Posted by Lieutenant Darklis Castle (Chief Science Officer) in Sickbay - Check In

Posted by Lieutenant Dr Tealor Tessan (CMO/CNS) in Sickbay - Check In

Posted by Lieutenant Darklis Castle (Chief Science Officer) in Sickbay - Check In
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Darklis sat in a chair in the relatively small main area of sickbay that sported two biobeds and a table. Granted, compared to the Matrix which had an impressive three biobeds, she was hardly one to compare apples with oranges. Her eyes flickered to the adjoining area that was the chief doctor’s office. He wasn’t in just yet. She had made an appointment but was early. Not actually fully cleared presented her with a plethora of options. Sitting early in sickbay taking in the sights, the hushed whispers of the two medical staff sorting equipment at the far side of the room (was it something in training that they couldn’t speak at a normal volume?), the vague antiseptic smell that seemed to pervade any doctor’s office or medical facility throughout history, was one of those options she took.

She could have been unpacking her meagre possessions but that seemed too depressing to her. This was a new place, a new home, and, to a degree, she resented it. The position excited and terrified her. For one who was eager in risk-taking, this somehow didn’t quite qualify in her thoughts. Yes, her thoughts, the doctor was reputed to be of Betazoid origin. How would he take to her thoughts? Would they walk her off the ship and toss her suitcase after her and say ‘no thanks!’? Was this posting going to prove her families’ opinions that she should be back on Wolf with them? Her short tenure on the Matrix was proof enough for the family that she should not be out here in space. It was dangerous. Danger was there. Well, if the Borg first, then the Dominion then the Breen didn’t prove that Wolf 359 wasn’t invulnerable to things from space then, to Darklis, nothing would. Why not meet it head on?

She sighed, her fingers not finding a place to settle. She had been provisionally cleared for duty, promoted and posted here all in a blindingly swift single week. She had not understood it and distinctly didn’t feel worthy of it. Fast tracked out of the Academy as a LtJ she had taken a year back at the Daystrom Institute and then assigned to the Matrix, a sleek, small, three decker that was built to dip into spatial storms and do experiments and take readings and see what new AI programming came up with side by side with more standard AI protocols. She just liked the ride, just like she liked the amusement park rides. The crazier the better. And the Matrix was crazy. And her command crew was no different. They were like a bunch of old hippies - or gypsies - bartering with the universe. Maybe that was why she thought it was like home, that she belonged there. Here? She sighed again and shifted her fingers and hands about again.
- Darklis Castle, CSO

Tealor strolled through the door with a young ensign female their laughter filled the room as they entered. “That was about the funniest thing I have ever seen, maybe next time don’t take the rapid side way’s ” he said placing his hand in the middle of her shoulders behind the neck. “You did great Ensign Burk, see you in two weeks and don’t forget to send me your homework” he finished. The ensign smiled warmly which slowed down her laughter. “I’ll see you then doc” she said then turned and exited again.

The laughter caught her attention moreso than the soft swish of the pneumatic doors. Her eyes studied the two. Evidently the doctor with the Lieutenant pips was the doctor and the black Betazoid eyes clinched it. What surprised her was the familiar nature of them. Her head tipped to one side as she followed their course into sickbay. Homework? Who had homework on a starship? Her brows furrowed in thought on that, but the description of ‘taking the rapids’ caught her attention. Did this Ensign Burk like such things? Mentally she made a note on that, even as something inside of her was pushing back at that very thought. Her eyes followed her out, thinking, which only stopped as the doors closed as though severing the connection.

Walking over to the nurse on station he ran his hands through his hair a little and then took the pad from him and walked over toward the Lieutenant in the waiting area. “Thank you, Max,” he noted, the five foot ten nurse looked small to Tealor’s six foot four frame. His deep black eyes met Castle’s as he walked up and seemed to burrow down into her soul.

Putting her attention back to the doctor she noted that he had an expanse of hair. Still short by her family’s standards, but he had a handsome strong jaw. If he kept his hair that way how might it streak with grey, she wondered. The nurse stood. Darklis was surprised at her height. Darklis herself was above average for her the women in her family, but the two distinctly stood out. His of her scrutiny was unnerving. He knows! She thought to herself. I’m out.

“Lieutenant Castle?” he asked extending his hand suppressing his telepathy.

Dr Tealor Tessan
Chief Medical Officer U.S.S Wolverine

Standing, she took his hand with the confidence borne of being from a large family that was not shy in their expressiveness, even if she felt less confident inside. “Doctor, thank you for taking me. You must be quite busy with crew transfers, final reports for offboarding and us new staff.” Her eyes flickered to the closed doors to sickbay and thought that he must not have been ‘that’ busy, but then she was a late entry to the roster.

“mhmm” he mumbled under his breath as he was trying to gain access to her medical and pyc records. “It’s a small ship, I was just about finished up when your transfer hit my desk” he responded his eyes shifting over the data on the pad he looked away from it as she spoke again.

“I just received my transfer orders this morning.” She shrugged ever so slightly. “I suppose they didn’t want any grass to grow under my feet, or something.” It was the ‘or something’ that she was more concerned about. Normally filled with enthusiasm that had been dampened of late. She had expected another three months of recovery, at least from what she had overheard by the attending staff. The point was, she was evidently cleared, and who was she to question that? “I understand you do double duty as doctor and counselor?” That was unusual, though with a ship staffed as it was, perhaps that was not unusual. The Matrix had a doctor but not a counselor.
Darklis Castle, CSO

He smiled warmly and shook his head yes as he motioned her over to a bed. “I do, at some point they may assign a counselor to us but since I have doctorates in both seems I got the call.” his eyes shifted to the medical bed. “Well, they have not released your records to me yet, mind hopping up here so I can get a few scans?” he requested patting the top of the bed looking down at her with a slight smirk. Tealor did not wait for her to agree but moved around the other side and waited for her to hop up on the bed pulling out a medical tricorder.

Dr Tealor Tessan
Chief Medical Officer U.S.S Wolverine

“That is strange,” Darklis said, frowning. “They said they were sending it over. Check under Castle as a first name. They have made that mistake before. I think it suits their sense of dark humor, pardon the pun, to have me in as Castle Darklis.”

Sure enough it would come in as that when Tealor checked ..

Tealor shook his head sure enough it was indeed reversed something he remedied quickly. “In deed they did I have corrected that, give me a moment to look it over.” he noted his eyes scanned through the notes in more detail.

Evaluation of LtJg Darklis Castle after the technical loss of the USS Matrix, NCC 28405-C
Comments by LtCmdr Travis Horne, Assistant CMO, Black Rock Base, and Lt Wilma Walker, Dept of Counseling, Black Rock Base

Physically I am on the fence on clearing Darklis for duty and reassignment. The near loss of the Matrix where she was an AI Specialist officer affected her physically in a way that, in my opinion, needs more therapy. Command put me into a corner when I was asked whether this therapy could be done on board a ship or required the facilities of a starbase. Darklis has been in recovery for the past three months for a severe trauma to her nervous system. The ship encountered a Category 6 Ion Storm with unusual energy ripples that devastated the Matrix. All the crew aboard were killed but for Darklis and another. She was in the computer core at the time of the accident, in a higher shielded region, that saved her from the fate of the rest of her shipmates. Still it affected her neurological and nervous system to an extent that she has uncontrollable, brief spasms in random areas of her body. These have lessened to a great degree but the neuro-therapy is, in my opinion, not yet complete to my satisfaction. Still, they can be performed on board a vessel. My recommendation is twice a week sessions. Attached are the ongoing scans from every 47 sessions she has had. Any attending doctor can assess the level of treatment she requires, though spasms and other incidents are down 79% from the beginning.

Lt W Walker, PhD Psychology. The mental trauma that Darklis Castle has undergone was formidable. To say that she has a degree of survivor’s guilt is not an understatement. The incident on the Matrix left Darklis as the only crewmember conscious or alive. One other was unconscious and treated by her through the months before she was found. Her commitment to life is substantial. Her own words for how she endured the time was that she would ‘not give her family the satisfaction of dying in space’. The other crewman, one William Carr, is still in a coma. In sessions, her physical condition irritates her but she knows she is improving - just not as readily as she would like. For things that had come easily to her this is noticeably frustrating to her. More importantly her mental state is fragile with regard to relationships. Coming from a large family she has, from earlier records, separation issues wherein her family was nearly all opposed to her leaving for study in Starfleet and with the Daystrom Institute. She had formed bonds at the Institute, Academy and Matrix, each of which were severed to different degrees. Relationally she has a sense of isolation and a fear of losing yet another family should she try to bond. Any future assignment expect her to not leap into bonds of friendship readily. This may take time and other counseling sessions to bring her out of her self imposed shell. Neither of these states are ones that keeping her chained to a starbase or other facility would profit her.

Hopping up onto the biobed she lay back and relaxed, or tried to.

Engaging a scan in relation to her nervous system as compared to the original would show a yellow line hovering on a graph quite distinct from the ‘norm’. Comparing it to how it was once she was rescued and treated it was once a much greater deviation from the norm. It has come down quite a bit but it was still not right or in a ‘green’ zone of a normal range.
- Darklis Castle, Lt, CSO

His face was rather stoic revealing little of what he was thinking as he read the summary report. There were a few moments where a sadness broke through the mask briefly, though it was unclear if it was related to her or something deeper from his own memory. Is eyes shift several times from the pad to the bio bed, he then checked a few things with his tricorder although the bed provided the information he needed, old habits seem to take over more often than not. “Thank you Lieutenant,” he said with a warm smile. “Looks like you are doing ok Medically you are cleared for duty. ” he said not wanting to air her personal business around the room. He waved his hand in a motion towards his office. “If you could join me in my office briefly I would like to have a brief conversation. ” he said waiting for her to come along side him. “I like to take a moment with each new member of the crew.”

Dr Tealor Tessan
Chief Medical Officer U.S.S Wolverine