Act II Scene I: Aftermath of the Battle of Axanar

[Orvost]

Stardate 1/9409.10

Twelve days have passed since the explosion aboard the Pas-de-Calais. The ship has made a deep space rendezvous with the USS Asclepius, a Cygnian-crewed medical vessel. It is a tribute to Commodore Singh’s logistical foresight that advanced medical care was only a few days distant. While under Cygnian care, Cadet Craig and four other crewmembers are fitted with prosthetic limbs. Fortuitously, there is a human medical officer on temporary service aboard the Asclepius. Zea Drennan spent her final academy semester studying advanced bionics under Cygnian tutelage. She received her cadet cruise assignment to serve aboard the Bonhomme Richard, a Constitution Class starship, but her transfer to the Bonhomme Richard has been waylaid by one emergency medical detour after another aboard the Asclepius.

After thirty eight hours of medical care and further repairs, Commodore Singh gives the order for both ships to proceed at maximum warp to the Axanar system. It seems there has been a battle involving dozens of ships between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Pas-de-Calais and the Asclepius will spend several days in warp, so it is decided that Cadet Drennan’s service will be transferred to the Pas-de-Calais to oversee the follow-up care, extended treatment, physical therapy, and psychological counseling of the Asclepius’ new human patients.

Cadet Craig is ambulatory again. He is walking the corridors of the Asclepius, making his way to the teleporter and back onboard the Pas-de-Calais. Cadet Drennan is with him, carefully monitoring the integration of his bionic systems by watching his step. She also has new quarters aboard the Pas-de-Calais and is carrying some of her most precious personal effects. Her other belongings will be teleported to her new state room. It seems she will be sharing quarters with a Cadet April Weathers. The ships are supposed to be at warp within the hour, so there is some urgency in the step of many of the tall Cygnian women they pass in the halls.

[RorytheRomulan]

Walking alongside Craig is a modest, baby-faced intern wearing her hair in a bun. Zea Drennan gave her name when they met with clinical detachment, and currently she seems even more so.

Her first sight of the triage initially rattled Drennan. Vogelsang and one of Drennan's senior colleagues snapped her out of it quickly, but the scene comes back in her mind, like a warzone, transfixing her at a critical moment.
_

action

Bionics: 91 vs 41.

Cadet Zea Drennan

[ManWithDoor]

Alik is a bit of a gossip hound, and he does his best to entertain his Medical colleague as she becomes accustomed to the Pas-de-Calais and her crew. The Engineer is a spacer through-and-through, and has been through more than one disaster in the void. Granted this is the closest he has personally come to death, but at least for the moment he is holding himself together admirably. At least, better than his leg kept itself together.

Alik

Alik - Portrait

[Orvost]

It doesn’t take a trained eye to see Cadet Craig is limping, but Cadet Drennan is skilled in bionics and is the surgeon who attached his new limb. She knows exactly what his limp means: There is too much of a lag between the nerve impulse from the brain and the mechanical output in the heel and toes. There are several things she could lay the blame on: the nature of the injury, the length of time before the injury was properly treated, Dr. Vogelsang’s nerve harvest, the Cygnian implant integrating with a human host, etc. But deep down she places the blame on herself. With time and training, Cadet Craig’s body may learn to compensate for the lag, but the situation is irreversible at this point, and any effort to correct it would just make it worse. She needs to break the news to him. Too bad, he seems to be in such a good mood.

Alik is happy to be up and walking again. He was bedridden for over a week. His new foot was surgically installed less than 24 hours ago, but integration and recovery require immediate use and adaptation. Using the new foot isn’t effortless or second-nature, but he figures he just has to relearn how to do everything. Even though he is limping, there is a spring in his step. Things are going well in his personal life. Cadet Serao is visiting him often. Cadet Weathers visited Alik and confided in him that Cadet Serao had had her eye on him for quite some time and had been seeking Weathers’ help in making herself attractive to human males. Cadet Campeador visits too. He is confused because he heard rumors back at Starbase 11 that Alik and Weathers were an item. Now he hears that Alik and Serao are an item. He wants to know from Alik what is going on, wants Alik to share the “secret” to his romantic success, and admonishes Alik “not to date everybody” and to “leave some for the rest of us”.

[RorytheRomulan]

Craig's conversing does wonders for getting Drennan's mind off of the war scene, and she shares some stories with him about her time on the Asclepius. Drennan asks him to push on his heel, and then push on his toes, making the fault readily apparent to both of them, and finishes her notes. It wasn't hard to read the chemistry between Craig and the Andorian cadet when she came to say hello earlier, and Drennan hopes that will soften the blow.

"There's a significant delay in responses to impulses. That's unfortunate, but it's expected," she says, hiding her mistake. "It might have been too long without treatment, but this foot was built with Cygnian tech besides. Corrective surgery would be too much risk to healthy nerves, for too little gain. My advice is to focus on retraining your leg. Work on timing your steps. With time, you'll overcome it on your own."

[ManWithDoor]

The Engineer is pretty upbeat for a man who was just informed that he's likely going to be limping for the rest of his life. "Well, Drennan, it could have been worse. Could have lost it above the knee in the first instance, or blood loss and tissue damage leading to a later full amputation, or even in this case having much less functionality than I'm getting now." Given how close he came to death by explosion, death by blood loss, death by suffocation, or death by re-entry, this seems close to a best-case scenario.

"And thanks for giving me the truth, always better that than false platitudes leading to wrong assumptions. The warp core would be exploding on the regular if that's how I liked operating."

[RorytheRomulan]

There's a subtle pause before Drennan says, "That's what I'm here for, Alex. I'll be straight with you, but it's important to keep a positive outlook. Even if it seems like you don't need it..." The corner of her mouth twitches in a grin. "On the subject of exploding warp cores, people have been wagging their tongues about you and the resident Andorian. What was her name again?"

[Orvost]

The two humans soon reach the teleporter chamber. Danhaddlewin, the captain of the Asclepius, is waiting to formally relieve Cadet Drennan of her duties aboard ship and to thank her for her months of service. As a parting gesture, Danhadlewin wraps her arms around Drennan and embraces her as a departing daughter. It’s a warm and personal gesture, probably with Cygnian cultural significance, but it’s completely out of line within a Starfleet setting and Drennan is slightly taken back by it. However, she is in no position to question the captain’s actions aboard her own ship. Alik can’t help but smile at the scene. The mother/daughter dynamic is apparent since Danhadlewin is over two meters tall. He also can’t help but notice (and appreciate one last time) the aesthetics of the equine musculature of these exotic women.

A blue, shimmering column of light surrounds the two cadets and they are soon aboard the Pas-de-Calais.

Awaiting them in the Pas-de-Calais teleporter chamber is the Vulcan Engineering chief. To Drennan, at first, he seems a typical Vulcan specimen, except he is slouching and wearing a crooked grin. He has a sickly green pallor and his bowl cut hairdo is so straight and even you’d think he uses his engineering instruments to calibrate it.

”Well, welcome back onboard. Glad to see you have recovered. We sure could have used you these past few days…”

The Vulcan then proceeds to explain the situation aboard the ship in the aftermath of the explosion and the current state of repairs. He also tries to explain why they weren’t able to launch a rescue mission for Alik and the other cadets. It’s strange that a Vulcan senior officer seems obliged to explain and defend his actions to a subordinate. Stranger still, this Vulcan doesn’t appeal to logic or even use the word ‘logic’.

As the Vulcan is winding through his narrative, the door to the transporter room slides open and Doctor Vogelsang hurries in with an armful of data tablets. He is obviously giddy to finally have another medical professional serving aboard ship with him.

”Ah! You’re already here. I’ve already downloaded the surgical records for the personnel treated on the Asclepius. So good of the Cygnians to take my recommendations under consideration for most of the patients. Here, let me show you around. We don’t have a full medical bay--we have a medical station. That means you’ll be making house calls in crew quarters to visit your patients.”

Cadet Drennan and Cadet Craig pass each other a farewell glance as their conversations with senior officers are pulling them in different directions.

[ManWithDoor]

Alik gives Drennan a farewell wave. "Thank you again for the good work on my leg. Happy to be walking again." He smiles. "See you around. And I'll try to make sure my next visit to Sickbay is for a physical, rather than needing more limbs."

Turning back to his superior officer, he follows wherever the Vulcan leads.

[RorytheRomulan]

Drennan falls into the embrace after a short pause, and it helps about as much as Danhadlewin expected. The Cygnian captain receives a spot next to several other crewmembers whom Zea will miss from her posting on the Asclepius.

----

"Uh, please do," says Drennan in quick reply to Craig before he's pulled away by his eccentric superior. What a strange person, especially for a Vulcan. She mentally shrugs and decides to look at his file first out of morbid fascination, and make some polite and discreet inquiries about his demeanor with the other cadets.

Presently Drennan turns to Vogelsang as the two of them remain behind in Sickbay. "U-understood, Doctor. I'll be up to it," she assures him.

ooc

Given Drennan's routine, it's not as daunting for her to move around the ship on a busy day, but by now, after a week, does she have an idea of how far she'll have to walk and how many patients she'll be responsible for?

I made my earlier posts assuming that this was an in-between bit and not an ongoing scene. Sorry. I hope it meshes in just fine anyway.