PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

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PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

January 31, 2024, 01:54:18 AM

Avandar Lok suddenly became quite aware of the fact that he was conscious. An odd thing to think yes, but it was as if he had been in some kind of dark ringing void for mere moments or perhaps years. Slowly opening his eyes, an act itself that felt strangely difficult, he squinted up at white ceiling lights, then glanced to his right at a bare gray bulkhead, and finally to his left down a row of biobeds. I’m in sickbay, he thought to himself, closing his eyes again, adjusting his head as he did so to get a little comfortable on his pillow.
WAIT!
Lok’s vibrant and alert yellow eyes snap open and the large feline Kzinti immediately lunges forward into a sitting position. Why am I in sickbay? he mentally asks himself. He looks down at his large furred hands, then to his feet poking out from a blanket. Eight fingers, six toes, good. He pats himself down, testing for wounds or possibly cybernetics, feels his head for his ears and whiskers, all there, and of course a quick grab at his crotch to make sure all those important bits were intact.
Okay, I’m not dead, everything seems to be right where it should be, so why am I here? He asks himself again.

Collecting himself, Lok takes a moment to recall what had happened. The ship was under attack, it was damaged, he needed equipment from a storage locker, the bulkhead exploded, and he woke up here. He glanced around the sterile room, the only sound being the usual hum of the ship’s systems and the beeping of medical equipment, the ship didn’t seem to be under attack now. He must have been out for a while, a few days at least considering that normally post battle this place should have been filled to the brim with wounded. Most of them must have cleared out by now and returned to duty. Speaking of which he figured that was where he should be getting to, no doubt there was still a mess down in the fighter bay and plenty of fighters themselves to get operational.

Pulling the blanket aside, revealing that he was in a hospital gown, Lok grunted as he swung his legs off to the side of the biobed and then with another grunt owing to some aching muscles stood up to his full 2.2 meter height. He considered calling the Chief and getting an idea of where he was needed before heading down to the fighter bay but then thought better of it. No he would check out of the sickbay, get changed, probably grab a big mug of coffee, then head down. Now out of bed he took a moment to stretch, twitch his ears, sway his tail, extend and retract his claws, pop his neck, and even groom the fur that made up his short mane. He honestly wasn’t in that much of a rush, again the ship didn’t seem to be under attack and the doctor or nurse on duty hadn’t noticed he was out of bed yet.

Looking around the room near his biobed he found a bathrobe that was a little too small for him and put it back. Shrugging to himself Lok turned around and walked past the other biobeds, not really noticing if anybody was in them as his mind wandered to what he would find when he got out of here. The door swished open and Lok stepped out of the Recovery Ward into one of the sickbay corridors, his head on a swivel as he tried to figure out how to leave. He had hardly been here long and was certainly not familiar with the ship’s full layout yet.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #1 – January 31, 2024, 09:15:27 PM

If there was one thing Arven disliked more than rowdy, uncooperative patients – it was the endless circulation of needless rumors that the crew seemed to incessantly feed on for no reason at all. Having wrapped up his rather interesting examination of Mr. Leavitt only a few moments ago, the Doctor stood before a bank of screens and consoles in the lab, attempting to research and consult into the mysteries discovered in the man’s brain; at the same time, Nurse Ellison paced behind him, attempting to stick her nose in places it didn’t belong.

“So nothing happened,” the blonde inquired skeptically, for the second time.

Arven didn’t even hesitate as he typed out a command, then paused to adjust a haptic interface. “We weren’t in the tubes for very long. Use your imagination – I’m sure you can manage,” he replied dryly.

Ellison laughed. “You’re such an ass. Come on,” she crossed her arms and rested a hip against the console next to him. “She’s pretty, nice, brilliant, driven, and a Trill, too! Don’t tell me there wasn’t chemistry there. C’mon, you’ve been stomping around here for weeks, you don’t even try to be social, and you’re grumpy as hell all the time! But you come back from Engineering and wont shut up about her – so something happened.”

“I don’t stomp, and I’m grumpy because all those pretty, brilliant, driven, talented people are all idiots,” he deflected, then turned his head to lean down to Ellison’s level. “She tried to kill me,” Arven whispered, then paused to smile at her snidely. “But yeah, sure, other than the odd homicidal tendency, she’s real nice.”

Ellison grinned at him. “Oh no, you really do like her,” the nurse leaned in to whisper. “Are you okay? Would you like a sedative?”

The Trill returned to his full height and took a deep breath, then worked the tension out of his neck with a groan. For crying out loud, he thought with a roll of his eyes, something save me from the nuisance of female intuition. “I really can’t tell you how much I appreciate your concern. Truly, I had no idea you hustled on the side as match-maker – that must be exhausting. No wonder you couldn’t manage to restrain a one armed, sleep deprived maniac.”

Ellison shook her head. “God help us all,” she muttered through a smile.

Arven hung his head to pinch the bridge of his nose, the scent of that insufferable foam still lingering in his olfactory cavity. “I’m going for coffee – if Okafor finds anything let me know,” the Doctor grumbled as he turned to leave.

“Sure, I don’t want anything either, thanks for asking,” the nurse spoke to his back as he passed through the door.

[Side Corridor, Main Sickbay]

Just as he entered the short hallway, muttering to himself in annoyance at Ellison’s absurd – and it was absolutely absurd – imagination, Arven froze mid-step to pull the miniature PADD out of his inner coat pocket. Arzin’s vitals were stable, not even slightly elevated; which meant that she was resting, or not jacked up on caffeine at least. He typed out another text message with his thumbs, rapidly. Medical supervision requires two-way conversation, you know. How are you feeling, he sent with a frown. She hadn’t responded to any of them since the Slip-Stream activation. The Trill’s eye twitched in concern as he put the device away. I don’t like her, he grumbled to himself stubbornly.

Looking up, Arven visibly flinched as a walking wall of fur and muscle appeared ahead of him, prowling down the corridor toward reception – ass out, tail swinging. “What the hell,” he grimaced, then raised his voice to get the patient’s attention. “Excuse me – where the hell do you think you’re going? Ellison! Vi! Vojona,” Arven barked as he stomped towards the tiger-striped giant. “We just let patients roam around now, sure, why not. Terrific, really,” he grumbled to himself, then inhaled and set his face in the best approximation of professionalism before looking up at the towering figure. (An odd sensation, Arven realized - at 6'5", he had grown accustomed to generally being the tallest person in any given room.) “Morning, I’m Doctor Leux,” his dark brows rose as his ears picked up Vi-Nine’s approach from the side, coming from the Recovery Ward. “Can I help -”

“Oh! There you are,” the droid interrupted, hands set on her hips, a PADD clutched in one of them. “Excuse me sir, but you weren’t supposed to wake for another thirty minutes, you know. Quite naughty,” the quirky bot addressed the huge, medic gowned patient in an amused tone with a wag of her finger. “Dr Leux, this is Chief Avander Lok,” Vi gestured to the Kzinti, “your patient,” the droid winked at Arven and handed over his chart.

Arven frowned at Vi-Nine, then took the PADD and gave it a quick glance. “Thanks Vi,” he sighed, then folded his hands behind him and looked back up at Lok. “Care to take this somewhere more private, or are you intent on escape,” the doctor shrugged. “I’ve already had enough excitement in that regard for one day – so be my guest.”

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #2 – February 02, 2024, 01:00:09 AM

Lok had spent a few moments figuring out the exit to the seeming maze that was this particular ship’s sickbay. He saw a door directly down the hall but it had rather large EMERGENCY EXIT stencils on it, not wishing to set off any alarms; he didn't go that way; he spotted some signs pointing to things like the morgue and figured that was probably not the way either, at least not yet. In the end he figured he might as well head down the adjacent corridor to perhaps see what was there or maybe a friendly nurse. After only a few steps he was shouted at by somebody from behind and turned around to face a tall, by average humanoid standards but obviously still very short compared to him, Trill in a lab coat stomping his direction. Ah good, a doctor, he thought to himself while his lips formed into a small grin of amusement at the man’s grumbling.

His sensitive nose was immediately assaulted by the familiar chemical scent of fire-fighting foam, his nostrils flared and his nose wrinkled as the doctor closed in further. What was your last patient, a fire extinguisher? he wondered as said doctor presented himself as Doctor Leux. Leux was asking Lok something when a white android emerged and interrupted the grumpy doctor. She, as Lok guessed based on the android’s feminine design and female voice, proceeded to scold the large man in a way a mother would to a child who had knocked over some flower pots. Vi, as it turned out her name was, then introduced the barely clad Kzinti along with handing, what he presumed was his medical information, to the Doctor. Finally Lok spoke, his voice was deep and gruff but with a curious hint of a Betazoid accent, in response to Leux’s question, “Uh yeah, lead the way.”

“Nice to meet you…uh Vi and sorry 'bout that,”, he said to the android before turning to follow the doctor.

“You can just call me Lok by the way”, he informed Leux as they walked, “everybody else does…I guess Chief works too but I’ve only been one for a week - er well I guess a little more than a week now - so not quite used to it yet.”

It honestly was a little weird for him, for years he had never really thought about one day becoming a Chief and then suddenly he was called into his superior’s office, handed a box with chief petty officer’s stripes and told to head to the most advanced ship in the fleet. Then not even a full day on board he was branded a traitor by some admirals with a bug, or slug, or whatever it was, he never got around to asking, in their heads and was shot at. But that was Starfleet, sometimes weird things just happened, however sometimes those weird things lead to Borg invasions and the Dominion War.

“So how long is this going to take you think? Just a quick wave with the scanner and a couple hypospray shots in the ass and I’m good to go back on duty?” he inquired, obviously quite eager to leave but not so much so that he would try to “escape” as the Doctor curiously mentioned.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #3 – February 07, 2024, 06:47:01 PM

[LT Arven Leux | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @joshs1000
[Show/Hide]

Arven nodded and proceeded to lead the hulking mass that was his newest charge back towards the Recovery Ward, a brow arched at V-Nine with a sideways glance at the droid’s odd sense of humor. She certainly kept everyone guessing on what she would say next; the doctor made a mental note to himself to encourage her evolving personality whenever possible - while the towering Kzin spoke up, after falling into step beside him. “Okay Lok, you can call me Doctor,” Leux nodded again, but chose not to correct Lok at the moment; technically, he had been a Chief for much longer than a week, but that time was spent in cryogenic stasis. We’ll cross that bridge later, Arven shrugged, then frowned slightly at the Chief's follow up question. Why's everyone in such a bloody rush to leave sickbay today?

After they’d crossed the threshold into the Ward, Arven started reviewing Lok’s chart in detail. “Well that rather depends on you, mostly, but I’ll do my best not to drag it out,” he answered distractedly, then gestured to a bed. “Wouldn’t want you to get hungry and try to eat anyone, now would we,” he added sarcastically. Once the patient had seated himself, Leux tapped a privacy screen into place around them while his eyes darted back and forth over the text scrolling across the PADD. Major head trauma, burns, multiple broken bones, severe blood loss; the list went on and on. The doctor shook his head in wonder at V-Nine’s skills.

“You whacked your melon pretty good,” Arven’s brows rose with his eyes to meet Lok’s. “But I think we can rule out any lingering motor function impairment, seeing as how you just woke up and decided to take a stroll around the bay,” the doctor added with another shrug, then set the PADD on the end of the bed and procured a tricorder from a drawer beneath it.

“Okay, lets have a look. Follow the finger please,” He hovered the device near the side of Lok’s left ear with one hand and moved an extended index finger side to side in front of the Kzin’s predatory eyes with the other. “Wonderful,” Arven nodded, then snapped his fingers to force a reaction. “Made you flinch,” he snorted, reviewing the data from the scan, then asked the standard battery of tests for ‘post-stasis syndrome’.

“How do you feel? Any lingering fatigue, numbness, tingling? Any cramps or involuntary muscle tics? Cognitive function normal? Blurred vision, double vision? Oh,” Arven sighed, folding his hands before him as he nodded to Lok, “go ahead and name every animal you can think of starting with the letter...B.”

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #4 – February 11, 2024, 12:52:42 AM

“Well you would be the first to know…”, Lok mumbled with a slightly annoyed tone at the Kzin stereotype, but he quickly remembered that Doctor Leux doesn’t exactly know him so it wasn’t his fault if he assumed. On the other hand though it wasn’t very polite. He does have plenty of meat on him though, having noted that the Doctor's physique filled out his uniform in a rather appealing way.

He followed the doctor into the recovery ward and hopped up onto the bed, it groaning a little under his weight, his hands folded on his lap as he waited for Arven to begin his tests. The mention of him hitting his head and subsequent “stroll” about sickbay elicited a shrug from Lok. What could he say, he was always a good healer, perhaps because of his species or maybe his diet. Speaking of which I am starving, hopefully this guys doesn’t take too long, I can grab a steak or three before heading on duty.

The tests started. Lok followed the Doctor’s finger, his keen parasol-like ears found the noise of the scanner right by his head to be a little uncomfortable and folded back in response. Finally the test concluded with positive notes from the Doctor who then proceeded to suddenly snap his fingers without warning causing Lok’s ears to perk up and his eyes to instinctually blink. ‘Made you flinch’, his somewhat annoyed mind repeated in mockery, I’ll make your stupid handsome face flinch with my fist…

“Uh well I-”, he started to respond to the Doctor’s questions regarding any extra symptoms, only to be interrupted with further instructions to name animals. “Oh okay, uh, let’s see, a bat?”

“So I’ve actually kind of had kind of a headache since I woke up”, he started in earnest, “it’s near the front of my head. Oh uh….bear. My muscles have also been aching a bit since I woke up. I stretched after getting out of bed but that didn’t seem to really help. Bunnnicorn. The head thing will probably just go away but if you got anything for the muscle aches so I can work comfortably that’d be nice? Ummmm….boar.”

He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment, sort of mentally doing a checklist of his body to see if there was anything he needed to tell the Doctor, with the conclusion that for the time being he was alright. “Oh, more animals, uhm, bull, betazoidian cat, bluehorn….that’s all I got I think.”

“Hey just out of curiosity are we still over Earth or did we go to Mars for repairs after that whole mishap with the parasite thing? Do you know how they were able to deal with that by the way?”

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #5 – February 13, 2024, 09:00:52 PM

“Yeah, that's close enough. No points awarded for genders, though,” the curl in Arven’s lips betrayed his amusement, his attention focused on the tricorder display during the Chief's response. Once he had finished his scan of the patient, a nod followed, more in acknowledgement of a worthy effort than anything else. Arven moved the device deftly over Lok's torso next - head tilted slightly at the uniqueness of the Chief’s anatomy – while he addressed the patients concerns.

“Your head hurts because you’re dehydrated; your metabolism requires a bit more fluids than we gave you, but your electrolytes look okay – nothing a good hearty meal won’t fix,” Arven informed, then took a breath. “Your muscles feel ‘off’ because they’re atrophied, which is again completely normal given the nature of your length in stasis,” here, the Trill looked up from the tricorder, closing the device with a snap to place it and his hands in the pockets of his lab coat.

I really hate this part, he grumbled internally. While he didn’t mind toying with his patients for his own amusement, no one should be told how close they came to dying or that they’ve spent six months of their life in an icebox. Still, he's alive, and we need all the help we can get.

“Yeah, there isn’t an easy way to tell you, and I don’t care for beating around the bush,” Leux lifted a shoulder, sympathetically. “You’ve been in stasis since the fight out of Sol, Chief. That was…about six months ago. It was the only way to save your life, and you weren’t the only one – not by a long shot. We’re no where near Federation space, either – pretty sure we’re driving balls deep into Romulan territory, actually.”

Arven had moved off to the side to access a console as he spoke, to call up the ship’s logs and get them downloaded onto a PADD for the Chief to review. “The Infested,” the Doctor nodded with a grumble, “they’re still out there. Pretty sure we’re taking the fight to them this time. Starfleet as a whole thinks we’re still ‘traitors’, but Martok and the Klingons are with us. Its…a long story.”

Once the download was completed, Arven handed the tablet over while he scooped up a hypo and tapped in a command. He cleared his throat, then the Doctor’s tone returned to dry professionalism. “Its all in there – we’re lucky to have missed most of it, too, if you ask me. This will dull the aches, but your metabolism will chew it up within a few hours, at best, but you should be feeling much more normal by then – or sooner. I’d recommend you try to take it easy though, as much as you can,” he advised, looking over the heavily muscled Chief, then waved the hypo between his fingers and thumb.

“So, where you want it? Neck or butt?”

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #6 – February 18, 2024, 02:38:20 AM

I mean a bull is the technical term, Lok retorted to himself. He waited patiently for Arven to continue his scans, noting the Doctor’s little head tilt about the time the scanner reached his chest. He had most likely never encountered Kzinti anatomy before, the three hearts tended to make even the most experienced doctor pause the first time they saw them. Arven then went on to explain the reasons behind Lok’s symptoms and their cures, a bit of food and water for the headache, something he had already planned to remedy in the form of thick juicy steaks or perhaps a whole roast, hopefully he would have time to program in his personal recipes into the replicator.

It was the mention of atrophied muscles that almost immediately raised Lok’s suspicions. He didn’t know much about medical stuff, but he did know how muscle atrophy was caused and him having spent about a week in sickbay should not have caused it. Have I been out longer, he briefly wondered, the Doctor did say I hit my head pretty hard, maybe it’s been a few weeks? His suspicions only grew as he momentarily sensed Arven’s sudden apprehension mixed with a bit of frustration. Oh no, what’s he about to tell me. Lok’s ears folded back as he himself started to feel a nervous knot forming in his stomach, the knowledge that something was wrong. His mind briefly flashed an image of his mother, her red tear filled eyes, the day he learned his father had been murdered.

Arven explained what had happened, Lok had been in stasis for six months and that little parasite incident turned out to be far worse than he could have imagined. He started to retreat into himself, his eyes stared vacantly at the Doctor, his thoughts turned to disbelief and he practically snatched the offered PADD out of Arven’s hand, totally oblivious to the hypospray being waved about.

First he very quickly skimmed the initial logs on retreat from Earth, all bad, but what he really wanted to see was the casualties, did any of his guys make it, the ones in the compartment with him when it was destroyed. His hearts sank almost immediately when he reached the casualty list for his section, Crewman Ramirez, Brol’ox, and Narith were all reported as killed in action and their bodies were not recovered. Blown into space, lost, no body for their families, and yet I survived. Why wasn't it me? They were young and had their whole lives ahead of them.

He tapped on his name, having noticed that his file had media attachments, and looked through the files there. Just the usual stuff at first, his fifteen, well now sixteen, years of service to Starfleet, his awards which he paid no mind to, his medical records, and finally the media files. They were excerpts from the Betazed Affiliate of the Federation News Network labeled “Interview with Drozanna Lok - December 2380”. After a small sigh to brace himself, Lok started the playback.

The recording began showing Lok’s mother, clearly in mourning wear, walking through a familiar courtyard of the Palace of Justice in Medara-Rixx while being followed by a human reporter.

[Misses Lok, do you care to comment on the Starfleet traitors from Betazed including your son?]
[I am appalled that so many of our best and brightest have decided to follow a criminal and traitor like Captain Ives to betray Starfleet and the Federation.]
[But of your son?]
[I’m afraid I do not have a son anymore, Avandar was not raised to betray his family, his comrades, and his country. My late husband would be equally appalled by these actions, perhaps more so.]
[Do you think there could be a link with the Kzinti Patriarchy, perhaps Avandar was spying for them in addition to the Romulans?]
[That I cannot speak to, but it is possible. He never fit in well here despite our best efforts-]

Lok could not watch anymore, a wave of emotion washed over him, an unchecked torrent of sheer rage. With the recording still playing, he threw the PADD at the wall opposite the row of biobeds, it missed Arven by centimeters, passed through the privacy screen, and impacted with the wall, loudly shattering into its constituent components. He practically lept from the bed, a deep rolling growl emanated from him. He wanted to break more things, destroy the biobed, punch some panels, hell punch that smarmy smile and the spots right off that Trill Doctor’s face. No stop, it’s not right, this isn’t the way, she doesn’t mean what she is saying, she can’t, I can’t believe she would…

He turned away from the mess he made and Doctor Leux to brace himself on the biobed. His anger gave way to embarrassment at what he had done. Finally he spoke, his voice low, “Sorry…I’ll..I’ll clean that up.”

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #7 – February 19, 2024, 09:47:36 PM

When his question went unanswered, Arven pursed his lips and waited with his hands stuffed in his labcoat pockets – gently rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. It wasn’t a serious question, anyway; more rhetorical, really – an amused play off Lok's earlier comment. Arven liked to lighten the tension at his patient’s expense; that was nothing new…but moments like this were usually awkward for the Trill.

His eyes wandered in an attempt to keep his mind occupied while Lok studied the PADD. Arven was no expert at body language – feline or otherwise – but even he could see the droop in the Chief’s shoulders and the look of despair in his eyes. Whatever the Kzin was learning; it wasn’t good; Arven sympathized, of course – it had been a long, hard road for the ship and her crew since Sol.

That’s not likely to bloody change, either, Arven frowned to himself. Best not to dwell on what lay ahead. He learned a long time ago to take things one day at a time; plan for the worst – but hope for the best.

He cleared his throat quietly when the audio recording began, then shifted back a few steps and turned his body in profile to Lok. Busied with nothing of importance on the medical console, Arven chewed his lip in another attempt to give the Kzin some space and privacy; he wasn’t deaf however, and heard everything, even though he tried not to. Violet eyes flicked to the Chief, noting the changes in the massive Kzin’s posture and emotive features. The Trill’s dark brows knitted in concern as he reached out a hand to catch the Lok’s attention – too little, too late, however.

There was a noise – something deep, primal – a low growl that Arven felt in his diaphragm; before the Doctor could react, Lok heaved the tablet in one massive paw, right at his head. It passed in a blur of motion and air, faster than a blink, right by his ear; Leux ducked belatedly – then whipped around at the sound of it crashing into the wall – then spun back to the Chief, his spotted face a mask of controlled condemnation.

“Given the circumstances, Chief, anger is understandable. I’d ask you to reserve it for somewhere else, however,” Arven’s voice was firm – mixed in a potent blend of aggravation, disappointment, and concern.

“Take a few moments and compose yourself,” he stated strongly but calmly, then took the hypo from his pocket and set it on the table next to Lok’s bed. “You’ll stay right the hell here until I bloody tell you otherwise,” he added with a shake of his head when the Chief opted to clean up the mess; having already dealt with one uncooperative, crazed patient, Arven had no desire to deal with another. “Process, sort yourself out, take the damn hypo. I’ll be back,” the Doctor stated flatly over his shoulder in hesitation before stepping through the privacy screen.

Once he was clear – beyond Lok’s sight or ability to hear – Arven froze and took a deep breath to calm his nerves, then blew it out as he looked around. He flinched then as he saw Nurse Kitty off to his left, arms folded with a smirk on her face.

“Let me guess, another attempted murder,” she deadpanned.

Arven made a face at her while he silently mocked her words. “Don’t you have anything better to do, like…” he shrugged, “I don’t know, change sheets, or something? What do you do around here,” he asked cynically.

“Ass,” Kitty glared at him and walked away.

Arven sighed and went about picking up the broken, shattered pieces of the PADD that Lok destroyed. He snorted at the dent in the wall. “Guess they aren’t that atrophied,” he grumbled.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #8 – February 27, 2024, 05:29:09 AM

Nice one Lok, real smart, lose your temper and nearly brain a doctor with a PADD, that will get you sent to the brig real quick. The Kzinti scolded himself internally after Arven stepped out of the privacy screen. Anger was not something he did well with, made more difficult by stress. He always just assumed it was his natural Kzin hormones, wanting to unleash some form of deep aggression that, lacking the culture of the Kzinti homeworld, he had few opportunities to do so properly. I need to apologize to that Doctor somehow, hopefully he drinks cause if my brains aren’t too scrambled I think I smuggled a couple bottles of the good stuff on board.

With a sigh he picked up the hypospray, ready for use, and examined it for a moment then glanced behind him at the privacy screen as he sensed a momentary bout of emotion from a new source he had yet to meet, only for it to just as quickly fade away. A small smirk formed on Lok’s face as he deduced what exactly those flurry of emotions were and who they were directed towards. He then glanced back at the hypo once again, it looked like a child’s toy in his large hand, the image reminded him that he would need to replicate some large handled tools for himself when he was finally able to get out of here and back on duty.

After letting out yet another sigh, perhaps just trying to physically exhale all of his anger, Lok carefully placed the hypospray nozzle against the left side of his neck and pressed the button to activate then did the same to another specific spot on his right. Owing to his Kzin dual circulatory system he needed to inject both otherwise the medicine would have no effect. He wondered briefly if this new doctor was even aware of his anatomy, in depth. It was always such a hassle to get his species medical information sent to each new ship’s physician, for some reason they had to make a request to Starfleet Medical and then it would take a week or two to actually get the information when every other species had theirs stored in the ship’s memory banks or in the Starfleet database. Perhaps just some old filing error that was never fixed, it wasn’t like there were many Kzinti in the fleet.

A bit of something shiny and plastic caught Lok’s eye. After a quick investigation he found what had been the PADD’s protective screen, a single piece of clear plastic now warped and crumpled in one corner where it no doubt impacted the bulkhead. Man I really did throw that hard, he thought to himself. Not far away he spotted some other small pieces that must have bounced back and figured he might as well clean up his mess. He picked up a few more pieces around the foot of the biobed, holding them in his large cupped palm, following the trail out of the privacy screen.

He was a little surprised to see that Arven was also picking up some pieces as well underneath a noticeable dent panel. “It’s a good thing I missed”, Lok said with an apologetic smile, “and again sorry about that…I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”

He squatted down to help pick up a few more pieces of former-PADD. Wanting to perhaps break a bit of the tension between the two, Lok brought up the particular thing he sensed earlier. “Hey so you know whoever was in here just a little bit, they really have a thing for you. I don’t like to pry into people’s emotions but they were kind of blasting them off like a flare so wasn’t hard for me to miss…then they got really angry about something.”

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #9 – March 01, 2024, 02:08:23 AM

Once the majority of the debris was collected, Arven stood to his full height with a quiet huff of amusement; violet eyes turned from the Chief, to the dent in the bulkhead and back. “Well at least it would have been quick,” the doctor shrugged, “blunt force trauma is preferable to asphyxiation any day,” he nodded, then mimed a blow to his head with a knock sound. “Lights out – audios amigo.”

Lok’s insinuation about Nurse Ellison was met with equal nonchalance as he carried the bits and pieces of the destroyed PADD to the nearest recycle receptacle. “That tracks,” Arven shrugged as he dumped the debris in and swiped his hands. “She’s volatile on most days, like most females, generally speaking,” he grumbled quietly, then turned to face Lok once again as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his labcoat. “She’s also an incessant gossiper, which is another reason why I try to give her a wide berth. Either way, I wouldn't worry about it - the PADD or Kitty. It'll be fine."

The doctor paused to clear his throat quietly, then walked the few steps back to the Chief.

“But enough about that, I think,” Arven nodded. “We should see about getting you out of here so you can get settled, or to work – whichever you prefer. If you don’t mind first though, I’d like to do a full body scan; for our records,” he clarified. “You see, we don’t have an active uplink with command, so our database doesn’t get updated files. It’ll only take a moment,” the Trill gestured back to the bed with an open hand. “If you’ll lie down, I’ll get you going and get started on your discharge papers.”

“Unless you have any further concerns, of course,” Arven added while he waited for Lok to position himself for the scan. Suddenly, his brain processed exactly what Lok had said earlier, which caused the doctor to frown in confusion. “Wait...what did you mean when you said you didn’t like to pry into people’s emotions,” he asked, almost rhetorically. “You’re an empath? Is that...a common trait among your people, or something we should look into,” Arven arched a brow up at the Kzin, his curiosity piqued.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #10 – March 03, 2024, 07:45:29 AM

Lok felt a bit of relief as Arven seemed just as happy to move past his little outburst just as much as he did. As for the preference of death, if that is what he took to mean by the Doctor’s comments, Lok had never really thought about it…which was maybe just his subconscious telling him how he would prefer it to be, something that happens and he just doesn’t know. Either way though, he was happy he didn’t prematurely end the life of the sarcastic Trill via PADD shards to the brain.

Turning to the matter of the infatuated stranger. Lok was not worried about who he now knew was Nurse Kitty, I’m sure that’s not her name, he just figured knowing she was into him might be some information Arven might want to know. On Betazed such things were readily shared, no need to keep secret your feelings for someone, but for some reason other cultures, particularly humans were quite content to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves and just have people figure them out.

“Ah I see, guess my little tantrum will be known by the whole ship before the end of the day”, Lok said with a smirk as he too deposited the pieces of former PADD into the recycling receptacle.

Once that was completed, Arven asked Lok about some additional scans to which Lok was not particularly thrilled. He had hoped that perhaps the shot was it and he could just sign a non-destroyed PADD and get out of here. However, as mentioned before, it was difficult for even a doctor who wasn’t considered a traitor to get the required medical information on Kzinti, and now basically impossible of course for an allegedly traitorous one. Plus as far as Lok knew, his full records had not been transmitted over yet from Perseus, namely his medical record as he had been scheduled to get a checkup and do all that with the CMO the day after he arrived. Obviously that is not how it went down. If only it had.

With a nod he hopped back onto the biobed and laid down. The scanner shell adjusted itself to his size then fully closed over his torso and started its scans with a hum of energy. He was about to tell the good Doctor that he didn’t think he had any further concerns, well except maybe if he would have some weird brain issues in the future, but before he could answer he was asked if he was empathic.

“Oh, uh, yeah I guess I should have mentioned that”, Lok said while staring up at the ceiling, “yeah I’ve always been able to sense people’s emotions ever since I was a kid at least, my mom…the woman you heard talking earlier…she taught me how to hone my ability so I’d fit in Betazoid society a little easier.”

It honestly was something that helped. It allowed for mutual understanding and dramatically curbed the bullying he received at a young age. It turns out ten year old children are kind of weirded out and maybe even a bit afraid of a peer the same age that is about the size of an adult and just as strong.

“As for other Kzinti, Doc, well I guess they are also empathic, but I really don’t know if they are as strong as I am or possibly stronger in it. It’s actually kind of hard to find that kind of information about Kzinti. I guess nobody in the Federation back in the day was too interested in writing that down."

The scan finished in short order, providing Arven with a complete makeup of Lok anatomy and the peculiarities about it beyond him having two and a half hearts. It also showed a rather large litany of former injuries, many clearly healed at the hands of a physician. There was of course V-Nine’s nearly flawless handiwork. However, there was a perhaps disturbingly large amount of injuries that showed clear signs of unassisted healing. Most notably many healed over bone fractures and even breaks. The standouts included: a formerly broken eye socket; the signs of a partially fractured jaw; scar tissue indicative of repeated blunt force trauma to his face; and most curious was that all the fingers on his left hand showed former breaks roughly in a line with each other as well as indications that they had been broken multiple times.

OOC:
-Further information on Kzinti anatomy can be found here.
-Owing to the peace treaty between the Federation and Kzinti Patriarchy, Kzin technology and their physiology is considered classified, hence the difficulty in obtaining the necessary medical information.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #11 – March 04, 2024, 09:37:21 PM

“Probably,” Arven agreed neutrally, “but I’ll have a word with her all the same, for all the good it’ll do, if you like.” He couldn’t really be sure if Kitty hadn’t ran out and told the whole staff what she’d seen already or not, but assumed that she had just for the hell of it. I’d do the same, he admitted honestly.

He nodded along at the Chief’s words, but kept his eyes on the scanner display. The imagery and data flowed across the screen nearly instantaneously, and Arven frowned in thought, fascinated. Lok’s anatomy – even down to the structure of his cells – was clearly wrought from millennia of predatory evolution; the doctor went so far to breathe out a low whistle as his eyes darted from the Kzin’s musculoskeletal, nervous, then tri-cardial circulatory systems with a brush of his fingers.

“Incredible,” Arven murmured to himself, brows knit in focus. “I’ve never seen anything like this – its…,” he huffed another breath, shaking his head to refocus. Work now, study later. “Sorry, I got distracted – so the empathy is a natural ability then. Okay, I’ll just add that in here.”

Suddenly a bright red warning flashed across the screen. Alert – classified material detected – level 10 security clearance required.

“What,” Arven frowned, then tapped his badge with a snort of annoyance. “Thea, do you have a moment? I seem to be having an issue uploading a file into the medical database?”

“I am sorry Doctor, per the McDonnell-Rishal Treaty of 2065, all data on Kzinti physiology was rendered classified and/or redacted," the AI’s disembodied voice replied sympathetically. “A moment, I will inform and confer with the Captain.”

While they waited, Arven folded his arms and studied the display, at least the areas he could see around the obnoxiously large flashing red letters. Lok’s skeletal structure showed several old injuries that even a first year med student would see. The body remembers, Arven’s jaw clenched as he took a breath. It looked to him like the Chief had shattered nearly every bone in his right hand at one point – with almost the same amount of damage done to the left. The slight spurs along the fractures couldn’t be pleasant – but the bones had healed in relatively decent alignment from what Leux could see. Who the bloody hell wrote this treaty anyway, he grumbled. Idiotic diplomats.

“These old injuries,” Arven jutted his chin at the screen, but met Lok’s eyes, “there a story there I should know? Any lingering pain,” he asked, quite serious, but devoid of judgment.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #12 – March 09, 2024, 12:43:34 AM

Lok just shrugged his shoulders at Arven’s offer to perhaps tell Nurse Kitty to not go gossiping about his little bout of emotion. While yes he felt bad about nearly hurting the Doctor he also really never cared much for rumors; they usually stopped dead when they got to him not so much because he was keen on refuting them but simply he paid them no mind. On the other hand, he would step in on occasion if a rumor was started about one of his guys and he could sense they really didn’t like it or it was leading to actual bullying or harassment.

With the scans having wrapped up and the scanner halves returned to their stowed position, Lok sat up on the bed as Arven looked over the data. At the Doctor’s exclamations of “incredible” and “I’ve never seen anything like this”, Lok, trying his best to sound and look cocky, gave a low response of, “Yeah I’m pretty impressive”; however, he personally didn’t like to boast about himself like that so the awkwardness butted in and rather than exuding the aforementioned cockiness he just gave an awkward smile.

Luckily for him at least, the computer flashed up a bright warning that distracted Arven who hopefully had not noticed his little attempt at sounding cool. Leaning over to get a better look at the screen, he was also curious as to why he was being shown as classified. I’m not special or anything, he thought as Arven contacted someone called Thea. The disembodied voice responded that it was classified due to some old treaty that happened over 200 years ago.

“Huh, that would explain why it takes doctors so long to get my medical information, I just assumed it was like some kind of filing error because there aren’t a lot of Kzin in the fleet”, Lok added to the conversation.

As they waited for this Thea to return with more information, Arven asked about the prior injuries to Lok’s fingers. His ears folded back almost completely and felt warm and his guts seemed to twist up. His first instinct was to lie, and he nearly did, opening his mouth as if to speak then closing it again. No, just tell him the truth, he’ll figure it out anyway, they always do, he thought to himself. Finally he spoke.

“I did that myself, to both hands, I uh…needed to get the anger out and feel better, so yeah I did that…a couple times.”

He reached a large hand up to rub the back of his neck. It certainly was rather embarrassing for him to admit; honestly what he had done was down right stupid and he knew it, but it helped…for a little while.

“I didn’t want to have it on the record so I learned how to splint my fingers myself…you aren’t going to tell anybody are you?”

He looked back at the Doctor with a serious expression on his face, he figured based on their short interaction and what feelings he could sense that he wasn’t going to get much sympathy from Arven. However, he wasn’t going to let Arven pull him “off the line” because he might be mentally unfit. He was Kzinti, as it showed on that flashing screen, hyper aggression was built in, and as he saw it if he needed to break a few fingers, get drunk, or let people punch him in the face for fun to get it out of his system, then so be it.

It was far better than snapping on a crewmate, irreparably breaking equipment, or possibly putting somebody in sickbay and himself in the brig.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #13 – March 10, 2024, 11:08:04 PM

The corner of his lip curled subtly at Lok's cockiness, genuinely amused, but the doctor offered no commentary while the Chief continued to remark on previous difficulties with his medical records. Arven's brow creased a fraction more at the absurdity of it; even if there was a limited number of Kzin, much like Deltans, for example, to his mind that would only make the need for accurate and detailed medical information on the species more paramount. Limited access would be understandable, but restricted and redacted to everyone without four or more pips on their collar? Especially in the current circumstances? It was beyond ludicrous. If they valued their physiological secrets so ardently, then they shouldn’t have been allowed to join Starfleet, or put themselves under the care of non-indigenous people, Arven frowned, at the very least that treaty should be –

Lok interrupted those bitter thoughts with his subdued admission, then; to which Arven nodded in acknowledgement. He’d seen and treated enough boxer's fractures to recognize the patterns, yet was relieved to hear the Chief’s honesty and responded in kind.

“Who am I to tell? I can’t even upload your file, Mr. Lok,” Arven snorted with a gesture to the display screen, then offered a slight shrug. “I recommend you take every precaution in the future to avoid such injury, however. We have multiple gyms aboard, with adequate equipment; padding helps,” he waved to Lok’s hands. “I would also ask that you come in for treatment, or at least a consult, if and when it does occur. Perhaps we’d all learn something then, hm?”

“Dr. Leux,” Thea’s voice intoned, “Capt. Ives is currently unavailable, as is the XO. I regret to inform you that without their access codes, I am unable to assist in any remedial capacity.”

“Very well, thank you Thea,” Arven waved her off impatiently, then sighed and muttered under his breath. “We’ll just handle it ourselves then,” the doctor picked up a PADD and quickly severed its data connection to the ship’s on-board database, then synced it via direct interface with the bio-scanner of Lok’s bed. “I’ll burn two copies, one for us and one for you. You’ll have to keep it on you while on duty,” he shrugged, “but at least this way we have something to prevent any muck ups, hopefully. It also holds all the logs and…other pertinent personal data for you to review at your leisure – you know, like the one you nearly brained me with,” he added in a monotone drawl.

Once the data was loaded, Arven handed the tablet over to Lok with a nod, then duplicated the process with a fresh PADD. After another moment, the process completed; Arven nodded again, then turned his attention back to Lok, brow raised in query.

“I reckon that concludes our business here today Mr. Lok. If you’re ready, I’ll leave you to…,” Arven’s head tilted, “dress? Do they make uniforms that big,” he wondered aloud, then shrugged and gestured to the replicator. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I’ll go get your discharge started in the meantime. Once your all set you can head out to reception and be on your way.”

Just as he neared the door leading back out into the corridor towards reception, Arven hesitated and spoke over his shoulder with a hint of amusement. “Welcome aboard, again. Follow-up in three days, Chief, non-negotiable,” the doctor intoned as he stepped through.

Re: PRO: S [Day01 | 1030 hrs] The World I Know and the World I Don't

Reply #14 – March 18, 2024, 02:56:56 AM

Lok listened with a visual sign of relief on his face as Doctor Leux played off the whole thing as merely some over enthusiastic boxing. The thought momentarily crossed his mind, perhaps I should pick up boxing. I always say I’m going to but never do. He was happy that Arven would show a bit of discretion on this matter. While yes Lok had been on a self destructive streak since the war ended it wasn’t as if he wasn’t trying to get better, see counselors and the like, curtail his drinking; but the main point was is that he do this himself, he didn’t want to burden anyone but a professional with his own burdens and even then he was still hesitant to bring that kind of stuff up.

The voice of Thea returned once more. Guess she’s like an operations officer or yeoman or something, he thought to himself, completely unaware that it was in fact the ship’s AI. She concluded that for the time being with the two most senior officers off the ship that Lok’s medical information would have to wait. Arven was quick to do it the old fashioned way and create an offline copy directly onto a new PADD, along with the information from the one Lok destroyed, something that he found somewhat endearing. He could go on for hours about the endless whining he heard from officers if the internal network went down and they couldn’t access their data or send data someplace else. “Thanks Doc, I’ll try to take care of this one”, he responds with a sharp toothed grin before hopping back off the biobed.

With everything taken care of now medically, it looked as if Lok could finally leave and get back to his, well, life. Arven soon confirmed this but, perhaps curious, asked what the large hulking feline was going to do about a new pair of clothes. Lok gave a simple dismissive wave and replied, “It’s alright, I have some uniforms with my stuff…hopefully they didn’t toss it, but if they did I remember what I need to tell the replicator to get a new one.”

He listened as Arven explained the discharge process and that he was to come see him again for a followup in the next three days. Then, with their business concluded, Lok followed Arven out of the Recovery Ward and back into the Main Sickbay. Now, with a bit more direction he found his way out, still wearing nothing but his hospital gown, he felt really no shame when it came to his nudity. He walked past the reception area and gave a small wave to Nurse Kitty who gave him a curious look and then a nod to Arven who was nearby, “See you in a few days Doc.”

And with that he was out the door and now could continue where he left off or well continue what he had been left with. Whatever plans he had had for his life were over. After requesting the location of his personal effects, he padded his way through the corridors of the massive ship. He pondered his life as he went, what led him here, he wondered if things had turned out different if he would have just gone to another ship and been blissfully unaware of what was happening. At the moment it seemed like his life was over. If anything of what he had seen and heard was true then how was it possible that this all didn’t end with death or rotting away in some prison for the rest of their lives. Would he ever see his family again? Would he ever see home again?

What happened to the good old days, when all you had to worry about as a Starfleet officer was going where no one had gone before?

The world I have known is lost in shadow.

FIN