Medical time with the XO

Posted on 06 May 2019 @ 6:32pm by Major Alexandria Somers & Ensign Temperance Zachary

Mission: From the Darkness
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

[ON]

Sickbay had been quiet, surprisingly so, which prompted Temperance to find something else to do. There seemed to be a startling lack of crew members that were coming for routine medicals, something that she found to be unusual, so she made it a point to start calling people in, starting at the top. The CO... well... that was an argument that she would save for another day... but the XO was most definitely fair game. The summons had been issued, now Temp found herself sitting at the small desk near the door, reading up on the XO's medical history while waiting for the other woman to arrive.

Just finishing her duties elsewhere Alex got a summons to appear in Medical to have her check-up, she tried to postpone it, but one can only escape the sawbones for so long, but understanding why made her way to medical, as she entered the Lift and the doors closed "Medical" she said and the lift whisked her to her destination, she was glad the turbo lifts were working still. Finally, she stepped out on to the Medical level and walked into the room with a pleasant smile, somehow whenever she entered such a place her diplomatic training kicked in, she fought it while she was a ground-pounder, but now she was First Officer on a ship, she would have to learn to harness such skills.

"Greetings Doctor Zachary, two primary things, how are things and I figure kill two birds with one stone by also meeting the new CMO as I have my medical," she said holding out her hand.

Taking the other woman's hand, Temp looked up to meet her steady gaze, finding herself momentarily taken aback by how tall the Executive Officer actually was. "Temperance," she offered easily. "I'm glad you made time to meet with me Major, I know these medicals can seem like a bothersome waste of time, but I figure I'd use you to set a good example for the rest of the crew when it comes to bullying them into having their medicals done." She smiled and motioned toward the biobed. "I can promise I'll make it as quick and painless as possible. Have you been on this ship long?"

Smiling back as she pumped the doctors hand with gusto, before breaking off and going to sit on the biobed "well when I came aboard there was no CMO, so I suppose it is understandable that only now I am having my checkup, been o here a couple of months, my first command post that does not involve ground pounding, a very interesting new experience for me. I feel like those MACO's who had a lot of combat experience and had to adjust to command when the Federation was formed back in 2161, even the white stripe around the base of my shoulders is part of my history" Somers responded.

Temp nodded slowly, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the Executive Officer's exuberance. She didn't understand most of what had just been said. The whole concept of the Marines was still something she found confusing. It had taken her long enough to get her head around the Starfleet rank system and command structure, but now the added confusion of the Marines... well... Instead she smiled brightly. "Well, your medical file isn't completely empty, so that's always a good start," she said easily. "But it does desperately need to be updated. Anything changed that you want me to look at? No new problems that I need to cover?" she asked.

Thinking a moment "No, nothing that comes directly to mind, still have all scars and ailments I had at my last medical, just a little older, even gotten married since my last check-up" Somers said as she in an absent-minded motion tucked some hair behind her left ear, she rarely if ever showed her right side of her face, when she did, it was for operational reasons as she had to either put her hair up in a ponytail or bun, but as a rule she left her hair down.

"Well, congratulations on the marriage," Temperance said with a genuine smile. "Everything looks good on your last medical, so this shouldn't take too long. I'll run some basic scans, do some blood so we have updated numbers and that should be about it. I expect to see any problems, you seem to be in good health." She picked up a data PaDD and thumbed into it, scanning through the medical records again for anything she may have missed in the last run through. Grabbing a medical tricorder she flipped it open and started scanning. "So how long have you been married for?" she asked, making small talk while she worked.

Following the doctor's instructions as she was being examined Alex responded "we have not been married too long, we had a short but nice honeymoon and I ate too much-dammned cake, took me a week to get the weight back down. About me there is a story for most things, the best one is my scar" Somers said not indicating where it was, but just mentioning it.

"Your medical history does reference some... uh. 'interesting' adventures?" Temperance said quietly with a smile. "But I've learned it's always better to wait until it becomes necessary. Not everyone likes talking about their experiences, mostly which aren't relevant to current circumstances. But, by all means, if you want to tell the story I'd love to hear it?"

*taking on a far-away stare* "I got this scar" she began as she moved her left side of her hair back to show the doctor "back when I was a fresh-faced newly field commissioned Second Lieutenant, I cannot remember where I was exactly stationed, I think it was a ship, anyway *pause* we encountered an unknown contact, the Captain tried hailing it and got no response, I was below decks assigned to security when the ship or base was boarded, the silent hostile ploughed through all defences as if it had contempt for Phasers... Then there was me, all my irregular weapons were in the armoury, all I had was my concealed collapsable quarterstaff and my Mek'leth blade. *breath* The alien saw this young battle-hardened humanoid pull out their blade and the alien did the most surprising thing *she now looked directly at the doctor* it paused, bowed and pulled out one very long and deadly looking blade, it did not have a mouth as we know it, but its eyes expressed it pleasure that it was about to fight someone who is respected. *pause*, Of course, my training among the Klingon's kicked in and I bowed to it" she paused here and took a long breath.

"Well as you can imagine we engaged in melee combat, picture if you will a slightly younger person sitting before you facing down this alien which was tall enough to have its own weather system, and it was solidly built, and it was strong I somehow knew that it considered blade combat as honourable. Anyway, to cut a long fight story short, it gave me the facial injury plus a few other injuries that were I am told life-threatening, but before I went down for the ten counts I managed to ram my Mek'Leth into the main artery on its neck. I got lucky as its biology was completely unknown, as it lay dying it gently placed a hand on my head and I heard its thoughts. It thanked me for an honourable fight, then it died and I fell into a coma" she paused.

"I was told later that the fight I went through was recorded on the alien ship and they considered my actions honourable and made contact, to this day we still do not know their name or species but they gave us a frequency to call on them if it was needed. My opponent's commander gifted me with my foes blade" she laughed lightly* "The damn thing is so long and heavy I could never wield it, so it sits above the fireplace in my parent's house as a trophy. Anyway, after I had fully recovered, my Captain at the time came by and congratulated me for a job well done. Then he lambasted me up on side and down other and said you did not have the authority for first contact but the aliens must have put in a good word on my behalf because I got the Purple heart and a handshake from CinC Starfleet Marines and Starfleet I had seen battle before that day so I was no nugget. And that doctor is how I got this scar" she finished.

Temperance had stopped what she was doing and just stood, listening as the Major spoke, thoroughly entranced by the story. "Oh my gosh!" she finally exclaimed once the XO had finished, shaking her head slightly. "By the sounds of it, you got lucky in more ways than one. I can't even begin to think how most people would react in a situation like that." She laughed almost nervously. "In all honesty, I've not really seen anything even remotely like a battle, and I don't know that I would want to. It was incredibly brave of you to not run away. That's probably what I would have done," she offered a smile as she opened the tricorder again and started the scans over.

"Well I paid for it I was in a coma for about two months and was lucky that I was allowed to return to the ship it happened on, I was very lucky but remember Doctor for everything you may do, there is always an equal and opposite reaction, mine that day was a coma and a roasting when I returned to my ship also they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, so who knows" Somers responded then remembered her observation "before that day I was already a combat veteran so my training dictated my actions and in hindsight the one phrase those dammed Vulcan's are so fond of quoting ran through my head "the needs of the many, blah, blah, blah!" Somers responded.

"A sacrifice is small if it's for the greater good," Temperance replied quietly, relaying a sentiment she had often heard in her childhood. "You were very lucky, you could have easily been killed, and that the aliens took it so honourably, well... you were very lucky." She shook her head slightly. "Though I somehow suspect that if you were in the same situation you'd likely do it all over again."

Looking at her with a diplomatically practised smile "we have not known each other that long for you to know me so well, but yes I would do it again if the need arose, I am a warrior and a Starfleet Officer" she paused "now I have to learn to be a ship command line officer, I admit I have no trouble in sending men into harms way, but I am going to miss being in those situations all the time. I fear it is harder for the Colonel as his position negates him from being put in hostile situations due to the sector command codes he has knowledge of" Alex said, "so what do you need to know about any medical issues if I can answer them I will?" Somers ending with a question.

"I think medical wise you're probably almost all good. I need to run one more quick scan and then I'll do some basic blood work, just so that we have some new baselines to have on file but other than that, everything seems to be just fine. Do you have any questions about me?" Temperance asked lightly.

Somers thought for a moment, "not medical, but how are you operating archaic weapons like an MP5 or P90 or a 9mm Barretta? These are kinetic based weapons and there is nothing like them in active service today, the closest weapons to them would be the TR-116B rifle, very few are in active service, only a few of us have one also have you done any melee as in bladed or other such weapons?" She asked, "NO Starfleet prefers regenerative Phasers, but I digress, back to my initial question have you ever fired such weapons before and have you ever been in a rough combat simulation?" Somers asked she was testing the waters and as XO it was her job to make sure.

"Have I ever been in a rough combat situation? No," Temperance said quietly. "I've never really been in anything that you would likely consider a combat situation. I learned to defend myself with hand to hand combat through assorted martial arts. I can wield most swords without much effort, and I can use a bow and arrow with a relative degree of accuracy. I have fired some, I guess as you called them 'archaic' projectile weapons? But I wouldn't be able to tell you what they were." She paused again, contemplating for a long moment. "My upbringing was not what any of you would consider normal. I didn't grow up with this," she said, motioning around the room at the starship surrounding her.

*Looking at her* "tell me, something doctor, would you like to join me at some point in one of my training simulations? It is not as good as the real thing, but I can make it as realistic as possible, the choice is yours" Somers offered.

"Sure, I'd like that," Temperance replied easily. "Some practice before the real thing probably wouldn't go astray," she smiled genuinely. "Thank you, Major, I appreciate the offer."

"You are welcome, besides the Colonel will have my head if we lost our CMO, no amount of combat training would save me from his wrath of that I am sure, I will give you some combat experience, but it will be at a time when we are both not busy, so how is my health looking?" Somers said by ending with a question.

"Actually, we're about done," Temperance said with an easy smile. "You seem to be in incredibly good health, despite your penchant for risk-taking behaviours. "I'll run the blood soon and it shouldn't take more than a few hours for them to come back unless I need to rerun anything, but I don't believe there will be any problems. If there is, I'll let you know though," she smiled warmly. "If there's nothing else you need from me Major, I'm happy to pronounce you fit for continued duty."

Alex smiled "excellent Doctor," she said as she stood up "I will contact you about that combat training, it will be an unusual session, but an interesting one. Who do you want me to send in next for their checkup? I hear that Captain is overdue for one" Somers said with a mischevious smile.

"Sure, send the Captain on down, they're usually the biggest babies when it comes to getting their medicals done so you may need to resort to using extreme force," Temperance replied with a soft laugh.

*smiling* "um, you have the clearance to request the Captain to come for his Annual, I could ask him but he can ignore me on this subject," Somers said.

Temperance laughed softly. "I've not met a CO yet who willingly comes to sickbay without wanting something or protesting vehemently, but I'll do my best," she said with an easy smile. "And if not, well, I'll resort to doing bridge visits."

"Well good luck with it," Alex said as she stood up and got off the biobed and stretched "well I shall see you around Doctor, be ready for the holodeck experience, I will Comm you when it is to take place," Somers said as she began to walk away.

"I look forward to it," Temp called after her as she disappeared out of sickbay. Finding herself smiling, she realised that she actually really was looking forward to it. Who knew, it might even be fun?

=/\=

Major Alexandria Lynne Somers
First Officer
USS Powell

&

Ensign Temperance Zachary
Chief Medical Officer
USS Powell