Checking In

Posted on Tue Jan 30th, 2018 @ 6:22pm by

1,955 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: S0:1: What Is Past, Is Prologue
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: MD 0 :: 15.50h (backpost)

Loren had unpacked everything and gotten his cabin set up just the way he liked it, including the salt-water aquarium with its exotic fish and even met the Captain. Now it was time he met the head of the medical department. He was planning, as Terrans often said, to kill two birds with one stone and get his physical at the same time.

He was more comfortable wearing his scrubs, but since he wasn't going to be working until the next day he wore his uniform as he stepped inside Sickbay

As with most ship layouts, the chief's office was inside sickbay, off the main ward and near the doors. There were also windows that provided a view of the majority of the ward, as well as the main doors. Rena was currently at her desk, managing the files of those in stasis. She had never expected such a workload, but once she got into a system it became easier. Slightly. It was still a couple dozen files a day, if she were to spread them out.

When the doors opened, she glanced up long enough to make sure the arrival wasn't in dire need of medical assistance before wrapping up the current file she was on. "Just a moment!" She called to the man.

"Of course," the Kirosian replied. He stood and put his hands behind his back and looked around sickbay, waiting for her to finish her task.

And a moment it was. Once the file was saved and sorted, she stood from her desk and entered the main ward, giving the man a smile. "Thank you for your patience. It's been busy around here. What can I help you with, sir?"

"I'm Loren Finanhad, " he said with an easy smile,"I'm here to check in. I could give myself a physical, but the powers that be might not like that. I'm also going to be the Head Nurse here. Are you the Chief, or is the Chief around?"

Rena's smile widened, and she offered her hand in a shake. "That's me. Rena Kal, it will be good to have you." Initially, she thought he was Trill, but at a closer glance she could see that his markings were different. "I am glad you didn't decide to take it upon yourself, I've had a couple officers in the past try that. We'll say they got a stern talking to," she said with a wink. "Let's get that physical out of the way, so I can show you around." She gestured to one of the many biobeds in the ward before pulling over a monitor on a small cart, using it to pull up his file.

"Thanks," he replied, matching her smile as he moved to the closest biobed. His smile was slightly reserved. It wasn't that he didn't find her attractive, he did. He was going to be working in close proximity to this woman and he had to, as best he could keep her at arm's length and not become too attached to her.

"I do tend to follow the rules and the chain of command, at least the majority of the time. So I'll give you my word to be a good boy." He almost added 'unless you like bad ones.' but that remark would have been totally inappropriate and would not have set the proper tone, even if he were only joking.

"Good, no sickbay mutinies," Rena said with a wink. She began the physical with a baseline scan, using the removable scanner to start from his head and move downward. "Vitals are good... so, what are your specialties?"

"Trauma and emergency medicine primarily, but I spent a semester as a counselor's aide," Loren responded.and I enjoyed that. What about you, do you have a specialty?"

"From which lifetime?" She asked with a chuckle. "My first host, Rigon Kal, was strong in pediatrics, and my fourth host, Sialle, did trauma and emergency field medicine during the Dominion War." Rena paused, thinking over her own specialties. "While I've trained for about everything, I would say my strengths are trauma and... well, adaptability when resources are lacking." As she spoke, her mind went back to the gamma quadrant, when all they had was the few remaining outposts and ships that survived the attacks. She finished the initial scan and entered the data into the monitor. "I'm going to check your eyes, then your nodes," Rena spoke again, grabbing a slick pen-shaped object and turned back to him, holding up her finger. "Follow my finger with your eyes."

"I've been mistaken for a Trill," he said, keeping his head still as his eyes watched her finger move, "Sometimes I don't even correct people anymore. I do find the whole concept intriguing, having so many lives to pull from. How does the interaction between the host and they symboit work anyway, if you don't mind me asking."

Rena gave an understanding nod, using the pen light to momentarily blind him as he followed her finger. "I can see why. I don't mind the question..." She paused to think of a response. How could she describe something that feels natural? "It's mostly memories. Kal retains the memories of their previous hosts, which I can experience in two ways: simply as a memory, or through the zhian'tara, which puts those memories into another body telepathically and allows me to interact with the past hosts.

"Physically, Kal is bonded to me through a connection from the narrow end of their body to my lower spine, behind my abdomen," she continued, finishing checking his eyes. Pocketing the light, she then grabbed gloves before placing her fingers gently on the sides of his neck, gently pressing before moving an inch down. "Sometimes- heh, well... often enough, hosts also gain personality traits from previous hosts. My love for children comes from Rigon, for example."

He was slightly bothered by the close physical contact and her close proximity. It wasn't that he didn't understand it was just routine, not that he didn't find her attractive. It was just that too much contact in his state was not a good thing. He managed not to flinch, barely and to match her gaze. "I enjoy children too," he said, "I was an only child and sometimes wonder what it would be like to have siblings."

Rena chuckled, finishing the nodes and taking a step back. "I have two. Rani is my older brother and Asra is my younger sister. But at times they were a hassle. Next, range of motion. Go ahead and look over each shoulder, then up and down."

"Were they joined too?" Loren asked as he turned and looked, first over his left shoulder, then over his right. "And what do you want me to do next?"

"Relax your legs," she instructed, grabbing a reflex hammer. Perhaps it was her hosts, but there was something about the more traditional methods that was more satisfying than staring at a monitor as it did all the work. "No, they aren't joined, but my father is," Rena continued, gently placing a couple fingers just above his knee and tapping the reflex point with the hammer. Her voice had dropped a little at the mention of her father, as had her expression, and she switched to his other leg to repeat the reflex test. "He... motivated me, in a way, to become joined." Motivate was hardly the word she thought the man deserved, but it best described the outcome.

Loren cocked his head slightly as he looked at her. "Motivate in a good way, or a bad way?" he asked. His senses were picking up on something he just wasn't sure what, "and you can always tell me it's none of my business."

The response was a shrug as she finished the test before gesturing for him to lay down. "When he joined, he used his symbiont, to the point where he abused their knowledge in order to commit crimes. Rest your feet on the bed and bring each knee up as close to your chest as you can, one at a time." Rena turned slightly to enter in data, enough so she could still watch him. "I promised myself that if I ever became joined, I would never treat my symbiont like that. But it also motivated me to become joined, so I could prove I was better than him, I suppose."


"I'm sorry to hear about your father and how he acted. I can definitely understand though, I don't think my father would win Father of the Year, And have you done that, proven your father wrong I mean? I'm betting that you have, you seem like that kind of person."

"So far, I think so," Rena said with a small smile. "One of my hosts was one hell of a daredevil, so at times it's hard to control that urge, but I'm not in prison and I intend to keep it that way. Any specific medical concerns I should know about?"

He gave his new boss a long look considering what he should tell her. There was a long pause before he spoke. "In a manner of speaking. I'm an empathic metamorph. Do you know what that is?"

"No, but I have a feeling that a standard definition from the computer won't do it justice," she replied, walking him through a couple more exercises before allowing him to sit up again. "As a matter of fact, I would rather hear it from you, that way I won't have any doubts."

"Sure," he replied, "so here are the basics. Much like a Betazoid, I am an empath, I can sense other people's emotions. Mostly those are surface emotions. Sometimes that can be overwhelming if I'm around a lot of people. So, I have erect a kind of shield, or filter. What distinguishes me from a Betazoid, or a Vulcan is, the closer I am to a person, the more...intimate I am with them, the deeper the emotion and thoughts I can sense. But it even goes beyond that. I have not been, how would you say, bonded to someone."

"When that happens, which would mean veryintimate contact with someone, then I become the perfect mate to them. I know what all their desires are, emotionally, sexually, in every way and I conform to those needs whatever they are."

Rena took in the information as she listened. While the definition of the two words made sense with his description, it was still fascinating to understand what exactly it entailed. "Uh... wow," she finally said, finding her voice back. "That's fascinating." She then remembered his mentioning of intinate contact. "I... heh, I should have asked before the checkup if you were ok with being touched..."

"It's okay," he said with a smile that was somewhat forced, "I am used to it. After all, my job involves a lot of touching. I do however try to limit just how much, or how long I touch someone, or let myself be touched. But nothing you did went too far."

"If I ever do, please let me know," Rena said, thankful that she didn't step any boundaries. "Well, you are in perfect health. If you don't have any other questions or concerns, you are free to start. Don't worry about the whole official "meeting your boss" thing, I think we got that covered." She gave him a friendly smile.

"No, I have nothing to ask, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each othe. I think I'm going to go unpack and crash."

Rena nodded. "Of course. I will see you in the morning, 0800."

 

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