A Taste of the Local Culture (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 04 Nov 2012 @ 2:21pm by Commander Andreus Kohl

2,163 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Dr. Panne's quarters; Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 03 - 1000 hours

[ON]

"Here you are, lieutenant," the operations officer passed the commbadge to the chief science officer with a bizarre grin on his face. He was a petty officer who was at least fifty years old, and he gave her the creeps.

Maenad took it, spending a good thirty seconds or so trying to pin it in the right spot over her breast. "Is this right?" She was looking down at her chest, trying figure out if she'd placed it properly. Without a mirror, she could never tell.

"It's fine," the older man replied. He nodded past her to the door. "Are you ready to see your quarters?"

Maenad was still trying to figure out whether her badge was in the right position, but gave up with a frustrated sigh. "Well?" she said a moment later, her voice impatient. She made it seem like she was the one waiting for him.

The petty officer resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but compromised by pressing his lips. Maenad said nothing, he approached the door and opened it by touching the access panel on the wall. The doors opened right away and he gestured her inside with one hand, like a busboy.

Maenad eyed him before walking past. The quarters were better than anything she'd ever had before, on a starship at least. She owned a modestly-sized home in San Francisco, where she had lived while teaching. The quarters were beautiful; large windows, a nice dining table, desk and workstation, a coffee table in front of a nice sofa, and chairs for guests. Her few boxes of personal belongings and suitcases of clothes were stacked neatly in the centre of the room. She would unpack later. "Thank you," she said finally.

"Will there be anything else?"

"No," Maenad replied. The petty officer nodded and left her alone, for which she was grateful. She took a moment to go over her new home more properly, walking into the bedroom. There was a queen-size bed and a nightstand on either side. The covers and sheets were folded neatly on the mattress, ready for her to make the bed how she wanted. With a smile, Maenad sat down to test it out. She sunk into mattress and laid back, thinking about how she couldn't wait to sleep in it. Even on just the mattress, it was one of the most comfortable beds she had ever laid on.

She could have stayed like that for hours, but she had many things to do that day. For one, she still needed her physical. She hated the idea of it, but it was something that had to be done. Maenad rose, walked into her bathroom, and quickly showered. She hadn't cleaned herself since she had been on Vulcan, and had felt disgusting. She spent about ten or fifteen minutes in front of the mirror, applying very little makeup - most of her time was spent on her hair. Satisfied, she rubbed her lips together, wiped the edges, rinsed her hands, dried them, and headed for sickbay. Before leaving, she wandered to one of the large windows in the living room. The city of Vega Colony stood in the distance. From here the cars and shuttles buzzing overhead looked like a cloud of flies, she thought, idly pondering whether she would get there before they left.

---

Maenad walked out of the turbolift on deck four and found sickbay in no time. A repair crew had passed her without acknowledgement, busy discussing some problem with a power relay - it was all Chinese to her, anyway. Sickbay's doors parted and Maenad stepped inside, not knowing who to look or ask for. She thought the CMO would be a good person to start with, but she had no idea who the doctor was, either. If she just stood there, somebody would attend her, Maenad decided. She clasped her hands behind her back, waiting. What she didn't realise was that she looked more like an irritable supervisor than a would-be patient.

The only word to describe Andreus Kohl's walk into the Intensive Care Unit was meander. There had been no patients in Sickbay, the last time Kohl had checked, and so he was in no hurry on his way back from the medical laboratory. He peeked his head into an empty surgical suite and the CMO's office before returning to the ICU at a relaxed pace. Walking in from the side passageway, Kohl said, "Hello," in a lilting tone of surprise, as soon as he noticed the tall woman waiting by the entryway. Her features were striking, almost severe, and her body language betrayed her intentions as an impatient patient. Spiritedly, Kohl asked, "I'm Ensign Kohl. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I'm the new chief science officer, Maenad Panne," she replied, extending one hand from behind her back. Her voice was flat, but not impolite. "I am here, if you have the time, for my physical." She welcomed the sight of Mister Kohl; he was at eye-level with her, unlike most people.

Kohl briefly shook her hand between both of his own, but only for long enough to take the measure of her. "Our patients were all transferred to Central Hospital after the landing," Kohl said lightly, finding some humour in Panne's mention of time. He swept a hand towards the biobed at the back of Sickbay, and said, "If you'll follow me?"

"Oh," she replied, following Kohl to the back. It was about then that her heart started to pick up. She was always terrified that every trip to the doctor would be the first day of the end of her life. They always asked about her anemia, they always mentioned that it was sometimes a precursor to something worse, or that it was a symptom of a serious and yet undiagnosed illness. Maenad sat herself on the biobed, her legs hanging over the side and her cold hands beneath her thighs. She knew that she was tense and wished that she weren't, hoping that her discomfort wasn't so noticeable.

"Before we begin, I'd like you to know that my medical background is as a Nurse Practitioner. I transferred aboard ship during our first mission to Starbase 152," Kohl said. Noticing her posture, Kohl opted to share something about himself in amicable tones before he started asking her any questions. He took an antigrav instrument tray from another biobed and he pulled it over. As he did so, he said, "I will be performing a series of tests to create a baseline record of your health status aboard Galileo. The results will be compared against your last baseline examination and, of course, the ship's doctor will be reviewing your results as well. What can you tell me about how you've been feeling lately?"

Maenad's eyes watched Kohl's hand pull a tray of instruments closer, her head remained still. She didn't know how to answer; the last time she'd seen a doctor was a long time ago. At least not since she had been first assigned to the USS Crane. "I don't know," she said after a noticeable length of time. "Fine, I think." She made a nervous shrug with one shoulder.

Kohl shook his head to say he needed more than that, but his sapphire eyes betrayed understanding. This was never easy for anyone, not on either side of the tricorder. "Lieutenant Panne, you know your body better than any doctor," Kohl said. His timbre hedged more towards a friend asking for a favour than a professorial lecture. Kohl briefly shook the instrument tray, as he said, "I can point these whirligigs at you if you want, but they're not going to tell me anything meaningful without your own perspectives. Can you think of anything I should know about your current health?"

What did this man want from her? Her eyes widened, but she looked at the floor instead of at him, not knowing what to say. "I don't know," she said honestly, a hint of frustration subdued in her voice. "I haven't felt any different than usual." Maenad clenched her jaw. "I've been tired the past few days, but only because of all the travelling I've done. And, I'm getting used to a new home and bed, which of course takes some getting used to." She looked to him now, hoping that he wouldn't prod for more answers that she couldn't give.

As Maenad elaborated, Kohl nodded at each point she made. He continued to watch her posture and her eyes, even when she was evading eye contact. With a medical tricorder in hand, Kohl stood only close enough to remain within the scanner's effective range. He activated the sensors, both in the tricorder and in the biobed, and he accessed Maenad's medical records alongside the sensor results. As he tapped on the tricorder's interface, Kohl asked, "Have you traveled to any non-Federation worlds since your last medical examination?"

Sitting on the biobed had Maenad a little below Kohl's eye level. She looked up at him with her eyes like a guilty schoolgirl. "Yes," she replied with a slight grin on her lips. "I was on Cardassia Prime for a few days, but they cleared me after I got back," she said. "I know they're Federation, but I've been to Vulcan several times - I just came from there, in fact. I've been to Alpha Centauri, Bajor, and Regulus, too. And, I spent a few days on Risa a few months ago," she made a quick sigh through her nose.

As she spoke, Kohl made note of the planets on his tricorder. When he reviewed the results with Pola, he could keep an eye out for planet-specific risk factors. Since he wasn't thinking about it yet, he raised his gaze from the tricorder display. "Jealous," Kohl said with a wicked grin. He turned his eyes onto the tricorder again, and he asked, "Do you recall coming into contact with any fauna, or any natural food or drink on those worlds?"

Maenad watched the nurse for a moment, thinking of how to answer. She mostly kept to her regular 'earthly' diet no matter where she went, but whether or not she may have eaten some local food at all... it was hard to say. There was one thing she was certain of, though, "I may have had a few glasses of local wines." There was a bit of an embarrassed sort of dismissal in her voice, as if she were trying to hide the fact that she occasionally over-indulged. She looked at him, "To get a taste of the local culture."

While Kohl took a record of the wine in his notes about her risk factors, Kohl nodded impassively, and he asked, "What's your favourite vintage?"

"Beaujolais nouveau," she replied right away. "It is a vin de primeur, made from Gamay grapes near Lyon and Tours." She spoke the French with her accent. "It is quite hard to get, but it is worth it."

Kohl looked up from his tricorder for that. "I'll have to write that down for myself," Kohl said, suitably intrigued by the wine she described. He traded his tricorder for a blank PADD on the instrument tray. "The planetary resources of Vega Colony are probably my best chance of finding a bottle before we're back on the path of exploration." Once he took note of the name of the wine, Kohl blinked hard and he said, "Oh, sorry, that reminds me. I'm going to have to take a blood sample for testing. The anemia. Is that all right?"

Maenad tilted her head. He was going to take her blood whether she liked it or not. "Okay," she said. "I think it's fine," Maenad said with a shrug, referring to her anemia. "I haven't fainted recently," she offered. "But I haven't fainted in years, so if that tells you anything..." Her expression sunk as she trailed off, "Mister Kohl, I don't know that you'll be able to find the wine here." She looked up at him with a tone of sympathy, "I do have a bottle in my quarters, though, if you would like to try some."

"I can't ever refuse wine," Kohl emphatically said (to his later embarrassment). He picked up an empty hypospray from the instrument tray and he pressed it to Maenad's arm. Kohl tapped the control to being drawing blood. His mind still on the wine, he said, "I'd really appreciate that."

Maenad felt her cheeks flush a little, but acted liked nothing had happened. She liked this Kohl; he wasn't like any doctor she had ever been to. "Any time. Besides, it would be more fun than drinking it alone," she laughed.

[OFF]

To Be Continued



Lieutenant JG Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

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