Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly, Part II

Posted on Mon Jan 19th, 2026 @ 1:59am by Lieutenant JG Aziza Diouri & Lieutenant JG Kasper Andersen M.D & Lieutenant JG T'Para MD & Ensign Charlotte Dawes

1,397 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Medical Lab, Deck 12
Timeline: MD 10, 1030 Hours

Previously: Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly, Part I


Aziza shifted her gaze, settling on T'Para at the other console. The Vulcan seemed quite composed and precise, focused entirely on Aziza's vitals. "And Doctor T'Para?" she asked, gently and respectfully. "You're one of Xalanth's wives, correct?"

"His first." T'para said with a rather un-Vulcan warm smile on her face as she did so. "I met my red lizard at the academy. He proposed when we graduated, and we've been together ever since. I know my relationship is fairly unusual by Federation standards, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."

The former helm officer for the Dalton was surprised. She had expected precision, formality, maybe even a wall of polite distance from T'Para, but this was... unexpected.

"I don't mean to pry," Aziza ventured carefully, "but you seem less stoic than other Vulcans I've come to know."

"I'm not your standard Vulcan. I was found abandoned in a drop-off box in a San Francisco police station. No parents, and I grew up in an orphanage. Far more in touch with my human side." T'para explained.

Aziza pictured a small Vulcan child wrapped in blankets outside of a police station with the noise of a big city buzzing around it. It explained the warmth in T'Para's eyes.

"That's a very unique beginning," she observed, pulling at a part of the suit where it had bunched up. "So you grew up on Earth?"

"San Francisco girl all the way through," T'para answered with another smile, though she kept her eyes on the screen. "Grew up in the shadow of the academy, so it was no surprise I ended up in the fleet. True, being part of the soul of a red lizard from across the stars, but i wouldn't trade it for anything."

Aziza smiled again at the Vulcan physician's words. "I think I'd like to get to know you better, T'Para--once I can walk again, that is."

"I'd like to get you know you as well Aziza. I'm sure Xalanth will invite you over for dinner when you can walk." Replied the hybrid doctor.

She let the curiosity drift to the outer edges of her mind and returned, cautiously, to her leg. A thoughtless twitch--not an intentional command, not even completely noticed--made her left foot lift slightly, the toes curling by themselves.

Her eyes widened.

"Oh," she whispered, half-laugh, half-surprise. "That... was not on purpose."

"Not on purpose you say?" Kasper raised an eyebrow as an idea began to form in his mind. "Okay, that's good, really good! So just to be clear, you weren't focused on movement at all just then?"

Aziza shook her head. "I wasn't focused on anything. I kind of... let my mind wander a moment."

Charlotte stepped closer to Aziza and dropped to one knee in front of her. She took out a tricorder, but didn't turn it on yet. "May I?" She asked, holding out her hands, waiting for permission to touch Aziza's foot.

"This reminds me of my zero-g training at the Academy," Aziza said, lifting her brow. "So much fun."

"Fun?" Charlotte asked with some skepticism in her voice as she gently touched Aziza's ankle with her left hand and reached for Aziza's heel with her right. "Are you ticklish at all?" Charlotte asked. "Were you before the accident?"

"Ticklish?" Aziza erupted with a grin. "Yes, I've always been... ticklish." She looked over at Charlotte quizzically as though the question were strange.

"I see where she's going with this," Kasper said as he stopped to watch Charlotte and the technique she was using on Aziza.

"Alright, just... relax then. I want to stop thinking about your legs for a minute." Charlotte suggested. "Tell me about your first friend you met at the Academy. Where did you meet them?"

Aziza let her head tip back a little, her eyes unfocusing as she easily recalled her early Academy days.

"My first friend was Nizada Sett. The bluest Bolian on campus. I loved the way she laughed," she recounted, a smile on her face. "That girl was utterly incapable of whispering or talking softly."

Glancing to T'Para and Kasper, she continued. "We met the first week. Orientation. I sat next to her because every other seat was already taken and she had this ridiculous stack of PADDs balanced on one knee. One of them slid off and I caught it before it hit the floor."

Aziza paused and laughed. "Nizada had a... pet," she said, her smile widening. "Which was very much against dormitory regulations at the Academy--technically. A Bolian cat. Or at least... that's what she called Garangan." Her brow creased as she tried to search for the right words. "He was small. Fury. Soft as an Earth feline. But the face--" She laughed quietly. "He looked like a kitten's face stretched over the skull of a miniature raptor. Slanted eyes. Kind of a beak for a mouth. And it would hiss and make this popping noise in its throat."

"I think Dr. Andersen likes cats," Charlotte volunteered. "Why don't you tell him more about this cat, but stop if you feel anything unusual, okay?"

The visual Aziza had put in his mind about the Bolian cat was terrifying. "Hey, cats are way better than dogs. Definitely more intelligent, anyway." Kasper admitted with a shrug. "Okay, tell me the more specific details about what you remember of this cat."

"Well," Aziza began, trying to remember the creature. "It was about the size of a typical feline with turquoise fur. Also some white patches on his belly and haunches. Typical whiskers for a cat but just, you know, a long face. The poor thing looked like it was always angry." She looked around to see what Charlotte was doing before continuing. "When Garangan would yawn, his entire face would disappear."

"Don't watch me," Charlotte said laughing lightly. "That defeats the purpose." But as Charlotte spoke she lightly grazed the bottom of Aziza's foot with the tips of her fingers - a deliberate attempt to test for sensation when Aziza wasn't expecting it.

Aziza gasped.

It was sharp and undignified. And entirely human. Her foot jerked before she could stop it, toes curling inward like they were trying desperately to hide from Charlotte's fingers. Then her eyes widened.

"Did I just...?"

" You moved your feet." T'para said with a wide smile upon her face.

"Even as a reaction to Charlotte touching them, that's amazing!" Kasper's smile echoed T'Para as he looked between her, Charlotte and Aziza and made a couple more notes on the padd before putting it down and walking over to them. "I'm going to say I don't want to push anything else today, but you've made such a massive leap with movement, well done."

Aziza opened her mouth to answer--and nothing came out.

Perhaps it was because she was overwhelmed with emotion. Certainly, the room felt much larger and quieter, as if it were providing her with some space to catch up with herself. Her throat tightened and she pressed her lips together, nodding once.

Her eyes burned and she found herself blinking hard, fixing her gaze somewhere over Charlotte's shoulder, anywhere that wasn't a friendly face. There were tears now but she didn't want them seen--not out of shame but from having lived the last few days under a great deal of anxiety as to whether she would ever walk again. The feeling was still fragile and lacked full conviction.

She drew a slow breath, grounding herself. Sabr.

"Okay," she said at last, her voice soft but containing a strong dose of confidence and certainty. And it meant everything.

---

Lieutenant JG Kasper Andersen, MD
Medical Officer
USS Astrea


Lieutenant JG T'Para, MD
Medical Officer
USS Astrea


Lieutenant JG Aziza Diouri
Flight Control Officer
USS Astrea


Ensign Charlotte Dawes
Nurse
USS Astrea

 

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