Doctor N’Vea consulted her chat in the busy ward of the secondary medical bay. Since the Vaadwaur attacks, they had been pushed to capacity as both injured from Starbase Bravo and ships around the sector had been streaming in. She had been relatively unscathed during the events, but others were not so fortunate. Now was the first day they had been able to resume regular care for patients, instead of pushing off anything that was not an emergency. Short on sleep and long on stress, it was something that even the Vulcan was grateful for; the simple act of providing medical care was soothing when you had little worry that your patient would die.

Glancing at her PADD, she went to the medical bay’s waiting room and called out, “Lieutenant Gideon Johnson. Are you present, Johnson?”

A young-looking officer, barely six feet tall with a toned build, clad in a teal Starfleet uniform, stood in the corner. “I’m here, doctor,” he stated loudly. Walking up to her, Johnson’s dark brown eyes almost glinted under the bright, sterile lights of the medical bay. He moved with such confidence and speed that it looked like he was walking on air.

She nodded to him as she turned and led him towards a biobed for his examination. Gesurtring to the bed, she did her best to provide a close-to-human-level ‘bedside manner’ and friendliness, even if it did not come naturally to her.

“How are you feeling, Lieutenant? Both from a medical perspective and a personal one. I am invested in your needs and happiness,” N’Vea said, inclining her head to indicate that she was serious about caring about what kind of day he was having.

Johnson sat on the bed, his body relaxed. This wasn’t the first time he had been examined by a Vulcan, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. “Doctor, if it’s okay with you, I would appreciate it if you would talk plainly to me?” he asked her. He had grown numb to the notion of doctors and their requirement for bedside manner. He found it a useless notion.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the comment and nodded, “I understand, though my tendency is quite Vulcan if I do not put effort into being personable. However, as you request, I will cut out the ‘chit-chat’ and get right to the point.” N’Vea gestured to the readout over the bio-bed.

“I will use the bed to take a scan of your body’s data and compare it to your Starfleet medical records. The process will not cause physical discomfort. Remain still, and this will be a quick process.” It was almost to the point where her intervention was not needed; in fact, the doctors only really had anything to do on the rare occasions where…

The biobed beeped, and its display flashed. N’Vea looked at the display and then back towards her patient, “Have you broken any limbs in the last year and not informed Starfleet medical?”

Looked at her, puzzled. “During the attack, I fell and my deck slid into me, but a nurse patched me up,” he said casually. He wondered if there could be something else, something that he had forgotten, but as far back as he could remember, there was nothing.

Doctor N’Vea shook her head, “This was not so recently. Though I will log the event. This is an injury to your leg, it is difficult to date exactly. Perhaps in your Academy years, I understand that not everyone has as clear a memory of that time for various reasons.”

Whether because of age or alcohol consumption, memories of one’s Academy years could be fuzzy. N’Vea remembered hers perfectly well, but by that point, she was already a doctor and past the youthful exuberance of spending too much time studying in the library.

”If you do not remember anything, it might be that a poorly calibrated tricorder reassembled your leg wrong. Such accidents are highly unusual, but even the unusual happens at some point,” she said.

Thinking long on N’Vea’s words, Johnson tried to remember as far back as he could on what could have happened that far back that wouldn’t have been picked up before this. Then it hit him. It didn’t happen during his time at the academy; it was just before then. “I think I remember, it was just after I found out I was accepted into the academy, and to celebrate. Me and my older brother snuck out of the house in my dad’s antique car he had just finished rebuilding,” he said, smiling softly at the memory. “Shawn took the corner too hard, and the car flipped once. Luckily, no one was in sight, and surprisingly, there was no major damage but a few chips in the paint.”

N’Vea nodded, it was perhaps not the medical mystery that she had at first assumed, though Occum’s Razor continued to function was a pleasing outcome. She adjusted the scanner and found nothing further was disturbing. She nodded.

“You are in good health, and I have no concerns that would affect you or your duties,” she concluded. “Do you have any questions for me?”

Johnson shook his head as he stood from the biobed. “No doctor. None at all,” he said with finality.

Doctor N’Vea marked down a few notes on the PADD and then updated Lieutenant Johnson’s file, “Then I am satisfied to inform you that you are in good health and may go.”

Johnson stood from the biobed  “See around Doctor,” he said passively as he exited the medical bay onto the crisp deck of Starbase Bravo.