Cassia's Flight Physical

Posted on Thu Oct 2, 2025 @ 4:10am by Lieutenant Cassia Dravik & Lieutenant Commander Karzen Son of Arjune, Son of Ragan MD, MPH
Edited on on Thu Oct 2, 2025 @ 2:40pm

2,120 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Prior to Chicken Run

ON

Cassia headed to medical to complete her physical. This was the last step before she could official begin her duties. She had alrady met with the CAG day before, and had planned to stop by sickbay after, if not for an unexpected detour.

A woman had dropped a book on the promenade. Lost Civilizations of the Known Universe. Cassia had spotted it. Tracked the woman down, and somehow, dinner followed. The evening had streched longer than planned.

The sickbay doors opened and Cassia stepped inside.

A nearby nurse glanced up. "May I help you?

"I'm looking for Dr. Karzen." Cassia answerd.

The nurse gestured toward the rear of the room. Cassia thanked the nurse, and approached the figure.

"Dr. Karzen....?" She asked.

Karzen was using a console to look over a patient file he was consulting on and almost didn't hear his name called. "Hmmm?" he said. "Ah, apologies, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"

“Lieutenant Cassia Dravik, reporting for my check-in physical." She replied.

"Ah!" Karzen said, grinning a feral, very Klingon grin. "May I presume the reason you asked specifically for the Chief Flight Surgeon is that you are a pilot? Or is it simply that my reputation as the finest physician in the both the Alpha and the Beta Quadrants has preceded me and you're wearing red because you're the commodore's new aide-de-camp? Though, if the latter were the case, you'd be a very high-ranking aide-de-camp for a commodore."

Cassia took in the man standing before her, resisting the instinct to raise an eyebrow. His appearance was… unusual. Clearly part Klingon, clearly part Romulan. The sharp ears, high forehead ridges, prematurely bald head, and that stark white beard gave him a look that was hard to pin down. Odd, sure but interesting. She figured the full story would come out eventually. Maybe over blood wine or Romulan ale.

“So the rumors are true.” She said. “Word was floating around about a legendary doctor recently assigned to DS5, and I had to see for myself.” She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice. “And yes, I am absolutely the commodore’s personal coffee courier but keep that under wraps. I’ve worked hard to make it look like I’m just a pilot.”

"Your secret is safe with me," Karzen said. "I'll even run you through a flight physical just to keep up the illusion! Come this way and we'll find you a biobed. Shouldn't be difficult. This is a sickbay. You can't swing a dead targ by the tusks without hitting a biobed. Please remove your uniform jacket and have a seat on the bed." Karzen motioned for a Corpsman to come over and assist him. "Prep the bed for flight physical protocol. Please," he said. The corpsman nodded and began entering commands. "Okay, Lieutenant. Before I start scanning you and have the computer giving me all kinds of preconceived notions about your health, why don't you tell me: How healthy are you? Any health complaints? Any pain? If yes to the pain question, how much? On a scale of zero to ten, zero being none at all that you notice and ten being the worst pain you can imagine and it's a good thing you're already here in Sickbay when you noticed it."

Cassia shrugged off her jacket and draped it over a nearby chair before settling onto the biobed. “Overall? I’d say I’m in solid shape. Nothing currently broken, leaking, or on fire.”

Her file was up to date and noted a handful of past injuries: a hairline fracture to her left radius from a crash landing simulation, a mild concussion sustained during an orbital training mishap, and a Grade II shoulder strain on her right side caused by an ejection under G-force stress. There was also a scar above her left temple, the result of a flight deck accident, still visible by choice.

"Well, lets get started," Karzen said. With Cassia sitting on the edge of the bed, Karzen began a brief physical exam. He used a scope to look in her eyes, tested the range of movement in her arm and shoulder. He felt and listened for any 'clicking' noises or sensations. "Any sensation as though the shoulder is catching on anything at all? The movement seems free to me, but I'm not inside your body. Be honest. Problems you tell me about can likely be fixed. Problems I find you've been trying to hide from me can get you grounded for quite some time."

Cassia shook her head. "No catching, no griding. Just the occassional ache if I've been in the cockpit too long or sleep on it wrong. Nothing that gets in the way." She said looking at him with seriousness in her expression. "Trust me, I'm not in the habit of hiding anything that might get me pulled from the flight line."

"Good," Karzen said. "No dizziness, vertigo, nausea, blurred or double vision that might be left over from the concussion? No sopts or floaters? No problems with peripheral vision? We'll scan you on the bed in a second and we'll check your vision before the end of the appointment, so we'll know one way or another anyway, I like to ask first."

"Only after a couple of drinks...but I've been told that's normal." Cassia said with a faint smirk. She shifted to lay back on the biobed anticipating the scans. She added as point of clarificaiton. “No dizziness, no floaters, no vision issues.”

Karzen nodded to the corpsman assisting him, who slid the scanner panel into place. Karzen entered several commands and the biobed began running its extensive and intensive scans. "Just a bit longer, then we'll test your vision and draw some blood for labs." Karzen paid close attention to the EKG scans and to the endocrine system scans for signs of a heart condition or diabetes, and to the brain to check for seizure disorders and for any residual damage from the concussion. He checked the scans of the shoulder and arm to make sure the previous studies were correct. Blood scans showed no clotting disorders, and there were no signs of substance abuse. Karzen did an intensive scan of the eyes and the inner ear and found no abnormalities. "Well," Karzen said. "That part's over with. Let's just test your vision and draw some blood, so you can get out of here."

Cassia eased upright, brushing a hand through her hair as she swung her legs over the edge of the biobed. “So… nothing alarming?” She asked. “No alien parasites, secret nanoviruses, surprise telepathic upgrades? Or do we find that out after the blood draw?”

"For that we take a sample of your brain tissue," Karzen said. "Using a device very similar to a power drill." Karzen grinned his feral grin. "I'm kidding, Lieutenant. Neither the bed nor I have noticed anything abnormal. If you'll come this way to the dark room."

Karzen led Cassie to a room in the back. "After you," Karzen said. Contrary to the name, the room wasn't dark at them moment. The lights would be shut off for the test. There was a chair with a set of very complex looking goggles on a boom arm in front of it. "We're not going to use that unless you can't read the chart in a manner consistent with the level of visual acquity required to be a pilot," Karzen said. "If you'll stand on the 'X' and face the vision chart with the letters on it... you know the drill by now, I'm sure." When Cassie was in position, he handed her a wand. Close both eyes and cover your right eye with this wand. When I tell you, open your eyes. When Cassie had complied with those instructions, Karzen used a PADD, pressing a button that randomized the letters and their order on the chart. He could see clearly on his PADD what the order was, but it was now different than when Cassie had see them. He turned off the lights in the room so the only illumination was the console with the eye chart on it. "Okay," Karzen said. "Open your eyes and when your vision adjusts, please read the smallest line you can read clearly."

Cassia lifted the wand and covered her right eye as instructed. As the lights dimmed, she blinked once, then again, letting her vision adjust to the change in lighting. The bright chart stood out in the darkness, its rows of randomized letters stacked in increasingly smaller fonts.

“K... A... R... Z...” She said, reading confidently from the second-to-smallest line. She hesitated just half a beat then added. “E...N....”

Lowering the wand, she tilted her head in his direction. “Huh....? Coincidence? Or do you have the eye chart rigged...?”

Karzen chuckled. "I think my favorite Independent Duty Corpsman has been playing around with the eye chart controls," he said. "Okay." Karzen set down the PADD and handed Cassie a visor-google type thing. "Put these on and follow the prompts. The results will go to this." Karzen picked up the PADD. It will check your peripheral vision, low light vision, vision at different distances, et cetera and so on. I'll monitor the tests and make any adjustments that need making."

“Sure, Doc.” Cassia said, taking the visor with a smirk...acknowledging both his comment and the mystery of the tampered chart. She slipped the visor on and started following the prompts.

"So," Karzen said as the visor performed the tests. "What drew you to the cockpit? I was a fighter pilot for forty years myself, give or take, before I sought out a career in medicine. I still fly, both because it is required of flight surgeons and because I love it. I even own a decommissioned Type 9 shuttle craft."

“My father.” Cassia said. “He flew shuttles on the mining colony where I grew up. I used to watch him take off and land every day. It just stuck with me.” She paused, then added, “I think he and my mother always pictured me in something a little safer. Civilian work. Maybe passenger runs or freight. But I wanted more. Joined Starfleet, ended up in the cockpit, and never looked back.”

"Hmmm..." Karzen said, a bit preoccupied by the data coming into his PADD. "I grew up in the Nyberrite Alliance, in one of the mercenary communities. Almost all of the adults served in some way or another in connection to flight operations. Pilots, navigators, flight engineers, flight crew, gunners, deck crew, ground crew, technicians, and so on. The Nyberrite Alliance fleet is made up mostly of relatively lightly armed carrier-type ships. Tactics revolve around the use of fighters, bombers, and light support craft. The culture of both of my parents, though distinfct from each other, share a devotion to duty and service. They had abandoned their empires for love of each other, but still loved and respected much of their own and each other's society. I was raised to be a warrior and to do so in the service of the Alliance for me meant getting into a cockpit. So I did. And your eyes are fine. You can take off the visor and set it on the counter. I'll go over your results more closely later, but you'll either be cleared to fly before the end of my shift or you'll know why not. But, on the face of things, nothing jumps out at me suggesting I need to put you through stress tests or any of that. Everything looks normal and consistent with your last several scans."

She looked over at him. “Sounds like you had a hell of a foundation. Nyberrite mercenary culture, two powerful bloodlines, forty years in the cockpit... I’m starting to feel like I’ve got some catching up to do. At least now I know who to hit up if I ever want to borrow a Type-9 and blow off some steam.” She smirked. “Assuming you loan it out.”

"My toothbrush? Maybe," Karzen said, a feral grin on his face. "My wife, especially because she's my ex-wife, absolutely. My shuttle, not on your life!" He laughed. "Be on your way, Lieutenant. Maybe we can go flying together sometime."

"Fair enough." Cassia said with a laugh.

"Appreciate the confirmation that I'm in peak condition. Always nice to hear from a professional." She winked. "And I'll hold you to that flight offer, Doc." She added before making her way out of sickbay.

OFF

Lieutenant Commander Karzen, Son of Arjune, Son of Ragan, MD, MPH
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
Chief Flight Surgeon

&

Lieutenant Cassia Dravik
327th Starfighter Group The Guardians
Fighter Pilot

 

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