Physical - Moreau

Posted on 07 May 2017 @ 2:24am by Lieutenant David Moreau Jr & Commander Jayla Kij

1,782 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: MD2 || 1100 Hours

Next on the list was one Jayla had never met. Moreau. He was new to the crew. She realized that his presence meant that Camila- a friend- wouldn't be returning, but she tried not to worry about that too much. She could always send Camila a letter or something.

Never mind. She had several more physicals to get through today and thinking about old friends would only distract her.

It had been a hectic day from the start and Moreau felt like he was being torn in three hundred directions at once, but he was used to rapid response and doing three hundred things at once was what he was used to. Still, when he got a notice at his terminal that he had an appointment with Medical for an exam, he rolled his eyes. They probably wanted to poke and probe while asking about all of his old injuries.

With a sigh, he secured his terminal after checking for map to Medical and headed out. Five minutes later, the big bald Security Chief entered Medical and approached a Trill woman. "Excuse me," he said. "I'm Lieutenant Moreau, reporting for my physical."

Jayla looked up at the tall man and gave him a pleasant smile. "Good to meet you," she said. "I'm Doctor Jayla Kij. Jump right up here and we'll get started," she added, indicating the bio bed.

"Pleasure to meet you, Doctor Kij," David said affably as he went to sit on the biobed. The big man looked around the facility and had to admit that it was a really nice one although he didn't plan to spend more time in there than he had to.

"Any complaints?" she asked as she took out her tricorder and began preliminary scans.

David laughed as if that were the funniest question he'd heard in a long time. "Complaints? How much time do you have, Doc?"

"I meant medical complaints," she replied with a grin. "I don't care about your overbearing mother or bratty kids or anything. I mean, not to say I'm uncaring, but it's just not my job. Oh, you understand," she said, giving up explaining.

He laughed again. "I know, Doc," he said. "I have to give you a hard time so you order me not to come in here again. Let's see, I get an occasional twinge in my right femur when I'm near a gravimetric shear, my right collar bone hurts when I look at a Nausicaan and my ribs ache when I try to bench more than three hundred and fifty pounds. So, while those can be complaints, it's nothing that's really medically related which can be fixed. I think they're called phantom pains with the exception of my ribs."

"I would advise against benching more than three hundred and fifty pounds, then," she replied with an amused grin. "Seriously, do you actually need to bench more than three hundred and fifty pounds?"

"For my weight and training, I should be between three hundred and seventy-eight and four hundred and fifty-three," David said as he gestured at himself. He was build like a bull and every inch of it was pure muscle. "It's kind of a challenge to get past that right now, but when my ribs feel like their being squeezed by an angry Tellarite who lost an argument, I just can't get it."

"You could give yourself a hernia, too," she commented. "I'm willing to bet you'd come off better in a fight with a Klingon."

"That may be true or it may not be," David said. "It all depends on how an opponent fights and who gets the first lucky hit in. That's why I try not to get into brawls if a phaser is handy. As for a hernia, it wouldn't be the first one I've ever had. I wish there were a way to strengthen my ribs, though."

"There are a couple of physical therapists on staff," Jayla suggested. "They might be able to help."

"Aren't they more for people who need therapy instead of someone who just wants to life more weight?" he asked her. "I wouldn't want to deprive people who actually need it just so I can be selfish."

"You'd just be asking advice," she pointed out, switching to secondary scans. "And as of right now, I don't think anyone needs them. Nobody I didn't get any notifications of ongoing treatment for any of the crew."

"I could do that," David said. "So have you found anything wrong with me yet, Doc?"

"Everything looks good so- hang on," she said, examining the tricorder read out with a furrowed brow. "There's some tearing in the pectoralis major that's healed poorly and scarred badly. That could be the source of the pain when working out. I think it can be repaired using a subdermal regenerator. I can have you all fixed up in about ten minutes."

"I tore something in my chest?" He asked, then looked as if he wanted to go back in time and keep the words from coming out of his mouth. "Of course I did. I've been wounded hundreds of times in combat. It's surprising that I still have my original limbs and organs, especially after AR-558."

Jayla smiled gently. "And it's never been properly healed," she said. "Now lie down and I'll get you set right," she added, retrieving and prepping a subdermal regenerator.

David lay back on the biobed and looked at the ceiling. "I'm surprised they never caught that before with as many physicals and trips to Medical I've had. How old does it look?"

"From the looks of it, I'd guess eight to ten years old," she replied, setting up the regenerator over his chest and activating it. "I almost missed it, to be honest. I think I'd have dismissed it except for your comment about pain in your ribs."

"Hmm, eight to ten years...." his voice trailed off as he tried to remember where he had been at the time. "I think that would put me on the USS Dixon where I was the Assistant Chief of Security. There was a group of Nausicaans who decided they wanted to try to board and I was one of the ones who had to go up against them face to face and hand to hand."

Jayla winced. "Ouch," she said. "Although, I'm not sure if I feel more sorry for you or the Nausicaans."

David laughed. "I'm not sure, either," he said. "All I remember was fists, blades and ugly mugs trying to tear me apart."

"Well, you survived, anyway, so I suppose that's a spoiler in itself," she grinned, checking the progress of the regenerator and making a minor adjustment to it.

"Better a spoiler than someone who smells spoiled," David said. "How's it looking, Doc?"

"It's getting there," she told him. "Still got a few more minutes." In the meantime, she had finished the rest of her scans, so they just had to wait for the regenerator to finish its work. But, she had run out of things to say.

"Oh yeah," he said as he looked over at her. "Captain wants me to make sure that all department heads are up to date on phaser training. What's a good time for you?"

Jayla groaned, nose wrinkling. "How about never?" she replied. "I hate firing a phaser. I'm terrible at it, too."

"Well, it's time to get to work on that," David said. "I'll put you down for fifteen hundred hours today for the phaser range and we can get started."

"All right," said Jayla resignedly. "I got 62% in phaser training at the academy. Apparently that's the worst possible score to get and still pass. Maybe it's not a bad idea to practice a bit." Her mind shrank from shooting actual beings, but she immediately remembered the Hunter that she may have killed back on Razmena in the alternate timeline. Perhaps she could kill of her life was in danger. She shuddered involuntarily at that thought.

"By the time we're done, I'll have you up to at least eighty percent," David said with a smile. "We could even make it fun and have you shooting at probes that look like bacterial infections."

Jayla opened her mouth to say that she didn't think that would work, but then closed it again. "Hm," she said, brow winkling pensively. "That might actually work. I think half of my problem is that I don't like shooting beings." She checked the regenerator. "Couple more minutes," she reported.

"If it helps, think of a phaser as a hypospray that you're using to eradicate a disease," he said. "The imagination can fill in the rest."

"That would work until another being comes into the picture," she said. "But I'll try it."

"An enemy is a biological enemy of our bodies, right?" David asked her. "With that being the case, what would be the obvious way to neutralize it?"

"Stun it, of course," she replied. "Knowing doesn't make it easier to do."

"You do worse things to real infections, don't you?" He asked her. "It shouldn't make a difference if something or someone is trying to harm you. What if an enemy came after one of your patients?"

"Okay, fair enough," she relented. "I'd fight them. Probably viciously." The regenerator beeped. "Okay, I think it's done. You can sit up and I'll just make sure the damage is healed," she added, removing the regenerator and taking out her tricorder again.

David sat up and looked at her. "It's really a matter of perspective, Doc," he said. "You look at viruses and infections the same way I look at the enemy who try to harm the ship and crew that I'm sworn to protect."

"I'll just have to look at them like an infection," she said, but was not convinced. "I suppose they're infecting the ship... or something."

"Exactly," he said. "The same way you protect your patients, the ship and crew are my patients."

Jayla nodded. She supposed that made sense. "Well, everything looks good," she declared, closing her tricorder. "Fit for duty. Take it easy for a couple of days, though, just to make sure that healing holds. And if you experience any more pain, come back at once."

"Will do, Doc," David said as he came to his feet. "Thanks for fixing that up and I'll see you at fifteen hundred hours."

"Oh, right," she said. "I was hoping you'd forgotten already. See you then."

"I never forget," he said and with that, the big, bald Security Chief headed out. It was going to be a busy day.

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