Check Up

Posted on 12 Jan 2015 @ 12:59am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Jayla Kij

1,181 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Boarded
Location: USS Black Hawk || Sickbay
Timeline: March 1, 2388 || 1145 Hours

Harvey had spent the last hour studying the materials he would present in the Briefing that afternoon. It would be a tremendous gamble, taking the Black Hawk without fighters into what they believed to be the heart of the Golden Stars' territory.

Suddenly, a message flashed on his screen. Well, not so much a message, but a reminder that it was time for a visit to sickbay. His right hand instantly went to the spot on his neck where he wore that forsaken monitor nearly a month ago. He hadn't had an episode since Razmena, but the radiation had done a number on his system. Just before Doctor Quint left, Harvey had been ordered to submit to a weekly checkup to monitor the degradation of the radiation in his system. The last checkup had revealed it was nearly gone, and hopefully today would be the last visit.

He looked down at the various PADDs littering his desk. He really did need to finish his preparations, but the idea of being rid of these checkups was appealing.

Not to mention getting another look at the new doctor's infectious smile...

Without more hesitation, Harvey stood up and left the Ready Room, and the bridge, nodding to Lieutenant JG Carmichael in the center chair. It was really something, leaving command of the bridge to a Deputy Chief. They were in orbit of a planet, so it really wasn't an issue. He'd be thankful to have Commander Kos or even Lieutenant Sherman back in the center chair. He knew they were both busy and the time would come eventually.

The journey to sickbay did not take long. But, even when walking in, he didn't immediately spot the doctor. Seeing a nurse, Harvey only nodded. His weekly presence in sickbay was normal now, and he immediately moved to find Doctor Kij.

"What did you do?" asked Jenny, one of the nurses, wide-eyed at the story Jayla had just relayed.

"What could I do?" asked Jayla, finishing the inspection of one of the medical tricorders and starting on the next one. "I took my best guess and gave the cat some antifungal medicine. The issue cleared up in a couple of days and, to my knowledge, the cat is still living, happy and healthy, aboard the Impala."

"And that's why you're taking veterinary courses," said Jenny.

"Precisely," replied Jayla, grinning. "One never knows when one will need the extra information."

"Doctor Kij?" interrupted one of the other nurses- Jayla could not remember his name. "The Captain is here for a check-up."

"Oh, of course," Jayla replied. "Jenny, do you mind finishing up here?"

Jenny nodded and Jayla hurried over to greet the Captain with a huge grin. "Good morning, Captain," she said cheerfully. She had read his file and was aware of the radiation, so his presence did not surprise her too much.

How does she do that? Harvey thought, his eyes fixated on her grin. "Doctor Kij," he greeted formally. It was ironic considering his own background in medicine that he wanted to spend as little time in sickbay as possible. He didn't mind being on the other end, but being the one sitting on the biobed was always unnerving.

"I'm not sure if you've been briefed, but I'm here hoping for a clean bill of health." He rubbed the spot on his neck again where the monitor had once been. Every time he touched that spot, he felt its presence.

"I read your file," answered Jayla, still grinning. "I started with the senior staff and any flagged notes- you were on both lists." She gave him a wink and a grin. "Anyway, right this way," she said, "and we'll make sure everything's fine."

"Both lists?" Harvey asked, following her direction. He could feel some color drain from his cheeks as he hopped up on the biobed. "I don't suppose the reports were too... colorful?"

Jayla's grin widened and a mischievous glint came into her eyes. "Why?" she asked, pulling out her tricorder and beginning her scans. "Is there more to the story that makes it more interesting?"

"They are, aren't they?" Harvey wasn't too surprised. Doctors were generally quite thorough. "There's always something interesting about hallucinations I suppose, though those were the most real I've ever experienced."

"Can't say I've ever hallucinated before," confessed Jayla, frowning at her tricorder for half a moment before resuming her usual smile. "Except possibly that time I woke out of a dead sleep because it sounded as if someone had spilled about a thousand marbles on my bedroom floor. Of course, that may have been a dream."

Harvey, becoming slightly less uncomfortable thanks to her bedside manner, nearly closed up at sight of the frown. Taking a cue from the spots visible on her forehead, he asked, "What about the symbiote? There have to be times where viewing a memory as a host makes it quite realistic?" He then quickly paused, thinking he might offend with that question. Harvey knew many Trill over the course of his lifetime, and only one of them had been joined. "You are joined, right?"

Jayla grinned again, meeting the Captain's eyes. "Yes, I am," she said. "I thought that was in my file. Anyway, yes, you are quite correct. In fact, I recall Belar Kij having a very high fever late in his life. He seemed to believe Telsies were visiting him. I believe the human equivalent would be Sprites." She grinned at the memory. "It was actually a light the doctor was using to test the dilation of his eyes."

It was in her file, Harvey recalled. He'd been absorbing so much information in the last hour, he simply couldn't remember that he had read that. "Fascinating," he replied, almost in a Vulcan fashion. "When I was stationed at Starbase 211, I had a research assistant who had been joined just a month into her tour. It was educational, watching the joining process first hand."

"It's a trip, that's for sure," she said, still grinning. "My sister's been approved. She's just waiting for a symbiote to become available." She studied her tricorder carefully for any signs of radiation but saw none outside of the normal stuff that always came from humanoids. "It looks like everything's clear," she told him, giving him an even bigger smile. "No more need to come down here every week. You know, unless you're beginning to enjoy being here," she added with a wink.

"I just might," Harvey replied with a smile. "Thank you, doctor," he said, getting down off of the bed. He started out of the room, but only got a couple steps before turning. Looking back at the doctor, he said, "I'm glad you're with us, doctor, and I hope to hear more of your stories soon."

"I'm sure you will," laughed Jayla. She'd often been told that she talks too much. And she was beginning to think it was true.

With a nod, Harvey left sickbay, bound for his Ready Room. There was still a meeting to prepare for.

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