Galan Medical Mayhem

Posted on 01 Jul 2016 @ 8:45pm by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Lieutenant JG Eelim Galan
Edited on on 11 Jul 2016 @ 6:29pm

1,840 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD01 1115hours

[ON]

Galan had had a busy day. He'd met with is departmental CO who was nice, he'd met the two XOs, now off to the doctor and then the counselor. He saved the counselor for last since he really didn't feel like having his mind picked apart nor did he feel like answering questions.

He took a steadying breath before entering the sickbay and then his jaw promptly dropped. The room was filled with statues, the walls were black and dark grey, there were images on the wall and in the middle of the room a young woman with a strange hairstyle and make up that would make Myra grin. The two women would get along splendidly, fashion wise.

He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous gesture. "Um..hi. Junior Lieutenant Eelim Galan reporting on board for medical clearance" He set his bag down by the door.

Pushing one wheel forward and the other back, Tuula spun around in place quickly, her hair catching the air and exposing the shaved side of her head. "Ooooh, a Cardassian!" she exclaimed, looking up at him from behind her dark makeup. "Cardassian anatomy is just so fascinating... not quite mammalian and not quite reptilian, to say nothing of your secondary spinal cords." She pursed her lips for a moment, careful though not to smear the dark blue lipstick which matched her eyeshadow. "It would be fascinating to dissect one of your species sometime... if I ever meet a Cardassian who has donated his body to science, of course."

Dissect? Did she just say dissect him? He took an unconscious step back. "I," it came out as a squeak. He cleared his throat. "I'd like to see the doctor please." Inwardly his gut told him she was the doctor but the word dissect had him begging whatever divine force was out there that she'd say she wasn't.

"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? Silly me," replied Tuula, pushing herself forward while stifling a giggle over her excitement over Cardassian anatomy. "I'm Dr. Tuula Voutilainen. I'm afraid Olsam is on his lunch right now, which could be a while. You know, Bolians..."

Galan took another step back. "Um...is there anyone else on shift that won't .... you know.... dissect me?"

Tuula continued forward towards the Cardassian. "Don't worry, I only dissect cadavers," she replied in an upbeat tone. "Come, take a seat, stay a while," she added, motioning towards a vacant biobed.

He took a deep breath and squared his chest heading towards the bio bed. He jumped up and waited for her next instructions.

Spinning around, Tuula pushed herself towards the biobed and reached for the controls. As the biobed slowly lowered down to its lowest setting, bringing the patient a little closer to eye level to Tuula in her chair, she looked up at him. "So, what are you in for?" she asked, remembering his squeak earlier, "something wrong with your voice?"

"No ma'am. Regular check up upon checking in." He looked around the sickbay. "Um...is it always this fancy?" Ever the diplomat he asked rather then what on earth have you done to this place and why are there skulls on the wall? "The sickbay, I mean."

"Oh, we just decided to brighten it up after the last mission..." Tuula shuddered at the thought of what they had all gone through. Just being in sickbay again after watching Allyndra being tortured by her mirror universe counterpart gave her chills. The redecorations helped. It made sickbay more like home to her and less like the sterile torture chamber it was in the mirror universe.

"Feel free to admire the photographs on the wall," she added in a cheerful tone. "They're from a series by N'xypb X'rry on skulls from around the quadrant... as you can see, alien anatomy was my favourite subject at the academy. I'll just pull up your file, Mister... Mister..."

"Eelim Galan," he repeated. He looked around at the pictures. The word dissect drifted through his head. "He shifted on the bio bed and just about cussed. His broken ribs were still mending and the sudden movements over the last week hadn't helped.

"Very good, Mr. Galan, I'll be right back. Make yourself comfortable" With that, Tuula rolled off towards the office, humming a Gilbert and Sullivan tune as she went to pull up his file.

He looked around at the images. "I hope she doesn't dissect me." He said to himself.

*************************

I've treacle and toffee, I've tea and I've coffee,
Soft tommy and succulent chops;
I've chickens and conies, and pretty polonies,
And excellent peppermint drops.

By the time Tuula had returned, her hum had turned into a full on musical number. Clearing her throat, with a PADD on her lap, she pulled herself back up towards her Cardassian patient. "So, looks like you had quite the injury a few weeks ago," she said, pulling out her favourite tricorder -- her black one with the skull and spider webs engraved on it -- and began her routine scans. "How have your ribs been healing?"

He shrugged. "Okay I guess but they still burn like whisky down a parched throat when I move the wrong way. I haven't had much rest. Been doing packing and moving items to get here and I'll be doing unpacking and item moving tonight when I get to my quarters." He noted her tricorder. "Nice tricorder."

"Thanks," replied Tuula as she stared at the readings and brought the tricorder in closer, frowning slightly at the readings. "Hmmmm, it shouldn't hurt this much this long after the injury... what butcher did you see to get those ribs fixed up?"

He rubbed the back of his neck looking sheepish..."I didn't. I kind of figured they'd mend on their own."

"Oh, well there's your problem," replied Tuula as she reached over into the medcart for an osteo-regenerator. "Take off your shirt and I can fix that for you."

He did as the doctor asked removing his jacket and tank. He'd be glad to get the ribs patched up. They were quite a bit of trouble.

Tuula fired up her osteo-regenerator and was about to get to work when she noticed something on Galan's back. She leaned forward to examine it, then pulled back and smiled up at him. "Nice ink," she said, "is that a phoenix?"

"Yeah. It's a picture that my friend drew. A heart on fire with a phoenix rising." The colours were vibrant and it had reds, purples, greens, blues. The wings were outstretched and the eyes a deep purple stared up at the rising sun. "I still want to get the black roses and vines on my inner arms as a wrap sleeve with the stem wrapping up the arms and to the front of the shoulders ending at the collar bones."

"It's so cool!" exclaimed Tuula, placing the osteoregenerator down and unrolling her sleeves, revealing the tattoos on her forearm. On her right forearm was a rod of Asclepius, the medical symbol she had tattooed on her arm the day after her graduation from Starfleet medical, and on her right was one of her more recent works, a dagger with a drip of blood and a flower in the background. "I'm planning on getting some more work done as well." With one hand, she brushed her teal and black hair aside to reveal a shaved patch on the side of her head. "I want to do something here, but I can't decide what. I'm thinking maybe an eagle, or some sort of cool geometric pattern. Or a wolf..."

Trailing off with her various tattoo ideas, Tuula picked up the regenerator again and got to work. "I also have a phoenix... maybe I can show you sometime? Do you by any chance like saunas?" she asked, knowing very well that the answer would be yes.

"Wolf would be nice. The Asclepius rod is awesome." This Galan could do. He loved talking about tattoos. He actually collected antique tattoo machines. "I collect tattoo machines as well. I used to do tattoos when I was at the academy. And yes I love saunas. I have a Cardassian sauna program. It's uploaded into the system."

"Oh, that's so cool!" exclaimed Tuula, excited but not so excited as to disrupt her steady hand on her medical instrument. "I collect antique medical instruments... maybe I can show you my bone saw sometime, and then we could hit up the holodeck..." she paused for a moment as she ran the osteo-regenerator over the curve of Galan's ribs. "I'd like to see your portfolio sometime... you know how hard it is to find a good tattoo artist out in deep space. It's so annoying having to wait until we pull into port to get some work done..."

"Yeah. That sounds good. I have a tattoo portfolio. I'm always up for a holodeck visit." He chuckled.

"That sounds fun..." replied Tuula. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing it's just that maybe you're not sooo scary. You had me petrified at the word dissect."

"Oh." Tuula blushed for a moment. Perhaps this is what the Admiral was referring to during her last performance evaluation, about the strange comments regarding her appearance and bedside manner. Is it possible that not everyone is comfortable around gothic fashion and bone saws?

She quickly perished the thought, absurd as it was. "Well, you know, xeno-anatomy was my favourite class at the academy..." she said, her voice a little meek. "But I would never hurt anyone. Well, except maybe my ex, but I don't think I'll be seeing him again anytime soon..."

"Hey scary can be good," he smiled.

Galan thought for a moment. "Ex's can be hard to deal with. One of my really good friends just went through a breakup himself and it wasn't pretty. He had to take a year off, he's a doctor too, and he barley left the bed for a year." He looked at the young women. "Aww don't do that."

"Don't worry, I'm totally over him," replied Tuula. "Olsam's family visited a few months ago. They had him brutally beaten and exiled to a far corner of the quadrant... harsh, but he totally deserved it," she shot back. "So, we're just about done here," she added, changing the subject. "Next time you break a rib, make sure to come to me first. It will save you a lot of pain in the long run."

He hopped off the bio bed an put his shirt and jacket on. The ribs felt a lot better. "Ahhhh no pain. Thanks doc."

"You're welcome," she replied, glad to see a reduction in Galan's wincing. "Stop by anytime, if you want to take a closer look at the skulls, or pencil in a sauna appointment."

"Will do," he said as he grabbed his bag and headed out.

[OFF]
-----
Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG Eelim Galan
Security / Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

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