Not Your Ordinary...

Posted on Sat Jul 16th, 2011 @ 9:39pm by Lieutenant Torrna Maliya MD

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Medical Bay, USS Arizona
Timeline: Shortly after 'It's that time again.'

There was no escaping it... Alexis was going to have to report to the medical bay for some form of medical exam. Having gone through many of them in the very recent past, she'd become somewhat numbed to the event... which for her, had been almost unthinkable in months past. To starfighter pilots, doctors and other medical professionals were often seen as close kin to the Grim Reaper; they killed careers, and seemed to have no compunctions about doing so.

But seeing as Alexis' combat wings had already been clipped, one would think she had nothing left to fear... but that was far from being the case. Though her career as a starfighter pilot was unofficially over, she still had so much left to lose. Her medical records were riddled with loopholes, allowing practically any medical officer in the fleet to remove her from active duty for any number of reasons... many of which wouldn't normally apply to most other people. Alexis felt it was ridiculous and discriminatory, but then again she could understand some of their concerns... while there had been similar incidents in Starfleet, there wasn't another case exactly like hers.

Entering sickbay, Alexis couldn't help but feel like a lab rat as she spied the surroundings that were by now familiar. She wondered what the medical officers here would see her as: an aberration, a liability, or the usual laboratory experiment?

Maliya sat in 'her' office and was working up a report on the Surgery of Lieutenant Idrani. She had to admit it, she liked the unusual Andorian. Despite all the crap that's happened to her, she had a good soul, Maliya was sure of it.

Meanwhile one of the nurses walked over to Alexis. "Good day, Lieutenant, how can we help you?"

"Hello..." Alexis said pleasantly, but also somewhat distractedly. "I'm just here to schedule a physical exam, and make sure the CMO has my records." The latter was an unusual request, as usually a crewman's records preceded their actual arrival. With the requirements placed on her, however, Alexis didn't want to take any chances.

The nurse nodded, "One moment, I'll get the Doctor." she said and walked over to Torrna's office. "Doctor, there's someone to see you for a physical."

Maliya had looked up from her desk and nodded, "Alright, thanks."

With that said, she stood up and smoothed out her uniform and walked out. She spied the intruded immediately. The red of her turtleneck gave her away.

"I'm Doctor Torrna." she announced her arrival to the Lieutenant.

"Hey Doc, I'm Alexis Sylvari." She began in a casual tone. She'd put up a good front in order to not appear nervous, and hoped that the Doctor was buying it.

"Here for the physical?" Maliya asked, narrowing her eyes a bit, the woman was more nervous than she should be, it was a simple physical.

Alexis only blinked at first, with a somewhat blank expression on her face. She hasn't read my file... Alexis silently deduced. As her nervousness and apprehension grew, her nerves started to flare, like they sometimes did in some situations. Her left hand began to twitch a little, but Alexis subtly tried to hide the movement by brushing at a loose strand of hair.

"Umm... yes, ma'am." She replied simply, not wanting to incriminate herself, though she knew the doctor would soon find out anyway.

"Alright then, on the bed." Maliya pointed to Biobed 1 as she walked over to the wall panel to access Sylvari's file.

It took her a few moments to read through the file. So this was THE Alex Sylvari. She'd of course heard of that case, in fact Gordon House almost caused an interstellar scene to get her to the SDU. Maliya would have liked the man/woman but she wasn't really keen on studying him..her...Sylvari. Truth be told, she felt a bit sorry for the Lieutenant. That must be a shitty life to lead. Thankfully, Maliya would only take care of the body, whilst whoever it was that took over headshrinking would take care of the real problem.

"Alright, Ms. Sylvari...standard questions." she said as she fished out her tricorder and began calibrating it. "Any injuries, illnesses other maladies or intercourse with non Human species since your last physical?"

Laying down on the bio bed, Alex tried to think pleasant thoughts as the doctor went through her record. She tried not to think, or care about whatever opinion the doctor may be forming about her, but that was easier said than done.

"No... I don't think so." She replied quickly, eyes staring straight up at the soft lighting above her. "Though its only been five days since my last... exam." She admitted. Alexis tried not to jump to any conclusions about what the doctor may be thinking... though jumping straight to the routine offered a few possible clues. The doctor seemed uninterested in her and her condition. If that was true, then it seemed the best reasonable outcome.

Maliya nodded as she ran the pattern enhancer down Alexis' body, "Alright. I ask everyone this stuff." she said, "I know of your case. And frankly I'm not interested in torturing you with questions. You must be sick of them. That and...you'll get plenty of questions from the shrink I imagine. I fix bodies, you know?" she tried to come off joking, but she wasn't sure if it worked.

Alexis felt like jumping up and hugging the doctor, but figured that would make her sanity even more questionable than it already was. "Thank you..." She said, smiling somewhat awkwardly. "My sister is a doctor on Earth. We talked, so I can probably spare you some of the minor... stuff."

"I'll get in touch if needed." Maliya nodded, scanning further, "You are...adjusting? I mean it's quite a change, as similar as the genders are, we do operate in a lot of things differently."

"I'm trying..." Alexis admitted somewhat wistfully. "This body remembers things I don't, and fights against what I'm used to. When it first happened... I thought there might be a compromise somewhere, but its pretty clear that I've got to just... give up what I was. The shift in hormones is altering everything about me, and most doctors have told me that I shouldn't fight it." There was a chance she could go crazy, they said.

"I guess its not all bad though..." Alexis realized she was beginning to ramble. "I'm sorry Doc, I didn't mean to go on about it."

Maliya shook her head as she scanned Sylvari, "Don't worry about it, if you want..talk...if you don't, don't." she shrugged, ~Please don't, I don't care. Please don't, I don't care. Please don't, I don't care.~ a mantra went in her head meanwhile.

"Okay..." Alexis said, somewhat embarrassed at having rambled on. She opted to keep quiet, allowing the doctor to continue with her scans. Though the doctor seemed sympathetic enough, she had stated that she was only really interested in whatever medical matters Alexis may have. Perhaps that was for the best.

"So, how regularly do you need your checkups?" Maliya asked again, knowing they were written down in Sylvari's file, but she wanted to hear what s/he would say.

"Monthly... for the next five years." Alexis said with some resignation. "The neurosurgeons said I would fully recover, but some of the... somatic nerve synapses? I guess some of the connections are still healing." Alexis shrugged. She knew the basics, but neuroscience wasn't really her field; she wished she'd paid a bit more attention to that part of her academy studies.

"It takes a while for the new connections to be made. But you should heal just fine." with that said Torrna returned the enhancer probe to its socket and closed the tricorder. "Take one day of the month to do it, and just come on over. I won't set any dates...do it when you're comfortable. Alright?"

"Sure Doc... sounds good. And thank you." She smiled, then slowly sat up, running a hand through her hair to get it back into a semblance of order. Overall Alexis felt somewhat relieved about the meeting with the doctor. Though she wouldn't exactly classify the lieutenant as a close confidante, at least it was clear she wasn't looking to make things more difficult for Alexis than they already were.

"With that said, I kick you out of my Sickbay. I don't want you in here for another month." Maliya said as she put away the tricorder. "You're healthy physically, mentally..." she wanted to say 'Not really my problem' but managed to bite her tongue before she said more, "That you'll work out with the Counselor. Now git!" the Bajoran grinned.

Alexis hopped off of the biobed, doing her best to flash the cocky grin that all pilots and helm officers seemed to know so well. Well, at least medically I'm fine. Alexis thought as she bade her farewells to the doctor. She knew Torrna thought she was crazy, but at least the doctor was honest, and direct in her approach. Too many people had been evasive with their concerns lately, so it was somewhat refreshing to have the doctor say... or at least insinuate what was on her mind.

Until next time... Alexis thought, knowing that next time would come much sooner than any pilot would hope.