A Most Dangerous Game

Posted on 03 Dec 2015 @ 4:35pm by Lieutenant Hictus Dicon & Commander Jayla Kij

1,904 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Rude Awakening
Location: Lounge and Sick Bay
Timeline: MD8 - 1647 hrs

Jayla sat in the lounge, reading a book and sipping at something called a rum cocoa, which is a cup of hot chocolate with a shot of rum in it. The book was by an Earth author called Isaac Asimov. It was completely preposterous, but very good. Part of the book hinged around there being fewer germs on other planets, which was, of course, the silliest notion in the universe.

Well, to be fair, before humans left Earth, it probably sounded plausible. After all, where there were no people, there would be no germs that people typically carry, right? The problem was that once those places GOT people, the germs would spread and be just as thick as they were on earth.

Never mind. It was still a good book.

Dicon strolled into the lounge, humming an old ditty from home, sorting through a pair of PADD's. Though he was off duty, the contents of which would have surprised anyone who worked with him. He had been working relentlessly of late and had decided to relax; a highly unusual action for him to take.

Dicon had spotted Jayla out of the corner out of his eye, as he strode to the replicator he stated "Dicon; Sake number fifteen". A wooden cup materialized, with a clear liquid that steamed. He carried it over to Jayla's table and seated himself. He nodded at the book "Good to see an Asimov, thought they were all digitized now, rare to see a book like that these days."

Jayla looked up from her book to see Lieutenant Dicon sitting across from her. She smiled brightly. "I like actual books," she said. "I feel like I pay more attention to what I'm reading if I'm holding paper in my hands. I don't know whether that's accurate or not, but there it is."

Dicon cocked an eyebrow at the good Doctor " It is an old one isn't? That has to be at least a few hundred years. I know when the last books were published, as I have the last book. And a very rare fourth copy of the first book ever printed. I can agree with you there..." Dicon stopped, winced and clutched his side. He removed a moment later and had a sip of his drink.

Jayla saw the motion and frowned. "You okay?" she asked. She would have been remiss as a doctor if she did NOT ask if people were okay when they seemed to be in pain.

"Yeah, after we were boarded I got caught in a exchange with one of those goons, and one of their distruptor's caught my ribs, never did get it looked. Most likely a failing on my part." Dicon winced, but the drink was helping "Thank the stars for bonding alcohol in the early millenniums. Who say's you can't be an Engineer and have no fun?"

Jayla grinned, but was not about to be distracted from the ribs. "Get to it by end of day tomorrow or I'll make it an order," she advised with a nod to the offending side. "We don't need you suddenly succumbing to some injury just as the Warp Core decides to go into hysterics and there are Romulans surrounding us."

"Well I am not doing anything at the moment, nor am I due on for another few hours, would you mind having a look at it? I've been having issues turning and flexing. As you say it would not be good to be like this in a crisis" Dicon drank again.

"Definitely not," replied Jayla, finishing off her rum cocoa. "I've got nothing to do for awhile either, so I suppose there's no time like the present. Let's head down to Sick Bay and I'll give it a good once over," she added, standing.

Dicon rose to follow her, hissing with pain as his ribs ached. "Lead on." He felt a rather large fool.

Jayla sighed, but grinned. "You should've been to see me long ago," she said as she led him out of the lounge. "It's never a good idea to let an injury go like that."

"Well to be fair, I was trying to stop much of the damage on ship, I doubt I could have taken a breather when we had to restart the warp core or seal all those hull breaches." Dicon looked mildly amused.

"Okay, I'll give you that," Jayla allowed. "But, you must have had five minutes at some point. If you tell me you've been working 24/7, I'm going to order to bed for 48 hours," she half joked.

Dicon turned to her mildly annoyed. "Doctor, you're bedside manner is very commendable. If you would like, I can show you the work log for most of that battle, I had exactly two point four minutes to myself when something was not rupturing, faulting or otherwise making my life difficult. Though I take you're point." Dicon hissed, and thought for a moment. "While I am here, would you mind having a look at my back? Its an old wound from years ago but its been straining recently. I think I might have yanked it a little too hard at some point crawling through jefferies tubes."

"Sorry," Jayla apologized with a mild grin as they entered Sick Bay. "Hop up here," she added, patting one of the bio beds and turning to grab her tricorder, "and I'll check them both. You do have an assistant chief, don't you? I'm sure he or she could've handled things for 6 hours while you got some sleep."

Dicon climbed atop the bio bed. He winced again but managed to remove his outer uniform and lifted back his shirt. Tonned muscle was shown. Layered atop of that were many scars , some old and some oddly fresh. The two that leapt out were a knot of skin where a plasma blast had cut through. The second one was massive and ran like a groove along Dicon's sides. Running from his left hip, all the way to the right shoulder.

Nice muscles, was Jayla's first, very clinical thought. That was quickly replaced by curiosity- and very mild disgust mixed with pity- at the scars. She cursed under her breath. "That's some scar," she said, indicating the long one. She wasn't concerned with that one right now, though. She focused her tricorder on the knot. "It's not as bad as it seems," she said, studying the readings. "I mean, you know, it's bad, just not as bad as one would think. The muscles, skin, nerves, everything is sort of all knotted up and jumbled. I think the reason it's causing so much pain is because some of the cells aren't getting enough oxygen. If we left it long enough, it would probably fall off." She took a deep breath. "I may be able to make it all relax back into place, but it's going to take some time and several treatments. That's preferable to amputation, though, because that could cause it's own set of issues. It's up to you, though," she added.

Dicon looked more annoyed then worried. " Lovely, this is just what I need at this moment. By all means the treatments. I really don't need to lose more skin again." His eyes flashed to the base of his spinal scar. " Yes... Quite a scar yes.." The look on his face betrayed pain and loss more then any other emotion.

Jayla noticed the look, but opted not to say anything. After all, sometimes people had private issues they didn't want to share with their doctors. Instead, she only loaded a hypospray with a muscle relaxant and pain killer and injected it right into the knot of skin. "A bit of subdermal regeneration and it should feel much better," she said gently, attaching the necessary equipment to his side and setting the level and timer. "Granted, it won't completely heal it, but it should feel much better tomorrow. In the meantime, we've got some time to kill. Want some company?" she offered.

Dicons eye's brightened, and a rare smile played across his face, "How would the good doctor be for some rather, shall I say, odd fun?"

"As long as it's legal," answered Jayla, her ever-present grin widening. "And as long as it doesn't put anyone's health at risk, you understand. I am a doctor after all."

Dicons eyebrow raised "And as far as I can tell, from my studies, providing a reasonable safety net, doctors can participate in most actions. Though as to whether its necessarily legal is another matter. Tell me doctor, how is your aim?"

"Depends on what kind of aim," she answered, intrigued now. "I throw a pretty mean punch. I can put a tennis ball where I want it in the court. I tested in the top 10 percent in my class at the academy with a phase rifle, though I haven't been practicing lately."

Dicon grinned again, this time a slightly dangerous tinge to it. " You know the security checks and safety's on the holodeck are there so we don't needlessly kill each other or get ourselves killed?"

Jayla's eyebrows went up, slightly amused. "Are you suggesting we turn off the holodeck safeties and shoot at each other?" she asked, almost laughing.

"Not each other. But something interesting. Do you trust the good engineer dear doctor? " the smirk spread across his face dangerously.

"Not in the slightest," answered Jayla. "But, I'm curious. Have you somehow discovered my secret wish to play The Most Dangerous Game using rapists and serial killers?" she asked, only half joking.

Dicon looked mildly shocked "Dear doctor, I would have never thought that of you! No I was going to introduce you to grav-bike jousting."

Jayla snickered, eyes twinkling. "It's sort of a joke," she replied. "But, your idea sounds almost as fun. It might not be such a good idea to try that until you're at least mostly healed. I'd hate to undo everything that this little baby is doing," she added, pointing to the subdermal regenerator.

Dicon sighed. His demeanor was of tired resignation. "Well to be fair then, how would you like to go for dinner together? My treat? It's been many years since I've cooked."

"Ooo, you cook?" said Jayla, surprised and delighted. "I love actual food. I get so sick of replicators. All right, I'm in."

Hictus glanced at the Doctor, his opinion of her raised considerably. "After Gamma shift then? You and I have quite a few hours free in the time slot. Also I must ask given that I do not know your personal tastes; are you allergic to anything?"

"Not that I know of," answered Jayla. "There's a few things I've never had, but you're not likely to cook Klingon for me, are you?" She checked the regenerator. "I think that's about all we're going to get for today. Come back in a couple of days for another treatment," she added, removing the regenerator.

Dicon shook his head. "Unlikely, I've never taken a liking to Klingon food, never quite got the taste right. No I was thinking some dishes from home, or at least those that I can remember. Tarbina station had quite a few odd dishes to serve." He replaced his shirt and uniform. "Thank you doctor, that feels considerably more free."

"I should hope so," Jayla laughed. "Now, about that dinner...."

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