Boarding Physical - Hannah, Sweetheart... Patient's Here. Love You, Bye.

Posted on 29 Jul 2026 @ 11:14pm by Ensign Taren Voss & 1st Lieutenant Gavin Ross Dr.

1,987 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: S04 Episode 02 The Hackers Backdoor (Incidentals)
Location: USS Tomcat, Main Sick Bay
Timeline: Backpost.

[ON:]

Dr. Gavin Ross sat in his office just off the main sickbay aboard the USS Tomcat , the soft blue glow of the subspace comm screen lighting up his face. His sister, Ensign Hannah J. Ross, was on the other end and as usual the two of them had fallen into one of there classic family debates. This time it was over there brother Braydon’s recently completed article in the Starfleet Medical Journal on advanced synaptic maping techniques. Being from a whole family of distinguished doctors in Starfleet Medical meant these arguments never really stayed poliet for long.

"Hannah, come on now. Braydon’s paper is solid in places, I’ll give him that, but he really glossed over the long-term stability data. The numbers from the Mayflower cases just isnt as conclusive as he makes it sound, and you defending it like its perfect is a bit much, dont you think?"

He listened to her reply crackle through the comm, something about how he always nitpiked because he wasnt the one actually out there collecting real field data on Galos II. Ross let out a short laugh and shot back.

"Oh please, dont give me the whole ‘I’m in the humanitarian trenches’ routine again. Your out there with limited resources, sure, but that doesnt automaticly make your read on the stats better than mine. Alot of us still have to anwser to actual peer review boards that check the numbers twice."

Hannah’s voice came back through the subspace static, animated and clearly not ready to concede, going on about how there father would probably side with Braydon anyway and how Gavin’s own last submission had needed multiple revisions.

Ross was already opening his mouth to fire off something about name-dropping the family legacy in references when the soft woosh of the sickbay doors reached him. Ensign Taren Voss had just stepped inside for his schedualed boarding phyiscal.
Ross held up one finger toward the comm screen, his tone shifting fast into something sharp, playfull, and just bitchy enogh to end the debate on his terms.

"Hannah, sweetheart, as much as I adore these little subspace lectures where you pretend being younger by two minutes and forty-five seconds gives you the final word on publication standards, Ive actually got a crew member walking in right now. So I’m shutting this down before you start quoting chapter and verse from the Journals submission guidlines at me again. We’ll finish this thrilling debate when your back in range… or when you finally admit I’m right about the control groups. Love you, give the relief team my best."

He tapped the console with a satisfied little flourish, cutting the transmission before she could get anouther word in. The bitchy edge melted away completly as he stood, smoothed his uniform, and turned toward the newcomer with a warm, easy smile.

"Ensign Voss, welcome aboard the Tomcat. I’m First Lieutenant Dr. Gavin Ross, Cheif Medical Officer here. Come on in and have a seat wherevers comfortable. These boarding physicals are pretty standard stuff, we’ll run the usual vitals, check for any inocculation updates, go over your medical history, and make sure everything’s good for duty. No big surprises, I promise. Betaziod physiology is always interesting in the best way. Howve you been settling in so far? Anything on your mind before we get started?"

"Of course." Taren spoke as he walked to the seat. To him this was just another step for meeting his Imzadi once more. "Nothing so far, I am just glad to be with my partner once more after so long."

“Your partner. Well that is refreshing to hear. This place is as useful as a nuns tit.” He shook his head. Really. It was boring sometimes on the Tomcat as a Doctor. There was no interesting STDs, although there was a lot of babies born last trimester as to which he delivered.

“I actually just delivered three babies last month. Some would say that’s too much. I would say we need more. Just make sure. Let me know so I can have a heads up this time.”

He scoffed listening to himself talk, still. “I can’t tell you how annoying it is to suddenly have babies come out of the woodwork, months of missed appointments I had to explain to SF Medical. They don’t suffer fools lightly as Doctors.” He smiled cockily. “Although, I gave them a piece of my mind.” He shrugged.

“So. Lets have a look-see shall we?” Ross then whipped out his Medical Tricorder setting it for an all encompassing physical scan of Taren. “So. How long have you been… Dating or Married?” He asked curiously as his eyes now begun to watch the scanning readings of Taren’s Betazoid physiology.

“If you’re having a wedding… please tell me it WILL be naked.”

Taren smiled. "No, Elora and I have decided on a Human style wedding, and I'm fine with it. I don't mind. We've been engaged for a while and our assignments have interfered but I'm here now." It was obvious to anyone that he was glad to be back with his partner again.

"Good," Ross replied. He was now focusing a bit more on Taren's Betazoid physiology. "Your wife is Betazoid or human as well?"

"Human, shes the ships MXO." Taren answered, hoping a name or position would shed some further light.

Dr. Elias Ross nodded as Ensign Taren Voss sat ready on the biobed. The diagnostic array hummed to life just as Nurse Patel bustled in with a fresh hypospray kit. "I've got this, Patel... OMG...." He rubbed his temples, she really got in the way sometimes... "Go calibrate the dermal regenerators before they start plotting against us," Ross quipped with a theatrical wave, earning an eye-roll as she retreated. He passed the tricorder over Voss's head and torso.

"Any allergies, current medications, or recent injuries I should know about? Betazoid physiology confirmed — empathic centers normal, no neural strain."

The biobed's full-spectrum scan produced a clean holographic overlay. "Any concerns with sleep, diet, or empathic overstimulation?" Ross asked while preparing the booster hypospray. He continued reviewing the readings, awaiting Voss's responses before finalizing the evaluation.

"No complaints, I'm hoping the smaller crew of the ship will be easier to the handle than my last assignment but with my partner here I'm hoping things will be easier to handle with her presence for support." Taren replied.

“Excellent. I don’t like a complainer. You're on your way to deputy chief on this ship!” Ross stated. He paused. “Now. I don’t think I heard any mention of medications. Any recreational drugs? Trust me, I won’t tell.” He raised a finger to his left temple.

“As for medications, I did not hear a reply to the doctor's question. Do you take any meds? Any medical concerns?”

"No medications, no allergies or injuries." Taren was glad that his effort to look after himself was paying off. "I try to eat well, sleep will be better once I'm with Elora again. It's been a challenging 12 months."

Ross prepped the booster hypospray while the holographic scan still hovered between them. He gave a small chuckle at the mention of Elora and sleep....

"Challenging twelve months... I hear that. But it sounds like reconnecting with your partner is gonna handle more than just the rest cycle." He glanced up with a playful smirk voice dropping just a touch. "Nothing like a good partner for some... hands-on stress relief. Just keep the empathic overstimulation to your off-duty hours yeah? Wouldn't want to have to log any extracurriculars on the eval."

He held up the hypospray with a grin. "Boosters ready. This'll help stablize things while you settle in with the crew."

"Thanks." Taren tilted his neck slightly, ready for the booster that was to come. "Hopefully things will settle quickly, not like I brought much with me, everything I needed was here on the ship."

Dr. Ross slided on his metal stool at waist level with the bio bed to the side, setting down the hypo spray on the metal instrument tray. He then crossed his forearms relaxed.

"So. You did not need to bring much onboard. Good. I am not one for bringing alot of items with me as well. I find it is easier to be away from home when you don't bring alot. Not to mention it can become a logistical nightmare. I once heard that the Chief Engineer... They had lost his lucky hockey stick for that ice game he plays... The Docking Masters didn't hear the end of it. Like they knew what his ice stick was anyways..." He gruffed shaking his head.

"Do you play any sports Taren?" Ross inquired. He could always use another player for Pareises Squares... Bowling... Rugby.

"Not really, while I was away I pretty focused on my job, now that I'm here I'm looking forward to doing more with Elora." Taren spoke. "I like to cook, which I'm sure she will like now that I'm here. Since I would usually cook anyway."

“Really? You are a chef?” In the 24th century, Gavin always regarded crew members who actually worked with real field or hydroponic grown vegetables and ingredients as a ‘chef’. That is what they called people who cut things and cooked things right?!

“You mean, you actually do the cutting, the cleaning, the.. The actual cooking of a meal in whole? No replication involved?” Gavin cocked his head interested. He didn’t know the first thing of cooking his own meal. It was a shame. He didn’t have the energy when he got back to his quarters to be able to find ingreedients, find and collect the actual apparatus to… Hell he didn’t even know what type of things you would need to fix all those things together for an actual cooked meal. It was all foreign to him.

“What… So. How.” The Doctor confessed. “Taren. I honestly wouldn’t know what to even use to begin to prepare a meal. Let alone /cook/ a meal.” He looked a bit astonished.

“How long does it take you to actually prepare and cook a meal? Does your Wife to be cook as well?” Gavin was fascinated. He knew that there was crew members who took the time to cook and prepare their own meals, as it was not an art completely lost, yet on Starships this was a bit of a rarity.

“What do you cook?” He asked curious. Ross then took his medical tricorder. He wanted to scan Tarens electrolytes, minerals, and autophages levels. Since he was preparing meals himself and not necessarily replicating 100% pro-vitamin meals as a constant, he thought he sould check a few other things out. He begun his tricorder scan as he waited for Taren to reply to him.

"Elora sometimes cooks, she likes to help too but depends on the meal." Taren spoke. "Sometimes its quick and easy, others take more prep time but there is something to be said to a hand made meal over a replicated one that takes all of that away from you. I'll admit watching Elora sit on the sofa watching me cook knowing the meal is for her, how shes almost on the edge of her seat makes it worth it."

"That sounds nice." Ross then got up from his seat. "Well. That is all for this appointment. If you have any issues with anything, you know where to find me, Taren." Ross extended his hand for a handshake.

"I will, thank you." Taren spoke slipping off the bed.

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