Blue Blood

Posted on Thu Dec 17th, 2020 @ 2:43am by Lieutenant JG Sarah Wilson & Chief Petty Officer Sapphire

Mission: Healing of Minds
Location: Sickbay

Wearing a skin-tight silver suit of thick fabric covering her entire body, leaving only her hands, feet and head exposed, designed to collect her body heat and radiate it away from her and thus keep her at a comfortable temperature, and which was usually hidden under her uniform, Sapphire walked into sickbay. A shard of crystal having gone through her right hand. She had bandaged it crudely, so at least it wasn't dripping any blood on the floor. "Doctor?" she asked she short blonde who she spotted doing doctory things. "Could you take this piece of Vulcan rock out of my hand?" She showed no outward sign of being otherwise inconvenienced by it, and even offered a smile. "I'm Sapphire. I wanted to report for my physical some time tomorrow, but this seems to be a good opportunity as well."

Dr Sarah Wilson looked up as the doors of sickbay parted with a soft hiss, revealing a new crewmember she hadn't met before. Said crewmember appeared to be Andorian in origin and had something wrong with her hand by the crude bandage on it.

"I'm Sarah, please, come over here and let me take a look." She offered, gesturing towards the nearest vacant biobed.

Sapphire sat down on the bed, not needing her hands to prop her up onto it as she was tall enough. "I was exploring a cave down on Vulcan, the stone under me broke off, and so as not to fall, had to catch myself on something. Didn't manage to avoid this crystal", she quickly narrated what had happened. She started unwrapping the bandage, revealing a milky-white crystal that went right through her palm, about thirty centimetres long and three centimetres thick. "I believe at least one of my bones is broken, and I feel pressure from the wound." A no-brainer, of course the crystal was pushing Sapphire's metacarpal bones apart, and while it would make doing the Vulcan salute easier, she didn't want her hand to remain in this alternative shape.

"Wow, you did a good job of that" Sarah said in good nature, grabbing a handful of instruments and devices from a nearby tray. "Are in you in any pain?" She asked first, reaching for a hypospray.

The Andorian nodded. "I am, but it is bearable. A warrior does not complain of discomfort. I'm more concerned I might lose range of motion or tactile sensation in my fingers." That would be much worse in Sapphire's eyes.

"This will help with the pain, and any bacteria the crystal may have been carrying" Sarah started, injecting Sapphire in the neck before picking up a medical tricorder and taking some readings.

"There is some damage to the bone structures in your hand, and to the muscles, we can repair those without too much drama though." She said with a smile, taking a few more readings before setting the tricorder down. "This shard however, needs to come out. She had a dermal regenerator in one hand and a pair of medical grade pliers in the other. "Are you ready?"

Sapphire took hold of the thicker end of the shard, facing upwards from her palm. "I'll pull it out when you say go."

"You sure?" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow. Most patients looked the other way or found other way to distract themselves as foreign objects were removed. She readied the dermal regenerator to heal as the shard was removed.

"I'm certainly not planning on making this a permanent addition to my body", Sapphire said. "Some body piercings might be nice to have, but not like this. So yes, I'm sure."

"Ok then, slowly" Sarah advised "I need to seal everything so you don't bleed further."

"Yes, of course", Sapphire agreed. "I don't want to ruin your carpet." She smirked. Pulling the shard out slowly didn't take much effort, not after the hypospray had dulled all the pain. Thus, going slow wasn't hard. "No, I like your careful touch. Please, keep it up."

"Naturally" Sarah replied with a smile, sealing the wound as the shard was removed. The muscles and bone would take a little extra work, but the wound would be shortly sealed and able to continue healing on its own.

"Well done" She finished as the shard was placed in a metal kidney dish to one side with a solid clunk.

"I'm going to wash it and place it in my quarters as decoration", Sapphire said. "You're not supposed to take souvenirs from the cave, but I believe this is a special circumstance, right?" She resisted the urge to rub her palm, and instead kept her hand steady for Sarah to be able to repair the internal damage.

"I think this would definitely qualify as a special circumstance" Sarah started, picking up the bone knitter and starting to work on the bones. "Besides, I won't tell."

"Much appreciated", Sapphire said. "Someone might claim I did this just so I could take a piece home. Best not to start any vile rumours."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at the comment. "That someone should get their facts straight before making comments." She spat before she could stop herself. Ooops... It happened all the time though - rumours spread through partial or mis-information leading to all kinds of bad things. It was Sarah's pet hate.

"Alright you're nearly done" She quickly refocused on the task at hand, fixing the muscle fibres back together and testing the range of motion.

Sapphire flexed her hand. "I don't feel it yet, but I'm sure that'll come as the effect of the painkiller wears off." It wasn't the first time she'd had some minor surgery on one of her extremities, after all. "Different question, can I sign up for something akin to frequent flyer benefits?"

"Ohhhhh Don't tell me you're going to be one of 'those'..." Sarah said warily, giving Sapphire the 'eye'. "Any discomfort in the hand? You should have almost full range of motion but I recommend taking it a little easy for a day or two until the muscles and bones finish healing."

"I'm Master-at-Arms, what do you think?" Sapphire asked. "If I do my job right, it happens." She nodded in response to the advice, she understood how this went. "You'll see if you look into my file that there are a lot of cuts, torn ligaments and muscles, the occasional broken bone... nothing serious, though."

"Let's call it risk mitigation then" Sarah amended, reviewing the Andorian's file now that she had a free hand. "Lots of bumps and bruises, but keeping physically fit as you are reduces the impact of those injuries. I could probably recommend a few supplements to your diet that will also aid in recovery and injury prevention.

"Sure", Sapphire said. "Whatever helps. I've usually just supplemented my diet with whisky or rum when I'm out in a hot environment, to keep my blood alcohol levels up." One of the main problems for Andorians when it got too hot, they lost their alcohol, which was part of their bodies' anti-freeze system that had them so well-adapted to cold environments.

"Whilst the alcohol helps with your thermal regulation, it inhibits your body's ability to heal itself. A simple collagen supplement would do the trick" Sarah added, pulling up the relevant information on the padd.

"I can have the replicator add it to a food item I order without causing any issues, right?" Sapphire asked.

"Of course, it's tasteless and dissolves into just about anything. We can program the replicator to add it into any specific food or meal. You won't know it's there but your body will love you for it." Sarah advised, adding the appropriate files to Sapphire's replicator access.

"I try to listen to what my body loves", Sapphire said. "Except for when it's time for smoked blubber. I know smoked is bad, but I have to indulge sometimes. It's just so good."

"Everyone has their indulgence - mine is chocolate. I allow myself a small portion a day, otherwise bad things happen to the chocolate." The MO chuckled at the block of chocolate she kept stashed for its own well-being.

"Chocolate doesn't agree with me, unless I replicate a special kind that's got no caffeine in it", Sapphire said. "I have to watch myself with quite a lot of Terran foods."

"That would keep you on your toes I guess" Sarah admitted, having gotten a little lazy when it came to experimenting with different foods. "Andorians and caffeine don't mix, or is it a personal preference?"

"We're known for being aggressive, right?" Sapphire grinned. "Caffeine makes this a lot worse. During the war, I was given some raktajino by Klingons. Even they thought I was being extreme afterwards. No, it makes me go berserk, and I want to be in control of what I'm doing."

"Fair enough" Sarah filed that snippet of information in her brain as well as her patient's file. Andorians and caffeine do NOT mix... "Any other pertinent information I should know?" She asked "Allergies, things to avoid?"

"Hm, does a strong aversion to criminals and other people with antisocial behaviour count as an allergy?" Sapphire asked. "No, I didn't think so. Well, the most important thing is, nobody knows who my biological parents are, so there's no background of whatever diseases run in my family to look at. But every doctor before you has always assured me that I'm a fairly good example of a standard Andorian, medically speaking."

"Well I can't speak for the other doctors, but I can agree with them. You're in fine form, apart from the numerous bumps and bruises that your job seems to impart you with. " Sarah finished with a smile, setting down her padd and stepping back to allow Sapphire to jump from the bed.

"You're free to go, don't come back too soon if you know what I mean" She gave a wink.

Sapphire planted her feet on the floor again, asking, "Hmm, do you make housecalls?"

"Only if required" Sarah smiled. "In all seriousness - try and look after yourself."

"Feel free to check in on me whenever you've got reason to doubt that I am, indeed, looking after myself", Sapphire winked.

"Be careful - I might actually do that." Sarah giggled, putting the instrument tray in the sterilising unit.

"I'll see you then", Sapphire smiled, heading for the door.

"Apparently" Sarah quipped as Sapphire vanished between the silver doors of sickbay. With a sigh she set about cleaning up and getting back to physicals.