P is for Pain in the... Pakled

Posted on Fri Feb 6th, 2026 @ 8:22pm by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel & Lieutenant Commander Zuub

1,001 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Avan's Colony
Location: SS Adelaides Medical Compartment
Timeline: After Maintenance Matters 2 & Postmortum

Zuub was busy. With the mystery having been solved, now it was a matter of nursing everyone to full health. As the Adelaide's sickbay was not meant for many people, Zuub took the initiative to lockdown a shuttlebay and place all of the suffering patients in there. Once there, each patient was injected with a dermal monitor. She then flooded the sickbay with pure oxygen. She only entered the shuttlebay to administer and monitor fluids while her patients recovered. Her antennae drooped from the exhaustion while she waited in her small office.

One of the patients, a Pakled, began calling, "Illian? Where are you?" Pawing at his face, he worked at pushing himself off of the biobed. Alarms began bleating as the man's heart-rate and respiratory sounded while he pulled a com from his belt and yelled into it, Illian. Where am I? Did you sell me off to those slavers again? Why???" He pleaded as he stumbled toward a hatch.

Zuub looked over at the Pakled. There were no less intelligent warp capable species on the planet and Zuub had no desire to associate with one. Deciding that the best way to handle a pakled was to mislead it and then load it up with so many tranquilizers that it would not wake up until after the Adelaide was long gone, she prepared her hypo with enough tranquelizer to put down a small rhinoceros. After all, pakleds were known for being strong and having strong resistances.

In her soft, wispy voice, Zuub told the Pakled, "I saw Illian. He is just over there." She pointed toward her office. If the Pakled took the bait, she was ready with her hypo to make certain that these would be the last words that Zuub heard from it until they were long gone.

Squinting, the Pakled looked at Zuub then turned in the direction the doctor had indicated, then back again. "You sure. She's not not so nice..better watch out." The Pakled stumbled slightly, trying to get his balance and sent a tray clattering across the deck. Bewildered, the Pakled looked around then began stumbling toward Zuub. I don't feel good...what are you doing to me?" The patients tone was moving through puzzlment toward anger.

Zuub answered simply, "I am doing nothing to you. If you feel ill, I should get you into a biobed and we can take a much closer look at you." She started running a medical tricorder over the Pakled to make certain that none of its vitals were out of the normal ranges for a tranquilized Pakled.

"Nah. Nah," the Pakled slurred as it squinted more at Zuub. "You kinda look...look like that fairy horse they talk about. Special kinda Unicorn Timbly used to call it. Though I thought they had horns, not...what d'ya call it?? Tenticle head feely things? Do they have suckers on em?" Squinting harder, the Pakled lumbered toward Zuub grunting, guts twisting but now clearly fascinated. "Tentacle horsy!!"

Zuub's antennae trembled. How did this Pakled not get knocked out from the complete concoction of tranquilizers? It had the fortitude of the Borg! There might be a paper in this, but if anyone from Starfleet found out how much she had used, she might get in some sort of trouble. The Andorian Doctor backed up and said, "No, no! I'm not a tentacle horsey. I'm a bee." What in the hell made me come up with that?! Perhaps the Pakled doesn't know the difference in colors of blue and gold. "Come closer and I'll sting you and make you sick!"

"Medical Emergency Transport request initiated," the computer suddenly announced, cutting into the conversation.

The Pakled jerked around at that voice even more confusion (somehow) creeping across it's face. A swirl of light within a clear space between Zuub and the Pakled indicated the immanent, then realized transporter beam, showing Richard standing over a supine Casteel.

The Pakled stumbled backwards, caught it's heel and went down like a load of bricks, catching his head on the corner of a rolling table, denting that and sending everything that had been there raining about the compartment. The Pakled twitched and didn't move.

Zuub checked the Pakled's vitals. It was unconscious and not terribly harmed. The bruises that would form could be handled well before it regained consciousness.

Richard took a quick look at the unconscious Pakled. "Doc, this Chief Cansteel, he complained of an inability to breathe, I helped him to a chair and he collapsed." He said. "I'm no medic, but there seems to be a build up of Nitrogen in his blood stream."

"Commander Dalziel, that is the problem with all of the beings that we have found. The Cardassian systems were programmed to not to recognize the problem. In order to counter it, I brought all the worst patients on board the Adelaide here. I placed them into the shuttlebay and pumped in an oxygen rich environment which should start to reverse the effects. I believe most of them will recover without any significant brain damage."

"Well, that's good news, but I wish I knew what the Cardassians were planning." Richard said.

"I can't answer that," Zuub responded simply, her antennae wilting. "What I can answer is that this was an intended result."

"Which is?" Richard asked.

"The death of anyone that worked there. I would hypothesize that it was a test for something greater."

"Some kind of chemical weapon targeted at non Cardassians?" Richard asked. "That could kill trillions."

"It could," Zuub answered simply, her antennae moving towards the back of her head. "But what we have seen here so far is only giving people the equivalent of the bends, which is easily cured with an oxygen regimen. Perhaps there is something that I am missing."

"Perhaps the others will have some more info." Richard replied.

Zuub's antennae wobbled unsteadily. "Perhaps, she agreed."


END

Lieutenant Commander Zuub
Chief Medical Officer
USS Valiant

Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel
Chief Engineer
USS Valiant

 

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