Star Trek: Starbase 777 - emergency-department

The team arrived in casualty. Aris and the other staff helped get Sauk on one of the bio beds and immediately started doing scans to monitor his condition. One of the medical staffs injected the young ops cadet with a hypo to stabilise his condition.

Meanwhile whilst bigboi medical was helping his friend, Aris held Shoe in his arms, watching as their friend lay on the bio bed. "Jack.. The beanstalk high-- t-the future... Unknown."

Sauk was responding well to the treatments, he was slowly coming to. But his cortisol and epinephrine still elevated, as if he was still having a panic attack while unconscious. And he kinda was. Shoe meowed, looking up at Aris and blinking slowly. What was wrong with her Friend? Was he going to help him?

The medical staff gave him another hypo to try and lower his cortisol and epinephrine levels, doing their very best.

The young Tamarian slipped through the medical staff weaving in and out so he could get Shoe close enough to sniff Sauk's hands. Maybe her presence would help? One of the medical staff knocked shoulders with the tiny cadet, causing Aris to fall forwards a little, almost onto Sauk! He caught himself though, but a medical staff began to tell him to get out of the way so they could treat the other cadet laying on the bed.

Shoe climbed out of Aris's arms and onto Sauk's chest, where she began licking at his face with her sandpaper-like tongue. He awoke, inhaling sharply, and looking around in confusion. Where was he? What was going on? What the hell had been happening in his brain? And had the COMMs been fixed? He began trying to sit up, but he was still weary and tired from his panic attack.

That seemed to work! The other medical staff began to buzz around when they saw that the ops cadet was awake. Aris gave a big sigh of relief when his saw his fellow cadet open his eyes, "G-Good morning T-Tral," He greeted in his warm but shaky friendly tone. Aris was getting better with his stutter, but he was trying his best here. "Y-You are-- in sick bay. Everything, everything is alright."

"O-oh..." Sauk croaked out, sitting up. Shoe slid down into his lap. "Oh. Okay. Uh...sorry for...wasting your time...everyone..." He said, looking around at the medical team that worked to make sure he was alright. Embarrassing that he'd even needed this for a panic attack. Pathetic.

"Temba, his arms wide," Aris opened his arms and gave Sauk a reassuring nod. "Darmok-- and and Jalad on the, on the ocean," He spoke his Tamarian words proudly, his voice soft despite the stutter. "You are my friend a-and you are safe, I am here for you always."

Sauk was not expecting or ready for those words, with the state of mind he was currently in. "I- uh-" He didn't have a response for that. He felt like running away, like disappearing...but he couldn't. "Thank you." He choked out, wiping at tears, paying no mind to how he was touching the lenses of his glasses. "I don't deserve that,"

The Tamarian boy's expression dropped when he heard his friend's words. 'Don't deserve that'? It hurt to hear the bright young ops cadet have such little faith in himself. Aris' eyes looked at Shoe and then at one of the other medical staffs who was speaking with another about discharging Suak. "Tral..." He stood next to Sauk's bed and gently shook his head. "Y-You are great... And smart... And speak, and speak so many languages. You are not, not Darmok on the ocean," He sighed and put his tricorder down. "You and me, Tral, Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. You deserve-- everything , you are so special."

Sauk's eyes glazed over once again with fresh tears. What in the name of his lords and saviors the Prophets had he done to deserve a single word coming from his fellow Cadet's mouth? His hands trembled as he reached out to stroke Shoe's fur. This poor boy had never looked more disheveled. Glasses skewed, hair an absolute mess, bags under his eyes, and his uniform so far from crisp and clean. "Thank you. I- thank you, Aris," He said between silent sobs. "I- I don't- I'm sorry- I-" His brain wasn't quite sure what it wanted to say, but he knew he probably looked something like a toddler throwing a tantrum. His reaction to everything: start crying. He should just curl up into a ball and cry forever, at this point, if he couldn't figure out how to control that response. Maybe he needed to work more with Shoe to stop that from happening?

"Don't cry, Tral," Aris frowned as he leaned in closer to Sauk, worrying that he did something wrong. One of the medical staffs came around to Aris and whispered something in his ear before darting away to help another patient. "Y-You are clear... for rest-- you are relieved of duty for, for the rest of the day," He told Sauk, stepping aside so the boy could get off the bio bed. Aris waved at Shoe and bowed his head. He was happy his friend could go back to his quarters, but he was also still worried about him.

Relieved of duty...made sense, he was useless to anyone in this state. He stood up slowly, still holding his oldest and most loyal friend in his arms. Shoe had her yellow eyes closed, and was purring at a noticeable volume in an attempt to ground Sauk. He took a small step forward. "You're a good person, Aris," He mumbled before trudging the rest of the way out of the casualty ward and into #corridor-04, his heart practically in his feet, it had sunk so low. He wasn't expecting Jack to be there when he got back. He would be alone, like always. Maybe he could cuddle Shoe tonight.

Everyone from within the Intelligence Station was beamed here. Dagis seated at phaser point with the piece of metal lodged in her right shoulder, Giles fitting, Adill trying to treat Giles, Samantha pointing her phaser at Dagis, and Shannon standing behind.

Adill called some Nurses so they could put Giles down on a biobed. “Get me clear readings on this man, and his medical file! I’m not loosing him to a forsaken seizure,” said Adill with urgency. Of course, he was already sure that the seizures weren’t Giles’ only problem. There were other injuries, too, and Adill was trying to get a clear picture of them. “Nurse, take a loot at the Ferengi!”, he grunted while he stayed with Giles.

A slightly anxious-looking, slim man in medical uniform with pink hair rushed towards the Ferengi was a tricorder and a dermal regenerator. “Um,” he said, looking at the security officers, “Let her sit down on a biobed please, we need her readings.”

"Sure." She said as she lowered her phaser, but she didn't holster it. She kept her eyes on the Ferengi as she sat down in a chair with a slight grunt. Her leg was hurting like hell at the moment, but her treatment could wait. First they needed to get that bitch of a Ferengi to the brig and such.

Dagis groaned as she stood up, using her good arm to push on her knee, before making her way over to a biobed to sit down. She wasn’t wearing her jacket anymore, which made it easier to access the wound. The piece of metal in the front of her right shoulder was roughly 5x3x2 inches, and was potentially in quite deep. It certainly looked like the remains of the blasted security door, that’s for sure.

Now that they were in relative safety, Shannon holstered her phaser and silently placed herself by her chief’s side, partially to ward off any last ditch efforts from the Commander, and partially in case the Sam needed something to lean against urgently. “I will see to it that our halls are cleared of the Section’s people, stunned or otherwise,” she assured.

It was evident from even first glance at Giles's file that this was more than just light reading. The list of conditions was extensive - many of which were seemingly genetic, incurable - ranging from epilepsy to auto-immune issues to a cellular degeneration disorder. There was nothing about the joining of host and symbiont, but there were a handful of analyses of how it seemed he had been subject to experimentation; the glowing trill spots weren't tattoos, and instead stemmed from the same bioluminescence produced by a type of treefrog from the Trill homeworld. Notes detailed how his eyes - which also glowed and flickered - seemed to have been genetically programmed to do so by Section 31, designed to encapsulate his own field of vision and trigger his own epilepsy -- the Section's sadistic way of trying to contribute to his death. Thankfully, however, the Federation had been kinder than the Section and there were detailed notes of work done to keep him stable; treatment and surgeries and medication lists all noted. Included in which, thankfully, was a list of what medications he tended to respond to during seizures that could break him out of status.

She gave a nod and a small smile towards Shannon. "Thanks. I would do it myself, but..." She looked down at her leg and the drenched piece of cloth that bound it. "Yeah."

Oh, that man was a mess! By Kahless! Adill grunted triumphantly when he found the list of medications that could potentially help the man, even with his fucked up immune system. “Get me fifteen milligrams of Stereopaleontophine!”, he barked at a random medical Ensign while already injecting the first hypo into Giles’ twitching neck. He really needed to stop this seizure fast! Or else he wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding — on the contrary, if Giles’ kept fitting it would probably cause the piece of metal to sink even deeper into his leg.

Nurse Nolan Swift swiftly scanned Dagis’ shoulder in the meantime. The anxiety on his face had given way to a big-eyed look of concentration. He cleaned the wound carefully with a wet cloth in one hand, and in the other hand he had his tricorder to see whether the metal had also damaged Dagis’ bones.

Adill probably also told some other medics to take care of Lieutenant Voxellus’ leg, except the roleplayer had forgotten about that for a second.

The medication list seemed to be accurate, for it was in the next couple of minutes that the convulsion began to die down. Breathing becoming less rattly and more even and the convulsion slowed to the occasional twitch of the head or hands until it stopped entirely, the Trill sinking into a post-ictal period of unconsciousness.

She was moved over to a nearby biobed and sat down in it, raising her leg on the bed with a grunt as she layed her head back and let the medic do the work.

“Take the Trill to #sickbay-zone-02!”, said Adill. He and a couple of Nurses all pushed Giles’ biobed into the station sickbay.

Dagis practically had to fight through the pain of her main injury being worked on. The metal had damaged her shoulder bone somewhat, but it wasn't too bad thankfully. All the while she sat there her face looked emotionally dead, staring off into the distance.

Nolan was working swiftly (omfg I need to stop making that pun) on Dagis’ shoulder. He carefully removed all of the metal pieces, stopping the bleeding. He wouldn’t be able to regenerate the small piece of bone that had been cut off from Dagis’ shoulder, but he was able to close the wound and give her a hypo. “This is against the pain,” he said softly, with a quiet and gentle voice — as was his usual bedside manner — and he had no idea that Dagis was some sort of imposter, he only knew that those security officers were holding her at gunpoint for a reason unbeknownst to him; and he knew that she was a patient. That last part was enough knowledge for him to be gentle.

The Ferengi couldn't make eye contact no matter how hard she tried, so she simply uttered a very quiet, "Thank you." The pain relief was much needed, even if it didn't actually feel like it did much, but hypos would never be able to fix certain kinds of pain.

After being treated Dagis was transported to the brig, escorted by two Security officers, both armed with both rifles and Type-2 phasers.

[D] After being fully treated, Sam made her way out of sickbay and down to the place where she needed to be; the brig. She had some interrogating to do.

The first set of casualties started coming into, well, causality. A Human with a concussion and scrape on their forehead, a Vulcan with a broken arm, and a Cardassian with a twisted ankle. All injuries were either from people falling over, or being thrown off balance when the station started shaking prior to the shields being activated.

Adill was back from the hot soup incident on the habitat ring and he was here to aid people! yay! He first tended to the Vulcan with the broken arm, told the Cardassian quite harshly to sit his ass the fuck down on a biobed and then treated the other officer’s concussion, while the Cardassian had to wait.

Lieutenant Sceatta, along with Dagis, were beamed here. The Lieutenant was quick to start instructing people on what she needed doing to help the Ferengi, and it wasn’t long before they were in surgery to fix her internals and prevent any further internal bleeding, the blade having narrowly avoided any majorly vital organs. After a decent amount of time Dagis was as healed as could be, and was now laying on a biobed in #intensive-care-unit to recover for a couple of hours until she could be discharged back to the brig safely.

Hsarr, who had been overseeing things in the casualty ward, as was their job as ACMO, heard Ughaz’udan and Aella enter #sickbay-zone-02 with their excellent Catian hearing and crossed over into the main ward.

Namika and Avignon were beamed in here.

From here, Namika was taken to the surgical suite, and when all of that was done, she was brought to #sickbay-zone-02.

As Hsarr and Vincent materialized, the Caitian doctor looked around and spotted a poor unsuspecting officer in the hall. "You there!" They called out, beckoning the ensign inside.

Ensign Harper Tuile, who happened to be passing as Hsarr and Vincent materialized, bit back a sigh. She was about to go on break! But as they approached the biobed, any annoyance was replaced by horror and a sense of duty. "Oh my god!" They gasped, covering their mouth with their hands. "How can I help, sir?" She asked.

Hsarr was already on top of what needed to be done. They handed an auto-suture to the ensign. "I need you to suture the wounds for me while I prepare an injection," They instructed, moving over to prepare a crystalloid solution of 0.9% saline. They would then prepare one unit of type O rh-negative blood, warmed to 37 degrees Celsius.

Observations were starting to tick back into normal ranges: still low for the most part, but no longer peri-arrest. For poor Ensign Tuile there was going to be no reprieve from the situation though: as soon as they cut away at the blood-soaked shirt to get to the wounds beneath, it became evident that these were not random slashes. Carved into the patient's chest in deep, fierce, but precise incisions was 'RoA#7.'

Harper's eyes widened as they cut away Vincent's shirt. This was writing. They were going to be sick. "Lieutenant- Wh-what happened to this man?" She asked, shuddering as she gripped the auto-suture. They turned to their ACMO, breath unsteady. She was going to need therapy after this.

Hsarr looked over at the Ensign from their work station and tilted their head. "I'm not sure, Tuile. Why do you ask..." They trailed off when they saw Vincent's chest. "What in the name of all five fucks-" they cursed under their breath. "I need to get a picture of this for evidence," They said, pulling out their PADD and holding it steady over the wounds.

She watched as Hsarr photographed the wounds, then returned to her job, suturing the cuts. Then, after checking with Hsarr, who was administering the concoction they'd prepared, she sent the image to @SEC. Then, she warmed the biobed and placed a cortical simulator on Vince's head.

Now it's a three-way self roleplay! P'Nelar entered the casualty suite, stopping beside the occupied biobed and looking at the two medical officers. "How can I help?" She asked, giving them a helpful smile.

The Caitian looked over and saw…another Caitian. Hmm. This was…new, but they weren’t here to ponder the fact that they were now aware of there being multiple Caitians aboard. “Well, you saw the photo, didn’t you? The wounds have already been treated, but we need them investigated, because that definitely wasn’t random or accidental. From the other injuries, my conclusion is that Mr. Ferrufino was attacked,” Hsarr informed the cheerful looking security officer.

“Oh, no!” Attacked? P’Nelar was struggling to accept the idea that someone would purposely harm another being, despite the fact that she’d faced it multiple times, not only in her Starfleet career. The poor man! What had happened to him…it was just awful. She needed to find who had done it and bring them to justice, fairly and reasonably. After all, that was her job! “You can count on me, sir!” She said, placing her arms behind her back in a respectful Starfleet Salute. She was going to figure this out! “Please be sure to share with me any more evidence, as well,” She said. Then she glanced over and recognized fellow Ensign, Harper Tuile. “We’re still on for that game of chess tonight, right?” She whispered.

She didn’t hear her Caitian friend speak, she was focused on calming herself down somewhat.

““I’ll be sure to, Ensign. Thank you for helping out,” Hsarr nodded, turning back to their patient. They trusted the security officer to do her job. And with that, they left, needing to blow off some steam. (edited)

With Hsarr having covered blood loss by triggering the MTP and having started on a hypothermia protocol it meant that things had partially resolved but Hsarr's patient was still out, GCS 3. Even with an increasing body temperature the biobed's monitors started chiming out to alert of different readings instead: with the patient not protecting his airway it left a rapidly declining SpO2, resp rate, and heart rate bradying down once more.

The woman was currently treating another patient for minor injuries before she glanced over at the sound of beeping, before suddenly the biobed sent out it's emergency alert. Quickly she dropped what she was doing, rushing over towards the casualty area from where she was working. The woman looked down at the patient's biobed readings with shock, calling out to the rest of the sickbay as she did so. "We got a code blue! Somebody get a crash cart over here!"

Harper raced over with the crash cart. “Here you are, sir!” She said, skidding to a halt.

"SpO2 levels are declining rapidly, respiration rate is through the floor. He's not breathing right, he's going into respiratory arrest."She said moving the cart over next to the biobed and grabbing the required tools she needed. "We need to get a breathing tube in, should have been done earlier to be honest... But that's not the point. Give me a hand here."

Vialara and her staff fought for ages trying to get Vince stable, but unfortunately the man did not survive. Time of death: right now bitch

14:49

Just kidding, he was totally fine. He eventually regained his normal breathing with assistance and was considered in a stable condition. There was still a lot of work to be done, but the man was not actively dying at the present moment.

After a short while Vialara had to head off to deal with other CMO-based business, so had left Vincent in the capable hands of Petty Officer McTavish. McTavish, only being a nurse, decided to page Lieutenant Kay Sceatta to talk about the situation, which is exactly what he did. "Lieutenant Sceatta from Petty Officer McTavish, when you have a minute I'd appreciate it if you could come to casualty to discuss a patient."

It was while already looking frustrated that the medical officer showed up, the source of her frustration seeming to be that their ACMO had vanished. She had expected to find the Caitian recovering within the medical bay, only to hear reports from some of the nursed that they had tried to go back to work, had a brief altercation, and then left with their partner. Sceatta could completely understand that this must be difficult for them - being attacked by your own mother, having to have your foot amputated due to complications - but that didn't excuse being so reckless... Especially when the patient was a medical officer themselves and therefore knew how this was supposed to go. She had been about to try to hunt Lieutenant M'ow down when she was paged, finding herself detouring through to the emergency department instead. "Nurse McTavish," she stated as she approached, having been pointed in his direction by one of the others milling around the trauma bays, "you called for a consult?"

Having been waiting a short moment for the Lieutenant to arrive, Dillon was currently in the middle of gathering further observations. It was as Kay arrived that he turned to face her with his usual friendly smile. "Lieutenant. Thank you for coming so soon. Commander Dreaxa had to go and attend to other duties so she left me with Mr. Ferrufino. He was found in a failed stasis box with multiple injuries and heavy bleeding. Open wounds to the chest that were actually incisions spelling out a message, open fracture to the radius, a traverse fracture to the left femur, a handful of bruising, and prominent damage to the brain's prefrontal cortex, which, based on the situation and other injuries, suggests something malicious happened to him. He was also on the FedSec missing persons list. He code blue'd a short while ago due to declining Sp02, resp rate, and his heart rate bradying down." The nurse explained, before handing over a PADD containing a list of his current observations, as well as the treatment done thus far.

This must have been the code that Vialara had been running at the same time as herself taking their ACMO into surgery. Your boss almost gets murdered by their own mother and loses a foot - your former colleague gets shipped to the station in a box after being missing for a month. What a day. She took the PADD, giving a brief glance over the details. "I take it that you've asked for my input in regards to the neurological damage? You'd be better off with ortho for the fractures," she then added - put proceeded to go investigating anyway, taking in the details such as the location of bruising and scrapes. "There's definitely no external sign of any head trauma that would cause this much damage specifically to the prefrontal cortex. The bruising down the side of the face suggests some sort of a fight, maybe took a couple of blows to the head, sure... But nothing that would cause precise damage to the prefrontal cortex. That's particular. The bruising to the arms, wrists, and ankles indicate the same sort of thing - a struggle against being restrained, I would say." You could tell that she had been a pathologist once, meticulously detailing things to piece together what had happened. It was while inspecting one of the patient's hands - gently extending out fingers to take note of minor breaks - that she had to spend a moment unlooping some sort of rope or necklace or something which was entwined around his fingers. She had expected it to be evidence, but when she noticed the small, wooden cross at the end she realised it was a rosary: one of those outdated Human things. "CBP, CRP, FBC, coags, tox screen - any indication of anything unusual?"

"I'd agree on the probable struggle against restraints." Came Dillon's response. And as keen to assist as ever the nurse immediately responded with the required information as soon as it was requested. It was his job, after all. "He has a slightly low white blood cell count but nothing out of the ordinary based on what I can see."

"Nothing to account for the neurological damage then. The prefrontal cortex influences cognitive control. Personality, memory, emotional reaction, impulse - that sort of thing. To have damage conducted there so precisely and without visible trauma... It's strange." The medic mused to herself while tugging on a pair of gloves, pacing to the head of the biobed now. She spent a moment again doing a primary survey for any form of evident trauma - once again finding nothing, before plucking a pen torch from the pocket of her scrubs to do a penlight test. As she expected, he wasn't achieving PEARL. She turned back to the PADD again, looking in more detail... Only to halt suddenly, looking back firstly to the patient and then to the nurse. "Black eyes and precise frontal lobe damage. Isn't that indicative of something in Humans?"

Dillon listened along and watched as the medic did her job, his own mind trying to figure out just what was going on with Mr. Ferrufino. It was when questioned that he dug through his mind to try and find an answer. "It tells me something is wrong, but what I can't say. The only thing I can suggest is doing a deeper scan of his cranium to look for anything that could give us a hint as to what could be causing this."

"Are you trying to tell me how to do my job, Nurse McTavish?" She replied, the once-neutral look towards him taking on an unimpressed edge and her tone being one that just screamed no, really? "It was rhetorical. This time of bruising can be caused by a head injury or injury to the eyes due to surrounding torn capillaries. There's nothing wrong either either. There's no visible head injury. Nothing external, nothing to indicate damage to the skull - it's all internal, and that's not possible unless we were dealing with some sort of vital or bacterial infection, but that would have flagged on the tricorder and in bloodwork. It means something: I swear I've read it before. Precisely targeted prefrontal cortex damage, no evidence of external trauma..." Sceatta muttered to herself as she started a search through Medical's database to try to jog her memory, reading through results that didn't match up, and then... "Oh." Another glance down to the patient, with the bruises and fractures typically seen in cases of violence or physical restraint, with the poorly scoring GCS and lack of PEARL, with the writing carved into his own chest, and with the tell-tale bruised black eyes. "Surely... Surely not."

"No, not at all Ma'am. I was just providing a suggestion. I'm not that great with rhetorical questions." Came the nurse's sheepish reply, all while keeping up his friendly smile. As the Lieutenant went through Medical's database and let out the infamous 'oh' that suggested something was wrong Dillon walked over to see what she was reading, only for his brow to furrow once he saw what it might be. "I mean... It does line up, but... Not in this century, right...?"

Shortly after she had left the woman came back out from her office and made her way back over to Vince again. "Sorry about that, Lt. Dagis wanted an update on his condition..." She glanced over at the Lieutenant as she popped over. "Is everything alright? Are you here about the brain damage? I was just away to ask for your opinion, but it seems you're already ahead of me on that front."

"Nurse McTavish called me to consult for you," Kay stated as the CMO walked in, very briefly giving her a nod. For a moment she flipped back on the PADD, worrying over scans - she didn't like what she was seeing and what she was thinking, but it was the only logical explanation that she could consider right now. "Vialara-" she started but then paused briefly to looked to the other Betazoid, brows furrowed in concern. "I think that someone lobotomised him."

Hearing the words actually spoken brought a very uneasy feeling to Dillon's stomach. Who could do such a thing someone in this day and age? Not only was it criminal, it was frankly disgusting. "What... What are we able to do about it? Can we fix that kind of damage?" Came the nurse's uneasy reply, trying his best to well and truly take his mind off... Well, the concept of part of someone's mind being removed.

"I don't know," she replied truthfully, already turning her attention back to the biobed's provisional readings. "I'm going to need more in-depth scans. Keep that neural stimulator on and set it to cellular regeneration. I need to contact some colleagues and see what we can come up with..."

“Yes Ma’am.” Came the nurse’s reply, before immediately carrying out the Lieutenant’s instructions. He quickly changed the settings on Vincent’s bed to start regenerating any damaged or missing braincells. This was horrific, but also what they train for at the end of the day. Well, not this exactly, rather any eventuality.

"That's really not what I wanted to hear today... Nor any day." She said with a sigh. "Not much we can do about it at the moment. I'll update the Commander on the situation. This is a serious issue that needs reported..."

[D] It was on a completely average shift that Quinn was working in casualty, one of the more hectic parts of the Medical Bay. It was very normal for them to find themself working in the different facilities the Medical Bay had to offer as their skillset allowed them to do so, and just because it was good experience for them to get. They always preferred sickbay or GP, mind you, but that didn't mean they didn't like the challenge emergency medicine gave them. Despite casualty usually being the place where drama frequently took place, today hadn't been one of those days. So far there had only been two actual emergencies come in so far this shift, and both were broken bones which were some of the least complicated injuries to repair. As such, the Junior Doctor found themself assigned to stocktaking (read: offered to do it) which they genuinely enjoyed doing while waiting for someone to help. It was as such that they were currently stood relatively near the main entrance going through the contents of a medical cart while typing down information on their PADD, all while wearing their somewhat unofficial medical lab coat they'd gotten from their Secret Santa.

Unlike Quinn who had been able to enjoy a relatively calm day, Niwayiva had found her day to be the opposite. The past few days had been the opposite; travelling to the station, getting checked in, finding quarters, unpacking (half of the decorating was still to be done), learning her way around main points on the station... It had been very hectic but at least she had managed to find her way to the station's medical facilities eventually, having taken a detour to leave her daughter with the crèche facility on board. Half of the time taken to get here had just been trying to find the way -- this starbase was giant, and it was very odd to scroll through turbolift options and find that you could go to somewhere like an environmental ring. On her previous posting the starbase had effectively been just a hospital in space. What made up for the difference, however, was how up to date 777's medical facilities were supposed to be. It was with this in mind (both getting acquainted with the medical bay and investigating the technology) that she had ducked into the first ward that didn't seem to be entirely closed off -- walking into the reception/triage area of an A&E. It was with a few hesitant steps that she walked in, not wanting to intrude... But it seemed to be q-word... And hopefully she wouldn't seem too suspicious, having specifically chosen to wear uniform so she didn't seem like an unauthorised civilian snooping around where they shouldn't be.

It was as the doors to casualty slid open that Quinn's attention immediately turned in that direction, entirely anticipating someone requiring treatment but also aware it could just be someone doing their job. So, it was with a degree of curiosity that they observed the Medical-uniformed Lieutenant as they entered, seeming quite hesitant for some reason. The thing that caught the Junior Doctor's attention more, though, was that they not only didn't recognise who this person was, but that they had also never seen anyone who looked like them before. At least not within the Medical Bay, anyway. it was with a degree of their own hesitance that they stopped their stocktaking and walked over to the Vau N'Akat, switching the application on their PADD to the patient information form in case it was needed. "Can I help you, Lieutenant?" They asked in what was a rather formal and to the point tone, despite in being intended to be fairly neutral. The expression on their face was also quite neutral as they regarded the slightly shorter Medical officer. As they came to a halt well over a metre away from their (unbenounced to them) new colleague they quickly moved to clasped their PADD with both hands in front of them to keep themself from stimming in one way or another by occupying them. It was as they stood there that they also visually checked the newcomer for any injuries, but they seemed completely healthy. Were they here to warn of an incoming patient? No, that's what comms are for. Were they here because they were going to be working here? Possibly. Were they here because they took the wrong door and actually wanted sickbay for a check-up? Perhaps.

The officer would have been quite content to just have a look about by herself (quietly, trying not to disturb people), but it seemed as though she had immediately managed just that. She halted her observation of the entrance to A&E – there wasn’t much to see in this area but she already liked the layout and the colour scheme, it was far less dire than the slightly-scabby station she had been upon previously – when the officer in the background turned and started heading over. “I’m so sorry for disturbing you,” she immediately said as soon as the other officer – Human? She presumed? Although there was never any way of being sure – had walked a little closer. An apologetic smile was offered, and then briefly shifted to one of confusion before she worked it out. How did this person know her rank? Because her rank pips were on her collar, and some people had good eyesight and knew how to pay attention to detail. Duh. “I’m fine, thank you – I hope I didn’t interrupt your work. I was just having a look around. I’m set to start shifts tomorrow, so I thought I ought to explore the layout of your medical bay in advance so I don’t get completely lost on the job.”

As the Lieutenant not only responded to what they said, but apologised for disturbing them, Quinn felt confused more than anything. They hadn't been disturbed, they chose to come over and ask them if they needed any help, so the statement made very little sense to them. That was, until they remembered they'd probably say the same thing if they were in the Lieutenat's position. That position being, well, any social situation, frankly. Hearing the newcomer was indeed fine was a tad bit of a relief to the Junior Doctor, and hearing that they were just having a look around and that they started working tomorrow made everything make sense. They were a new colleague. Okay, a good first impression is needed. Is it needed? Yes, because you don't want bad vibes with someone you might have to work with for the next however long. "Oh, that makes sense." They replied quite simply. Social interaction had never been their strong point so introducing themself wasn't exactly a walk in the park, either. "Um, well, welcome aboard? I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Quinn Rose, a FY1 doctor. And you are Lieutenant...?"

”Niwayiva,” she replied, “general surgery. Although that’s not to say you’ll only ever find me in the OR – I like helping out with everything else, too.” That was one of the things that she was most looking forward to aboard a posting like this. She had already had a brief skim over the names and titles of the other medical staff – she did remember a ‘Quinn’ from it! – to see what positions were filled. On her previous postings there were always specialists aboard from a multitude of fields. On a station like this that wasn’t primarily medically-focussed it meant that there weren’t as many specialists, though. Niwa was well aware that it opened opportunity to learn and contribute beyond your regular field, and was looking forward to it. She had never been one of the ‘I’m going to look down upon you just because I’m a surgeon’ sorts of people after all – everyone else’s work was interesting too. “…Do you do handshakes?” The question was poised with her extending a hand, but only halfway just in case the answer was a no. “I wouldn’t want to not do the usual Human formalities! …Unless you’re not Human, or unless you just don’t like handshakes.”

“Niwayiva…” Quinn echoed once the Lieutenant paused, immediately looking down at their PADD and pulling up the list of medical staff to take a closer look. “Vau N’Akat? Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone of your species before.” They commented as they looked back up, before realising they had left the surgeon entirely hanging when it came to the handshake. Oh good grief. “Oh, oh yes. I mean, not always, but I’m okay with one right now.” They quickly added, before reaching out and gently accepting the gesture. “And I am Human, yes.” It was while responding that the Junior Doctor found themself inadvertently staring directly at Niwayiva, something they rarely did out of social anxiety. But social anything wasn’t their concern right now, because the doctor part of their brain was well and truly studying her appearance. It was only after a good few awkward, silent seconds of holding the handshake and staring without so much as blinking that they suddenly realised exactly what they were doing and immediately let go of her hand, blinked twice, and stepped back out of anxiety, their eye contact failing as they went back to holding their PADD with both hands. “Sorry, I just… You know. Species I’ve never met before, doctor. Your skin is fascinating. I-in a good way, obviously.” They said, letting out a nervous chuckle before sighing. “I’m really messing up my first impression, aren’t I?”

Normally people went looking up her file – and the Vau N’Akat species dossier - after the fact, but it was quite amusing to watch this young doctor do so right now. Well – it wasn’t as if she could see what was on the screen, but she was willing to take a guess based on the comment. She didn’t mind at all. She was used to it! What more could you expect when there were so few of your species found within the Federation? It was rather flattering that people here were usually intrigued instead of just finding some strange unknown species to be odd. There was a moment when Doctor Quinn seemed to have forgotten about the offer of a handshake because they were looking up that file… And when they answered and did go for the handshake, there wasn’t a comment at all from her about it being awkward. Instead, she just offered a warm smile. The staring was a little disconcerting, but she was more than aware that sometimes people didn’t mean it if they were staring – and the opposite was also true when it came to not making eye contact. Different people did different things! “You’re not messing up any first impression at all, and you don’t have to apologise. Curiosity is a good thing! And I hardly blame you: if I was meeting someone of a species I hadn’t heard of before then I would be looking them up, too. It’s nice to know that people are interested, too.”

The immediate genuine-sounding and feeling reassurance from the more senior officer was surprisingly good at calming the part of Quinn’s mind that was panicking about this interaction and having to socialise. Not having their behaviour judged or questioned, and not having made someone else uncomfortable was always reassuring to them, because they knew how awkward things could get depending on the circumstance. Their eye contact returned as Niwayiva said it was nice to know people were interested, albeit only briefly as their eyes drifted towards the woman’s tendrils for a moment. “Yes, well, I think you’ll probably get a lot of that for a while. Everyone I’ve met in Medical are friendly people, even if some are less sociable than others, and generally speaking I believe people would simply be quite interested in meeting you. I know I for one am going to do research on your species once I’m off duty. The last thing I would want is for something to happen and for myself to not understand someone’s anatomy well enough to assist them.” They said with a slight, genuine chuckle, as their eyes idly wandered for a moment or two. “If I may ask, why did you decide to join Starfleet? What was your reason? I like knowing what someone’s reason was because it usually tells me a lot about them as a person. Mine was a hyperfixation on medical practices and medicine as a whole triggered by a fatal shuttle crash in my home town when I was a child.” The Junior Doctor explained in about the most nonchalant and casual tone possible when talking about such a thing, seeming completely unfazed by the subject matter.

”Talking about something happening would mean it would have to happen to me,” she mused with a chuckle. Either herself or her daughter, spoke a thought in the back of her mind; one that always worried for Keazayi’s safety. She had been fortunate to be one of those lucky children who had only encountered scrapes and bruises so far; no broken bones or infections to be seen. Niwa really didn’t look forward to the day that something inevitably happened. “But I do appreciate the sentiment – it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?” With the reception/triage area being abandoned just now other than from themselves, she gestured to the closest set of chairs so the two of them could sit down and talk instead of standing and just… Lingering. Quinn’s question was answered as she moved. “I had been through medical school before I joined Starfleet, doing things a bit backwards compared to most, so studying medicine wasn’t really an influence. My homeworld – Solum, in the Delta Quadrant – is… Very politically charged over whether they should join the Federation or not. I was pro-Federation, things were escalating, family got involved… And so I took the leap and left for Starfleet. Since the first contact happened I had always been fascinated by the idea of other species and how different they could be, so that was certainly a driving factor.” There was a pause for a moment and she looked to Quinn, brow furrowing. “I’m sorry to hear about the shuttle crash that happened. That can’t have been easy to process if you were young at the time.”

Quinn gave a nod in response to said something happening to Niwayiva. Learning about a new species to them meant needing to know how to help them, and having someone new on this starbase meant they especially wanted to know how to help should something go wrong. And as much as they shouldn’t be biased towards their colleagues, they especially wanted to help them, and she was now one of them. Another nod was given when the woman said the sentiment was appreciated, agreeing with the concept of being safer than sorry. They always want to be prepared in case anything was to happen, and knowing Starfleet and this starbase… It was entirely possible. As the Vau N’Akat moved to take a seat the Junior Doctor took a second to realise they were supposed to follow, but quickly did so and sat down as she spoke. Part of them said they were meant to be working, but the other part was grateful to not be standing for a moment, and knew the importance of good relationships with colleagues. x_divider

00:10

More occasional nodding in response occurred as Niwayiva told her reason for joining the fleet. Already medically trained, political tensions on home world, was pro-Federation (makes sense), things went south, family got involved, left to join Starfleet. The more Quinn listened the more they both felt bad and happy for the surgeon. Bad that she had to leave her home world, but happy that she was able to find a home amongst the other species she had been so fascinated by. “Oh, it’s fine. I was saddened that I couldn’t help, but I was a child and it would’ve been too traumatising and dangerous. I’m glad you were able to find a life in the Federation, though.” They said with a slight hint of a smile. “I can’t really imagine suddenly learning that there are so many other species out there, but I think I would’ve been fascinated as well.” They continued, their hint of a smile slowly growing. “I went to school with a rather diverse crowd so I grew up surrounded by lots of different species. Of course, going to the Academy was an entirely different kettle of fish. There were far more species there than I had ever seen in person before. It was quite exciting, aside from my anxiety.” They added with a slight chuckle.

It was nice to see that the Junior Doctor could talk about the shuttlecraft accident with such wisdom. Niwa wondered if it was one of the things that they had thought about over the years, learning to process it differently as time went on and they matured. It was easy to see how such a major incident and being so close to that would have steered them towards Starfleet. Despite the tragedy of it happening in the first place at least there was an upside: it had led Quinn to be here. Niwayiva was the sort of person who often wondered where she would have ended up if certain events had gone differently, and she wondered that for other people, too. “I was only what, eight? When the Federation made first contact with us. Our people had always believed that we were the only ones in the universe, so the idea of other species was just science fiction to us – like it’s been for a lot of species, but usually you have the idea that there are others out there. We were the opposite. People didn’t know how to handle it and everything got very political. It wasn’t until years on in school that we got to learn about those other species instead of them being kept vague, and even that wasn’t in normal classes. It was one of those elective sort of subjects that you had to opt into, and I remember that some hard-line political schools wouldn’t teach it at all. When I made it to the Beta Quadrant and then eventually the Technical Academy, it was astonishing.” She gave a light laugh and shuffled back in her chair a little, crossing one leg over the other. “If going to the Academy was a different fishing kettle for you – presuming you’re from Earth, you might not be! – then you can probably imagine just how wild it was for me.”

Hearing Niwayiva talk about when first contact happened, and how she had only learnt about other species because she elected to do so in a school that was willing to teach about them was quite simply fascinating to Quinn, and so was the fact the Technical Academy to her was astonishing. As far back as they remembered they had only ever met people completely familiar with the concept of so many different species, so to hear a different experience was in some ways quite refreshing. The whole concept of being so new to it all was fascinating to them. At the mention of the Academy being a different 'fishing kettle' to them the Junior Doctor couldn't help but have a slightly amused expression appear on their face, but it was certainly not one of bad intent. "I am from Earth, yes. Buckinghamshire in England if I want to be precise, which I do." They replied with a slight chuckle. Despite this counting as a social interaction as far as they were concerned, for some reason Quinn didn't actually feel very socially anxious. They assumed it was because this was a work environment and not a social gathering, but at the same time some part of them already felt more comfortable being themself around the Lieutenant. Perhaps it was simply because she had already reassured them once and reaffirmed their behaviour as natural curiosity. "But yes, I can imagine how wild it was for you. I never expected to meet someone who had such a new and fresh experience with the concept of there being other species, yet now I have. Your experience reminds me of when I learnt about our first contact in school, with Humans having to get used to there not just being Vulcans, but all sorts of other species out there." They said simply, tone to the point yet light. "In a way I could compare me meeting you to first contact." They added in an attempted half-joking half-serious tone.

The clarification of 'Buckinghamshire, England' didn't mean much to her unfortunately, but the comment on precision and wanting to be precise was precious. Niwa was one of likely few Starfleet officers who had actually never set foot on Earth, or even sat in orbit around it on a ship stopping over at Earth Spacedock. The USS Sinoussi had never stopped over there in her time aboard; they had stopped at a multitude of other starbases but never ESD. When it came to shore leave most officers went home to visit family, but that had never been an option for her. She had gone back to Mars once to attend a retirement party for one of the lecturers who she had been fond of at the Technical Academy, and here and there she had visited randomly-selected planets... But somehow, she had never ended up on Earth. A couple of times she had considered it but opted to wait: when Keazayi was older then they'd go together, so she could enjoy it too. "I suppose you could class meeting anyone for the first time as a sort of first contact," she replied, taking the statement as a legitimate comment despite the half-joking tone. "It's not like every person out there are all the same; their personality isn't defined by their species. So when you're meeting someone, you have no idea what they'd be like... So it's daunting, and maybe a little awkward, but hopefully exciting - just like a first contact." She smiled at that and gave a little shrug, having followed on with the comment that was semi-serious but really, made sense. "I hope that speaking to me wasn't too daunting. I don't think I look particularly dangerous or anything-" she really didn't, soft-featured and smiley, "-but in hindsight I probably should have called ahead first or something to give whoever was at reception a heads up. Well, I was just going to look around myself so that wouldn't have mattered, but... Maybe I wouldn't have accidentally pulled you away from your work!"

The more Niwayiva talked about it and the more Quinn thought about it the more they realised she was right. Every single first meeting with someone was technically first contact, albeit not quite as serious as making contact with a new species for the first time. You never knew what to expect, and from their experience it was always very alien whenever they met someone new. A nod was given in response having decided that she was every right in what she said. It was quite philosophical if you thought about it, and oh boy was the Junior Doctor thinking about it. It was only as the Vau N'Akat carried on speaking that their mind refocused on what was being said instead of what they were somewhat idly thinking about, and a rather rehearsed look of reassurance was given when the Lieutenant said she hoped speaking to her wasn't too daunting. x_divider