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Posted by Lieutenant Fey Kastil (Chief Medical Officer) in Side sim - Sickbay - Cobb dares to submit to a physical

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Side sim - Sickbay - Cobb dares to submit to a physical

“They’re…they’re…shaped like little shuttles!” Cobb gasped, for the briefest of moments transported from the horrors of sickbay and back to the wondrous innocence of childhood. Or, at least, childhood how it was meant to be, since his own had been bereft of both innocence AND wonder.

Reaching out, Zachariah grasped hold of the nearest cookie. It was an armadillo-type, he fancied. Bringing it towards his nose, the captain could not quite stop himself as he allowed the chocolate shuttle a few swoops in the air before docking at his lips. Closing his eyes, were Kastil listening closely, she might just have made out a mumbled whisper of “Cargo bay doors released. Proceed inside,” before he placed the cookie into his mouth, whole, then crunched and chewed noisily through several ‘mmmmm’s.

It was only when the act had been done and the strange cookie swallowed, that the reality of the situation dawned on the man. But of course, by then it was all too late. Whatever poison this monster had laced her cookies with was already coursing through his bloodstream. In a few moments it would all be over. In the whole scheme of things, he probably couldn’t have prayed for an easier, or more flavourful death…

…but as the seconds ticked by and Zachariah Cobb found himself still very much alive and breathing, he dared to risk his first direct study of Lt Fey Kastil. And while it was true that her appearance remained the stuff of nightmares, he fancied, in that moment, that he could glimpse a distant spark of humanity in those peculiar fire-flecked eyes. Or perhaps he was just hoping for another cookie.

“I…” he began, the shame of his seemingly irrational reaction to his new Medical Chief beginning slowly to emerge, “I meant no offence, Doctor. I just…the last few days have turned everything I have ever known on its head and, well, in truth I’m still just scrambling to keep up.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

The doctor was caught off guard with the Captain’s behavior with the cookie, it took every ounce of her will to keep from laughing at the man frightened back to a child-like state. Instead, she offered the Captain the entire container of freshly, well as fresh as they could possibly be, baked cookies. “None taken, coincidence tends to follow me around making me appear like something straight out of an old Clive Barker novel. It tends to have less effect on logical types that are able to explain the coincidences. The fog, for example, is the result of a cleaning solution mixing with spilled chemicals that one of the new staff members dropped by accident. Nothing harmful just looks more ominous than it is.”

“Ominous, aye,” the captain nodded in agreement, his attention only fractionally devoted to her words and currently more concerned with shoveling another cookie into his mouth.

The doctor moves over to the other sheet covered body and pulls it back enough to reveal a sleeping crewman. “This is Crewman Tackt from Engineering, he passed out from exhaustion so he was brought to sickbay to get some needed sleep. This is why the lights are dim and the organ music is playing. That is his favorite type to sleep to, though I prefer the harpsichord myself.”

“Harpsichord?” he stopped chewing for a moment and once more met her gaze with his own. “I’m partial to a bit of classical music myself. In fact, I used to be handy on the violin, as a young lad.”

Doctor Fey moves over to the chemistry contraptions boiling liquids to gesture toward them. “This is my attempt at a temporary protective measure for any biological alteration as a result of the anomalies we encounter. It’s still in theory and testing states so we can’t count on it yet, but it is a work in progress that I will confer with GLaDOS and Synthi-er about.”

“A rational precaution to take, Lieutenant,” Zachariah nodded, his nose now firmly returned to the cookie jar.

She carefully strides back over to the Captain, taking a seat in a rolling chair so as not to be quite as tall in front of him, “Does that help put you at ease sir?”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

“Well,” he considered, through several ponderous chews of mint chocolate, “it’s been many years, in truth, since I’ve felt ‘at ease’ with anything. A remnant affliction from the war, I’m afraid. But I feel confident in saying that, while I might never grow to relish the prospect of a medical exam, routine or otherwise, that there is no other doctor onboard this vessel I would feel in safer hands with.”

With reluctance, he placed his treasured jar of cookies to one side and once more stretched out onto the biobed, a silent invitation for Kastil to commence her…probing. But then belatedly, something else she had said escaped the tangled depths of his consciousness to demand its own measure of attention.

“Our engineers are passing out from exhaustion?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“Indeed.” The Doctor pulled the tricorder back out to continue her scan of the Captain for all his injuries or internal damages. “The Engineering team has been stuck on sixteen-hour shifts to bring many of the unfinished work projects to a maintainable point. I understand that we needed to go, but the ship was not ready. Even my staff and I are working to find ways to extend our supplies to cover what couldn’t be added due to the early departure. We’ll still be able to function, though not very efficiently.
You’ll have to ask CE Hampton for more details, but I had to recommend an increase in water and sodium intake for his entire team. As you can see, that may not be enough as they end up back here once they can no longer keep up.”

“It was in no way my decision to take us out so early,” Cobb sighed, propping himself up onto one elbow to better see the CMO and the general space around her. “But alas, I am only the Captain. And in the ARU that seems to carry as much weight as a…well, as a chocolate shuttle. I don’t expect anyone to work miracles here though. As long as we have primary systems functioning correctly, then everything else can wait.”

The Doctor read the readout from the tricorder and walks over to a medical replicator where she puts in a request for medication that she brings back to the captain. “These are for your liver and kidneys, please take one a day for the next five weeks. One if you can stop drinking, but I’ll not force that decision upon you. Your prescription is set for the next five. There isn’t a lot of damage right now, this is mostly preventative.” She returns to the tricorder readouts, “You are also showing signs of exhaustion, which is understandable given the stress you are under. Increase your water intake by fifteen percent and your sodium intake by three. That will help you to rehydrate and retain the water. I also suggest taking time when you can for stress relief activities of your choice. This will help lower your blood pressure, however, if you find you can’t just let me know and I’ll prescribe something to lower that.”

“Stress relief activities?” Zachariah laughed. “You mean, like…like hobbies? Doctor, I’m a little old for holodeck fantasies and too out of shape for tennis.”

In truth, drinking to the point of semi-consciousness was the only escape from his duties Cobb still retained. It had been almost a decade since he had allowed himself to indulge in his other personal project. And while defeating the Breen lay claim to being his only remaining ambition, he could recall still with painful clarity the destruction that particular obsession had wrought.

The doctor looks at the cookie box she had given the captain earlier and retrieves another one that she hands to the Captain, “These are a lemon sandwich cookie with a strawberry jam. Not quite as decorative but still very delicious.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

“Why, now you are just spoiling me,” the captain winked, eagerly accepting the gift and clutching it to his chest along with the precious box of shuttles and the ordered prescription of pills.

Sliding off the bed and preparing to take his leave, however, Cobb found himself hesitating for a moment, overcome with an unexpected desire for continued interaction with this most curious of individuals.
“So, apart from being overworked and under-equipped thanks to our good friends in the ARU, how are you finding the Leviathan so far, Lieutenant?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb