The Flying Doctor

Posted on Sat Sep 13, 2025 @ 3:32am by Lieutenant Commander Karzen Son of Arjune, Son of Ragan MD, MPH

1,222 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: Shuttle Sganarelle
Timeline: Prior to Chicken Run MD001

“Shuttle Sganarelle, you are cleared for departure,” came the voice of the Shuttle Bay Manager. “Safe travels, Doctor.”

“Safe travels to you as well, my friend,” Lieutenant Commander Karzen replied from the helm of his privately owned Type 9 Shuttle. “Shuttle Sganarelle is light on the skids.” Karzen said as he applied power to the engines, causing his shuttle to lift off of the deck and exit the shuttle bay of the long haul cargo vessel Crowninshield. The cargo ship had room to spare in its auxiliary shuttle bay and sometimes acted as a ferry for private shuttles looking for a lift closer to their destinations. Karzen could have made the trip to Deep Space Five with several stops along the way, but this was more comfortable and as he eased into middle age, he tended to lean towards ‘comfortable’.

As soon as he was clear of the Crowninshield’s wake, Karzen laid in a course for Deep Space Five, took the shuttle to warp, and activated the autopilot. As he leaned back in the pilot’s chair, he thought over the journey that was bringing him to the position of Chief Flight Surgeon and Assistant Chief Medical Officer on DS5.

Karzen’s father, Ragan of the Klingon Defense Force, and Karzen’s mother, Arjune of the Romulan Star Navy, met and fell in love at the height of the Klingon-Romulan Alliance of the 23rd Century. They fled both empires for the Nyberrite Alliance, where they served as mercenaries, defending the Alliance from a vicious enemy on their far border. Karzen was born in the Nyberrite Alliance and has never set foot in either empire and has never visited Qo’noS or Romulus, let alone lived in either. Everything he learned about either culture has been from his parents and from other expatriate Romulans and Klingons.

Klingons mature quickly. Karzen was a trained adult warrior by age 13 and entered the Nyberrite Alliance Fleet NCO Flight Academy at that time. He graduated two years later as a Flight Corporal and fighter pilot. The Nyberrite Alliance use lightly armed carriers and are dependent on fighters for heavy combat. Karzen spent four decades as a fighter and fighter/bomber pilot for the Nyberrite Alliance. A mercenary like his parents, Karzen rose to the rank of Chief Flight Warrant Officer and earned the right to wear Master Pilot wings on his uniform.

As part of an exchange program, the UFP Starfleet sent a medical officer to work with the Nyberrite fleet. Karzen became friendly with the physician and, when he felt that his service with the Alliance was getting tedious, the physician helped Karzen start on the path to become a physician himself.

A dozen years later, Karzen was practicing as a physician and public health official for the Federation Frontier Health Service. This led him to the Federation colony on Setlik III, where he was stationed when the Cardassian’s attacked there in 2347, perpetrating a massacre. Karzen was among the few who survived, rescued by the USS Rutledge, under the command of Captain Benjamin Maxwell. Karzen tried at that time to join Starfleet but his application was denied. There were claims that he was needed where he was, but it was clear that Starfleet simply didn’t trust a Klingon/Romulan half-breed any more than the Klingons or the Romulans did.

Karzen chose to remain with the Federation Frontier Health Service, where he fought for assignments located on the Federation’s border with the Cardassian Union. Karzen worked in these combat areas throughout the Cardassian Border Wars. Karzen applied several times over a 20 year period to join Starfleet, but his application was rejected every time, even after Worf, the first Klingon to serve in Starfleet, received his commission.

Karzen finally caught a break after the Battle of Wolf 359 killed over 11,000 Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel. Replacements were needed fast, and full fledged physicians with a quarter century of experience were welcome, especially if they’d proven themselves loyal through service to the Federation as a civilian, and a civilian who served in forward areas and exposed themselves to extreme peril in doing so.

Karzen completed Direct-Entry Medical Officer Training School and attended the two-year Aerospace Medicine Primary (AMP), where he learned to be an entry-level flight surgeon. He served in this role through the Federation-Klingon War and the Dominion War, before attending the more advanced two-year Residency in Aerospace Medicine (RAM). After RAM, Karzen went back to serving in the fleet as a flight surgeon, senior flight surgeon, and chief flight surgeon.

After twenty years in Starfleet, Karzen was offered a clinical professorship at the Vulcan Medical Academy. However, after several years, Karzen decided he wasn’t ready to disappear into academia. He decided to return to Starfleet.

And so, after a little bit of refresher training, was once more a Flight Surgeon (a ‘Flying Doctor’ as one colleague called him; once Karzen learned the reference, he named his personal shuttle after the character in the play that pretended to be a doctor), though now also Assistant Chief Medical Officer, but Karzen had held that role before as well, and been the senior medical officer at frontier outposts as part of the Federation Frontier Health Service. None of this was new. It felt comforting and familiar in a way academia had not. And yet, at the same time, it was exciting. In Starfleet, risk was his business. Karzen felt like adventures great and small awaited him once more.

Karzen reclined in his very comfortable pilot’s chair and relaxed. He rested, but he did not sleep. Even as the 25th century closed in, smart pilots monitored the autopilot to make sure it was doing what it was supposed to do. They didn’t sleep in the chair except in the most extreme of situations. If the computer could not wake you up in an emergency, or if you woke up fuzzy and confused, that could be the end for you and your passengers. Smart pilots rested but did not sleep. Stupid pilots slept and stupid pilots died, because stupidity was deadly in the cockpit. So Karzen rested and meditated, keeping part of his focus on listening for telltales and alarms and warnings and for announcements.

The computer announced that they were about to come out of warp in the Pangaea System. Karzen roused himself from his meditative state. He felt fresh and rested and ready to perform what would hopefully be a picture perfect landing.

A bit later, his shuttle secured in the area assigned to him, Karzen made his way through Security, going through the usual hassle over his Nyberrite Back Talon dagger, before successfully proving to the masters-at-arms trying to stare him down that yes, in fact, he was allowed to carry it under Federation and Starfleet regulations regarding cultural waivers and special permitting.

Having made it through security, Karzen checked in with base operations and found his assigned living quarters. After a shower and some actual sleep, Karzen would formally check in with his new commanding officer and his new boss in the morning.

Karzen looked around. It was good to be back in the fleet, back in service.

Yes, it was good to be back.

OFF

Lieutenant Commander Karzen, MD, MPH
Assistant Chief Medical Officer and Chief Flight Surgeon
Deep Space Five

 

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