Waiting on the med bay doors to open on the Chrome Fox, Senior Crewman Tosth “Fishhead” Aaaiser was determined to perform a successful mission. He was still disappointed in himself for his performance of his first attempt at the Command School qualifying exam, where he showed his emotional weakness surrounding his family’s death. Although he had passed with flying colors on his second attempt, everyone now knew of his weakness.

“Sir,” he said, as the doors finished opening. “I am here as you ordered. I am ready to begin.”

Upon hearing these words, Second Lieutenant Rocketman proceeded to say, “Ah…. Crewman Fishhead. Your specimen is a Killik. Its condition is critical. I would like to see what you can do. I’ll leave you to it. I hope you perform better than you have in the past.”

Smiling grimly, Rocketman left the med bay.

Burning from the statement, Fishhead tried to compose himself. There were four facts he knew about the Killik species: 1) The Killiks had an exoskeleton that was very hard to penetrate; 2) The Killik’s societal structure was built like a traditional insect society. There were many different hives, such as the Gorog Hive, which were each controlled by a hive mind. This meant that, given whoever was the head of the hive this Killik belonged to might cause this Killik to commit suicide or, once it was healed, to attack his medic. So he may be in danger from his patient. He would need to be quite cautious. 3) He also knew that the Killik’s respiratory system is located throughout the exoskeleton. He was wondering how much damage to the system could be sustained, if needed to diagnose this Killik. 4) He was almost certain that this Killik was a female, for the sole reason that the male Killiks generally never leave the hive, due to reproductive purposes.

He stepped up to the examination table and pulled out a clipboard, for note-taking. Its height was 1.9 meters and its exoskeleton a shade of red. He also noticed that it seemed to be having trouble breathing, through the almost unmoving form and through its head mandibles. The mandibles seemed to be the most affected part; they were turning into violent shades of violets, brown, and black.

Stepping away to go over his notes, his first idea was to evaluate the respiratory system. He knew the color of the mandibles should be at least a steady shade of red, not interlaced with browns and violets. During his time on Commenor, he had seen Killiks killed with insecticides. The way that had worked is that the insecticide comes in contact with the exoskeleton. It would then cause the respiratory system, which, in the exoskeleton was called “spiracles,” to shut down, and in effect kill the Killik. If she had gotten a full blast of the insecticide, she would be dead by now.

Finishing up his notes on his clipboard, Fishhead stepped back up to the examination table where he searched for the possible area of concern. Ah, he thought. There it is. It was located in the lower back section, above its legs. Not a large area at all, he almost missed it. At its largest diameter, it was a mere 15 centimeters.

His next step was to cut away the insecticide-ridden area. Grabbing a scalpel to try first, he proceeded to cut away the exoskeleton. Almost as soon as the blade touched the exoskeleton and pressure was applied, the blade shattered. Cursing in surprise, he threw the scalpel away.

I should have realized what would have happened, he thought scathingly. You know how impenetrable these skeletons are. You thought because of a little problem the area might have become weaker. You idiot. Another mistake like that and you might as well kiss this examination goodbye.

Reassessing the situation, Fishhead pulled out a laser scalpel and preventative fire and burn gear. Being careful not to cut away living skeleton, he became solely focused on the cut. At first, he did not see any progress, as all that was happening was that the skeleton was blackening. On a whim, Fishhead decided to blacken the entire area and try a different technique. He said, to reassure himself, “There’s always a bacta tank in case something goes wrong.”

Grabbing a fine tipped pick and small hammer, he gently hammered at the burnt chitin. To his immense surprise, the chitin was breaking up! He continued until the chitin had turned into a fine powder. I need some way to clean up this powder. Looking around, he found a machine that acted like an aspirator. He tried it and found it could clean up solids, even.

He now had an unobstructed view of the spiracles. This particular section of the spiracles most definitely seemed to be dead or in the process of dying. He could literally see the spiracles blackening, drying out, and dissolving before his eyes. There were some sections that still seemed to be healthy. They were red and blue in color. He would have to cut away the live and dead spiracles so the insecticide could not spread.

Grabbing another scalpel and gauze in case blood started to flow, he began to cut away at the spiracles. He noticed almost instant blood flow. He applied the gauze to ebb the blood flow until he could cut away the rest of the affected area. Once done, he finished applying the gauze and waited for the blood flow to stop.

The next step was to move the Killik into a Bacta tank. He prepared the tank and positioned the Killik inside the tank. The healing process would take a few hours, he suspected. Tissue and systems had to be regrown. He hoped this particular insectoid could handle Bacta.

While he was waiting for the Killik to heal, Fishhead began a chart of what he knew about Killiks. Given the preliminary facts he had already known, and the bits he gleaned from his operation today, he realized he would have to take his study much further to fully understand the Killik’s anatomy. He hoped to one day even study disorders and diseases of Killiks through live specimens.

----------------------------------------------

Once the wound had healed, the Killik seemed to be alert and very much alive, observed through the bright reds found on her mandibles. He removed her from the bacta tank, grabbed his in progress report, and accompanied the Killik to Lieutenant Rocketman’s office.

“Sir,” he said, as he entered the room. “I have the specimen healthy again and a report prepared.”



As he handed the report to his Commanding Officer, Fishhead proceeded to ask, “sir, if it is not too much trouble, I would like to continue with the research of Killiks, to expand our knowledge of the other races in existence. And furthermore, if I get permission, after I am done researching Killiks, can I continue the research into the anatomy of other non-humanoids to benefits not only our stormtrooper corps, but also our knowledge in general?”

OOC:

1,234 words

Thank you sir. With your permission, I would like to help expand that page and possibly other skills and certifications pages.

On another note, I was thinking, if at all possible if we could open up a medical officer and possibly an engineering/repair officer track. I know that Fleet Command was just opened up and that the Ancilliary skills and Certifications are for specializations for Bridge Officers.

This is just an idea I had. Personally, I'd like to see my character follow a medical officer path before becoming a fully fledged bridge officer.

The basic ideas I already have for this can entail NPCs also, if the PC idea doesn't work out. Basically, there will be medical specializations, either in race type or type of treatment. So, due to my Xenobiology skill, I would specialize in the treatment of insectoids.

Again, this is just an idea. I have no idea how to progress with the Engineering/repair department. I can work out a first draft of the idea if Command would be willing to try/look into this. I just thought it might be another incentive to join Naval Command and that it would add an interesting point of view in the stories, where the Medical Department wasn't told by NPCs and where it might be a bit more accurate.

Regards,
SCRW Fishhead

Alright. Which brings me back to my first question. Do I have permission to help add to the Xenobiology skill?