JDL | Cmdr th'Zarath & Cmdr Valeese, CEO & CMO | "Meeting the enemy..."

Posted on Wed Oct 18th, 2017 @ 12:33am by Commander Valeese Stacker & Commander Thelin th'Zarath

Mission: The Round Table
Location: Primary Sickbay

He'd heard rumours, ones that he did not want to believe for a second, the Andorian was hesitating at the door to sickbay after he'd been told who was running this particular part of the starbase. It bought back memories of his time on the Anderson before she'd been decommissioned, he'd been Executive Officer when the Second Dominion War had broken out and they'd lost many good officers to the Jem'Hadar, the Krivaldi and various other races that had been thrown at the Federation by the silver tongued Vorta parroting the words of the Founders. A deep breath filled his lungs and forced what was left of his chest to swell as he turned the corner and through the sliding doors, a quick scan of the room found no sign of the... woman... clone? his mind raced as he thought through the multitude of other words he'd used to describe the Vorta over the years, none of them were even anywhere close to being usable in polite company.

She could hear him wandering, foot fall for foot fall leaving no doubt in her mind that he was more than just a little hesitant of their eventual meeting. She could hear him breathing and the heavy thud of his heart in his chest - speaking of the darkness of his mood - and a great part of the little Vorta deeply considered turning his care over to one of her subordinates. Valeese was far from ignorant and far from willing to put herself in the path of danger - her life was not hers to give to the hands one xenophobic Andorian, not when the Empress relied heavily on the information that passed between their hands. However, she'd been given an assignment, taken an oath, and remained in high esteem within Starfleet if only because she'd proven herself as a rather adept officer. That meant that working with him was inevitable and both of them would have to suck it up and work past the discomfort each produced. The fact she hadn't even been alive during the last Dominion war was enough comfort to her, she'd missed that wonderful happenstance by a good decade before she'd been conceived. "Commander," She began, raising up from behind her desk. She hadn't been hiding, simply gathering up tools she'd accidentally knocked to the deck plates mere moments before, "Is everything alright?"

The voice forced him to turn to face the woman he'd been avoiding, he could see the look in her eyes and straightened up, "Commander Valeese, I'm here for my physical, I've been reassigned to Cold Station Theta, so I'm required to undergo a physical." She looked different, he didn't recognise her face from any of the information that had been floating around during the war, none of the Vorta they had known about looked anything like her.

Her eyes followed him as he turned to face her and each took the time to study the other. Her confusion was nearly palpable, but it did little to temper his lack of appreciation for her existence or the fact he'd need to submit himself to her care. Clearing her throat she gestured to the biobed and plucked her tricorder up from the top of her desk, it has been among the items sent to the floor by her clumsiness. "I see." She nodded, giving up the safety of her position, "We'll make this go as quickly as possible, shall we?"

"I would appreciate the expediency, Commander." the Andorian replied with a nod as he moved to the biobed and placed himself upon it with a small effort, this was something he'd done all too regularly since he'd been injured on the Anderson, his arm alone was the cause of at least one visit every six months to ensure that the bio-mechanical connections were up to spec, "I have to get back to stopping this station from killing us all in turbolift accidents."

"Yes. Absolutely," She nodded, reaching to program the bed he sat on and checked the calibration of her tricorder against baseline entries and quick scans of constants. It worked for her, this quick song and dance between components, "Captain Di Agessi will no doubt be thankful. She came in earlier after being stuck in one of them with her XO for a patch of time." She explained, "it certainly has made me think twice before getting on one." Valeese's nose cringed slightly at the thought and the initial scans began.

"Unfortunately there is little other option at the moment, with the transporters being offline, we're working on getting the parts we require but some of the isolinear systems are still offline despite being replaced, a glitch somewhere else in the system." Thelin replied, his head tilted to the side as he regarded her carefully.

Fully aware she was being studied, Valeese was extra careful not to make any sudden moves that would have given him reason to act in a manner other than he was. The quiet of him was enough, but she could hear the suspicion wrapped around every single word that came out of his mouth, "An old station like this... I'm not surprised that there's a bug or two in the system... Tell me, do you smoke? Just a series of questions I'm sure you're used to by now." She wasn't used to walking on eggshells, but for the moment it would have to suffice and make due. "And I... Well... You'll have to remove your shirt and coverings so I can take a look at your arm." She didn't want to. His records well indicated how he'd been injured and while she had no part in it, she knew where the blame was squarely placed. Seeing it and working on it would only make things worse.

"I am and I do not smoke." Thelin replied with the tiniest hint of a nod as he understood his next request, he extricated himself from the jacket and set about folding it carefully, laying it down beside him, the undershirt followed and was pulled over his head before being treated with the same care, with both off the full extent of his prosthetic could be seen, it extended past his shoulder and connected into his chest, be pulled off the flesh coloured glove that covered the false hand and followed that with the matching sleeve.

"Alcohol consumption? Sometimes? Never? All the time?" Doing her job was proving to be more interesting by the minute. With the coverings gone, the illusion of his completion had been lifted as well and all that remained was translucent faux flesh covering electrical and mechanical components that acted in replace of tissue and bone. She watched it operate, not with fascination or horror or pity, but with the keen eye of a physician waiting to find a ghost in the machine. Touching him seemed grossly out of place, but necessary, and her eyes flicked from her work to his face to gauge and assess his mood faster than she could remind herself that she was dealing with a decorated Starfleet officer and not a wild animal. Either way, the implant was oddly warm as if it had it's own circulatory system and quick scans showed no real difference in temperature between it and his other extremities. Each test came back normal and the biobed continued to run diagnostics of the rest of him. Their time together would be blissfully short.

"Socially, when convention calls for it, however I usually prefer synthale, all of the taste without any of the side effects." he replied as he allowed her to manipulate the arm so she could see each of the individual systems that ran beneath it's translucent covering, at the time it had been one of the few things available, medical resources had been extremely limited during the way due to the horrifying nature of the weapons wielded by the Krivaldi and Jem'Hadar, the anticoagulants in their weapons made even minor wounds quite deadly if not treated immediately, he'd been lucky that his had been caused by battle damage and not in close quarters fighting but he still had to spend several weeks without an arm while one could be constructed for him.

She nodded, checked the appropriate box, went back to scrutinizing how every little bit of his mechanical arm operated. Soundless, seamless... Or at least to everyone that didn't have her level of hearing it was soundless, and even then that small whir of mechanisms was completely suffocated when his sleeve covered everything up. Some could argue that he'd been lucky to survive, though she vaguely wondered if he'd choose to agree with the sentiment. That wasn't her job to find out. "Drug use?" Her tone was even, easy, and she reached for his sleeve, sliding it back into place. It was fascinating watching the lifeless blue object mold and take shape to become something so seamless and realistic. It's form and function were perfectly wed to create that final guise of normalcy that would undoubtedly bring both comfort and anguish to the wearer. It was a good thing she hadn't chosen to go fully into counseling, medicine was enough without listening to the aftermath.

"Never," Thelin responded as he adjusted the sleeve so it sat just right, he replaced the glove too before picking up his undershirt and jacket, he was eager to finish off this visit as soon as possible, she wasn't what he had been expecting but he still wasn't sure about her, "What do you think, Commander?"

"Didn't think so." Valeese replied, checking off the appropriate box and stepping away from him, "I think you're in fine shape. Everything indicates that your prosthesis is in fine working order with no reason to muck around with it at this point." Cutting him off her line was the best thing she could do for both of them, leaving her to finish her work and him to sink back into the recesses of the station, "You have a clean bill of health and are free to go unless you have any further questions." She smiled, polite as could be.

"No questions from me, Doctor." the Andorian replied, the vaguest sliver of a smile crossed his lips before he remembered who he was talking to and cleared it from his face, "I'm sure I will have need to come back if I cannot get this station to behave, either it or Captain DiAgessi will have me in critical condition, I'm sure." he added as he slipped his clothes back on and zipping the jacket most of the way up.

A small frown creased her porcelain features as she listened to him, affording him his privacy as he dressed, "With luck no such thing will come to pass. I can't say much for the station, she's been left to rot for quite some time, but the Captain seems to be a fair woman." It was only when she was certain that he was ready, the final zipping of his tunic completed, that she turned her head back to him, "I wish you luck from one Doctor to another. Repairing the ills of the station is not completely unlike tending to the ills of her inhabitants and guardians. Enjoy the rest of your day, Commander."

"I shall do my best, thank you, Commander." Thelin responded as he lifted himself off the biobed and moved towards the door, "I do hope I'm successful in my repairs." he added as he saw himself out of sickbay and back into the apparent safety of the promenade.


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Commander Valeese
Chief Medical Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170

Commander Theil th'Zarath
Chief Engineering Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170