Checkup

Posted on 17 Jun 2023 @ 3:44pm by Lieutenant Commander Derek Martin & Lieutenant Commander Harva Taliborn

1,269 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Deus ex Machina
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Not Long after "New Faces"

(The main plot of the mission is over, Engineering and Ops are working to get the ship back in order, and the away team has just landed with their shuttle)

Heavy footfalls carried the ship's largest officer to Sickbay. His massive bulk darkening the entry, as he stepped inside. A Sirran, a rare sight outside of Sirrah, itself a minor planet - not even part of the Federation, but allied. This one, all black fur over his entire form, broad shoulders and barrelchest filling out the way oversized uniform - the gold collar denoting this particular Lieutenant Commander as being an Engineer. Said uniform stained and damaged.

"Doctor?" the being's deep, rumbling basso profondo resonated.

Derek was a bit disconcerted with the disappearance of Odin and frowned a bit. The massive bulk of fur and gold uniform that walked in meant he looked up just to meet his gaze. He kept looking up, and up, and finally up to meet those canine features.

"Ah Euh Er uh... Can I help you?" Derek asked. The Doctor frowned upon seeing the damaged and stained uniform, and gestured over to one of the biobeds, the diagnostic backbones of Starfleet's medical science.

"No need to be startled," Harva took a step back, holding up his hands in a defensive gesture, offering what he believed was a friendly smile. "Name's Harva Taliborn, I'm a Sirran. One of two on this ship. I just came back from an away mission, got nicked in the gut by a shiv, my back got pelted by some small debris after an explosion and I generally got knocked about a bit," the massive being explained, lowering his hands again, his voice resonating.

The 'friendly smile' was more teeth than smile, which triggered something deep within Derek's reptile brain, otherwise known as the fight or flight response. Somehow, he kept his composure. "Well, you seem to be operating under your own power, so I'd say that's a good sign, but without knowing your specific anatomy I can't do much, let's see just how 'knicked' you got, then shall we, Commander?" Derek asked, smiling slightly and walking over to the diagnostic station.

"There are detailed files on Sirran biology in the computer," Harva answered as he lumbered over, taking off his shirt as he did. The front of his torso was missing much of the fur, with old burn scar tissue taking up the space. Similar scars existed on the back of his arms, like he'd tried to shield his face from something hot with said arms. The nick in his gut was not deep, just deep enough to be annoying and still bleeding. His back was pelted by small bits of safety glass that caused some minor cuts, but nothing serious. "So how's it look, doc?" he rumbled.

"It looks like you've got a cut on your gut, nothing to be panicked about," Derek said, not even touching the biobed controls. He touched either side of the wound and looked at it, nodding and clucking his tongue a bit before he headed to an instrument tray in the shelving unit built into the wall and pulled out a dermal regenerator. "The real question is, do you want me to use this?" Derek asked, holding the instrument up as Harva sat on his bed. He'd seen the scars. Those didn't come from the use of a dermal regenerator. They came from natural healing and more archaic forms of medicine.

Harva considered for a long, drawn out moment. These scars had been a constant factor for well over a decade. A reminder of things. Mistakes of the past. A defining moment in his life. He'd held on to them, as they were as much a part of him as his muscles, his teeth and his black fur. Now though, he had a daughter. He hadn't known about her, but she'd come aboard and found him. Nothing was the same anymore. No longer just going through the motions of life, trying to be a good man. Now, there was someone to be a good man for. A good father. Maybe -

Maybe it was time to let go of the past. "Yeah," A nod. "See what you can do."

He nodded and shrugged a bit. It made no difference to Derek. Plenty of his practice in life had required the use of less sophisticated technology. Sometimes you had to make do. Power didn't work. You had limited resources. His mind flashed back to his time at FJ958, the Cardassian mining facility. He hesitated for a moment before he flicked on the dermal regenerator and used his fingers to pry apart the wound gingerly, applying the instrument which hummed to life. Slowly the wound stitched together, as the device forced the body to regenerate its cellular structure at an advanced rate. He went along the gash and then finished up.

"There you are, like it never happened," Derek said with a little bob of his head. "That'll be two bits," he said.

"Send the bill to Petrova," Harva chuckled, though it was a hollow humor. "Think you can do something about these old burns? I've - well, I've decided to - move on with life, I suppose. Found reason to, recently."

"I can do a debridement of the scar tissue. Basically scraping it off. If your physiology is anything like ours, the keloid tissue, or whatever it is you have as an equivalent, could be removed and then replaced with healthy tissue, but let me ask you why you'd want to first? It's not exactly life threatening. These scars here don't adversely impact your health in any way do they?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow to the shaggy commander.

"Physical health, no. Physical comfort, yes," the Sirran rumbled in his deep, resounding bass. "Psychological health? Well - that's another issue altogether. These remind me of a time in my past that now, perhaps, I've finally matured enough to want to leave behind."

"Good enough for me. I'll put it down to physical comfort since Starfleet won't exactly approve of using technology and resources for purely cosmetic purposes," he said with a nod.

"When would you like to get started?" Derek asked. He wasn't exactly busy, but with people coming back, there may be more pressing matters to attend to.

"We'll schedule for some other time, if possible," Harva inquired. "I've got other things to do, first. Two alien AIs that are missing, for example. Ship's systems still having issues. Lots of little fires to put out."

"Both of them are gone? Hmmm... Well let me know if I can be of any further assistance," Derek said, obviously concerned at the notion that both AIs were gone.

"Mmhm. We know where one is and have a plan to recover her. Not so much the other. Though that one's bound to the ship, so our hope is that once we get the ship to start behaving again, she'll manifest on her own terms again," Harva explained while putting his uniform top back on. "I really should get a new uniform, this one's seen better days."

"Hmmm, keep me informed. I hope you can find both of them," Derek said with a note of more than casual concern in his voice. Odin was gone? The concept weighed heavily on his mind.

The Sirran flicked an ear at the note of concern. "I'm sure both will be fine. They've proven resilient, both of them." he smiled, rising to his feet again. "Thanks for the help, doc. I'll be back for those treatments," he added.

 

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