Animal Detoxification
Posted on Wed Dec 3, 2025 @ 5:30pm by Commander Tayanita 'Tay' Lio'ven & Commodore T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Karzen Son of Arjune, Son of Ragan MD, MPH & Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant Liam Blackwood & Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexander Rylan
3,371 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Chicken Run
Location: Sickbay & Science
Timeline: MD02
An aircart stopped outside sickbay and a petty officer strode in, PADD in hand, looking for the doctor. "Ma'am," he said when he spotted Tay, "The animals that materialized have a crystalline glitter in their fur that has hallucinogenic properties. The commodore would like you and science to see if you can find a way to neutralize the effect and, if possible, find a way to clean it off the animals." He handed the PADD with the instructions to the doctor, then left to deliver another message.
Alex and Karzen were standing near Tay when the petty officer dropped off the instructions from the Commodore. "So," said Karzen. "I see we have new medical enemy to conquer for the honor of Hippocrates. Senior Chief Rylan and I stand ready to assist you. We both have experience with farm animals... wait... that didn't sound right at all. Well, never mind that. We're here to help."
T'Lul looked over at Karzen and asked, "Why does that not sound right? Is that some sort of negative sexual innuendo?" No sooner she said it, her eyebrow went up. "Oh, indeed. I see. That would be rather inappropriate," the Counselor concluded. "Regardless, I can assist with my scientific background from Vulcan and other training. I am curious where this glitter might have originated."
Tay accepted the PADD with a nod. “Understood. Thanks, Petty Officer.”
She looked to her team, slipping into a steady, practical cadence.
As Liam stepped into Sickbay, he caught the tail end of the conversation. Something about farm animals, and an inappropriate comment. Approaching the group, he said. “I’m almost afraid to ask what I just walked into.”
he glanced from Karzen and the counselor. “But since I’m here on official business, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear the part about farm animals.”
Glancing toward the aircart, then back to the group. "Liam Blackwood. Chief Science Officer." He nodded then pulled out a tricorder starting to scan the animal on the cart.
Alex and Karzen pulled out their tricorders and did the same as they introduced themselves.
"Lieutenant Commander Karzen, Son of Arjune, Son of Ragan," Karzen said. "Assistant Chief Medical Officer and Chief Flight Surgeon."
"Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Alex Rylan," Alex said. "Independent Duty Corpsman. I assume we all know that before we open the containment case the animal is in, we're going to need protective gear?" He looked at his tricorder. "Hmmm... the substance shares properties with petroleum based adhesives. Most petroleum based adhesives can be dissolved using something like baby oil..."
"Or vegetable oil," added Karzen.
"Or peanut butter," Alex added. "But peanut butter could get messy. Whatever your choice in that case, you rub it in and let it sit. Once the petroleum based adhesive dissolves, you wash the animals using a mild detergent. But..."
"...You're right, of course," Karzen said. "We shouldn't rush in without more data. We could make things worse." Karzen turned to Tay. "Commander, you're senior here. When you and the science officers are ready, I suggest we move this poor creature to a biohazard/hazmat examination theatre where we can don protective gear and examine the creature more closely."
She looked to the group. “Yes—no one cracks that case in open Sickbay.”
Into her combadge: “Sickbay to Hazmat Control—prep Hazmat Three for cross-disciplinary exam, bio decon standing by.”
Back to the team, steady and practical. “We’ll roll the aircart there sealed. Masks, eye shields, dermals. No dry handling.”
She met each pair of eyes in turn. “Commander Blackwood, walk with us and run a passive scan on the crate—spectral only, no active probe yet. Karzen, Alex, you’ve got the cart; I’ll spot. T’Lul, set a quick exposure screen outside Hazmat Three—pupil check, gait, and recall for anyone who’s been near these animals.”
They formed up around the aircart. Tay fell in on the far side and gave a small nod. “Alright—slow and steady. We plan the swab sequence once we’re inside.”
They pushed off down the corridor. At Hazmat Three the doors hissed open to the anteroom glow. Tay glanced to Liam, then the others. “We’ll brief inside. No one opens the case until we’ve got PPE on and a plan.”
She palmed the panel and let the team file in.
Once inside the anteroom, Alex went to the replicator and dialed up full PPE equipment for each staff member. Alex put his on and started helping others into theirs. Karzen tapped his commbadge. "Oladele, Karzen," he said.
"Karzen, Oladele," Chief Hospital Corpsman Babatunde Oladele replied. "Go ahead."
"Please report to Hazmat Three and be prepared to provide outside observation in case outside assistance is needed."
"Understood, Commander," Oladele said. "On my way."
Within moments, Babatunde was there, donning hazmat gear in case he had to enter the containment room and setting up the observation suite. Several other corpsmen arrived in PPE as well, ready to enter and assist in case of a medical emergency. "Commander Lio'ven," he said over the comms. "Due respect, maybe either you or Doctor Karzen should be in here with me? Having both the CMO and ACMO risking exposure to a biohazzard at the same time seems unwise, and one less set of hands fumbling around over the animal might also be to our benefit."
T'Lul went about setting up the screening. While this might put her at the greatest risk of anyone, she personally knew that Vulcans had more redundancies, so any accidental exposure was likely to not affect her immediately or as greatly.
Liam adjusted the seal on his hazmat suit, the faint hiss of pressure equalizing filling the room. “Good point.” He said, glancing between the CMO and ACMO. “One of you should stay on the outside.” They both outranked him, but it was simple practicality, and common sense.. Besides, their first step would be scanning and sampling. Once his suit was secure, Liam retrieved his tricorder and began running scans.
Tay glanced from Babatunde to Liam and gave a quick nod. “Agreed. I’ll run point from observation.”
She stripped off her gloves at the threshold, palmed the intercom, and let her voice carry—steady, no rush. “Hazmat Three, this is Lio’ven on overwatch. Inside team is Karzen, Blackwood, Rylan plus one corpsman. T’Lul, you stay on screening. Oladele, you’re my outside safety and decon lead.”
She brought the room’s negative pressure and laminar flow up a notch, eyes on the status board. “Ground rules: no one opens that crate until we’ve got baseline readings and a plan. Buddy checks every couple of minutes. If you feel off—vision, balance, mood—you say it out loud.”
A beat, then she laid out the first steps. “Liam, start with passive spectra on the glitter through the crate slats—Raman and IR only. Alex, air sample from the crate’s vent port into a sealed micro-canister—no purging. Karzen, prep three sterile swabs: dry, saline, and oil-wet. We’ll test solvent reactivity on microscope slides first, not on the animal.”
She tapped up a split-screen: chem bench feed, vitals board, room monitors. “Sequence once we open: I want a tape-lift of surface crystals, then a fur swab, then a contact swab of the crate interior. No aerosolisation. If anything volatilises, we close and step out.”
She paused, softer but firm. “We’re here to learn what this stuff is and how to get it off without making things worse—for them or for us.”
A final glance across the team through the glass. “You’re set. Take it slow. I’m watching your boards—call your moves before you make them.”
Alex prepped a microcanister. "Taking the air sample now," he said. He connected the canister to the vent and drew the sample. "Sample taking complete. We'll feed it into the gas processer now for you. And... done. You should be able to run scans now."
"Taking the swabs now," Karzen said. Through the slats, he took swabs of the substance. He had to be careful because there was an adhesive property to the glitter, making it difficult to swab off of the animal. He managed it and he and the corpsman prepped the three slides. "Slides prepped, Commander," he reported.
"Copy that." Liam replied. He adjusted the tricorder's spectral mode. Focusing the scan through the crate’s slats. “Beginning passive Raman and IR sweep now.”
“Getting a complex refractive index...definitely crystalline, but it’s… fluctuating. Almost as if it’s reacting to the ambient EM field in the room.” He turned the device slightly to confirm the shift. “Spectral peaks suggest a silicon-carbon lattice with trace organics...something synthesized, not natural.”
Tay studied the readouts as the air sample data streamed in, her fingers moving with measured precision across the console.
“Air particulates are negligible,” she confirmed, voice steady over comms. “Trace silicon-carbon residues present in microconcentrations, but they destabilise almost immediately once separated from the crystalline matrix. Half-life in open air is under six seconds.”
She adjusted the filters, watching the molecular decay in real time. “That tells us the hallucinogenic properties are localised to surface contact or ingestion. No aerosolised risk once detached from the host material—good news for containment.”
She switched the feed to the blood slide analyser and overlaid it beside Liam’s spectral data. “Your scan matches what I’m seeing here,” she continued. “The blood substrate’s carrying faint nano-structured particulates—silicon-carbon with organic binding elements, possibly protein-reactive. They’re adhering to plasma proteins, likely the reason for the neurochemical effects we’ve been seeing in exposed personnel.”
Tay highlighted the correlation and nodded to herself. “Structure looks semi-conductive, too—tiny charge variance along the crystal edges. That could explain the EM reactivity, Liam. It’s acting like a molecular capacitor, responding to electrical and subspace fields.”
She paused for half a breath, tone calm but focused. “So far, this means exposure risk is contact-only. Gloves and sealed dermals are sufficient. Next step, let’s test solvent reactivity on one of those slides, Doctor Karzen—start with the oil-wet swab first. If it destabilises the lattice, we’ll know how to neutralise it without harming the animals.”
Then, quieter, a touch of warmth in her tone. “Good work so far, everyone. Keep it slow—let’s make sure this stuff only glitters, not bites.”
"There is some destabilization of the substance on the oil wet swab," Karzen said. "I'm not sure if it's enough. Feeding you the data now, Commander."
“Got it,” Tay replied, eyes narrowing slightly as the fresh readings scrolled across her console. She adjusted the visualiser scale and ran a quick decomposition model.
“Confirmed partial destabilisation,” she said after a moment. “The oil’s breaking down the organic binding elements, but only superficially. It’s softening the surface matrix, not neutralising the crystalline core.” She zoomed in, overlaying a molecular decay trace. “See that shimmer along the edges? That’s residual electrostatic cohesion—means the lattice is reforming once the solvent dissipates.”
Her tone shifted from analytical to practical. “We’re halfway there, though. It tells us the substance’s stability depends on that organic layer. If we pair a lipid solvent with something that disrupts charge retention—say, a mild alkaline rinse or ionic buffer—we might fully break the structure down.”
She tapped the console, running a rapid compatibility check. “Karzen, Alex—prep a controlled two-step sample: oil soak followed by a buffered saline wash. Keep it contained on-slide; I don’t want that solution aerosolised. Liam, monitor EM output while they do it—I want to know if the lattice collapse gives off any secondary charge or trace radiation.”
Then, a calm glance toward the observation glass—half instruction, half reassurance. “If this works, we’ve got the start of a safe decontamination procedure.”
Liam adjusted the tricorder’s filters and keyed in a live EM trace. “Monitoring now."
Karzen and Alex did as they were told, announcing each step as they carried it out. "That looks like it's working from here, Commander," Karzen said. "How does it appear from your instruments?"
A faint spike flickered across the display, then leveled out. “Getting a transient pulse. Low amplitude, less than 0.03 milligauss. Looks like a brief static discharge during lattice collapse, but nothing sustained.” Liam called out.
“Confirmed,” Tay replied, eyes tracking the stabilised line on her screen. “No sustained energy release, and the molecular bonds are fully breaking down post-rinse. You’ve got complete disassociation of the silicon-carbon lattice—no reforming, no residual electrostatic cohesion.”
She allowed a small smile to creep into her tone. “That’s exactly what we needed. The two-step method’s viable—lipid solvent for surface breakdown, buffered saline to neutralise the charge and flush the residue.”
A few more keystrokes brought up toxicity readings. “No harmful by-products detected in the breakdown process, either. The resulting compound’s chemically inert and stable. That means it’s safe for biological tissue—as long as we keep the concentrations mild.”
She leaned slightly toward the comm pickup. “Excellent work, all of you. That gives us our baseline protocol. Next, we’ll need to scale up—run the same process on a full containment test. Liam, prep a diluted version of the solvent-wash solution for field use. Alex, start working up decontamination ratios for different species—fur, feathers, scales. Karzen, I’d like you to take point on the clinical side—develop an exposure treatment plan in case any handlers start showing symptoms.”
Her voice softened then, though it still carried that note of command. “Once we prove this safe on a live subject, we can start decontaminating the animals properly. Let’s make sure this glitter’s nothing more than a bad memory by the end of the day.”
"Aye, Aye, Commander," Alex said.
"Understood, Commander," Karzen said.
A few minutes later, the soft chime of the comm interrupted the hum of the lab.
“Commander Lio’ven, this is Environmental Analysis. We’ve completed secondary testing on the particulate. New data confirms no dermal absorption or toxicity on contact — inhalation’s the only pathway for effect. Once airborne, though, even trace microdust can trigger short-term neural hallucinations.”
Tay pressed her combadge. “Acknowledged, Environmental. Send your data packet to my console; I’ll integrate it with the medical report.”
She looked up toward the observation window where Liam and the others could see her. “You heard them. It’s confirmed — the glitter’s harmless on skin or fur, only a risk if the dust gets into lungs or sinuses.”
A few taps brought the shared readings onto the lab monitors. “That means we can simplify our decon protocol — no need for full biohazard suits, just respiratory protection and standard dermal gloves. Still, we’ll keep Hazmat Three sealed until we know the airborne half-life in different conditions.”
She let out a quiet breath that carried a hint of relief. “Good news, at least. No toxicity, no corrosive behaviour — just an inconvenient sparkle that needs washing off.”
Her expression softened as she glanced at the animal in its containment. “Alright — let’s finish this properly. Liam, monitor particle dispersion during cleaning. Alex, swap the full suits for filtered masks. And Karzen—once we’re confident the air stays clear, let’s get this creature back to something that looks like dignity.”
A wry smile tugged at her mouth. “If nothing else, it’ll make for the least hazardous glitter problem in Starfleet history.”
"For treating those exposed," Karzen said as he swapped out his PPE as instructed and then began cleaning the animal. "We need two options. A version we can put in a hypospray for individuals, and an aerosol for large groups. There are tens of thousands of people on this station. With the animals taking up the cargo bays we would normally use for overflow, there's no way we can effectively treat everyone who's been exposed or will be on an individual basis. If we want to get really ambitious, we could concoct something that also temporarily inoculates, just so we're not treating the same people over and over."
“So far the dispersion’s minimal.” Liam reported. “Everything’s staying below threshold and collapsing within the expected half-life. No free particles escaping the immediate work zone.”
Tay nodded as she listened to both men, her eyes flicking between the particulate readings and the slow, steady collapse curves on the monitor.
“Agreed,” she said, voice calm but decisive. “If inhalation is the only dangerous vector, then treatment needs to focus on neutralising the neural effect, not the glitter itself.”
She toggled a chemical model onto the shared screen—simple, elegant, and still labelled preliminary.
“We can build two delivery routes. A hypospray counteragent for individuals—and an aerosolised variant for large-area dispersal if the situation escalates. Something that binds the particulate in the lungs and blocks its neuroactive component before it hits the bloodstream.”
Her fingers danced across the console as she spoke, sketching the skeleton of the treatment.
“Blackwood, I’m thinking a chelating buffer paired with a fast-acting receptor stabiliser—something mild enough to disperse station-wide if needed, but strong enough to break the particulate’s effect in minutes.”
She lifted her gaze to Karzen through the glass.
“And yes, we can build in a temporary prophylactic window. Not immunity, but enough receptor damping to prevent repeat hallucinations for several hours.”
A faint, tired smile tugged at her mouth. “Given how many crew we have chasing goats through the Promenade, I’d say that’s a mercy for us all.”
She straightened, tone smoothing back into command. “Let’s get the formulations drafted. Once we have a stable compound, Ops can test atmospheric dispersal parameters. Medical will keep the individual-dose version ready for triage.”
She tapped the “ready” icon on her console. “You’re all clear to proceed with the wash. I’ll integrate the treatment plan in the meantime.”
"Understood," Karzen said. Spent some time washing off the animal. By the time it was clean, Alex was done with his work and took over drying the animal off.
Tayanita watched the animal shake itself out—glitter finally gone, dignity slowly returning—then toggled the console to standby. Her tone over the comm softened, but held the quiet authority the team was used to.
“Good work in there,” she said, meaning it. “That’s one creature we can check off the list.”
She glanced toward the aerosol model forming on her screen, then back to the team through the glass.
“Doctor Karzen,” she called, warmer now that the tension of unknowns had eased, “when you’ve wrapped up in there, I’m going to need you to loop in Lieutenant Ace Cannon from Operations.”
A small smile touched her lips, wry but fond. “If we’re preparing an aerosolised counteragent, Ops needs a head start on distribution routes and ventilation control. Cannon’s reliable—and fast—but he’ll want the medical specs from you directly.”
She tapped the comm panel lightly.
“Tell him we’ll have a preliminary formula ready shortly. And reassure him it won’t melt his ducts or void a warranty,” she added with a hint of humour. “That should keep his blood pressure steady.”
Her eyes softened. “Thank you, Karzen. Your lead on the clinical side is going to make this roll-out a lot smoother.”
With that, she moved to the next console, already building the treatment profile they’d be sending his way.
"Understood, Commander," Karzen said. "And thank you." Karzen finished up his work and tapped his commbadge. "Lieutenant Cannon, Lieutenant Commander Karzen. Please respond. We think we have a solution to the hallucinogen that we'll be needing your assistance with..."
A Post By:
Commander Tayanita Lio'ven
Chief Medical Officer
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Commander Karzen, MD, MPH
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Chief Flight Surgeon
Deep Space 5
Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Alex Rylan, EMT-P (Karzen)
Independent Duty Corpsman
Deep Space 5
Chief Hospital Corpsman Babatunde Oladele (Karzen)
Independent Duty Corpsman
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Liam Blackwood
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
Deep Space 5
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