The Endless Drift

Posted on 29 Apr 2016 @ 3:44am by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant JG Rael Psy.D.

2,292 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3 - Sickbay
Timeline: MD01 - 1400

[ON]

Intending to obtain his medical clearance, Rael slipped into the sickbay quiet as a shadow. Lightfooted, always, this one could sneak right into your shoes without so much as a peep. He noted that there was an individual working at one of the biobeds, though her back was to him, showing only the tattooed lines of a star against the pale skin on the back of her neck. "Ahem," he intoned softly, hands clasped behind his back.

Tuula glanced up from her "patient" and looked at the new entrant. Her slight squint as she tried to see if she recognized him accentuated her dark mascara and eyeshadow, which, combined with her skull-print cap and mask, made for a very unorthodox looking surgeon to say the least.

Of course, her patient was unorthodox as well. Asleep on the operating table was an adolescent targ here to get neutered.

"You must be the new counselor," said Tuula, looking up at him, in a matter of fact tone. "Why don't you make yourself useful and hand me a laser scalpel?"

He picked it out with little difficulty, peering over her shoulder at the targ. The Vulcan's brows furrowed in a visible depiction of bemusement, but he otherwise made no comment as he extended the scalpel to her. "That is correct, yes. I am Rael." He wasn't looking at her. The targ. It was a targ.

"Doctor Tuula Voutilainen," she replied. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm kind of in the middle of something. It's not every day that I have to neuter a targ."

"Yes, I see this," he murmured thoughtfully, a twinge of amusement lining his words.

Tuula leaned forward and flicked the laser scalpel on. If she didn't know better, she would think that the Vulcan was amused by the situation. "If you aren't too busy, do you mind watching his vitals for me? I've never put a targ under before, and I really don't think he will be happy if he wakes up mid-procedure."

"I am not too busy," he confirmed as he pulled over a stool. "Where did you obtain this targ?"

"I'm actually targ-sitting for the Admiral," replied Tuula as she made the first incision. "She wanted me to get him neutered while I'm at it." She paused for a moment as she focused on the delicate procedure. "Do you like animals, Dr. Rael?"

"Indeed so." He was watching in rapt fascination.

"Me too," replied Tuula, speaking in a slow, steady tone so as not to allow her hand to slip. "I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up, before I decided to focus on humanoids. I would always be operating on my stuffed animals, doing stuffing transplants and eye surgery. I made a little clinic out of cardboard boxes. I was the chief veterinarian and my sister was the receptionist." She smirked slightly, as the smell of searing animal flesh and hair wafted into her nostrils. "Did you have any pets growing up?"

"I did not," he answered with a shake of his head. "I visited the Animal Rehabilitation Sanctuary on Vulcan many times as a teenager, though. I was fond of a le-matya named Chy'ra."

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Tuula, flicking off the laser scalpel for a moment. "They're so cute; I must have asked my parents for one for Christmas every day for months on end when I was twelve. But they didn't like exotic pets," she added in a frumpy tone.

"There is also the fact that most le-matya grew to be over 4 meters long," Rael added, his eyes crinkling a little.

"Yes, that too," added Tuula as she continued the procedure. For a few minutes she was almost silent, aside from a little Gilbert and Sullivan tune that she was humming as she did her work.

"There," she said, interrupting her little tune as she placed the two lumps which were the remains of the surgery onto a tray. "Someone once told me these were a Klingon delicacy, but I think it's better to follow standard procedure and vaporize them. Would you be a dear and take care of that for me?"

He picked up the tray and twitched his nose at it, before dutifully carting it off to the reclamator.

"Thanks," replied Tuula, as she began using the dermal regenerator to close up the incision. "Perhaps I should have been a vet."

"What made you decide to practice humanoid medicine?"

Tuula tilted her head. "It seemed like a higher calling, healing the sick and whatnot," she added in an excited tone.

Almost as if the words "Klingon delicacy" had summoned him like a genie from a bottle, the doors to Sickbay parted to admit Dr. Olsam Mott, freshly returned from his thirty-minute break with the waste reclamation unit down the hall, taken per federal regulations governing the digestion of Bolian personnel. When he saw Rael with a tray of bio-waste in his hands, he stopped short and eyed him.

This was the second time they'd encountered one another today, the first having been near the pond in the arboretum when Olsam was forced to flee almost certain indictment by the fish scientist community for his involvement in an incident at a certain Intergalactic Society for the Exploration of the Sea Science Symposia on Raylaar IX. The duplicate encounter couldn't possibly have been a coincidence, and that made the Bolian deeply suspicious.

"Oh, look, Dr. Rail," he said, mangling the pronunciation once more. His eyes cut to Tuula briefly and then back to the Vulcan. "Do you have a sick fish?"

"Dr. Mott," Rael returned with a straight face. "Fortunately I do not. I am here to obtain my medical clearances. I hope that you have kept yourself free of any aquatic-related disturbances?"

Olsam's usually sloppy posture straightened. "Don't be absurd, Dr. Rail, of course I have. And I've even kept myself free of terrestrial disturbances, too. Besides, it's only been seven hours." He gave a nervous little laugh before darting his eyes to the targ operation, anxious to change the subject. "Has Dr. Voutilainen drafted you?"

"I fear that I've been relegated to disposal duty," the Vulcan murmured somewhat dryly.

Allyndra needed to get something from the office. She had an idea about the presentation and wanted to pick up some references she had only on the medical computer.

"What is that awful smell?" she said as she entered. "Is there something burning?"

"Just some targ fur," replied Tuula, focusing back on the delicate procedure of neutering a targ. "I may have singed a bit of fur with the laser scalpel during the procedure."

"Good afternoon," Rael greeted the newcomer with a bow of his head.

Allyndra waved the air for a moment first eyeing Tuula and then the tall Vulcan that stood nearby. She was not sure she recognized him.

"I did not know we had become a veterinary clinic. Best make sure that anesthesia holds the hormones won't be out for a bit and all we need is an angry targ with raging hormones still and with some pain."

"Everything is under control," replied Tuula. "Besides, Snuffles here is so cute and well-behaved, as long as he has something to chew on."

Allyndra turned her full attention to the Vulcan. She figured Tuula knew more or less, hopefully the former what she was doing.

"I do not believe I have had the pleasure, I did not know we had a new medical assistant now," She knew Vulcans did not like touch so she refrained from holding a hand out. "I am the Chief Medical Officer, Allyndra illm Warraquim." As was her wont when introducing herself for the first time she tended to say her name as it was to be pronounced with the musical with a bit of trill to it. "Allyndra is preferred though."

"Allyndra," he attempted to replicate her pronunciation with a light smile. He held out his hand. "I am Dr. Rael."

"Welcome doctor," Allyndra and took the hand. She was a bit surprised at that since most did not like touch. She noted the formality but then what was there to do right now and she certainly would not say something in front of the others.

"You must be here for medical check in then I take it? Tuula here will have her hands full especially if that thing wakes up. Not my duty shift but we have Mott, or should have?" She looked to Tuula with a questioning look, like did he remember to stumble in today.

"That is correct." He seated himself on a biobed patiently.

"Of course, we have him. I mean, me. We have me," Olsam sputtered, ducking out from behind a medcart where he'd been doing God knows what. He shuffled over to the biobed and eyed the tray with the biowaste. He tried not to lick his lips, but he did it anyway. Damn insatiable tongue. "Uh, say, Dr. Rail, should I dispose of that for you? Maybe Dr. Allyndra can do the preliminary workup... You know, while I take care of this. By disposing of it. Properly."

Allyndra looked sharply at Mott and she had caught the licking of the lips. "Are you sure?" she asked. It was not for her to say what appealed and did not to others after all she had her own, to others at least, peculiar habits.

"Oh, of course! I know how to properly dispose of bio-matter, I am a doctor, you know."

Allyndra shrugged slightly and turned back to the patient. "Very well, shall we go to biobed one? It is the one closest to the door and we can drop privacy curtains if you wish. That smell is something else." Allyndra pointed toward the higher tech biobed.

"Certainly," Rael agreed. He slid off of the bed he was sat upon and followed her dutifully. He repositioned himself on that biobed and sat with his hands in his lap, relaxed.

Allyndra pressed the privacy screen button and a shimmering field that turned opaque was soon in place. It screen not just sight but sound but beings could pass easily through it. She then got a PaDD and brought up his information.

"It looks here like you're fairly in good health. I usually ask if there is anything new or something we should be aware of before we have to dig into the medical file."

"Of course. There is nothing of note to report, Allyndra."

Allyndra nodded. "Very well, if you would be so good as to lie back and let me get a baseline scan for the file. I also use this time to ask if there is anything you have questions about the ship, myself or the medical department."

"Not at this time," Rael said politely as he waited for her to complete her scans. They would reveal a great deal of scar-tissue, and healed fractures. Other than this, he was completely healthy.

Allyndra looked at the scan and compared it to the record to make sure the various healed injuries matched. "Quite a bit of healed injuries," she said. "Do any of them bother you?"

"They do not." Once again, Rael was entirely honest.

Allyndra noted the clipped answer. Ah well, she thought, to each their own. Perhaps he had been asked too many times.

"Very well then, all I need is to get a DNA sample and we are done." She turned and left to fetch the kit, stepping out through the privacy curtains. Sound did not pass through the curtains in either direction and she shook her head as she saw Tuula.

"A real talker that one, maybe you might have more luck. We just need a DNA sample for the records."

"I'm afraid I'm busy with Snuffles," admitted Tuula as she gently petted the targ's belly. "He'll wake up any minute now, and I think it would be best if I were here when he does."

"Very well," Allyndra looked at the creature. "Best make sure ready to sedate again." She went to get the kit and then returned slipping thought the screen again. "Alright all I need is to get a cheek swab."

"Understood, Allyndra." He offered her a slight smile.

Allydnra got the the sample and put it in the vial and then picked up a PaDD and wrote with a flourish. "There you are officially checked in with medical and free to go."

"Thank you very much, Allyndra. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"For me, right now? No." Her life was a mess again but now was not the time or place to talk about it. She sometimes wondered when or if the Twins would smile upon her.

"If I can ever offer assistance, consider me available," Rael murmured with a smile as he sat up and touched his feet to the floor. "Thank you."

Allyndra nodded and dropped the privacy screens. "Very good," she replied moving off to bank the sample.

A faint growl began to emerge from the surgical area. "It's okay, Snuffles," said a distinctive female voice in her finnish accent. "You're probably a little dizzy right now..."

"Are you leaving already?" Mott asked, looking up from an empty tray to the departing Vulcan. His voice was heavily muffled, impeded in no small part by the enormous bulges of something stuffed into both cheeks. "You just got here."

[OFF]

----
LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Olsam Mott
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Rael Psy.D.
Assistant Chief Counselor
USS Galileo

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