Biological Lab: The Lab That Watches Back

Biological Lab: The Lab That Watches Back

Name: Biological Containment & Analysis Bay (BioCAB)
Location: Deck 5 – Forward Meditech Spine, USS Heimdahl
Function: Xenobiological crucible, bioethical triage center, organo-reactive intelligence vault

Narrative Origin

It started with a virus that dreamt in Betazoid.
An infection that didn't kill—but instead whispered your past in someone else's voice.

They tried to study it in Sickbay. The med team never came back.

After that, Starfleet approved a new section—quietly. It wasn't medicine. It wasn’t research. It was triage for the unknowable.

The Biological Lab wasn’t made for healing.
It was made to understand what had no business being alive.

Operational Role

BioCAB is the Heimdahl’s final defense against the organic unknown—where tissue samples, rogue pathogens, living weapons, and non-corporeal entities get their moment of truth. Designed for forensic biology, first-contact cellular intelligence, and xeno-containment studies, the lab is where organic anomalies meet ethical limits.

Core Features:

• Bio-Isolation Chambers (Levels 1–5): Tiered containment units with morphogenic sealing fields. Each chamber is fully self-sustaining, and can simulate planetary atmospheres, pressures, and microbial ecosystems.
• Epidermal Vortex Table: A rotating biopsy-suspension platform. Dissects at cellular resolution while tracking active protein responses in real time.
• Cryo-Coffin Array: 12 sealed pods for long-term stasis and study of living samples. Includes organic memory-mapping overlays.
• Quarantine Shell ‘CAGE’ (Containment for Anomalous Genetic Entities): Bio-reactive nanobarrier cages designed by Dr. Elias Vonn. Can hold up to 4 sentient biological entities with adaptive aggression inhibitors.
• Kennel Hold & Wildbox Units: For non-sentient biologicals with behavior variables. Reinforced, sensor-dense crates for physical organisms with high metabolic variance or hive behavior.
• Mass Spectrometer Suite: Detects trace bio-signatures, mutagenic residue, and off-spectrum DNA encodings. Often used to track species that exist between known categories.
• CSI/Bioforensic Toolkit: Onboard forensic reconstruction hardware for post-mortem biological mapping, capable of reconstructing cause-of-death profiles from cellular residue.

Trait: “The Lab That Watches Back”

Effect: When a crew member uses this lab for any of the following, reduce Difficulty by 1:

• Xenobiological identification or classification
• Medical analysis of unknown lifeforms or tissue
• Biohazard triage or sample neutralization
• Anomaly behavior prediction (e.g., parasitic, viral, psionic)
• Behavioral/physiological profiling for first contact or security

Narrative Quirk:

Any Task performed in this lab involving living or once-living entities carries the chance of reflexive response—not from the crew, but from the subject itself.

Sometimes:

• A sample develops eyes where none existed
• A non-sentient organism reacts to its name
• A decomposing entity begins to regrow from memory tissue
• Nyx becomes distressed while monitoring bio-neural scans
• Swayze locks the chamber preemptively before you know why

Security Protocols:

• All samples scanned for psionic, pheromonal, and memetic hazards on entry
• Bio-disposal chute leads to isolated matter-core incinerator
• Red-level alarms routed directly to Command, with full lockdown authority
• Decon zone includes EM purging, nanite delousing, and short-term memory scramble (if needed)

Known Events:

• LeBlanc Spoor Encounter – Sample grown from Pax’s childhood trauma briefly entered Phase-3 mimicry. Attempted to mimic Fenrir’s voice.
• Trill Memory Echo – Tissue sample from Berza’s pre-Borg self contained unprocessed memory clusters. Resulted in recursive flashback effect on nearby crew.
• The Screaming Seed – A plant/flesh hybrid removed from an Iconian vault emitted audio resembling human sobbing until exposure to a child’s drawing halted it.

BioCAB doesn’t save lives.
It holds them still. Long enough to understand if they should be saved at all.
Some things aren’t meant to survive. Others won’t let you forget they did.