Fit To Fly
Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2026 @ 11:40am by Lieutenant Junior Grade Ralen Vessa & Lieutenant Commander Rafael Montoya
1,455 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Mini Mission-Adjustments [USS Orcrist]
Location: Sickbay, USS Orcrist
Vessa had already decided that Sickbay was too clean.
That was not fair, strictly speaking. Sickbays were supposed to be clean. Sterile surfaces, calm lights, organised equipment, biobeds lined up with all the cheer of quiet accusation. Everything had its place. Everything knew what it was doing. It was the sort of room designed by people who believed the body was a system that could be coaxed into behaving if you asked it enough questions and kept very good records.
Pilots knew better.
Bodies were unreliable little traitors. They cramped at the wrong moment, bled at inconvenient speeds, and developed headaches the second someone mentioned “routine neurological baseline”. Vessa had flown through worse than a medical exam, obviously. She had also preferred most of it.
She stepped into Sickbay with her jacket over one shoulder and her uniform sleeves pushed down enough to cover most of the half-sleeve tattoo on her arm. The collarbone script was hidden. The rib ink was nobody’s business. Her right eyebrow scar was doing its usual job of making her look more guilty than she currently was, and one knuckle still carried the last stubborn mark from shore leave.
That one might be a problem.
She glanced at it, flexed her fingers once, then shoved the hand loosely into her pocket like that solved anything.
The Orcrist was still taking on new crew, and Sickbay had the feel of a place quietly bracing for officers who had ignored minor injuries, skipped sleep, lied about stress, and believed hydration was something that happened to other people. Vessa admired the optimism. She had been aboard less than a day and was already fairly sure half the flight deck would fail on caffeine levels alone if anyone got strict.
She approached the nearest desk and gave the room a quick once-over, the way she did with cockpits, corridors, bars, and anyone who asked too many personal questions.
“Lieutenant Junior Grade Ralen Vessa,” she said, because formal introductions sometimes kept people from noticing you were thinking about leaving. “New post medical. Flight clearance, Deputy CAG, East Mark Flight.”
A pause.
“And before anyone gets excited, I’m not dying. I’m just here because Starfleet likes paperwork with a pulse.”
She tried for innocent. It lasted less than a second and probably fooled nobody.
Vessa shifted her jacket against her shoulder, eyes moving briefly to the biobed waiting nearby. She had spent years learning how to strap herself into machines that could punch through atmosphere and hard vacuum, but put one medical scanner over her and suddenly every bad decision she had ever made wanted to stand up and introduce itself.
Still, she stayed where she was.
New ship. New flight. New responsibility. If she wanted East Mark sharp, she could hardly start by dodging her own clearance like a cadet with a hangover and a guilty conscience.
Though, if anyone asked, she had only one of those.
Vessa looked toward the doctor’s office, then back into Sickbay proper, her mouth settling into something close to a smile.
“Doctor?” she called, not loudly, but with enough confidence to sound like she had not considered turning around twice on the way in. “I’m your next victim.”
Raf heard the call from his office and looked up from the padd. He had let the other staff go early and was quietly reading and having an early dinner while he waited for the next shift came on duty.
His feet dropped from his desk with a thump and he rose answering the earlier summons. "On my way."
He took one last bite from his sandwich, failing to notice the few crumbs that had already gathered on his chest. Most had fallen away but some were still clinging as he entered the bay. "A new face."
Vessa looked him over, taking in the sandwich crumbs before her gaze came back to his face.
“A new, beautiful, amazing face,” she said, with the easy confidence of someone who knew exactly what she was doing. “But I was trying to be modest. First impressions and all that.”
Her eyes flicked down again.
“You’ve got a bit of dinner making a break for it, Doctor.”
She shifted her jacket from one shoulder to the other and gave Sickbay another quick glance, as if checking whether any of the equipment had moved closer while she was distracted.
“Lieutenant Junior Grade Ralen Vessa. I’m here for the new post medical and flight clearance. I’d say I’m in perfect health, but I assume you’d enjoy proving me wrong.”
Arching a brow with a smirk at her introduction, but looked down. Brushing the crumbs away he looked up cocking his head slightly. "So much for first impressions."
Stepping over to the nearby cart he picked up a tricorder and began his scan. "Now don't get off on the wrong foot by making assumptions Lieutenant. I don't enjoy proving people wrong... Self diagnosis just tends to work out in our favor; most of the time."
After finishing the scan he pulled out pen light from his pocket and began doing and old school exam on her eyes. "Look at my left ear." After a pause, "Now my right."
Clicking the light off he pocketed it and pulled out his padd comparing the scan to the medical record that had been transferred over. "Hmmm..."
Vessa kept her eyes where he asked, though the corner of her mouth moved.
“Like what you see?”
She held still for about three seconds, which for her was practically a medical miracle, then let her gaze flick back to him.
“My eyes, I mean. Obviously. Very medical.”
He had chuckled at the earlier quip. "Yes I do, medically speak of course. Your eyes are in perfect working order as is the rest of you."
Giving the padd a wave before pocketing it. "I see you are a pilot. Any good?"
Vessa’s smile came slowly.
“I get by.”
It was a ridiculous answer from someone who clearly knew exactly how good she was, and she knew it.
“I can put a fighter where I want it, usually before someone tells me I shouldn’t have. That’s caused a few conversations.”
She glanced at the padd, then back to him.
“But I’m still here, so apparently Starfleet decided the flying was worth the headache.”
Her expression shifted, just a touch more curious.
“How are you liking the Orcrist?”
"Definitely a change from my last posting. A good variety of people here that's for sure. As a matter of fact I just completed the flight physical on a rather cocky Ensign. Good chance you could be running into him."
Vessa’s smile widened.
“A cocky ensign in Flight?”
She gave a quiet laugh and shook her head.
“That’s not a warning, Doctor. That’s just the first thing on my to-do list.”
There was no malice in it, only the easy confidence of someone who had met plenty of young pilots who thought swagger counted as experience.
“I’ll be gentle. Probably.”
He shook his head as he laughed as well. "Well just make sure it looks like an accident," as he winked. Though if you break anything you know where to find me. As for you you are good to go, medical clearance for flight status is all set."
Vessa slid off the biobed and picked up her jacket.
“Good. I was starting to think you might find a reason to keep me.”
She pulled the jacket over one shoulder, then glanced back at him with a crooked smile.
He raised an eyebrow and grinned at her remark but never got the chance for a comeback.
“I’ll try not to break anything important. And if I do, I’ll make sure the ensign takes the blame.”
With that, she gave him a small nod and headed for the door.
“Thanks, Doctor. Try to finish the next sandwich before the patient arrives.”
"Haha. Thanks for the tip, I'll try that next time. I'm sure someone in my sickbay can just await around while I grab a bite." Knowing pilots tended to prefer going by the callsigns he glanced at her recorded again, "See you later...Scorch?! Hope you didn't earn that name literally."
Vessa paused at the door and glanced back over her shoulder.
“Let’s just say nobody had to think very hard about it.”
Her smile turned a little sharper.
“The fighter still landed.”
Then she was gone before he could ask what condition it had landed in.
Lt Commander Rafael Montoya
CMO
Lieutenant JG Ralen "Scorch" Vessa
Deputy CAG
Flight Commander, East Mark Flight
USS Orcrist
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