If It's Broke, Fix It

Posted on Sat Apr 1st, 2023 @ 2:52am by Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi & Ensign Cihl Theidi
Edited on on Sat Apr 1st, 2023 @ 6:39pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: The Hunt Begins
Location: Sickbay - Deck 9 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD004 1100 hrs

Viessa had been testing out some of the tech in her Sickbay and had came across something that seemingly had not been installed properly. The sensor cluster above the surgical bed had been giving false readings all morning indicating there was a death imminent when in fact there was no-one on the bed, or in Sickbay, at all. Well, aside from Viessa.

She had called for engineering assistance as she was not that way inclined and simply had sat in her office and turned the alerts off. Viessa knew engineering was busy, and frankly unless there was a spate of those needing medical care, the surgical bed was not required.

Chief Engineer Cihl Theidi yawned as he walked through the door to Sickbay. In all the hubbub that happened when he first came aboard the Artemis, Cihl had never reported to Sickbay for his arrival physical. While it was a relatively easy process, the Ventaxian had never really understood why so many of his comrades avoided the procedure. It was a simple, non-invasive scan. Nothing overly complicated.

Approaching the central biobed, he called, "Hello?"

Viessa frowned. She heard the faint noise of someone calling from outside her office. Time to get up and investigate as she poked her head out and saw the yellow of a Starfleet uniform, and an Ensign rank on their chest. "Hello?" she asked. "That's all you can say? I've been waiting here for hours for you to get here and fix my bed." he placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head. "Please tell me you aren't a security officer who's bumped his toe?" she added remembering the dual colour scheme.

"Me, Security? Are you trying to insult me?" The young Ensign answered with some annoyance. "I'm Chief Engineer Cihl Theidi and don't tell me you're a Science Officer, not the Medical Officer."

"Well given you are in the medical bay, and I have walked out of the CMO's office, it is less likely I am in Science isn't it?" she replied rhetorically. "However, welcome Ensign Theidi. I trust you are here to fix my surgical bed?" she asked.

"Actually, with everything that was going on, I realized that I never had my physical when I arrived aboard and had come to see if you had time now," the Ensign explained as he approached the biobed. "I wasn't even aware that there was an issue here that needed my attention." He activated his tricorder and began a scan of the device, "What's been going on with it?"

"Oh, well... we can kill two birds with one stone." Viessa said using a Human expression and also pulling out her medical tricorder. "Horrible expression to be sure, but do I have permission to scan you?" she asked.

The Chief Engineer looked at the Doctor, "We may want to hold off on your scans until my scans are done, Doctor. They could interfere with each other and not provide either of us with the data we need. So, again, what's been wrong with your biobed?" His delivery was very dry and matter-of-fact, almost to the point of being robotic. He adjusted the scan radius of his tricorder as he asked, starting to get an idea of the issues.

Viessa shrugged. She wanted the physical to be over nearly as quick as the patients tended it to want it to be. "Well this morning I had an emergency alert, someone coding on the bed. Naturally it peaked my interest as I have no patients at the moment." she gestured to the empty sickbay. "And earlier I had a Bolian on there and when I ran my scans they were coming up as a Denobulan marsupial... I think it might be the sensor cluster above the bed." he looked up at the bright lights of the ceiling above the bed. "I am no engineer though, nor would I ever try to be. I know what you do isn't easy and I don't pretend to have a knowledge of these things... even in over 400 years of my own life."

"Have you been a Doctor each of those 400 years?" The Ventaxian asked as he looked at the sensor cluster on the scanner field, but he was not really interested in the doctor's answer. During his period of training at the Academy he had been informed of the need to learn to make 'small talk' with others to bring about a perception that he was interested in them and building relationships. For the most part he understood the need, but his primary responsibility was to the ship and keeping it in tip top condition. That would always be his priority. Relationships could impede that.

"Most of them, yes." Viessa replied sensing his disinterest. "Tell me, how did you manage to get the Chief Engineer's position for someone so young?" she asked with genuine interest. It was always interesting to see how someone of a young age, right out of the Academy, got a top job. Was he a prodigy? Was he gifted in some fashion? Or just really hard working and got their on his own merit? If any of those then good on him.

He adjusted a component as he spoke, "I was Salutatorian of my Academy Class, having misidentified a Superconducting Magnet SCM model 3 as a Subspace Trajector Matrix." He tightened the component, seeing an indicator light change. Running a small engineering tool through the circuits he continued with the truth, "Reality is Starfleet fast tracked me because my people don't usually leave our homeworld of Ventax II. When we do they like to move us along quick to try to get others to join." The panel beeped, "Try it now."

Viessa nodded. It was true, even she hadn't come across many Ventaxians in her two stints in Starfleet... although the first time around she hadn't heard of them yet. Listening, and watching him work, she noticed that that he was meticulous, clearly a fast track was not the only reason he was in the position he was.

Moving forward she approached the console and activated the scanner. "Well, it shows you are a Ventaxian but I think the calibration is off a touch. Unless you are carrying twins Ensign?" She asked showing him the scan.

"That would be a challenge as I am not child oriented," Cihl answered as he resumed working in the circuitry bay. Manipulating one of the circuit connections, "And now, Doctor?"

Viessa laughed softly at the subconscious wit of the man in front of her. "Ah that is wonderful." she said scanning him. "You will be happy to know you are child free, and as healthy as a horse."

"Hmm... that should have worked. I don't know why the sensor cluster has determined I'm a horse," he started looking at the circuits again.

"Oh no, it has!" Viessa exclaimed a little louder than she'd thought in her head. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "It is a Human expression. It means you are in perfect health." she felt her cheeks flush a little.

The Chief Engineer lifted an eyebrow, almost like a Vulcan. "I shall never understand idioms."

Viessa shrugged, "Human's have the most by far, or the most I have heard from any species I've met." she smiled a little. "Thank you for your time, Ensign. I appreciate someone who gets the job done quickly and little fuss."

"I had only wished that I knew about the assignment before I arrived here, Doctor," the Chief Engineer replied. "If I had, we'd have been done much sooner."

The doors to the Sickbay slid open and Theidi's Assistant Chief walked in. The tall Tellarite called out, "I'm here to fix the biobed. Chief, I didn't know you were coming?"

The Ensign looked at the Doctor, "You can handle this one. This horse is going out to pasture."

A Joint Post By

Lieutenant Viessa Kenobi
Chief Medical Officer/Medical Examiner, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit

Ensign Cihl Theidi
Chief Engineer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit

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