“Is this really necessary Doctor? Couldn’t just a quick scan with the tricorder wrap it up” Kirin says as she lays on the biobed as the scanning arch slides up and down over her. “I know the reports of my death were greatly exaggerated….”

“Captain, it is standard procedure after a crew member has had an encounter such as yours to undergo a full medical workup…and it is needed” Came a voice from the other side of the room. “I may only be the EMH but you were shot and their rudimentary medical procedures barely did the job. Not to mention the surgery to remove your implant…” the voice trails off as the EMH mark 1 steps into view. 

The scanner arm comes to a stop and the EMH begins typing on the display. “Ensign Dawson. Please come here. If you are to act as the medical officer when I am not activated, you mine as well learn something while I am.”

Stepping up beside the bed Kerry looked a little shell-shocked following the unexpected return of Kirin. “Uh, ok Doctor”

“Good, now speak up, you must exert your will over the patients they will fight what is best for them…” he turns and looks at Kirin, “…such as allowing the medical scan to finish.”

Rolling her eyes Kirin silently cursed herself for the following protocol and getting checked out by the doctor once she beamed back up. ‘Doubt Thanen or any of others would have pushed the issue…but needs to be done, especially with the implant….’ she thinks as the EMH rattles on.

“Ok doctor I get. Let’s finish the scan so I can then get dressed and deal with what I can only imagine is a mountain of reports to write.” Kirin says slightly defeated. It wasn’t like she could get up easily anyways after she changed into one of the silver medical robes and with the scanner arm still over her midsection.

Without responding the EMH looks over to Kerry. “Tell me what you think these readings are showing Ensign.”  He says pulling up a virtual 3D display of Kirin’s body that hovered above the table and pointing towards her shoulder where she had been shot.

“Oh, umm..it looks like the sub-dermal tissue and muscle fibres at the injury site are only partially healed. They will need treatment to stimulate muscle growth and dermal regeneration to avoid long-term damage.” Kerry says as she examined the display.

“Maybe there is hope for you yet Ensign Dawson. What about here?” The EMH remarks point to a spot on the screen.

“Doctor I get that training is important but can we go a bit quicker maybe? Run through the scans with Kerry later?” Kirin s says.

“No, best to learn when the patient is here. Now Ensign, what does this indicate.” The EMH says with a dismissive wave to Kirin.

Glancing at Kirin with a slightly lost and apologetic expression on her face Kerry looks back to the EMH and then the virtual 3D display. “That is odd. Looks like a poorly done surgery to remove some sort of implant. These readings though suggest that there is an abnormal level of volatile chemical compounds being produced and secreted by her body. The computer has classified them as pheromones…but wouldn’t that mean…she is, you are part Orion..…..” her voice trails off and she looks at Kirin who smirks and shrugs.

“Good, you have some promise ensign. Go get the dermal regenerator and let’s get started. Not much we can do about the implant. It isn’t something that can be replicated easily.” The EMH says before looking down at Kirin still stuck on the bed, “Captain, you will need daily suppression injections. They will only partially work though so just be aware of your condition…I will also monitor the other crew for headaches. This could be an interesting chance to study the effects the Orion pheromones have on multiple species at once.” he says thinking aloud. 

“Doc, I don’t know if that would be appropr…” Kirin starts to say before the EMH cuts her off.

“Where is that dermal regenerator Ensign?” The EMH says loudly causing Kerry to jump and bump her head as she was bent over trying to find it in the medical cabinet. As he fills a hypospray and injects its contents into Kirin’s shoulder.

— 

Thanen sat in the briefing room on deck 2 of the Daradax and looked at the main screen on the wall not sure how to phrase what he wanted, needed to ask Captain Tharia sh’Elasif. 

Reaching for the mug on the table he takes a sip of the Janaran tea before setting it down as the warm liquid relaxes slightly; though irritation was still noticeable to anyone familiar with Andorians as his antennae twitched nervously as Captain sh’Elasif was. “Not point dragging this out,” he mutters. “Computer open a channel to Captain sh’Elasif on the USS Temeraire.” 

About 30 seconds passed while he sat there waiting, giving him time to drink some more of his tea, before the screen changed from the Starfleet logo to show an office with a slender, and beautiful Andorian female staring back at him, her expression giving nothing away as she waiting for him to start.

“Captain sh’Elasif, it is a pleasure to finally met you in, well, remotely. I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Thanen Th’zalnar; I currently serve as Executive Officer on board the USS Daradax.” Thanen says trying to calm his nerves but his antennae continue to twitch ever so slightly.

“Lieutenant, I am familiar with you. I assume this has to do with Lieutenant Commander Tarken beaming up a couple of minutes ago?” she responded. “Yes, sir; I was not aware that you had been notified about her return.” Thanen quickly says. “As per protocol, she is currently in medical getting a full workup by the EMH. We do not have an actual doctor on board; Ensign Dawson acts as our medical specialist but her training isn’t much beyond that of most Officers.”

“Thank you for the update and for confirming your current status. The communication from the surface was not encrypted so our comms team picked up. If I had not heard from you in the next 15 minutes it would have been myself who prompted this call.” sh’Elasif remarked her face giving away no emotions as her antennae remain fixed on the screen in front of her and Thanen

“Ah, ok. Well, that is good to know.” Thanen says a bit embarrassed that he didn’t think that the USS Temeraire would pick up the communication. “I am calling as you are the ranking officer in the system; if Kirin, sorry Lieutenant Commander Tarken is cleared by the EMH would that be sufficient for me to return command back to her or should I retain command until she is debriefed? Obviously, if the EMH doesn’t clear her she will not return to duty until such a time that she is.”

“That is an excellent point Lieutenant and it is good that you ask. We do not know what happened down there and I would like a full report from her as soon as she is able to provide it. But if she is cleared by your doctor, the EMH, and it doesn’t raise any questions about her mental fitness then there should be no reason for her to not return to command.” 

“Understood Captain, thank you for confirming what thought would be the case. I will have her provide you with the full report as soon as she is able.” Thanen says as he exhales and relaxes; noticeably he is sure to the other Andorian.

“I will await the report Lieutenant. I also wanted to say you did a good job given that you were put in command on what was your crew’s first mission and you held them together when your Captain went missing. It did not go unnoticed.” sh’Elasif says with a slight smile appearing on her lips causing Thanen to sit up a bit straighter before she continues. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” at which point the transmission ended and the Starfleet logo reappeared.

“Well, that went better than expected. Now let’s hope Kirin is ok….” Thanen says aloud before finishing his tea and standing to leave. 

—

Sitting in the command chair on the bridge Ril slowly spun around in circles while Belania sat at her post on the con. “And just like that, she is back! Do you know what she said when she beamed back up? She just looked at Kerry, Thanen and I, cocked a smile, shrugged and said ‘So, anything exciting happen while I was away?’ as if she hadn’t been missing for a week.” Ril says with obvious frustration, “And then before anyone could really say anything she just walked past us to medical and said “Should probably get checked out, Kerry you’re the medical lead, come with me. Thanen we will speak shortly, Command is yours.” Then right into medical, and when I went to see if she was ok she just said we would speak soon, she needed privacy for the check. LIKE WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!” she continues.

Belania leaned back from the con and spun her chair around. “What do you think would happen? She would sit us all down in the lounge and regal us with the story of her mission? You know protocol better than most of us, you are the security and tactical officer right. She went MIA on a mission so a full medical workup is needed before she can be reinstated. You know her as well as I do. She doesn’t put things off.”  pausing for a few moments she continued, “I am sure though we will get an update from her within reason right. Hell, remember the other week when we were en route here and she pulled out that bottle of Sauran Brandy and started talking about her previous work on Starbase 3? There were some bits to that story and the commander she mentioned that I am pretty sure she let slip…”

“Yeah, true enough; she likely wanted to just clear her head a bit…” Ril responds while stopping the spin of her chair so she is facing Belania. “You would think that those sorts of comments and actions from a Starfleet officer would not happen; it is the 25th century after all; so what if she is part Orion and part Risian doesn’t mean she is…” Ril starts to say before actually blushing slightly, “well, you know the stories…”

Belania laughs slightly, “Ril I wouldn’t take you to shy away from saying something. Do you mean she is what, ‘animalistic’ with extreme carnal appetites because she is Orion or that because she is part Risian her life is guided by her Hedonism and her highly imaginative, um, mind?” she laughs again, “That is so very 22nd century of you. Have you ever met the Lieutenant Commander? Sure she is attractive if you are into that, but I would never question her professionalism, integrity or commitment to Starfleet. Would you? Hell, I definitely wouldn’t want to cross her.” Belania says and stares at Ril, “Besides what she does in her personal time is her own business.”

“I am not shying away from the topic or saying things. It is just weird to talk about that in regards to the captain of the ship.” Ril responds by waving her hand as she says ‘captain’ when Belania raises an eyebrow, “I know she doesn’t want to be called Captain, doesn’t change the fact she has earned that title by all rights within the fleet if not the rank.”

“True enough.” Belania agrees “I am just happy she is back and we can stop worrying about her.” to which Ril nods in agreement.