Posted by Lieutenant Tija Aizala (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim: Mean cat, mean ship

Posted by Cadet Anders Taurean (Scientist) in Side Sim: Mean cat, mean ship

Posted by Lieutenant Tija Aizala (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim: Mean cat, mean ship
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

After a few more steps, Tija stopped somewhat abruptly and turned around, wondering if she had heard correctly, “Did you say you’re looking for a cat?” She knew of course that it wasn’t uncommon for officers to bring their pets on board, but till she left Bajor the concepts of pets had been foreign to her. Of course some people had life stock, but that was something completely different.

~Lt. Tija, CMO

“Eh, uhm, yes.” He spat out, twiddling with his fingers in an attempt to preoccupy parts of his nervous energy. His eyes and mind wandered along the corridors of the ship and the odd situations one could find a wild cat in. For a moment, Anders was confused at her own confusion.

Duh, she’s Bajoran, not human. Having lived with pets was as natural to him and his culture as her and her culture having not.

Twisting his body in the direction he had been walking, Anders looked for a brief moment, as if the cat would trot itself right back down the corridor and back into the cadet’s quarters as if nothing had happened. Oh, the terror this cat could cause.

“Gangling, skulking. Black on top and white on bottom. Looks friendly, will bite.” In truth, Anders knew very little of this cat but that it had survived for a couple years in the dark corners of Buenos Aires, in spite of being easily goaded into a carrier by promises of a tasty treat on the inside. Then, the man who had studied theoretical astrophysics most of his life wondered why he’d been so dumb so as to not leave a treat for Major to coax the cat back to his quarters…

(Cadet Anders Taurean, Science Division)

“I see,” Tija replied with a slightly raised eyebrow and if Taurean looked close enough he might detect the hint of an amused smile on her freckled face. “Have you tried using the internal sensors or a tricorder to locate your cat? Either might be helpful and would hopefully direct you in the right direction. Otherwise this might turn into a … what is the saying? … wild goose hunt?” While she spoke, she tugged her PaDD under her left arm and reached for the tricorder in the holster on her hip. “This is a medical tricorder, but that shouldn’t make a difference, if you want to give it a try. And I can help you search for a little bit,” she offered. While she didn’t find it easy to socialize with people, this search for the cat intrigued her for some reason. And while she was on call in case of an emergency, her next duty shift wasn’t going to start for a few more hours.

~Lt. Tija, CMO

“N-no, the thought hadn’t occurred to me,” he was caught off guard by her question, and her adorably alien grasping for human idioms. “I just, didn’t expect-I didn’t think the cat could activate my door. It was in the room when I left for my shift, eh- well, anyway. Thank you for offering to help, Lt.”

“You’re welcome, Cadet,” Tija replied and almost as if in an afterthought she added, “What is your name? You must be one of the new science cadets.”

Noticing the medical tricorder held in her outstretched hand, Anders reached out with swiftness but without ceremony and snatched the tricorder from the Bajoran’s hands. Re-adjusting its internal logic pathways to scan for smaller feline lifesigns, Anders went too small to start but continued to make tiny tweaks for some moments until he gave a half-pleased harrumph indicating success.

The CMO was a bit surprised as Taurean snatched the tricorder from her hand. That wasn’t what she had intended. Or maybe she subconsciously had. Either way, it made more sense for him to input the search parameters as he knew exactly what they were looking for. So she stopped herself just in time from saying something; especially something harsh.

“The cat’s yet to be examined physically so I don’t have access to specific organic readings,” Anders explained, “however this should be in the general vicinity of feline anatomy. Should do the trick.”

“Once we find it, it should be examined then. To make sure it doesn’t carry diseases or parasites. Especially those that might be a danger to the crew or any other lifeforms on the ship,” Tija replied matter-of-factly, yet with a stern expression.

With a slight bit of hope and much impatient expectation, the cadet held out the beeping tricorder, waiting for the right ping to point them where to go.

(Cadet Anders Taurean, Science Division)

The tricorder picked up the cat’s trail fairly easily and so far it seemed to lead towards Science Lab 2.

OOC: I leave the snipping for you :)

~Lt. Tija, CMO

“I meant to get the cat checked out but the CMO wasn’t in the med bay when I got my physical done so I didn’t ask about it just yet, and didn’t have time to check back in before my first shift,” he blurted out, unconscious, “I’m Anders Taurean. I’m a scientist. I promise I’m less ignorant when working”

Anders rebounded, managing to sound rather authoritative as he declared, “The reading’s coming from in the science lab; this way,” even as he shot a quick wincing glance at the lieutenant and returned the tricorder to her hands. Her tone seemed to denote that of a physician, or at least someone containing the medical wherewithal to consider the feline’s condition relating to its shipmates. The fledgling cadet worried his encounter with this officer in particular was going every wrong way. And for some reason he cared not to upset this woman any further, in spite of probably having done so on several fronts.

But most of all, he remained confused by this animal.

The Science Lab? I was just working there, like, ten minutes ago how the he- For some unknown strike of luck, his initial heading had been right. But the signal was in the lab. Major hadn’t snuck past him into the lab as Anders left…right? Did a Lieutenant just ask him for his name and he’d blown her off as if she were nothing? Well, all things to be addressed in time. Right now the cadet was worried about his haphazard attempt at caring for a life gone awry. And his long-legged strides left much space for the shorter Bajoran to make up for with speed.

(Cadet Anders Taurean, Science Division)