Part II - Engineers, Doctors, and Shots Oh My

Posted on Thu Jul 18th, 2024 @ 3:32pm by Lieutenant Commander Oscar McDonald MD & Lieutenant Chloe O'Connor MD & Lieutenant Fang Lee & Lieutenant JG Zai

1,230 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Lacertae Mortis
Location: Sickbay | USS Arcadia
Timeline: Current

Previously on Engineer, Doctors, and Shots Oh My....

Zai stepped up. "May I ask a question of you both, Doctor?" He addressed McDonald.

“You may ask,” McDonald consented, grateful that if she saw the query being addressed to him as a slight, Chloe didn’t voice it. Instead she seemed as curious as he was, only her interest was far easier to read.

"Which one of you two has more patience. I am assuming it is not you doctor McDonald you seem like the silent festering type slightly prone to throwing things." His empathic senses were never wrong but it was always polite to ask amongst humans.

Behind them O’Connor had to stifle a laugh, turning her back and paying far too much attention to organizing the equipment tray at the side of the biobed. She could feel the icy look that earned her but it did not phase her in the slightest.

Folding his arms across his chest, McDonald pursed his lips. “I have a busy sickbay, Lieutenant,” he pointed out, not adding the personal strain he was under. “Your point?”


And now the continuation....



"I think that you are better suited to treat me." He hopped up on the bio bed knowing that Fang could use a less temperamental doctor. "Let's get this done."

“You are under a misconception, Lieutenant,” McDonald said calmly, “this is a medical bay. My medical bay. It is not a democracy, and the patient is not always right. And when it comes to who treats who, my word is final. Never, ever, doubt that. Am I clear?”

“Lieutenant, please take a seat,“ O’Connor said to break the immediate silence which followed, guiding Fang to the adjacent biobed. “We just need to get some equipment and then we can start. Doctor?”

Touching McDonald’s arm briefly she crossed to the other side of the privacy screen and waited for him to follow before the pair began a somewhat heated but whispered discussion. One which neither patient could overhear, thankfully.

Fang sighed. "I hate sickbay."

Zai smiled. "I know. That's why I'm here. I don't understand you. You fear nothing but this. Why this?"

Fang's fists tightened. "You were in the same battle as me with the Klingons must you ask that?"

Zai walked over and laid a hand on Fang's shoulder. "This is not that. When the dizziness comes focus on me. I am in the next bio bed." He'd have to have a talk with the grumpy doctor after this.

“Okay,” Dr O’Connor announced with a bright smile as she returned carrying a small equipment tray, “apologies. Dr McDonald was called away. Snake bite. Unclear if they need his medical expertise or for him to stare out the snake though…. So you have me until he gets back.

I hope that wasn’t a smile I just saw Lieutenant,” she added with a grin, “but either way, up on the biobeds both of you.”

Zai caught Doctor O'Connor's eye and gave a nod of thanks.

Fang sat on the bio bed. Gripping the sides with white knuckles.

“Try to relax a little, I promise I don’t bite,” O’Connor assured them both as she began gathering baseline information. “You know from previous postings that these are routine check ups and entirely painless. There genuinely is nothing to be concerned about. But if either of you are still anxious, I’m happy to answer any questions.”

Fang gave a nod but clenched his jaw.

Zai hopped of the bio bed and walked over to Fang. "Hey Doc. Tell me about the sickbay. We're both engineers so if you have systems that require a tune up..." He left it open prompting her to jump in. If there was one thing that would distract Fang it was system's talk.

"There isn't much to tell, pretty much everything here is fresh out the box. And I don't think it is worth troubling someone who is technically our chief engineer with something silly... you all must have so much to do around the ship."

"Actually I do not mind. Tell me what this silly matter is."

Zai's lip twitched. It was working. Fang's focus now shifted to a mystery and the scans on his body were running. He liked this doctor. She was quick witted and went with the flow. He said nothing more just returned to his bio bed.

"It might be easier to show you," she decided, gesturing for Fang to remain where he was as she ducked out again, returning again with a small storage bin within a few minutes. "We got a batch of new medical tricorders but a few of them are... well, odd."

She took this particular tricorder out of the box, setting it down on the edge of the biobed at Fang's feet before leaning over and turning it on. Almost immediately the familiar soft beeps and whistles filled the air as it began scanning the immediate area. Giving a moment to allow everyone to realize it was working properly, she leaned over and picked it up, and as soon as she did, the device went dead only to restart as soon as she set it down again.

"I mean I have less than a stellar relationship history but this is a bit extreme," she sighed. "We've got replacements on the way but we have at least another ten of these that are exactly the same.

If either of you can find an easy fix, I'd sure appreciate it," she added as she picked it up and handed it over to Fang. He was technically the most senior of the two engineers. "I do surgery on people, I wouldn't really know where to start on a tricorder."

Fang seemed fascinated with the tricorder. He picked it up and sat on the bio bed with his legs crossed as he began turning over the tricorder. "Most interesting. Perhaps the sensor is off." He looked up. "May I open it here?" He pulled out his own engineering tricorder and a small tool kit he kept on his belt.

"Go for it," she encouraged, doing her own work around the pair as the medical tricorder was quickly stripped of the outer casing to expose the inner circuitry. She didn't dare mention how this was a 'break in case of emergency' contingency that Dr McDonald kept on hand. Instead she just allowed the engineer to focus on the task so that she could get some genuine base readings to complete the medical. He didn't even seem to notice when she took a small blood sample for analysis as both engineers seemed to be in deep discussion as they threw ideas back and forth.

Fang was indeed engrossed in his work. The scans, the blood sample, even the shot to his neck for the regular vaccine was unnoticed. Within the hour he was done and Zai insisted on sending him back with the tricorder now in parts. Once he was gone Zai turned to the doctor. "Thank you," he bowed as he spoke. "I am grateful that this was not stressful on the Lieutenant."

"Quite," she agreed as she saved her notes on Fang's file before turning to face Zai, "I guess that means one down, one to go?"


To Be Continued...

 

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