A Whale of a Patient

Posted on Sat Jan 10th, 2026 @ 11:32am by Commander Cressida Vale MD & Staff Warrant Officer Riolu

831 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Pilot - "The Gate"
Location: Cetacean Ops
Timeline: After “The Crossing”

The USS Guinevere’s crossing of the threshold of the transwarp gate had caused no major incidents. Some had anticipated vibrations and power fluctuations, each of which usually came with a set of typical injuries. But none of these concerns had materialized, and so there had been no urgent calls for sickbay assistance.

The only call had come about five minutes later. A problem in Cetacean Ops.

There were four Cetaceans serving aboard the Guin. Their space was a specialized deck in the forward part of the saucer. They had a dedicated workspace, quarters, and a lounge. Some of these areas could also be accessed by air-breathing crewmembers, like Cressida was now, for the purposes of work or social interaction.

The main Cetacean Ops Access Bay was the size of a cargo bay. Consoles along the walls permitted Operations and Flight Control Officers to work closely with the Cetacean navigators. Holographic emitters enabled them to show star charts both above and below the water level, allowing them to study their maps like in Stellar Cartography or Astrometrics.

And on the water's surface floated a sickly looking Beluga whale in a command red uniform.

"I hear you're feeling unwell, Mr. Riolu," Cressida said as she approached the water's edge. "What's the matter?"

His response came in the form of clicks and whistles, but the standardized language spoken by the smaller Cetaceans including Orcas, Belugas, and Dolphins was translated perfectly by Cressida's UT. "Painful headache. Started when we went through the gate."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Let's see if I can do something about it." The doctor sat on a bench so she could remove her boots, socks, and roll up her pants to her knees. Then, tricorder and medical scanner in hand, she waded into the shallower part of the water, on which Riolu rested his head.

“Did it start right when we crossed the gate threshold?” Cressida asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “It started small but it’s been getting worse.”

“Something caused by the transwarp corridor then,” the doctor speculated. “Some kind of energy that your body is reacting to, which doesn’t occur at normal warp. Hmmm…” Her tricorder beeped as she ran her hand scanner over his enormous head.

“Yep, that seems to be it,” she said, nodding. “It seems to have to do with your echolocation apparatus. Whatever this energy is in the transwarp corridor, it seems to be disrupting the fluids in your melon — seriously, doctors should have come up with a better name for that. That’s translating as an illegible signal in your auditory cortex.” She closed her tricorder and put it and the scanner down on the edge of the pool. “I can give you something for the pain, which will also help you rest. It’ll affect both hemispheres though so I’d like you to rest here. Have any of the others complained about headaches?”

Riolu shook his head. “That tracks though. I’ve always had a sensitive echo sense.”

“I’m also going to see if we can do something to shield Cetacean Ops,” Cressida said as she retrieved the painkiller from her bag at the edge of the water. She loaded with the right medication and then waded back to Riolu. “It might be something we can block or filter out. I can’t promise success, but it’ll do us no good if our transit through the gate is painful to any of our crewmembers.”

“Just me,” Riolu said, sighing in relief when Cressida applied the hypo to the side of his head, where a neck would be.

“I said any crewmember,” Cressida assured him. “And I meant it. Just because you’re limited to this part of the ship doesn’t mean you’re not part of the team.” She put a hand on his head, and he closed his eyes, assured by the touch. “Now, you need to rest, but before I go, I wanted to tell you that Alina’s been looking forward to your next hangout.”

“She’s a good friend,” Riolu said as he started to drift off. “When I’m better have her come see me please?”

“Absolutely.” Cressida said with a smile. “Sleep well, Mr. Riolu. I’ll check on you in a few hours.”

The doctor got herself out of the water right as the Beluga started to doze off. She toweled off her feet and started putting her socks and boots back on. She quickly composed a message to the other Cetacean Ops personnel of the situation, finding that balance between patient privacy, patient needs, and operational needs.

Finally, as she got into the corridor, she tapped her commbadge. “Vale to Bridge. There’s some kind of energy from the transwarp causing a medical issue in Cetacean Ops, can you have someone investigate?”


END


Commander Cressida Vale, MD
Chief Medical Officer and Second Officer

Staff Warrant Officer Riolu
Cetacean Ops Navigation Specialist

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