YE/D99 - Ancillary Locations

[Paul]

==

[Theresa Black]

== NRC – CMN Frank Walker Jr. - Tactical ==

Frank was heading down to the Waverider dock to run a couple of daily checks when he was almost knocked off his feet by a speeding flash of yellow.

"My apologies." The person called out as they deftly skipped around him and continued on their way.

They were already out of sight before the first sneeze came. “Ah great...” He managed before a second and a third joined it. “Allergies... Can't live with them, can't...”

He never finished as the next bout of sneezing commenced.

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

==Somewhen before the arrival==

==Arboretum==

Kal-Geal was digging in the arboretum, but unlike a dog who'd be doing it for some nefarious purpose, the CMO was planting seeds for various plants native to San-Tarah in a section that he had reserved for trying to regrow a piece of his homeworld. He had noticed that there was a new Midshipman assigned to him, and Lieutenant Beinn had made sure to send a message to her to meet her Chief in the Arboretum, rather than in Sickbay.

There were several plants that were also present on Earth, and other worlds, with medicinal usages. Mostly because Kal-Geal didn't want to have a medical supply shortage of their advanced modern medicine, and being able to fall back on the plants he had grown for supplemental purposes made him feel more secure in his position. Klingon-trained officers also preferred natural remedies, as their honor demanded they recover on their own with minimal assistance; plants however, harvested on one's own, was part of this minimal assistance, and fit in culturally for Kal-Geal's people as well.

Being wolf-like, the CMO was the only one of his kind in Star Fleet as far as he knew, but he hoped this wouldn't come as a shock to his Midshipman.

==tag Midshipman Sara Kiernan==

[Sara Kiernan]

Sara had just walked into sickbay when she was stopped by a nurse. “You’re the new arrival?” 
“That’s me.” Sara offered a professional smile.
“The CMO is waiting for you in the arboretum.” And before Sara had a chance to ask why, the nurse had moved onto other business, conducting her day as if there wasn’t a very confused looking doctor standing in the doorway.

Walking down the halls, Sara tried to puzzle out why a meeting between the Chief Medical Officer and a subordinate would take place anywhere other than sickbay. She supposed the environs of an arboretum might be pleasant, relaxing, conducive to easier and better conversation. But none of those reasons had ever led any other officer to conduct meetings this way.

When the arboretum doors slid open, Sara entered gently, taking in everything around her. Life finds a way. She walked around until she saw a medical officer’s uniform. The figure of the person in it gave her pause, she’d never seen anyone like him. A new type of biology to learn. “Sir. Midshipman Kiernan, reporting as ordered.”

==tag Kal-Geal Beinn==

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

“Sir. Midshipman Kiernan, reporting as ordered.”

Kal-Geal looked up from where he was digging, and replied,

"At ease Midshipman Kiernan. I apologize for the change of location, but I needed to get these plants in the ground before I wouldn't have any time to do so. I'm Kal-Geal Beinn, Child of San-Tarah. I know my species is quite alien to most in the Federation, and that's because my homeworld of San-Tarah was absorbed into the Klingon Empire a few decades ago. As for why I wanted you to report here, through my Star Fleet and Klingon Academy training, I've learned to rely on plants as well as technology. My species' technological level was on par with Earth's Bronze Age when the Klingons came, so these plants are our backup as they are what the Federation has learned to extract and synthesize their medications from. Naturally, these are only meant to be used in an emergency, if our supplies are ever exhausted."

Kal-Geal got up from where he was, and walked over to Sara. At six foot ten, the Child of San-Tarah was more than a foot over Sara, but despite looking like a werewolf from ancient Earth myths he wasn't threatening. "I understand you're a surgeon, which is good, as I'll need steady hands now that R'Kaar Ragarri, the former Chief Medical Officer, has been reassigned. I think he would have gotten along well with you though, as he was also a musician. But, as you can see, I do have trouble with Federation surgical technology." He showed off his paws, which had three fingers and one thumb, each ending with claws that appeared to be sharp.

==tag Sara==

[Sara Kiernan]

“I understand you’re a surgeon, which is good, as I'll need steady hands now that R'Kaar Ragarri, the former Chief Medical Officer, has been reassigned. I think he would have gotten along well with you though, as he was also a musician. But, as you can see, I do have trouble with Federation surgical technology.”

Sara chuckled. “Yes, sir. When the medical academy advisor showed me the tracks I could pursue, I was immediately drawn to surgery. I’m happy to be of help as your ‘steady hands’.” She looked around at the plants. “I’m afraid it will take me a bit of study to become familiar with direct application of herbs for any healing purposes. I only know them heavily combined and synthesized to suit a hypospray.” She paused for a second. “But they are lovely.”

==tag Kal-Geal==

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

"That's where Science comes in handy. Run the plants through an extraction routine, and combine it with a standard suspension, and you get a hypospray fluid that is biochemically similar to the concentrated medicines we get from Star Fleet Medical. In a pinch, some of these you can place directly in a wound site to assist with their antiseptic or analgesic properties. Those techniques are in a study of field medicine, one I had to learn at the Klingon Academy."

Kal-Geal motioned for Sara to sit down on one of the benches in the arboretum. Several tall trellised vines looped their way around their stabilization fence, nearby, and the soft sound of a water stream could be heard as the arboretum began its self-watering protocols. Kal-Geal sat down nearby as well and added,

"I'd ask you why you wanted to get into medicine in the first place, but I'm also interested in your motivations for staying in medicine, past the Academy. Would you mind sharing what motivates you to keep you practicing medicine?"

[Sara Kiernan]

“Would you mind very much Sir, sharing some reference materials for that type of field medicine? One thing about being a doctor, Sir, is that you never stop learning.”

Sara sat where she was instructed to, thinking this was going decently well. “I was drawn to medicine because… it was the discipline I could follow where I could avoid carrying a weapon. My whole family got a lesson in what a single sidearm can do. I stuck with medicine after the academy because I found it deeply fulfilling. I chose it because I wanted to join up, but I didn’t want to carry a gun. And then it turned out to be fascinating. And during my surgical training, I started thinking about… eh that’s not the important part.” She shook her head, as if to rid herself of that thought. “I stayed because I like it.”

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

Kal-Geal nodded as he heard Sara's description of why she joined Medical,

"Very similar to my philosophy. Weapons are not my strongpoint, though I'm stronger than many Klingons and can easily penetrate their armor with my claws, its not the life I pursue. Saving lives is more rewarding than taking them. Leave taking them for those whos souls can bear the burden without complaint."

Kal-Geal then gave Sara a canine grin with her request for his reference materials, and replied,

"I can teach you what I know. And I was hoping you would ask me that, as I made something for you in that regard."

He brought out a standard Star Fleet medical case, but inside was a hybrid of both primitive and modern technology. A mortar and pestle next to a portable molecular compounder, as well as vials of suspension fluid designed for use with Star Fleet-issue hyposprays.

"You can access Star Fleet's botanical archives for all known flora with medicinal properties, but experience will also tell you what properties plants may have. But to make things short, you can practice here in my part of the garden. I've marked all the medicinal flora with their Federation standard names, and you can use the mortar to grind their leaves or roots up into a powder. Then, place the powder in the compounder, which will filter any impurities, and combine it with a hypo suspension. Then, you can set aside the finished compound for emergency storage. The result will not yield as much potency as the concentrates we get from Star Fleet, but your tricorder will give you an estimate of purity ratios and percentage efficacy. Just make sure you drop by Engineering to get your tricorder modified for said usage, as it does require some modules from a Science tricorder. I still have my medical tricorder from the Klingon Empire, but any engineer worth their weight can make the modifications."

==tag Sara==