Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Adebowale Mbala (Ship’s Dentist) in Pre-sim, Master Chief Petty Officer Robert Mooney
[snip]

Mooney spun on his right foot and walked smartly out of the CMO’s office. Next order of business then was to find the head nurse, that would get him his physical and most likely where to store the specialized equipment he had brought with him.

After that he needed to make an appointment with the security devision Officer, as it was likely he would be working closely with them.

Not immediately working out who the head nurse was, Mooney Steele over to the pallet and retrieved the go bag he usually kept in sickbay. It was primarily emergency life support and aid gear, a duplicate of 3 others he had packed. Buy securing them in places he was most likely to be, they were close at hand Incase he was called on. Not that he would need any of it here, but if some one needed him he would be lighting out of here in a hurry.

Slinging it over his shoulder he turned back to the room “Time to find that nurse, Mooney” he said out loud.

The nurse had gone back to work. With the Sickbay in a lull in business, most of NE Henle’s work involved the upkeep of the machinery in the Sickbay. And making sure everything was stocked. When she saw Mooney, she turned to him and said, “Met the CMO, have you? Was there something else you needed?”

Coming to attention, This is going to get old fast “yes m’am, I need a duty physical and a place to store some of the specialty gear that came with me” After a pause and a failed attempt to quell a smile, “Frankly I would be an idiot not to be cognizant of who I really work for here.” Finally getting a hold of his face, his face went stern and blank.

The nurse nodded with a grin of her own. “I think the only doctor not doing anything right now is the CMO… Since a doctor has to do your evaluation, I’d say we should call him.” She said. “You can probably, um, not stand at attention.” She said. The nurse was only an ensign and certainly wasn’t used to such formalities.

“Thank you m’am, that’s going to get old for all of us I think.” A big grin crossed his face at the thought of calling out the LT to personally give him his physical.

“I think that is a great idea, M’am, no one better qualified” said with a wink. Nurses all tend to grow into the same almost sadistic sense of humor. Can’t blame them tho, look at the cranks they have for patients.

Nurse Henle gave him what could only be described as a knowing grin. “I’ll call him. I’m sure he’ll be right out.” She said, and then she called for Lieutenant Saark on her com badge. Once she had, she turned to get back to her duties. ‘Cranks’ to take care of, all that.

It was just a few moments later that Saark came out of his office, heading quickly over to Mooney. “I do have work to get done,” he said, but then he added, “Well, no reason to waste time now. If you’ll pick a biobed and have a seat, we’ll get your physical done.” He said, and with that he grabbed a tricorder from nearby. It had been quite a while since Saark himself had done one of these things. He usually made one of the Ensigns handle them.

Hopping up on the nearest bio-bed, there was a muffled clunk as his legs hit the side. “ I am honored sir.”

At 6’2” and 215# Robert Mooney was in exceptional shape even among the exceptional men and women crewing the Merrimack. More impressive for a 52 year old human. The medical scans quickly reveled the prosthetics and the associated reconstruction.

Both legs were missing from just above the knee, with evidence of titanium scaffolding; artificial connective tissue and tissue grafts to make better bearing surfaces. The legs were recent, perhaps a year judging from the remodeling from the granulation bed. Wile the left arm was older, being amputated just below the elbow. None of them were of the latest design, those were permanently grafted and almost indistinguishable from real. These were of black polymer and alloy latching onto artificially constructed horn anchors. Their was some minor inflammation around the anchors and deep in the fatty tissue under the callused pads.
Otherwise the intensive weight and endurance training was obvious, tho the bone density increase indicated that he had intensified his training regiment in the last year.

After Saark had done his initial scan of Mooney, he made a few notes on his file. “You’re in good shape for a man your age,” he commented. “I don’t see anything abnormal, besides your prosthetics, all of which look to be doing fine.” He said. He almost wanted to ask why Mooney had so many prosthetic limbs, but pasts interactions told him that was not a good idea to make the man like working with him. Instead he said, “That would mean you are cleared for duty. Unless there is something else you’d like to ask.”

“Thank you, sir,”Mooney replied,” At this point sir, I don’t know enough about how you run your devision to have any reasonable questions.” Hoping down from the table. “With your permission, I will get my duty schedule from the head nurse and stow my gear.”

Before he could leave, Ade appeared from the Sickbay, “You’re one of the new officers we’ve taken on board, huh? From your records, I don’t believe you’ve had a dental checkup in the last year?” Ade raised an eyebrow, as if to say, ‘that looks like a lot of work for me?’

As it broke Mooney’s train of thought he was slow in responding, but as understanding dawned on him he smiled. “ no Sir, I have not, do you have time to rectify the situation?”

“Why, for sure!” replied Ade. “When are you free? These days, I don’t get much work, except for that one time we found the parasitic calcareous aliens.”

Pushing the pallet back against the bulkhead, “I am available now sir, if that’s convenient” the thought of a bone and tooth parasite was not a pleasing one *Glad I missed that one “ he thought.

“Okay! Come this way!” replied Ade, who showed him his small treatment room off Sickbay.

“As you can see, I have all the latest equipment here,” Ade continued. “No physically pulling out teeth one at a time under crude anaesthetics, this specialist transporter-based device removes complete teeth and their roots with minimal pain, but do be careful to sit perfectly still in the chair. Ha! Ha! Now, just a check up is it? Or have you been experiencing any problems?”

Moony’s Smile faltered at the thought of transporter surgery. He had seen what happened when things went wrong with a transport and the idea of something like that going on in his head was not exactly appealing. “ No, no problems sir.” Came the wary reply.

“Please take a seat… And you’re in good health otherwise? On any medication?” Ade asked.

“Yes sir,”” no sir” came the replies.

“I’m just going to take a look at your teeth then, if you can lie back and open wide for me. This shouldn’t take long. It looks like you’ve taken good care of your teeth,” Ade said.

Like dentists across the galaxy, once they had you pinned down with their fingers in your mouth they wanted to chat, Mooney would have smiled at the excitement the dentist had at having a new patient if not otherwise occupied.

He did indeed take care of his teeth, keeping up with regular visits and other wise practicing good oral hygiene. Mooney had cracked a tooth once on deployment, and it had made an otherwise routine mission a misery. He intend to do what he could to avoid revisiting such an occurrence.

Ade seemed genuinely disappointed at the high standard of Mooney’s teeth.

“I expect you’ll be going to the film night tonight? it’s a premier of Bucco Rogers In The 31st Century,” was among the half dozen questions Ade asked without actually giving Mooney a chance to reply.

And although it probably seemed like an eternity to Mooney, the examination was all over in five minutes.

“You have some tartar build-up on your teeth,” said Ade. “You need to improve your regular brushing and flossing routine. Otherwise, plaque can cause tooth decay and gum disease.” Ade said this to every patient, no matter how good their oral hygiene was. “…and you have a cracked tooth that was repaired. That might need a new repair in the future. Otherwise, you have very healthy teeth!”

“Thank you Doctor” Mooney answered, now that he was free to. “I will schedule a cleaning to address that” their was no real graceful way to get out of a dentist’s chair but he managed to with a minimum of indignity, tho his left pant leg was caught high on his prosthetic ‘calf’ and he took a moment to correct it.

Scuttle butt had reached him about the move premier, but he was on the fence. He needed to get his gear stowed and he hoped to hit the gym before he racked out.

“Well, now you know where I am, don’t be a stranger!” Ade said before Moody left.

-Ade, Ship’s Dentist

“ Hopefully we won’t see each other much professionally , Doc. But as we will both be working here in the med deck I am sure we will rub elbows.”

So far his new assignment was looking good, the crew was amiable if not down friendly. Even the Devision Officer was friendly for a Vulcan.

MCPO Mooney