Ol' Country Doctor
Posted on 04 Feb 2026 @ 1:26pm by Captain Threlox & Ensign Yara Selin & Lieutenant Luna Dahl & Lieutenant Commander Roxanne "Rox" Matamoros Garcia
2,316 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Opening Transmission
Location: USS Proteus: Main Sick Bay / Chief Medical Officer's Office Deck 4
Timeline: 1826.1 - 20
Tags: Proteus, Threlox, Yara Selin, Selin, Doctor Dahl, Dahl, Luna Dahl, Yara, Medical, Sickbay, Rox, Roxanne Matamoros Garcia, Garcia, Matamoros
[ USS Proteus ]
[ Deck 4: Corridor, Main Sickbay ]
When the Turbolift hissed open on Deck 4, Lieutenant Luna Dahl stepped out with an arm full of paper folders, data chips, and her tricorder. With a hum, she walked down the corridor to the Main Sickbay. Her mind was on a medical journal she had read that morning, on Andorian Shingles. She was interested in the paper's new approach to the treatment.
Luna would have continued walking down the corridor past the Sick Bay, if it weren't for the fact that one of her had slipped out of her hands and onto the deck. With a grumble, she bent down in front of the viewing window into Sick Bay, and started restacking her files back into place.
[ Turbolift: Deck 2 to Deck 4 ]
Captain Threlox and Lieutenant Commander Roxanne Matamoros Garcia had just been introduced in the Observation Lounge by the Proteus's recently departed Captain James Collingwood for his latest command just a few moments before. Threlox hadn't formed an opinion of the commander within the past thirty minutes. He ordered her to give him the 'grand' tour. The first on their tour: Main Sickbay.
Matamoros had swallowed both pride and disappointment and resolved to make the best of the situation in which she now found herself. She now stood with her new commanding officer in the Starboard Turbolift and made a mental note to order the new Chief Engineer to fix that basted noise; his predecessor had claimed he couldn’t hear it.
Breaking the silence, Matamoros continued briefing the new commanding officer on the various systems and crew. “Our Medical computer was updated with the latest artificial intelligence models six months ago at Spacedock, we are now operating on the same systems as Enterprise.”
"Anything that gives our doctors the edge on our upcoming three-year deep-space exploration assignment. I doubt we'll be near more advanced medical facilities that far out of Federation Space."
"Yes, quite", replied Matamoros considering the implications of detached service. "Proteus is as well equipped as any Constitution-class starship for the unknown."
[ Deck 4: Main Sickbay ]
[ Concurrently ]
Ensign Yara Selin was treating a non-rate Engineer's Mate with a fractured tibia from a high-stakes racquetball doubles extramural tournament with the Aryabhata. The non-rate flinched when the nurse's silver-toned hand touched the spot nearby. She brought up the medical data on the bio-bed's user interface.
"Ouch, that hurts!" the non-rate whined, "Do you think I'm going to be able to go back? I don't want to let Petty Officer Chen down."
"I.... uh..." Selin's confidence wavered. She rechecked the biobed readings, tucking a stray hair behind her ear nervously. "I'm sorry, I need to assess the full extent of the fracture before I can tell you about returning to play. I don't want to give you the wrong information—"
"You don't know?" The non-rate asked rhetorically, trying to push himself up off the bio-bed but aggravating his leg. "Why do—"
"I'm sorry!" The words came out quickly. "I'm doing my best. The fracture is more complex than a simple break, and I want to make sure I'm giving you accurate information. Please, lie back down—you're making it worse."
"Where's Doctor Chakrabarti?"
"He's been reassigned," Yara said quietly, her red eyes showing genuine concern for the patient's distress even as her own anxiety mounted.
"Reassigned?!"
"Apparently." Luna Spoke standing in the Doorway of the Sick Bay, the folders, data chips, and other bits piled messily in her arms. "What do we have here nurse?" She asked as she set her things on one of the biobeds and grabbed her medical tricorder. "Let's see," She waved the scan probe along his leg where the Nurse had been scanning. "Oh, a simple compound fracture. Nurse, give him a CC of Analgesic, then use an osteogenic stimulator to knit the bone whole again." She smiled at the patient, you should be back up and moving tomorrow at the latest."
She paused and looked at both the Nurse and the Engineer's mate, "Oh, I'm Lieutenant Doctor Luna Dahl. I'm the new Chief Medical Officer." She bore a shy smile on her face.
"Yes, Doctor... right away," Yara's face flushed slightly with a mix of relief and embarrassment that the new CMO effortlessly diagnosed what she had been struggling with. She paused momentarily before wondering what had been said momentarily as she seemed a bit more flustered, "Oh, right... A CC of Analgesic."
"A CC of analgesic," She said in a hushed tone when she stood in front of the medical cabinet. Her hands trembled when she picked it up and brought it back over to the non-rate's bio-bed. She then repeated and paused while getting her second hand to assist in lowering the hypospray to the injection site below the knee, "Yes, yes of course, Doctor."
She pressed the hypospray against the non-rates leg, which jolted at her touch with the amount of pain he had suffered, "Sorry, I'm so sorry."
"I don't think you are," the non-rate complained while the nurse continued. She placed the hypospray down on the surgical table nearby. She picked up the osteoganic stimulator and looked over the settings. She tried to remember her training with this piece of equipment, and she froze briefly.
"Sorry," Yara said once more before moving the stimulator over the site, before the device chirped that the treatment had been successful and the non-rate was no longer in pain. She looked over her shoulder at Doctor Dahl and then back to her patient, "Thank you... for your... patience."
The non-rate replied something unintelligible before getting off of the bio-bed. Yara watched him support his weight on his own feet, "I would... be more careful during the tournament... just in case..."
"Right..." The non-rate had somewhere more important to be and quickly departed Sickbay before almost running into Lieutenant Commander Matamoros as she entered Main Sickbay.
“Attention, Mister”, uttered Matamoros with a glare as she walked into Sickbay gently ushering the engineer aside. “Captain on deck” she called more loudly, bringing the crew to attention and allowing the Captain to enter the room.
The Captain and First Officer drifted through the Sickbay in the direction of the new Chief Medical Officer.
"I'm Ensign Yara Selin, Doctor Dahl." She placed a stray hair behind her ear with her hand, "I'm sorry you had to step in. I should have recognized it was a simple compound fracture right away."
"Don't apologize, Nurse Selin, you would have gotten there sooner or later." She smiled and leaned against a bio bed, "Is this your first tour on board the Proteus?" Luna asked, trying to make conversation, but her eyes were busy taking in the whole of the sick bay, including the door to the office and storage. With the ship being so new, the setup was all top-of-the-line equipment and systems, and Luna hadn't served aboard a ship this new before.
"Yes, Ma'am. Well... this is really," Yara waited a beat before continuing, "my first tour anywhere. I graduated from my Starfleet Medical cohort last month... I can ramble on, and on, and on... sorta my thing... maybe I should stop talking? Do you like tea? ... Would you like some? Not really what Nurses do... but I was going to get myself some... see? Rambling again." A nervous laugh.
"Tea would be fine," she smiled, realizing her shyness, mixed with this bubbly nurse, was going to be interesting. "Last month, well, I can see why you are nervous about making medical decisions," she spoke, watching Selin. "Confidence will come with time and practice."
Selin's nervous laughter continues hushly while her superior officer spoke. "I'll get that tea for you, Ma'am... yes Ma'am." She took a few steps away, then turned around, "Oh! What kinda tea... would you... like... to... drink? I was going to go for a... I don't know, but I was thinking of a blueberry tea... I love blueberries... they are an odd berry. Nothing like that grows on Rigel V..."
The Captain had now approached the two of them from behind the Nurse. She turned around and looked down to see the Tellarite-Denobulan captain an inch shorter, "Cap-Cap-Captain. Hi, sir." She stepped out of the way nervously and almost knocked herself into Doctor Dahl.
Luna just smiled and gently set her hands on the Nurse's shoulders to guide her to a safe place. "Captain, I hope you didn't mind me stopping here in sickbay before I reported to you. I wanted to drop a few items off and see the setup." Her eyes looked nervous and worried that she might have made a mistake coming here first. "Would you like some blueberry tea, Nurse Selin was about to make a couple of cups for us."
The Nurse wanted to burrow her head into the Doctor's shoulder so she could die of embarrassment. Rosey hue came to her silver-toned skin. She slightly turned around to face the captain and nodded her head very apologetically, "Yes... Captain.... would you like some teeeeaaaaa?" Nervous laughter.
The Doctor was about to die of second-hand embarrassment at this point. All she could do was smile and pray, when really she wanted to go hide in the office and hope this day couldn't get more social.
The Captain observed both women in front of him while Lieutenant Commander Matamoros joined them, clearly ready to intercede. He raised his hand, indicating that he'll address this personally without intervention from the First Officer, "Listen, while I understand that you're a junior officer, you'll conduct yourself with utmost professionalism, Ensign. Tea, yes, it'll be fine. I've had enough coffee for one day, and another cup will most likely be ill-advised by my doctor."
Yara placed her hand over her mouth to hush the nervous laughter. It held and stopped. She made direct eye contact with the captain and nodded with a smile, "Of course, Captain. Tea. Yes." She turned around and pointed in the direction of the small breakroom in the back of Sickbay to collect the teas. She paused and looked around, "Would you like some tea... commander?" A question Matamoros answered with a puzzled glower, “Or coffee, maybe?” Yara added.
“Thank you, yes, black,” Rox emphasised the last word.
Nurse Selin left them for the small breakroom.
"Doctor Dahl," Captain Threlox continued and gestured towards Garcia, "This is my Number One, Commander Garcia. Please report directly to her once you've settled for further orders."
"Pleased to meet ya," She held out her hand to the Commander. "Yeah, I can come by once I get a few things settled here and have settled down." She glanced at the door the Nurse left through.
"I take it Captain, that your doctor won't be joining us once we leave the Starbase. I want to do my own examination and physicals on all the crew members, including the officers..." Luna spoke politely with a bit of reservation. Matamoros took half a step back and listened with interest.
Threlox raised an eyebrow at the doctor's comment and looked over his shoulder to the XO, "Can you check that PADD of yours, Number One? I'm pretty sure that Doctor Dahl has filled the billet of senior medical officer and ship's doctor aboard the Proteus?"
"I will defer your request to the XO here as she's more attuned to whose been to Medical for health assessment and evaluations. I do agree to incoming senior staff including myself."
"We have only one qualified medical officer assigned to Proteus for this mission", responded Matamoros neutrally. "Starfleet Medical was unable to assigned a second physician, but we do expect a senior nurse and also a qualified Vulcan physiotherapist for what it's worth." Which, in Matamoros's view, was not much at all.
"Extra Nurses are always welcome, as for the Physiotherapist, they will be helpful already. We just had someone in with a broken leg. Thought for a moment we'd have to put them down like a horse, but modern medicine and all." She looked between the CO and XO, hoping her joke worked.
“I had to put a horse down once, Doctor”, replied Matamoros, straight-faced. “Saddest moment of my life.”
"On my family's ranch so did I. It sucks, but at least on this ship, I shouldn't have to use that option." She tried to recover from her lame joke that fell flat
Nurse Selin reemerged from where she made her exit from earlier. She carried three teas and a coffee with clumsy hands. Some spillage on the floor, "Oopsies..." "no, no, no."
"Let me help you Nurse." Luna Grabbed two of the mugs off the tray and held them out for the CO and XO.
Yara was grateful that her new CMO came to her aid. She was worried about embarrassing herself even more in front of the captain, the XO, let alone her direct superior. "Thank you, Doctor."
"You're most welcomed," Dahl replied with a bright smile.
Yara followed Doctor Dahl's lead and brought the hot beverages over to the captain and the lieutenant commander. These mugs had the Starfleet Medical emblem on one side and Starfleet's on the other.
"I believe that's all the time we have unfortunately, in Sickbay. Make scheduling arrangements for all senior staff members for medical evaluations with Number One."
"Yes sir. I will, and I look forward to speaking with you again sir." Dahl smiled before turning to Number One. "I have no conflicting matters in the near future, so scheduling appointments should go smoothly."
OFF:
A joint post by
Lieutenant Luna Dahl
Chief Medical Officer, USS Proteus,
Lieutenant Commander Roxanne "Rox" Matamoros Garcia
Executive Officer, USS Proteus
Captain Threlox
Commanding Officer, USS Proteus
& of course the resident ramblin'
Ensign Yara Selin
Nurse, USS Proteus
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