Sickbay Crisis — Patahk Fails to Respond; Crusher Calls Picard
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Medical staff scramble to gather DNA samples while Crusher assesses the Romulan's failing condition, revealing desperation in the hunt for a compatible donor.
Crusher abandons ineffective treatments and urgently contacts Picard, signaling a critical turn in Patahk's deteriorating state.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Implied concern and readiness to weigh medical urgency against wider diplomatic consequences; measured responsibility under pressure.
Captain Picard is the addressee of Crusher's urgent comm; while not physically present in Sickbay, he is positioned as the decision-maker the doctor demands be informed, representing command authority and the next stage of response.
- • Receive accurate medical information to make informed command decisions.
- • Balance imperative to save life with the need to avoid unintended diplomatic escalation.
- • Protect crew and ship while preserving Federation diplomatic posture.
- • Command must be informed of medical realities that carry political consequences.
- • Careful, measured responses are necessary to prevent escalation to conflict.
- • Medical expertise should guide, but final decisions may require command-level judgment.
Urgent and determined; professionally calm but morally compelled — a clinician pushed to force leadership's attention to preserve life and truth.
Dr. Beverly Crusher is actively monitoring the Romulan's life signs, judges ongoing medications ineffective, issues an immediate order to stop all drugs, and keys her combadge to contact Captain Picard, escalating the medical situation into a command communication.
- • Stop ineffective or harmful treatments for the Romulan patient.
- • Ensure the captain and command are informed so appropriate command-level decisions can be made.
- • Protect the patient's chances by forcing clarity and action.
- • Preserve medical ethics and transparency under diplomatic pressure.
- • Current drug regimens are not helping and may be wasting precious time.
- • Medical realities must be communicated to command immediately — some decisions require authorization or oversight.
- • Saving a life is a paramount duty regardless of political consequences.
- • Chain-of-custody and procedure must be respected even amid crisis.
Clinically focused and alert; professional detachment with an undercurrent of urgency.
Medical supernumeraries are methodically taking DNA (TECH) samples from several crew members who reported for testing, moving through Sickbay with practiced efficiency while supporting triage and preparing specimens for analysis.
- • Collect accurate DNA samples quickly and maintain chain-of-custody.
- • Support senior medical staff by freeing them to concentrate on the critical patient.
- • Prepare diagnostic material that may inform treatment or diplomatic decisions.
- • Rapid, accurate sampling is essential for diagnosis or compatibility testing.
- • Follow orders from senior medical officers without delay.
- • Maintaining sterile, labeled samples is critical for medical and legal integrity.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Beverly Crusher's combadge is keyed to open a communications channel; it functions as the immediate tool that converts her clinical determination into a formal report to command, carrying her voice and authority to Captain Picard and thereby linking Sickbay to the bridge.
A cluster of crew DNA samples is actively being produced and collected by technicians as diagnostic material; the vials function as potential keys for compatibility testing or identifying causes, and they materially represent the medical team's attempt to find objective answers amid a deteriorating patient.
Sickbay medical drugs — vials, syringes, and canisters — are the treatments currently being administered or staged; Doctor Crusher explicitly orders all drug administration stopped when she judges them ineffective, making the drugs the immediate subject of clinical cessation and narrative escalation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Enterprise Sickbay is the operational center for triage, diagnostics, and the contested moral moment: technicians collect DNA while senior medical staff monitor a critically wounded Romulan. The space shifts from purely clinical to a place where medical fact collides with command and diplomatic consequence.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"BEVERLY ((keys insignia)) I want him off all the drugs... they aren't doing anything... Doctor Crusher to Picard."