LT Gila Sadar - THE LAWLESS SAVAGERY

[LT Gila Sadar]

((Primary Sickbay - Deck 7, USS Artemis-A))

(((OOC: I never thought I'd have to say this in a Gila SIM, but here we are XD Congrats, Beky and Travis. ::clears throat:: All opinions expressed in this SIM are the character's, and the character's ONLY!)))

Sadar: W-Well… ::clears throat:: L-Let’s take a look at them, hm?

Richards: Thank you. I really appreciate you doing this for me. I’m sure this whole thing is probably awkward for you. 

Was it ever. Gila had, of course, done prenatal checks before. OBGYN and pediatrics were both obligatory courses in Starfleet Medical, so Gila had been forced to deal with alien children of various ages on multiple occasions. The experience could not truthfully have been called a pleasant one, but Gila was thankful for the very well-rounded education she had been subjected to, especially considering the fact that, as a Mizarian woman, she did not experience ‘periods’. If she hadn’t been forced to take the OBGYN course, she would have been woefully underprepared for handling the medical needs of every female officer aboard this Wheel-forsaken vessel.

The awkward part of this wasn’t the babies, or the pregnant woman, or the necessity for the privacy screen. No. It was the fact that Gila was currently taking care of her senior officer’s intended, and worst of all, an intended that Gila had had no clue of prior to this meeting. This was a slight against Lt. Commander Dakora that, were he Mizarian, she’d never be able to live down.

She had to find out how she’d made such a massive blunder.

Sadar: I-It’s really, uhh… I-I wasn’t aware you knew Commander Dakora? Y-You didn’t seem familiar back when, uhh… Y-You came aboard after the Borg Cube.

Richards: Oh… We didn’t meet for the first time until a while after Frontier Day. It was only about 11 weeks ago that we met… 

An awkward silence stretched out between the two women as Gila struggled with comprehending that sentence. They hadn’t known each other at Frontier Day. Which was 6 months ago. They met for the first time 11 weeks ago. Doctor Richards conceived her babies 11 weeks ago. They had interspecies intercourse for the first time 11 weeks ago.

Sadar: ... Y-Y-Y-You mean... Th-The night you conceived!?

Richards: I know… It’s not a typical situation ::letting out a breathy laugh:: We had one night together and–

Doctor Richards laughed. One night. One night. One single encounter of meeting one another, making the necessary introductions, achieving parental permission, courting rituals, and then-

If Gila had been certain that she would never understand aliens before, she was now utterly and irrevocably convinced that she had no intention of ever understanding aliens, nor even make the attempt to. What kind of lawless savagery was this!? How did a pair of full-functioning and - ostensibly - sensible adults arrive at this kind of behaviour!? Before a mating could be properly completed on Mizarbet, it was an unspoken rule that the family units must’ve spent at least one full solar cycle to ascertain whether their two proposed partners were compatible in the long term, and then it was fully expected for the newly-wedded to go through a rather taxing time of mutual courting before a mating was even conceivable.

Gila frowned. All pregnancy-and-labor-adjacent vocabulary was officially banned in her brain henceforth.

Thankfully, one of the perpetrators of this unseemly behaviour now decided to pene- approach the privacy barrier surrounding the biobed. 

Dakora: Samantha!? 

Gila made sure to not look up. She was in an internal battle with herself to dam in the torrential eddies of her thoughts, to ensure that her First Officer wouldn’t sense how utterly confused and appalled she was at this turn of events.

He already had enough on his plate, evidently.

Dakora: Are you ok? ::His gaze shifted to Gila.:: Is everything alright?

Gila was about to respond when the mother-to-be (Gila almost winced at that thought. 11 WEEKS!?) spoke.

Richards: ::Looking up at him:: I’m sorry. I had some pain and I panicked, I just wanted to make sure they were okay. I shouldn’t have pulled you away from something likely more important than this… 

Dakora: Of course you should call me. ::He reached out and grabbed her hand.:: You said you were in pain? What’s wrong?

Richards: ::Smiling before turning her attention back to the doctor.:: So… Are they okay? Do you know why I’m having this pain? 

Caught off-guard by Doctor Richards’ question, despite it literally being the reason for this unfortunate event in the first place, Gila’s entire face came alive with nervous flutters and shivers, and she desperately tried to impress calm upon herself, to stop her every wrinkle from acting like she’d just ingested a kilogram of strawberries.

Sadar: Y-Yes, they are ::clears throat:: they are both okay. oO Work. You are at work. You are at work. You are at- Oo For child-bearing females, the round ligaments and muscle tissue surrounding your womb starts stretching, so it's prepared to accommodate the growth of the f- babies.

Dakora: Ok… ok. That's- That's good. ::Uncertainly:: Right?

Evidently, Lt. Commander Dakora would’ve made a poor medical officer. Doctor Samantha seemed more naturally attuned to the content matter, however, and came to his rescue. Gila shuddered in discomfort.

S. Richards: So this is all normal? Oh… I’m sorry. I feel a little silly now… 

Dakora: There's nowhere else I'd rather be. ::Looking to Gila.:: And I'm sure Doctor Sadar would rather you be safe than sorry.

The Doctor in question shuffled uncomfortably in place. If she had to be perfectly honest, she’d rather these two promiscuous individuals had located another Doctor to ambush with this particular case, but she couldn’t very well say that out loud. Besides...

Sadar: ::quiet sigh:: The Commander is correct. During pregnancies, any unnecessary stress caused by undue worry is going to have an effect on the babies’ development as well, so - as medical professionals - we would rather you come see us if you have any concerns at all. ::looks to the display:: As for the pain you’re experiencing, it should cease once your ligaments are properly prepared... ::apologetic half-smile:: For pain relief, I’d prescribe good walks.

The fledgling parents oO Ughhhhhh Oo fell into a kind of awkward silence, both a result of Doctor Richards’ shame for causing such an alarm over round ligament pain, and as a result of the parents no doubt still struggling to comprehend their situation. Gila didn’t blame them. She didn’t comprehend this situation, and she was a complete outsider.

Dakora: Thank you, Doctor. And I'm sorry for any…uh… the surprise of this… situation. 

Gila was immediately conflicted between echoing the ludicrous notion that this turn of events could be handwaved with as simple a concept as a ‘surprise’, and assuring a senior officer who had only ever been kind and patient with her that she took no offense.

Sadar: Oh, uh, n-no, th-there’s no reason to be sorry, Commander! I-I realize this is, uhh, a very private matter, and we’re definitely not at an intimacy level where this kind of information is expected to be shared, and- ::clams up:: I’m fine.

oO Classy, Gila. Very classy. Oo

Richards: Response

Evidently, her admittedly poor attempt at soothing Lt. Commander Dakora’s worries had met approximately 0.00000001% of success, and as such, he frowned before looking at her again.

Dakora: It's not exactly public information yet. It's a sort of unexpected recent development. I would appreciate your discretion until I figure out just how I'm going to tell the Captain about this…

oO THERE IS NO WAY I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS WITH THE CAPTAIN, ARE YOU INSANE!? Oo

The mere thought of it wanted Gila to throw herself out the nearest airlock, certainly robbing the good Captain of the chance as soon as she found out what unseemly conduct had been committed aboard-

And that was moment that Gila Sadar realized that, at any given night, there was - quite possibly - unseemly conduct happening aboard the Starship Artemis-A, where her impressionable teenage nephew now resided and was to complete his journey to full adulthood.

oO Eyla. You have made a terrible mistake. Oo

Sadar: ::clears throat:: W-Well, regardless of your request, Doctor Richards is a civilian, Sir, s-so her patient confidentiality is considered unbreakable providing it doesn’t endanger the Federation. ::looks to the display:: A-And, all things considered, these two look fairly harmless.

Dakora/Richards: Response

The correction caused Gila to pause, her brow knit together.

Sadar: I know? ::blinks in confusion:: W-Wait, ah, I see. Uhh... ‘Scientist’ Richards, then. Understood.

She didn’t understand the distinction Federation species had between who was a ‘Doctor’ and not yet, despite having lived in Federation space for over a decade. On Mizabet, anyone who graduated from a higher learning institution was considered a Doctor of their chosen field, but she’d long since - and quite painfully so - come to realize that this was not the case in the Federation.

Dakora/Richards: Response

Knowing that Scientist Richards was likely to disregard future concerns on the basis of ‘not wanting to cause a fuss’, Gila decided to impress upon the human female what was in her immediate future.

Sadar: S-Since you mentioned that you may be closer to 11 weeks pregnant, I should warn you, Scientist Richards: you may experience a pain similar to, uhhh... ‘Period pains’? It’s your womb expanding and thus applying extra pressure to your ligaments and muscles. If this occurs, it’s perfectly normal, but if you experience any bleeding or excessive pain, please come to Sickbay as soon as possible. Understood?

Dakora/Richards: Response

Tag/TBC

LT Gila Sadar

Medical Officer

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1