IDC Reports for Duty
Posted on Sat Sep 13, 2025 @ 4:00pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexander Rylan & Commander Tayanita 'Tay' Lio'ven
1,845 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Time After Time
Location: Main Sick Bay
Timeline: MD018 - 1035 hours
On
Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Alexander Rylan, DS5's new Chief Independent Duty Corpsman, walked through the corridors of the starbase, displaying confidence absent arrogance. Alex was handsome, young, for a Human/Zami (Vulcanoid Rigelian) hybrid, extremely fit, yet exceedingly graceful man. His stride was purposeful but not plodding. He was clearly capable of being light on his feet. Alex looked more Human than Zami on the outside, with Human looking eyebrows and only slight pointed ears. On the inside, Alex was more Zami than Human, by a far stretch. He had all of the physical and mental advantages of an average Zami, who were biologically indistinguishable from their Vulcan cousins, plus those of unique to the various races of the Rigel System. Namely, an very high resistance to ultraviolet radiation and a strong resistance to radiation in general. Externally, beyond his gently swept and pointed ears, his eyes had nictitating membranes that protected him from bright lights and airborne particulates (such as sand), a hold over from the Zami's days as Vulcans, prior to the Sundering. Unlike the Romulans, the nictitating membranes of the Zami were functional, not vestigial. Alex was strong, fast, durable (with the dense bones of a species designed for an environment of two Earth gravities), and had the increased aural and olfactory capabilities of a Vulcan.
Unlike Vulcan's, the Zami retained many of their psionic capabilities... except for telepathy. Many Zami had some form and level of psionic ability that wasn't telepathy. All had the psionic ability to sense a planet or moon's magnetosphere, giving them a superb sense of direction, albeit one that was at the mercy of a planet's geomagnetic activity. Geomagnetic storms could confuse or negate this ability. While many Zami developed some form of non-telepathic psychic ability or psychokinetic ability, many didn't. Alex was in this latter category.
This enhanced sense of direction was useless outside of a planet or moon's magnetosphere. For example, it was useless on a starbase. Which why Alex had gotten lost three times before finding his destination: the base's main sick bay. Finally arriving, he asked a passing corpsman where to find the CMO. He was directed to her office and knocked on the door.
Tayanita glanced up from the PADD on her desk at the knock. “Come in,” she called, setting it aside.
When the door slid open, her gaze swept over the newcomer—sharp uniform, steady stride, but carrying that faint undercurrent of someone who’d just wrestled with directions longer than they wanted to admit. A trace of amusement flickered in her eyes, though her tone stayed welcoming.
“You must be Senior Chief Rylan,” she said, rising from her chair. “Doctor Tayanita Lio’ven—Tay, if you’d rather save a mouthful. Welcome to DS5.”
She extended a hand across the desk, her smile warm but unassuming. “I heard we’d be getting an Independent Duty Corpsman aboard. That’ll be a strength to the team. You’ll find there’s no shortage of patients in a place this size.”
Her head tilted slightly, curiosity in her expression. “How was the walk here? DS5 has a way of turning even the most confident stride into a detour or three.”
She gestured toward the seat opposite her desk. “Have a seat, Chief. Let’s get you settled in.”
"Thank you, Doc," Alex said, taking the offered seat. "I'm blessed with the naturally superb sense of direction of my mother's people. It's great... within a planet's magnetosphere, sans a serious geomagnetic storm. In space, on a starbase, not so much. I got lost a few times on my way here to report in. That sense of direction was more use to me when I was assigned as a Corpsman to FMC Infantry and later as a Special Operations Independent Duty Corpsman with the Marine Raiders, but I'm as helpless as the next guy without a planet under my feet."
Tayanita’s smile warmed, and she leaned in a little, forearms resting on the desk rather than reaching for the console. “You found your way here—that’s what matters,” she said, a hint of humour in her eyes. “DS5 can tangle anyone’s bearings the first week.”
She nodded toward the small replicator slot on the wall. “Tea? I keep a cedar–mint blend on the menu. Good for settling into a new place.” She didn’t wait for ceremony—just the easy offer of someone who meant it.
“The file tells me where you’ve been,” she went on, gentler now, “but not why you chose this work. People don’t stick with corpsman duty—let alone Raiders and IDC—unless there’s something in it that fits who they are.” A beat. “What part of the job feels most like you? Teaching younger medics? Being first on scene? The quiet after a save?” She smiled, small and genuine. “I like to know what to protect in my people’s day, so you get more of that and less of the noise.”
She sat back, comfortable. “And when a day runs you ragged… what helps you reset? Some of us need five minutes of silence, some need a run, some need a bad joke and good coffee.” The lightness returned to her voice. “There’s no wrong answer—only what works.”
Her gaze stayed steady, warm rather than probing. “Tell me what you need from me to do your best work, and what you won’t compromise on out there. I’ll make room for it. That’s my job.” A soft nod. “I’m glad you’re here, Senior Chief. We’ll do good work together.”
Alex's new boss seemed to have a habit of asking a lot of questions before giving a person a chance to answer. It was a bit like an oral exam. Alex hated oral exams.
"Let's see," Alex said. "I'd love a cup of tea, though at the end of the day, a cup of decaffeinated dark roast coffee with sweet cocoa or maybe with chocolate liqueur, if I'm feeling fancy. If I just want liquor, a glass of Rigelian applejack. You probably already know that's a brandy made from cold-distilled hard cider. It originated on the Earth continent of America. Human colonists brought it to Rigel IV when they built Polar City and Rigelians picked it up from there. As for what drew me to and kept me in the corpsman field, well, my mother is a physician and medical scientist. It was kind of expected I'd become a doctor, but I'm not very academic by nature. Still, that's where my interest lay. When I joined, the Cardassian Border Wars were still going on, and I wanted to help. So I enlisted in Starfleet. I was assigned to the Marines and found I was good at field medicine. I like being good at what I do. After that war I entered the Special Operations Independent Duty Corpsman pipeline and joined the Raiders. Again, I was good at my job and I like being good at my job. I fought in the Federation-Klingon War and the Dominion War, served in the Raiders a bit after that. Ultimately, I decided I wanted to like the medicine more than the combat. So I transitioned to Fleet IDC. I still try to keep current in basic combat skills, and I sometimes deploy with Marine or Security units in the field, or get assigned to Away Teams based on my skillset, but I spend most of my time doing Sick Call appointments, Emergent Care, lab work, and all of the mundane work of an Independent Duty Corpsman, like food sanitation, occupational health and safety, and so on. I enjoy most of it and endure the rest. If I do it well, I like it. If there are things I'm not as good at, I try to improve. I try to remind myself life is about the journey, not the destination. The equivalent Human philosophy was once explained to me like this: The Human Race is the only race no Human wants to win. As for what I need from you: Your trust. It's not that I won't ever need your guidance. Of course I will. That's how the IDC/Physician relationship works. But I do know what I'm doing and if you or your physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners are right over my shoulder every second, if you guys don't trust me and the other IDCs, then no one else will either and we won't be able to perform our duties."
Tayanita listened through it all without interruption, her elbows resting lightly on the desk, hands folded. When he finished, there was no immediate checklist or critique—just a small smile that carried a weight of understanding.
“You’ve lived through more wars than anyone should have to,” she said gently, voice warm but steady. “And yet, here you are—choosing medicine over combat when you could’ve kept fighting. That choice matters. It says more about who you are than any medal or uniform ever could.”
She leaned back slightly, head tilting. “I grew up with people who believed healing wasn’t just a duty, it was a way of honouring life itself. They taught me that tending to a wound, or keeping a child fed, or easing someone’s pain—those things were victories, even if no one else marked them down. I hear that same thread in the way you talk about your work. You take pride in being good at it. That matters too.”
Her smile softened, touched with humour. “And trust? You’ve got it. If I didn’t believe you could carry the load, you wouldn’t be sitting in that chair. My job isn’t to hover—it’s to make sure you’ve got the space and the tools to do what you do best.”
She let the quiet settle for a moment before adding, “We’ll still check in. A quick word at the start of a shift, a debrief now and then. Not because I don’t trust you—but because I believe medicine works better when healers don’t work in isolation.”
She lifted her mug, inhaling the steam before speaking again, softer now. “You’ve found your journey. And you’re right—the destination isn’t the point. It’s how we walk it. So let’s walk it in step.”
Her eyes caught his, steady and warm. “Does that sound like something you can live with?”
Alex nodded. "Yes, Ma'am," he said. "I can live with that. Better, I can excel in that kind of environment. I look forward to working with you and being a part of your team, Doctor Lio'ven."
Tayanita’s smile reached her eyes and lifted her mug in a small salute. “Welcome to the team, Senior Chief. We’ll do good work.”
A Post By
Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman (HMCS) Alexander Davith Rylan
Independent Duty Corpsman
Deep Space Five
Commander Tayanita Lio'ven
Chief Medical Officer
Deep Space 5
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