Initial Medical Checkup

Posted on Mon Apr 6, 2015 @ 6:57pm by Captain Tam "Demon" Haican & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

2,427 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: DS5, Main Sickbay
Timeline: MD01 - 1300

After lunch, Tam finally made his way down to Main Sickbay. He knew that, in order to fly here, he'd have to get an initial flight physical. Otherwise, he'd be grounded faster than a horta can burrow through solid rock.

Walking into the large sickbay, Tam took in the environment. Everything here was state - of - the - art. He didn't see anyone at first as he moved deeper inside. "Hello?" He called out.

"Good morning" a voice could be heard from somewhere behind a biobed...well, more *under* it to be exact. Amia appeared, first her hands, uncharacteristically messy as she hauled herself up. Then her head, uncharacteristically dishevelled too. Not that the newcomer could have known what "characteristically" would be for the CMO but nonetheless, she emerged.

"Sorry" she apologised. "Sickbay with so much technology it's almost got a brain of its own. State of the Art, brand new and already here I am, no technician to be found, trying to fix my own beds!!" grumbling as she stuck her hands into the nearest steriliser and then drier, she turned back and offered the newcomer a wide smile and a clean hand to shake.

"Amia Telamon" she said. "Welcome to Sickbay. I promise whatever you want, we DO have other beds and you won't be treated with something faulty! What can I do for you? I'm the new CMO. Are you a regular?" By regular she meant one of the crew who was on medication that he had to return for at predetermined periods but it sounded funnier if the person hearing it were to think she meant someone accident prone. Settling to keep her odd sense of humour to herself from now on, Amia deflated and became a more serious as the man in the pilot's uniform spoke.

Tam smiled good naturedly. "Captain Tam Haican. Pleasure to meet you, Doctor." He paused briefly as he wondered to himself just how many of the officers and crew were new, like himself. "No, I'm not a regular. I just transferred in as the new Bravo Assault Wing Commander, and I'm here to get my initial flight physical."

"Ooh, flyboy! I have a weakness for those. Married one not so long ago." she stated with a wide grin. "Pilot turned Helmsman... or was it the other way around....but now in Ops.... sort of... " she continued as she patted the nearest Bio-Bed for him to sit on and began to set up the monitors, scanners and other equipment she would need for an RMA (routine medical assessment).

Tam chuckled softly. He then moved to sit on the indicated biobed. "Well, us fly boys need love too." His eyes grew a little darker just then. There was a definite sadness about his demeanor.

Amia noticed the change but didn't feel it appropriate to comment but she was spared the need to as her comm badge bleeped and declared a "Medical Emergency in Theatre 2".

"I'm SO sorry... would you mind if I left the rest of your check over to my Nurse Practitioner? She's fully qualified and it would save you having to come back to finish off another time?" Amia asked hurriedly, hoping the rather charming Captain wouldn't mind but not in a position to do much if he did. "If you'd rather make another appointment.... Ollie will do that for you..... Sorry...." Amia was at the doorway and then gone, rushing to scrub up and dive into whatever emergency awaited in Theatre.

A rather apologetic woman with long blonde curls, tied up behind her head in a formal arrangement that defied gravity but not regulations and unusually dark brown eyes, almost black stood looking at Tam, a PaDD in her hand, ready to make him a new appointment. She wore Medical Teal and a Lt (jg) full and half pips on her collar.

"I'm sorry about that ... Captain is it?" she glanced at the PaDD to confirm. "Captain Haican." she confirmed with a nod, looking back up from the PaDD right at him with an honest open expression and a sweet natured smile. "I'm Opal Oliver, everyone calls me Ollie which I suppose is preferable to Opie... which is what my brother calls me.. just! I'm the stand in if you're happy to have one but I'd understand totally if you just want to come back for the Boss another time?"

Tam grinned slightly as he replied. "If the Doctor says you can take care of me, who am I to argue?" He discreetly looked Opal over as she moved towards him. Then he sensed something. There was something...familiar..about her. "Excuse me for asking, but are you Betazoid?"

"Half" she answered and then hoped it didn't sound blunt. "I'm not telepathic like my mother was.... I'm only a little bit empathic. I can sense strong emotions and if someone who is a full telepath "sends" thoughts to me directly I can get the idea of what they're trying to make me understand but I can't send back thoughts, only strong emotions. I try to describe it like music. A true Betazoid telepath can send the whole musical score, lyrics and all, but I can just send a colour or a mood a bit like humming the general tune instead of the concerto. I don't have the power or the range of my full Betazoid relatives either." she explained.

Tam nodded as he listened. "I thought I recognized something about you. As you can see by my file, I am full blooded Betazoid. My family comes from the Thirteenth House of Betazed, The House of Protection. Do you know which house your family is from?"

"I'm impressed." she acknowledged. "My mother was from an offshoot of the 10th House. The house of Healers. But by offshoot, I mean she wasn't in direct line to the higher House. That's how she was allowed to marry a Starfleet Officer."

Opal wondered how, if he was full Betazoid, she hadn't felt him transmitting thoughts at her. Her mother had always been firing off telepathy and used it as her main form of communication whenever she could, especially with her children. Opal had been a big disappointment, only being able to respond with mood or emotion transfers whilst her siblings were stronger with their Betazoid gifts but she had naturally assumed that all full-blooded Betazoids were as keen on projecting their thoughts.

"My education included a very strong element of how to wall off parts of my mind to shield against other Betazoid's incursions into my thoughts. Yet you have not made any attempt to scan me. I have met few full-bloods, despite my mother's family connections, and I'm curious to know how your family use their telepathy? Is it something you would normally offer out to any, just as humans speak up when approached? Or do you only project if you're sure the recipient can receive it?" she asked, curious as she began to read off the PaDD that told her how far Amia had taken his checkover so far and what she would need to complete. Multitasking with those very walls she mentioned having been taught, she read and made mental note whilst listening for his answer at the same time. It was a skill she took for granted.

Tam smiled softly as he listened. "You misunderstand my abilities. I actually have been reading the entire immediate area since I arrived. It's an ability that I've had since I matured in my teens. However, the only time I actively enter the minds of others without first asking, is when I am flying. I only enter another's mind with their permission otherwise."

"That sounds perfectly reasonable and very polite" Opal agreed. "The more Betazoids I meet, the more I wonder if I was being prejudiced to imagine you'd all be like my family" she reflected, a bit of a light dawning. "I'm sorry i presumed. I wonder now if i only met so few when I was younger because my family were not all that well received. Isn't it odd how your experiences as a child take on a different light when you grow up and look back at them from someone else's perspective. I wonder what they did... or didn't do.... sorry... I'm waffling." She returned her focus to his tests and scans again. There weren't too many left to do.

Tam smiled politely as he listened. "As the human saying goes, you can't choose your family." He chuckled softly. He reached out and gently placed his right hand on her left shoulder. "Don't worry about it. If you would like to practice your abilities, I would be happy to help."

Opal felt a ripple as he touched her shoulder, but only his physical touch. He didn't try to reach for her mind until asked, just as he had promised. She hoped she hadn't broadcast that reaction. A girl shouldn't be too obvious, especially at first but he seemed someone she would like to trust.

"Here you go!" she said as she handed him a small electronic data stick. "This is your certification of medical soundness for duty. I've logged the results on your med-file but this is your own copy." As he reached to take it she went on. "And, yes please. I would very much like to learn more about what I can and can't do... if you really meant that?"

Tam didn't reveal that he felt the emotional flutter flow through Opal. He felt that she didn't need to know that. At least, not yet. He took the data stick and smiled. "Thanks." He then stood up from the bed and slipped his service coat back on. "And I did mean it. Give me a few days to get settled and get my daughter settled as well, then we'll talk more about it."

"No problem" she smiled lightly, doing her best to wall off the brief thought that said cynically ~they all find some lost relative or sudden reason to change their minds as soon as you say yes!~

Finished with all the tests and having handed him the dataset he needed to show he had been cleared for duty, Opal put away her med-kit.

"So, I'll wait for you to contact me then. Hope you're daughter's okay." she was genuinely curious about the idea of him having a daughter. "How old is she?" she couldn't help but ask.

"She's fourteen." Tam couldn't help but smile softly when he spoke of his daughter. "Her name is Sebina and it's just the two of us now."

"I'm sorry." Opal could only assume that meant that something had happened to his wife so there was something sad to say sorry to hear of. "Have the two of you been alone long?"

Tam's smile faltered as darker memories flooded back into his mind. "It's been four years since....since my wife and son were killed."

"Both..." Opal spluttered and regretted immediately that she had voiced her shock. "I'm SO very, VERY sorry." she said quietly but sincerely, a wave of sadness and compassion washing over her. "I should not have asked. That was intrusive. I'm sorry." she apologised.

Tam gave her a sad grin as he slowly shook his head and shrugged slightly. "It's okay. You would have learned about it as soon as you read over my medical file and Sebina's as well. I have found that when someone asks, their behavior is less likely to seem as if they are walking on eggshells around me."

"I don't want to walk on eggshells with you at all but I'm aware that it would be disrespectful to just banter on lightly over such a sad, serious subject. Was it a medical problem that happened to them?" It was the first and foremost idea that came into her medically trained head.

The Betazoid slowly shook his head. "No. They were both murdered by a group of Klingon renegades. First Verena, when her fighter was vaporized while she covered our retreat. And then Revin..." His voice quivered noticeably. "Our sweet, sweet boy..." he sighed a shuddering sigh. "The bastards then went after the saucer section of our ship and and destroyed it, killing nearly everyone aboard. Sebina, and a handful of other civilians were saved by the crew getting them to a few lifepods. I was in a coma and didn't regain consciousness until a few days later. I awoke to a nightmare."

"How horrible!" Opal gasped. "I'm so sorry for your loss and the tragic way, the horrific way it happened." She looked at the floor and then back up at Tam. "How is Sebina handling it all?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

Shaking his head slowly, Tam answered. "About as well as can be expected. She's in pain, of course." He paused and sighed heavily. "I'm not helping her any. Since it happened...I...I buried myself in my work. My whole focus has been to simply protect her. However, in doing so...I have become an absentee father..." he hung his head in shame as his words trailed off.

"It's never to late, especially once you've realised what's happening?" Opal suggested in a way she hoped was helpful. "Does she have lots of female friends? Teachers that she can relate to? that sort of thing?" she asked. "Sometimes, no matter how good a father you are, a girl gets to a stage where she needs a motherly figure."

Shaking his head, Tam replied. "No, at least, not here. She has a couple friends back at our previous posting. But here, it's just me. I'm hoping that she meets some new friends while at school. Only time will tell." Looking over to the wall chronometer, he saw that he had been here for awhile. And he still had much to do before Sebina's transport arrived. "Well, sorry to cut things short, but, I've still a lot to do. Maybe we could talk again, over dinner perhaps?"

Originally Opal had been about to offer to maybe meet Tam's daughter and hope to talk with her but the offer of dinner distracted her so the original thought was pushed away until it came back to her later.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea" she replied, checking she had given him the datarod with his medical certificate on it and watching him leave.

Tbc


A JP Between:


Lt Amia Telamon
CMO


and


Captain Tam "Demon" Haican
Bravo Assault Wing Commander


and

Ens Opal Oliver
Nurse Practitioner
DS5 - Sickbay (npc Jools)

 

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