They were crooked. She had cut her bangs crooked. It was 7:30, a mere half hour before she was due to report and her bangs were at an obtuse angle.
"That's what I get for making decisions while half awake." She said to her reflection, carefully cutting her new bangs in a straight line. They were shorter than she had planned but would be serviceable for the time being.
Claire has traded her red cadet uniform with it's uncomfortably short skirt for something more appropriate for medical personnel. The blue uniform was more conservative, actually allowing her to bend over without concern, and giving her pockets. Only a woman can truly know the gift that is functional pockets in a work environment.
She took one last look at her reflection, noting the slight flush of frustration across her cheeks and her freshly cut hair. She'd have to find someone to cut it for her in the future, but it would have to do for now. Hopefully the CMO would be too busy avoiding her to notice.
Claire walked to sick bay, careful to not pick up on the emotions of the crew bustling to their own stations. Her own anxiety was enough, she did not need that of her crew members.
"Good morning Dr. McCoy." Greeted Claire, placing her PADD on an empty desk.
"Already assigning yourself space I see." He said, not even bothering to greet her.
"Well I just assumed since this is an empty desk that-"
"First thing you should learn: don't assume anything."
"I apologize. Where is my desk?" She asked, trying to maintain her composure.
McCoy grumbled something underneath his breath.
"I'm sorry, I missed that."
"That is your desk." He said, more clearly but still begrudgingly.
Claire let out a sharp exhale, holding back an intense desire to reprimand him for wasting her time. However, she wasn't even sure what she was supposed to be doing with her time besides wasting it. Instead she decided to take the high road.
"Sir, I remember you said something about making sure crew medical records were up to date. Would you like me to begin going through those files?"
"Assuming you are capable of that, yes."
"If they are in need of an exam or inoculation, would you like me to reach out to them to schedule it?"
"No, just send me a list. We have a few officers coming in today for exams. I would like it if you did a few of them so I could observe."
"Of course, I am more than happy to show you that I am a competent practitioner."
Claire turned to her PADD and began the arduous process of manually checking records. She briefly considered writing a program to check it for her, finding her own laziness to be her most valuable skill set, but thought it may be too early to rock the boat, so to speak.
Many of the personnel were her age, early thirties or so and in peak health. Claire knew she looked younger, the betazoid genes causing her to age at a slower rate despite her human level of intelligence. She found that especially frustrating in her early twenties when she appeared to the world as a girl around fifteen.
She was struck primarily by how many new crew members there were, which should not have surprised her considering the absolute decimation of the crew just six months prior. Many who survived had opted not to begin a five year residency.
There were a few families on board; Primarily couples who were both enlisted and their young children. Claire found quite a few of the children had upcoming vaccinations that were required for them.
She got about a quarter of the way through before McCoy knocked on the archway leading to her office space. "Your first patient, Jolly."
"It's Jolie, like the French word for pretty." Claire corrected him.
"French names on an alien woman. What will I see next?"
Claire didn't bother to hide her eye roll, knowing he wasn't looking at her.
As she passed him on the way to the exam room he handed her a PADD with the crew member's name on it.
Nyota Uhura, Communications Officer
Claire had heard about Lieutenant Uhura before. Her exemplary skills in linguistics as well as her savvy responses in stressful situations were legendary among female recruits. Certainly an intimidating first patient.
Uhura was already sitting on the medical bed when Claire entered the room, looking no less than the confident woman that she was portrayed as being.
Claire extended a hand in greeting. "Hello, I am Cadet Jolie, 4th year medical student. I will be conducting your exam today."
"Pleased to meet you Cadet."
Claire began looking through her file, scanning the room for a tricorder. With none in sight she resorted to opening drawers.
'Damnit,' she thought, 'this is why I wanted to be here for unpacking.'
"Top drawer on the left." Called McCoy from the doorway. Claire flushed a deep scarlet, acutely aware of the judgement that was radiating off McCoy.
Uhura, however, was much more patient. Claire felt that Nyota had yet to make an assessment of Claire and was waiting to see how she'd fair during the examination.
Claire grabbed a tricorder, making sure to run it under a sonic cleaner before approaching Uhura. She began the examination, scanning Nyota for any medical abnormalities and asking a series of questions to assess any needs she may have.
"Have you had any unusual symptoms since your last exam or any changes?" Claire asked, eyeing the tricorder display. Nothing abnormal to note.
"No, I've felt great."
"Perfect. I noticed there was some information regarding sexual health missing in your files." In fact it was missing in most of the personnel files for preexisting crew members. She wasn't sure if it was on purpose or if McCoy just got uncomfortable asking about the sex lives of his peers. "Are you currently sexually active?"
"No. I am not." A mild discomfort radiated from Uhura at the question, indicating Claire should tread lightly.
"Thank you for the information. If you anticipate that changing, please feel free to discuss options with Dr. McCoy or myself for your reproductive health. Otherwise my only advice is to continue what you are doing. If half my patients were as healthy as you I would have a much easier life."
Nyota stood up from the bed and said goodbye to both Claire and Leonard as she returned to the bridge.
"Do you really think it's appropriate to ask people about their sex lives when you first meet them?" McCoy asked, looking for something to nitpick.
"Well seeing as there was no information in her file, yes I did think it was necessary. It's very human to be afraid to talk about sexual health." Claire said, perhaps a bit too brashly.
"You sound like the damned pointy eared bastard." McCoy muttered.
"I merely think a comprehensive approach to health is important. If Lieutenant Uhura was active sexually without medication, I would like to be aware of any possible changes to her health." Claire said, hoping that would make her stance more clear. "Furthermore, I sense you are uncomfortable around the topic and wanted to make your life easier by taking it on."
McCoy sputtered for a moment, unsure how to respond to being called out. "I assure you I'm not afraid of sex."
"I never said that. But it does seem like you feel uncomfortable asking crewmembers about their own sex lives."
McCoy stared at her for a moment as if she'd suddenly sprouted pointy ears. "Your next patient is in a half hour. I expect you to continue working on the personnel files in the meantime."
Claire nodded and returned to her desk scrolling through the files once more and compiling her list. McCoy would occasionally call her in for another routine examination, no longer making comments about her choice of questions.
She had caught a few of the male officers noticing her black eyes and making many of the same assumptions that other cadets had at the academy. Though she likely wouldn't admit it, she had been a bit rough with a hypospray on one of the crewmembers with the more graphic thoughts.
Her most recent patient seemed to be almost oblivious to her, answering her questions with very little emotional response besides impatience to return to his post.
"Lieutenant Fletcher, have you had any unusual symptoms since your last checkup? I noticed an abnormally high level of testosterone." Claire asked.
"No." She could sense he was lying, suddenly even more impatient to leave the sick bay.
"Are you absolutely positive?" She pressed.
"I said no." He said, more than a little outwardly aggressive.
Claire was taken aback, but still wanted to explore her line of inquiry. "Can you think of any reason why you have a boosted testosterone level?"
"I just got done lifting weights." Another lie. Highly unusual.
"Alright well, I expect you shall come to either McCoy or myself should you start to feel any symptoms. And I'd like to keep an eye on your hormone levels."
"That's hardly necessary. I feel fine."
"Yes, well please consider it."
Fletcher left sickbay, walking quickly back to engineering when McCoy spoke up. "You shouldn't be so pushy."
"He was lying." Claire said, turning and looking at McCoy.
"About what?"
"About feeling well and about the cause of his high testosterone. He knows why his levels are high but he won't disclose."
"Why Cadet, I thought it would be obvious why a man would lie about something like that."
Claire tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow.
"He probably is experiencing dysfunction in the bedroom and is supplementing with artificial testosterone. Really I'd think that would be obvious."
"He's very young to be having those issues, not even thirty, and he has no history of high blood pressure or indication of a psychiatric cause."
"Really Jolie, let this go. Humans lie about stupid things like this all the time."
"Who was lying about what exactly?" Said a voice from the entrance to sickbay.
Claire turned and made eye contact with Commander Spock, quickly bowing her head in respect. She was about to explain when McCoy interrupted her.
"Our cadet here thinks she is discovering a conspiracy theory. One of our engineering crew has high testosterone levels and lied about why." He almost looked amused as he explained the situation.
"The lie didn't feel like it was shamefully hiding something as innocuous as treating a sexual dysfunction." She replied.
"She's just an overly eager young cadet craving some sort of excitement. I remember when I first became a doctor." McCoy said.
"You were a family practitioner in rural America." Spock said, his eyebrow raised.
McCoy sputtered for a moment before saying "And now I am the Chief Medical Officer of the most advanced vessel in Starfleet."
"An accomplishment for any family practitioner I'm sure." Spock was teasing him at this point, Claire could tell. It delighted her to no end considering that Leonard had made her day rather unpleasant with his huffing about and complaints. "Now I believe I am due for a medical exam. Perhaps I can see this 'overly eager cadet' in action."
"Of course." Claire said, gesturing to the empty bed.
Spock sat down and Claire began examining him with the tricorder. In the academy there was a basic course in Vulcan anatomy and physiology that was optional for second year students. She had taken it primarily because it fit in her schedule but was thankful for it now as she saw the abnormally high heart rate flash across her screen. A less informed cadet might have been alarmed.
By the end of the exam they had established that Spock was in uncommonly good health. As she scrolled to the bottom of his file she noticed a note from approximately six and a half years ago regarding an incident of Pon Farr. This was prior to his time with the enterprise, though not by much and the details on how he had dealt with it were unclear.
"Commander, I do not wish to seem incompetent but I must ask: do you experience Pon Farr at the same frequency as others of your species?"
McCoy snorted from the corner of the room and she shot him a look.
"I do experience it every seven years." Spock said, raising an eyebrow at the question.
"It seems you have another Pon Farr approaching in four months. May I ask what arrangements you have made to assure your own safety as well as those around you?" She asked, trying to maintain a respectful professionalism about what she knew was a sensitive topic.
"I plan to meditate."
"Will you still be attending to your duties?"
"I see no reason why I should not."
"Commander, with all due respect I think meditation is a very effective method when one is not around other people, but I worry about the effectiveness of it on a crowded starship."
"I can assure you that it will be under control." His face was turning a yellow tinge, the Vulcan equivalent of flushing and she could sense his pride had been mildly wounded in their conversation.
"Of course. I trust your impeccable judgement."
With that Spock left sickbay to return to the bridge.
McCoy came up behind Claire and clapped her on the back, causing her to stumble forward slightly and nearly drop her PADD.
"You know, I had my doubts about you but I think you'll be a great fit." He said as she turned around to face him. "Any girl who can make Spock blush is my kind of girl."
"It wasn't my intention, I merely was concerned-"
"Yes well, wonderful first day. Absolutely wonderful. Very happy to have you Cadet Jolie."
Claire was confused for a moment before smiling cautiously at the man. He did seem to have a sudden attitude shift, now finding her to not only be competent but amusing. "Thank you sir, I'm very happy to be here."
"Of course! Now go restock the hyposprays."
Claire's smile dropped and she set about the menial task. For a first day, it wasn't that bad all things considered.
"Also nice hair. Trying to look like old pointy ears I see."
Her hand shot to her bangs.
'Shit, I knew I cut them too short.'