New Arrival Physical

Posted on Mon Apr 19th, 2021 @ 1:40pm by Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson

Mission: The Gauntlet
Location: Medical Bay

OOC: Apologies for jumping in but the NPC Legace is no longer active, so I've switched it to Aeryn instead. Hope that's okay! - AJ


Aenardha rested after handling her duffels, unpacking and beginning to set up her quarters. Physical strength and endurance were not qualities the Aenar were known to have in excess. It was something she wanted to work on. That would certainly take time as it was harder for her entire race to build muscle mass. The Aenar were known for their telepathy and that was about all they were useful for.

Aenardha hoped to be able to alter that.

Still in her all-black casual attire, loose-fitting to allow air movement and to help her remain cool, she departed her quarters for Medical. The duty day was in full swing so there was no shortage of personnel in the corridors for her to telepathically tap into public vision as she progressed toward her destination. There was but one corridor where no one was present. It was only a short trek, but she managed the walk with an outstretched arm, fingertips brushing the wall so as to keep herself from running into it.

A turbolift ride was a bit more worrisome as she found herself alone, with no vision to tap into. Once inside, she announced her destination and the turbolift began moving. She turned what she thought was 180 degrees, but was proven wrong as the turbolift halted and the doors opened. Another crewmember was entering and she realized that stepping forward would have only resulted with her missing the opening by no more than a foot and awkwardly shouldering the opening.

“Excuse me,” she said, “is this the deck for Medical?”

After receiving an affirmative answer and thanking the crewman, she set off again and it was telepathic vision all the way to the Med Bay.

Entering, there was no one else present at the moment. Auanrdha understood the need for Medical to be staffed, so someone was surely to be along shortly. With no public vision to tap into, she had no idea the size and shape of the Medical Bay nor her bearings. The place was a black and mysterious void for the moment.

She waited to be seen.

Aeryn walked in Sickbay after being out on a home call, one poor crewman who was feeling decidedly worse for wear after getting an infection in a wound. One wound cleaned and treated she was back to get on with her duties. She smiled as she saw someone waiting. “Excuse me” Aeryn smiled warmly noting the new arrival was blind. “I’m Aeryn Jameson, Assistant Chief Medical Officer can I help you?”

There came a vision for her to see through and Aenardha turned to the new arrival, looking her in the eye; more like looking herself in the eye through the eyes of someone else. “Yes,” Aenardha nodded. “I am Ensign Aenardha Sh’vastarth, Intelligence, USS Pandora, newly arrive. I am here for my initial physical and medical scan as well as marking Medical off of my in-processing list.”

“Of course, please take a seat on any of the biobeds” Aeryn smiled. She could sense Aenardha’s abilities and being an ex-Borg she knew her species from the vast array of species the Borg had assimilated or slaughtered. “If I understand correctly you can see me using your abilities can’t you?”

“I cannot see ‘you’ but can see through your eyes,” Aenardha explained as she stepped to a biobed. “It is what is called telepathic or public vision. It is certainly not mind-reading,” she added in the event Aeryn was wondering. “I am tapping into only your real-time vision as it enters your striate cortex, before that information enters your mind. Once information leaves the striate cortex it becomes memory. Reading that would be mind-reading and I am forbidden from accessing that without permission or ordered to do so. In short,” she hopped up and sat on the biobed, “I am seeing myself, through your eyes, as I move about.” She settled herself to be more comfortable. “If I look you in the eye,” which she was, “know that I am looking myself in the eye through your vision.”

“I understand you are Betazoid,” Aenardha continued. “Is telepathic vision something you can access?” She had trained with some Betazoids while at the Academy and learned that telepathy between different species varied as vision, senses of smell and taste differed.

“To be honest I’ve never tried it” Aeryn offered a polite smile. “The closest I’ve ever come to anything like it would be when I was part of the Borg collective. Though that was a shared mass consciousness.”

Aenardha recalled reading about that as she was perusing the ship manifest. Understanding that talking about their experiences as a Borg drone was oftentimes sensitive and filled with emotion, she felt it best to not seek out detail. “I do not think you are missing much to be honest.” Aenardha laid back on the biobed making herself ready for a full body scan. “It was not until I was on Earth, at the Academy, that I discovered I enjoy face-to-face verbal communication.” Though it did take some effort on her part at first, coming from a population than can have entire conversations in seconds without ever having to be in the same room together.

“There’s a lot to be said for verbal conversation verses telepathic conversation.” Aeryn smiled as she prepared the biobed to monitor the range of readings necessary for a full physical. “So have you had any problems I should know about? Any health conditions I should know of?”

‘Terminally weak,’ Aenardha thought to herself. “None that I am aware of,” she said after a moment’s contemplation. “If this physical has me running on a treadmill or doing any rigorous exercise, I think you will find why Starfleet had to create a new standard for grading the physical fitness test,” she said openly but with a bit of consternation in her voice.

Aeryn nodded understandingly. “Well thankfully you don’t need to be doing any running” She tapped her medical tricorder. “Okay I’m going to run the normal range of tests we run for a boarding physical, it won’t take long at all. The biobed will also take a set of readings and the two will be kept on file as a baseline for further checks.”

“I understand,” Aenardha said as she tried to relax. She did have to slide down a little so as to have her antennae physically on the biobed as well so they would be included in the scan.

Relaxation did not come difficult. She was intending to think about her next stops for her in-processing while the biobed did its thing, but all she could think about was the little girl from an obscured memory in her past. The girl skipped along in the darkness as Aenardha had not an inkling of a location where this memory took place. The little girl just skipped and hummed out a tune that Aenardha could also not place. She found herself attempting to hum it herself but it only came out of her nose as a chaotic melody. Listening to the tune in her mind, it was truly a melody out of space. There was no name to it and the more she tended to the memory, the more incomprehensible the melody became.

The little girl, skipping further into the darkness, was almost out of sight when the humming stopped and she suddenly zoomed to the side, out of sight and went silent.

Aenardha opened her white in white eyes as the biobed scan completed its cycle. It had the information it needed.

Aeryn looked at the scan readings as they came through. “You seemed to be .. lost in thought there” She looked at Aenardha curiously. “Your readings reflect that something was going on, and I sensed it as well.” She allowed her patient to sit up. “Would you say these readings are normal for you?”

Aenardha thought a short moment. An Aenar in Starfleet? There was little normal about that. It had been mentioned time and again that she was not normal. Healthwise though, “Yes,” she gave a nod. “I would say these readings are normal. She studied the readings as Aeryn was looking them over. “I tend to live in my head from time to time. For a telepath, that can lead to others sensing things. Nothing to worry about.”

Aeryn nodded and made a note on the file. “I can understand that, with regards to your abilitîes is there anything I need to know about them?”

Aenardha was unsure of what was widely known about the Aenar and their telepathic abilities. “Well, I can see through real-time public telepathic vision. Starfleet Regulations allow that openly. The regulations are a bit unclear on public hearing though. My ears work fine and, eventhough I can hear people talking in a public space, my abilities allow me to clearly hear what everyone is talking about in an area. I generally try not to eavesdrop though. Similar to telepathic sight, I can sense mental tags when someone is looking at or hearing something personal or confidential. So I avoid tapping into those senses. Depending on the race, I can fully get inside someone’s head though there are some I cannot read at all. We Aenar can astral project easily, depending on the mental connection we have with someone. We are unsure of limits when it comes to distance. Some have projected images of themselves over lightyears. Taken that I know someone’s mental pattern, I can locate them in space after some meditation and intense focus. I do not know of any Aenar maladies where an infected Aenar can unwillingly affect others telepathically. That is not to say these maladies do not exist. Starfleet does have a long list of regulations regarding what telepaths can and cannot do and what we can be ordered to do or allowed to do in dire situations.”

Aenardha trailed off, wondering if she had covered everything, if there was anything she was forgetting to mention, anything at all.

“That was very thorough thank you” Aeryn smiled warmly. “I completely understand where the rules and regulations regarding telepaths come in, I have to follow those rules and regs as well. It can be frustrating sometimes not to be able to flex your abilities,”

“Yes, it can.” Aenardha sat up on the biobed. “But it can also be a challenge. I did study counseling at the Academy for a bit before focusing on Intelligence. The instructor brought in someone I could not read at all. I had to rely on my textbook education. I was not very effective come to find out.”

“Now that I understand” Aeryn nodded. “Without my senses I’d be totally lost, I’m not used to relying on my instincts alone.”

“Nor am I,” said Aenardha. She thought back to the individual she could not read. Then she thought about he who she tried to help. And, even though she could read him, it was still not enough. Her heart sank at the thought and her white in white eyes went to the floor. “I have found that, when instinct is all we have, then we need to know how to use that.” She collected herself and looked back at herself through Aeryn’s vision. “Are there any other scans you need to take?”

Aeryn checked her PADD. “Not that I can think of. You’re good to go. Any problems, or anything you need just drop by and see us.”

“I certainly will do just that.”

“Wonderful” Aeryn smiled warmly. “In that case you’re cleared for duty. Welcome aboard.”