Darkened Stars - Chapter 33

Darkened Stars - Chapter 33

Stardate 29471.1 - June 21, 2352 - 10:08:32

A distinct upside of having a doctor on the ship was that they had a doctor on the ship, something Rain considered an absolute necessity given the sheer number of horrible things she remembered from the various television shows that had medically affected people. However having a doctor on the ship also came with a significant downside, the need to actually be examined so they would have a baseline to work off of.

Something she had been putting off under the guise of having work to do till the ship had at last set off for Denobula, the location T’Lyn seemed to think was their best bet for selling their newly traded for cargo.

Which left her standing in the doorway of her ship’s small sickbay doing an admirable impression of a cat tensed to run away at the slightest provocation.

Verad shot her a friendly smile as he adjusted something on the somehow nicer looking biobed. “You seem oddly nervous about this. Bad experience with medical exams in the past?”

Rain twitched slightly before shaking her head. “No experience with medical exams in the past period.”

Not technically true, but she wasn't going to tell him that her last actual checkup had been when she was a male human three hundred years in the past.

“All right then.” Verad said, walking over and grabbing a padd that he began to type on. “Let's start at the beginning. Species?”

Frowning slightly, Rain stepped fully into the room, making sure to shut the door behind her just in case. “Asari.”

“Age?”

“Don't know.” Rain admitted with a grimace, having wondered that on more than one occasion herself.

“You don't know your age?” Verad inquired in interest as he looked up from his padd.

“I grew up on Terra.” Rain explained, avoiding Verad's gaze by studying a spot on the wall. “Circumstances didn't exactly lend themselves to keeping track.”

“I suppose that would be how you were taken in by the Klingons then.” Verad mused as he entered more information into his padd.

“I got blown up saving the daughter of a great house from being blown up.” Rain offered, rubbing the back of her neck as a sudden feeling of embarrassment washed over her. “And then I got her mother to like me.”

“I see.” He murmured, frowning slightly as he seemed to examine her. “Were there any health problems from that?”

“No.” Rain said, giggling slightly at the absurdity of being able to say that. “But I was blown up again three weeks ago and broke my leg. The Sona doctor who treated me for that however said there wouldn't be any lingering damage.”

“All right.” Verad said, motioning to the biobed with a hand. “Hop on and we can get started with establishing a baseline.

Eyeing the bed nervously for a moment, Rain mentally debated utilizing captain's prerogative to just skip this before the memory of Barclay turning into a spider flashed across her mind.

“Just a warning.” Rain began as she climbed onto the biobed and layed down. “My body has a number of nodule-like mineral formations inside it, however they are perfectly natural for my species.”

Setting down his padd and picking up a cigar shaped device, Verad began passing it back and forth over Rain's body while looking at the readout on one of the nearby displays. “I'll keep that in mind.” 

Several tense minutes passed, during which time Rain comported herself by imagining Captain Picard singing the modern major general song.

“I have to say.” Verad finally spoke as he set the cigar-like device down. “You are quite an interesting species.”

“Thanks?” Rain returned, not really sure how to feel about the way he had said that.

“For age I'd say you were somewhere between fifteen and twenty four.” Verad put forward in an apologetic tone. “I'm sorry to say I can't get any more specific as your cells are regenerating in a way I've honestly never seen outside of certain rare types of deep ocean life forms.”

Given what Rain knew about Asari lifespans and the fact she shared several physical features in common with sea life, neither of those things were entirely surprising to her.

“You have what for most humanoids would be alarming levels of heavy metals in your system.” He continued, picking his padd back up and tapping away at its screen. “Though your body seems to be processing it in a natural manner so there shouldn't be any risk of long term health complications.”

That was probably the same biological process at work that allowed Asari to process Element Zero without any of the various health problems most members of other species tended to develop when exposed to the material.

“Some minor bone density loss suggestive of spending the past several years in an environment with gravity lower than your species natural standard.”

Raine blinked at that, not having known that Asari were from a higher gravity world.

“A mild case of eye strain that probably comes from your eyes trying to compensate for the ship's minimal levels of ultraviolet spectrum light.”

She supposed that would explain the slight pressure she'd noticed behind her eyes the past weeks.

“And several markers that suggest combat related genetic enhancements.”

“Say what now?” Rain asked, pushing herself up to stare at the Trill in confusion as the only thing she could think of that might fit the bill for that was Prothean meddling.

Verad turned a surprised look to her. “You didn't know?” 

“No?” Rain put forward, honestly never having given the possibility any thought given how different Asari physical capabilities were in general from what she had previously experienced as a human.

“Interesting.” Verad mused as he looked back at his padd for a moment. “Well, you'll be happy to know that other than what I already listed you seen to be in surprisingly good health for someone who grew up on Terra.

“So no allergies, genetic diseases, or foods to watch out for?” Rain floated uncertainly, figuring she might as well put down those minor drivers of anxiety while she had the chance.

“That was a basic medical scan.” Verad said, shaking his head in clear bemusement at her question. “I'd need to do an in depth genetic analysis to figure out any of those things.”

“Oh.” Rain muttered, flushing lightly in embarrassment.

“And before you ask.” Verad continued in a knowing tone. “We don't have the equipment here to do that kind of in depth analysis.”

“All right.” Rain said, slightly disappointed at herself for forgetting the real life limits of technology. “In which case, how is the rest of my motley crew doing?”

“I couldn't say.” Verad admitted with a shrug. “So far you have been the only one to come in.”

Rain stared silently at Verad, resisting the sudden urge to thump her head onto the biobed in sheer aggravation. “Right, so I'm apparently going to have to make that mandatory instead of just trusting that everyone would want to avail themselves of free healthcare.”

“Do they know it's free?” Verad returned questioningly. “The standard as far as I've heard is that captains tend to charge their crew for anything beyond emergency care.”

“It was in their contracts.” Rain informed him with an annoyed pout. “Page three of five under benefits.”

She’d used the most fair and balanced employment contract she could find as a base to start from when drafting her own. Which had, almost expectedly at this point, turned out to be the standard mirror universe Ferengi business contract.

“Similar to the one you sent me then?” Verad put forward, hints of amusement wrinkling at the corner of his eyes. 

Rain nodded. “You have higher pay, several additional exit clauses, and a guarantee that I’ll pay for your own healthcare if something happens, but yes.”

Nodding as if that confirmed a theory of his Verad continued. “Then I rather suspect from my encounters with them so far, that most did not read past the first page where you outlined the pay and guaranteed board.”

Immediately holding up a finger to object on principle, Rain dropped her hand and let out a sigh. “I know T'Lyn did.”

The rest however she would reluctantly admit probably hadn't seen an employment contract in their entire lives.

“Miss T'Lyn is a young Vulcan.” Verad offered in amusement. “And likely believes she does not need a medical exam.”

Groaning at the sudden realization that she was probably going to be spending the next week herding proverbial cats, Rain pushed herself off the biobed and frowned as a thought hit her. “Have you met Paracene yet?” 

“Who?” Verad asked in confusion, firmly answering that question.

If there was one person on the ship likely in desperate need of a medical exam, it was their resident pain in the ass Tholian. So Rain headed to the door, and motioned for Verad to follow her. “I'll introduce you, bring a medical tricorder.”

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The Asari had yet to figure out just what she was going to do with the Tholian princess as all the options she’d thought of so far hit upon the general problem that she was trying very hard not to be a horrible person. 

The only option she’d thought of so far that didn’t hit up against that particular problem was trying to pass Paracene off to the Ferengi Benevolent Association. But everything she’d discovered about them said even just making contact without already having a contact within their organization would be an epic quest in and of itself.

The small upside however was that the Tholian princess was amazingly low maintenance, and seemed content to sit in her room and browse various databases.

“Verad Kalan, meet Paracene, our resident Tholian princess.” Rain said, motioning to the Tholian who was examining the Trill with a slightly cocked head that the Asari had figured out was her species equivalent of showing mild interest. “And Paracene, meet Verad Kalan, the ship's new medical specialist.”

Paracene’s frame immediately tensed at that, and Rain frowned as the sudden worry hit that maybe she should have taken a moment to explain things beforehand.

“Marvelous!” Verad suddenly exclaimed as he looked at her with a giant grin on his face. “I always thought the stories of two legged Tholians were just Terran Empire propaganda.”

“They were a failed adaptation.” Paracene practically hissed, her carapace fluorescenting a whitish blue as she turned a burning eyed glare to Rain. “With your ploy for me unsuccessful you have decided to experiment on me instead!?”

Letting out a tired sigh, Rain met Paracene’s glare with a firm and steady one of her own. “I wanted to have you checked over by Verad to make sure there aren’t any long term health complications from what the Risians had done to you.”

Holding her gaze for a moment, Paracene’s coloring slowly returned to its normal reddish hue as her eyes dimmed back to their normal level of luminescence. “Your song does not lie.” They turned to Verad. “Very well spotted one, you may examine me. But know I am capable of rending your flesh from bone if you attempt more without my permission.”

From the look in his eyes that probably wasn’t even a consideration in Verad’s mind, however the Tholians words seemed to spurn something in the Trill as he looked down to his medical tricorder before shaking his head. “Given the intricacies of Tholian biology I’m going to need the full biobed sensor suit in medbay if you want anything more than a carapace integrity check.”

“My carapace is pristine.” Paracene objected, sounding just a tiny bit annoyed at the insinuation that it would be anything but. 

“Paracene is free to wander the ship outside of the bridge and engineering.” Rain said, not that the Tholian had actually availed herself of the privilege. “So that’s up to Paracene.”

Tilting her head, the Tholian seemed to consider the question for a moment before walking over to Verad and tapping his shoulder slightly with one of her clawed fingers. “I shall deign to do so. You may lead the way.”

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Author’s Notes: Congratulations Rain, you’ve only failed your poison spot checks three times in the past several years.

Late chapter, and I may take next week off to plot out the next arc. But if I do, I'll try to get in two chapters of Cerulean stars to make up for it.