Using Science to Keep People Healthy

Posted on Tue Oct 6th, 2026 @ 8:22am by Commander Cressida Vale MD & Lieutenant JG Electra Drake

1,911 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Drake Quarters - USS Guinevere
Timeline: Before the gate

"But I don't want to."

Electra Drake held her sigh back as she crouched to her daughter, watching the young girl with patient eyes all the same. She took hold of her shoulder with a gentle hand to help ground her. "We talked about this. I know you don't want to have your check up, but sometimes, we all have to do things we don't want to do. But the good news is...it won't take long, and it really isn't a bad thing. The doctors are very nice here...and it's just some scans."

"Hm..." Lucy watched her with an unconvinced frown, her nose wrinkling with disapproval as she folded her arms across her denim pinafore dress. Her long red hair had been tamed back into a plait, but there were still a few strands that had managed to work their way loose. "But I don't like it."

"It won't be as bad as you're thinking," Electra assured softly, offering a small smile...and working hard to hide her amusement given the stubborn display from the small girl. "Come on...the sooner we go, the sooner it will be done."

"I'll just stay here like this...then I can't go..." Lucy replied with all the logical certainty of a child, planting her feet to the ground in a display of defiance.

Electra took a soft breath to suppress the need to chuckle...because she didn't want to encourage the behaviour, and it would likely only annoy the young girl more. But it was hard to resist.

Electra let her get it out of her system for a few seconds before standing, giving an overdramatic sigh as she set her hands on her hips. "Well...that's that...there's nothing I can possibly do....apart from...maybe...wait...."

Lex bent down and scooped the girl up, lifting her over her shoulder to carry her out to the corridor. She was getting mighty heavy to do it with, but after a couple of seconds the girl's protestations turned to reluctant giggles.

Finally, the giggling girl started to squiggle in her arm. "I can walk! I can walk!"

"Hm....okay then..." Lex let her down, keeping a hold of the girl to steady her on her feet, laughing softly with her as she neatened her hair up. "There, almost over and done with already..." she winked to her before taking her hand and walking her the rest of the way to Sickbay, letting her stay close as she led her inside.

When the door parted to let mother and patient in, a young man at a desk stood to greet them. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Drake, Miss Drake," he said with a smile, nodding to each of them as he said their names. "Doctor Vale is ready for you. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to exam room one."

"Thank you," Electra nodded to him with a small smile, leading Lucy to follow him. She glanced down to her, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze as they moved in to the exam room.

Cressida turned to the door to see the two new arrivals and smiled. "Good morning," she said, her voice warm and soft. She crouched down to be at eye level with Lucy. "I'm Doctor Vale. Is your name Lucy?"

Lucy chewed on her lip for a moment before finally nodding, watching her with shy eyes as she stood close against her mother's leg. "Lucy Drake," she said softly but with certainty. "You make people better?"

"I do," Cressida answered. "That's my job. I also make sure that healthy people stay healthy. Do you want to know how I do that?"

Lucy hesitated for a moment but finally nodded, her natural curiosity winning out over her caution. "Science?" she made a guess first, seeing a row of shiny tools on a table.

Cressida grinned. "A very good answer! That's right, we spent years studying what keeps a person healthy and how to help them when they're hurt or sick. And now we have all of these tools that tell us if everything is okay, or if there's anything we need to change to make sure you grow up big and strong." She picked up a medical tricorder, complete with removal hand scanner, off the table. "Do you want to see how it works? Maybe we scan your mom?"

Lucy's interest was seriously piqued by that point, and her stubbornness started to thaw significantly. She rocked up onto her tiptoes, to try and see the screen, her blue eyes wide with curiosity. "You'll let me look?" she asked with awe.

"Of course!" Cressida said. "As long as mom says it's okay, and is willing to sit on the bio-bed for me." She leaned in a bit closer to Lucy and spoke in a hushed tone. "Doctors always ask permission."

Lex chuckled softly, nodding lightly as she moved to sit on the biobed, grateful for the doctor's patience with Lucy. It didn't always go this well, despite her having grown up with ship life. "No problem at all," she assured them both.

Cressida unfolded the tricorder and gave it to Lucy, while she passed the hand scanner over the cooperative counselor Drake. The tricorder screen shifted between images of Electra's different systems, showing Lucy visualizations of her mother's heart beating, lungs filling, and other body parts working away. "There should be a couple of numbers on the right," Cressida told Lucy. "Under the letters B.P. Can you read that for me please?"

"Hm..." Lucy bit her lip with concentration, a slight frown reappearing on her features as she focussed in on the numbers. There were so many things to look at...she'd already decided she wanted a tricorder for her birthday. "It says....105 and 71..."

"Ooh those are some good numbers," Cressida said. "Doctors are taught to know what the numbers mean. A blood pressure of 105 over 71, that's good and healthy." She deactivated the scanner. "Do we think it's your turn now? I think we can make it so that you can see the scans as I'm making them, if that's something you want."

"Yeah! Do me! Do me!" the girl's nose wrinkled with excitement in a dramatic turn around. Nothing convinced Lucy better than something new to learn. She even turned to clamber up onto the bed so she could do it properly.

Cressida giggled at the sheer excitement. “I wish the rest of my patients were like her!” she told Electra.

Once Lucy was in position on the biobed, she began scanning her. She held the tricorder so both of them could see the screen at the same time. “So what’s your favourite thing to eat?” Cressida asked as she moved the scanner.

"Biscuits," Lucy replied without hesitation, not even having to think about it. If she had her way, she'd eat biscuits all day long. "I only eat biscuits."

"That's not true," Lex interrupted quickly, shaking her head with a soft laugh but also a spot of colour on her cheeks, not wanting the doctor think she let her daughter eat nothing but junk.

“Oh, I love biscuits,” Cressida said, grinning at both patient and mother. “Now it’s my job to remind you how important it is to eat fruits and veggies too,” she added. “But.” She set her tricorder down so she could focus. “But. They can be weird right? You look at it, maybe touch it, and think ‘I’m never putting this anywhere near my mouth’. Does that happen?”

A frown had settled on to the girl's features just thinking about it, making her seem far more serious and maybe even a touch stubborn for her young age. "Yeah," she admitted openly, glancing to the doctor with slightly pursed lips. "Feels funny. Out here and eating."

“Yeah,” Cressida agreed. “I understand. What I might have you do is have a daily vitamin with breakfast. They help give us all the things we might not be getting in our food. You incorporate it into your breakfast routine. I have three special kinds: a gummy, a chewable tablet, or a drink that tastes a lot like apple juice. What sounds best to you?”

"Hm...apple juice. I like apple juice," Lucy nodded firmly, glancing to her with trust. The three clear options helped her feel like it was her choice, without being too much. "I can do that," she added, with a sense of determination. "Vitamins make a body work, like engineers and the ship..." she offered solemnly.

Cressida grinned at that. "That's a really good comparison!" she said. She looked up at Electra. "I'll attach it to your replicator files and send you the code for it later this afternoon. Use the code and it'll replicate the right amount, and it'll scale up as she grows."

Electra smiled warmly to the other woman, nodding gently as she rested a hand on her daughter's knee. "Thank you," she said, with meaning. She didn't want to say that it would give her peace of mind in front of Lucy. She was always careful not to transfer her anxiety across. But it would definitely make her feel better when Lucy could really dig her heals in about eating when she wanted to.

"You're welcome," Cressida said to Electra. "If you want to discuss anything with me privately, we can find time between appointments." She looked back to Lucy. "Well then. I think that wraps it up. You and your mom are good to go. Remember though that sickbay is a safe place, and you can always come here if you're feeling unwell or if you need help, okay?"

Lucy took her mother's hand to slide down off the bed, looking up to Cressida with big, curious eyes now she felt more able to watch her. "Even if the red light's flashing?"

Cressida thought about that one carefully. "I make sure my office is a safe space even if the red light is flashing. If you're safe with your mom or teachers, then stay there, but if you're out in a corridor and need to get somewhere safe, then sickbay is good for that. And if you've been hurt, then you come to sickbay or call for help and we'll bring you here, no matter whether the red light is flashing."

She looked up at Electra. "We retrofit my office to be a safe space for kids in case of attack. A few times we've made a point to secure the Commodore's son there. If there is ever an emergency and she needs shelter, this is a good place for it."

Lex gave a firm and grateful nod; it was reassuring to know there were pockets of save havens across the ship in case of a crisis. "Sounds like a plan, hm?"

Lucy nodded back as she absorbed the information, the gesture making her look even more like her mother. "Doctors are clever..." she declared with certainty.

“We certainly try to be,” Cressida agreed. “You take care now, Lucy. And look after your mum. Bye now!” she said, waving and smiling.

"Bye bye, Doctor Vale, bye bye!" Lucy was still waving over her shoulder to her even as they headed out, watching her curiously, and definitely a happier girl than when she'd walked in.

END

Lieutenant JG Electra 'Lex' Drake
Counsellor
USS Guinevere

Lucy Drake
Civilian Child
USS Guinevere

Commander Cressida Vale, MD
Chief Medical Officer and Second Officer
USS Guinevere

 

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