Sickbay Triage — Ribosome Match and Magnetic Degeneration
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Beverly explains the complexities of treating the Romulan, revealing the need for a transfusion of compatible ribosomes and the necessity to test the crew.
Riker questions whether the Romulan will survive long enough to provide crucial information, prompting Beverly to bring him around briefly.
Beverly administers an injection to the Romulan, revealing early neural-pathway degeneration due to exposure to magnetic fields.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Guarded, distrustful, and in pain — his defiance masks either loyalty, fear, or deliberate deception.
Patahk is a gravely wounded Romulan who briefly stirs from an injection, experiences clear discomfort, refuses to answer questions, asserts he is 'alone,' and then lapses back into unconsciousness, denying cooperation and offering minimal information.
- • Avoid revealing information about other Romulans or operations
- • Protect himself and possibly others by refusing cooperation
- • End interrogation and return to unconsciousness to avoid disclosure
- • He either is alone or must maintain the claim that he is to protect others
- • Federation personnel are untrustworthy and cannot be allowed to extract Romulan secrets
- • Revealing information would harm Romulan strategic interests or comrades
Calmly concerned — balancing diplomatic prudence with moral obligation to save a life.
Captain Picard observes the examination, asks whether the patient can be treated, affirms the importance of getting information while cautioning not to undermine medical efforts, and listens as Riker and Beverly argue timeline and treatment tradeoffs.
- • Avoid any action that could spark a diplomatic crisis or war
- • Ensure medical staff have freedom to treat without undue coercion
- • Obtain necessary intelligence without sacrificing ethics
- • Protect the ship and crew from escalation
- • Command must weigh intelligence value against ethical and diplomatic costs
- • Respect for medical authority preserves Starfleet values and legitimacy
- • The Romulan’s condition is relevant to broader tactical and diplomatic concerns
- • A rushed interrogation that risks the patient's life would be wrong
Urgent and probing — anxious to extract information while conscious the window may close and that operational stakes are high.
Commander Riker moves to question the Romulan during the brief waking, pressing for how long he was on Galorndon Core, whether there are other survivors, and if a mother ship exists — adopting a direct, time‑sensitive interrogation stance before the patient lapses.
- • Extract actionable intelligence about survivors and a mothership
- • Determine whether further rescue resources are required
- • Clarify risk to the ship and crew to inform command decisions
- • Preserve any opportunity to get humanly useful testimony before the patient relapses
- • Timely intelligence is essential for rescue and security
- • The Romulan's testimony could reveal other survivors or threats
- • A patient’s life span may be too short for slow medical procedures
- • Operational safety of the ship must be prioritized alongside medical concerns
Concerned and professionally urgent — moral clarity about preserving life even while aware of political consequences.
Dr. Beverly Crusher examines the Romulan, identifies vital cell damage and early neural degeneration, prepares and administers a diagnostic injection, sets up a crew testing schedule for compatible ribosomes, and signals when the patient cannot be further probed.
- • Stabilize and save the Romulan patient if possible
- • Identify a compatible ribosome donor from the crew quickly
- • Minimize additional risk to the patient's fragile neural state
- • Preserve medical ethics against pressure to weaponize the patient for intelligence
- • Medical duty requires doing everything possible to save a life regardless of nationality
- • The Romulan's neural damage links to environmental exposure rather than simple trauma
- • Testing the crew is necessary and justified to find a compatible donor
- • Life should not be sacrificed for intelligence-gathering
Implied vulnerability and rising risk — the team fears for his neurological health though he is not on stage.
Geordi La Forge is not present in Sickbay but is explicitly referenced as potentially vulnerable to the same magnetic‑field induced neural degeneration; his condition becomes an immediate concern driving medical and command urgency.
- • (Inferred) Survive and recover from Galorndon Core exposure
- • Receive timely diagnosis and treatment if affected
- • Remain functional so rescue and repair operations can continue
- • Exposure to Galorndon Core magnetic fields can damage neural pathways
- • Medical testing and monitoring are necessary to detect similar cases among the crew
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Ribosome Transfusion Testing Schedule is invoked by Beverly as she orders systematic screening of the entire crew to locate a compatible donor. Narratively, the schedule externalizes the medical problem into a ship‑wide logistical burden and dramatizes the cost of saving the Romulan.
The Romulan Mother Ship is referenced as a potential escalation point when Riker asks whether such a ship should be advised of the Romulan's condition. It functions as an implied external force that could change diplomatic and tactical calculations if its presence were confirmed.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Enterprise Sickbay functions as the clinical center where life‑saving measures, diagnostic testing, and an uneasy interrogation converge. It houses biobeds, consoles, and monitors while security and command observe medical procedure and the ethical tension between treatment and intelligence plays out.
The Galorndon Core Pit Exterior is the offstage origin of the Romulan's injuries and the likely source of electromagnetic pathology. It functions as the hazardous cause that links casualties on the planet to the medical mystery aboard the Enterprise and raises the prospect that Geordi and others may be similarly affected.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"BEVERLY: "He has cell damage in vital areas... He's going to need a transfusion of compatible ribosomes in order to recover. I'm setting up a schedule to test every member of the crew.""
"BEVERLY: "There was no obvious cranial trauma. I'm guessing the exposure to the magnetic fields on the surface was slowly breaking down his synaptic connections.""
"RIKER: "You are aboard the Federation Starship Enterprise. We are treating your injuries. How long were you on Galorndon Core? Do you understand me?" PATAHK: "I will not answer questions.""