Object

Starbase 515 Surgical Suite Communications Panel

A wall‑mounted, compact communications panel recessed into the surgical suite bulkhead: brushed alloy faceplate roughly the size of a tablet, a low holo‑status lamp, tactile pads, a narrow speaker grille and a small confirmation display. Sterile smudges and faint glove marks ring its edges. The biomolecular physiologist presses its pads with urgent, clipped movements; the panel emits a single, clinical tone and a steadying light as it links to an outside specialist while the operating team hovers in strained silence.

1 appearances

Purpose

To initiate and maintain secure voice/data hails between the surgical suite and external specialists or command — enabling the team to request outside aid, relay diagnostics, and coordinate time‑sensitive interventions.

Significance

Functions as the narrative fulcrum for the crew's admission of limits: the panel's call summons external expertise and heightens emotional and logistical stakes, marking a turning point from confident intervention to urgent reliance on outside help.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S2E17 · Samaritan Snare

Surgeon's Refusal — Call for Outside Specialist

The wall‑mounted surgical communications panel is physically activated by the biomolecular physiologist at the exact moment team competence is shown to be insufficient. Its role is functional (initiating a link to an outside specialist) and dramatic (signaling escalation from internal triage to external dependency). The panel is the mechanism by which hope and logistical complication enter the scene.

Before: Idle and recessed in the surgical suite wall, with sterile smudges and faint glove marks; inactive.

After: Engaged—pressed by the biomolecular physiologist to initiate contact, emitting clinical tones and linking the team to an outside specialist.

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