Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News!
Posted on Sat Jan 13th, 2024 @ 6:40pm by Captain Akiva ben-Avram & Commander Arianna Frost & Lieutenant Commander T'Bela
1,249 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
S1E6: Where Skies End
Location: Overwatch Infirmary
Timeline: MD 1
As Akiva and Ari arrived to the Infirmary, Frost couldn't help but flex her recently repaired hand. The memory of the pain was enough to refocus her attention to the present.
"Doctor T'Bela?" Ari called, looking around the room.
She realized then that she'd only ever been there once, when Wilson was still alive and head of Medical. Damn, Wilson's death was...yeah.
T’Bela hadn’t quite settled in yet. She had managed to get the feel for Sick Bay and figure out if she wanted any changes made- spoiler alert: she did not- and was now attempting to make her office a little more comfortable. But, a voice calling her name told her that would have to wait.
She appeared at the door and offered a professional smile. “Hello,” she said, approaching them. “How may I help?”
"I, eh, could use a little something to take the edge off this headache," Akiva said somewhat bashfully. While it was likely the doctor would figure out the headache was from a hangover, he still didn't want to come out and say as much.
"I just wanted to get my hand checked out. I had it treated at the Yuna Tarka Medical Center on Risa after the rescue op, just wanted to make sure it's healing alright. The healing pains have definitely started." Ari said, sighing towards the end of it, "and if you look at my file, there's an ongoing condition that I think needs management soon, I've been getting fuzzy again of late."
“Of course,” replied T’Bela, motioning towards the nearest bio bed a few steps away. “Hop right up here and I’ll take a look at the hand.” To Akiva, she said, “I can give you a hypo at once for a headache, if you like.” Without waiting for a response, she turned to a nearby cupboard and pulled out a hypospray and snapped a cartridge in place.
Akiva blinked for a moment. A hypospray without an incriminating medical scan that would reveal last night's indiscretion? Barukh HaShem, he thought. "Uh... yes, that would be great."
For her part, T’Bela didn’t see a point to intrusive medical scans unless the problem became reoccurring. And as this was the first time he’d shown up with the issue, she opted to just treat the symptom and hope for the best. She pressed the hypo to his neck. “Let me know if it doesn’t feel better in a few minutes,” she told him.
"Right..." Akiva rubbed his neck and took a seat on the nearest surface. Turned out to be a biobed. "I, uh, didn't sleep well."
“We all have those days,” replied T’Bela casually, storing that information away for future reference. The occasional sleepless night and headache weren’t cause for concern, but repeated instances could be trouble. She turned back to Ari and pulled out her tricorder.
Ari observed the interaction with some curiosity. The blasé approach to a medical issue was interesting. Not something you saw with many Starfleet Doctors. While, sure it was common in the ancient days in Earth's armed forces history, nowadays it was uncommon. Granted this particular Doctor was Cardassian who was raised among Vulcans, so there was no real telling what the norm for her was.
"Settling in, Doctor?" Frost decided to ask.
“Well enough,” answered T’Bela, scanning the hand in question. “Getting used to a new Sick Bay and all. It’s pretty impressive, too. There’s lots of interesting toys to play with.” She grinned. “Well, really they’re diagnostic tools, but they’re so fancy and almost redundant, they seem like gimmicks. Have you had any trouble with it?” she asked, nodding towards the hand.
Ari nodded, "just feeling a little tug on the healed break areas. The Klingon crushed my pinky and ring finger on the initial tackle, then crushed a few bones in my wrist when he decided he didn't like me shooting him in the spleen. The Doctors at Yuna Tarka said that the tugs would keep for a few days, that it's part of healing."
“That is true,” agreed T’Bela, examining the tricorder readout. “No pain? Just a tugging sensation?”
Ari nodded, "yeah. It's pretty uncomfortable, but I get that it's necessary. I more wanted to discuss the eye issue. My case is documented in my file. Bear in mind that there is sensitive mission information in there as well and by order 37Lambda-55Charlie you are not to discuss the mission information with anyone, not even me. You are allowed access as physician only." She said to T'Bela.
37Lambda-55Charlie was one of the multitude gag-orders that Starfleet employed across the board to prevent information leaks.
Wondering whether he should even be privy to this information, much less present, Akiva did his best to stare at the wall and not process what he was hearing.
T’Bela nodded, understanding completely. “I will have to review your records more closely, but I did see something about an eye condition and the previous treatments that have worked, so we can at least start there,” she said. “Is that something you wanted to take care of right away, or shall we set up an appointment for a later date?”
Ari shrugged, "if it won't take long, we can do it now. If it will take a bit, I need to take care of a meeting first, then I can come back."
“Only about twenty minutes, if everything goes to plan,” replied T’Bela.
Arianna thought for a moment. "I'll have to come back, the person I'm meeting with might get the go word any moment. "I'll come see you after that if that's okay?"
“As you wish,” replied T’Bela with a polite nod. “It will give me a chance to review your file.” She turned to her other patient. “And how are you feeling, Captain?” she asked. “Has the headache gone?”
Ari slipped off of the bed and nodded at T'Bela, waiting for Akiva's answer.
"A bit, yes," Akiva said, "but I may take a personal day all the same. I may need to lie down."
T’Bela gave him a very small, but understanding smile. “Drink lots of water,” she replied. “Skip coffee; it won’t help. Salt can help, too, because it makes the body retain more water.”
Ari nodded, "I'll come back once I'm done with my meeting," she said to T'Bela, "and I'll let you know how it goes." She said to Akiva before stepping out of the Infirmary. Enough time has been wasted, she needed to catch Sebastian before he and Night departed.
With the headache subsiding, Akiva looked fondly at the biobed. "If... if it's all the same to you, Doctor, I think I might lay down here for just a minute."
“Of course,” replied T’Bela. “I’ll try to keep it quiet around here for you.”
"Hm. Swell." Akiva was already curled up on his side, back to T'Bela. "Wake me if there's another admiral or invasion or some other doomsday scenario..."
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather sleep through that?” asked T’Bela, half joking.
"'Course I would," Akiva mumbled, already losing himself to slumber land. "Needs and wants are worlds apart though..."
“Don’t I know it,” muttered T’Bela. “I’ll let you know if anything blows up.”
Akiva mumbled something incoherent, for all intents and purposes dead to the world already.
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