JDL|Commo Rochelle Ivanova, Lt. Ch'Valenvok - "Picking up the Pieces"

Posted on Mon May 9th, 2016 @ 10:29pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Captain Kaleb Ch'Valenvok M.D.

2,660 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Resurgere
Location: Cold Station Theta

Kaleb Ch'Valenvok stood in the vast medical facility at the heart of Cold Station Theta having just relieved the watch. He had decided weeks ago to take a temporary assignment aboard the deep space station rather than to head back to the core of the Federation for reassignment as some of the other crew of the USS Vindicator had done. For days after the attack, Kaleb had been tending to the wounded, performing surgeries, and wrapping plasma burns. When the pace had slowed enough for him to rest he had gone three days without sleep and quickly fell into a dark void from which he would have been happy to spend the rest of his days. Sadly that hadn't happened, and only six short hours after laying down he had been rustled awake to disembark the runabout that had been transporting him to Cold Station Theta.

Now with the trauma and tragedy of the Vindicator behind him Kaleb had thrown himself back into his one true love, work. He had been volunteering for extra shifts and tonight he had decided he needed the distraction work offered his mind and had relieved the on call doctor. On his PADD was a list of appointments and unscheduled sick call patients that required his attention. He skimmed them quickly and smiled when he caught a glance of one name in particular. He made his way to the Nurse's station to report that he was ready for his first patient and began his shift with a case of Talaxian Flu.

Cold Station Theta was far from the warm cradle of finite power Rochelle had been used to. Instead of being the omnipotent Captain, she'd been stripped to nothing more than a nosy house wife, cast away from the adventures of duty for the duration of her pregnancy. She knew the Admiral had her reasons - some professional, most personal - for grounding the dynamic little Phoenix. Even still. Rochelle had found ways around the rules. She skulked in the shadows dressed in her usual whimsical civilian clothes, now that her trademark jeans had long since cried uncle in the battle to button around her burgeoning belly. Shadows that were mainly proverbial, cloaking her from the ever suspicious eye of her aforementioned aunt as she struck bargains with crewless legends, building herself a new crew to fly the Vindicator.

The Andorian just happened to be next on her magic list, and how better to approach him than by listening to Landon's demands that she actually see a doctor. She'd scowled, muttered... Whined even, until the opportunity dawned on her. The ship needed a capable Chief Medical Office ever since Rotek had beat a hasty retreat back home post the destruction of the ship. She couldn't blame him. So many had brushed shoulders with death that fated evening and taken it as a sign to get out while they still could. Even she had given it a thought or two until the need for revenge had begun to consume her.

Tr'Bak would get his. She'd see to it.

The sound of shoe soles rustling against the floor broke her loose from her thoughts, freeing her to look up and take stock of the young Andorian officer she'd played sacrificial lamb in order to see. "My my... What have we here?" She greeted Ch'Valenvok with a smile as he made his way around her to, "It's good to see you're doing well for yourself, Lieutenant."

After finishing up with the previous patient, Kaleb smiled knowing who would likely be next in his treatment queue. He was not disappointed as he stepped into the waiting room to collect his next patient. "I am overjoyed to see you as well, Ma'am." Kaleb smiled his sheepish grin uncontrollably and immediately chastised himself for it. "Could you follow me back to the exam room, Ma'am or should I have the nurse lend you a hand?" Though the Commodore looked as if the slightest contact with a sharp object might produce an explosion mimicking a supernova, Kaleb knew all too well the woman would never accept help unless she was in dire straights.

His time on the Vindicator had been short before the ship met her end, however, he had spent enough time with the good Captain to understand she was the embodiment of leadership and capability. Kaleb had often wondered if he himself could muster the strength of will to accomplish half what the Commodore had in her career.

Kaleb waited for her response as he quickly perused her chart. "It has been a while since you have seen a doctor, Ma'am. I'm glad you happen to make the appointment while I'm on watch. It has lightened my heart a great deal to see you."

"No need, I don't need to be rolled across the floor just yet." The normally dainty little woman poked fun at herself, all too well aware of how her svelte physique had been altered by the child within. Any day now. The saying had become her mantra as the last few weeks had ticked by slower than cold molasses. Even still, rising to her feet took skill with how her center of gravity had shifted so severely and coupled with the sliding residuals left by head trauma. "I won't lie, I'm not particularly fond of doctors and last I checked everything was going well. Figured I'd leave it at that." Rochelle's honesty was only partially mired by the way she tugged down at the gauzy fabric of her maxi-dress. "But at least you're the silver lining to me having to come on down here."

The game was afoot and swinging heavily in her favor. She knew she didn't need to pull any punches, that Ch'Valenvok was loyal to the call of the Vindicator - but she also knew that outright asking him and skipping off before her exam would be in poor taste. Undoubtedly it would reach Tristan's ears and the jackal would see to it, while gloating, that Landon heard of the way she'd slipped out of medical's grasp yet again. With her due date hanging precariously over her head, and soon to be passed by, Rochelle would have been a fool above and beyond the simple phobia of doctors she possessed. Javaan's life was more important than her squeamish nature when it came right down to it. He was more important than even the Vindicator or the his mother desired so badly. He was the future, more precious than all the gold pressed latinum in the universe and she, for the moment, was his only hope and savior. Following the rules would have to do and following the rules, for now, meant following the Lieutenant back to a more private room.

Kaleb's eyebrows raised in subtle awareness that his patient was less then stable as she stood up to follow him back to exam 3. though there were precious few outward signs of the head trauma she had suffered during the destruction of the Vindicator, Kaleb knew all too well by the looks of her that she had some lasting effects. Rather than insist on her being wheeled back to the exam room he opted to walk directly beside her as they made their way down the short corridor. "I read in your file that you were treated after the Vindicator for concussion and a pretty nasty laceration to the scalp. Are you still feeling the effects of the concussion?" Kaleb asked with more than a little worry on his brow.

He wasn't for sure yet just how close the Commodore was to her delivery date but he could tell it was close at hand. The last thing a woman about to give birth needed were the side effects of a concussion while enduring labor. "If you are there are a number of treatments we can look at that would pose no threat to the baby." Kaleb felt she would try to play down the symptoms and decided right then he would run a full diagnostic scan on Commodore Ivanova.

"A concussion?" Rochelle asked, her eyebrows raising in genuine surprise and heartfelt amusement, "Understatement of the year." She added, sashaying past the Andorian to take up a roost on the edge of the exam room's biobed, her legs swinging almost childishly as she settled in and studied him. "My skull was fractured, bounced off part of a console or something from what I was told. Archer patched up the majority of it with emergency treatment before we rendezvoused with the Pendragon. But sure. We'll go with concussion." The firebrand winked and leaned back, folding her arms across her chest, "I'm pretty sure the dizziness and clumsiness will go away just as soon as I pop, but if you insist... I'll listen to the options."

It took only a few seconds for Kaleb to complete his scans of the very pregnant Commodore. However, it took considerably more to fully understand the information he was receiving on the tricorder. Many of counts in her blood panel were low but her thiamine levels were dangerously low. "I apologize for having understated the extent of your trauma, Commodore. Most patients find their diagnosis an easier pill to swallow when it is sugar coated. That having been said, have you been taking any neonatal vitamins or reprogramed your replicator for increased daily levels prescribed for pregnant human females?"

Kaleb turned to the table were his medical equipment rested and busied himself filling his hypo-spray with three different supplements. Quickly he sat the hypo-syringe down and picked up two small disk-shaped objects waiting for his former Captain to respond. His eyes scanned her pale features and could easily see the stress her body had been under over the past few months. He would have to schedule daily consultations through delivery and consult with which ever obstetrician she had selected for delivery. With the low levels of B1 and thiamine she exhibited it was only by some great miracle she had not collapsed walking to the exam room.

Her eyes narrowed slightly in thought and her head tilted, turning to eye the Andorian sidelong as she considered his question, "No, actually, I haven't..." Rochelle replied with an almost concerned and introspective hum, "but I have cut all caffeine from my diet." She offered with a gentle shrug, "With as varied as my food choices are, I didn't think it was necessary, to be honest."

"Well since you like direct, Commodore, You are suffering from early onset Beriberi. It is a sever shortage of vitamin B1 and thiamine. Considering you condition after the Vindicator, it is no small wonder that this condition might have been overlooked. Many of the symptoms are similar to those of concussion. Headache, dizziness, fatigue, mental confusion, impaired muscle function just to name a few. On the plus side you waited only long enough to make your condition dangerous and not fatal. After we finish this exam and take a look at your baby, I will administer a vitamin booster of B1 and thiamine which should help normalize your levels." Kaleb watched the Commodore as he laid out the facts as plainly as he could for her.

"Now we need to get a look at that little guy in there." Kaleb pointed to her swollen belly. "These are ultra-sonic resonators and will show us how your baby is positioned and give us a better idea of his birth date. If you would be so kind as to allow me to place these over your stomach we will begin his check up." Kaleb's cheeks blushed slightly a darker shade of blue and an odd heat ran up the nape of his neck. He mentally chastised himself for speaking so uncharacteristically to any patient but most especially to this one whom he had great respect for. Humans, despite the fact that he shared fifty percent of their DNA he seemed only to have that in common with them.

A small, wry smile tugged at the Commodore's lips and made itself at home over the rest of her dainty features. It even went so far as to settle in the fathoms of her Arctic eyes as they studied the impassioned blue skinned man before her. "Touche." She practically purred, and though her body language pulled into a coil that simply said 'oh hell no you did not', she was impressed. So few possessed the gonads to handle her in such a manner. In part it was refreshing, though it would normally work to provoke her ire, that an officer was so cued into and smitten with their work... In fact, his lecture only served to cement her decision,
"We'll play your game, Lieutenant, considering you know so much more about the rules than I." Rochelle drawled, drawing the delicate fabric of her sundress up over her belly. It was difficult, she decided, to keep up an air of snug offense while baring her cheeky little boy short underwear, let alone skin that she only readily shared with Landon, to the man. "Tell me, have you given any thought to switching professions full time? Perhaps taking on the role of a ship's medical officer?" She asked as he placed the cold resonators on her skin. She nearly jumped and shivered.

Kaleb watched as the static image on the viewer shifted, showing the child Commodore Ivanova carried in her womb. "The thought really has never crossed my mind. When I reported to the Vindicator I was really more of a researcher than a physician. Now there is so much going on here I sometimes forget I am even in Starfleet." Kaleb looked pensivly into space for a brief second before turning back to his patient.

"Look, do you see the position. Your baby has rotated and dropped down. He is ready." Kaleb smiled at the screen happy to see the baby's vitals were robust despite the Commodore's vitamin deficiency.

"It's easy to fall into that lull of security when the work load is full. I find it rewarding." Rochelle shrugged lightly, shifting her attention from the Andorian to the wiggling picture of her son. He was lucky, able to exist in a world of comfort without worry or care aside from how cramped his quarters were becoming. A fact he'd taken to complaining about with several well placed kicks that has left her breathless over the last few days. He was healthy with his mighty little heart ticking away at a fair clip according to the read outs readily available for his mother's roving eyes.

Ch'Valenvok's voice, however, quickly captured and redirected her attention, shedding light on something she had admittedly overlooked. "So he is." She smiled brightly. "How much longer do you think, Chief?"

"I would say within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, Ma'am." Kaleb looked over her file for the name of her attending obstetrician. "I don't see the name of your personal physician here, Commodore? Have you seen a doctor in the past two months?"

"Not much time at all..." She mused, tapping her lower lip with a single finger. So little time between that moment and one of the biggest in her life - and still she had the ship to check in on. "No. I haven't. Haven't seen one since being done with my injuries. Consider it your trial. Pass and I'll give you the Vindicator's medical department." Rochelle's grin was almost Cheshire as she regarded him with the full knowledge that he'd do better than just pass the obstacle placed in his way.

Kaleb's eyes widened briefly and then drifted toward the monitor where the fetus wriggled within his mothers womb. "It would be my privilege to deliver your baby when he decides it is time." Kaleb said after a long silence.

---

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NX 78213-F

Lieutenant Kaleb Ch'Valenvok
Science Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NX 78213-F
Temporary Medical Officer
COLD STATION THETA

 

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