TBG Omake: The Academy By The Bay 4
Nov. 2nd, 2017 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoAN: This is an omake fanfic of a Quest (fanfic) called To Boldly Go, based primarily on Star Trek.
OCs are Tenipuri expies. Names are quite obvious.
The Academy by the Bay 4
The darkness pressed around him, oppressive and sinister. Dimly, he could feel the familiar vibrations of medical equipment through the platform he was lying on. He could taste the sterile dryness of the room at the back of his tongue. It brought back dark memories, of terror and despair, threatening to consume him. Was this--was he--
With a gasp, Kaidoss curled up into a sitting position and snapped open his eyes, green-black pupils slitting and flexing and he looked frantically around him. The violence of his motion nearly sent him toppling off the biobed that he had been lying on, if it had not been his strong hands seizing the edges of the bed frame in deathgrips.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.”
In a whirling motion, Kaidoss managed to twist his neck nearly 180 degrees to face the source of the voice. He saw an abnormally tall Gaeni standing just inside the doorway, seemingly taking up all the space and blocking what sounded like someone else standing behind him. Without even looking, the man slapped a few buttons on the wall, causing the doors to snap shut behind him, cutting off whoever it was behind him with a dull thump.
“Kaorssu Kaidoss. Age 20. Seyek. Second year cadet. Science stream with a specialization in xeno-zoology…”
Kaidoss felt the fear that he had woken up with drain away under the Gaeni’s dry litany. It also helped that his sluggish mind now finally recognized the familiar doctor scrubs and lieutenant rank markings of Starfleet. Yes, Starfleet. Starfleet was safety.
“...which leads us to your diagnosis, Mr. Kaidoss,” the doctor was saying when Kaidoss tuned in again. He paused, until the young Seyek looked up to properly face him through the Gaeni’s semi-obscuring layer of info-glasses. “I have good news and bad news.”
He paused there, as if waiting for a response from Kaidoss. The youth flicked his tongue across his lips nervously, before speaking up in a rough and scratchy voice.
“I would--that is--what is the good news?” His stammering sentence ended on a questioning note, before he suddenly remembered his manners and then added, “--Doctor...uh, sssir--?” He snapped his mouth shut on the even more nervous hiss.
“Iniu Sadd-har, current on-shift doctor here at the Academy’s student health clinic” the doctor finished his last sentence with an off hand self-introduction, before continuing with the diagnosis. “As for the good news: Despite the rumors that have been flying around since an unconscious Seyek was brought into Medical, you have not contracted acariasic septicemia.”
He then leaned in until his nose was of a level of Kaidoss’, and reiterated solemnly: “There is no plague about to sweep across the campus.”
“Y-yess, Doctor…” Kaidoss hissed weakly, even as he felt his innards relax from unconscious stress.
The pandemic that had swept across Seyek and its colonies had left a dark, lingering pall over all of its citizens that were still felt to this day, even sectors away. In fact, it had been one of the main reasons his family had heavily encouraged him to apply to Starfleet Academy, rather than taking the scholarship to a prestigious university on Seyek. And while he missed them dearly, he was determined not to let their hopes down.
Sadd-har straightened back up with a curt nod. “Good. Now, the bad news is: you fainted from a combination of cumulative exhaustion and long term stress.”
Oh. Now Kaidoss wanted nothing more than to have a black hole pop into being and swallow him whole. He...fainted. What would his mother say when she found out (and she would, somehow). He...he had been ignoring physical training and exercise for his more interesting science classes, hadn’t he? That will need to change, Kaidoss promised himself.
“No need to look like the world’s about to end,” Sadd-har spoke up again, sounding amused. “You’re not the first one in here for that. Though, admittedly, most cadets either learn better or wash out the first year. And the odd Indorian cadet or two who had family in Delin.” The last was more or less mumbled under his breath, as if speaking to himself.
Kaidoss cringed again. Fortunately, he was saved from death by abject embarrassment by the chiming of the door, followed by dull thumps of manual knocking.
Sadd-har huffed in exasperation and waved a hand at the door. “You were found and brought in by Petty Officer K’Kumarr. That’s him being all concerned, even though it’s not his business anymore.”
At finally coming to a topic that wasn’t about him anymore, Kaidoss finally found some coherency. “I don’t mind letting Mr. K’Kumarr in, Doctor.”
“Well, it’s your medical data,” Sadd-har allowed, raising his padd and tapping in a few commands.
With a swish, the doors opened to let in the excitable Caitian noncom, who gracefully turned his surprised stumble into a smooth leap right up to Kaidoss’ bed.
“Please tell me you didn’t eat anything he gave you!” was the first thing that came out of the Caitian’s mouth.
“What?” Kaidoss mumbled, utterly bewildered by the non-sequitur.
“Ah yes, you’ve reminded me.” Sadd-har seem to take special glee in ignoring the fussing petty officer and continued to address the cadet. “I’ve given you a few hyposprays to tide you over, but I would also highly recommend ingesting a solution I’ve prepared to supplement the nutrients that are not hypospray compatible.”
With a flourish, the Gaeni pulled a good sized beaker of bright green liquid and placed it on the bedside table.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” K’Kumarr cautioned the cadet once more. “His potions taste horrible! I speak from experience!”
“Who’s the one with a degree in chemistry and a specialty in pharmaceutics here, Eishr?” Sadd-har protested. “I fixed your bout of Caitan sleeping flu in half the time it took your doctor at home, didn’t I?”
“I’d rather spend the extra days sick than have my tongue numbed for twice the time!” K’Kumarr shot back with a sniff.
“Details,” Sadd-har waved a hand dismissively. Then, turning back to Kaidoss, he reluctantly added, “you don’t have to drink it, of course. But if that’s the case, I want you to report back here for daily checkups at least until the end of the week.”
Kaidoss hated sickbays ever since losing his grandparents to the plague. Any excuse to get out would be worth losing his sense of taste, if it came to that. Grabbing the beaker, he took a deep breath, held it, and then gulped the whole thing down.
There was a moment of silence, with K’Kumarr gaping at him, and Sadd-har staring intensely over the edge of his readied data padd. Then--
“Fssshkk.”
It didn’t taste like anything going down, if only because that was over in an instant. But the aftertaste that lingered was more like the cinders of a burnt out fire having been shoved down his throat. Or perhaps it was bile rising up. Kaidoss quickly slapped hands over his mouth and tried to take deep calming breaths to keep himself from throwing up.
On the bright side, at least the sterile hospital smell of the room wasn’t bothering him anymore.
“...surprising data on palate sensitivity of Seyek gusta-olfactory organ structure at low pH range...” Meanwhile, Sadd-har mumbled to himself as he scribbled furiously at his padd.
“Your bedside manner is still awful, Doc,” K’Kumarr sighed in resignation. “Poor kid. I figured this might happen. So here, maybe this’ll help.” With that, he plopped a carry out box onto Kaidoss’ coiled lap.
“Oh? What’s this?” Curious, the Gaeni doctor reached out to poke the box, activating the release for it to open and expand into a makeshift plate, revealing several muffin-like pastries.
“It’s a human breakfast thing native to San Francisco,” K’Kumarr explained. “It’s got bits of meat in it and a gooey egg in the middle, so I’m told. A friend orders it sometimes for the Admi--why do you have a scalpel?”
The last question was directed at Sadd-har, who had indeed pulled a scalpel out of nowhere, and with a quick move, had split one of the pastries in half. Immediately, gooey yellow yolk seeped out between the seams of the two muffin halves.
“Huh, how did they get that--”
“You can get your own egg cakes to experiment on, Doc,” K’Kumarr interrupted the mumbling doctor, flicking his hand holding the scalpel away.
“Fine.” With a shrug, Sadd-har turned back to the Seyek cadet who was finally breathing like normal again. “Common Earth meats and eggs are fine for Seyek diet, and there shouldn’t be any drug interactions with what you just drank,” he informed Kaidoss.
The traditional manners that had been instilled into Kaidoss by his parents, however, was a bigger hurdle to cross. “I--I shouldn’t, sirs,” the cadet demurred. “It’s too much trouble--”
“It’s fine,” K’Kumarr assured him. “Don’t call me sir either. It’s not like I eat meat myself. And the Doc here would just do unspeakable things with them instead of properly enjoying their taste.”
The Caitian paused, studied Kaidoss for a moment, then added: “if you want, just think of it as early donations to the party for Seyek cadets on campus, what with the upcoming ratification.”
“What? Party?” The last part definitely caught the Seyek’s attention.
“Unofficial tradition,” K’Kumarr explained. “Sort of. Missed the one last year for the Caldonians what with the new death training Admiral Thuir came up with.”
“They never gave us a party when Gaen joined either,” Sadd-har muttered behind his padd.
“Probably because one of you blew up the cafeteria,” K’Kumarr snarked back.
“Details,” waving off the comment again, the Gaeni pulled out a second padd and handed it to Kaidoss. “Well, you’re good to go now, Cadet. Here’s a suggested physical regimen if you want to prevent this from happening again while still keeping up your grades. I’d also advise seeing a counsellor if you’re having further problems.”
“I understand, Doctor.” Kaidoss dutifully pocketed the padd, and slipped off the biobed, the makeshift plate of muffins held awkwardly in his hands. “Er…”
“Re-sterilizing the room is a pain, so you can take that with you,” Sadd-har told him. The doctor consulted his padd again. “You should have plenty of time to get to your Astrosciences lecture on macro-cosmozoa. I’m sure Professor Chekov would understand.”
“Ah! Yes sir, thank you!” Just now realizing the time, Kaidoss quickly re-folded the carry out box back in again and rushed from the room. Small setback aside, he wasn’t going to let that affect his grades.
OCs are Tenipuri expies. Names are quite obvious.
The darkness pressed around him, oppressive and sinister. Dimly, he could feel the familiar vibrations of medical equipment through the platform he was lying on. He could taste the sterile dryness of the room at the back of his tongue. It brought back dark memories, of terror and despair, threatening to consume him. Was this--was he--
With a gasp, Kaidoss curled up into a sitting position and snapped open his eyes, green-black pupils slitting and flexing and he looked frantically around him. The violence of his motion nearly sent him toppling off the biobed that he had been lying on, if it had not been his strong hands seizing the edges of the bed frame in deathgrips.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.”
In a whirling motion, Kaidoss managed to twist his neck nearly 180 degrees to face the source of the voice. He saw an abnormally tall Gaeni standing just inside the doorway, seemingly taking up all the space and blocking what sounded like someone else standing behind him. Without even looking, the man slapped a few buttons on the wall, causing the doors to snap shut behind him, cutting off whoever it was behind him with a dull thump.
“Kaorssu Kaidoss. Age 20. Seyek. Second year cadet. Science stream with a specialization in xeno-zoology…”
Kaidoss felt the fear that he had woken up with drain away under the Gaeni’s dry litany. It also helped that his sluggish mind now finally recognized the familiar doctor scrubs and lieutenant rank markings of Starfleet. Yes, Starfleet. Starfleet was safety.
“...which leads us to your diagnosis, Mr. Kaidoss,” the doctor was saying when Kaidoss tuned in again. He paused, until the young Seyek looked up to properly face him through the Gaeni’s semi-obscuring layer of info-glasses. “I have good news and bad news.”
He paused there, as if waiting for a response from Kaidoss. The youth flicked his tongue across his lips nervously, before speaking up in a rough and scratchy voice.
“I would--that is--what is the good news?” His stammering sentence ended on a questioning note, before he suddenly remembered his manners and then added, “--Doctor...uh, sssir--?” He snapped his mouth shut on the even more nervous hiss.
“Iniu Sadd-har, current on-shift doctor here at the Academy’s student health clinic” the doctor finished his last sentence with an off hand self-introduction, before continuing with the diagnosis. “As for the good news: Despite the rumors that have been flying around since an unconscious Seyek was brought into Medical, you have not contracted acariasic septicemia.”
He then leaned in until his nose was of a level of Kaidoss’, and reiterated solemnly: “There is no plague about to sweep across the campus.”
“Y-yess, Doctor…” Kaidoss hissed weakly, even as he felt his innards relax from unconscious stress.
The pandemic that had swept across Seyek and its colonies had left a dark, lingering pall over all of its citizens that were still felt to this day, even sectors away. In fact, it had been one of the main reasons his family had heavily encouraged him to apply to Starfleet Academy, rather than taking the scholarship to a prestigious university on Seyek. And while he missed them dearly, he was determined not to let their hopes down.
Sadd-har straightened back up with a curt nod. “Good. Now, the bad news is: you fainted from a combination of cumulative exhaustion and long term stress.”
Oh. Now Kaidoss wanted nothing more than to have a black hole pop into being and swallow him whole. He...fainted. What would his mother say when she found out (and she would, somehow). He...he had been ignoring physical training and exercise for his more interesting science classes, hadn’t he? That will need to change, Kaidoss promised himself.
“No need to look like the world’s about to end,” Sadd-har spoke up again, sounding amused. “You’re not the first one in here for that. Though, admittedly, most cadets either learn better or wash out the first year. And the odd Indorian cadet or two who had family in Delin.” The last was more or less mumbled under his breath, as if speaking to himself.
Kaidoss cringed again. Fortunately, he was saved from death by abject embarrassment by the chiming of the door, followed by dull thumps of manual knocking.
Sadd-har huffed in exasperation and waved a hand at the door. “You were found and brought in by Petty Officer K’Kumarr. That’s him being all concerned, even though it’s not his business anymore.”
At finally coming to a topic that wasn’t about him anymore, Kaidoss finally found some coherency. “I don’t mind letting Mr. K’Kumarr in, Doctor.”
“Well, it’s your medical data,” Sadd-har allowed, raising his padd and tapping in a few commands.
With a swish, the doors opened to let in the excitable Caitian noncom, who gracefully turned his surprised stumble into a smooth leap right up to Kaidoss’ bed.
“Please tell me you didn’t eat anything he gave you!” was the first thing that came out of the Caitian’s mouth.
“What?” Kaidoss mumbled, utterly bewildered by the non-sequitur.
“Ah yes, you’ve reminded me.” Sadd-har seem to take special glee in ignoring the fussing petty officer and continued to address the cadet. “I’ve given you a few hyposprays to tide you over, but I would also highly recommend ingesting a solution I’ve prepared to supplement the nutrients that are not hypospray compatible.”
With a flourish, the Gaeni pulled a good sized beaker of bright green liquid and placed it on the bedside table.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” K’Kumarr cautioned the cadet once more. “His potions taste horrible! I speak from experience!”
“Who’s the one with a degree in chemistry and a specialty in pharmaceutics here, Eishr?” Sadd-har protested. “I fixed your bout of Caitan sleeping flu in half the time it took your doctor at home, didn’t I?”
“I’d rather spend the extra days sick than have my tongue numbed for twice the time!” K’Kumarr shot back with a sniff.
“Details,” Sadd-har waved a hand dismissively. Then, turning back to Kaidoss, he reluctantly added, “you don’t have to drink it, of course. But if that’s the case, I want you to report back here for daily checkups at least until the end of the week.”
Kaidoss hated sickbays ever since losing his grandparents to the plague. Any excuse to get out would be worth losing his sense of taste, if it came to that. Grabbing the beaker, he took a deep breath, held it, and then gulped the whole thing down.
There was a moment of silence, with K’Kumarr gaping at him, and Sadd-har staring intensely over the edge of his readied data padd. Then--
“Fssshkk.”
It didn’t taste like anything going down, if only because that was over in an instant. But the aftertaste that lingered was more like the cinders of a burnt out fire having been shoved down his throat. Or perhaps it was bile rising up. Kaidoss quickly slapped hands over his mouth and tried to take deep calming breaths to keep himself from throwing up.
On the bright side, at least the sterile hospital smell of the room wasn’t bothering him anymore.
“...surprising data on palate sensitivity of Seyek gusta-olfactory organ structure at low pH range...” Meanwhile, Sadd-har mumbled to himself as he scribbled furiously at his padd.
“Your bedside manner is still awful, Doc,” K’Kumarr sighed in resignation. “Poor kid. I figured this might happen. So here, maybe this’ll help.” With that, he plopped a carry out box onto Kaidoss’ coiled lap.
“Oh? What’s this?” Curious, the Gaeni doctor reached out to poke the box, activating the release for it to open and expand into a makeshift plate, revealing several muffin-like pastries.
“It’s a human breakfast thing native to San Francisco,” K’Kumarr explained. “It’s got bits of meat in it and a gooey egg in the middle, so I’m told. A friend orders it sometimes for the Admi--why do you have a scalpel?”
The last question was directed at Sadd-har, who had indeed pulled a scalpel out of nowhere, and with a quick move, had split one of the pastries in half. Immediately, gooey yellow yolk seeped out between the seams of the two muffin halves.
“Huh, how did they get that--”
“You can get your own egg cakes to experiment on, Doc,” K’Kumarr interrupted the mumbling doctor, flicking his hand holding the scalpel away.
“Fine.” With a shrug, Sadd-har turned back to the Seyek cadet who was finally breathing like normal again. “Common Earth meats and eggs are fine for Seyek diet, and there shouldn’t be any drug interactions with what you just drank,” he informed Kaidoss.
The traditional manners that had been instilled into Kaidoss by his parents, however, was a bigger hurdle to cross. “I--I shouldn’t, sirs,” the cadet demurred. “It’s too much trouble--”
“It’s fine,” K’Kumarr assured him. “Don’t call me sir either. It’s not like I eat meat myself. And the Doc here would just do unspeakable things with them instead of properly enjoying their taste.”
The Caitian paused, studied Kaidoss for a moment, then added: “if you want, just think of it as early donations to the party for Seyek cadets on campus, what with the upcoming ratification.”
“What? Party?” The last part definitely caught the Seyek’s attention.
“Unofficial tradition,” K’Kumarr explained. “Sort of. Missed the one last year for the Caldonians what with the new death training Admiral Thuir came up with.”
“They never gave us a party when Gaen joined either,” Sadd-har muttered behind his padd.
“Probably because one of you blew up the cafeteria,” K’Kumarr snarked back.
“Details,” waving off the comment again, the Gaeni pulled out a second padd and handed it to Kaidoss. “Well, you’re good to go now, Cadet. Here’s a suggested physical regimen if you want to prevent this from happening again while still keeping up your grades. I’d also advise seeing a counsellor if you’re having further problems.”
“I understand, Doctor.” Kaidoss dutifully pocketed the padd, and slipped off the biobed, the makeshift plate of muffins held awkwardly in his hands. “Er…”
“Re-sterilizing the room is a pain, so you can take that with you,” Sadd-har told him. The doctor consulted his padd again. “You should have plenty of time to get to your Astrosciences lecture on macro-cosmozoa. I’m sure Professor Chekov would understand.”
“Ah! Yes sir, thank you!” Just now realizing the time, Kaidoss quickly re-folded the carry out box back in again and rushed from the room. Small setback aside, he wasn’t going to let that affect his grades.
