A problem shared

Posted on Wed Feb 25th, 2026 @ 12:17am by Lieutenant Rio Kholin MD & Lieutenant Amber Laurell

1,292 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: 7. Guile
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: 2439-08-13, 0700 hrs

Amber had kept her problems pretty much to herself, she wasn’t one for admitting when she needed medical intervention but there came a time when you had to give in, now was that time. Walking into Sickbay she hoped she wouldn’t be ruining a quiet rest period for Rio.

“Knock, knock” Amber offered Rio a smile. “Do you have a few minutes to talk? I’m experiencing a few problems, mainly headaches, dizzy spells, disrupted sleep. It’s not usual for me.”

Rio looked up and returned the smile, standing to welcome Amber inside, gently closing the door behind her. "Come on in" she greeted her colleague. "If it's unusual then it needs a quick check out just in case there's something going on." she agreed.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Rio gestured towards the replicator "...or eat?" she added as an afterthought.

Meanwhile she opened her arm out in an invitation and also to indicate a biobed in the corner behind an opaque mini-forcefield that opened itself like a curtain when approached.

Moving over to the biobed Amber nodded. “A hot chocolate would be lovely, thank you. Chocolate tends to be my go to thing when I don’t feel the best.”

"Likewise" Rio smiled warmly and fetched two hot chocolates. When she returned she handed Amber one and put the other on the side to cool for herself to drink in a bit. She then moved to the biobed controls and her fingers flitted nimbly and with the assured confidence of someone with a lot of experience with the equipment. She set up the bed, tilting it slightly but not enough to upset Amber's chocolate. Then she set in motion a full set of scans, mostly generated from below, through the bed itself but at the end, taking the finished drink politely aside, slurping her own whilst there, Rio raised the bioarch that engulfed Ambers chest. A sparkle of reflective light shimmered into place establishing a light forcefield that hummed gently, doing a full sweep across and above the bioarch.

When it was all finished, the bioarch split in the middle and retracted to each side, disconnecting the forcefield as it began to separate. Once down, the biobed began to reel its results onto the monitor positioned behind the head of the bed, giving Rio a clear view of what it was reporting, one scan at a time but a comprehensive set of data and descriptions with test results and scan images rolling up last of all.

Rio returned to her chocolate and handed back the last remnants of Amber's to her, thoughtfully, her eyes never ceasing their flicking over the texts and then the images in turn. After some thought and consideration, Rio sat on the chair beside the head of the biobed, next to Amber. She pressed the LCARS to right the bed up into a chair shape so they could talk.

"How long did you say you've been having the headaches?" Rio asked softly, taking more sips of the chocolate.

Amber sipped her hot chocolate before answering. “On and off for a long time it’s part and parcel of having telepathy and empathic senses, but more so since our last mission and my extended use of telepathy.” She gave Rio a curious look. “There’s something wrong isn’t there?”

"It looks as if there could be a small lesion but I would need to run another scan in another 24hrs - to let it settle and to be sure it's not just a glitch - but there appears to be a shadow and it may just be inflammation in which case it is likely to change shape or size by 24hrs time. If it's still exactly the same, then I will need to run through with you what an exploratory surgery would entail and you will then have time to decide if you want that or what the alternatives might be." Rio was frank and she hoped not too much so as this wouldn't be the kind of news anyone would be happy or unconcerned to be given.

"I'm sorry to be a little vague about what it might be - if anything - and we DO have to remember it's not confirmed yet that it will actually turn out to be anything problematical enough for any hasty reactions. Do you have any questions for me to answer at this stage?" Rio's tone had become conciliatory now, having already given Amber the worst first and now attempting to tread water and reassure her at least a little until the confirmation (or otherwise) could be made.

“Questions…not right now, although..” Amber paused. “If this turns out to be something bad, and surgery does come into it, what will it mean for my abilities? I’m not sure if I could function without my senses, I don’t do well without them, even for brief periods of time.”

"I honestly can't give you a reliable prediction about how surgery would affect your senses, Amber." Rio was very serious and sympathetic. "I suggest we have to cross that bridge IF it becomes necessary because until we know more about this 'shadow' and what it consists of in detail, I'm in the dark. I will of course research about this kind of surgery and its effect on each individual's senses, as in what has happened to others and what's the latest in research and teachings about it all, but until we have some kind of direction to point ourselves in, I can't even begin to offer you options or examples to consider, I am sorry. Truly sorry, I realise how worrying this must be for you but I am telling you about the worst case scenario because that's what I have to make sure I've covered to be frank with you and not be blase, however, its honestly too early......MUCH too early to be looking that far into the negative possibilities when there are SO many more positive things this could be."

Rio took Amber's hand as a way of opening all channels to show that she wasn't keeping anything back. "I need you to stay positive whatever this turns out to be or not, because even if it is something, I'm no slouch when it comes to what I can do to help and positivity helps healing. I still don't know if this is nothing more than a glitch that the Spirits have put on your path to remind you to live your live for today? If more, then a bit of a bump in the road perhaps and a fix that we can put behind you instead?"

Amber nodded and offered a warm smile. “Thank you Rio, I appreciate your honesty. Perhaps the prophets are reminding me that I should grasp every moment in life and live it to the full. From now on that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I take it my symptoms will become worse if whatever is in my head grows?”

"Only IF whatever it is turns out to be malignant and we have nothing to back that possibility YET Rio smiled, hoping to be positive and reassuring, keeping her friend and colleague off the worst case path for a while.

Amber smiled. “Right now we’re in IF territory, let’s hope it stays that way. Anyway I should be getting back I have an appointment with a patient of my own soon. Thank you Rio.”

"Copy that!" Rio smiled. "Naturally I'll be straight in touch the moment any news breaks. Take care, Amber".

tbc...

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