Checking In

Posted on Wed Nov 25th, 2020 @ 11:50pm by Lieutenant Anna S. Thesia M.D. & Captain Rhenora Kaylen

Mission: Healing of Minds
Location: Sickbay

Despite being on shore leave and despising the questions her routine physical generally brought Captain Kaylen Rhenora dragged herself to sickbay only 20 minutes later than she was supposed to be there. It was tardy to be sure and not something she was proud of but sometimes her schedule even on quiet days blew out. Such was life.

The doors opened, revealing a clean and orderly sickbay, nothing like the organised chaos it had been when she was in there last. Anxiety blossomed and she fought to quash it.

Anna could be seen setting up a shelf of items near the replicator. She believed that the taste and quality of replicated beverages improved considerably if one was to manually add things like milk, sugar, vanilla flavour or similar things. At the very least, not every cup of tea would taste exactly the same. But this presented a problem. Those items standing around in sickbay just like that might be a hazard.

So she had replicated containers with a magnetic seal, so no amount of turbulence the ship might be subjected to would flip anything off the shelf. They could turn artificial gravity on its head, and all that would do was make it more difficult to prepare tea. When patient number one came in, Anna waved at her. "Glad to see you, skipper. Was my report to your liking?"

"Indeed it was, that is one report for Command I hope never sees the light of day again" the Captain grumbled in good nature. The final report had taken several hours and several more cups of coffee to compose, it took a spiritual trip to Vulcan before she trusted her instincts enough to submit it.

"It is something for historians to go over in a hundred years", Anna smiled, preparing a mug of green tea, in a cup saying 'Stabili-Tea' and handing it over to the Captain. "Here you are. Finest green tea. Can't ever have enough green.

The captain wrinkled her nose at the scent, unused to the finer delicacies of tea. Her usual go to was a stiff cup of coffee, not the gentler kinder on the body tea.

"Are you sure this is for for humanoid consumption? It smells like Remal's old socks."

"Who is Remal, and why does he stuff tea into his socks?" Anna wondered. "This is green tea. It's a beverage designed to calm nerves, relax and restore energy to the body." Not a particularly medical or scientific analysis, obviously, but true nonetheless from an emotional point of view. "You'd like something relaxing while I poke and prod you, yes?"

"There's poking and prodding?" Rhenora raised an eyebrow and took an experimental sip of the tea. Definitely like Remal's socks. "Oh, Remal is my husband, I'm sure you'll see him about the traps." She continued with a cautious smile, hoisting herself up on the biobed and preparing for the inevitable. Her physicals usually ended up in a lecture regarding looking after herself better.

Anna flicked on the sensors. "I'll do what needs to be done to ensure my patients are in their best possible health", she said. "Sometimes, that means I have to poke or prod. Other times, it's a full-on massage. It all depends on circumstances, but I'm very good with my hands." She looked at the sensor readings and arched her eyebrows. "Okay, definitely interesting..."

'Interesting? A good interesting or a bad interesting?" The Captain prodded, trying to focus on the conversation with the new CMO and not the data said doctor was apparently finding interesting.

"Oh, just seeing you've been through the meat grinder once or twice, it looks like", Anna said. "I can see you're partial to coffee, but I can assure you that tea is not harmful at all. You'll do fine with either." Other doctors might have told her to cut down on coffee, but not Anna. Caffeine was the best, safest drug that people could take. Well, unless these people were Andorians, in which case it would be dangerous for all involved. "Do you experience any pains that stem from those old injuries? Any loss of range of motion, perhaps?"

Rhenora paused for a moment, considering the question a little before replying.

"Ahhh I don't think so - most of them are quite old, I get niggles occasionally but I'd just put it down to the fact I'm no spring chicken anymore. I definitely feel as though I'm slowing down as I get older." There was a certain feeling of mortality that she was starting to feel now she'd cracked the half century mark. Half her life was over, and the rest felt like slippery slope into decrepitment. Not something she was overly comfortable with nor looking forward to.

"I suppose that is the normal course of events", Anna nodded. "I would like to encourage you to come to me with anything you notice about yourself that feels out of the ordinary. Even minor things. I might have only a minor quality of life cure for you, but it might also point towards something more severe, that's easier to nip in the bud before it comes to fruition." She was fairly proud of her ability to speak in metaphors, though she hadn't quite achieved Tamarian level yet.

"Of course" Rhenora replied, almost automatically, still sipping the tea that Anna had provided earlier. It was getting less like Remal's socks as she went - or was that her taste buds were acclimating to the taste?

"So tell me a bit about yourself?" She prodded, hoping to divert the attention away from herself.

"I, uhm, what do you want to know?" Anna asked. "I'm just a surgeon, learnt my trade in the war. As you surely know from my file, I'm half Orion and half Minaran. I am much sturdier than I look, though I'm not particularly good in a fight. I know how to keep my head down, but that's pretty much it."

The Bajoran nodded, encouraging her to continue "What drew you to surgery?" Generally there was some pivotal moment in people's life where they come to an epiphany about what they want to do with their lives.

"Well, when I get injured, my body mends itself, and fairly quickly", Anna said. "It started when I noticed that about myself, and that others around me couldn't do that. I began to look into anatomy, and medicine in general. Turns out I'm fairly good with my hands, so it was a natural choice to go into surgery." She flicked off the biobed's sensors, having all she needed for a baseline. "I love going on away missions, and seeing new places. Any time you could find it not a distraction from the goal of the mission, and I could be part of the team, I'd love the chance to."

"It's fairly standard practice to send a medical officer on most away missions - just in case. Particularly on this tub - we have a habit of getting the dangerous missions" Kaylen said whimsically. Now she thought about it - how did they always end up with the dangerous missions?

"Oh, good, fun and excitement", Anna grinned. "I take it Savar makes sure that you don't endanger yourself too much any more? I mean, looking at your medical file, you've received your fair share, no need to rack up any more. Unless, of course, you want to impress some Klingons?"

"Let's just say that I'm sure Savar will make sure my ass stays well and truly on the bridge unless there is a dire need for my skills on an away mission. He's most likely correct in that regard, although the yearning to be doing the doing rather than reviewing the reports after the fact always pulls strongly" Rhenora admitted, still wanting to be a part of the action despite her rank.

"It's either that, or I'll get to do a lot more than just poking and prodding in the future", Anna said. "But for now, I can see you're in good health. Not perfect, but then that's probably too much to ask."

"Seriously? No lecture? No reduction of coffee and increase of healthy foods and exercise? No comments about sleeping more and looking after myself?" The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them.

Anna shook her head. "No. You know all this, why should I tell you things you're well aware of? No, it's your choice, your body. I'll just do my best to make sure you can live your life the way you enjoy, with minimal consequences on your health."

The Captain's jaw dropped, astonished with what she was hearing. Finally a CMO that didn't read her the riot act, forcibly reduce her working hours or otherwise.

" Wow, umm... ok" She stammered, still processing this new approach to her health care. Something popped into her brain as it was mutating over the information.

" I had an... experience....on Vulcan. Similar to some of the Orb Experiences I have had in the past. Can you tell if there were any...after effects I should know about?"

"What kind of experience was it?" Anna asked. "I might have to take a full set of neurological scans, compare them with prior data. The more you tell me about it, the easier it'll be for me to rule out any ill effects."

Rhenora thought about it for a few moments, considering her experience and how to describe it. "There was a really tough climb of several hundred metres for a start, I had something to drink then a shower. I explored the hall for I would say about an hour. I felt drawn to a water fountain, but when I looked into it, it was almost like a hallucination - I saw people, faces and events from my past and from a possible future."

"Exhaustion from a steep climb in heat and a thin atmosphere, at greater than normal gravity", Anna said. "People have been hearing talking, burning bushes under those circumstances, and heard voices telling them to conquer the world. It's not unusual, the brain sends weird signals when it malfunctions."

"You don't think it was an experience with some kind of Vulcan deity? I guess there are always logical explanations to the paranormal - it was just - surreal though" Rhenora struggled to explain her thoughts.

"Uhm, no", Anna shook her head. "When humanoids created their gods, it was from malfunctions of the brains and tricks of the senses under conditions of extreme heat, thirst, hunger, fear.. you name it. Let me run a scan of your brain to make sure you did not suffer any long-term effects from the exhaustion, though it's usually safe to do these things up to a point. Hallucinations are nothing unusual, though. I've had them myself, usually after spending too much time awake and in surgery during the war. They were the signs that I really needed to take a break, no matter how many people were waiting for their time on my table."

The Captain nodded, taking a moment to recline on the table. Perhaps that's all it was - heat, exhaustion, dehydration all hooked together to form a hallucination. Perhaps that's all her previous experiences have been as well? There was a point though where science could not explain the religious - or was it the other way around? Then again, Anna was a being of science, medicine could explain things with neural activity and brain scans, but could it explain the awakening of ones soul? Could it explain how it felt to talk to your Gods?

"A very scientific answer" The Bajoran replied, internally struggling to have her faith explained in a series of medical breakdowns.

"It's the only kind of answer that can be given", Anna said. "Speculative fiction has tried in many cultures, over many thousands of years, to answer questions with mythology to which only science eventually managed to start giving the reliable answers. We haven't got all the answers yet, but at least the approach is promising." She started the brain scan she had offered earlier. "And one important piece of evidence is that religious visions come only to those with temporary or permanent brain malfunction. Often induced by drugs, or specific modulation of electromagnetic fields, but in extreme conditions, those can happen by themselves. At least for me, it was a most alarming experience."

The Bajoran listened to Anna talk, rationally explaining away something that she had pure faith in. It was almost as though her faith itself was being questioned.

"I feel as though it's be beyond that. But we can agree to disagree on that particular discussion" she relaxed and let the brain scan do it's thing.

"Oh, I don't disagree", Anna said. "The personal, emotional experience always goes beyond the rational explanation. Even Vulcans will admit that. Well, most of them, anyway. I mean, all you have to do is look at an optical illusion to see for yourself that what our senses and our brains perceive isn't necessarily an objective representation of reality. That's why we've invented measuring devices, such as this neural scanner." She smiled at Rhenora. "It's nice to be able to preserve the romantic outlook on these things, though. The scientific mind struggles with this aspect."

Anna paused a moment. "Hm, that's odd." She looked at the screen more carefully. "Computer, isolate this pattern", and she indicated on the touchscreen which signal she meant, rather than dictating parameters to the computer. "Search the medical database, find other instances of these signals in Bajoran neurological scans."

Turning to the skipper, she said. "There's an unusual pattern that I've never seen before, which might explain the strange images you have seen." The computer beeped as it found a match, and Anna looked at the screen. "Have you had an orb experience lately? These patterns indicate that you have."

"Not an Orb, per se" Kaylen paused for a moment to order her thoughts "I visited the Hall of Ancient Thought on Vulcan, it's known for restoring souls or Kat'ras to their rightful place" She started, recalling some parts of the experience clearly and others not so much. "There was a fountain, I looked into it, then I lost time - it was a most interesting vision" She hoped that she didn't sound like the village crazy lady. "It was actually very similar to the Orb experiences I've had in the past though."

"It might use the same technology", Anna mused. She knew that transferring a Vulcan's being was telepathic, a process reasonably well understood by science, and one that didn't need technology to function. The orbs, on the other hand... "I can't say anything else based on neurological scans. I am not aware of Vulcans possessing a technology similar to that of the wormhole aliens. However, if two cultures have to solve the same problems, their technological solutions are bound to end up doing the same thing, broadly speaking."

"Technologically yes, spiritually - similar" Rhenora agreed, thankful she wasn't going completely mad. "So there's a marker in my brain?" She prompted, eager to know exactly what it was that Anna had found.

"Residual neural activity that matches the pattern expected after an orb experience, yes", Anna said. "At least that's what the computer says, I have to trust its analysis on this." Those sets of data were beyond the capacity of the humanoid brain to analyse within the space of just a few seconds. If Anna tried to compare them manually, she'd probably have to take a sabbatical for a year or two, and concentrate just on that. No, she was perfectly happy to trust the computer on this one.

"So I'm not going to sprout extra nose ridges or a 3rd arm?" Rhenora smirked, swinging her legs up and around so she was sitting up again. "No chance of making some incredibly important discovery that will make us household names for the next 100 years?"

"No, you're safe from any dubious fame for the time being", Anna smiled. "But, if you truly want a third arm, or more nose ridges, I can arrange for that. The nose ridges would be a lot easier. With the arm, the challenge would be growing nerves and making your brain recognise them, so you'd be able to use it. Tricky, that. It would definitely bring us fame, or possibly infamy."

"On the flip side I'm not going to walk out of here and have some kind of significant brain episode? You know 'Captain has physical then dies in the corridor outside sickbay' kinda thing. Just covering my bases " She couldn't help but giggle, happy that Anna's bedside manner was definitely a pleasant one.

"Goodness, I sure hope not", Anna said. "That would look incredibly bad on my resume, for wherever else I'd have to apply next."

"I'm confident in your abilities Doc, your resume was impressive, and I can see your skills far exceed what is written officially. I'm sure you'll fit in nicely here, not that Doctor Wilson wasn't capable of course" The Captain hastily added in case the ships other MO was lurking nearby.

"Someone I hope to meet soon", Anna said, not sure what to make of the compliment. She felt she hadn't proven anything yet. So far, it was scan results and the computer's analyses that had done all the work. She had yet to prove what she could do when it came to actually performing surgery. "I'm also planning on reprogramming the EMH to be a little more useful around here, even when we're not handling emergencies."

"Oh really? in what way?" The Captain prompted - happy to see that Anna wasn't afraid to use her initiative and make changes to her own department.

"Someone has got to do the cleaning around here", Anna joked. It wasn't really what she had in mind, though. "No, it's fairly abrasive, and stuck up. I need to make it more user friendly."

Rhenora snorted, the decrepit taste of Remal's sock flavoured tea rising to her nose before subsiding again. "Aren't they all arrogant and abrasive? There is nothing to say they can't be reprogrammed - I won't tell Jupiter Station if you won't."

"I do want people to come here happily", Anna said. "I mean, obviously you'd rather not have a reason to have to come, but some people are way too reluctant to show up, until the problem is many times as bad when they eventually do."

"Prevention is always better than a cure" Rhenora parroted, having had that particular lecture more than once over her 50 odd years. " So tell me - how are you with crew members who generally aren't the best at following medical advice?" he prompted hopefully casually.

"Well, I have to put my foot down when it impacts their capacity for doing their job", Anna said. "But generally speaking, I mean... Sure. Health is important. I'm sure everyone agrees. But sometimes, some things we need to get done, or we just enjoy, are more important to us than our short term health. Who am I to argue with that? But everyone benefits from being honest with me. Sometimes, there are alternative ways of doing things. Let me help you achieve what you want, with minimal adverse effects."

"Why didn't you come onto my ship years ago?" Rhenora quipped with a contented sigh. She was happy to have a doctor who was less on the lectures and more on the collaboration. Until the Captain needed to be put back together - again.

Anna laughed. "Just be honest with me. I'll work with you. If you pretend you'll do one thing, but do another... well, there's no telling what might go wrong. And that can't be in anyone's interest."

"This is true. The honest truth is I drink too much coffee, don't eat enough and sleep is occasional. Everything else we can work with. Although I must admit Ronson has been making sure I eat at least semi-regularly - bless his socks." She admitted, hoping that a little slack would be cut.

"I don't see any nutrient deficiencies", Anna said. "And when you get too thin, I'll let you know. But I'm assuming you lead a fairly active life. You don't sit around in your ready room all the time, do you?" She smirked. "Me, I hate working out. So instead, I dance. Dancing is fun, and it gets me the exercise I need to stay fit. That way, I can eat things that aren't exactly healthy. Okay, I can eat lots of things that are technically poisonous, but that's for an entirely different reason. I just happen to like chocolate a lot." She stopped. "I'm rambling, I'm sorry. What I mean is, there's always a balance."

Rhenora chuckled at the thought of exercise. "Commander Savar has me on weekly sparring sessions to keep my skills up, and two supplementary cardio and weights sessions for conditioning. Let's just say it's a little harder to keep up these days" She admitted, aging was not something she was overly happy with. Her mind was still 20, but her body sadly was not.

"If you feel like dancing, hit me up", Anna offered. "It's less dull than having to do weight training, and it makes smart muscle, suitable for many different kinds of movements, rather than the dumb muscle that's built in pure weight training." Dumb muscle was good for only one kind of action, such as lifting a heavy weight in a particular way. It was useful for someone who took a lot of pride in a body being shaped a particular way, like a bulky arm or a shapely butt, but it did little in the way of improving overall health, and was often a cause for elevated blood pressure in its own right.

"Interesting, would you suggest a more functional style of training? Let's just say I have several left feet when it comes to dancing - unless there is a lot of spring wine involved." The Captain chuckled, recalling her last effort at dancing...it ended up on the tables.

"How long are we going to stay here, and have leisure time?" Anna wondered. "I'll gladly show you some fun ways, spring wine included. Personally, I love pole dancing. It does wonders for your back, coordination and general muscle strength."

"At Vulcan? Probably a week, maybe two until Command give us a new mission. The crew has been through the wringer lately so they need a bit of down time" She admitted. In two missions quite a lot had happened.

"Then you should get some down time, and enjoy some spring wine, yourself", Anna said. "My invitation is open, I'll happily dance with you, any style you like."

"The style of wine and left feet - this could be arranged." The Captain giggled, " And yes I plan on spending some more time on the planet, I've not been to Vulcan before so there's lots to explore. Are you heading down yourself?"

"I've been down waiting for you to get here", Anna said. "I think it's best if I stay up here, and get to know as many of the crew before we move on. But I enjoyed the polar regions, the forests and lakes are warm and humid, but not hot and punishing. Generally speaking, I like green places."

"Just make sure you get some downtime before we kick off again - who knows what Command will throw at us next" Rhenora commented lightly, hoisting herself off the biobed. " So Doc, am I the picture of health you were expecting?" She said in jest.

"You pass muster", Anna said. "Probably the best I can say. Let me know if you find any orbs down on Vulcan?"

"If there's an orb of Vulcan I'll be dancing naked....no wait there's an Orb missing... retract that..." Experience had told her never make pacts she couldn't keep because the universe worked in very mysterious and unusual ways. Never say never.

"Naked it is", Anna said. "Eliminates the problem of worrying about what to wear. I'm game."

Rhenora blushed a little at the thought but heck what was the problem with naked dancing? The probability of finding the missing orb on Vulcan was heinously unlikely as it was. At least the Doc had a good sense of humour.

Rhenora stretched, almost expecting the minor aches and pains of everyday life to have miraculously vanished during their conversation. Sadly she was mistaken.

"Back to the grind I guess, I'm looking forward to getting back down to the planet tomorrow. Are you at least going to have a look around?" She asked.

"On Vulcan? No, I enjoyed the past two weeks down there, but I've got a lot of work to do. I'm going to chase down everyone for their physicals, for one thing", Anna smirked. "That'll be more than enough exercise while I'm at it too."

"This is true, I for one have not been a shining example of turning up on time for my physical." Rhenora admitted, shrugging her shoulders in good nature "I wish you the best of luck on your endeavour. If anyone gives you grief, let me know."

"Permission to prank them, skipper?" Anna asked.

"Abso-bloody-lutely" The Captain laughed at the thought of the stragglers paying for their crimes.

"Great!" Anna rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Don't be surprise if you see more green faces around here when you get back."

"Just make sure it's nothing I can fry your ass for" Kaylen scolded gently, she was good for a good gag, but there was a line in there somewhere.

"Don't worry about it", Anna shrugged. "My arse heals just as quickly as the rest of me."

"This is a good thing" The Captain chuckled as she headed for the doors of sickbay. There was little doubt in her mind that those not turning up for their physicals were about to land the practical joke wrath of the new ships doctor.

"Enjoy your holidays", Anna said. She figured the captain probably deserved some quality time off.

"I will, I'll try and stay away from items that produce hallucinations and conversations with deities" Kaylen chuckled, "Thank you again Doc, it has been most...refreshing working with you."