A Necessary Evil

Posted on Mon Sep 20th, 2021 @ 2:00am by Lieutenant Syrial J'naii

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Location: Sickbay

Lee and his fellow new arrivals entered Sickbay and checked in with the duty nurse. Medical in-processing was one of those necessary evils when arriving at a new duty assignment. They took seats in the small waiting area to be called on for the mandatory torture.

Syrial hummed to themselves as they picked up the sickbay from their last patient. In contrast to their messy quarters, the doctor kept the Sickbay clean. They even had a little houseplant in there on their desk; a Pothos from Earth. This was a new acquisition, of course... Syrial's plants tended not to last very long.

"Hello!" The doctor smiled as they walked out into the waiting room. They stopped humming, but they kept with them that sort of rhythmic energy. Look at this. People were on time. Look at all these new and interesting people to meet. "Who's going first?" The J'naii cut right to the point.

'NCOs lead the way', he thought before rising from his seat and handing the PADD with his medical file already opened and ready for upload to the medical database. "That would be me I guess." He gestured to the examination area.

"Alright," Syrial stepped over and grabbed the PADD, looking down to read it even while they back towards the examination area. "Come right this way mister, uh..." they looked for the name hidden among the wall of medical information. "Mister Imlay." Then the doctor looked back up towards him. "Take a seat. How are you feeling? Any medications?"

Lee chuckled as he shook his head. "Only the 12 ounce kind I get with the guys after duty hours. I guess you could say they're over the counter, well, bar counter that is."

"A 12 ounce of what?" The doctor asked as they pulled out the scanner. Syrial was quite familiar with bars and alcohol, but some things went right over their head. They didn't use a universal translator for English; they took small pride in the fact that they had actually learned the languages. But it was still not their first language, and at times like this that became evident.

"Beer, Budweiser Classic to be precise. It is an alcoholic beverage that is only 5% by volume. Less if it is replicated synthahol I suppose." Lee figured he should let the doctor know about his drinking. "I have one or occasionally two during my off duty time, but never within 8 hours of my next watch."

"Ah," the J'naii said as they started their scans. "Yes. Beer. A human beverage, made from hops. I know the stuff. Not my taste. Not to say humans don't know how to make a beverage. I think my favorite human drink is likely rum. If we're talking alcoholic drink that is. If we're talking about drinks overall, well, I don't think you can beat lemonade." The doctor talked as they commenced the scan. "Lemonade," they spoke with a bit more conviction than before. "Is one of the greatest human inventions. Maybe a decade or so ago, when I went to visit my family on J'naii I took a couple baby lemon trees from Earth, planted them out front. Taught my family how to make lemonade," the chuckled. "Might be the only lemon trees on all of J'naii; my people aren't known for getting out much. Where's home for you?"

"New York City ma'am." Lee sat still as Syrial performed her scans. "Nobody special, just a kid from Brooklyn."

"Nobody special?" Syrial chuffed, amused. "New York is amazing. I only flew over, it in a shuttle. But wow. That's the kind of place that people from off-world want to see. It is a testament to human architecture. And you are far from being nobody special. Imagine growing up in New York and then taking to the stars? Man, you must have so many stories. Your scans look good by the way." The doctor turned around to sign some of the paperwork, but that didn't stop them from talking. "What made you decide to leave a place like that?"

Lee sighed. He was asked the same question by most everyone he met who had visited the city. "New York may be a great place to visit, but it's not the easiest place to live. There's still areas that have crime. My neighborhood was one of those places."

"Oh, that's unfortunate." The doctor let out a sigh. "I can see why you'd leave that. I hope your time in Starfleet has been an improvement. I know mine certainly has. I miss my family, but man do I love being in the stars."

Lee nodded. Life in the Corps had been good to him. He was wondering about staying in or possibly going back to Earth after his 8-year hitch was done and joining the NYPD. "I miss home too, not sure what I am going to do yet when my enlistment is up. Still have a couple years before I need to decide."

"Maybe you'll find a different place on Earth to live. I lived in San Francisco for a bit; that was nice. Expensive, but nice. Humans have other colonies too. Sometimes I forget about that." The J'naii chuckled. "My species never moved off its planet. I always forget that colony worlds are a thing. You got anybody waiting for you, back home?"

Lee's father had been a firefighter who died in a four alarm blaze almost two years ago. His mother still lived in the neighborhood and worked as a guidance counselor at the high school. "Just my mom. I have been trying to convince her to move to Miami to live with Aunt Kara, her sister."

Syrial handed the PADD back towards Lee. "I heard Miami is nice too. A similar climate to J'naii." They smiled. "Your scans look good. Do you have any questions, or concerns?"

Lee shook his head. "I'm good Doctor." He gave Syrial a curious look. "I am good. Right?"

"Yeah," the doctor smiled. "You're great. If you ever want to have a, what did you call it? A 12 ounce? Together after our shifts, just let me know." Syrial chuckled. "As for the exam, you're all good. Please, send in whoever's next on your way out."

Lee gave Syrial a nod as he hopped off the exam table. It was actually not to bad for an in-processing physical. No questions that could be found out in his medical records. "Roder that Doc. Have a good rest of your watch. If'n you want to hoist one with us, the guys and I are heading to the ship's lounge after the start of the Dog Watch about 1615 to 1630 hours or so. See you then if you want." He left the exam room and sent in the next marine.