Required but Mundane

Posted on Thu Nov 20th, 2025 @ 5:48pm by Lieutenant Xex Wang & Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar & Ensign Kaelira Tamsin

Mission: Port of Call
Location: USS Sojourner
Timeline: Mission Day 15 at 1400

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Sickbay
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Sickbay was a quiet bustle of activity, none of it particularly frantic. Folk were simply going about their rounds and daily business, checking in on this condition or that, taking care of the mundane tasks of keeping the complex medical realm ticking over as efficiently as possible. It was a little busier than usual now they were docked at Pathfinder, as departing crewmembers got their last medical checks before being released, and arriving ones were checked in.

Held using one hand by its shoulder strap hung his duffle bag, his semi transparent shades across his eyes, and his medical file on a PADD in his other hand, Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar entered the Sickbay. He immediately went to a free biobed, he put his bag on the end of the bed before he stood by it as he waited to be noticed. He pulled out the ear cuff Hannok had given him at their parting. It was so beautiful, dark green and black vines design that had a blue jewel that dangled by a chain to just in front of the Tragus part of the ear.

"Consider it a good luck charm, he says," Amarok echoed Hannok's words. It had come in a gift box, and he'd adored it immediately as he could wear it. The sad part was Starfleet's dress code forbid any jewellery unless it had religious or cultural purpose. A good luck charm was not one of them. Maybe he could ask permission when he reported in. He mused. If only Romulans or Remans had such a tradition, he snarled as his top lip curled up, and his nose scrunched in anger, his Reman fangs bare. Another reason to hate Romulans, maybe Remans.

He needed to calm down. He relaxed his face and simply put the cuff around his right ear. Amarok would remove it if ordered to do so. He put the box back in his bag and picked his PADD back up from where he had placed it. He decided to read his medical file while he waited. The morning had been full of high emotions between him and his men, they had to leave the station. Hannok had to get the Unstable Unicorn back to the Alpha and Beta quadrants since the wormhole had an unexpected brief open window, and Rafe was off with his small team in a scout ship for recon work. He figured he'd report aboard, since the Sojourner arrived yesterday.

A small woman with a portable stasis unit in her hands stepped past Amarok's biobed as his teeth flashed and she shied to the side, blue eyes wide with surprise-- and maybe a bit of fear. She cleared her throat and said, "We'll be with you in just a moment," but it came out more of a squeak than she had intended it to. She mustered a shaky smile for the man, reminding herself that he was in Starfleet uniform, however scary his teeth were. Ducking her head, she scurried off, stopping next to a silvery-skinned woman with a light fuzz of gunmetal gray hair on her head. The pair exchanged a couple of words and the small woman continued on her way with her stasis unit.

The silvery skinned woman, a labcoat draped over her teal medical uniform, finished up what she was saying to the Andorian in front of her, flashing him a bright smile and clasping his hand warmly. She stepped back and said a few more words to him before swiping up her PADD and tapping some information into it while she walked slowly from the Andorian's biobed to Amarok's, clearly distracted. Despite the distraction, she moved easily through sickbay's flow of people despite a very slight limp, sidestepping where she needed, pausing to let folk past. It wasn't a big space, but it was busy, and she clearly had her finger on the pulse of what was going on.

Finally, she stopped in front of Amarok, just as she finished what she was doing on her PADD which she then swiveled around behind her as she clasped her hands behind her back and favored the man with a pleasant expression on the friendlier side of professional. "Good afternoon," her eyes flicked to his collar, "Lieutenant...." she left the sentence hanging, inviting him to introduce himself.

After witnessing the petite woman scurry off in fear from Amarok's angry expression, he'd already put the cuff on as he relaxed his anger, but now he felt embarrassed. He was later in an encounter with a most fascinating individual of silver. Amarok blinked ere he smiled. The semi transparent shades across his complete black and shiny eyes didn't hide how they had widened slightly. "Hello, Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar," he offered her his hand in greeting.

Taking the hand, she shook it with the same warmth she'd first greeted him with, hoping she was adequately hiding her burning curiosity about the new science chief. Though the gesture was warm, her hand was slightly cooler than one would expect from a human. "Very pleased to meet you, and welcome aboard. I'm Xex Wang, the CMO on board; I'm hoping your here for your intake physical and not for anything more concerning from a health perspective?" She lifted her brows inviting him to fill in the blanks for her.

"Thank you, Doctor, and I am happy to meet one such as yourself." Amarok began and couldn't quite hide the slight body tilt to see if her skin shimmered from a different angle, but quickly straightened. "I am here for my boarding medical, indeed. I am serving as Chief Science Officer as of when I report in." He chuckled softly and quickly added. "I seemed to have scared one of your staff, I do wish to apologize to her before I leave." He stated and glanced down at the PADD with his Medical file on it ready for transfer.

"One such as myself?" she asked with mingled surprise and curiosity, letting her own interest show as she cocked her head to the side. "I believe it is yourself who is the oddity. We do not often see those of Reman descent aboard." Xex placed her PADD to one side, bending slightly to do so. Indeed, sickbay's lights shimmered on her skin as though it had been dusted in very fine, subtle glitter. When she straightened up again, an expression of mild worry creased her brow. "I have not seen you do a single scary thing since you've been here, lieutenant. If Nelara is afraid simply by your presence, I believe that is her problem, and should not be yours." There was a light crack of censure in Xex's tone; perhaps this was not Nelara's first issue with a patient.

"Of course," she continued more gently, "I shall not stop you from doing so. Just... don't feel obliged." Xex flashed him a genuine honest-to-goodness smile as she slipped the tricorder off her belt and opened it. "I understand your eyewear is not for fashion purposes," she said in casual, conversational tones. "Would you tell me more about them?" As she spoke, she began to move the little device slowly from Amarok's head down toward his navel.

Amarok returned eye contact as Xex spoke. "While that is true, the same can be said about you. It is a pleasure to meet someone of a new species, well new to me. I must say, I am curious as to what unique strengths you may have as afforded to you by your biology, though I'm sure the crew has probably already asked such questions of you since you joined them? Sorry, it's the science officer talking." He took a breath and calmed his excitement. That's when he realized something about what Xex said, Reman, not Romulan and he was more Reman than Romulan, yet more Romulan than Reman at the same time. Plenty of Romulans had escaped the Star Empire so he dismissed it, and frankly he didn't care.

He frowned. "It seems when I was reflecting on Romulan weaknesses, I made an angry expression and I believe she caught it. She left before I could apologise." Amarok explained, he smiled again when Xex asked about his shades. "As I'm sure you may be aware, Remans are photophobic, so I had managed to procure many over my life, but these in particular are from my lover. Not sure as to where he got it from. I don't recall him telling me either, well, never had to get new ones in a while." He went on as he crossed his left arm over his chest while the right hand came up to touch the frame of the shades.

After another breath, Amarok smiled. "May I inquire as to what your species is called?" He asked, Amarok didn't realize that he did it, but his hands had come together in front of him as he leaned forward a little in anticipation, ignoring Xex's medical scanner.

Xex's smile was tolerant, if not exactly welcoming. "I would say any abilities I may have are neither unique nor, possibly, strengths, unless you count blending in with a durasteel construction," she said, her tone lightening. "In fact, at times, my biology is incredibly inconvenient. Just ask the captain." The last bitter addendum was muttered almost too low to make out. Her tricorder uttered a few soft tones and she frowned at it, stepping a half-pace back from Amarok.

"You may," she said distractedly, finally answering his question, "but you will be disappointed by the answer." Her gray eyes flicked up to him, a question in them as she gestured to the biobed behind him. "Would you mind laying down Amarok-- may I call you Amarok? I would like to get a more complete scan." Tactfully, she did not mention aloud the deep scarred damage that had led her to this request.

It seemed he’d struck a sore subject. To be fair, he didn’t know the doctor’s struggles—still, the realization hit hard. Amarok cursed himself inwardly for the blunder and moved quickly to repair it. “I do apologize, Doctor. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’ll stop. I should have been more professional. Can you forgive me?” He asked, watching her work the medical tricorder. For a heartbeat, curiosity flickered about the readings she was taking, but she offered no comment, and he let it go.

When she requested the use of his first name, Amarok nodded. “Yes, of course,” he said to both first name and to getting on the biobed, hefting his duffle by the straps and setting it neatly at the foot of the biobed on the floor. “Sorry, I haven’t checked in with the quartermaster yet—that’s why I still have my bag.” He backed up, swung one leg over the biobed, then the other, adjusting until he found a comfy position. “I think these are probably more comfortable than the ones in quarters,” he remarked lightly, hoping the small talk might ease the tension left by his earlier mistake.

Rather than using the voice prompts, Xex tapped a few commands into the biobed's control panel. The bed lit with a gentle glow, then a band of light began slowly scanning Amarok from head to foot and back again. It would sweep several times, scanning him at various different levels, getting a feel for all of his body's systems. While it worked, Xex waved her hand in dismissal. "No apology needed," she said, moving up toward the head of the bed so he would be able to see her while she spoke, "It is I who should be sorry. It is hardly your fault that I was not available when the ship needed me, and I know only too well how curiosity can take the reigns." Her expression softened and she added as a peace offering, "I am Eüralian, from Eüralis. It is a system outside of Federation space, but we are loosely affiliated with some Federation assets. Now, back to you," her gray brows rose, as though challenging him to try to derail her once again. When he did not, her smile returned and she asked, "Do the glasses only cut the light? Or do they have any other corrective properties? I want to make sure we have their makeup programmed into our replicators before we leave. It would hardly do to have our chief scientist blinded by a carelessly broken piece of equipment."

“Eüralian—did I pronounce that correctly?” The sounds caught awkwardly in his throat, and he suspected he’d butchered it. An embarrassed smile curved his lips.

Xex's attention remained on the biobed's readout, but her smile warmed her features. "Close enough for our purposes," she assured him and her expression began to close into concern at whatever it was she was seeing in the diagnostics.

Amarok quickly continued, answering her question. “No, they don’t assist with vision correction. They simply dampen both visible and ultraviolet light automatically, depending on distance.” His smile returned, gentler now as the two moved past the endless exchange of you’re sorry, I’m sorry that had consumed half the visit.

“I actually have six pairs in my bag,” he added. “You’re welcome to scan one once I’m cleared for duty.” A pause, then curiosity softened his tone. “If you don’t mind my asking, Doctor—are there any gatherings for off-duty hours? Hobbies, games, anything like that?”

He raised a brow as his thoughts wandered. Operation Friendships, perhaps—that would have amused Rafe. The habit had begun on Nimbus III, naming their schemes, not just against the Orion Syndicate, daily events and activities joined the naming game, as if they were military operations. The memory made Amarok chuckle quietly; some of those codenames, it extended to their designations for each other often, had been truly ridiculous.

"I do not mind you asking, and there certainly are. I know several of the ensigns participate in board games, and there are often sports matches in the holodeck. What sort of hobbies do you pursue?" she asked, sounding genuinely curious. Just as he had never met one of her, she had never met one of him, and she was having difficulty keeping her own questions under wraps.

"I do chess, a few Trill games that I can't quite recall the names of at the moment," Amarok's sigh sounded frustrated but he continued. "I enjoy wrestling and swimming, and Twister—an old Earth game—yet more importantly I love learning new games." His smile returned in full force, it was a little unnerving because of the shades and his ridged face. "I've lived a rough life to say the least." He lost some of that intensity in the smile yet it remained, slightly subdued.

Finally, Xex stepped back from the display, gesturing distractedly for him to sit up. Her expression as serious as he had thus seen it with no smile in reply to his deceptively simple statement, she met his eyes and held them. "Do they pain you regularly? Or ever?" She did not explain what she meant; the deep scarring her scans had turned up was something no person could ever forget.

It took him a moment to register what the context of her question as Amarok sat up and swung his legs off the bed to stand in a graceful single motion. He pulled his jacket down in that classic Picard way before putting his hands behind his back as he faced Xex. His expression between the joy and sad he had adopted during his gaming talk. "It's more emotional rather than physical, the tenderness does cause some discomfort but that simply drives me to live life to the fullest." He smiled warmly. "I've long come to terms with them and their causes by not letting them influence my life."

He grinned, "they have given me unexpected joy by their appearance to certain individuals in privacy," Amarok smirked at his meaning hopeful to lighten the mood.

Though Xex had been frowning slightly, this lifted her brows with interest. She resisted the urge to smirk-- just-- and said in an entirely overdone undertone, "Why Amarok, we have only just met." Her lifted brows waggled at him in a mockery of flirtation. Flashing him a grin, she stepped back and tapped a few things into her PADD. "Well, you seem hale and hearty. I don't see any lurking secret Dee Cue buggies in your system. There is--" She cleared her throat, trying for neutrality and hitting just short of the mark; she cared deeply about what she said next, "We do not have the facilities on board to do any deep repairs, though I suspect if you haven't had them seen to by now, you aren't looking to now." She lifted an eyebrow in question, but did not wait for him to answer before continuing, "We do have some excellent localized analgesics if you find you would like them at any point. I will leave a note in your file, and you can request them from any replicator, or here at sickbay."

Amarok chuckled, then it evolved into a laugh, and he calmed down a moment later. "Dee Cue buggies?" Amarok inquired, his eyebrow raised.

"I've not been here long, but I have found that the Delta Quadrant breeds its own particular order of species, diseases or otherwise. They never quite behave as you think they will. Fortunately, you haven't picked any up," she added with a comforting smile.

"I see," Amarok replied with a nod. "Thank you for the analgesics, I'll keep that in mind."

He heard the door open and wondered who'd walked in.

Kaelira had finally managed to get herself settled into her newly assigned quarters and almost had a grasp on how her new room mates worked out just by listening to them and spending those few hours talking. She'd already decided that it was going to be a good posting so why not get along with everyone in the process.

The first stop for Kaelira on the round of getting to know the ship and its people better was to see where she'd actually be working, Sickbay. With transfer orders on data padd tucked underhand, Kaelira took advantage of no obstacles as she walked through the doors. She nodded as she looked at her new surroundings and then noticed a someone being treated, it looked like an onboarding check up maybe?

"Excuse me," she said with a smile as she began to walk over, "I'm looking for Lieutenant Wang. I'm Ensign Kaelira Tamsin, I just recently transferred on board via Pathfinder Station as one of the new nurses and I'm looking to report in where or when possible."

Xex looked up from where she was finishing up her notes on her PADD, choosing to input them manually rather than compromise privacy by speaking them aloud. Her silvery expression was professionally interested-- there had been an influx of new crew needing on-boarding and she had already mentally prepared herself for the next patient when the door opened. As Kaelira introduced herself however, the professional expression melted into one of genuine pleasure. "Ah, Kaelira!" she said happily, dispensing entirely with formality, "We have been expecting you. I am she," she added, gesturing at herself, then holding out a hand for the nurse to shake in the human manner. "Xex Wang. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Greetings Ensign," his tone lite and a soft smile as Amarok offered his hand to the new nurse. "Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar, Chief Science Officer," he introduced.

Kaelira shook both Lieutenants hands as she kept the confident smile on her face. "It's lovely to meet you both, and I'm looking forward to work with both of you." She stepped back from the greetings and took a more relaxed stance with her shoulders looser and her weight shifted slightly. "I apologize if I'm interrupting an onboarding medical, I'm more than happy to come back at a later stage if you wish?"

"No need Ensign, it's your turn now," Amarok replied and glanced over to Xex. "I believe there wasn't anything further to be said or done, unless you needed more Doctor?" He did reach up and press on the attachment for his shades on his right side, he shifted the pressure up then down a few times. He didn't say anything about the whole motion as if he did it regularly and not cause for concern. He did however, note to come back for an indepth scan of his eyes and shades when the ship was back in deep space.

"Not at all," Xex assured him, stepping back and gesturing toward the door. "Perhaps I'll see you in the pool sometime. And do make sure you check out Debbie's Diner. It really is a wonderful place to meet people and generally relax. Don't let Debbie intimidate you," she added, flashing him a wicked smile. Sidestepping to tap a few commands into the biobed to set it to its usual decontam protocols, she turned her attention to Kaelira. "I propose we take care of two things at once: I'll complete your onboarding medical while you tell me about yourself and then we can get you settled in. Any counterproposals?" She actually sounded like she was open to them; this was not an order, she was actually soliciting Kaelira's opinion.

"Wait, there's a pool aboard?" Amarok's smile widened and his face crinkled with joy.

Xex raised one finger in caution, "A small one, but a serviceable one," she assured him. "It's hiding away in the gymnasium, but I'm sure you'll find it."

"I'm going to mentally note it down that Debbie's is the place to be and check it out when I get a chance," Kaelira said with a smile to both of them. Who knew, maybe she'd meet some new people and make some new friends out of it. Turning back to Xex, she nodded, "I think two birds with one stone would be perfect. Just tell me where you want me and we can go from there." She was definitely going to like it here.

“Thanks Doctor, yes, I will check out Debbie's as well, have a good day!” Amarok told Xex, a smile conveying his gratitude before he turned to Kaelira. "Perhaps we can go together, new officers stick together and all that, let me know when you plan to go, okay?" He offered to the new medical officer as he approached the sickbay door, as it opened he turned to hear her response.

"I'd like that, thank you," Kaelira nodded her thanks, "Give me maybe two or so hours and I can meet you there at 1630?" She wasn't going to say no to meeting and getting to know someone else who was also just as new as her.

"I'm about to report in to the XO so I may not be able to make it at that time, but I can meet up with you tomorrow, apologies," Amarok's head lowered, sad he couldn't follow through with the Debbie's adventure but he hoped Kaelira could join him the next day.

"Just let me know when and I'll make sure I'm there," came Kaelira's reply and smile.

"See you soon," Amarok replied and with that he bid farewell to both women and he was in the corridor in moments.

The biobed Amarok had been using glowed a pleasant blue, signaling the end of its decontamination cycle. Xex gave a nod of farewell to Amarok and a, "You as well," as he stepped into the corridor. Then she gestured Kaelira to the bed, and held out a hand for her transfer orders. Though she'd already reviewed the personnel transfers for all departments, trying to get a jump on familiarizing herself with her new charges, she now skimmed Kaelira's PADD again. It never hurt to give herself a refresher and anyway, it gave Kaelira time to settle herself and collect her thoughts without a superior officer's regard on her. Glancing up just once, her gaze warm, Xex invited, "Just have a seat. We'll do a quick scan and you can tell me about your last posting.

Kaelira settled herself on the edge of the biobed and made herself comfortable as best she could. "Sure. Where would you like me to start?" she asked with a smile.

A post by:

Lieutenant Amarok Tr'Ragnar
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Xex Wang, MD
Chief Medical Officer

Ensign Kaelira Tamsin
Nurse