Her Voice

Posted on Sat Apr 29th, 2023 @ 9:56am by Lieutenant Commander Febin & Lieutenant JG Nezuko

1,246 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Descent
Location: Sickbay

As with all senior officers, shortly after her return from Risa, Nezuko had received the summons to sickbay. Arrival medical exams, no exceptions. Not a bad idea, especially for her. She felt fine, but that just meant the ship’s CMO would get good background readings for later comparison.

She found her way to the sickbay and approached the unit clerk, PADD in hand. She typed a message and showed it to the clerk: I have an appointment with Doctor Febin. LTJG Nezuko.

"The Doctor will be with you momentarily," the clerk replied and made a gesture to the Tellarite Nurse Dogrov.

"Greetings, Lieutenant. I am the head nurse," Dogrov replied and gestured towards bio-bed one, "The doctor will see you at bio-bed one. Please make sure you're comfortable. He'll require you to remove your duty jacket."

There was a valid reason that Dr. Febin didn't want the medical evaluations to be a free-for-all or he wouldn't have brought the Canar crystal allowing Lieutenant Nezuko and himself. His Canar Stone was handed down through his patrilineal line according to New Haliian Customs.

This is the one he used in Sickbay. He had a more personal Crystal that was part of his shrine of the Prācīna dā 'Atiiq (The Way of the Ancients) that he went into the Caves of Halii as his rite of passage into adulthood.

Nezuko did as instructed, removing her gold uniform jacket and standing near the first biobed. She had met Dr. Febin on Risa -- having trounced him and the other medical staff in beach volleyball -- but hadn't had the chance to sit with him one on one yet. She was eager to properly meet yet another friend, even in the context of something like a physical.

The Doctor approached Bio-Bed one which was away from the rest of the others. The bio-bed had multipurpose anywhere from quarantine containment to surgical. It was the bio-bed in Sickbay with the latest state-of-the-art. He carried the large white Crystal with both of his palms while he approached Lieutenant Nezuko and then in his native language he greeted her, "The light shone upon you."

Nezuko didn’t understand his words — her UT was on her jacket, on the shelf — but she gathered from his tone and the way he held the crystal that it was some kind of formal greeting or blessing. She bowed her head deferentially, and then gave him a little wave.

The two of them entered the area, "Computer. Activate quarantine containment field, level four, and the privacy seal."

The computer chirped and the shield appeared, "Quarantine containment field and privacy field have both been activated." He reached his arms toward her, "This is what we call on Halii a Canar Crystal. It allows me within close proximity of who fields it to have telepathic link conservations. I felt this is the best way to communicate throughout your evaluation and future medical checkups. I cannot use this totem without your consent if you prefer to use your adaptive communication device over this, I'd perfectly understand."

Nezuko pointed to the crystal and gave Febin a thumbs-up.

He placed it into her hands, "If you have a seat on the bio-bed and hold onto this for me. I've got to put on a respirator as I'll be filling the containment area with Amphei Prime's atmosphere." He approached the storage area on the side. He would have worn this before he activated the containment unit while the transporter held the patient in stasis mode. He placed the round shape around his face and then pressed a button to seal it. A force shield formed across. It was built like a rebreather that would reproduce a steady air supply, "Well then."

He approached her once again and then placed his hands on the Crystal. He looked into her pink coloured eyes deeply. Then he began to sing in Haliianese that didn't have translatable words into Federation Standard or Ampheian. He then stopped. He pulled his hands away and now they were linked, "Hello, Nezuko. This might make you nauseous or dizzy. But we are temporarily linked together."

“Oh wow!” Nezuko thought, realizing that she could telepathically ‘speak’ to him the same way that she signed her own people. She never even got to this level of mental communication with her Betazoid roommate

She withdrew her rebreather and took a deep breath through her mouth of her own native air supply. Her portable breathing apparatus was not uncomfortable, and after so many years offworld she had gotten used to wearing it almost all day every day. But the feeling of breathing without it could not be beaten.

She found herself signing to the Doctor, which helped focus her thoughts toward him. “Hello Doctor Febin!” she ‘said’ excitedly.

"Please lay back on the bio-bed," Febin smiled at her. He brought up her recent medical evaluation and her file and started to scan her biometrics, "So have you experienced any discomfort or pain since your last physical?"

Nezuko shook her head. "No, I've been good. I received a truly awful sunburn on Risa but the Risians treated it. And I don't easily get respiratory or digestive infections."

Febin finished the scanning, "As the humans say, as good as new.I still figure that one out." He looked over the scanning, "You can get up and put on your duty jacket now, Lieutenant."

Up she went, to her feet, and donned the uniform jacket. "Thank you, Doctor Febin. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Febin smiled.

Nezuko's eyes were wide and bright. "What does my voice sound like to you?" she asked, entranced by the idea that her brain was turning the idea of language into words rather than images, as with other telepaths, or signs or written words. This crystal and the Haliian doctor's limited telepathy actually gave her a voice. She stared at the doctor, eager for his assessment of it.

"You are very well-spoken. You speak genuinely and kindly. The voice itself is pleasant sounding and sincere. I hope that answers your question," The doctor approached her.

Nezuko beamed with a smile, happy beyond words to hear such a thing. No words were necessary to communicate the utter joy she felt at knowing that.

She put her rebreather back on and nodded to the Doctor. "I'm ready to go back to Class M atmosphere, Doctor."

"Computer, restore standard atmospheric protocol," Febin ordered. The computer chirped and the atmosphere in the containment field switched over. He took off the mask and placed it down on the bio-bed. "It was a great pleasure to hear your voice."

Then he offered to take the Canar Crystal from her.

She gave the crystal back, and their link was terminated. Once again, her voice was kept to her own head. Nezuko gave the doctor a polite nod, and pointed to the door.

"You're good to go Lieutenant," the Haliian doctor smiled, "With peace may the light shine upon your path until we meet again."

The Amphea Ops Chief waved at the doctor and practically skipped out of sickbay, ready to continue her busy day, and pleased beyond words that someone heard her voice.

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