flashing medical alert light would do that.

The captain slowed her pace as she approached the door to Sickbay area. The door toggled open and the large room of sickbay extended beyond. A translucent blue quarantine field shimmered at the far end of the ward, indicating where the infected individual was being kept.

Vox was working with one of the medical holograms, trying to get as much information about what was going on with the sick individual. Vox was using the holographic doctor to go in and out of the sterile field, so they could get a better read on them than from outside of the field.

Hearing the door open and close behind him, Vox looked back at the Captain and said, "Welcome weary traveler! What can I do for you, Captain? Come to check on our newest member of Sickbay at the moment?"

Captain Hawk bowed her head slightly in admission. "Rumors made it all the way up to Ops. Curiosity, and maybe a little anxiety, got the best of me," she said, walking to stand near Doctor Vox, before gesturing toward the quarantine field. "What are we dealing with?"

Pointing to the Rigelian crewman, Vox said, "We're still trying to figure that part out. Thus far, the only thing that I could tell is that he had a bout with the Rigelian flu about a week ago and was getting over it. But, scans haven't been conclusive yet. We should have some more info in a few minutes if you don't mind waiting a few minutes?"

"Secondary infection, huh. That always seems to open up opportunities for some weird bugs," the Captain said, before nodding. "I don't mind the wait at all. Do your thing, Doc."

Vox nodded as he went back to work. Looking back over his shoulder after a moment, Vox asked, "This ship hasn't gone back to the Rigellian system recently, has it? Just curious if they've been back home anytime in the last few weeks."

Cassandra pulled out her padd, reviewing the vessel's manifest. "No, they've just been on a journey from one port to the next. No return home. So...this got picked up somewhere else."

Vox chuckled before saying, "Trying to knock out the more obvious ways and places of getting it. Never hurt to trying picking it up back home."

As he finished speaking, Vox said, "Hmm.....looks like this is one of the rarer strains of the Rigellian Flu. How many different Rigellians are working onboard this ship? I know there's like 10 planets or so in the Rigellian system and most of them are inhabited. I think this one's from Rigel VI. Any of the rest from Rigel VII-X?"

A few telltale beeps issued as the Captain navigated to the manifest. "Crew compliment of 11. 7 are Rigellian. I'm seeing Rigel III. Rigel III. Rigel VI, our sick friend here. Umm...Rigel IV. Rigel II. Rigel III again....Ok there we go. The navigator is from Rigel IX."

"Yeah, that could explain a lot. Those from Rigel IX usually grow up in the harsher, colder climates of Rigel IX and their immune systems typically take longer to react and act on a bug. Maybe, when his buddy here got sick recently, he picked it up too and his body did some funky mutating on the flu strain and caused something to happen?" Vox said as his console beeped with some test results. He walked over and took a look at them.

"And then after it ran through the Navigators system for...who knows how long, it came back in a new form and reinfected our recovering crewman here," the Captain said, running through Vox's scenario in her head. "If that's the case, then we have a serious risk of reinfections here. And not just on that ship."

After looking them over, Vox looked at the Captain and said, "Yeah, we definitely need to quarantine that ship for a bit longer. Whatever our friend here got a week or so ago has mutated into a bit more than your typical Rigellian Flu."

Cassandra nodded, tapping her combadge a moment later. "Hawk to Ops. I'm going to need you to keep the Rigellian freighter on medical lockdown for the foreseeable future. We've got a novel situation going on down here in sickbay."

The on-duty docking officer replied. "Don't love the sound of that. But affirmative. Rigellian crew will be informed to sit tight for the time being. Ops out."

Cassandra turned back to the dock. "We'll make sure they don't get off the ship. In the meantime, what can I do to assist you with our patient?"

"How up to date are you medical and scientific training? Cause, I could totally use some help figuring how this strain has mutated. That way, I can work on a cure for our friends here and make sure it doesn't mutate more," Vox replied as he walked back over and stood next to the Captain.

"Scientific training, decently aware of the biggest recent findings. Medical...I've got field medic and triage training. That's about all," she said with a slightly apologetic tone. Cassandra stepped a few feet closer as she reviewed the padd in her hands. "I'm more than happy to help where I can though. Consider my services yours."

As he transferred some information to the PADD, Vox said, "Hey, at least you've got more training than the average person. I'll take a bit of scientist with a dash of medic any day. Can you take a look at some of these sequences and compare them to the regular base pair sequences for Rigellians? I've got most of the information up on the PADD for you."

Vox finished punching in a few commands and handed the PADD over to Cassandra before turning back to work on some scans of the Rigellian in sickbay.

 

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