I want to join Starfleet
Posted on Fri Apr 1st, 2016 @ 11:07am by Lieutenant JG Ricki St. Louis
Edited on on Fri Apr 1st, 2016 @ 11:13am
Mission:
Brave New World
Location: Base Hospital, SB-332
[ON]
Even with ready availability of intelligent self-treatment modules, lives of physicians still remained harried. This wasn't a problem, though, for Ricki because she thrived on remaining busy. Noticing the glut of civilian patients seeking non-urgent care, she made herself available.
In one of the small outpatient rooms, a mother gratefully watched as Dr. Ricki tended to a xeno-child's ear. "Thank you, Doctor. Many healers won't touch patients that aren't in their specialty species."
"Well..." She placed a scanner lens near the child's head, "There's a difference between caution and paranoia. Standard protocol is to acquire stamp of approval from one of your healers as to method as to procedure... and then take care of the problem. And... in the case of extracting a jeweline stuck in an ear canal, it would be absurd not to." She directed the micro-manipulated force-cepts with her cyber synapses. The trapped object floated out inside a mild magenta field. "Done!" The child was all too eager to get up, but she blocked him with open hand, "Hold on there, Tex. I need to put something on those scratches."
The mother shook her head, "I don't understand why it must be so difficult to get such a simple thing done."
Ricki finished up and then proceeded to make general health checks, "Bureaucracy is usually the timeless culprit. Out here in the frontier, common sense 'do what must be done' prevails. Within inner territories, it might have caused a medical crisis if a surgeon like myself picked up a tongue depressor." She sat the boy up, "So! Young man, I don't suppose it would do me any good to ask how you managed to get this wedged down in your ear like that?" At receiving a frown, she smiled, "I didn't think so."
Mom reached to pick him up, "He's a good boy. He wants to join Starfleet when he grows up."
Ricki's eyes lit up, "Do you?"
The youngster finally warmed up to the human, "I want to, but my friends say they won't take us because we're too new to the Federation."
The doctor busily cleaned up and put toys away, "I know a couple of species who didn't need to wait long." Finishing up, she sat down, "Physically, there is much preparation that must be done, first. Everyone needs to know. Would a starship be a safe environment for you? What are your atmospheric and nutrient needs? What might you be allergic to?" She pointed with wide eyes, "Would you be safe for the starship?"
The boy folded his arms in a pout, to which she raised her hand, "I'm serious! Does your body aura fritz the computer every time you walk by? Do you shed laughing dust off your skin? Why just a month ago, a man found out the hard way about kissing an Arachine female. They have venom and it paralyzed him."
The boy's eyes widened, "Did he die?"
"Oh, heavens no. He's fine, now." Ricki looked to the mother, "He said it was totally worth it."
The mother touched her fingers to her head in a smile of disbelief.
Ricki helped the boy put his jacket on. "After environment and species analyses are carried out, Federation non-interference people evaluate if putting Starfleet technology into new species hands is advancing new people too quickly or not."
The boy appealed, "We're pretty advanced!"
She broke into a warm smile, "I know you are. If I were the deciding voice, I'd fire off a medical compatibility analysis to Memory Alpha for distribution to the whole quadrant. You'd be a Starfleet cadet in no time!"
The excited boy couldn't leave without returning for an impressively tight hug.
After they were gone, a nurse approached with a smile, "I think you missed your calling, Dr. St. Louis. You have phenomenal bedside manner."
Ricki stared off, partially distracted by a cybersynaptic survey of other waiting cases, "It's a good color of the rainbow, my friend."
[OFF]
Dr. Ricki St. Louis
Starbase 332
Pegasus Fleet
