Getting An Understanding

Posted on Tue Apr 22nd, 2025 @ 6:03pm by Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria & Lieutenant Addison Talbert
Edited on on Wed Apr 23rd, 2025 @ 2:05am

2,353 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: In The Nick Of Time
Location: Sickbay - Deck 4 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD001 0700 hrs

Tarian was in his office when he got an alert on his terminal. The ship's roster had just been updated to include a new medical officer for the Herodotus. Tarian had been looking forward to a new medical officer coming onboard, as he wished to discuss the various temporal issues with them once they arrived onboard.

He tapped his combadge and said, "Computer, locate Doctor Addison Talbert." Within moments, the computer let Tarian know that she was in sickbay and he quickly made his way down there. Once he entered, Tarian saw a blonde hair woman sitting at the desk. He made his way over and said, "Hello. I'm Tarian Aloria, the ship's Temporal Operations Officer and I was hoping to find the new Chief Medical Officer. Know where I might find her?"

Addison had been idly wrapping a strand of her hair around her finger, as she was reading some of the medical reports that Zosia had given to her. Her finger paused in mid wrap when Tarian arrived looking up from the view screen. She let the strand of fall from her index finger as she regarded the arrival for a few moments. As if she made a decision, Addison moved from behind the desk, quietly walking towards Tarian. " I can help you find her, but don't let her know I've been sitting at her desk. She can be a bit---finicky about who has access to her space. My oh my.. Heaven help the person who plays with her stuff." doing this in an over dramatic whisper, then gave a playful wink to Tarian.

Tarian couldn't help but chuckle for a moment before replying, "Well, I won't tell if you won't! But, I'm sure that our dear Doctor would be interested with the information that I come with."

"Oh good glad you are willing to keep this a secret." her demeanor changed, when Tarian mentioned "Well, I will confess I am the doctor whom you are seeking. As you already know I am Doctor Addison Talbert. And I am very interested in what information you have. " she located a chair and pulled it up towards her desk. "Please take a seat. I am all ears." Addison responded with an eagerness in her eyes.

Tarian couldn't help but let out a little snort and chuckle as he took a seat. "I'm glad that our dear doctor has such a wonderful sense of humor! Now, if we ever do temporal improv night, I'd totally want to be on your team." After taking his seat, Tarian pulled out a PADD or two and handed them over to the doctor.

"Well, something I'd like to do know is have you ever treated anyone for temporal illnesses before? Cause I'd like to hear some of your thoughts about them," Tarian asked, wondering what kind of work the doctor had worked with before coming onboard.

"Truth be told, I had that very conversation with the XO before I stepped foot upon the Herodotus. The ship I had been on, we had an encounter with a time anomaly. We found that we had been sent forward two days in the future. And I did my best to deal with that encounter. The medical data was corrupted so any known treatments wasn't available, all we could do was realize that we had traveled forward in time. Exploration in the Delta Quadrant can be challenging."

"I take it that you were on a ship exploring the Delta Quadrant?" Tarian asked, curious as to which ship the dear Doctor was aboard before coming onboard the Herodotus.

"Yes I was, that ship the USS Apollon, which rescued me and my crew. When I was still considered civilian, they had lost their CMO and called me out of reserves to be their CMO."

"Oh! That sounds like it was a fun little ship to be apart of. I've actually studied some of the experiences with time travel that have happened in the Delta Quadrant. By the sounds of it, Voyager made it out extremely lucky to have only encountered the time police like...twice?" Tarian said with a chuckle. He turned his attention back to the issue at hand and said, "But, yeah. I wanted to stop by and see if you had any experience with temporal issues before coming onboard and what type of experiences? Especially from a medical standpoint."

Addison gave a small smile, "Well I've only read about Voyager making it home but, nothing about her adventures, nor even anything about her encounter with time detailed information. As for the Apollon's medical data base, it was corrupted so it was an interesting experience. We did encounter something which sent us forward in time by a couple of days. We were quite surprised when we found out that happened. And for myself, when I was young at the tender age of 14 I had an experience that-- made me want to find out what happened to me. I went to explore a mine or cave archeological site I squeezed through a crack which I thought was an undiscovered opening outside. And was only there for two hours, but when I went to find my grandmother and group we were with. Instead of two hours I found that I was gone for two days. That is my experience with encountering time anomalies. The only information I had was about the Enterprise having had some chronal medical issues."

"Well, I'm glad that you were able to make it out safe and sound with all those experiences. I hope that you're prepared for everything medical onboard the Herodotus, as I'm sure that we'll have plenty of chronal sickness and temporal fatigue. I've experienced it a few times while working with the DTI as a field agent. It's not fun, but at least I managed to make it through with the help of some wonderful doctors like yourself," Tarian said with a small smile as he thought back to some of the events of his adventures with the DTI.

"I will have a lot of studying to do." a contemplative expression appeared, as Addison gazed at Tarian. "I need to get a scan done of you, here at this time, your current state. A base line to compare as we go forward."

Tarian shrugged and said, "Why the heck not. Doesn't hurt to get a good physical done before we actually get underway. What kind of tests would you like to do first, Doc?" Tarian asked as he walked over to the main biobed within the small sickbay. He didn't want to jump up onto it yet, at least until the doctor directed him in what type of test she was going to do first.

"First off, I am asking permission to gain access to the records of your last physical, unless they're already entered into the database of the Herodotus. Still an old protocol I follow, copied from my grandfather." Giving a nod towards Tarian.

"I did have a physical done by one of the base doctors. It should be in the database, but I know things have probably changed a little bit since then. I also have a few physicals and scans that I've gotten done over the last few years working with the DTI, as markers of any temporal changes I might've had over the years," Tarian offered up, knowing that working with time does something to a person.

"Oh good, that means I am on the right track to make the scans of the crew to keep track. Glad to know that." Addison giving a grin. "Unless you wish, we can utilize the holodeck to have you run some miles on a track, or even put you on a stationary bike. Do the stress test."

"I mean, you're the doc, doc. Whichever one you think would work better for me and get you a better baseline," Tarian replied with a smirk of his own and a small chuckle. He hated doing those running ventures, as it reminded him of his time at the Academy.

Addison caught the flicker in Tarian's eyes, "Don't worry, I won't be doing that with you right now unless you are of the sort who wouldn't be against doing some running in the holodeck with me." giving a chuckle. "However this will be a pure plain up front scan. I don't want to keep you hostage when something so simple as taking a scan can be done. And having previous records at my disposal, it will make things a bit easier."

"That's good to know cause I've never been one for doctors or the medical profession. Totally understand why every one of you guys are needed, but I've just never been one for poking and prodding. So, I appreciate the scan instead of more," Tarian replied, thankful that there wouldn't be another full physical done with the doctor.

"I don't like the poking and prodding either but, when there isn't any of the technology available, there will be the old fashioned checking as well. And sometimes there will be the blood sample taking. Not right now, it would be more of finding something that will work with the biology of those I treat for an illness. " Addison putting away the medical tricorder.

"I mean, at least you're not a vampire trying to suck my blood or anything! As for poking and prodding, I'm just glad that I don't have a symbiont in me or they might get a little angry with that," Tarian replied, thinking back to the amount of blood tests that he has had to go through over his years within the service to Starfleet.

"Captain Thorrin had let me know of the amount of work I will be needing to do. I am actually looking forward to it." Addison giving a nod, she looked at the readings she had taken. " Yes indeed looks like you are healthy, One thing that I am curious about, is, are you allergic to insect bites. Your physiology is unique, and I do know that Trills are allergic to insect bites especially venomous ones. As you said you are unjoined, which is fortunate if I may say that. As having a symbiont on this ship might have caused a problem, maybe?"

"I'm actually allergic to bug bites and have had issues with it over my time throughout the years. As for being unjoined, with a mixed biology, I wasn't able to join with a symbiont. I would have loved to, but my Trill and El-Aurian biology were too different for me to join," Tarian replied as he thought about his younger years. Tarian walked over and picked up a PADD and brought up the various bugs that he had issues with, handing it over to the dear doctor. Tarian said, "Here are a list of the bugs that I've had issues with over my lifetime. Not every one of them, but it's something that could be interesting for you."

Addison gave a nod and accepted the PADD, reading it over. "Has an anti-venom been developed just for you in case of being stung or bitten? Or even an anaphylactic serum to keep you from have an allergic reaction. There probably is, I just haven't found that yet."

"The typical one for Trills works for me, but it's not as effective as it would be on a full blooded Trill. So, maybe you can figure something out and help make sure that nothing crazy or bad happens due to something so small as a bug bite," Tarian replied as he chuckled. He hated getting bitten by bugs and remembered the first few times that he got bitten. It took an army of doctors on trill to figure out something that worked, even though it was a simple tweak of what was there.

"I will see what I can come up with and maybe the Chief Science Officer can help me figure out something as well. She might be interested in the listing of the insects that you've shown me. More learning for her as well, besides me." Addison handed the padd back to Tarian, "If you would please send me a copy of what you have. I would love to do a bit more thorough reading over it."

Tarian took the PADD and input a few commands to bring up the information about all his bug bites over the year, as well as the medical tests that were done. "That would be amazing! I know that I'd appreciate anything that you guys could do about that because nobody has been able to figure it out over the years. But, since we're on a timeship and have some different information to access, lord only knows what you guys would be able to figure out."

Tarian handed the PADD back to the dear doctor and asked, "Anything else I can help out with, dear Doctor?"

"I think that will be all at this time. I appreciate all of the information that you have given." a bit of a smile. "It is invaluable. a twinkle in her blue eyes. "As of now I have quite a bit to digest as I read over the information and records. For now I will bid you adieu, this doctor has a bit of work to do." Addison gesturing to herself with her right hand, giving a light smile.

Tarian couldn't help but chuckle a little bit before heading out himself. As he was heading out, Tarian replied, "Well, if you need anything else, I'll be hiding away down in Temporal Operations. Big place, hard to miss it!" Tarian walked out of Sickbay and made his way to his shift. He was excited to see how the day turned out.

A Joint Post By

Lieutenant Addison Talbert
Chief Medical Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656

Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Chief Temporal Operations Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656

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