Off Axis
Posted on Sun Oct 4th, 2026 @ 4:17pm by Lieutenant Elsen Rava & Lieutenant Hank Jacobs M.D.
1,673 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 1: A New Sheriff in Town
Location: Sickbay, Starbase Mojave
Elsen caught the edge of the workbench before she knocked over the sample tray. For a second, the science lab seemed to tilt beneath her, though the instruments opposite showed no change in gravity. The sensation passed almost at once. A dull pressure low in her abdomen lingered a little longer, close to where Rava rested. She set the tray down properly and waited until she was sure of her footing.
It was the third time in four days. She’d blamed the first on a missed meal and the second on too little sleep; this morning she’d eaten, slept well and been standing still when it happened. Elsen entered the time and duration on her PADD, left the survey equipment she’d been preparing on the bench and headed for Sickbay.
The doors opened onto the quiet hum of medical equipment. Elsen paused just inside, the PADD resting against her palm, then approached the duty station. “Hi. Is someone free for a check-up? I’ve been feeling a bit off, and I’d like to make sure Rava’s all right.”
Jacobs had just finished up with another patient when he heard the woman's request. Walking over with a smile, which was his usual approach, he inquired "Good day Lieutenant, I'm Doctor Jacobs, how may I be of service?"
Elsen smiled back. “Hi, Doctor. I’m Elsen Rava.” She held up the PADD. “I’ve been getting dizzy now and then. Three times in the last four days. It only lasts a few seconds, but afterwards I get this dull pressure here, near Rava.” She touched her lower abdomen. “I nearly knocked a sample tray over this morning.”
“I thought I needed food the first time, then sleep the second. I’d had both today, so I checked the lab’s gravity. That was fine.” She glanced at the notes she’d made. “I don’t know if it’s Rava or something else. Could you take a look?”
"I'd be happy to; after all that's what I'm here for" Hank responded with a grin trying to put Elsen at ease "Why don't you lie back on this bio-bed and let me take a peek under the hood" as he grabbed his scanning device.
After doing as requested Hank proceeded to scan her body starting at her abdomen as he watched the screen at the head of the bed paying close attention to her symbiont Rava. Minutes later "The good news is Lieutenant, Rava seems to be just fine."
Elsen had spent the scan looking at the ceiling, though her eyes kept drifting towards the display. She was used to being the one reading an instrument while someone else waited for an answer. From the biobed, she couldn’t make sense of the figures at that angle, however much she tried. At Jacobs’s verdict, her fingers loosened from the edge of the mattress.
“That’s a relief.” She smiled up at him. “I have to ask, though—do you say ‘under the hood’ to all your patients, or just the joined ones? I wasn’t quite sure which of us you meant.”
She shifted up slightly, her attention returning to the scanner. “You said Rava’s fine was the good news. Is there another part, or did I read too much into that?”
Hearing Elsen made Hank grin "Looks like you caught me. That's an old country saying from Earth and since I am a country boy at heart those types of colloquial sayings do tend to pop up every now and then. To answer your second query yes there is another part and yes again you're probably reading too much into it" he explained as he looked at the readouts on the screen.
Changing his demeanor into something a little more professional "So I have to ask, and whatever you say is strictly confidential, since you are of the female persuasion have you been sexually active over the past couple of months."
Elsen blinked once.
The question itself didn’t bother her nearly as much as the speed with which they had arrived at it. One moment they’d been discussing country sayings; the next Jacobs had taken a rather impressive conversational shortcut.
“Yes,” she said, without any particular embarrassment. “Though ‘female persuasion’ is a wonderfully elaborate way of getting there.”
A small smile touched her mouth before she settled back against the biobed. “Once, recently. About five weeks ago. A visiting xenogeologist who was passing through Mojave for a survey transfer.” Her expression turned briefly amused. “We discovered we had very compatible opinions about basalt formations and considerably less compatible opinions about breakfast.”
There was no wistfulness attached to it. It had been enjoyable, uncomplicated and, as far as Elsen was concerned, complete.
“We used contraception, if that’s where this is heading.” She glanced towards the scanner again. “Should I be reconsidering how confident I am in that?”
"Apologies, I should have explained the reasoning for my question better. I'm trying to rule out all possibilities as to your unbalance issues and sometimes conception can be one of those; which obviously isn't a concern" Jacob's stated then thinking a few moments " And no you shouldn't be concerned about the scanner's accuracy" as he paused "Medicine is like any science. When you investigate a particular phenomenon you probably don't learn everything about it on one pass....Medicine is the same way except sometimes multiple symptoms can present themselves as different problems" Hank explained then continued "Now that I've ruled out the whole contraception thing, there is only one other thing that can cause issues with your balance.....have you experienced any ear aches, sore throat, and/or problems hearing at all."
Elsen’s shoulders eased a little further at the confirmation.
“Good. Because my mother would probably insist on saving Rava first and murdering me immediately afterwards.”
The smile that followed made it clear she was only mostly joking.
She listened to Jacobs explain his reasoning without interrupting, though there was a brief flicker of amusement at being walked through the principle of investigating multiple possible causes. Elsen let him finish. Correcting the doctor currently trying to work out why the room occasionally tipped sideways seemed counterproductive.
At his next question, though, she paused.
“A sore throat, actually. Nothing dramatic.” She thought back over the last week. “It’s been coming and going for a few days. I assumed it was environmental. New station, different air circulation, probably something my immune system hadn’t met before.”
Her brow furrowed slightly as the connection became more obvious now that he’d asked.
“No earache, and I haven’t noticed any hearing problems.” She glanced towards the medical display. “You think the dizziness and the throat are part of the same thing?”
"Well sort of. The ears and throat can display the same symptoms at the same time for the same reasons. That being said, you seem to be the proud owner of an inner ear infection. Within the inner ear are minute crystals that change positions as we change body positions thus keeping us balanced at all times. The infection can cause these crystals to clump and not move freely. That is what's causing your balance problems and in extreme cases vertigo sets in; although you haven't displayed any symptoms of that" Jacobs explained hoping he wasn't boring Elsen with too many medical details.
Elsen listened with growing interest rather than impatience, her eyes flicking briefly towards the side of her head as though she might somehow feel the offending crystals now that she knew they were there.
“So the infection isn’t throwing my balance off directly. It’s stopping the vestibular system from getting clean positional information.”
She gave a small nod, fitting the explanation into place.
“That actually makes a lot of sense. Especially the way it comes on so suddenly and then clears again.”
More importantly, it was an ear infection. Not Rava, not some complication from joining, not anything lurking underneath the vague pressure that had sent her down here in the first place. The relief showed more plainly now.
“I can live with that.” A faint smile appeared. “Well, preferably not permanently.”
She shifted slightly on the biobed. “I’m guessing this is the easy part now? Medication, let the infection clear, try not to fall into anything expensive in the meantime?”
"No, not permanently it should clear in a couple of days" Hank assured her as a nurse came over with a loaded hypo. Turning "Thank you Nurse" as she nodded then went back to her duties "I'm going to inject you with an antibiotic which should clear the infection in a couple of days and yes try not to fall into anything expensive; I'm sure Captain Hawk would appreciate that."
“A couple of days sounds good.”
Elsen turned her head slightly for the hypo. The brief hiss came and went, and she rubbed the spot afterwards before looking back to Jacobs.
“Thank you. I’m glad it’s something simple.” She gave a small smile. “I was starting to wonder if I’d somehow managed to upset Rava without either of us noticing.”
She eased herself off the biobed, taking a moment once her feet touched the floor before trusting her balance completely. Everything stayed where it was supposed to.
“Hopefully next time you see me I’ll be here for something less medical.”
Elsen hesitated, then added, more casually, “Actually, if you’re free sometime, we could get a drink. You’re new here too, aren’t you? It might be nice to talk somewhere that doesn’t have a biobed in it.”
She smiled.
Hank smiled back "I'd like that and yes I'm new here as well having been aboard only a couple of days" as he paused "And I agree it would be nice to talk somewhere that does't look like work. Let me know where and when at your convenience."
“Anyway. Thanks again, Doctor.”
"Anytime Lieutenant."
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