58807.03-0800 - "A New Life"

"A New Life"

Lt. Tyzur, Chief Medical Officer
Lt. Cmdr. Shirik Lektar, Chief Operations Officer

Location: Various, USS Vanguard
58807.03, 08h00

***

It was a quiet morning. Tyzur glanced at his final transfer authorisation while sipping coffee, a human beverage he had learned to appreciate during the intense shifts at his previous posting. He paused as he reached the line ‘Assignment: Chief Medical Officer, USS Vanguard’. Not ‘Resident Doctor’, not ‘Former Borg’, but Chief Medical Officer. He read it several times before closing the PADD. It was the first posting that was entirely his choice. He remembered the parting words of his mentor, another El-Aurian physician. “You spent a century healing bodies because you were ordered to.”, a pause, “Now you get to heal people because you choose to.”.

Time to pack. Despite his age, Tyzur owned surprisingly little. The Borg collective had little room for personal affairs. His time at the academy and his position at Starbase 327 on the edge of a warzone left him with little time for a personal life. He gathers his Risian lute, a collection of science fiction novels from Betazoid, Vulcan, and Cardassian authors, a holopicture of his mentor, and replacement uniforms specially tailored around his cybernetic right arm. Tyzur glanced at the concealment glove he got during his academy days to make his implants less noticeable. He picked one up and considered packing it. Instead, he put it into the replicator for recycling. He was tired of pretending his arm wasn't there. He wasn’t proud of it, but he wasn’t ashamed of it either.

The corridors of the Utopia Planitia transit station were well-worn, providing a temporary home for countless Starfleet crews about to embark on their missions. Tyzur walked past an observation window, and spotted her. USS Vanguard. NCC-76381. She was small compared to other docked ships like the Intrepid and Sovereign classes. It would be an adjustment, living spaces on Borg cubes and starbases are massive.

The gray-haired Tellarite glanced up from the transporter console as Tyzur approached.

"Lieutenant Tyzur?"

"Yes."

His eyes flicked to the cybernetic arm, then back to the console.

"Hm."

He frowned at the readout.

"You're carrying... just under twelve kilograms of cybernetic hardware."

"Eleven-point-eight," Tyzur replied. "I maintain it myself."

One bushy eyebrow rose.

"You actually know the weight?"

"It helps when recalibrating the inertial compensators."

The Tellarite gave an approving grunt.

"I like officers who know their own maintenance."

He tapped a few more commands, then paused as another line of Tyzur's service record appeared.

"Starbase 327."

"Yes."

"That's a hard posting."

"It could be."

The Tellarite leaned back slightly.

"I've beamed more casualties off that station than I care to remember."

For a moment, his usual gruffness softened.

"They always said the doctors there were miracle workers."

He finished entering the transport coordinates.

"Don't prove them wrong."

It’s about the closest thing a Tellarite gives to ‘good luck’. Tyzur inclined his head.

"I'll do my best."

The Tellarite snorted.

"Good enough. Transport lock established. Vanguard transporter room one is ready to receive."

As he rematerialised, he was greeted by Lieutenant Commander Lektar, Chief Operations Officer.

Shirik stood at the console of Transporter room 1. She'd looked over the personnel records of their new doctor, and wasn't overly thrilled to be meeting him. Why did they so seldom seem to get regular doctors on her postings? She let out a breath as they signaled the transport. "Ready." The familiar whine of the transporter filled the small room as the beam of light shimmered and coalesced into Tyzur. She nodded a greeting with a neutral expression. "Welcome aboard, doctor. Do you wish me to escort you to your quarters, or sickbay?"
 
Tyzur stepped off the platform.

"Thank you commander! I'd like to get settled into sickbay first. Would you come in for a medical checkup? It's standard Starfleet procedure for a new crew, and in my experience things can go sideways very quickly."

One eyebrow went up. He hadn't even stepped off the pad yet and already was wanting to start on checkups? She managed not to frown. "Very well." she said, "This way." She led the way out of the room and to the turboflit not far away. She may as well get this over with, she thought.  

He detected the unease in her. They had warned him that would happened after being liberated from the collective. Still, it wasn't going to stop him from doing his job. They followed the corridor and turned a couple of corners, and there was sickbay. It was a modest facility, but more than enough for a crew this size. Upon entering, Tyzur noticed the biobeds to the left. He gestured to one of them.

"Please take a seat."

He considered using the medical equipment in his cybernetic arm for the checkup, the scanner's resolution is 2.4% higher than that of standard medical tricorders after all. But since he had sensed some apprehension from the commander, he thought bertter of it. He had a quick look around the room and found where the medical tricorder was stored. He began the scan.

"I've read your medical record, you have quite the medical history. Everything seems to be in check, but we'll have to keep an eye on things. I haven't come across a Drokari before. I see similarities to Vulcan physiology, but there are differences. Any chance you could put me in touch with the Drokari so I can get a look at their medical texts? It would help me treat you more efficiently."

She hopped up onto the biobed. While he was retrieving his tricorder she took a moment to look him over over, noting the cybernetic appendage. She filed it away for later but otherwise had no reaction to it. 

At his request she almost smiled at the sheer absurdity. But he wouldn't know. "My people would not speak to you," she said. "I can attempt a request myself, but I'm not sure they would approve it."

It's been a while since he encountered an unfamilar species. It's part of why he signed up for an exploratory mission. It would be exciting to figure out the differences from Vulcan physiology. But he wouldn't let his excitement show, that would be unprofessional.

"I see. Please do, it's worth a shot. Thank you for having your checkup so quickly, it can be a challenge to get the crew in sometimes. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"Indeed," she nodded, hopping off the bed once more, glad it was over with a minimum of questions. "If you require any supplies or equipment, let me know. Cargo is still coming aboard."

"I've requested some cutting edge xenobiology equipment. Has that been approved? I'd like to upgrade Biolab 1 so we're ready to study any new life we'll encounter." 

"I will certainly check on that and if not, I will see to it that it gets approved and delivered before launch. Is there anything else?"

"That's all, thank you!"

Tyzur sat down in his office chair and picked up a PADD, not sure how to end the conversation.

She nodded. "Let me know if you require anything else," she said, tapping on her PADD as she exited sickbay. With any luck, she wouldn't be back any time soon.