Puritan's Pleasure (Medical Ship Adventure) - Used as Feature Simm

[Solluk]

Basic Premise: The neutral spacefaring people of the Silgram Purity (a theocratic government centered on Silgram Beta II, the second planet in the second star of the Silgram binary star system) have requested Federation aid because a visiting Rigellian trader has brought the Rigellian flu to their homeworld.  The normal treatment for the Rigellian flu does not work on Silgramites, and the flu is spreading like wildfire throughout their planet, causing much suffering and death.  YourMedicalShip is dispatched to help, but will the Silgramites find the new cure worse than the disease?

Starting Point: YourMedicalShip is dispatched to help the Silgram Purity deal with an outbreak of the Rigellian flu for which traditional treatments do not work.

End Goal: YourMedicalShip creates a non-euphoric treatment in time to save the Silgramites, and either forces it upon them or watches helplessly as they all die.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) YourMedicalShip is dispatched to help the Silgram Purity deal with an outbreak of the Rigellian flu for which traditional treatments do not work.

II) Upon arrival at Silgram Beta II, the Silgramites provide patients who can be beamed up to the YourMedicalShip for study.

III) The Rigellian flu has odd effects on Silgramite physiology.  This causes the usual treatment not to work.  It also causes affected Silgramites to become delusional and violent.  A Silgramite Special Forces squad who is ill with the flu and is being studied and treated on board escapes the medbay, attacks YourMedicalShip crew, booby-traps systems, and steals a shuttle.  This provides an action subplot for Security, Tactical, Engineering, Operations, and Flight Control personnel.  Eventually, after a merry chase, the Special Forces Squad is safely recaptured.

IV) Medical Teams on YourMedicalShip come up with a treatment that works.  However, the treatment creates a brief, pleasant sense of euphoria in patients when it is administered.

V) The Silgram Purity Theocratic Council rejects this cure, because using drugs for pleasure is against their religion and is a capital sin.  They thank YourMedicalShip for their attempts to help, but sadly resign themselves to the death of their society as 'God has willed it.'  They comfort themselves that they will be rewarded in the next life. They then excommunicate those Silgramites who have already been treated (to punish them for their 'sin'), and bid YourMedicalShip farewell.

VI)  YourMedicalShip Captain begs to try again, as thousands continue to die on Silgram Beta II.  Medical Teams on YourMedicalShip figure out a way to separate the euphoric agent of the cure from the active agent, creating a treatment that results in no euphoria.   They ask the Silgramites to accept this modified cure.   But fearing potential excommunication if the cure should still have a euphoric effect, Silgramites refuse to try the new cure.  They prefer to die with their sould intact, rather than risk a fate worse than death.

VII) Branching Possibilities:

VIIA) YourMedicalShip accepts the Silgramites' decision, and watches in horror as the entire planet dies an unnecessary death from the flu.

VIIB) Someone on YourMedicalShip violates the rules and forces the cure on a Silgramite leader.  This Silgramite is observed by the other leaders to enjoy no euphoric effect, and the Silgramites finally agree to the cure.  Their culture is saved but the offending officer is reprimanded.

Departments: (To make sure everyone has something to do.)

- Flight: When the Special Forces team stages their escape and merry chase, the Flight Control officer will have some flight maneuvers to do.

- Engineering: When the Special Forces team stages their escape and merry chase, they will damage key systems via sabotage or boobytraps.  This will give Engineering crew something to do.

- Operations: When the Special Forces team stages their escape and merry chase, Operations will help track the escapees through the ship and dispatch teams, routing power away and around boobytrapped or sabotaged systems.

- Security and tactical: When the Special Forces team stages their escape and merry chase, Security and even Tactical officers may be needed to recapture them/disable their shuttle escape.

- Medical: Will ultimately come up with both cures to the flu and be doing medical stuff.

- Science: Science crew might help to track sneaky escaping Special Forces agents, and may also help Medical teams to discern (assuming they have biological/biochemical science proficiency) ways to adjust the cures to help the Silgramites without triggering the dreaded euphoric pleasure effects.

Additional Notes: This adventure has a branching outcome that could either be very grim or bittersweet, depending on whether someone breaks the rules or not.  This could be a good opportunity for a compassionate character to 'break the rules to save lives' while sacrificing the goodwill of their superiors and gaining a black mark in their record.  It could also earn them unofficial goodwill among those who would have hated to see the Silgramites all die.