Medical In-Processing

Posted on Sun 2nd Feb, 2025 @ 4:05pm by Commander Heriah Rex & Lieutenant Niamh MacAran MD

2,613 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: The Phoenix Gamble
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: Current

Heriah left her quarters in the direction of Sick Bay. In her had was her PADD displaying her in-processing to do list for the starbase. She had yet to check in with Medical and was intent on getting that done as soon as possible.

'I hate Medical.'

"I know you do Rex."

'They always ask about that Borg implant.'

"I know they do Rex."

'And they always throw a pity party.'

"Rex..." Heriah brought a hand up to her ear and brush a lock of hair over though there was no hair there to brush over. She smile uncomfortably at a passing personnel in uniform. She ended up just swatting in the air as though at an insect buzzing in her ear, despite there were no insects in this section of the base. In truth, she was simply attempting to swat at Rex's thoughts. "They don't always do that," she said to herself, barely audible. "Besides, we are meeting with an LT. The CMO is also new and has not yet arrived."

'LT's are even worse. You know you cannot spell lost without LT.'

Heriah pressed onwared and arrived at Sick Bay. Entering, she saw that it was a rather quiet day thus far. She went to the CMO's office, currently occupied by a...

'Carcosan? Oh this should be fun.'

Heriah stepped up to the door.

Before Heriah could knock, the red-haired woman seated at the CMO's desk glanced up and looked through the window at her. She stood and came to the door, which slid aside for her. The lieutenant glanced at Heriah's rank pips. "Commander? If you're here to see Dr. Dhuro, he's currently in surgery. I'm Dr. MacAran. May I assist you?" She gave Heriah a look of polite but intense interest.

"Doctor," Heriah regarded her, "I am Commander Heriah Rex, the newly appointed XO of this starbase. I am not looking for Dr. Dhuro, but...for anyone who can assist me in completing the Medical portion of my in-processing." Heriah had her PADD in hand and flipped it over, handing it to Dr. MacAran. The medical portion of it was already pulled up. It required a full body scan for newly arriving personnel to act as a baseline scan. "If you have a few moments..."

'...I would like to do a full body scan of you instead.'

"...we could," Heriah continued, "get this knocked out."

"Ah. Welcome to Starbase 109, Commander." Dr. MacAran accepted Heriah's PADD and glanced briefly into the corridor, as if looking for someone. She retraced her step backward into the office and gestured for Heriah to come in. "Yes, we can get this done. Did you beam aboard 109 or arrive through a docking bay?" Niamh set the PADD down on the CMO's desk and spoke toward the monitor. "Computer, display EMR of Rex, Heriah onscreen."

"The ship I arrived on, the U.S.S. Eumenides, is currently docked and will be for a few days. I did not beam aboard." Heriah followed the doctor inside and looked around at the place while Naimh perused her medical information.

Heriah's electronic medical record flashed on the monitor, and Niamh's eyes widened as she swiftly darted her gaze through the information.

Naimh saw the order for frequent isoboramine checks and then recalled that was the substance joined Trill required to maintain a stable joining with the host's symbiont. She saw an order for frequent checkups as well as counselor visits. To top it all off, the Rex symbiont was subjected to a traumatic past and possessed an irremovable Borg implant. Heriah was allowed a personal hypospray filled with benzocyatizine and up to a max of 50 doses per fill. Benzocyatizine was the medication that helped boost and stabilize isoboramine levels. Hypospray refills had to go through the CMO or highest available medical authority but only after a bodily scan to ensure addiction and dependence on Benzocyatizine was not evident.

An addendum to Heriah's medical file possessed a link to a welcome letter, of sorts, to any who accessed Heriah's medical and or counseling records: PM Rikata Mol to SB109 Counseling and Medical Personnel

The CMO's office was, unfortunately, devoid of all the personal touches that previous occupants had graced it with. At the moment it was a boring, government-issue office, the only interesting feature being the window that the CMO could look out of to observe the general tenor of activity in the Infirmary.

At the CMO's desk, Niamh was reading the synopsis of Heriah's recent medical history. "Oh, you're joined!" she said. "That explains it--except it doesn't." She looked puzzled for a moment and then continued reading. She glanced at Heriah after a moment. "Do you have nightmares of the assimilation attempt?"

'You realize if you answer, you are going to have too...'

"Yes," Heriah said.

'...kill her now.'

"Well, no. Kind of." Heriah took a chair and gave the doctor her full attention. "It is something that Rex does not remember. Not in detail at least."

'Can we focus on the detail that we should not be talking about this? She is not a counselor.'

"So...sometimes," Heriah continued, "I get these dreams. They are few and far between mind you. But it is something akin to a fluid stream of consciousness style of dream...or nightmare as you said...where the whole event takes place and unravels as it probably would and how I feel it naturally did." She folded her arms over her belly protectively. I've done all kinds of mental exercises, even the Trill ritual of calling forth symbiontic memories as though they were my own. Neither Rex nor I can ever get a vivid memory of that day." She sat back, kept those arms folded over her belly. "All that is left is trying to imagine how it naturally might have happened and see if that makes a memory jump forth."

'The only thing I want to jump forth is you...jumping forth to slit that pretty neck of hers.'

"It's probably a good thing that the memories are not detailed," Niamh said. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"What was 'IT' that this does or does not explain?" Heriah asked.

She paused to listen to Heriah's question. "The 'it?'--Oh! I was thinking aloud; I do that, sometimes. If felt to me as if I was in the presence of two very different people, but I saw only one--and a joined Trill would seem to explain why I felt there were two--except the impression I have always had is that joined Trills become one personality. So that puzzled me--still does--but I don't want to pry. I'll leave that to Dr. Graves."

'As you very well should little Miss Priss.'

"Think nothing of it," Heriah waved off any concern. "I am only 14 months into my joining and, since we can only join once, I suppose I have little experience to compare my own experience against. If that makes sense." She held a hand over her belly. "My joining with Rex was not entirely smooth sailing, you might say. So, I understand your reaction." She smiled at the thought. "There was a movie night one night at the Academy. Normally I would be turned off to horror, and body horror, movies but I heard the classic movie, Slither, was being played. This was after my joining, mind you, so my tastes changed a great deal after Rex came along."

'All for the better. I would want to commit seppuku if you remained a vegan eating, fashion dancing, all smiles yuppie.'

Heriah maintained her smile. "Needless to say, after that movie, there were some wise-cracks made at me for having a symbiont 'slithering' around inside me. It was all in good fun."

'Would have been more fun if you heeded my advice. We could have gotten away with it.'

Niamh chuckled. "I'm sure the jokes get very old, very quickly. I'm like your pre-joined self. I've never seen it and don't plan to," Niamh admitted. She closed Heriah's medical record and straightened. "Let's get you onto a biobed and see what there is to see." She led Heriah out of the CMO's office and into a small examination room. "Just lie down there and relax. So Rex likes horror movies. Texas Chainsaw Massacre?"

"Among the many," Heriah said as she hopped up onto the biobed. Having done this sort of thing several times, she positioned herself accordingly and lied back, trying to relax. This was always an anxious time for Rex, however, and the anxiety emanating from the symbiont nearly counteracted Heriah's calm. All in all, she was relaxed, but not entirely at the same time. She sought to alleviate some of the tension coming forth by expanding upon her answer.

"If the film has war, gore, horror, or anything where the bad guy wins...well...then Rex is generally a fan. How long have you been doing this?" she asked Niamh.

"What, medicine? I began studying it on my homeworld, Carcosa, and then I joined Starfleet Medical, where I earned my doctorate in exo-medicine and served an internship and residency on a couple of ships before being assigned to 109," Niamh said.

"Sounds like my health and well-being are in good hands," Heriah said as she lay back and relaxed as Niamh worked the controls.

"They had better be, or Dr. Dhuro and the next CMO will have my hide," Niamh said, "and deservedly so." She pressed a button, and the biobed began its scan. She studied the screen on the wall above the biobed as the scanner hummed quietly. Niamh paid particular attention to the Borg implant. She grimaced. "Hm. I see why they couldn't remove that. Even simply beaming it out would cause damage because it's supporting Rex's autonomic nervous system." She muttered an unladylike word under her breath, then cleared her throat and went on.

"Anyway, it's functioning well, aside from the insult of it being implanted in the first place. Overall, Commander, you are in excellent health, and your isoboramine levels are well within normal limits." She paused. "If you don't mind my asking, do you do yoga or dance?"

"Yoga, yes," Heriah began. "Dancing...not so much these days. I did, long ago. Not only was I interested, but my mother, sort of, mandated it anyway. You see, I was born into a family of fashion designers, though I never had much of an interest in it myself. My mother raised me to be all pretty and proper," she mimicked and mocked a model's expression before the cameras, "and enrolled me in dancing classes. As long as I was graceful and flexible, that was all that mattered." She sat up on the biobed as it finished its scan. "Once I realized that life was not for me...long story short...I left there and joined Starfleet. After my joining with Rex...and learning of an extensive fighting background to include martial arts...I kept up with my fitness, started yoga and even returned to dancing again. I still have all the form and grace, I hope." She looked at Niahm and smiled. "But more for martial arts than for catwalking."

"So it's mainly yoga and martial arts you do," Niamh said. "I wondered, because you have more cartilage than usual and less calcification in your joints than usual, and I typically see that in dancers or people who do yoga. I hadn't thought about martial arts."

Niamh studied her PADD and glanced back at Heriah. "The scanner and I agree; you're in excellent health and are cleared for duty, Commander. I do wish you could be my patient, because you are interesting to me,"

'Oh, she thinks we are here to interest her?'

"...but I suspect whoever becomes the new CMO will be your regular doctor. I'm glad to have had the chance to meet you and do your exam."

'To be quite honest...'

"I would much rather avoid a CMO if I can manage it," Herian said, finishing Rex's thought. She hopped down from the biobed and straightened her uniform, ran her hand over her hind end to remove any creases or wrinkles. "Do you do any yoga or dancing or martial arts?" she asked. "If so, or if you are ever interested, we could meet up in the studio sometime."

"I do yoga," Niamh said, "so I'd be happy to meet you in the studio sometime for practice. As for dance--the only dances I know are country dances from my home, and they're easier with more people than just two. What martial arts do you practice?"

'Don't open with Verelan Gek'Ha Gen. Anything but...'

"Verelan Gek'Ha Gen," Heriah said. "It is a Romulan Qowat Milat practice. That one I studied before my joining. Through symbiontic memory, I also have some Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Wadō-ryū, a little Capoiera, Krabi-krabong, and..."

'Might as well out with it. It is my favorite.'

"...and drunken boxing," Heriah finished. "Host after host only added to the resume." She smiled and then admitted, "I do not refer to myself, by any means, as a master in any form. Maybe well practiced at least."

"Drunken boxing?" Niamh burst into laughter. "Got into lots of bar fights, did they? And obviously won most of them."

'Won most of them? Yeah. Sure. Let her believe that.'

"Half maybe," said Heriah as symbiontic memory brought on the memory of bruises, broken bones, bleeding, and the like. "But losing is only a means to learn where you went wrong and to not let it happen again," she finished with a smile. Heriah maintained her smile as she recalled her own bout in the Starfleet Academy combatives division which concluded in her disqualification from the tournament.

"That makes sense," Niamh said, "they had to learn somewhere."

"Is there anything more you need from me?" Heriah asked.

"Just to update your allergies and current medications and to see if you have any presenting issues today," Niamh said. "If you've had no changes, then your exam is complete, and enjoy the rest of your day."

"No allergies have ever shown themselves," Heriah said. "And I have no pressing issues that I know of. No changes either." With all that done, "I guess I will leave you to it. If you need anything else, do let me know. And...you enjoy the rest of your day as well."

Heriah gingerly spun on here heels and started away.

"Thank you," Niamh said with a smile as Commander Rex departed. She sighed to herself as she returned to her duty station in the CMO's office, where she had been assigned to work until Dr. Dhuro got out of surgery and relieved her.

That is a very dangerous situation, Niamh thought. I ought to inform Dr. Graves, but I wasn't supposed to know of it in the first place--and I wouldn't have known if Rex hadn't thought so vehemently. Great Mother, what is the right thing to do? I was shielding, but he thinks so strongly, I couldn't block him. I'll have to be very careful when I'm around them, lest I pry. What an annoyance, because I do enjoy their company. I've got to figure this out....

 

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