Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Sickbay 1: Ashford’s Physical Evaluation

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Valerie Ashford (Chief Science Officer) in Sickbay 1: Ashford’s Physical Evaluation

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Sickbay 1: Ashford’s Physical Evaluation
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The trip to the Atlantis had been mostly uneventful, and having achieved everything she wanted to during it, Valerie felt accomplished.

Now that she was on board, however, Ashford had a new to do list, and at the top were the required check-ins that would allow her to start her actual duties on board. She intended to get those out of the way as soon as possible, so she could focus on other things.

First stop on her list was sickbay. As most people, Valerie didn’t particularly care for the physical and psychological evaluations, but she understood their importance. Still, she would want to have those two done first before doing anything else.

Having spent most of her life inside starships, and most of all, having grown up in one, Ashford found that her general knowledge of ship schematics helped her navigate any ship she had to set foot on for the first time. The Atlantis was no different. Still, she took the time to study her schematics deeply, even before Valerie herself had walked on board the massive Mythology-class ship. With her experience and her homework done, navigating the new environment had turned out to be smoother than she had anticipated, and the new Chief Science Officer found herself in Sickbay 1 slightly earlier than she had predicted.

Looking around the large sickbay, she flagged one of the nurses walking by.

“Excuse me, I’m Valerie Ashford, the new CSO.” She gave the nurse an apologetic smile, in a silent acknowledgment that she was almost certainly interrupting their work. “I need to get my physical evaluation done. Can you direct me to who I should talk to?”

Lt. Cmdr. Valerie Ashford, CSO

“Lauren,” the nurse yelled out as if she were a waitress speaking to a short order cook. “New chief is here.” Yvonne Washington was not a puzzle or a mystery. With one look at the woman, anyone would see a smart and sassy nurse who either amazing at her job or looking to get fired. She looked up at Valerie and back down at the PaDD on her desk checking the woman in. Leaning back in her seat she slightly side-eyed the chief and picked up the cup of coffee on her desk.

Valerie waited. Her hands clasped behind her back more out of habit than anything else. Any other person might find the nurse’s actions awkward, but Ashford had spent enough time in space to have seen almost everything. A small, almost imperceptible smile settled on her lips as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her.

“You transferred in from the USS Thresher,” she asked taking a long sip of her coffee.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Valerie added with a polite smile and a nod.

“My cousin Ravyonne Washington was dating that hot drink of water in your engineering department. Lieutenant Brecker? Hmmm mmmm hmmm,” she made a satisfying sound with her lips. Leaning in she postured her body as if about to tell a secret but never changed her volume. “Girl I saw one holo of that boy an’ half thought about transferring there myself. Lauren,” Washington yelled over her shoulder not missing a breath when speaking. “Not that I would want to change. The ‘Lantis is a big ship with a lot of hot drinks of water if you catch my drift.” She let out a long melodic laugh that tended to be infectious and made most want to laugh or smile with her. “Now the medical chief is not here right now but I might let him buy me a drink. You will like him. Avoid the graveshift. Dr. Reed is good but tends to be all business. Dr. Lauren is easy going but as you can see deaf.”

Ashford had a vague recollection of someone named Brecker on board the Thresher, but not really a recollection of a face to go with the name. Though to be fair, she didn’t usually hang around Engineering too much, or paid much attention to those around her that didn’t directly impact her work. She was mostly tagged as a loner, and of the only two meaningful relationships she had ever had, one of them had fallen apart because she had been so focused on her own work that she had forgotten about the poor soul. So not knowing specific members of a ship’s crew was very common for her.

The smile in Valerie’s face was wide now. There was no way she would be able to hide it, though she did contain her own laughter, not wanting to seem rude or unprofessional with someone she had just met. Though she had a sneaking suspicion that wouldn’t be the case. Still, better safe than sorry, as the old adage went. Indisposing the medical staff of the large tin can you’re getting ready to be stranded in for the foreseeable future might not be the best move right out the gate. Though Valerie said nothing, she nodded slightly in acknowledgement of the nurse’s words.

Turning in her seat she yelled back at a group of offices. “Dr. Shan,” she belted out again.

“What,” a voice finally yelled back.

Dr. Lauren Shan and Yvonne Washington (nurse)

Ashford kept a polite smile on her face, as her gaze turned to the direction of the sound. It seems she’s not deaf after all. The thought crossed her mind, but she stopped the words from leaving her lips.

Still silent, Valerie waited expectantly for Dr. Shan’s response, not wanting to intrude in the exchange, but she could already see that her time on board the Atlantis would likely be quite more eventful than she had anticipated.

Lt. Cmdr. Valerie Ashford, CSO

Lauren walked out of her office looking flustered. “Do you have to yell? We have comms, comm badges, you could walk,” she listed out a plethora of ways Yvonne could have contacted her as she approached the nurses desk.

“I know you ain’t talkin’ to me like that. I ain’t your personal secretary. I am the duty nurse. I check people in, call the doctor and get coffee,” she said in a sassy but not unfriendly tone. Standing up she handed Lauren the chart. “I am going on my coffee break and if you are nice I might bring you back one.” Yvonne swaggered around the desk and headed to the doors of the sickbay.

“We have a replicator here,” Lauren pointed the stylus across the room.

“Yeah, but you ain’t got that cute dude in the “bean there done that” on the promenade. I might be taking a double break,” Yvonne let out a large chuckle and disappeared around the corner.

Letting out a long sigh, she turned her attention to Valeria. “Sorry about that. Best nurse I have ever had under my command but she takes a bit to know and love. Bed two,” Lauren pointed off to the corner.

Lauren Shan doc

There was a soft smile on Valerie’s lips when Dr. Shan spoke to her. Not a mocking smile. A warm one. The smile of someone who found the situation endearing. There was a wide spread belief, held especially by those not part of Starfleet, but sometimes by young officers too, that life on board a starship was incredibly regimented and militaristic. While that was true to a certain extent, and in many particular situations, the day to day on board was usually much more convivial than one might think. The fact that a random group of people was forced to coexist inside the same enclosed space for years on end played a big part in it, but ultimately, people were always going to be just that… people. And Valerie loved that. It made her feel at home.

“Please, there’s no need to apologize.” Valerie said warmly as she approached the indicated biobed. “She seems like a wonderful person.” Her words were genuine. “And I’ll definitely have to check that coffee place out.” Ashford added as she sat down on biobed two.

Lt. Cmdr. Valerie Ashford, CSO

Lauren paused to look at Valerie with an expression of one about to tell a secret. “Nurse Yvonne Washington can be your angel of mercy or the bane of your existence. Once,” Lauren leaned against the biobed behind her as she spoke, “we had a Commander that got on her bad side. So Yvonne used some duct tape to create a square around her desk. Yvonne claimed it was to ensure that we kept down germs by a six foot social distance. Then she pretended she could not hear the man speak so he had to basically yell out all his ailments.” Lauren let out a chuckle. “She can be sassy, brazen and bold but I have also seen the flip side where she does house calls, checks up on you when you forget follow ups and makes the best damn brownies I have ever eaten. For the record, she seems to like you. You walked in at the end of Risan Love Island and didn’t get the hand to your face to wait.” Lauren smiled warmly at Valerie.

Valerie’s eyes widened as Dr. Shan spoke, but a soft amused smile settled on her lips as well. “I will keep that in mind.” She said with a small chuckle. “I definitely don’t want to be yelling my concerns from six feet away while I’m on board.” Her tone was clearly lighthearted, but Ashford made a mental note to check Risan Love Island’s schedule so she could make sure to not accidentally interrupt the show. Maybe she should even try to know a little bit about it. It might be a good topic for future small talk.

“Okay so let’s not keep you here forever, any aches, pains, lumps, or bruises,” Lauren started the medical check in.

Lauren Shan doc

“Nothing out of the ordinary.” Valerie said with a smile. “I spent two weeks on Earth before I came here, visiting family and whatnot… you know how it is.” She shrugged. “So I grabbed some antihistamine hypos from Starfleet Medical in San Francisco while I was there. I’m sure it’s there on my file but… uh… I’m a starship baby… and I didn’t visit Earth that much growing up.” Ashford have Shan an apologetic look. “I ended up being a bit more sensitive to certain common Earth dusts than most my fellow humans.” Her tone was lighthearted again, but she let out a nervous chuckle. Valerie knew she wasn’t the only one and that there were plenty of people that had been born and had grown up in starships like she had, yet she couldn’t help but feel ‘less of a human’ at times when her connections with her home planet were already dim and being allergic to what many considered ‘normal things’ made it even worse. “So that is under control, and I expect to run its course as I settle on board.”

Apart from the mentioned allergies, Valerie’s medical file would report her as a healthy individual without a complicated medical history. The only other thing worthy of note would be a hospital visit at a young age after having almost drowned in the coast of England. The incident had left no permanent injuries and it would be listed as such in her file, making it almost more of a curiosity than anything else at the present date. Any scans would return the expected normal results.

Lt. Cmdr. Valerie Ashford, CSO