Mobile Medicine

Posted on Wed Jan 4th, 2023 @ 5:45am by Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine & Lieutenant Ashev

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Main Engineering

ON

It was Ashev's first time in the Endurance's engine room. There were crew busily moving from station to station, doing whatever it is they did to keep the warp core humming along, its outputs bright even to the blind newly-minted Chief Medical Officer. The layout otherwise wasn't hard to deduce; from where people moved, he could tell the general layout of corridors and consoles, including the island in the middle which everyone avoided.

It had only been hours since he had replicated his shiny new rank pip and taken to adjusting the layout of the CMO Office, interrupted by a request to come to engineering.

The Chief was easy to identify. A more complicated mind, psi capable at least to some extent as his was, and another life force in immediate proximity.

"You called for a Doctor?" he asked as he approached the station where Valentine was working.

There was a slight tingle in the back of Nyx’s brain as the… VERY pale Andorian? Approached her. She wracked her brain as he approached and came up with the name ‘Aenar’ and nodded fractionally at the realization of the Andorian subspecies. A small draconic head peered up over the edge of one of the hanging platforms to watch, “I did..” She admitted at the question, and I know it would have been more appropriate to have come to you rather than the other way around, but as you can see, it’s a bit hectic around here trying to make repairs!” She gave a chuckle at the understatement.

“It’s no problem,” Ashev assured her. “I go where the work is. Speaking of which, who is hurt?”

"Well.." Nyx demurred, "There's no one actually injured here.. I'm still newish to the crew, only been on board um... A few weeks, but never did my onboarding physical and haven't been able to get away at the right time to get one done, soooo I figured that if I asked someone from Medical to come down here, I could get one done while keeping an eye on the repairs that were ongoing?" She put on a bright smile, highlighted by the perfectly applied scarlet lipstick.

Ashev let out a long sigh. “Well, at least you’re honest about it. Though it sounds like I’ll need to get the security chief to start dragging people to sickbay. May as well get this done now.” He got out his medical tricorder, put in an attached ear piece, and began scanning the Betazoid chief engineer. “How have you been feeling? Any recent changes? Also what is looking at me from up there?” he asked, cocking his head toward the upper platform.

"I've been perfectly fine, nothing wrong that I can tell, well, maybe a bit of a tingling in the fingers of my left hand, but nothing that doesn't come and go." Nyx shrugged, "And if you find any problems with any of my engineers..." She paused for a moment, remembering what the Captain had told her, "Or really anyone else, let me know and I'll get them to sickbay for you." She made a 'wait' gesture towards the platform, "And that up there is Grizardel, also known as Gigi. She's a Drussellian Drakeling that's bonded to me. Not going to say that she's totally harmless, but generally speaking, she's as sweet as a kitten." She gave the Drakeling a fond look.

“Well, I’m not a vet, but if Gigi has any issues, bring her to me.” Ashev moved his scanner across Nyx’s left arm. “I’m good with animals, and have a sense for health problems, and can research things just fine. This tingling you mentioned, tell me about it though. Engineers need their hands, I’m told.”

"Just about every day, especially for a programmer like myself." She gave a wry grin, "Drakelings are rather tough, much like their ancestors, the wing feels soft, but it's actually a rather hypertough material, much like extruded carbon nano-tubules, but naturally built. You may tear the wing membrane, but it's hard to do and it still heals rather well." She returned to the proper subject, "It feels just... tingly, I don't know really how else to describe it. It's a lot like if you slept on it and it fell asleep... As I say, it comes and it goes, but doesn't really hurt me or anything"

"Yet," Ashev added. "Roll up your sleeve please?"

"Even easier?" Nyx unzipped the tailored and rather um... Revealing uniform jacket and tossed it onto the center console, briefly disrupting the holographic starship until backup holocams reconstituted it, then reached out with her left arm to him, "Here you go!"

Ashev shrugged. “That’ll do it.” The Doctor set his tricorder down and took Nyx’s forearm in both hands. Cold fingers aligned with the muscles and bones along the length of it, helping him try to sense whether there was some issue there. Not exactly fine science but a skill he’d been honing for some time and helped guide his more conventional analysis later.

“The dragon is looking at me funny. Is it protective?”

"She can be," Nyx admitted, emphasizing the pronoun slightly, glancing up at Gigi, then back to the doctor, "But Gigi's not feeling threatened or thinking that I'm in danger. That's an inquisitive look, probably because she's never seen someone like you before. We had an Andorian on board Hyperion, one of the tactical officers, but that's still a bit different. She's not going to come down from her perch without being invited to do so. I've spent the last two years working with her so that when she's here in engineering or somewhere else, that she doesn't get into something that could kill her with an errant touch. If she thought I were in danger, she'd be acting much more aggressive, hissing, spitting, possibly a warning fireball."

The doctor’s brow furrowed as she continued to feel up her arm, not sensing anything wristward. It was when he reached midway up her bicep that he noticed something.

He lifted her arm so she was holding it above her head, and applied pressure at a very specific point. He sensed a shift in muscle tone. “How does this feel? A bit numb again?”

Nyx flexed her fingers as the tingle returned, as if to try to get rid of it, but she nodded, "Yep, that's the tingle I've been feeling."

Ashev nodded. “I thought so. Do you mind calling Gigi down? I need her help with something.”

"Of course!" Nyx was quite happy to show Gigi off whenever she could, being proud of her little dragon. "Gigi?" She commanded to get the drakeling's attention, then gave a three-toned whistle, low-high-middleflat and gestured towards herself. There was absolutely no hesitation from the small lizard as she came over the edge, wings out but arrowed in a glide-path that dipped below Nyx's shoulder, but then spread to their full sixty-centimeter reach as she rose up to a stall that ended up on Nyx's shoulder. A quick rub of horned head on cheek and Gigi's attention focused on Ashev, now far closer than before, reaching her head out on the end of the moderately long and very mobile neck.

The drakeling within reach, Ashev gently stroked under its chin, sensing its calm with him. He ventured along its left wing until he found clawed forefingers, which after a moment of ensuring the animal consented to being touched, he isolated one sharp claw.

With his other hand, he brought Nyx’s uniform jacket up to where Gigi was sitting and used the claw to perforate the sleeve at the shoulder. The claw cut through it like a hit knife through butter, allowing him to easily detach the offending sleeve. He repeated the process on the other side, and returned to Nyx a sleeveless jacket.

“Put this on, please. And do you have any treats for this magnificent creature? She did very well.” He stroked under her chin again and smiled.

Nyx had gasped in horror as what he'd intended to happen did indeed happen and her mouth opened to protest the destruction of the finely attuned-to-her-body jacket, but it clopped shut just as quickly, complaints unvoiced. She put it on, "If I didn't, she'd probably try to eat me." She bent her neck to rub it on Gigi's back, while reaching into a pocket and pulling two items out of it, handing one small tidbit to Ashev, "This is a static treat, and since you're the one who wants to reward her for behavior, you get to give it to her."

The drakeling was cautious taking the treat from Ashev, but once she did, it went straight down the gullet, prompting a smile from the doctor. "Magnificent."

After the consumption, Nyx held her other hand out, palm up and Gigi's attention snapped directly to it, "This is really her favorite though. It allows her to hunt for her snack, like wild drakelings do with their native insects and all." On her hand was an item that looked like a miniature dragonfly, but was obviously a drone, "Completely digestible by her, no harmful effects and actually produced with all of the major dietary needs for a drakeling."

"Is it autonomous?" Ashev asked. "Or do you control it?"

"There are options for both, though I'll admit that the evasive program I had someone come up with does a far better job of simulating the natural prey insects on Drussell." She gestured up and down, side to side with the hand holding the motion treat and the drakeling's head followed it the entire time, "Keeping up her hunting abilities can only be a good things, and I want to keep her interested in things."

"Do me a favour," Ashev said, while listening to the explanation. "Try replicating what sometimes makes your fingers tingle. Hold your arms up like you're trying to access a panel above your head."

Nyx did just as the doctor suggested, holding both hands up in the air, then after a dozen seconds, wiggled her fingers as they didn't tingle at all, "You know what? No tingle!"

“Wear a standard uniform,” Ashev explained tersely. “Or get one tailored but give it more room in the arms. The sleeves were cutting off circulation.”

Nyx blushed a slight red, but shook it off, lowering her arms and shaking them slightly, then realized that she was still holding something that an increasingly frustrated drakeling was VERY interested in, "I suppose we should turn her loose for this..." She glanced around, "Flyer in the room!" She called out despite the only two others being present at the moment, but they sidled closer to their consoles slightly. Nyx grinned and stepped back towards the wall herself, then depressed something on the flying snack.

It took off without warning, but Gigi didn't make a move to go after it yet, waiting until a sharp rising whistle from Nyx before launching herself off the woman's shoulder, instantly arrowing down to gather speed. The next twenty seconds were filled with the blur of the 'insect' in a frantic evasion pattern as the drakeling spun and whirred, rapidly spreading and folding her wings as she pursued the bit of prey. Without any warning at all, a fireball the size of a cotton ball erupted from Gigi's open maw and struck the flying snack in midair, which then vanished into the snapping jaws of the drakeling, which then wheeled once more, but instead of returning to Nyx's shoulder, the tiny dragon clawed for altitude before spreading her wings to their full extent and making a gliding approach to the platform hanging from the ceiling.

“Impressive,” Ashev said, his senses following the creature as she flew, feeling the heat from her attack, and sensing the satisfaction when she caught her prey. “And very well disciplined. Tell me, what do you do with her when you have to leave the ship? Like for away missions?”

"That's still a work in progress.. I don't want to leave her in a cage in my quarters, it's not good for her and she can get destructive if she's without company. I've got Jasmine, Ensign Evalli, able to keep an eye on her like when we were on the station, but if she's busy when I'm called to a team, I'm not quite sure what I'll do with her." Just the thought of that caused her heart to race a bit, worry for her beloved pet in it.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Ashev said in an attempt to be reassuring. "Mind if I try something else?"

"Of course." Nyx said hesitantly, watching as the drakeling, who'd apparently decided not to land yet, made another sweeping turn around the edge of the room, eyes and head on the swivel for any more tasty insects.

Ashev's antennae tracked Gigi's movements as she flew, his own psi sense locking onto the animal's complex mind. He reached out his arm and mimicked Nyx's whistle almost flawlessly.

The head snapped directly onto the outstretched arm, abandoning the hunt obediently at the summoning whistle. There was a slight hesitation as Gigi realized that it wasn't her bond-partner that had made the call, but without a countervailing command, did as she'd been requested and reached out with rear talons and feet, backwinging furiously and causing surprisingly strong gusts of wind before settling onto the forearm and immediately climbing up to his shoulder. She dipped her head instinctively towards the Aener, but didn't make contact with his neck or cheek, hesitating briefly before pulling back with a chirrup and cocked head.

Nyx shook her head with a smile, but knew that this wasn't real abandonment. The cocked head made her giggle softly, "She's asking permission, like the good girl she is."

That prompted a smile from Ashev, who raised his hand gently and stroked under her chin as he had before.

With the initial touch made by Ashev, Gigi rubbed her head up his neck and cheek before climbing around his neck to repeat the contact on the other side of his body, before perching on his shoulder just about like a pirate's parrot.

“She’s incredible.” This creature was now apparently his friend. She felt warm to his cold skin, which he wouldn’t have predicted. “Obviously she likes me. Unless we’re both on the away team I can care for her. Feel free to make a perch in sickbay when you have a moment. I take it she stays out of the way in a crisis?”

"She stays out of the way in general, truth be told." A couple gestures showed four perches throughout the engineering room, "And she's learned that when the lights flash red, she's essentially to freeze in place unless given a command. I've got a life-support crate that she hates in both my quarters and my office and if she's with me..." She gave a rising whistle with a 'come hither' gesture and turned halfway away, presenting a shoulder. Gigi launched herself off of Ashev and towards the Betazoid, landing roughly on her shoulder, then circled her neck once before settling in across the back of her neck, wings folded in tight to her body, with her head and tail draped down across Nyx's upper chest, "This is one of her favored positions, she gets to take advantage of my warmth, and my neck stays warm too!"

“I hope she’s fine with my colder neck.” He clasped his hands together. “Now. Tomorrow, go see the quartermaster. Get a uniform jacket with sleeves that aren’t quite so tight. Otherwise you’re in good health. Keep it up.” He found his tricorder and pocketed it. “And if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.”

"Quartermaster, ha!" Nyx barked the single laugh, "I design my own uniforms, better fit, better look and absolutely fabulous!"

“Right, but the last time you did that, you cut off circulation to your hands,” he replied bluntly. “Give yourself space in the sleeves next time.”

"I will." Nyx said after a moment, "Now that I know the problem, I can design a better uniform." She nodded.

“If there’s one thing I can trust an engineer to do, it’s engineer a solution,” Ashev said. “Or possibly over-engineer a solution,” he added with a smirk, “but I’m sure you’ll manage. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if anything else arises, for you or Gigi.”

"Of course, and if you run into any issues? I'll be here!" Nyx added as Ashev left. Well, there was one less worry on her mind and that was truly a relief.

OFF