A Medical Call

Posted on 30 Sep 2021 @ 8:47pm by Lieutenant Lamia ‘Mia’ Kildare & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair MD, DVM
Edited on on 01 Oct 2021 @ 10:06am

1,686 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

[ON]

Lamia headed along the corridor to Sickbay, she’d received a call from the new Assistant Chief Medical Officer asking her to attend a catch-up appointment. Never one to complain she walked into Sickbay and looked around.

It had been just a day since she had come aboard, but already Jane was finding her place among the crew. She had had her orientation, had met her superior officer and her colleagues, and now she was getting to take patients.

Earlier that morning, one of the sickbay clerks had given her some patient files that required attention. Top of the pile was Lamia Arderne, who must have had an opening in her schedule as she was in sickbay within a few minutes of receiving Jane’s request, immediately recognizable due to her image on the patient file.

“Lieutenant Arderne?” she asked. “Jane Sinclair. Thank you for coming down to see me.”

“I was free and I’m never an awkward patient” Lamia smiled as she walked towards Sinclair. “At least I try not to be awkward.”

“Successful so far!” Jane said with a smile of her own. “Come along then.” She gestured for the Counselor to follow her to a biobed.

Following on behind Jane, Lamia felt a little uncomfortable. “I’ll warn you now, my blood pressure will be up. Ever since the ordeal with the slavers and the loss of my daughter I’ve found it... unsettling being in Sickbay. As a counsellor I know it’s trauma-related, I just have to face it head-on.”

“I’m sorry,” Jane said sympathetically. “I did see some of this in your file. I’ll do my best to make this quick and easy.” She tapped the biobed. “Take a seat, please. I just need to take a few readings. Some of your lab work got corrupted.” She turned her back to get her medical tricorder. “So, tell me about yourself, Counselor.”

“Well, I’m half Betazoid, half Drax. My father is of the ruling family line but I wanted to spread my wings” Lamia offered a warm smile.

“I’ve never met anyone Drax or part Drax,” Jane said as she passed the scanner over her patient. “We read about them in the unit covering the neurobiology of telepathy. It’s surprising how most telepathic beings evolved the same basic neural mechanism for it.”

“The Drax are not that different from Betazoids where our abilities are concerned, we just have more... umph!” She smiled. “I’ve got the best of both worlds, a combination of Drax and Betazoid telepathy and Betazoid Empathy.”

“That’s a good deal!” Jane said with a grin as she scanned. She twitched her nose involuntarily, likely at an unfamiliar smell. “Well, your blood pressure is a bit high, probably from the stress of sickbay, as you suggested. Your various hormone levels appear to be improving. I can tell you had problems but that they’re almost back to normal. Or, what I understand would be normal for Betazoids. I’d need to talk with Doctor Cahill to verify.”

Lamia nodded. “In your opinion would pheromones alone induce someone to make love with another, or would there need to be an underlying attraction there in the first place?”

oO Well now that was sudden. Oo Jane closed her tricorder. “I saw that referenced in your file.” She took a deep breath. “You are taking medication for that, but we can consider increasing the dose.” Her nose twitched again. oO New sickbay smell, Oo she concluded. “Different pheromones work in different ways. I’m happy to look into that further, but in my experience, there’s usually some kind of attraction first. Even if it’s purely physical.”

The doctor reopened her tricorder and resumed scanning. “I’m reading elevated levels of psilocybin. That’s the neurotransmitter responsible for telepathy. It’s like your psi abilities were recently put into overdrive. I didn’t see anything that would account for that. Is everything okay?”

“I...” Lamia paused and looked around making sure they were alone. “I made a connection... a deep connection with Commander Dodd. During our time as slaves, he was the one who fathered my daughter.” She paused. “I’m in love with someone already, but I’m finding that I also have feelings for Dodd.” She sighed. “It wasn’t the pheromones, was it? I was already attracted and I just didn’t realise it at the time.”

“It’s possible that it was the pheromones,” Jane admitted, nodding. “But it’s possible that it’s unrelated. Or it could be somewhere in between; like *pause* like the pheromones just started something but now it’s working on its own.” Another nose twitch. “It’s also possible that your act of intercourse with Commander Dodd triggered some kind of telepathic connection, however minor, as sometimes happens with Betazoids.”

Lamia nodded. “I’m sorry to offload this on you, I’m Just trying to make sense of my feelings. I love my boyfriend to pieces, just a smile makes me weak in the knees!” She grinned as she pictured Kildare smiling. “It’s all so... confusing.”

Jane set her tricorder down and put her hand on Lamia’s shoulder. “It’s all right. You probably know better than anyone that emotions are more complicated than we normally think.” She found a chair and sat opposite her patient. “I’m not a professional in mental health. But I know a few things. I know that can bring people together in normally unthinkable ways. I know that people can love more than one person. I know that telepathic connections can introduce a strange nuance to romantic feelings.”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t mean to pry, but can you tell me about what happened most recently, that has your psilocybin levels so high? These readings point to something powerful. It might help me understand a bit better, and it might help you work it out by talking to me. I promise complete discretion.

Mia nodded. “I made a mental connection so strong, I think I... astral projected somehow.” She frowned. “We... made love in the vision, our way of being together without it actually happening.” She looked at Jane. “Am I making sense?”

“I’ve never heard of this phenomenon, but I think I understand,” Jane answered. “Telepathic astrally projected sex. I imagine it must have felt perfectly real for both of you. Which will complicate your feelings.” She gave the Counselor a grin. “No risk of pregnancy or disease that way though. All the pleasure and none of the risk. Just a shame your feelings on the matter are so complicated.”

Lamia nodded. “I love my boyfriend and I will never hurt him.” She sighed. “Remington knows how I feel, but he’s getting over his fiancé leaving.”

“I see,” said Jane. “Well, if you need someone to talk to about these feelings, I’m happy to listen. As I said, I’m no counsellor, but I’m sure I can help.”

“I appreciate that” Lamia nodded. “I think I’m going to need someone to talk to, to keep my head straight.”

Jane stood and walked to a nearby wall console. On it, she brought up the accessible schedules for both women. “Two days from now, 1830, after our shifts are over. I’ll be reserving holosuite 1 and having a swim. There’s a pool program I like. Space for lane swimming, diving, or even just frolicking in the water, plus a hot tub to relax in. I love to swim with a friend, so why don’t you join me?”

Lamia was about to say no when she stopped herself, she couldn’t keep retiring back to her quarters and hiding away when she wasn’t with Chris. “I’ll be there, thank you.”

“Any time.” Jane checked another screen on the wall monitor. “All right, I’ve gathered the data that we lost from before. It should inform a few changes to your medication. I’ll consult Dr Cahill, and if she agrees, I’ll summon you and modify your regimen. Except I won’t mention the last few things you told me. That’s between us.”

“Oh, and I might want to see about you returning to using birth control in the next couple of months,” Jane continued. “I know your last physical was a bit less conclusive, and I’d want to do some more detailed scans to be certain, but it looks to me like your reproductive system is healing nicely.”

“Seriously!” Lamia looked surprised. “Last time I was here there was mention of my maybe needing to use a surrogate. Are you saying I won’t need to do that?”

“I’ll want to do a more detailed test, to be sure,” Jane replied, “but I would have expected to see worse readings on this basic scan, based on your chart’s notes. When is a bit up in the air, but you have reason to be optimistic.”

Lamia smiled the warmest smile yet as she looked at Jane. “That’s wonderful, thank you! There’ll be no rush, Chris and I aren’t ready to plan a family as yet.”

“Well, as I said, I’ll talk to Dr Cahill and we’ll plan the next times,” Jane explained, her own smile matching Lamia’s. “We’ll assess your reproductive health in detail and prescribe birth control when it’s appropriate, and we can stop when you’re considering family planning.” It felt good to give the woman good news, especially coming in as she did with such a trauma.

“Thank you I appreciate that.” Lamia smiled warmly. “If there’s nothing else I'll see you in a couple of days for that swim.”

“See you then.” Jane nodded and set about putting some equipment back. Her nose twitched one last time. oO I should see if there’s something I’m allergic to around here… Oo

[OFF]

Lieutenant Lamia Arderne
Chief Counsellor

Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair
Deputy Chief Medical Officer

 

RSS Feed