Medical Check Up: Carter

Posted on Mon May 6th, 2024 @ 9:32pm by Lieutenant Kaelyn Carter & Lieutenant Roan Gaeta

1,836 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Project Concord
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Pre Launch

Lieutenant Roan Gaeta was slowly working his way through the crew of the Concord for medical baselines. He was enjoying meeting people and while his medical staff had started taking baselines for the enlisted crew, if anything it was a good way to meet people.

Lieutenant Kaelyn Carter was next on his list and he had summoned her to sickbay. The El-Aurian was not the first one he had met, not even on the ship, but it was still fascinating to encounter someone of a species with such myth about them.

With her brief meeting with the Captain out of the way following her somewhat late arrival, Lieutenant Carter had just been about to go exploring when she received the summons to Sickbay. It was something she had to do anyway, and so the science officer decided to put satisfying her curiosity on hold for the time being. At least she had taken time out for a long shower and to change into a fresh uniform and so felt much more herself.

Entering Sickbay it seemed deserted at first. Pausing just inside the doorway her eyes swept the room before she called. “Hello? Doctor Geta?”

The name was close enough for Gaeta to realise it was him she was after. "Here," he said, with a smile as he watched her. "Doctor Roan Gaeta, it's nice to meet you, Lieutenant."

Kaelyn turned towards the source of the voice and offered a small apologetic smile, “I messed your name up, didn’t I?” She asked, even though she knew the answer. “My apologies. I’m Kaelyn Carter… you messaged me about a medical? I wasn’t sure if my file had got here yet so I brought my latest physical and sign off from Starfleet Medical to return to duty…”

As she spoke she held up the PaDD she had been carrying. Stepping forward she handed it over, “but I understand you would probably prefer to do your own check-up.”

"It's not a medical for return to duty," Roan said, his voice gentle as he smiled back to her. He took the PADD anyway though. "I am establishing a baseline of all members of the crew, since we are going to be travelling far. We do not yet know what this...journey...will do to our bodies."

"A sensible course of action," she concluded with a nod. After all, as a scientist she could hardly dispute his reasoning nor how beneficial the data may be, especially when they would be far from the nearest Federation medical facility. "Whatever you need. Scan away."

He nodded as he motioned to the biobed. "If you lay down, please," he said as he walked to the biobed. "How are you settling in, Lieutenant?" it was a question that was both social and informative. He liked to hear what was going on.

At his direction she lay down on the biobed, which was as comfortable as anyone might expect. “Fine I guess, it’s all still very new, but exciting at the same time because of it,” she grinned. “Then again, after a little while on the sidelines perhaps that is just the relief at feeling useful again. Although I did manage to catch up on a lot of research journals and lectures. I’m not sure any will be massively useful in our mission but you can’t be too prepared, right?”

"I agree, you can't be too prepared," he said as he started to scan, looking at her for a moment. She seemed happy. And that was good, more than he expected considering their mission. "I can't remember the last time I had the chance to catch up on lectures. I'm envious of the time, although not the circumstances...being on the sidelines is a great feeling."

“All part of the joys of exploring,” she said with a dismissive shrug, “Full disclosure, I have had a little back pain the last day or so. The transport that got me here wasn’t exactly luxurious and the inertial dampeners seemed about eighty years overdue a maintenance overhaul. Nothing too bad but I promised to behave and not hide from sickbay like I usually do.”

He smiled, watching her for a moment. "Well, we can look at your back. There's some movements that can help if you don't want medical intervention but if it is bad enough, we can fix it straight away," he looked back at the screen for her scan results. "So you are another hider then? I should enlist nurses to catch you if you miss appointments." He was joking and looked at her, the smile becoming a grin.

“I mean your nurses could try,” she grinned, “but I am exceptionally good at hide and seek. They’d never find me.”

"Are you now? That's it, I am implanting a tracker at the end of this," he teased, watching her with warmth.

Returning to the matter at hand she confided, “I have some physio I have to do every few days and that day is today actually … so if it doesn’t need your attention, my holodeck programme should sort it out.”

"Tell me about why you need the physio?" he asked, because it would be useful rather than him taking her file and going through. It would also help him to hear how she put it, as opposed to clinical notes another doctor put down.

There was a long pause as she considered how to answer. “When I was younger I was in a Shuttle accident,” she confided. “There was no magical Federation medicine but they did their best. Anyway it left scars on my back and neck. They never troubled me too much but when I got injured on the last away mission it seemed to my back that seemed to take the worst of it. So I now do regular physio to strengthen the muscles. It sounds worse than it is. Actually the programme my friend made for me is very relaxing.”

"I am glad the physio is helping," Roan said, meeting her eyes and holding them. Unfortunately, with injuries like that, small things could set it off. The body could take a lot, but it still needed assistance in some things. "Do you take any medication to help manage the discomfort?"

“For the first few days I did and then I stopped, I prefer trying to use natural remedies when I can.”

He nodded with understanding. He could respect that. "Have you tried lavender oil?" he asked, watching the results come in. "I have found it an effective dampener to discomfort."

“I don’t think I have ever tried lavender oil, I will definitely try it out,” she promised. “Voice of personal experience there, doc?”

"Yes," he said with a small smile, meeting her eyes. "Like all, I get aches and pains. I grew up on a planet where we didn't have the wonders of technology the Federation has, so we made our medicine from nature. Lavender is close in properties to a weed that grew close to the waters where I hunted. Similar smell, although lavender has a more pleasant lingering smell that the weed did."

“A medicine man and a hunter,” she mused. “There has to be interesting stories in there. Nice to know it isn’t just me who had a life outside of the Federation. What brought you so far from home?”

"A Starfleet shuttle crashed on my planet. The pilot died and I was there when the rescue party came," he said, watching her with sudden interest. Of course, she was El Aurian...she would have a unique perspective. "Since we were human, they offered to take us back to Earth if we wished. I wished it, for I had...grown weary of the life on my planet. It was not a peaceful place."

“I hope you’ve found some of that peace, Doc,” she replied with an understanding smile. While her own upbringing had led to a more nomadic experience she knew what it was like growing up without that sense of safety. “And I am now trying to decide if shuttles crash way too much. Though in my case it was one hundred percent pilot error.”

"His was...bad luck, I think. Any other planet he would have been fine. It was the radiation that killed him, not the crash," he said as he got her results in. He then did a deeper scan of her back. "Just bad luck."

She offered him a sympathetic smile, hearing the pause and attempt- consciously or not - to make it sound okay. Her father used to say people made their own luck but then again it turned out he wasn’t quite the parent of the century. It wasn’t a philosophy she shared and not one she suspected the good doctor would endorse either.

“I’m sorry,” she said with undeniable sincerity before moving the topic along, “but there was at least some positives - it brought you here, to this moment so I can ask you this important question. Hot chocolate… With or without marshmallows?”

He looked at her, a small smile coming to him. "Marshmallows," he said before he chuckled. "Or, a shot of amaretto in it." He met her eyes, raising an eyebrow almost playfully. "What about you? With or without?" He appreciated how she had moved the conversation. He also appreciated her attempt at humour with something that was seen as one of the, perhaps even only, good thing humanity had brought to the replicator, namely a large variety of hot chocolate.

“With,” she answered, before clarifying, “but not pink marshmallows. And it is even better with some extra chocolate grated on top. Annnnnd now I need to find some hot chocolate.”

He nodded, smiling as he watched her scans. "I got all I need for the baseline. Regarding your back, there's a little inflammation...most likely when your ride here was bumping around, something got pulled. I can give you something for it, but equally green, Vulcan hairweed, rosehip, turmeric, Betazed olaya...any of those teas have anti-inflammatory properties. With your exercises and a more comfortable chair when working, you will most likely feel better in a matter of days."

“Sounds good,” she nodded, “let’s go with option two.”

He nodded and smiled, watching her. "Then you're free to go, Lieutenant Carter. It has been a pleasure."

“Likewise, Doctor,” she grinned as she stood. “If you don’t mind, I am going to go find the some hot chocolate. You are welcome to join me. If not now then consider it an open invitation.”

"I will take you up on that some other time," Roan said, meaning it. He still had a lot to do before the ship departed. "Put some marshmallows in there for me."

“Consider it done. Later Doc!” she called over her shoulder with a wave, already thinking of chocolate but relieved to find perhaps a potential friend.

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