Star Trek: Starbase 777

[D] Lente had been summoned to the biomedical lab for an appointment with Lieutenant Lhi erh'fvi, who wanted to get a prosthetic fitted. She'd promised Lhi that she was more than happy to help him with creating a prosthetic ear, and she meant it. And when he'd asked her if she could look at some of his implants, well, she absolutely couldn't resist. She couldn't help that she found everything so interesting! She had her entire kit with her, with her medical instruments, her usual gear, and even a holographic imager in order to be able to simulate prosthetics with accurate dimensions down to the micrometre; while usually she dealt more with the mechanical side of prosthetics, she wasn't a stranger to cosmetic prosthetics; a good prosthetic was usually both, after all. She hoped she'd be able to design something satisfactory for Lhi, or at the very least get all the data necessary for more experienced medical officers to design something. But, Lhi had already said he wasn't looking for a new, working ear, so she was pretty sure she could figure it out. Maybe she could even get some questions answered about what it was like to have been Borg! She didn't want to come across as insensitive, but it was really relevant to her work, and any information she could get from a first hand source would be invaluable compared to the several studies she found by researchers who had never been assimilated.

[D] Off to the lab, Lhi had a PADD in hand and his hair neatly tied into his iconic left side braid. He also brought extra clips and hair ties in case they would need to tie his hair back in a different style to fit the prosthetic. He was both excited and nervous for the process of getting a second ear. It probably wouldn't be functioning, which was fine, he just wanted something that looked nice. Lhi stepped into the lab and looked around to realise he had no idea what Lente looked like. In fact he knew nothing about her other than her name and job. Lhi couldn't even look for her by uniform because everyone was medical here. Lhi was easy to spot though, a purple haired liberated Borg who was very tall. Average height for his species, standing at around two meters, but much taller than the average of most other humanoids. He walked slowly through the lab, pretending he knew where he was going. He had a look on his face akin to a lost puppy dog.

Lente kept an eye out for her patient, excited to get to work. She didn't usually get to design a prosthesis all by herself, so she was ready to jump at the opportunity! When she saw a tall vulcanoid with Borg implants and, crucially, only one ear, enter the lab, she waved at him from the desk she'd claimed for herself. The yellow of her engineering uniform stood out, even if her height wasn't exactly impressive. "Lhi, right?" she greeted him as soon as he was in hearing range. "It's very nice to meet you! Please, have a seat! I'm Lente Summer, we talked a bit in the chatroom before." She cut herself off before she started rambling in her excitement, wanting to give the other a chance to introduce himself, get comfortable, maybe ask some questions. They had a lot to do, but honestly, Lente didn't even care. She wanted this to go well, and if that meant she'd be in here beyond the end of her shift, then that was too bad. Maybe she'd ask Allan if she could get some extra time off at some point... as if she didn't spend a large part of her free time working for fun, too. Whoops.

Lhi caught sight of the person waving at him and quickly went to greet them. There she was, the one yellow amongst all the blue! It was better than the Republic though with everyone wearing the same mustard yellow uniform. Lhi, walked slowly towards Lente, bouncing a little with each step. "Yes! Lhi! Six of Nine," Lhi said with a soft smile, as much as his implants would allow him to smile that is. The metal pulled at his skin making expressions and the like difficult. He bounced over to the seat and plopped down, excited for his new ear! "It is nice to meet you! I have some photos of myself when I had two ears to show you what it looked like and you can look at my current ear. I brought hair ties and pins to pull my hair back too," Lhi reached into his pocket to pull out the items he brought and place them on the desk. Then he took out his PADD to show Lente some photos. They were of Lhi when he was a young teenager and he looked completely different. His skin was a rich light brown colour and his eyes a light green similar to his current eyes. He had two pointed ears and very long black silky hair that went past his waist. He had two full and very fluffy eyebrows and a short fringe to show off his smooth forehead. The only similarity between past and current Lhi was the mole that sat to the left of his fox-like curled lips. "I know you can't match it perfectly but.. I would like an ear that looks sorta like this," He pointed to his right ear in the photo. Most notably it was curled upwards like most Vulcanoid ears were, whereas his remaining left ear was heavily scarred and pointed outwards due to lack of cartilage holding it up.

Lente studied the photos thoroughly, wanting to commit them to memory. She noticed how differently Lhi looked to the pictures, though she could pick out the similarities... did assimilation change that much about them? She felt it would be too rude to ask; she had some manners, okay? "I think that should be very doable," she said, taking a look at Lhi's remaining ear. The two ears wouldn't match, although the cosmetic surgery to "fix" the issue was trivially easy and could probably be performed in a matter of minutes. Still, that was something for Lhi to decide, and probably not something he'd appreciate her pointing out to him. "Would you mind sending those to me? So that I can use them when modelling the prosthetic," she clarified, perhaps unnecessarily. "And, uh, yeah, if you could pull your hair back, then I can start taking some measurements." That was mostly code for "I'll let the holo-imager scan the side of your head really quickly", but the hair had to be out of the way all the same.

Lhi was fully aware of how different he looked pre-assimilation and it made him sad if he thought about it too much, but hopefully with a new ear he would feel more like 'himself' than before. No one had ever said anything about his missing ear, doctors and colleagues were understanding that not everyone had to look the same. It was a large galaxy, IDIC after all, but Lhi noticed and it didn't match his vision for himself, which was why he was here. "Yes, of course!" Lhi clicked some buttons on his PADD to send the pictures to Lente. His PADD was a little noisier than other models, it was a slightly modified version that gave him more auditory and tactile feedback because Lhi was technically blind. He had his ocular implants that allowed him to 'see' but he didn't just want to rely on those. When asked to pull his hair back, Lhi carefully collected his long hair behind his 'ears' and tied it with a hair tie. This process was slow and careful since Lhi's left hand was covered by an implant and thus he had less dexterity with that hand. Once his hair was pulled back, both sides of his head were visible. His left side was just as one would expect, with some scarring and of course his ear that had a triangular bit missing from it. The right side was without an ear, but a circular implant instead that had a cable running out from the bottom of it that connected down to his right shoulder blade. Lhi had attempted to tuck the cable into his collar so it wouldn't hand so loose. "My implant helps me hear, but it can be covered by the prosthetic, I'll still be able to hear. And I don't know what to do about the cable, it powers my spinal cord so it needs to stay. Maybe if there's some better cable management you can offer, I don't like how the cable is so long, i get worried it may get caught on something."

Lente waited patiently for Lhi to tie his hair back, getting her imager in order so she'd be able to take pictures. She listened to what Lhi was saying, hoping to pick up on any details that would help her help him; that's why she was here, after all. She knew Borg implants were made to be functional, and efficient, and so it shocked her that they seemed to limit Lhi so much, but, she supposed some drones didn't need full dexterity in the outer extremities, or to wear uniforms. "Obviously every engineer is trained extensively in cable management," she joked lightheartedly, thinking of ways to mitigate the problem of the cable. Outside of using a choker of some kind to attach the wire closely to his neck right now, would it be possible to embed the cable below the skin? Or even better, attach an independent power source to his spine? Could they figure one out that would be charged when Lhi was using his alcove- did Lhi still use an alcove? Probably, right, if he still had all of these Borg implants... What an interesting conundrum. She was absolutely going to spend a while thinking about it. "I'll take some images of your entire head if that's alright, so I can model a prosthetic that suits your face and skin tone well, and that fits right. Afterwards I'll have a look at the cable, see what I can do for you right now. I could probably come up with a long term solution if you gave me a few weeks," she said, looking right at Lhi as she spoke, so it was clear her full attention was on him again.

Lhi listened to Lente's instructions carefully as he finished tying off his hair so it was completely out of the way. The cool air of the lab felt weird against the bare sides of his face, but it would only be for a minute or two. Also with both sides of his head exposed, he could hear sounds a little more clearly, not that the lab was particularly loud though. It's just all the soft beeps and boops rang clear as crystal in his unobstructed organic ear. "If I could see the cable I think I could manage it better," Lhi opened his mouth to laugh at Lente's joke, but no sound came out so he closed his mouth and just smiled. Maybe she could look at his vocal processor too? There were a million and one things Lhi wanted to 'fix', but he was too nervous to ask when they weren't life saving. He took a soft breath and sat perfectly still facing forward so that Lente could take some scans of his head. In the process of pulling his hair back he had also pulled out his cable which now hung down his shoulder. It was pretty long, almost as long as his hair was which was why it was always getting tangled inside his hair.

It didn't take long for Lente to get a complete scan of Lhi's head, and, watching what she had, she should be able to model something pretty accurate to Lhi's original ear. She didn't even notice that Lhi didn't end up laughing at her joke, as she was too busy making sure she had everything she needed. "I mean, mirrors exist, but I always mess up when I have to coordinate my movements in mirror image. So I get it." As she responded, she looked at the cable specifically. It really was rather long... why was it that way? Even if to grant full mobility to his head, the cable didn't need to be this long. Maybe the slack allowed for less tension in case it did get caught on something? But then it almost became a self-fulfilling prophesy, where the cord is too long so it would get tangled anyway. Just getting rid of it altogether would be the simplest option, but also the most difficult. What if things went wrong? Plus she'd need so many scans and details about any and all affected implants. Not to mention a surgeon who trusted her enough to go along with it. "I mean. I'd almost suggest wearing a choker so the cord is tucked against your neck, but that's not a very good long-term solution..." she said, still thinking.

"It is very difficult and to be honest I don't like looking at mirrors too long, I get sad," Lhi said in a much too casual tone for what he was talking about. He had long come to terms with his different appearance, which was why he was here getting a new ear. He listened to what Lente said about his cord and sighed. He had a feeling she would say as much. The doctors that he had consulted in the Flotilla told him the same. It needed to be fixed, but it also would be quite the undertaking. There were many parts involved than just a simple cable. "Yeah, I know it will take a while. It gets in the way when I try to lay down. I regenerate standing up, but sometimes I would like to just lay down on a bed or something," It didn't come up often, but sometimes Lhi did want to just recline. He saw how comfortable people were laying in their beds or just lounging on the sofa. "I think I'll try the choker and for now we can just do the ear. Also my eyes, please scan my eyes so I can send the details to my father, he recently lost his eyes and wants to get new ones made," Lhi said, yet again like that was a normal everyday thing. He failed to mention that his father was born blind and had always used cybernetic implants to see.

"Of course I can scan your eyes for you, let me grab my tricorder." Personal, modified tricorder that just sends the information to your personal PADD for the win. Lente did as she said, and grabbed her tricorder, getting the dimensions and the inner workings of the eye so she'd be able to reverse-engineer any blueprints if necessary. "I'll clean up the scans before I send them to you, so you'll have them within a few days." Lente didn't really catch any of the weird remarks. Honestly, she didn't mind too much about Lhi's self-deprecating comments, as she figured anyone was in their right to think whatever they wanted to think about their own face. And, well, she was a biomedical engineer. Lhi's father was not the first person who'd lost their eyes and urgently needed new ones that she'd heard of in her time, and he certainly wouldn't be the last. "I can scan your spine for you as well, if you'd like. That way I can do some preliminary work in figuring out a long-term solution for you, and if you're ready for it, we can revisit it," she offered easily, trying not to show Lhi how excited she was to sink her teeth into a complicated project. Other people's bodies weren't supposed to be projects.

"Thank you! I hope my dad can get new eyes soon!" Lhi was looking forward to hearing more about his dad's Mol'Rihan roadtrip once he got his new eyes. As Lente scanned his eyes he stayed as still as possible. Lhi actually did blink, but slowly and not as frequently as someone who had organic eyes would and holding his eyes open for a couple seconds was no problem for him. "That would be good too! Please scan my spine!" Lhi was already sitting up straight, but he readjusted his position in the chair and sat forward as if that would help the engineer get a better look at his spine. It was half organic, half implants, although his Borg parts were responsible for carrying signals throughout so taking them out would mean rewiring his spine somehow. "If I do need surgery.. would you be there too, Lente? I get nervous about it, mostly because I have so many parts," Lhi admitted, thinking deeply about consenting to surgery to get some implants removed or optimised. He wasn't looking to try and look as he did before assimilation, but having fewer implants would mean more flexibility with his movements and maybe he could even try to lay down in a bed for longer than an hour.

Lente worked efficiently as she got all the information she could from her tricorder. Getting both the mechanical and biological information at the same time helped tremendously, and as she watched the information slide across the small screen of the tricorder, she could almost visualise how Lhi's spine must work. Almost. The details she was missing would surely be found somewhere in the stream of information she was receiving to her PADD, and she'd be able to start thinking of ways to power his spine without the annoying cord. She hoped to change as little as possible about the construction; when Borg tech wasn't deeply invasive and horrible to deal with, it was durable and highly optimised. Improving upon that would be difficult at best. "Yes, most likely," she answered honestly, "since I'd be in charge of making sure all involved implants still work." When her scans finished processing and she'd learned everything she could, she put her tricorder away and came to stand in front of Lhi. "Nothing will be done before the both of us feel confident about it, sir. If you're not sure, I'm not willing to do it, and if I'm not sure, I'm not taking the risk with someone else's body like that." Hell, if she needed to, she'd get a degree in medicine to be there for Lhi. He was placing so much trust in her, and she wanted to do right by him.

Lhi thought he'd be more nervous during the scans, but actually the little beeps and buzzes from the engineer's devices were surprisingly calming. It was like some scannig asmr! It reminded him a little of when he would search up 'borg sphere asmr' or when he would just turn his alcove on even if he wasn't regenerating. The latter was discouraged though as it wasted a lot of power. "That makes me feel better! I am looking forward to laying down in a bed," Lhi relaxed a little now that scans were done. Unfortunately he couldn't slump his posture too much, his very efficient spine made it difficult to have bad posture. "I... Oh can I bother you for one more thing? My voice. I can't laugh or scream very loudly. I want to be able to laugh, I think that can be done easily with replacing my vocal processor?" Being Borg'd for ten years, Lhi had acquired quite a number of implants and it was often difficult to keep track of them. He knew his spine was gonna take a while, but surely his voice would be an easy fix.

Lente nodded, and quickly scanned Lhi's throat as well to be able to see what the vocal processor looked like. She didn't know much about that, to be honest; she could make exoskeletons that copied the function of a spine, and she was used enough to creating prostheses for people, but a vocal processor was a little outside of her wheelhouse. But, the least she could do was ask her android boss about it, see if he had any solid ideas. At least, she assumed he'd have a vocal processor, right? Something like it at least.... Better to see this as a learning opportunity, maybe. "I think that's everything, sir," she told Lhi, starting to pack up her things. "I'll have those scans and blueprints of your eyes sent to you in a few days, and I'll message you when your prosthetic is done so we can schedule a fitting. For your spine and your vocal processor, I'll see what I can do, but it might take a little longer." Lente was excited to take on this project. It'd been a while since she really had any official projects to sink her teeth into, aside from the stuff she did in her free time, and she had a feeling this would go well. Plus, the added bonus of seeing the people you're helping immediately perk up was always nice. She was confident she could make Lhi happy with her work.

They were looking for a part of the inventory that they had just requested, checking that the entire order was in order, totally focused on the activity and without seeing anything else.

It was early into Nate's shift and to count the days, it had only been a day or two since he started his posting here. Reasonably, Nate had not yet known the people inside the station. However, he had been lucky to be handled by a Petty Officer named Stevenson in regards to his quarters assignment. Anyways, in today’s shift, he was handling a few substances due for reevaluation tests. But before that, he had to let it be checked by a member of the medical division, due to the substances’ contents. Since Medical was located on the same module, it was a short walk from his lab. Nate donned his service uniform as he should during a shift, and when he got to Medical, he was a stark contrast to the people working there. The uniform worn by the medical personnel were white while his was the regular colour, the only resemblance of the two were the shoulder and insignias. When he arrived at the Medical Lab, he greeted one of the nurses and asked which station could help with his situation and was directed to go further in. That instruction made him stand by a workstation with Eli, though he yet to recognize the person was the same one from the Cafe the other day. “Excuse me, could I have a moment?” The Lieutenant uttered calmly to the person who was engrossed with his post

They heard the voice, they looked towards the man, they recognized him at the moment and looked closely at the uniform and rank quickly´´Of course´´ They responded and moved giving space for Nate ´´It's nice see you again, sir´´ They spoke in a formal tone, after all they were on duty

He had been in his rank for a good few years now and had been accustomed to people that were not close to him calling him ‘sir’. But this time it was a little different, Nate recognized the person almost immediately once the person faced him and expressed what they said. “You look good in your uniform, Ensign,” the Scientist replied without hesitation. While he introduced himself as Nate back in the Cafe, the both of them were off-duty. Now that they both were in uniform, Nate had to show discipline, getting them to call you by name instead of rank was not a good practice in the long run and vice versa for Nate to those still holding the rank below his. He might not like it, but that was one of the ethos in his view. “I need your help checking over these substances under category A and B,” Nate said, “I have to check in with medical whether or not those formulas are going to fuse together or outright repel one another,” Nate continued, “do you think you’re up for it, Ensign?” Nate said, reaching out to give Eli a PADD with a slight grin on his face, seeing it as a slight challenge for the new nurse. It should be an easy thing to do.

They took the padd with a soft smile and nodded ´´I'm capable of doing it sir´´ they start reading the data and seeing the substances, use the station equipment carefully ´´You look good in uniform too'' They said without looking at Nate, nor neglecting their work ´´it seems like the substances are going to fuse´´ They said after a moment, concentrated Hands the padd to Nate with the new information ´´Do you need anything else sir?´´

Nate took a mental note on how Eli work. Nate, in a sense, was in a place between a junior officer and senior officer. There were many times where he was out in charge of ensigns and cadets, to supervise them, guide them and evaluate them. Right now it might not be within Nate's job description to do such a thing nor was it within his division, but it was just a habit of him by now, especially when they were in a lab and uniform. The Ensign's work proved to be rather quick, it was efficient for a newcomer to the commissioned outfit. Their input on it could be a little detailed as to how the substances would fuse but he reminded himself it was not within his rights to overstep the Ensign's supervisor, whomever they were. Nate reached out to take the PADD from the Ensign, glancing over the numbers on the screen, catching the logged 'Approved by: Ensign Eli Varis' line right by the bottom of the screen. It all seemed to check out, but it took almost a minute for the Chemist to double check the numbers, and for that long he did not answer the Ensign. At last, Nate looked up and asked a seemingly out of the immediate topic, "Did you perhaps take a few courses in Chemical Studies when you're in the Academy, Mr. Varis?"

They nodded slowly ´´Yes a few, my brother taught me a little too.´´ They said calmer now that the work is not in their hands ´´He's a scientist´´ They said with a smile. Eli saw Nate, not knowing if the has to do anything else, their sister has told them a few times that superiors are always testing others, that for a good impression you have to do what they tell you and a little more. ..but her other sister said that if you do more than they asked, they will just put in more work and not thank you. Nate doesn't seem like the type who would do that but they prefer not to take risks, appearances can be deceiving.

Their answer aligned with what Nate roughly thought. But, hearing the word scientist uttered by Eli, Nate suddenly had the urge to ask the person, "Is your brother also part of Starfleet?" By chance if he was, Nate was thinking that they could be around when he was attending the Academy. If that was the case, he was rather certain that he might at least recognise the name. But if the opposite was true or he came in a little after Nate, there still could be a chance that Nate still recognise the name when they were in their late cadet years. Although, the latter was a little too optimistic. All of this was a little too out of context from work. However, it was still quite early within a shift, so a little light chat would not disrupt the day. It was not like they were part of Operations dealing with the in and outs of the Starbase or Security with their policing work. Granted, Eli was a nurse. But if they were in dire need of the person, then they would be in medbay and not the lab doing numbers.

They denied with a smile ´´I am the first in my family in the fleet sir´´ Eli said it proudly and looked towards the station. ´´My brother was not interested in the fleet, none of my siblings are´´

Nate could not hide their surprised face, but it quickly turned into that of a confusion. However it was quickly hidden by Nate, remembering the fact that his parents would dismiss the idea of joining Starfleet. Of course it backfired on them when their children all joined straight out of high school. So to him, what Eli was saying, Nate could relate in a way, even if it was only by a little. "I see... That's unfortunate..." Nate replied, clearly showing a genuine disappointment, but then he followed up with a much brighter tone, "I know we're on duty but I can't help but to ask, what made you join Starfleet then?" a brief pause before he added, "If you don't mind me asking."

´´I don´t mind´´ They sighed and smiled, looking at Nate ´´My family wouldn't exist in a universe without Starfleet, in a way it saved us all´´ They looked at their console ´´It's not unfortunate, we all achieved what we wanted , that's a lucky thing´´

"I suppose that it true..." Nate replied with a lowered tone, his eyes caught the screen of his PADD which he held in his hand. His thought drifted to why he joined Starfleet in the first place, what the Ensign said was one of the many things that drove him forward back in the day. Nate could argue Starfleet was not always the brightest, but it was a platform which the brightest tend to shine from. And with that, Nate did not want to press it any further with Ensign Varis, it was not the appropriate time nor the place to do so. With that he ended the topic in regards to it with; "The numbers all checked out," Nate uttered with a slight smile across his face, waving lightly the PADD he held as if telling it was about the substances earlier. "I shouldn't take more of your time here... we should hang out more often, Mr. Varis, share ideas and whatnot," Nate chuckles, readying himself to leave but waited for the person to answer him.

They nodded with a smile, their work was satisfactory and that was always good, plus it seems that it made a good impression on Nate ´´It's no problem, I am here to help´´ They looked at Nate for the last time ´´I would like to hang out more often´´

The scientist nodded with a hopeful attitude in return. Nate came here expecting he had to do adjustments to the numbers in his experiments later on the day. But, unexpectedly, he got something that was enough for him to go through the day without any of those double work. He expected that was a little far from him being pessimistic, it was more to him being understanding to someone as new as a freshly graduated ensign as they had much to learn. Heck, even Nate himself thought he still had much to learn despite his years of service. "That's the spirit!" Nate enthusiastically said with a wide smile on his face, he then waved the PADD lightly, "I'll go now, let's see whether what you said is true." He said the latter half in regards to their statement that the substances would fuse instead of separate. It was something to plant the seed of doubt to a person, if they were certain of their answer then there wouldn't be any issues. If the opposite was true then it would make them question themselves. It was good practice for their decisiveness, in Nate's opinion. With that last line, Nate bid Varis, "See you soon, Mr. Varis," with a nod as he walked away, seemingly without waiting for the person's reply. Heading for the exit, with his own lab set as destination in his mind.

´´See you soon, sir´´ Said with a smile watching the man leave After finishing their work in the area they returns to the medical bay to continue their work