The Contagion of the King, Part I (Medical Ship Adventure)

[Solluk]

Basic Premise: The people of the Bunari Ascendancy are a regressive spacefaring people who occupy a trio of star systems in the Alpha Quadrant.  Holding a doctrine of 'survival of the fittest,' they reject modern medicine, allowing the sick and injured to die so that the genetic heritage of their people can do away with weakness.  However, when a plague threatens the Capital City of the Ascendancy and the High Ascendant himself becomes ill, they reach out to the Federation for aid in breach of their usual custom.  YourMedicalShip is dispatched to help, but when the Bunari come to appreciate the benefits of modern medicine, a new crisis develops.

Starting Point: YourMedicalShip is dispatched to help the Bunari with a plague that is threatening their Capital city and leadership.

End Goal: YourMedicalShip successfully identifies the cause of the plague and treats the affected Bunari people, but are then taken prisoner by the High Ascendant.

Story points that must be passed?:

I) YourMedicalShip is dispatched to help the Bunari with a plague that is threatening their Capital city and leadership.

II) When YourMedicalShip arrives at the Bunari homeworld of Buna, in the Tripasis system, they are greeted by the Bunari naval flagship, their most powerful battlecruiser.  This flagship is not a match for some Federation vessels, being a generation behind Starfleet in technology, but easily matches the fighting capacity of YourMedicalShip due to YourMedicalShip's non-aggressive design.

III) The Bunari admiral, Tenkos, explains the Bunari custom of allowing the infirm to die.  However, he further explains the shame of seeing their civilization on the brink of collapse due to the plague spreading through their Capital city, even infecting their highest leadership.  With the Capital under quarantine, they reiterate their request for Federation medical assistance to combat the plague.

IV) Because the Capital City is under quarantine, transporter scramblers are in place to prevent anyone from beaming in and out.   YourMedicalShip sends medical teams via shuttle to the surface to investigate the plague.

V) The source of the 'plague' soon becomes obvious, as YourMedicalShip's medical teams discover that the Bunari are dumping toxins into a lake near the Capital City.  Though the lake appears clean, radioactive isotopes being dumped there are causing radiation poisoning that is harming everyone who drinks the local water supply.  If the Bunari had even rudimentary medical diagnostic technology, they would have realized this themselves.  But they have neglected their medical technology for so long, even simple medical problems are mysterious to them.

VI) The medical teams, assisted by engineers who come down in shuttles, place filtration systems on the lake to remove the radioactive isotopes, while the citizenry and royalty of the Capital City are treated for radiation poisoning.  As the 'plague' is not contagious, it is recommended to end the Quarantine and deactivate the transporter scramblers.

VII) Instead of taking this advice, the now recovered High Ascendant (and leader of the Bunari people) orders the away team personnel seized and the shuttles disabled.  If any of the away teams temporarily escape capture and make it to a shuttle, then a dogfight with Bunari Aerospace Fighters can ensue, eventually resulting in the shuttle being shot down and the away team being captured.

VIII) The High Ascendant sends (via subspace transmission) thanks to YourMedicalShip, and says he has a new appreciation for the importance of medical technology.  He understands that no one could have resisted the 'plague' that had been killing him and his people, as even the strongest can not survive some types of ills.  He promises a reformation of Bunari society to embrace the fruits of modern medicine.  He advises that YourMedicalShip's away team members will remain as his 'guests' until the Federation can transmit the totality of their medical knowledge to the Bunari, and the Bunari can then fully assimilate that knowledge into their culture.  A process he believes will take no longer than 20 years.

IX) The Bunari flagship closes in, and the Bunari admiral tells YourMedicalShip to transmit the information and then depart Bunari space.... or be destroyed.

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

- Flight: Shuttles will need to be dispatched to the surface, and there could potentially be a dogfight with Bunari Aerospace Forces.

- Engineering: Engineering teams will help to install water purifiers in the Bunari lake to filter out radioactive isotopes.

- Operations: Operations will be coordinating personnel on the surface and handling communications between teams on the surface and the ship.  Some Operations personnel might assist Engineering with the installation of the water purifier tech.

- Security and tactical: Any security personnel sent to the surface to escort the away teams will have some combat when the Bunari seize the away teams.

- Medical: Will need to work with Science to uncover the nature of this exotic disease and find a cure for it.

- Science: Science members of the away team may assist medical teams in identifying the cause of the plague.

Additional Notes: This is Part I in a 2 part medical adventure which is meant to be assigned to a medically themed starship.