The Doctor Is In?
Posted on Thu Mar 28th, 2024 @ 1:49am by Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi & Lt JG Fenora
Edited on on Fri Mar 29th, 2024 @ 7:04pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
The Sins of History
Location: Sickbay - Deck 9 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD002 1100 hrs
Fenora had a list of things she had to do as soon as she got settled on her new ship before she would lock herself away in a lab and one of these was to get her physical. She generally didn't think about it unless she got a transfer, or she was reminded that she needed one. She was generally healthy. But it was a good opportunity to meet the doctor as she might work with her from time to time.
She walked into sickbay and looked around the room to get a feel for the layout and to see if there was someone available to give her a physical.
Viessa had been keeping herself busy. The need for her services as a doctor had not really been required of late and even less so her skills as a medical examiner. So, she'd been pottering around her medical bay cataloguing old samples, looking up some old friends from her past, although not contacting them. They were long dead now sadly.
The large doors of her bay opened and in walked a slender woman with quite remarkable features, or so Viessa thought. Moving from her seated position she greeted the woman. "Hi Lieutenant. Is there something I can do for you? You don't appear to have bits falling off of you, which is a relief."
She chuckled at the comment. "No, nothing falling off. I'm new to the ship and I'm probably in need of a check-up. I tend to get absorbed in my work and forget how much time has passed." She raised an eyebrow in a Vulcan query. "Do you have time or should I make an appointment and come back later?" Fenora didn't want to bother the doctor if she was busy or was waiting for another appointment.
Catching the chuckle from the Vulcan, Viessa arched a brow but quickly dispelled it. "I don't blame you for getting lost in your work. I am the same way and even go as far as creating much more for myself when I get bored and people don't come and visit me." she chuckled herself and gestured for her to come in and take a seat on the bed. "Tell me Lieutenant, do you follow the teachings of Surak?" she asked. "I can feel emotion from you." she asked, and commented, as she picked up a tricorder.
"No," Fenora said bluntly. "Not since I was twelve. Well, I began to question his teachings then. I didn't fully rebel until I was nineteen." She sat on the biobed and took a slow breath. "I have all the abilities and physiology of a Vulcan except that I have not sacrificed my emotions on the altar of logic." She smiled at the doctor. "That sounds worse than it is. I get along with most Vulcans. It's just the more unyielding practitioners I have issues with."
"No, no. I get it." Viessa smiled and moved closer. Opening her tricorder, she began to scan Fenora. "I've been around plenty of Vulcans and it's always nice to see one that can smile and enjoy a conversation." she added as the scan continued. "Where are my manners?" she asked rhetorically. "I'm Viessa, Viessa Kenobi. Ships doctor."
"Fenora. I'm the new forensic anthropologist. Nice to meet you." She smiled again. "I think it's nice to be able to smile, too." In fact, she'd never regretted leaving Vulcan.
"Nice to meet you too." Viessa replied. "So, any aches and pains? New changes to the body?" she asked. "Any concerns to your health at all?"
Fenora shook her head. "No. Nothing out of the ordinary. Basically, I feel fine."
Viessa nodded as she finished the scan and brought up Fenora's medical from her last ship. "From what I can see you are pretty much the same as you were at your last physical. No changes that warrant any investigations or notes." she smiled. "As healthy as a Vulcan can be."
"Fortunately, my line of work is relatively harmless," the Vulcan replied. "Most of the people I deal with are already dead."
"Half and half for me." Viessa chuckled as the Vulcan raised a well recognised eyebrow. "I'm kidding... although I am in charge of the morgue also." she nodded to herself. "However, you are all good and I'll put a note in your file saying you're fit and able for duty. Should give you another year hopefully before you need to come in here again." Viessa closed the tricorder and placed it back in her pocket. She often wore something similar to a lab coat but it was more a purple lilac colour, her favourite.
"Care for some tea in my office before you go?" Viessa asked. She didn't normally get visitors unless something drastically went wrong in someone's day. "If you have time, if not it's fine."
"I have plenty of time right now, and I would enjoy a cup of tea," Fenora replied. It would be nice to get to know the doctor as she would likely work with her from time to time.
"Great." Viessa said with a smile. "I usually bring real tea on board with me. Replicated stuff just doesn't taste the same to me, and you can’t beat a proper cuppa." a twang of an English accent seeping through.
They both walked into her office and Viessa gestured for Fenora to take a seat whilst she poured a cup. "Milk? Sugar? Honey?" she asked turning to look at the woman.
"Milk and sugar, please." Fenora cocked her head to one side. "If I may ask, where are you from? I studied at Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh."
Viessa nodded as she placed a cube of sugar and then a splash of milk into the cup before offering it towards Fenora. "Oh, I'm El Aurian." Viessa smiled. "I spent a lot of time on Earth in my younger years though, England, part of France and America. Sometimes it’s hard to tell though, I do have over 400 years under my belt so to speak."
Fen took a sip of her tea and smiled. "That's an impressive amount of history to live through. You've seen almost the entirety of earth's space exploration."
"Oh you have no idea." Viessa mused. She'd seen a lot of the bad stuff as well, WW III for one. "What made you join Starfleet?" She asked. "I know most Vulcans aspire for the Vulcan Science Academy."
Fen shook her head. "Not me. I left Vulcan as soon as I graduated and haven't been back since."
Not wanting to push that subject of why she wanted to leave Viessa nodded as if she could empathise with the reasons for wanting to leave. Whereas she had always got on with Vulcan's she found them stuffy and sometimes unimaginative when thinking outside the box.
"I'd be interested on what your take on Humans is? We are on a predominantly Human populated ship." Viessa smiled and took a sip of her tea.
"I've spent the majority of my life among humans," Fen said, smiling politely. "I like their diversity and ingenuity."
"You sure you're not a politician." Viessa joked a little. "You're not wrong." she nodded. "A very emotional charged species who very much can both wear their heart on their sleeve but also conceal the darkest of secrets when they need to. Truly I've never met another like them."
"No. They are...an interesting people. Their history has far more diversity than many, for all they're one of the younger species." She smiled at the doctor. "Perhaps that is why I find them of interest." Vulcans had their coming of age under Surak, but they were more unified in their development.
"I always find it surprising they've had three major world wars, any many other smaller wars, but still have managed to flourish and reach the stage they are at today." Viessa replied thinking of her time on Earth during WWIII. "Of course, they had help from Vulcans..." she gestured out one hand to Fenora also remembering the day they landed, she was still on Earth at that time too. "I wonder if you guys ever got a thank you." she chuckled as she once again raised the cup up to her mouth and finished it off.
"Not that I am aware of." She shrugged. "Humans do have more than their share of hubris." Then she smiled. "Vulcan do as well, but they have three times the history to develop it."
"It was a long time ago, to be fair." Viessa nodded to herself. "Still, quite happy with how far the species has come with the help of others along the way. We get to serve in Starfleet and serve on these lovely ships."
That brought another smile to Fenora's face. "We all do. That's one thing I like about Starfleet: the ability to travel and meet other people from other worlds. I've learned a great deal since I left Vulcan." She raised an eyebrow. "Where else have you lived?"
"Oh, I'm not as well travelled in my 400+ years as you might think." Viessa chuckled. "I landed on Earth in 1971 tasked from my people with collecting data on the Human race. Think of it as a scientist embedded with an indigenous people to learn their ways and report back. So, I stayed for a while, sent my reports back but sadly my ship was destroyed and I couldn't leave. I moved around... United States, South America, Australia, Asia, parts of Europe and United Kingdom, England mostly but I stayed with the Humans for about 250 years. Became a doctor in 2025 and haven't looked back." she smiled and paused. She didn't want to give a lot away from her time after that as it could lead to complications if people found out she had joined Starfleet previously, and in fact had been the director of Starfleet Medical at one point. "I managed to get back to El Auria once the Humans joined the space faring community." she said with a little pang of sadness and remorse.
"Sadly, my time home was cut short by the Borg... and we know what happened there." she didn't want to go into specifics. "Long story short I came back with some of my people and helped set up our own colony nearby and eventually rejoi-- eh I mean joined Starfleet and here I sit in front of a very pleasant Vulcan woman who I am boring to death."
Fenora caught the slip, but if the doctor chose to keep part--much--of her history to herself, she wasn't going to comment on it. "I think I'm content with the lifetime I have. There's more than enough knowledge to keep me busy for the next century or so. I spent years going from one university to another and I've barely scratched the surface. I'd be far too tempted to travel the galaxy just to visit historic sites and learn from them." She didn't want to bring up the Borg, so chose to focus on something less traumatic. "I have enough temptation for one lifetime."
"Oh definitely." Viessa smiled as her console beeped to indicate an upcoming appointment. It must have slipped her mind, or maybe it was just the lovely conversation had gone on for longer than she'd anticipated. It was nice to lose track of time in good company. Swiping the alert away with her hand she looked over at Fenora, "They do say knowledge is power, and there is plenty of knowledge to learn, or discover."
"Definitely. That's what I love about science and history. There's always more to learn." Fenora nodded to the computer. "Do you need to be somewhere else? I've enjoyed the conversation, but I don't want to keep you if you have to go."
"Oh, I've got an upcoming appointment with another patient. Totally forgot as I was enjoying our conversation so much as well." Viessa said with a tone of resignation, she truly was enjoying the conversation.
"Perhaps we could meet in the lounge some time and continue the conversation. The captain informs me it's a good place to people watch."
"Oh, it is. I do that all the time as well. People do get up to the strangest things when they don't think others are watching... although that does make me sound like a creep." Viessa chuckled to herself. "But yes, we can meet up in the lounge. That sounds lovely." she said rising from her chair.
"People watching is good for working on your observation skills." Fenora stood as well. "I'll let you see to your appointment. It was nice meeting you, doctor."
"You too Lieutenant. Don't be a stranger." Viessa let the woman depart. It was nice to have a bit of a chinwag to break up the morning.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Junior Grade Fenora
Forensic Anthropologist, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi
Chief Medical Officer/Medical Examiner, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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