Discipline & Despair

Posted on 06 Nov 2012 @ 5:19am by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Commander Andreus Kohl

2,291 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 03 - 1430 hours

ON:

Liyar pushed open the sickbay doors revealing the empty area within. The doctor was nowhere to be seen. This was unusual to him, given the Galileo's state of affairs and the casualties surely they must have endured. He stopped in front of an anatomical doll featuring muscle and nerve clusters, regarding it curiously. He studied it for several moments before he was alerted to a presence behind him and turned, facing the ship's CMO for the first time. "Doctor. I have been ordered to undergo a physical examination." His words were measured and precise.

Having watched the Vulcan for a number of moments before he turned around, Pola smiled softly as her own grey eyes meet the brown of the humanoid infront of her. "Well we should get your physical examination done so. You have an interest in the human form?" Pola indicated to the teaching dummy the Vulcan had just been studying.

Clasping his hands behind him, Liyar's expression didn't change an iota as he peered down at the doctor mildly, observing her features with the unnerving focus he applied to everything. "I admit to a cursory degree of fascination," Liyar finally responded with a slight nod. "I have not yet taken the time to examine Terran physiology. Despite 16.7 lightyears of separation, we appear to have evolved along similar lines. It is most interesting." He followed her over to a bio-bed and sat down.

Picking up a PADD, Pola held out her right hand to offer a handshake. "I guess introductions might be a good idea, lets me know who I'm dealing with. I'm Doctor Pola Ni Dhuinn. And you Lieutenant?"

The Vulcan ignored her hand, but blinked in acquiescence. "Affirmative, Doctor. I am Liyar."

Taking no offence, Pola drew back her hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you Liyar." Glancing down at the PADD in her hand, the Doctor found herself frowning slightly. "There seems to be an issue here...aside from your baseline readings and a prescription you currently take, you medical history seems to be sealed, even to my authorisation codes."

"Affirmative. Vulcan privacy laws dictate in this matter, Doctor. I am forbidden to open the files. What you hold is the extent of what Vulcan law permits outworlders to see." The PADD contained personal readings from two months ago which indicated relative health along with a brief summary of something called Zarahk'Kah-ka, flagged for psionics. A translation wasn't provided, but it was linked to the medication he required.

Leaning back against the biobed behind her, Pola folded her arms across her chest as the PADD dangled between her thumb and fingers. "Well...in all honesty this is the first time in which I have encountered this. It is difficult to be someone's physician when you don't know their previous history, especially in cases where something occurs which may have happened before or you see internal evidence of some procedure done but you have no idea what."

"Kaiidth. It is beyond my purview," Liyar responded tersely. He was silent for a while, seemingly thinking of something to himself before he spoke again. "I can offer you a limited summary. As a telepathic species, Vulcans form mental bonds with those close to them. I had such a link with my wife and son. That link was severed when they died. Lexorin is a psionic inhibitor. It will ease the side effects until I am capable of managing the damage on my own." His eyes flashed, an uprising of swirling, devastatingly alien emotion shadowing them for a moment before, like some sort of storm, it simply lifted and he inhaled calmly. "I trust that is sufficient."

Grinning like a narrow shaft of sunlight peeking through a storm-cloud, Andreus Kohl strode over to Pola's side. There was quite a lot of bounce to his step. "Hello!" he proclaimed. "My name is Andreus Kohl. My medical background is as a Nurse Practitioner" --He glanced over to Pola with a sly grin-- "and I am the Assistant Chief Medical Officer aboard Galileo. I'll be assisting Pola with your physical examination today, as we gather information to compare against your medical baseline on record. Do you have any objection to me taking a blood sample?"

Liyar blinked at the rambunctious energy of the ... Argelian - his mind supplied - who just flourished through the room, the only indication at all that Kohl's presence went noticed by him. He held out his arm, looking up finally. "I do not."

Still upset at the situation she was finding herself in with this crew member, Pola was extremely appreciative of Kohl joining them and as such smiled her appreciation before turned back to Liyar. "Back to what we were saying Liyar...even though I understand your wishes and those of your beliefs, you need to understand where we come from. If something happens to you which was replicated in your past, how are we to know the proper way to treat you?"

Liyar kept his arm out. "It is not a matter of belief, Doctor. It is the law. The majority of my medical history is accounted for on the isolinear rod I have given you. The matters that are sealed would not be handled by a non-Vulcan physician in any setting. Should a scenario arise where this is inapplicable, it would only then be logical to disclose. Until such a time, I am obligated by our laws."

Returning to Liyar's biobed, Kohl pushed an antigrav instrument tray ahead of himself. He positioned the tray near the bulkhead and stepped to the opposite side of the biobed as Pola. Clutching an empty hypospray in one hand, Kohl pressed the tip of the hypospray against Liyar's arm and tapped the controls on the device to begin drawing blood.

Liyar could feel the prickly threads of disconcerting awkwardness emanating from the sickbay, if not precisely able to comprehend them in any real fashion. He merely sat quietly and allowed them to run their scans and tests. Aside from the records, he was cooperative.

"I apologise, I haven't read your records yet, Lieutenant," Kohl said with far more deference than he might usually use on a patient. He pulled the hypospray away from Liyar's arm and he took a glance at Pola's reaction to Liyar's talk of sealed medical records. Narrowing his focus back on a today's medical examination, Kohl asked Liyar, "Have you visited any non-Federation planets since your last medical exam?"

"I have not," Liyar provided in the same controlled tones as always, watching the vial filled with green be ferried away to tests and analysis.

As she allowed Kohl, to complete his work, Pola suddenly felt light headed as she reached out a hand to balance herself. Doing the math she realised that sometime had passed since she had last eaten. Aside from the nibbles she'd had of her ACMO's wrap, she hadn't had much else since yesterday afternoon. Shaking her head to clear it, she focused her attention back on the medical notes she was reading, allowing Kohl to continue his line of questioning.

Liyar tilted his head a little in her direction as she faltered, breaking the almost-silence that had taken up while Kohl continued his work in the background. "You are unwell."

Kohl looked up from his tricorder to study Liyar's expression, and then follow his gaze over to Pola.

Waving her hand at the patient and Nurse, Pola shrugged it off. "Please continue Kohl I'm fine. So Liyar, is there anything important which you feel we should know which isn't available to me here?"

"Negative, Doctor," Liyar answered. "I have informed you of all relevant details."

With his tricorder trained on Liyar, Kohl began a series of scans using the tricorder's in-build sensors along with the sensors in the biobed. The biofunction monitor behind Liyar began to hum and whirr as it displayed the Vulcan's vital signs. "Liyar," Kohl asked evenly, "Do you consume any narcotics?"

Liyar turned his head and blinked, meeting Kohl's eyes. "Negative, Ensign. I am proficient in my discipline. I do not require analgesic medication to alleviate pain."

Kohl shook his head slightly, grinning wryly. "That's not the only reason for narcotics," Kohl muttered, but he let it drop there. Kohl took note of Liyar's response on his tricorder, as well as the manner of his speech and the degree of his apparent emotional control. Looking up from it, he asked, "What is this discipline you mentioned?"

"Kahr'y'tan. It is our way. It encompasses many techniques to control our minds and bodies. Tow-kath, enok-ka-fi, and kai'tan among them. As you term it, the healing trance and pain suppression." Liyar spoke steadily, the Vulcan words coming naturally to him where Standard sorely lacked. He offered little translation, only enough to indicate that like all Vulcans, he utilized pain management techniques outside of pharmaceutical need.

Having heard the Vulcan terms before, Kohl nodded at the explanation. He asked, "What else do you do for your body? Regular exercise?"

"Affirmative," Liyar answered simply, wondering what would possess anyone to take a narcotic medication when they did not need one, but deciding not to comment on the matter.

Kohl looked up from his tricorder and narrowed his eyes on the Vulcan. He had hoped for a more expansive response than yes or no, but he supposed he couldn't expect anything else from Liyar's kind. Diplomats. Always have to watch your wording with them, Kohl knew. "Do you have any medical concerns?" Kohl asked, his manner was one of poised politeness. "Have you felt any recent symptoms of illness or discomfort?"

Liyar thought on that, falling into silence. It seemed he was not going to answer, until he finally did. His response was curt. "My family was killed aboard the Lykan." It wasn't necessarily a popular story, but the news of the Lykan's destruction was posted about a few FNN news feeds. "I require Lexorin. As I explained to Dr. Ni Dhuinn, it is a psionic inhibitor. It will allow me to retain meditative control while my mind recovers from the loss of their bonds."

Swallowing hard, it felt to Kohl as if his entire throat and neck tightened up in reaction. Kohl didn't know where to look, at first. His eyes darted between the tricorder, the floor, Pola, the door to the passageway... Once his eyes returned to Liyar, Kohl said simply, "You have my sympathies." There was no flourish to his delivery, since Kohl assumed it would have gone wasted on the Vulcan.

Inhale. Kohl's response went unnoticed, or at least, unattended. Liyar didn't look away, or falter, meeting the Ensign's eyes placidly as ever. He had managed to reign himself in after Pola's questioning. The doctor hadn't noticed his lapse, but he did, and gave more dutifully than ever the impression of being made out of ice. His control was adequate, his words blunt. "I do not require sympathy. I require Lexorin."

"I offer them all the same," Kohl said. The timing of his reply was defensive, but he kept his voice low. The haunted expression on his features betrayed his own familial losses. Kohl turned his gaze down on the tricorder and he began another cycle of sensor scans.

The Vulcan blinked, before settling his eyes on the scanner in Kohl's hand. "As you say." An acknowledgment, barely. Not an acceptance or a rejection, merely a lack of explicit cruelty, born of his limited time among emotional species, he possessed at least enough tact in that.

And Kohl kept his eyes on the tricorder, studying the sensor readings. He breathed in through his nose and he focused his thoughts on the sensor readings. He refused to look up until the sudden wave of grief washed away again.

Frowning as she started to realise what was happening between her ACMO and the patient, Pola realised that Liyar seemed to be rubbing up everyone the wrong way. "Liyar, we need to prepare the Lexorin prescription, it's not a medication which we keep to hand. Can you come back in...say an hour?"

Almost a little too quickly, recognizing a way to end the nearly infinite medical examination, the Vulcan hopped off of the bed and inclined his head. "Affirmative, Doctor. I will return then. I trust this examination is complete beyond this." Without bothering to wait for confirmation of that, he strode out. Vaguely, he blinked to himself as the door shut. As soon as the Vulcan left, the entire prickly energy surrounding the sickbay seemed to lift, as if it were something that he had somehow directly brought with him.

Watching the man leave, Pola had a sudden realisation that this just wasn't going to get any easier. Pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes for a moment, she moved herself up off of the bio bed. "Andreus, can you get the medication replicated? I'll take care of the remainder of these notes." Holding out the PADD she'd been holding, containing the dosage they would require and amount of tablets, she took her nurse's PADD in order to complete the crewman's file. As she watched Kohl walk away, she found herself concerned and made a note to try talk to him further at some point, shed a funny feeling he was still struggling with his father's death.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Pola N Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, SDD/VDF
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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