Reporting to Medical

Posted on Thu Oct 21st, 2021 @ 3:34am by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Commander Sthilg

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD1 1100
1003 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Finished with her initial report to the Captain, Rin made her way to sickbay for the mandatory medical review. Normally, she found comfort in routine, but this particular routine put a slight knot in her gut. No matter how professional and personable the doctor or tech, such visits made her feel a little less than human.

"Lieutenant Rin, reporting for onboarding exam."

Sthilg was arguing with his greatest nemesis of the medical coffee machine when he heard the new arrival. Walking over and giving her a polite smile and offered his hand. " Hello, their lieutenant i'm Sssthilg chief MD of the boat. If you'll follow me we'll get you ssseen to."

She shook the offered hand with a firm grip. Sthilg could feel the metal embedded in her skin. A slight, genuine smile played across her lips. "Good to meet you, Doctor."

Rin followed the doctor to a bed and obediently hopped up onto it.

" Now before we begin i have one quessstion. Have you had any illnessssss or injuriesss not on file sssince your last ssscan?" The gorn inquired.

"No, sir."

The gorn nodded as he started up the machine as he looked over the last scan. Leting out a sigh at what he was looking at he ran his head along head. He'd seen former drones before and his mind still couldn't believe a supposed sentient species could do this. " May the all mother blessss are people that we only encountered the brog once." he said before looking back to his patient. " I'm sssorry that was rude of me." he said apologetically.

"It's not the worst thing I've heard," she states matter-of-factly, trying to make her face look a little more reassuring. "My presence stirs up a lot of memories, absolutely all of them ugly. There's nothing I can do to stop that. Just as long as you don't confuse me with the Collective." And then a hastily tacked on "Please, sir."

" Pleassse call me Sssthilg. " The doctor said reassuringly.

"Alright, Sssthilg," she acknowledged, repeating his pronunciation. Informality with anyone on duty left her uncomfortable, more-so with someone she didn't know. It wasn't protocol. But he was also the boss, which kind of did make it protocol.

" Well...." The doctor began as he looked over the incoming data. " Any complainsss from any of your implantsss?" He inquired.

"No..." she fought the urge to add the 'sir'. "Everything is within normal parameters. The nanites continue to adequately repair my systems."

" Good good. Cybernetics aren't my ssspecialty, but i'm sure Vise can help you with any problemsss you might have." The gorn added.

She nodded. "With all due respect, my implants, like the rest of me, are in working order. The chances of them failing is no more than the chance of my organic organs failing....or those of anyone else, for that matter." She's very matter-of-fact about the whole thing. Perhaps a bit of frustration in her voice, but no intention of being disrespectful.

" I underssstand." the gorn said as the scan carried on. " Everything'sss looking good ssso far. How are you finding the Elysssium?" He asked.

"Well, I've only ben on board two hours, so my experiences are rather limited. But it's an impressive ship. How long have you been here? What can you tell me of your experiences?"

" Ssshe'sss been my home for over ssseven yearsss. I've had more experience in that ssshort time than in my over two hundred yearsss in this galaxcy. " The gorn replied warmly as he looked around the ship.

"What sort of experiences? What is the crew like? I'm interested in who I'm going to be sharing space with for the forseeable future."

" The crew of thisss ssship isss one of the mossst warming and welcoming in all of ssstarfleet. I think of them as family..." The gorn replied with a warm smile on his face. " Asss for experincesss i've domne everything from meeting the creator of usss all to finding my own ssskull from a future that never wasss."

*Family. There was that word again,* she thought. *People use that word too easily.*

She raised one inquisitive eyebrow in regard to his subsequent comments. "You believe you met some concept of God?"

" Believe?" He replied pausing as he thought through the words in his head. " Yes i believe. I felt the hunting groundsss sssoil under my feet, sssaw the guardiansss who have guarded my people sssince the dark daysss and held the wife and daughter I failed in my armsss. I even punched the dark one in the face."

"I hope that gesture brought you some closure."

" It did. " The gorn replied calmly. " Knowing there wating for me and that i have a place in the hunting groundsss isss sssomething i never thought i'd have. I think it gave me the courage to try with my new family."

This was where Rin was supposed to express some shared similar experience. But the fact was she didn't have any, or at least nothing uplifting. The Borg killed Nicola Addison. Without memories of that former self, how could Rin consider herself to be that person? And the closest thing she experienced to an afterlife was hell. And that part Rin remembered.

Yeah, it wasn't a topic for casual conversation.

So she just nodded in acknowledgement. "Was there anything else, Doctor?"

The gorn realised he'd hurt her and tried to think of an appology. All what came out was a "I'm sssorry my dear i ssshoudn't have brought that up and no i ssee no reassson to not clear you fit for duty."

"No reason for an apology. I asked about your experiences on the Elysium, and that was something you experienced. It was a helpful answer. This is an exploratory ship. I hope to encounter more than paperwork and routine. Although I wouldn't mind not having the experience of finding my own head, regardless of which reality it came from. Thank you, Sssthilg."

" No problem my dear. I'll sssee you around the ssship." He said warmly.