Cruelty Goes Punished

Posted on Tue Nov 4th, 2025 @ 6:43pm by Lieutenant Commander Oscar McDonald MD & Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami

1,370 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Vinyl and Void
Location: Sickbay

Adrianna wandered into medical with all black civilian styled clothes on, and leather gloves. In her one hand, she had a bag the evidently had a bit of weight to it. She tapped her knuckles on the open doorway of the CMO office. She smiled to the doctor, "my favourite partner in crime and medico. Do you have a free exam room and maybe five minutes? I'm willing to pay in shared cruelty to lower deckers."

At that point immersed in studying dozens of medical scans to try and understand what was causing the odd events and sleepless nights many were experiencing, McDonald glanced up at the familiar voice. Her unusual attire caused a double take and he found himself both curious and a tad anxious to discover what had brought his friend here. With a gesture he beckoned her inside, and with a single touch the glass between his office and sickbay darkened, granting them privacy as he locked the door.

“You drive a hard bargain,” he conceded as he stood. “What exactly have you been up to?”

"Long story short, I got permission from higher up the food chain to remove the rodent problem," Adrianna replied, "I was going to wait until the cover of night shift, but the rat escaped and entered the ducts. So, had to make it quick. Humane... but quick and somewhat bloody. I left a 'note' staying that the Gary ascended as his time was done." Adrianna put the bag on the biobed, "nice toupee if you know of any balding brunettes with a hint of rust."

She waved her hand, "not why I'm here. I'm more than capable of disposing of evidence. What I am here for is that I realised something. Whilst I have seen tribbles, even smuggled them whilst undercover, I have never held one." Adrianna slipped off her gloves showing that they were red raw and blistered, "my brother is allergic to rabbits and I remember his hands and face looking like this after a birthday party when we were children. I assume this is Gary's revenge."

“I assume you took the gloves off at some point?” McDonald mused as he took hold of her wrists, turning her hands to visually inspect the damaged skin with a well trained eye. “Nothing we can’t treat… take a seat.”

Without waiting to see if she complied or not he fetched what he needed to run a more detailed scan and begin treatment. “Antihistamine,” he clarified as he administered a hypospray. “We can do some exposure therapy longer term if necessary but let’s deal with the immediate issue. Try to hold still….

Now, did you find anything to confirm the fur ball was behind these strange occurrences?” he asked while he healed the broken skin.

Adrianna nodded, "I had to take them off because his fur was slippery. I've only put them back on to hide the issue as I walked out." She took a seat, happy enough to allow the doctor to do what he needed. "I have no intention of being around tribbles again, so I do not mind not doing exposure therapy."

She shrugged and made a noise of uncertainty, "maybe. I mean, regardless, I got rid of Gary and that means that this ship is in the clear regarding cults. Less chance of being reprimanded for doing something stupid." Adrianna nodded over to the bag she brought in, "seems they set up a shrine for Gary and put a tonne of questionable artefacts there. I'm going to drop them in science to oversee."

“Of course they did,” McDonald sighed, the sound seeming to come from his bones as he shook his head. He rarely felt as old as he did at times like this, faced with the stupidity of youth. “I mean what Tribble doesn’t need a shrine?”

"This one now," Adrianna snorted in amusement, "considering how to dispose of the evidence. I've joked about mounting him like a stag, or one of those singing bass, but I feel the cult would hunt me down."

“A distinct possibility. He inspires - or I should say he did inspire - insanity,” McDonald agreed. “There! Good as new… how do the hands feel?”

"Sore, but I'm sure that I'll survive," she shrugged, "long live the Gary." She chuckled, "you know, there's a tiny voice in my head that says he's not dead. Somehow he survived and faked it like a... Those things in the America. Giant rat like thing."

"Can't say I'm familiar," McDonald admitted before glancing at the bag, "but I am sure when you are involved, that is a level of dead no creature can fake. Hopefully, things start to calm down around here. I for one will appreciate a good nights sleep."

Adrianna followed his gaze, and snorted with amusement, "you underestimate me doctor. The evidence is already in space somewhere. That bag has the artefacts in it. There's one that looks medical though-- thought you may want a look before I hand it over to Science."

“In my experience if something looks medical that means it resembles a torture device,” McDonald lamented. “Which means it may be worth keeping to solidify my reputation… alright, let’s see it.”

Adrianna nodded and opened the bag, pulling out what looked like a choker necklace. She placed it on the biobed and gestured around it, "the last time I saw something like this, it was used like a romulan torture device. So, you would put it on and then--" she gestured to what may have been a needle on the inside, "this would go into a spinal column. I don't have any experience in using one, and equally, this is far too... Pretty... To be romulan, but it looks like one anyway."

Scanning the ‘artefact’, McDonald frowned. “On the wrong species that spike would be deadly. On the right species… impossible to say for sure. The material is something quite unique. It does seem like there is some kind of circuitry underneath…. We’d need to take it apart to learn more. It is unsettling, is it not? Bad vibes, as Chloe would say.”

Adrianna nodded,"I'm getting concerned about lower deckers. The alcohol has gone down but this kind of artefact-- this is dangerous to have on board. I'll be upping the raids. Might make it a date night for myself and Vance. Two ex smugglers raiding the lower decks for this kind of stuff." She paused, "wait-- do you think something like that could cause nightmares? Or infect one person to infect more?"

“Anything is possible, there isn’t enough information and we’d need to look at the other things you discovered as well,” he pointed out. “Sometimes the scary thing is not the one you need to worry about… or at least not the only thing. I would focus on newcomers or those who have been off the ship for leave. These dreams or whatever they are, they only started recently.”

Adrianna nodded, "you're right, but with the ship only just out of the station-- that leaves everyone a suspect." She sighed, "on a more positive y, before I leave to take these down to science, someone put this in Gary's shrine. I am not a fan, but you might be." Ade pulled out a bottle from the bag and placed it on the bed, "it looks like scotch, maybe whisky. Smells like it may kill a Scotsman, though."

“A physical impossibility, it’s in our veins,” McDonald grinned. “Quite a nice single malt… now that is a worthy offering. Maybe I should start my own cult? No… then there would be people and .. no. Just no.”

"Was there not that movie once-- really old movie-- a man... Hmm... Wizard of Oz. He never really met people, but still got the glory," Adrianna gave him the idea before shrugging, "I'll leave it with you anyway. I need to drop these with science for cataloguing. Thank you for helping me get rid of the last of the evidence." She gestured to her hands.

“And thank you for the whisky. As for evidence I have absolutely no idea what you mean…”

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