Checkups and Dressdowns
Posted on Sat Dec 30th, 2017 @ 6:29am by Lieutenant Commander Shadi Zatra
Edited on on Sat Dec 30th, 2017 @ 7:42am
1,014 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
S1:2: Rubicon
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 3
If there was one thing she wanted to avoid, it was illness. After hearing that Ensign Zatra had plowed through someone, literally, Rena wanted to be sure that the decontamination unit got rid of all potential bacteria. It was on rare occasions that something did manage to get through Decon, and the Trill didn't want to take any chances. She had asked Shadi to come at her earliest convenience, and would take about ten minutes of her time. That is, assuming everything was fine.
It was a quarter hour past her appointment, and Shadi was still 2 decks away from Sickbay. There had been so much to do and so little time in which to do it that even a few moments away from her duty seemed a heinous sacrifice. Should anything else happen...
Shadi put such dark, depressing thoughts out of her mind. The Warrior Code demanded Courage, and the foundation of courage was hope. At the scents, both medicinal and clinical, wafting down the corridor from Sickbay, Shadi's hope turned toward not being here long.
She cleared the doors without fanfare, instead slinking toward the CMO's office to report in as ordered.
"Hello?" she called out in her gravelly voice.
Rena was sorting through the medical files of the people in stasis, the one currently in her hand of a Trill who came with her. 63 years old, a geneticist, and unjoined. The voice pulled her attention up to see her patient, and put on her doctor smile as she stood fron her desk. "Welcome, Ensign, although I believe you have been acquainted with Sickbay already. This won't take long, I simply want to make sure the decon unit didn't miss anything after... uh... making a hole in someone. Bodily fluids, including blood, can carry a surprising amount of contaminants." She gestured to the main ward so they could get started.
"Let's get this over with," Shadi sighed. She rent her clothing in twain, revealing her naked scaly body. Presenting herself before Rena in a twirl, arms raised in the air with hands twisted and interlocked, Shadi looked down at the shorter Trill. "How do I look, Doc? Am I going to live?"
While the naked body didn't phase Rena, having Shadi suddenly strip for her was definitely a surprise. She blinked, taking a moment to bring her composure back before responding, "visually, you look fine. Internally should be the same, unless you managed to swallow or otherwise consume any of the matter, which this," she held up a medical tricorder, "... will find. I don't want you coming in a week from now with a bug because we weren't thorough." She opened the tricorder and started scanning her body.
"You may begin." Shadi lowered her chin, though kept her arms aloft.
Rena let the verbal silence take over as the tricorder made the only sound, aside from the ship's steady hum. She had never worked with Saurians before, but was sure to do her research once she was able to access the medical files, as well as dowload all there was to know about the species before they departed. She'd be damned if she didn't know how to treat one of her patients.
"So," the Trill began, opting to start up a conversation for the sake of keeping a good bedside manner, rather than let the tricorder do all the talking. "... how did you hear about the ship?"
Shadi snaked her tongue in and out as she spoke with eager excitement. "I heard tell of a tasty mission into the unknown while serving on the Ingram." Her face pinched in a grimace. "Spicy bite of a ship. Looks good outside, but I ssswear to the War Goddess its hull is thinner and more brittle than eggshells."
While the scan continued, Shadi turned and pivoted as directed by gestures.
"I put my request in to the Traveller project, same as all the others. Figured it was a wasted effort, I did, but here I am."
Rena nodded, glad that she was able to get a conversation started. "I was over by Cardassian territory on the Venture when I heard of this mission. It took me about six months to convince the Symbiosis Commission to allow me to go, and even then they didn't like it."
Should she explain that? Rena thought for a moment... it wouldn't hurt. "Since Kal is less than 350 years old, the Commission doesn't want the symbiote to die should something happen to me, so they required that some Trill civilians join the Traveller project should I be accepted," she explained.
"Tasty decision." Shadi glanced down at the medical tricorder in Rena's hands. "So am I clean?"
Rena read over the results from the device. "Yep, all good. You know the drill, if anything changes, make sure to stop by. Unless you have any concerns or anything you want me to check while you're here, you are free to go."
"Well..." Shadi turned her head downward in a bashful gesture. "I might be laying an egg soon and..."
A staccato burst of hisses interrupted her. "No, Doctor. It is well with me."
The Trill beamed, her eyes twinkling with the possibility of a child on board. "Well, if you need an incubator, sickbay is more than able to accomodate you." She paused before asking, "is 'congratulations' a little early at this moment?"
Shadi stared at Rena with abject dishumor. "Doctor, that was in jest. My pelvis is far from plump and moist!"
It took only a second for Rena's cheeks to turn a shade of red, and her jaw went slack for a moment before she clamped it shut. "I... ah, sorry, I missed the joke, heh," she stammered. How embarrassing! Her hands tightened around the now closed tricorder a little.
"You're forgiven." Shadi crossed her arms until Rena finished her scan.
"Well," Rena began, glad to move on. "You are all set and free to go. Everything checks out normal."
"Excellent," Shadi said. "I will try to avoid jumping through people's viscera anytime soon."
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