Checkup Twice Over

Posted on 15 Jan 2013 @ 5:26pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D.

2,951 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD-1 1100

[ON]

Kiri was doing her best to put on a brave face. She could walk around the ship now, even go in some rooms on her own, the Science Office, her quarters, but not the labs or a place she didn't know very well. She felt weak and vulnerable almost all the time but in those places it got much worse. Though there were bruises they hadn't really hurt her, despite their threats to kill her in a most gruesome way. Most of it was mental damage.

It was the follow up checkup from her previous visit that was her real reason to go to sickbay. Stress and lack of sleep had caught up with her in a way that had almost killed her and taken her off duty for several days. Last time she had ended up being given sleeping aids and they had now run out. Stress had hardly left her life after that, her dreams had gotten better though. Hair tied back into a tail she wore her uniform pristinely, her stride nervous and her hands hugged close to her body. Slowly she entered sickbay and looked around for who was on duty, her breathing a little uneasy.

It had taken pretty much all of her willpower to return to duty after the incident of a few days previously, and had been eternally grateful that the intervening day had not been particularly stressful. She hadn't got any sleep the night after, her mind had been going too fast, considering how everything about her universe had been shattered in the space of one intense ten minutes. Everything she had thought she knew about Starfleet and life in the service had proven to be wrong, and that had been more painful than the harsh words that had been blasted in her direction, and for a shy, withdrawn and insecure girl such as herself that had been bad enough.

She had kept herself to herself on duty for the two days since, getting on with what was needed and not engaging with anyone else except her patients or the other staff when required. She glanced up as the door opened and put on a warm smile as she walked over.

"I'm Doctor Wilson," Jessica said warmly. "How can I help you?"

"Hello," Kiri was caught a little unawares, "I'm Lieutenant Cho, I was wondering if I could have a check-up?" This was a new person to her but around her age by her looks. Doctor Wilson was slightly taller with shorter hair, otherwise their frame was quite similar, at least at a guess. Kiri forced a small smile as she waited for an answer, wondering if Pola was here.

"Of course, jump up on the biobed please," Jessica nodded, grabbing a PADD, on which she brought up the Lieutenants service record, and a medical tricorder. "Is there anything in particular you are concerned about or want me to check out? I should also tell you that I am an Intern, if you want Doctor Dhuinn I can go and grab her for you."

"Um, that is okay," Kiri looked around, this was starting to be a little scary. While she didn't look that threatening she didn't know this woman and no one else seemed to be there. So, wincing Kiri asked, "Um, is your personnel file on the ship's database?" It was stupid but she knew she was starting to panic.

"Yep, although I only came aboard a few days ago, I'm Jessica Wilson" Jessica replied with a gentle nod. "Is there something the matter, something you want to talk about?"

"Just, I know," Kiri silenced herself and looked sheepish, "Can I check it, before we do anything?"

"Sure," Jessica nodded, grabbing a PADD and bringing up her own service record and handing it over.

Kiri checked it, she checked it twice, she ran a quick systems check and asked the computer to confirm it, then she checked again. Handing the pad back she managed a small smile, "Thank you, sorry." Breathing deep now she settled herself slightly but still remained very tense. "I have some bruises, on my neck and my knees," They weren't really important but they were there. There was also the scarier prospect, "I also had a problem a few days ago, I was told I should come in for a follow up exam." She was uncomfortable more than anything and her tone showed it. There was a lot she was dealing with.

"It's alright, lie back on the biobed please, I'm just going to take a look at the bruises on your neck" Jessica nodded, she could tell that this woman was anxious about something and knew that she had to get to the bottom of it, she moved to the side of the bed and after carefully moving her patients hair to the side she took a look at the bruises, rolling the turtleneck back as required, her touch was light and delicate. "Can you tell me what the problem was, and how you got these bruises?"

Kiri did so but had to ask herself, how did she not know? Feeling the woman touching her Kiri tensed up again, "Somebody grabbed me." That would do, being back in this room like this reminded her how weak she had been back then. She wasn't really that strong anyway was she? As for the previous problem, wasn't it on her medical records? What were the words that she'd been given? "Extreme Fatigue, that was what Lieutenant Dhuinn said." Wincing again as she felt the finger tips on her bare skin.

Jessica frowned slightly at the explanation offered. Bruises around the neck might make sense, but the knee's, that didn't really make sense, and she felt herself torn between her responsibility as a doctor to find out if there was something wrong, and the privacy of her patient. She decided to let it rest for a moment.

"Okay, we'll let the biobed work its magic and she if it brings anything up," Jessica said gently.

"Okay," Kiri still looked rather concerned but laid back, looking up at the ceiling she was still ready to leap up and run away at a moment notice.

Jessica looked at the display. Evidence of numerous hematomas across the patients skin ranging from 3-4mm in depth and 7-9mm in length and A number of ecchymosis where the bruising is over 1cm in length, as well as some amounts of swelling and strain in some of the muscles of the shoulder. Jessica frowned, all this indicated being pretty heavily manhandled and dragged around somewhat, and she couldn't help but wonder what the poor woman had been through. She knew at least how to fix all of this, and as it was a fairly simple procedure she didn't need to get Pola.

"Well it looks like you've got a lot of bruising, as well as some swelling and muscle strain," Jessica said, deciding that this was not the best time to start asking questions. "Its simple enough to fix and we'll have you up and about in no time."

She turned to one of the enlisted medical techs.

"Set a screen up and grab me a dermal regenerator," Jessica instructed before turning back to her patient., her voice returning to its warm and gentle tone. "It'll take an application of the dermal regenerator on all the affected areas, if you could take off your uniform jacket and turtleneck and roll up or remove your trousers, whichever you are more comfortable with, the screen will give you some privacy."

Kiri didn't want to do that. Rolling up her trousers would be bad enough, taking off her tunic in front of someone though, no. Breathing deep she clutched her arms about her stomach, "Do I have to?" Her body was something private that she didn't share, she didn't want anyone to see it even a little bit.

"If it was just bruising I would say no, but there is evidence of hematomas under most of the bruises, that's internal bleeding and could do long term damage," Jessica replied gently. "And the strain and the swelling again has the potential to cause long-term problems if left untreated."

So it was take her clothes off or maybe die? That was still a hard choice for her, even if it was a doctor, she didn't want them to see. Couldn't she just cut a hole in her uniform? That would work right? She was being childish. Looking as if she was being punished Kiri reluctantly rose to her feet and looked at the other woman. Tensing her jaw muscles her neck shook as she started to undo her jacket. Glancing up reluctantly as she reached the bottom she slid out of it and folded it into a neat parcel. Kiri's small hands were shaking as she started to pull the tunic over her head, swallowing as she did so. Under it she wore a plain black vest that hugged her body, still it exposed her shoulders. That was still a part that worried Kiri though, her spots ran along the sides of her neck and over the front of her shoulders. Her arms were also exposed, already she felt cold. Looking much smaller she put her arms back around her abdomen after folding the teal tunic. This was something she would have to get over with, "Okay?" Her voice forlorn and resigned to her fate.

"That's great, I know it's difficult," Jessica said gently as she took the dermal regnerator and was glad that she had called for the screen to be put up, and it had been quickly, as otherwise it was unlikely that she would have been willing to do so. Never teh less it raised more questions than it answered; was her unwillingness to let anyone, even a doctor, see her body even partially unclosed something that she had had for a long time or was it a result of whatever had caused these bruising. There was nothing in her record yet to explain what had caused them, so either it was somehow not been added by the higher-ups or it had not been reported to anyone. "You might feel a little tingling."

She began by starting with a wider, deeper beam from the device to repair the muscle strain in the shoulders as well as the slight swelling around the joints as they were the most serious and potentially damaging if left untreated. She decided that now was the best time to ask about the bruises, as it would both take her mind of the treatment and reversely take her mind off the questions as well.

"Lieutenant, these injuries look like they were caused be someone holding onto you pretty roughly," Jessica said carefully. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

No she didn't want to. Stone had made her talk about it and she'd been forced to think about it. Here she was already vulnerable with half her clothes missing, with a stranger that despite checks she still didn't trust. Quietly she answered, "There was an incident with intruders on the ship."

Jessica stopped her treatment for a moment and glanced up concerned at the back of her patients head. That didn't sound particularly good at all, not at all. There was also something more to it than that, she could sort of see a delusional, paranoid security 'officer' like that asshole Stone wanting to check her records but for someone like the Lieutenant to do that, implied something more serious than just being manhandled a little. Finishing up the shoulders and upper arms she turned her attention to the bruising on the necks, refining the beam. She gently manipulated her patients posture, her touch ever gentle and slight before getting to work on the bruises.

"What happened?" She asked softly. "You don't have to tell me, but it would help me check for any other injuries you might have."

She was pressing, Kiri shook her head, "I don't think there is anything else," Kiri didn't want to go there, not again, not here and not with a stranger. It was hard enough letting another person touch her.

"Alright," Jessica nodded, she knew when not to press any further, as she finished on the bruising and after a brief scan with the medical tricorder she was satisfied with her work. "You can put your jacket back on now, then if you could roll up your trousers so I can treat the bruising and swelling around your knees, and after a quick scan by the biobed, we should be good to let you go again."

Kiri almost leapt back into her uniform. Fingers pulled the tunic in just a way to mess her hair up as little as possible and were almost a flurry as they fastened the jacket she slid into. It was slow and reluctantly that she carried on though, squatting down to roll up her trousers just past the knees. Her calfs and shins too had black spots down the outside flanks. There had been no comments about them so far so she was feeling very slight more comfortable with showing them. The bruises were big black things, even causing her knees to swell up a little.

Jessica looked at the bruises with a physicians eye and frowned, even the biobed sensors had not shown how nasty they were and Jessica didn't particularly want to think about how they had been formed. As she began to treat them she spoke, ill at-ease pushing again but she had to at least try.

"I don't suppose you want to tell me how you got them?" Jessica asked gently.

"The same," Kiri answered rather uncomfortably, this time the treatment was rather painful, making her wince, "Crawling through jefferies tubes."

Jessica managed, barely to avoid a sigh. It didn't take a genius, or even a doctor, to realise that the Lieutenant was clearly not telling the truth. And strictly speaking there was no reason that she should have to, the only problem was that as a Doctor, Jessica was responsible for the welfare and well-being of her patients, if she thought there was a problem then she was duty-bound to follow it up, or at the very least report her concerns to her superior. With the Lieutenant unwilling to tell her what really happened she was left in something of a conundrum. This could just be a case of an over enthusiastic personal encounter, although Jessica lacked the experience to really know things like that, but it could also be something a lot more serious, anything from some form of physical abuse to something a lot worse. She could understand why the Lieutenant was loath to tell the truth, but unfortunatly that made her job much harder, and as it happened made her only option probably not one that the Lieutenant would appreciate in the long term.

Soon enough she had completed her treatment and she activated the biobeds sensors to do a last check.

"Are there any other injuries or illnesses that you are concerned about, the biobed should show me everything but I like to make sure, machines aren't infallible after all," Jessica commented.

"I've been having some trouble sleeping, I had some Anesthizine before but I have almost used it all, could I have more?" Other than the bruises she felt better physically than she had in weeks, mentally was where her problems still were.

Jessica nodded and tapping a few instructions into her PADD she repeated the prescription that had been given to the Lieutenant previously. However she figured that there were probably underlying concerns so she also made another notation.

"Okay, from a medical point of view you've got a clean bill of health," Jessica said carefully. "However as you can no doubt guess I do have a few concerns, and combined with your trouble sleeping I'm going to refer you to a session with the Counseling staff, aside from anything else I don't want you on sleeping drugs any longer than is necessary."

She went to issue the drugs that were needed along with careful instructions on their use, as it was a repeat prescription and a fairly simplistic drug she was permitted to arrange for it herself.

"Your good to go, Lieutenant, but I want you to keep the appointment that we make with the Counsellor," Jessica chided gently. "And remember that the door is always open if you want to talk."

Nodding her head Kiri rolled down her trousers, "Thank you." At least that was over, she still felt rather cold though. Her fingers felt clammy and they were hardly ever warm as it was. Nervously she took the small cylinder and slipped it into the side pocket of her uniform, "It was nice to meet you."

"It was nice to meet you too," Jessica smiled warmly and geniunly,

Her choice now was between leaving and trying to make small talk with a stranger that had seen her half naked. There were things to do, work to bury herself in and she had to see a counsellor today.The doctor must have work as well, "Have a nice day," Bowing her head Kiri headed for the exit, still trying to sort her head out.

Jessica nodded and returned the salutation before turning and moving to get back on with her work. Once the Lieutenant was clear though she turned to look at the CMOs office and made a decision.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D.
Medical Officer (Intern)
USS Galileo

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