"Stoic"

[Kansas 0]

03.23.09

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Stoic”

 

Kansas JoNs visited the Agincourt sickbay once every duo decennial cycle.

 

… well, not really, she was just being internally sarcastic and overly dramatic.

 

The simple fact was that the feline officer had graced the interior of various medical bays more then once or twice in her twelve years or so of service for both regular medical checkups and to tend to various woundings acquired in the line of service. It was just a hazard of the occupation, and injuries happened.

 

The feline poked her head tentatively through the entry way doors and visually scanned the main treatment area to locate whoever was on duty; it was off shift and business was thankfully not brisk, so there wasn’t much scurrying about by the staff. Most of the crew injuries from the ship to ship skirmish with the renegade Rihan crews had been treated and sent on their way. She held her injured right arm gingerly by the elbow and tried not to move too much.

 

Michael “X-Ray” Boone sat at the receiving desk and looked up when the Caitian officer entered. The marine battle medic had been volunteering his time and services in the medical bay since the Soltan attack on the Earth, rotating out and filling in the various duty shifts where needed. In this way, the resident doctors had some leeway until a proper full time chief medical officer could be tapped to fill the department position.

 

JoNs made eye contact with the big Marine battle medic, pleased that the duty medic on duty had turned out to be Boone as she had not crossed paths with him in a while, and offered a fanged smile. “Yo there Master Sergeant. Can I borrow your veterinary services for a moment?”

 

There were only a select few officers and crew that Kansas might freely banter with regarding the feline jokes; some beings didn’t quite understand the fine line that existed between gentle joking and racial insults, but like the others that she felt comfortable with, Boone fell into the former category so it was all good.

 

He rose from his chair set behind the desk and walked over to where the feline executive officer stood. “So what’s the issue Commander … oh, okay, never mind.”

 

X-Ray methodically and gently took the Caits arm and visually inspected the damage. “Okay, a lateral three inch section of fur burned away, edges of the fabric sticking to the wound, blood already coagulated … second degree burn. Not serious, but I bet it smarts.”

 

“Mm. Boarding party skirmish, one of the renegade ships. Though I’d rather take a shot to the arm then my aft guard, ya know?” She winced again as he manipulated the arm, and her tail automatically flared out as the discomfort really started to take hold on her nerve endings that had been seared.

 

His eyes flicked to the appendage. “Tail talk noted. Okay Commander, grab a bio bed and let me locate some stuff.”

 

The marine medic busied himself in a supply closet set off the main medical bay while Kansas followed orders and planted her butt up on one of the beds. With the adrenaline from the boarding skirmish starting to wear off, the feline was starting to move a bit slower as the pain and discomfort of the burn wound kicked in. She managed to get out of her uniform jacket with a minimum amount of grunting and groaning, but the most difficult part came when she separated the fused section of sleeve from her arm; a small amount of singed fur and dead skin remained plastered to the fabric, and she set the ruined garment off to one side of the medical bed.

 

Boone re-emerged from the storage area holding a small and clear plastic container, and briskly walked across the main sickbay to his new patient. The dark haired human was just starting to show streaks of gray throughout his hair, and he moved and walked with the easy gait of a career marine. He quickly and methodically started to lay out the various sterile medical instruments, scanners and medicines on the bio bed next to the injured officer, who now wore the sleeveless uniform under tunic.

 

“Okay Ex Oh, let me go over my tactical plan of medical wound assault here. I’m going to give you a hypo round of antibiotics because there’s no telling what sorts of foreign matter was floating around in the air filtration system, so it’ll fortify your healing system a bit to fight off any infections. Then, I’ll do the standard wound cleaning and wound repair, and probably wrap your arm in a dressing for a couple days. Just watch yourself and you should be fine, and check in with Doctor Thekk in another day so she can gauge your recovery progess.”

 

JoNs just nodded and winced.

 

“ … and pardon me as I state the obvious but even with the numbing agent I’ll shoot you up with, you’re going to be sore and this is going to hurt like hell. If you stopped by a bit earlier, I might have gotten to the wound before it completely congealed.”

 

“I wanted to report in to the Chief Shark with a verbal after action report ASAP. Trust me, I’d’ve been here right after beaming aboard if this was any more serious, as my mother did not raise a fool. As it stood, I had two of the senior engineers hawking me relentlessly about it.”

 

A downright maniacal smile split her muzzle then, and her green eyes danced during her next statement. “Plus the fact, I’m working on that whole stoic emulation thing? You know, gritting my fangs through something like a shoulder separation injury and ignoring the typical symptoms such as loss of blood flow and tingly fingers, and putting aside the fact that the limb could have turned a lovely shade of blue and dead. Stoic. Hoo rah. Yeah baby.”

 

He gave her a sideways look and an eyebrow raise, followed by an amused lopsided smile. “I’ll spot you fifty credits for our next senior Non Com card game if you mention that in the Cee Ohs presence. This Friday, twenty hundred hours in the NNC secondary lounge, Commander.”

 

“Consider it done, I’ll be there, and off duty it’s Kansas.”