Snuffles VI: The Return of the Targ

Posted on 25 Jun 2017 @ 8:03pm by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

1,666 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Atlirith - Deck 12, Sickbay
Timeline: MD -17, 1319 hrs

[ON]

In her hospital bed, Tuula sat with a PADD in her hand and a half an order of blood sausage and lingonberry jam on a small table at her side. She was getting restless in this hospital bed, but the medical staff had insisted they keep her under observation. After all, they didn't really know what had been wrong with her, nor exactly how the mind meld had fixed it.

As she browsed her latest medical journal, she was interrupted by the whoosh of a door opening. Before she could even react, a targ had bounded into the infirmary, drooling and slobbering, and jumping up on her lap.

"Snuffles!" exclaimed Tuula, playfully trying to prevent the targ from getting too much slobber all over her. "Here, want a sausage?" she asked, handing the targ the remainder of her brunch, which was quickly devoured.

Approaching the handicapped doctor, Saalm had let the leash go and now stopped next to Voutilainen's bed with her hands clasped lightly behind her back. She hadn't seen much of the junior doctor since the Kreanus incident, and as part of her personnel check-ins, had wanted to pay her a personal visit. "Good afternoon, doctor," she greeted with a small smile. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm feeling better," she said meekly. She had read reports from the mission and talked to Allyndra, but she was still hazy about what had actually happened when she was incapacitated. "Especially now that Snuffles is here," she added, pulling the heavy Targ tight to her chest and giving him a gentle scratch under the collar. "Who's a cute little Targ... that's right, you are..."

Trodding his hooves on the biobed mattress in a stationary manner, Snuffles snorted and happily accepted the attention from the lady with the toy machine, as he'd come to know her. He pushed his snout into her face and neck where he started to sniff then lick her chin.

"He is happy to see you," Saalm stated with the obvious. "And so am I. I was worried about your condition for the longest time...and I didn't have the chance to check on you for more than a few minutes a week," she regretfully admitted. "I am sorry."

Tuula couldn't help but giggle a little as Snuffles tried licking her, while she tried to split her attention between the targ and Lirha. "It was all a haze; Allyndra has said that I was really out of it. At least when I was conscious..."

Trailing off, Tuula looked up at Lirha. She had been filled in on some of what happened, and didn't know how to feel. On the one hand, the crew had kept her safe throughout their adventure, and she had them to thank for keeping her alive. On the other, she remembered the pain that she had gone through at the hands of the Klingon interrogator. Why did the crew have to suffer? Why couldn't she have done something to stop it?

And then, part of her was just glad to see Lirha alive. She had thought the Admiral had gone down with the ship, and even though she had not always seen eye to eye with her, there was something Tuula respected about Lirha. There was the fact that she was a strong Starfleet commander, the prejudices she had overcome as an Orion woman to get there, and the trust she had in Allyndra to run her department how she saw fit.

"Admiral, permission to speak freely?" she asked as she pet the targ.

"Yes," Saalm nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Tuula looked up at Lirha. Without her makeup, and with the blonde roots of her hair showing, she was feeling vulnerable, almost uncomfortable in her own skin. "What happened back there?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly. "Why did the crew have to suffer and be hurt at the hands of the Kreaneans?"

Saalm looked into the Human officer's blue eyes and held them for a long moment. Inside, a turmoil of emotions started to run through her as she attempted to figure out the best way to respond. "We were...unfortunate. And we," she paused to correct herself, "I made several mistakes. Things I should have never allowed to happen did, and you were one of us who paid a price for that." It was a confession of sorts, but also her way of trying to absorb as much blame as possible to not let Tuula feel more upset. "I'm very sorry for everything that's happened to you," she quietly added.

Staring into Lirha's eyes, Tuula could see the sadness and regret over what had happened. "Well... it looks like I will make a full recovery, so..." she started, before trailing off again. "I know the crew had taken care of me while I was out. The others... are they all right?"

"Most of them, yes," Saalm was happy to report. "We...lost two of them during our journey into the Neutral Zone -- Chief Caine and Lieutenant Fraiser. But their child survived and is being taken care of," she added. The mention of a youngling suddenly reminded Lirha of one of the reasons she'd come to visit the recovering doctor. Reaching down into the small equipment holster attached to her waist, she retrieved an all-black tricorder with what appeared to be a human skull decal on the top of it. She handed it out for Tuula to take. "I was able to retrieve this from the Kreanans as part of our personal belongings. I...think it belongs to you?" Lirha didn't think there was anyone else on board who would put such morbid decorations on their Starfleet instruments.

Saddened at the thought of casualties and an orphaned child, Tuula's heart sank. That is, until she saw the tricorder. "Is that..." she said, excited as she opened up the device. Staring at it for a moment, her jaw dropped. It was her all right, but there was something else. "Do you know if the Kreaneans have accessed or tampered with the data in any way?" she asked, the amazement and wonder still present in her voice.

The though had occurred to Saalm, but she'd tried to do her due diligence and vet the device before handing it over. After all, it was a simple medical tricorder and probably something there was already a plethora of within their colony. "I don't believe so. I ran a subroutine check on its processors and memory files, and also checked it for any physical tampering. It appears to have been ignored by the Kreanans," Saalm answered. She then pointed to a small yellow slit that was at the bottom of the tricorder and indicated a storage device was still inserted. "And if my diagnostics were correct, the isolinear chip you put inside the tricorder contains Raven's subroutines," she added with a small smile.

Turning the tricorder over in her hands, Tuula beamed with joy. "I thought we lost her," she said as she carefully removed the storage device. "I wasn't able to save her physical matrix, so I'll have to recreate that from memory; maybe update her wardrobe with a tattoo or two..."

"I think less would be more beneficial," Saalm countered. The hologram's overtly pink and black hair stripes, gothic makeup, and multiple facial piercings was far from proper Starfleet regulation. Photonic projection or not, Lirha'd never quite felt comfortable with the matrix being represented by such an avatar. "Perhaps something more professional in appearance?"

"Professional? I'm not sure what you..." said Tuula, trailing off as the subject of a 'professional appearance' came up. It was something that she had struggled with throughout her live; first, trying to balance her desire for self-expression with all the attitudes and prejudices of her patients and her fellow doctors. And second, with the unspoken implications of the culture of professionalism which excluded people who, through physical or cultural differences, didn't quite fit in to people's imaginations of what 'professionalism' looked like. She had resolved it for herself when she realized she would always be different, so there was no point in trying to fit in.

Clearing her throat, she looked down at the data chip again, turning it over in her hands. "Why don't we let her decide. After all, it is her matrix."

In a strange way, it was refreshing to hear the young doctor's personality come back alive. As annoying as her protests could be at times, the verbal sparring they occasionally engaged in was something Saalm missed, and made her realized how much she valued her crew members -- even when they sometimes annoyed her. "We can discuss it later," she answered after a moment's pause. Now wasn't exactly the time or place to be get into the specifics of Starfleet personal codes of conduct, nor did they even have a starship to serve on. "But whatever she is instructed to do, I am sure she will enjoy seeing you again. And the EMH."

Tuula smiled as she turned her attention back to the targ pup on her lap. "It's good to be back..." she said as she scratched under the large creature's ear, carefully avoiding his snapping jaws. "I could use some shore leave though..."

"We all could," Saalm agreed. She didn't want to tell the lieutenant that it wouldn't probably happen before a series of investigations into Galileo's destruction took place, for fear that it might dampen the doctor's spirits. "But for now, you should try to get well. Rest and relax during this trip to Earth. Would you like me to leave Snuffles with you for a few hours?"

"Sure!" exclaimed Tuula, diverting her attention back towards Snuffles. "Who's a cute little targ?" she asked playfully as she gave the animal some scratches around the collar. "That's right, you are..."

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Tuula Voutilainen
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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