Posted by Lieutenant Ilena Rox (Chief Medical Officer) in NALA’S FIRST STOP SICKBAY CHECK-IN

Posted by Cadet Nala Shai’Mori t’Liriena (Scientist) in NALA’S FIRST STOP SICKBAY CHECK-IN

Posted by Lieutenant Ilena Rox (Chief Medical Officer) in NALA’S FIRST STOP SICKBAY CHECK-IN
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Nala found Sickbay easily Deck Four, two turns off the main corridor. The doors parted with a gentle chime, revealing a bright, spotless medical facility alive with quiet purpose. Soft diagnostic tones hummed in the background, and the faint scent of sterilizing agents tickled her sensitive nose.

A nurse at the intake desk looked up as she stepped inside an ensign, human, with warm, professional eyes.

“Cadet?” he asked.

Nala straightened instinctively. “Cadet Nala Shai’Mori t’Liriena, reporting for medical check-in.”

“Welcome aboard,” the nurse said with a small smile. He reached for a padd. “Let’s get your intake logged. Standard procedure for all new personnel.”

Nala offered her datapad, careful not to let her excitement push her into rapid speech.
“Of course, Ensign.”

He scanned her orders.

“All right, Cadet Nala,” he said, tapping in a few notes. “Let me confirm the basics. Species: Caitian. Any known allergies? Medical implants? Ongoing treatments?”

“No allergies,” she replied calmly. “No implants or treatments. My physiological profile and Academy medical history should already be in the Federation database.”

“Already pulled it up,” the nurse said. “Everything looks in order on the administrative side.”

He offered her datapad back.

“You’ll need a standard physical upon arrival. One of the doctors will conduct that shortly. Please take a seat in the waiting area and someone will call for you.”

Nala nodded.

Straightforward. Predictable.
Good.

She moved to the seating alcove along the bulkhead, choosing a spot where she could see the entire room. Her tail tucked neatly beside her, she folded her hands in her lap, repeating her grounding phrase silently:

One step. Then the next.

Crew passed in and out—medical officers, support personnel, a tech rolling a diagnostic cart. Not one seemed bothered by her presence. Not one stared too long. Life aboard the Challenger moved around her effortlessly, like she was already part of it.

She inhaled slowly, letting the sterile air settle her nerves.

Waiting is fine, she reminded herself. Waiting gives me time to breathe.

Cadet Nala

“Hello Cadet. I’m Lt. Rox. How may I help you today?” a Betazoid woman in medical blue walked over with a warm smile and a husky walking beside her.

Lt. Rox, Chief Medical Officer

Nala rose a moment too fast, her boots clicking together as she steadied herself.
Her heart thumped once hard against her ribs.

A Betazoid.
Not just a doctor.
A telepath.

Her Academy instructors had warned her that nothing rattled a Caitian more than the idea of someone seeing behind their mask behind the carefully controlled ears, the trained neutrality of the tail, the layered disciplines meant to keep instinct from bleeding into public view.

She swallowed once, discreetly.

Her ears tried to flick back in instinctive caution, but she forced them still, keeping them in what she hoped passed as a respectful, neutral angle.

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Nala managed, her voice even but a little too soft. “I’m Cadet Nala Shai’Mori t’Liriena. I I’m here for my standard arrival physical.”

Her hands folded behind her back Academy perfect position but her claws pressed lightly into her palms, a tiny grounding point she prayed the Betazoid wouldn’t sense.

So many Cadets were nervous, Rox didn’t think much of it. “Welcome aboard, right this way.”

Nala followed as the lieutenant gestured, her steps light and careful, every movement measured.
The husky trotted beside the doctor, tail swaying gently, and Nala felt the smallest knot of tension loosen in her chest.

She doesn’t seem bothered… by my nerves, Nala realized.
That helped. A little.

The husky beside Lt. Rox appered friendly and relaxed.
Nala wished she felt even half that calm.

The husky nudged Rox and she looked down at him and back at Nala. “This is Ril. He’s my service dog, but he would like to say hello if that is alright with you?”

When Lt. Rox introduced the dog, Nala’s ears lifted in surprise before she caught herself. A service animal. Not medical equipment. Not a security measure.

Just… a companion. A helper.

Her tail gave a small, uncertain tap against her leg.

“If-if he wishes,” she said softly. “I’m not… uncomfortable.”

That was true. Canines didn’t unsettle her. Telepaths did.

Her tail betrayed her once giving a quick, uncertain flick before she clamped it still against her leg.

“I-it’s good to meet you, ma’am.”

She kept her eyes steady, her breathing controlled, her posture respectful but internally she was a flurry of thoughts:

She can sense emotions. Keep yourself steady. Breathe. Don’t seem afraid. Don’t seem… anything. Just be composed. Just be normal.

But the truth pulsed under that discipline:
Nala hoped desperately that the lieutenant’s telepathy was gentle and that her own nervousness wasn’t shouting loud enough to fill the room.

cadet Nala

Ilena had learned long ago to not listen to the people around her. She sensed presences, pings of emotions, but it was more like background noise in a crowded room. “Just have a seat up here, and we’ll get started.”

Lt. Rox, Chief Medical Officer

But Ril’s eyes were warm and direct in a way that felt strangely grounding honest, uncomplicated. Nothing like the quiet hum she imagined behind the Betazoid’s calm expression.

As she moved toward the biobed indicated, she felt the faintest prickle of apprehension along her spine not fear, exactly, but the instinctive tension of stepping into someone else’s domain. Medical bays had a way of making even disciplined cadets feel small.

Then Lt. Rox spoke again, her tone calm, matter-of-fact.

“Just have a seat up here, and we’ll get started.”

Nala exhaled slowly.

She isn’t reaching into my mind, Nala realized with cautious relief.
All she sensed from the CMO was presence strong, steady, but not invasive. Like the soft thrum of engines through the deck plating.

No probing.
No emotional pressure.
Just… background.

That helped more than she expected.

She hopped lightly onto the biobed, keeping her back straight and tail neatly curled around her side. Her hands rested on her knees, claws sheathed, posture as composed as she could manage.

“Of course, Lieutenant,” she said, voice steadier now. “I am ready.”

Internally, she added one more silent wish:

Let me make a good first impression.

cadet Nala

Rox pulled out her tricorder and the hand scanner and began moving it over Nala. “Is there anything specific you’d like to discuss about your physical health?”
OOC: This is where you can add how her physical health is. Anything wrong? Good, unusual, usual, old injuries, illnesses, etc.

Lt. Rox, Chief Medical Officer

OOC: Cool

Nala sat very still as Lt. Rox lifted the hand scanner.
The soft trilling hum of the tricorder rippled over her fur, and every pass of the device sent faint tingles across her skin Caitian nerves responding instantly to even mild sensory input.

She kept her breathing even.
She’d practiced that.

When the CMO asked her question, Nala hesitated only a heartbeat.

“Well…” she began softly, her ears flicking once before she stilled them again. “There is something.”

“The ship feels… loud.”

She winced inwardly. It sounded like a complaint, and she did not want that.

“I don’t mean the crew,” she added quickly, hands folding neatly in her lap. “I mean the ship itself. The engines, the power relays, the environmental systems everything hums a little brighter than on Academy holodeck .”

She paused, tail curling tightly around her side where it couldn’t betray her tension.

“I’m not in pain,” she clarified. “It’s only… noticeable.”

The tricorder beeped softly, and Nala caught the first flicker of readings on Rox’s display. She had a good idea what the doctor was seeing.

Caitian neural signatures were quick—quicker than human baselines by a significant margin.
But Nala’s were even beyond typical Caitian parameters.

She continued quietly:

“My nervous system is… very fast. Oversensitive, even for a Caitian. My Academy doctors said it’s simply how I’m built. Sound, vibration, even changes in air pressure I register them more intensely.”

Her ears angled subtly toward the deck toward the steady vibration of warp engines far below.

“I was hoping you could tell me if this is just something I will acclimate to aboard the Challenger… or if I should be doing something to help with it.”

She lifted her gaze again, trying to hide the worry coiling in her chest.

“I don’t want it to affect my performance, Lieutenant.”

cadet Nala

Rox nodded, comparing the current scans with Nala’s previous medical record. Everything appeared along baseline. Then she looked up. “Most people do notice the noise and feel of the ship at first. It takes a few days or a week to adjust. However, with your increased sensitivity I can give you something to help with that if you feel you need it until you adjust.”

Lt. Rox, Chief Medical Officer

Nala’s shoulders eased slightly when Rox confirmed the scans matched her existing records. Nothing abnormal. Nothing alarming. That alone helped her tail relax its tight curl by a fraction.

But the offer of medication made her ears tilt in cautious curiosity.

She swallowed once before speaking.

“How… how does the medication work, Lieutenant?”
Her voice was steady, but quiet careful.

Her claws flexed lightly against her palms, not in fear, but in the focus of someone assessing a potential threat to her competence.

“Will it affect how I think?” she asked next.
That question came faster, more urgent, the edge of worry slipping through despite her discipline.

She took a breath, trying again to smooth her tone.

“I don’t want anything that dulls my reflexes or slows cognitive response.” Her tail flicked once, betraying her anxiety before she stilled it again. “If there are side effects… I’d like to understand them.”

She paused, sitting straighter.

“Please.”

The word came softer earnest rather than hesitant.

Inside, her thoughts pressed tight and disciplined:

If I take something that blunts my clarity, I could make mistakes. I can’t afford that not here, not now. But if the ship’s noise distracts me… that’s no better. I just need information. Just facts. Then I can decide.

She waited, ears angled forward in alert attention.

cadet Nala