Necessary Matters

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 3:50am by Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant Van Kolbeck
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 7:00am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Sickbay

The doors to Sickbay swished open and a new face stepped hesitantly in. Shae was not overly fond of anything medically related, so it had taken her a while to work up the nerve to finally report in for her boarding physical. She also had with her a frightened little Aoife, who didn't like doctors anymore than her mother, and Nurse Rebekah Davies who was assigned specifically as Aoife's caretaker and therapist.

"It's alright, Shae, you know no one here will hurt you, and your body language is just making Aoife more scared," Nurse Davies cautioned gently.

"I know I know," Shae admitted begrudgingly and took a deep breath to try to calm herself, then strode purposefully towards one of the biobeds and sat down.

"Would you like me to go find the doctor?" Nurse Davies asked.

"No no, I could use a minute to get a handle on my nerves," Shae replied. Nurse Davies nodded sympathetically and waited with Shae.

Kolbeck was sitting in his medical office working over some medical documents he was arranging. The automated sick bay reception announced that Lieutenant Brennan along with little Aoife Brennan had arrived. They were both accompanied with Nurse Davies.

The Doctor had read through the Science Officers medical file, understanding that her El-Aurian heritage was spotty in many areas. Past Starfleet Doctors had pegged her age at 44 years old. Hardly what a Human would look like at that age, Shae looked vibrant and young beyond anywhere near that of her El-Aurian age. Add to the the mountain of redacted and classified information, the few details available told a gruesome tale that shed some light as to why the woman was afraid of doctors.

“Velkommen Lt. Brennan.” Kolbeck walked out from his office. “Ah! I see you have lille engel.” Kolbeck could not help but be enlightened and smiled at Aoife and her Mother Shae. He was the few who felt that Children belonged among the Stars.

“Velkommen… Hej Aoife.” Van reached for his metal stool and glided up to the two sitting on the long Bio Bed. “Nurse Davies. Good to see you again.” He offered a smile.

"Good to see you too," Rebekah said with a smile. They had only met briefly when she boarded and checked in, but since she was assigned specifically to Aoife's care, they had not yet had the chance to work together. "I finally convinced Shae to come in for her boarding physical, and we thought it prudent to let you give Aoife a good once over, but they are nervous; bad history with medical professionals," she said.

Kolbeck sensed the tension in the room as he had entered. Both little Aoife and Shae were weary of Doctors or any testing. Having read some of the finer details in Shae’s medical file of her past treatment he felt it upon his self to work hard to gain their trust.

“I am Doctor Van.” He bent a bit forward leveling his self to that of Aoife’s level. She was close to hugging her Mother Shae. “You are a good lil engel, yes?” He asked in his distinct Norwegian accent.

Aoife hid her face against Shae's chest, and Shae rubbed one of her fuzzy ears to comfort her. "Yes, she is a good little kit, most of the time," Shae said with a smile. Aoife peeked curiously at this man who didn't act like any doctor she had ever seen before!

He paused showing an exaggerated thought placing his finger to his mouth. “I have very, very special friend. My special friend watches over good children during Medical visit.” He looked at Aoife’s blue eyes with kindness and offering trust.

“First, I shake your hand Aoife?” Kolbeck extended his rather large hand compared to the small gentle child to shake. “I promise you not hurt Aoife or Mother Shae.” He said soft but with manly care. Aoife didn't understand what he wanted with his outstretched hand, so Shae had to take her hand and place it into Van's.

While shaking her hand and nodding, Kolbeck was performing a skeletal analysis. Little Aoife required special care and special attention to treatment as she was developmentally delayed in both cognitive and pediatric foot and hip development. This would require time and support from Nurse Davies as well as Doctor Kolbeck. He was having the Sick Bay Main Computer complete its Level 3 scan of Aoife’s bio-cellular structuring and amino regeneration levels. He would develop a baseline for re-working her orthopedic and muscular profile to begin treatments in time. He was happy to be able to help her.

He looked at Lt. Brennan to see if she was ok with how he was handling her care. Shae was still tense, but was otherwise calm as she observed the exam.

Within a few seconds, there was a small shimmering of transporter light to Kolbeck's side. There beside him was a medium sized, long haired Norweigan Forrest Cat. “Ah! Scoggcatt, Møt min venn!” He smiled.

The black, white and brown feline confidently looked at Van and then turned its small head looking at both Lt. Brennan and little Aoife on the other end of the Bio Bed. Scogcatt was transported from Lt. Kolbeck quarters. Sliding on his stool and wrapping a small biosensor bead around Scogcatts neck, he patted her head and then let Scoggcat do the rest. Scoggcat loved to meet new members of the crew and had nothing but purring content to offer.

“Aoife. You want to say hello Scoggcatt?” Kolbeck asked. While this was playing out, he nodded at Nurse Davies to reach for the medical tricorder.

Shae was pleased that Van seemed to be going through such efforts to keep Aoife calm, and she smiled as the distraction seemed to work; Scoggcatt approached on the biobed and Aoife's insatiable curiosity went into overdrive to see what this new thing was! Aoife leaned in towards the gorgeous Forrest Cat to sniff, and they just sniffed each other for a minute until Scoggcatt crawled right up into Shae and Aoife's lap and started grooming Aoife. Aoife was elated, though she showed no such expression on her face, but this was exciting to her!

While the sensor probe on Scoggcatt collected data, Nurse Davies retrieved a PaDD with some information she had collected that had yet to be updated to Aoife's medical file. "We have been documenting her progress since she's been with us and she's already made some progress. She's eating well; the doctor on the Tornado recommended some supplements to help bolster her system and build up her muscle tone, and she's had no problems tolerating that. She doesn't have the motor control for eating utensils yet, but we're working on that, and if she's just using her hands, she doesn't have any problem getting food into her mouth and she eats just about everything her mother eats. She's doing daily PT to build strength in her body, especially her legs, and we've even tried water therapy to get her started on learning the mechanics of walking. So far, she doesn't have much stamina, but that's understandable in her condition, and she's already showing improvement. I try to dedicate an hour a day to cognitive development and speech therapy. So far I'm not having much luck on getting her to talk, but I am able to assess the depth of her vocabulary by seeing what she responds to, and we're finding alternative ways for her to express her needs until she's ready to start talking," she briefed as she uploaded her full reports to the medical databanks for Van to review later.

"On the Tornado, the doctor suggested surgery to help correct her leg problems once she's strong enough to handle it, but I am open to suggestions if you know of any alternatives. I was not overly fond to a suggestion of leg braces to help her walk, but I do understand the potential need for them," Shae chimed in, taking Aoife's hand to show her how to pet the fluffy Scoggcatt.

Kolbeck listened to Lt. Brennan observations and recommendations. He nodded taking in the information. He tapped in information and observations onto his PADD.

He then accepted Nurse Davies PADD with interest. He had viewed the updated information on Aoife before she transferred to the Pandora from the Tornado’s care. Aoife looked to have a proactive action plan. She was receiving PT daily for her small arm and hands, re-toning the muscle structures and begun to eat with her hands.

Kolbeck made a note on the PADD that she would require amino trans-ace inhibitor injections as well to my en lyze her muscle sheathing. "I would like to study these latest updates from the Tornado’s medical team. I see there will need to be an intervention surgically within the future for Aoife.” He nodded. “I would like to exhaust all PT as a conservative measure.”

“Just excellent work the Doctors on the Tornado.” He nodded at their work. “Not to mention your dedication to Aoife and care.”

"Aoife's a real trooper, she just aims to please during her PT," Nurse Davies said with a smile.

“We could try Graviton Therapy.” He paused and brought up the initial program on his PADD showing the therapy in motion for Aoife, and what it would require.

“Graviton therapy works in the way gravity boots do. Except these are a special type of boots suited just for Aoife. It would allow just the precise amount of gravity push and pull ratio. This works to exaggerate her orthopedic foot responses.” He looked at Shae. “It would be the next beneficial step for Aoife to try along side the pool exercises.”

"I can do that, shouldn't be hard to incorporate into her routine," Nurse Davies replied with a nod.

“Good, good.” He smiled.

Kolbeck then reached for a tricorder and had begun a momentary side scan of Shae. They were both interested as Scoggcatt decided little Aoife had a decent warmth to snuggle into her lap on the bio bed. Scoggcatt began to purr.

“Ms. Davies may I have a moment alone to speak with Lt. Brennan.”

"Certainly," Rebekah replied with a knowing nod, then stepped away for them to speak privately.

“Lieutenant. I have been reviewing your Medical file. I know of your past. I know you are Chameloid.” He paused for Shae to be able to tell where he was going.

"Ah, yes... It's, uh, yes," Shae stammered uneasily. "And I, uh, did inherit my mother's ability to change shape despite the fact that I'm only a halfling, which has been a point of contention between myself and Starfleet since the War with the Dominion," she admitted.

“I understand you were…” He didn’t know how to come about the words. “Were harmed. Were experimented on… so terribly.” He spoke low and concerned. He held his PADD close to his chest. He then slowly showed Shae the evidence he knew, the internal lenticular and muscular sheathing of her biological makeup. There was considerable trauma to Shae’s make up inside physiology. Any surgeon could see the insides were meshed together despite the technological marvels of the 24th century.

Shae looked at the PaDD with a pained expression. "Yes..." was all she could manage to say at first, struggling to find the words. "This is all classified, you understand, but I... I was held by certain people against my will and they wanted to know how my ability to shapeshift worked; they wanted to know if it could be reverse engineered and made available for others to use, but as a natural byproduct of my ability I'm able to obscure sensor data, it's how I pass as other species, and so there were times the only way they could know what was going on inside me was to...well, open me up." The confession hurt, it was something she hadn't even told Cailus yet, but Van seemed to be a good doctor and he deserved to know. "This is why I'm so afraid of medical professionals and why I put off my physical, being here makes my skin crawl. No offense to you, Doctor, you have been wonderfully accommodating, but I will be much more at ease once I leave Sickbay."

[TAG!]

"I've been doing okay until just recently," Shae said after giving the question some thought. "Aoife had a bit of an upset episode the other day, separation anxiety and some nightmares, so she's been unusually clingy which has had me on edge, and a wee bit sleep deprived. Also, I'm still recovering from a plasma burn I incurred in the line of duty on the Tornado; I used myself as a shield to protect another Officer who was unable to defend herself at the time and took an impressive hit across my back. Still burns sometimes," she explained.

“Please. Allow me to begin to try and at least help you recover on the inside medically. There is a lot of therapy to be done. That I believe I can do. All is non-invasive.” He paused. “I promise.” He had felt that it was important to allow Shae to understand that he was not just another happy go lucky Doctor wanting to examine a Chameloid. At the worst he did not want to scare her way.

"Take all the time you need to think about it. When you are ready we can help some of your internal organs and structures to work in a more organic nature. You would feel that your body is less tense. Your metabolism would be able to recover and function moreover as well. Again, take your time." He offered solace to her as a patient.

Shae had never really given any thought to things not working right inside her, but now that he brought it up, it did make sense. With so much internal scar tissue, there was bound to be issues whether she realized it or nor.

"Okay," Shae said softly, offering a slight nod. "But, uh, I need Aoife's therapies to take precedence. I'm functional, she is not, she needs the attention more than I," she said, looking down at Aoife with a small smile.

"Of course." Kolbeck had offered a slight smile and nod. He then pulled over a metal anti-gravity cart with a hypo spray and various solutions in different colored glass vials. He punched in a few buttons into one of the computer modules that the vials sat, and then the vial changed a different huge as the various vitamins and hormones were constituted.

“May I?” Van stood up next to Shae. He then waived for Nurse Davies to come back. He held the Hypo spray near the side of Lt. Brennan’s shoulder.

"Oh, yes," Shae replied, seemingly more calm and at ease with him now that she had seen how he was handling their case. Van eyed the spot and gently pressed the hypo spray, releasing the medicine with a hiss. "Thank you for handling us with such care, especially Aoife; she's had a rough couple of days and the last thing she needed was another upset."

Kolbeck smiled. He sat the hypo spray down. He then picked up a visual identifier pen light. The light was almost an X-ray and MRI all in one. He then held it up to Shae’s eyes and Kolbeck leaned inward and looked at her eyes both right and left.

“You have very good eyes! 100%” He smiled. “There is, however, is a touch of the defect to your corneal spectrum. I do understand that you wear your glasses hmm?” He paused.

"Ah, yes, I can see red but it is quite dull and muted and I have trouble distinguishing objects from one another within that palette," Shae confessed. "As for the glasses, they're just for reading; my eyes are not like human eyes, they're designed to track movement, so any substantial amount of reading creates eye fatigue. The glasses help reduce that fatigue, they're purely magnification, no correction whatsoever."

“Ah. I understand. A tad of color blind.” He nodded. “It is your nature. Your eyes sensorimotor adaptation. As long as you let them rest. You spend too much time in the Lab.” He chastised. “Yet, I do read in your file I am not the first Doctor to remind you of that.”

He paused and then checked Aoifes eyes. He paused. “We will need to watch Aoife’s eyes over the next year as she grows. I want to make sure that we pay special attention if she is to follow in her Mothers DNA.”

Shae smiled weakly. "She's... there's no, I mean..." she stammered as she again fought to find the right words. "There is no father; if you haven't noticed already, you would figure it out eventually, but uh... she's a clone. Obviously she's not perfect, there are some differences between us, and I don't know who's DNA was use to fill in the gaps and make her the way she is, but well, there it is," It hadn't been easy telling Cailus that and telling Van wasn't any easier, but it needed to be known. "I don't want Starfleet to know. With their stance on genetic engineering and cloning, I don't want to lose her; I had to carry her, she is mine, I do not want to give them cause to take her from me."

"Your secret remain safe with me." Kolbeck agreed solemnly.

Aoife all the while was watching this play out. He then sat back on his stool and turned to address her. “ lille engel.” He reached and then placed a different vial of the color of innocuous substance. He smiled. “Aoife, we give Scoggcatt her vitamin now.” He then exaggerated slowly for Aoife to see the painless, harmless, action that had ensued as Scoggcatt had received the hypo spray injection, yet Scoggcatt hadn’t missed a purring beat.

He then leaned into Scoggcatt and placed his two ear pieces in and laid the heart of the stethoscope to Scoggcatts chest.

Kolbeck nodded. Exaggerating once again playing out the actions that laid the groundwork for each medical visit he would have in the future with Aoife and her mother, Shae. “Ah! Scoggcat is very very happy and healthy.” He nodded.

“Aoife. Can Dr. Van give you vitamins and listen to Lil Aoife’s heart?” He asked.

Aoife found that she rather liked this Dr. Van, especially his voice and the funny way he said things. She made no fuss or objections when he administered the hypo or checked her heart, though her heartbeat and respiration were still quite rapid from the nervousness and anxiety, but like her mother she was more visibly relaxed now.

He then sat back and looked at Scoggcatt resting in Aoife’s lap. “Well look at this. Scoggcat is rest. He go ‘Ah this so tire me! So many lights and instrument.’” Kolbeck began to wrap up for Aoife. “Thank you, Aoife today for helping Scoggcatt in her visit. She asks to see you again soon yes?” He asked. Scoggcatt lifting her head as if knowing by Van’s voice.

Shae smiled. "Can you tell Scoggcatt goodbye?" Shae said to Aoife. Aoife simply put her arms around Scoggcatt for a hug, rubbing her face into the ruff of fur around the cat's neck. "Very good, kit," Shae said when Aoife finally let go of the well trained Forrest Cat. "I can't thank you enough for how you've handled this. It will make future visits more bearable," Shae said with another smile.

“Have a good night, yes.” Kolbeck nodded. His rousing voice a bit too loud for the small room. He stood watching the three leave. He then looked back to Scoggcatt who was seated next to Kolbeck on the bio bed.

“Godt jobba. Gang vi har en drink ja?” Van grunted as he let his large hand rub at the back of the Scoggcats head.