[Sickbay]: Round Eight Scans and Vaccines

[ten_fwd_npcs]

O-kay, so things have been a little ... odd on the ship. Some people have been acting rather out of character, ducking their duties for romantic escapades or complaining that their good friends aren't quite themselves. Romance may be in the air, but the CMO has other ideas. Like maybe an alien pest who likes to play tricks on people. Her sickbay hasn't gone unaffected, but luckily the strange effects are beginning to wear off and people are returning to work. Still, she's prepared to treat anything. Just please assure her you were safe and responsible if you, uh, made a special friend.

If this is your first trip to Sickbay, you may be surprised to see that it's a fairly ordinary-looking hospital. There are no terrifying devices or humming machines you might see in a sci-fi thriller. The biobeds along the walls are equipped with biofunction monitors, but look fairly standard. Instead of silver trays filled with metal tools and sawblades, there are an array of small devices that look as harmless as cell phones. As for the staff, they're all well-groomed and friendly. As a matter of fact, all personnel look harmless. Well, relatively harmless.

If you're new to the ship, no doubt you've been escorted here by the security team. Nothing to worry about, the doctors just want to make sure you aren't carrying any viruses or are vulnerable to terrible space disease. Once you've been checked over — a quick scan from a tricorder and any necessary vaccines — you'll be free to go. Lollipops are optional.

"All right, step on in," one of them calls out as you enter. "Don't be afraid. It's just a scan and a hypospray, nothing to worry about."


[ooc: Sickbay is, as always, OTA! For new characters: tagging isn't mandatory but IC going to sickbay is. If you'd prefer to skip threading with one of our doctors, you can handwave that your character got a clean bill of health and a shot and were sent on their merry way. For those who are tagging: if you have a preference which doctor sees your character, please specify in the subject line of your tag who you would like (Beverly Crusher, Julian Bashir, Sam Wilson, Mack Gerhardt, and Merlin are definitely on deck, with possible appearances by others). There is a post up in the OOC comm with more details if you have any questions.]

Comments

[captainproton]

"Late 2377--but I haven't heard any news since 2371. Are you at all familiar with the USS Voyager? You might say we're on a deep space assignment. So I'm a little desperate for some gossip. I'll take anything. Sightings of a three-headed targ on Kronos? Vulcan's develop cure for laughter?"

Tom tilted his neck so Julian could get better access to it for the hypo when he was finished loading.

"But I just want to get this straight right off the bat though, alright? You are full in sickbay. The Enterprise has a full medical staff? You don't need me. Right? Right?" Tom fidgeted, praying he wasn't in hell. Would Captain Janeway expect him to use this opportunity to brush up and learn more medicine? Did he have too? Or could he just sit back and play on the holodeck with B'Elanna?

[asklepian]

"I know, yes. Voyager left from Deep Space 9, where I'm the Chief Medical Officer--or will be, in a few years." He wasn't sure you knew that--there wouldn't be much reason for you to. "We were the base for the search missions in the Badlands, being the closest Starfleet presence."

Not that DS9 was a Starfleet station, persay. But it wasn't as if there were many other places a search mission...or a salvage one...could be based from. Luckily, they'd gotten confirmation that Voyager had survived whatever happened to make it disappear from the Badlands without a trace, but it had only been recent--and they'd been in the thick of the Dominion War.

"I'm afraid I don't have much light-hearted to report," Julian quips, sounding...forcedly chipper.

"We don't need you. We're rather tripping over each other in here."

[captainproton]

"Yeah, our Doctor said something about a war. I'm kind of glad we're missing it. I should probably explain that. Our doctor's holographic, the original Doctor and a lot of the original crew died when our ship was....taken. We found a way to briefly communicate with Starfleet and sent him over. I'm afraid I don't know much else." But he had to ask, for B'Elanna's sake.

"Are all the Maquis really dead?" The last thing he wanted was to give his wife hope after she'd come to a sort of acceptance, but this guy lived it. He was right in the thick of it.

"Also I'm incredibly thankful you guys don't need me. On Voyager apparently those 2 semesters of biochemistry I took makes me a medic. Lucky me."

[asklepian]

There's no one in close proximity wearing a Starfleet uniform, so Julian doesn't hush him. Not that one of the Dominion's top diplomats wasn't on the ship already, and he had already reported to Picard that Weyoun was, at least at one point, an enemy of the Federation and his access to information about Starfleet should be restricted as much as possible.

Everything was terribly complicated.

Julian looks...conflicted at the mention of the Maquis. As an officer on the Defiant, he'd been in skirmishes with them since before the war even started. But they'd been defending their homes, and he couldn't fault them for that, not really. Even if their methods had been excessive.

"Not all of them." But the majority of them--and the organization as an idea--was gone. "But enough. Between the Cardassians and the Dominion...it was a rout."

Julian knew that they'd reestablished communication, briefly, with Voyager. And really, he couldn't say anything that Tom wouldn't be able to find out eventually.

[captainproton]

Tom took a deep breath mourning for comrades he didn't know, and comrades his wife did. "Listen, my wife's going to be checked out soon, you can't miss her. Starfleet uniform, half-klingon, chip on her shoulder the size of Texas. Just, don't mention the Maquis. Or the war, if you could. I don't want to keep things from her, but, she doesn't need to hear it again. It didn't exactly go well the first time she found out. Oh. And she's pregnant, so you might want to watch out for Klingon-esque mood swings."

Now that was all out of the way, Tom leaned forward so Julian could complete his exam and give him his hypos. Even if it was a bit redundant.

"I assume you've heard what happened on the Exeter," Tom asked, unsure. And the whole convicted of treason thing, because that wasn't awkward at all. If Julian had heard, well, experience had taught him he probably wouldn't be talking to him right now.

[asklepian]

"Would she even think to ask me?" Julian tilts his head, questioning, as he finishes up with the round of hyposprays and taps a few keys on the screen of the tricorder to log the scan. Obviously Tom did, but they were at least somewhat familiar with each other. His wife wouldn't know him from any other Starfleet lieutenant.

"I heard, yes, but I'm not about to make any snap judgements on your character." Julian shrugs--he and Tom had never been particularly close at the Academy, despite their acquaintance--little more than passing, but friendly enough. And honestly, if there's anyone completely unqualified to make a judgement call on legal or illegal activities as pertains to one's person and hiding information from Starfleet Command--well, Julian would rather be calling the kettle black, wouldn't he? "You made a mistake. You're not the first, and you'll hardly be the last."

His smile is somewhat lopsided--Tom would remember him as the unfailing optimist, and it might be a bit of an uncharacteristic expression from his viewpoint. "That aside, you were with the Maquis for what, a few weeks? A month at best? You rather got the book thrown at you, likely to set an example."

[captainproton]

Tom shrugged. "She might recognize your uniform from the few times we've been able to get in contact with Starfleet and realize you're concurrent with our timeline and therfore have Alpha Quadrant gossip."

Tom took in Julian's words, and they were almost hard to understand. But just as something had changed in Tom over the course of his time serving on Voyager, something had changed in Julian too. He wasn't nearly as much of an optimistic asshole. "You'd be the only one you know. You should have seen the looks and whispers I got when I first brought on board as an 'observer.' Like I was some kind of pariah. They weren't even that subtle really. Voyager's original CMO was downright nasty. So, thanks Julian. For not jumping to conclusions, and giving me a chance. Not too many have."

Tom shrugged, giving what his ....friend? colleague? had said some thought. " Honestly? I think they saw me as I was. I was angry and frustrated and had just been court-martialed and driven out of Starfleet, just when I decided to do the right thing. All I had to do was stay silent, and none of this would have happened. But, I didn't. And Starfleet threw the book at me. And then, I found the Maquis and they needed a good pilot with anger issues. My life wasn't going so well back then. But, all that's taught me that sometimes you need to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find out where you belong. I'm glad they sent me to prison. If they didn't, I wouldn't have ended up on Voyager."

[asklepian]

"Fair point." Julian can't concern himself with it now--if she asks, she asks. It doesn't mean he has to tell her. And he can certainly deal with angry Klingons.

"You've done your time, I think. The penal colony isn't a terrible place, from what I've heard, though." At least, his father hasn't complained overly much--which Julian was sure he would have. Perhaps. He didn't seem to know his father as well as he thought he did.

"I'm certainly glad that you all made it. We...had to stop looking. When the war kicked up in earnest." He hopes Tom isn't angry about that.

[captainproton]

"It's not like you would have found us anyway. Or any debris, or anything to go on. Honestly, I'm a little surprised you kept looking so long in the first place.I mean, first a Maquis ship goes missing, then Voyager. To me, that's a pattern. A bad pattern. And with no more information to go on, Starfleet doesn't have endless resources to go looking for lost causes, with what would look like the high potential to lose others. So, really. Don't worry about it"

Tom gave a shrug as Julian finished up his exam. "Not terrible. The security anklet chafes a little. And at least my reputation and dishonorable discharge bought me a little street cred. Killing people goes a long way, even in a minimum security facility." Tom went on, trying to blow it off with a nonchalant attitude and a bit of bravado. What could he say? He was a good hider. Growing up with Admiral Paris made him a master.

"And I was never bored." Thats right. Always look on the bright side.

[asklepian]

"There were dozens more Maquis ships in there area who were perfectly fine. Cardassian too. And what information would we have found if we didn't look?" Julian smiles slightly.

Though he does look somewhat alarmed at the attitude. "I do hope you're exaggerating." His father was not at all the sort that would have 'street cred'. Or a reputation.

[captainproton]

"A little. The Klingons do have it right though--exaggeration makes for a better story. But, it was prison. It wasn't like we were all holding hands and making smores. Everyone's in for something different. Besides, do you really think the Federation would stand to have anything less than 'civilized', even in their prisons?" Tom asked.