JL| Capt. Dhej, Lt. Keál, Sh'eik "Never a Mundane Report"

Posted on 241509.17 @ 5:05pm by Lieutenant Keál & Cadet Sh'eik

Mission: Agua Mala
Location: Sickbay, USS Enterprise, (NCC-1701-F)

Keál sat at his desk compiling the notes he had taken during his tour through the medical center of the Stenellis capital. Second Minister Yen had taken him through each wing of the center and shown him every available aspect of medicinal treatment the culture had developed. In many ways Keál was impressed by the speed at which a species so galactically young had arisen to isolate the source of diseases it took the rest of the galaxy thousands of years to determine in the course of their medical evolution, and yet simple illnesses like nasopharyngitis and Ferengi Influenza could still often prove fatal. The treatment approach was one of holistic health overall and the use of synthetic treatments was frowned upon by all but the most progressive and radical doctors. What troubled Keál most about the tour was the lack of diversity in the patient base at the center. All of the patients he visited were from the upper castes of Stenellis society. When he had asked Yen where the members of the Makta caste were treated he had seemed dodgy at best when saying, "Should they need treatment, they would receive it."

Having taken the time to examine their technology, Keál had even taken a few covert tricorder readings during his tour to determine material properties, he was again impressed. The base level of most of the instruments was only 150-200 years behind the Federation. Some of the equipment resembled early 21st century Earth mechanisms, such as the laser scalpel and some monitoring equipment commonly located throughout the center. All in all, Keál concluded, this culture was on par medically with its developmental stage if not exceeding it. He pressed a series of buttons that readied his report and forwarded it to the Commanding Officer. He then transferred another report to his P.A.D.D. and walked out of the office toward the recovery ward where he hoped to pick up a surprise for the Captain.

Sh'eik was up, and restless. He'd decided, all on his own, that he'd been in bed far too long and so was slowly pacing in the recovery ward. He was a little weak, still, and a bit unsteady on his footpaws, but it felt so good to move, be alive, smell the people of the ship. Sh'eik's ears perked as he heard the soft padding of Doctor Keál's feet on the sterile federation carpetting, also picking up his scent just before he entered the ward.
Sh'eik smiled, looking over his shoulder, "Doctorrr Keál, good morning!"

Not surprised at all by the fast recovery his patient was making, having now had several good meals behind him, Keál smiled at the kit walking about the room. Popping open his tricorder Keál began scanning Sh'eik's vitals and smiled to himself pleased at the readout. "It looks like you are well on yourrrr way to a full rrrecovery." He explained still smiling. "Would you carrre to join me for a little walk about the ship? I need to deliverrr a rrreport to the Captain. I think he would be happy to see you up and about."

Sh'eik smiled at the doctor, "I'd love too. I have something of my own to deliverrr to Captain Dhej, if therrre's time of courrrse."
The past few days had been heartwarming, to say the least. Keál had shown him nothing but warmth and support, and Sh'eik felt a growing kinship. His fears of any prejudice were abated very early on. If Doctor Keál had any at all, they certainly didn't show. Despite it being fairly early on in their rapport, Sh'eik was growing quite attached to the good Doctor.

Sh'eik had spent the last few days building strength and working with the nurses to rehabilitate himself. There were advanced therapies for rebuilding his atrophied muscles, but Sh'eik had opted to let his body rebuild naturally and thus was simply working to return full motor control and flexibility. In between sessions, he'd been finishing up the aptitude tests he'd been working on before getting sick. In spite of having great scores on the first few tests, he'd opted to retake them to make sure they were consistent and up to date, finding that he only placed better than before anyway, possibly due to being more relaxed and clear headed this time around.

Sh'eik returned to his particular bed, in the recovery ward, recovering a portable bottle with an electrolyte solution he'd been drinking, at the behest of the nurses and Doctor Keál, as well as two PADD's.
"I'm all set, sirrr."

Keál lead the way to the turbo lift and up to the bridge where he hoped to find the newly returned Captain. "I have a quick brief and then I would like to surprrrise the Captain with yourrr rrrecovery, if that suits?" Keál said as they reached the Bridge and the turbolift doors hissed open.

Sh'eik nodded quietly, poking his head out the doors. He noted the Captain was not on the bridge, which meant he was likely in his ready room.
"PADD..." He tapped the screen to get the serial number "Six Thrrree Fourrr Fourrr Two. I'll stay out herrre until you'rre ready?" Sh'eik looked to see if that was agreeable to the larger Cait.

Nodding as he keyed the serial into his own P.A.D.D., Keál walked to the Captain's ready room and pressed the chime. It struck Keál at that moment that this was the first time he had been on the bridge. The realization of just how new he was to this starship washed over him. He turned slightly from the door for a brief look at the layout of the Oddessy Class bridge, impressed by its size and efficient operation as he waited for the Captain to respond.

Sh'eik quietly found his way over to the Officer in Command, speaking briefly and asking if he could quietly shadow someone, after showing them the test results and was quietly assigned to the helmsman. This would keep him busy for a few minutes at least.

Karim looked up as he heard the chime and said "Enter". He was hopeful it was something a bit more interesting then a report, since he had more then enough of them piled on his desk to read before he was able to rest.

Looking back to Sh'eik and nodding, Keál stepped toward the door and it hissed open. He took three long-strided steps into the Captain's ready room and stopped. "Captain, I have completed the rrreports you rrrequired on the Stenellis medical facilities. They are a remarkable species, Sirrr. I was able to spend some time with their ambassidor and princess, Xue'Diao Nox, while I was there. She is a fascinating amalgamation of poise and emotion. There is much more to her than she lets us see, I am sure of that. The level of decorum she shows is at odds with the pheromones she sometimes extrrrudes. Were I a psycologist and not a general practitioner, I might suspect some level of abuse has grrraced her seemingly charmed life. The Stenellis are a xenophobic species despite their vast trade network, very closed lipped." Keál reported and waited for the barrage of questions he assumed the Captain would ask.

Nodding, Karim thought about what to ask first. The doctor had learned a lot during a short tour. Clearing his throat, he said "Thank you for all your hard work, and your observations, we can discuss them in detail soon. I have two pressing questions however, first, did you learn anything about the level of care? As in is medical care available to everyone regardless of caste? Also, did you notice that any of their medical technology didn't seem to be of an expected level?"

"I spoke with severrral patients while I was there and even fused a brrroken tibia. None of the people I spoke with came from the lowerrr castes. I can't say if that was by design or coincidence. I will say that when I asked the question of Ministerrr Yun, the answerrr I got seemed less than forthcoming. Like he was hiding something. My perrrfessional opinion is that the upperrr crrrust looks on the otherrr castes as if they are lowerrr forrrms of life. To an extent I felt they looked at me that way as well. As farrr as there medical technology goes they arrre mostly on parrr with their level of development. They lag behind the federation a bit but theirrr apprrroach to medicine is difrent than ourrrs." Keál took a second to think how best to sum up Stenellis medicine. "A holistic aprrroach which looks down on synthetic currres and invasive surgerrries, that is how I would describe it."

Thinking about what the doctor had said confirmed his suspicions about the Stenellis. They were a people very focused on their outward personas and not so much about their people. Looking to Keal, he said "Thank you Doctor. I appreciate your hard work on this report. If I need more information, I'll be sure to contact you."

"Captain, beforrre I leave, I have what I hope will be a welcome surrrprrrise for you. I was cleaning out a brrroom closet in sickbay and came acrrross something I think you may have lost." Keál keyed in a sequence of numbers on the P.A.D.D. he held in his hand as he spoke. "A full report on this item has been filed and is logged in the ships computer. We discoverrred a new species which is quite fascinating in its own rrright, Sir. No doubt, it will be a good rrread when you have the time." Keál finished, speaking of the parasite, as he waited for the door to hiss open again.

Having been discussing orbital trajectories and inertia, Sh'eik was drawn from his conversation with Ensign Zhang, when his PADD lit up.
"Rrrow? Guess that's my queue." He rubbed the back of his neck feining nonchalance, "Thank you for yourrr time Ensign, I've learrrned quite a bit."

Zhang nodded, happy to have something to break up the monotony of weeks of standard orbit.

Sh'eik was up and over to the ready room door with expected catlike grace, then proceeded through without tapping the chyme. He knew he was welcome, he'd been summoned after all, yet he still found a bashful shyness creeping in as he crossed the threshold.
"Mew?" He clutched the PADD to his chest, feeling tense, and suddenly very young.

Keál smiled as he heard the door hiss open. He studied the Captain's face to see his reaction change as recognition filled his eyes.

Karim looked up as the doors opened, and stood, mute with shock. Rounding the desk he said quietly "Mr. Sh'eik, you are... well?"

Sh'eik squeezed his PADD tighter, as if his grip on it were the only thing keeping him in check. His ears betrayed him however as they tilted back quickly, at Karim's approach. He wondered how inappropriate it would be to hug the Captain?
"Y-yes sirrr. Kee..." Sh'eik caught himself, "DOCtorrr Keál has me almost completely healed, the rrrest will come in time."
Why was he being so formal?
He trusted both of these men with his life, and had been very vulnerable in front of both of them in the not so distant past... so why be so... shy?
His ears stayed back and he found himself unable to make eye contact with either of them, feeling rather foolish about it.

Watching the interaction between the Captain and Sh'eik was heartwarming at first but within seconds Keál picked up on a series of pheremones and knew Sh'eik was suffering a frenzy of emotion. Quietly he wispered in tones only another Caitian could hear, "Calm down kit, you are among frrriends here. You are safe." He wanted to take the few steps toward Sh'eik but did not want to cut the Captain off on his approach to the young man.

Stepping forward, Karim resisted the impulse to hug the young man, instead, he grabbed his paws lightly and said "Please Sh'eik, relax. I am very happy to see you alive and well." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Keal's gaze and said "And you Doctor, what you've done is amazing. I will definitely look forward to reading your report, and will note a commendation in your file."

Sh'eik looked down at the Captain's hands, his left ear flicking, then up to Keál, a sense of calm returning to him from the doctor's quiet words. He didn't know why his mind kept racing this way, but now wasn't the time to deal with it. He smiled then, showing perhaps a little too much of his elongated canines.
"I'm sorrry sirrr. It's a lot that happened, but I am alrrright now, and I have what I hope is welcome news for you."
Sh'eik gently pulled his paws from the Karim's hands and offered the PADD he'd been clutching.
On it, the display of his aptitude test scores.

Nodding, Keál took a step toward the door saying, "I see you two have some catching up to do. I have a few more tests to run on the medicinal plants I picked up on Aspha. If you will excuse me, Sirrr, I will get back to it." His eyes then turned toward Sh'eik and as he stepped up beside him, he placed his large black paw on Sh'eik's shoulder. "Don't tire yourself out. Rrrememberrr you are still rrrecoverrring." With that Keál turned back to the Captain nodding his head as he intended to make his escape as soon as dismissed.

Looking over to Keal, Karim replied "Thank you Doctor for this ... great news. I will see you soon." After the man left, he gestured to the sofa nearby and said "Please Sh'eik, take a seat." As the young man was doing so, he looked at the padd briefly and taking a seat added "These test scores are impressive. I take it you've made your decision to stay aboard the Enterprise?"

Sh'eik looked down to the doctor's handpaw on his shoulder, it seemed massive compared to his own. He wondered briefly if he'd ever grow to the size and regality of the larger Cait.
"I will do my best sirrr. I shall check in with you, often." His smaller paw found Keál's, giving it a squeeze of thanks, one last time before the doctor exited.

Sh'eik turned his attention, then, back to the Captain, moving over to the sofa so they could talk.

=/\=End Log=/\=

Captain Karim Dhej
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Keál
Chief Medical Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Sh'eik
Civilian
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F