Prognosis
A Promptoberfest story
© 2023 by Walter Reimer
Thumbnail art by  tegerio

Prompt: decline


“You already know what I am about to tell you,” the Terzhin XXX’s Surgeon-Master said.

“Then why repeat it?” Vesan k’Daridh asked.

The Kiyēakh frowned. “I have your latest test results. The current dosage of your anti-seizure medication is becoming ineffective.”

“Aka? Increase it, like you’ve done before,” Vesan said. Her ears perked as the kam slapped his tail against the Infirmary’s deck. “What is wrong?” she asked.

The Surgeon-Master offered her a padd. “Your body has been gaining a tolerance to the medication. Increasing the dosage would be useless at this point. The probability of you having a seizure has been growing,” and his tailspur jabbed at a graph on the display.

Vesan rested the padd in her lap as her right hand massaged the stump of her left shoulder. She had resisted regeneration therapy to replace the missing limb, for fear that the procedure would alter her brain’s structure or chemistry to rid herself of the seizures she’d suffered since Xinjia and inadvertently rob her of her memory.

Kashlanin memories were eidetic, and amnesia was a horrifying word.

“Contingencies have been made,” Vesan said, squirming uncomfortably. “My staff – “

“Your staff are not the Fleetmaster,” the kam said, using the old word for ‘Admiral.’ “You are. I have known that this confrontation would come sooner or later, so here we are. You have a simple choice, Admiral: Submit to regeneration therapy, or be declared unfit for duty, subject to dismissal from the Fleet pending a full medical review,” he said stiffly.

K’Daridh felt her ears go straight back, and just once she envied some Terrans for having long headfur.

It would have given her something to yank on in frustration.

“It,” and she paused to swallow, “it is a hard decision to make.”

“I know.”

“I will need to notify my family. I want them near me.” She looked down at the padd, and back up at the Surgeon-Master. “How much time?”

The kam took a breath, let it out slowly. “By the end of the year, the medication will be ineffective at any dosage.”

“I need time to think.”

An affirmative gesture. “Take the time you need,” and the kam walked out, leaving her alone.

Vesan rubbed her left shoulder again, gazing down at the data on the padd, and the Surgeon’s conclusions. She almost laughed when she thought of how she had gotten her injuries. She had acted boldly at Xinjia, and valued boldness and initiative in her subordinates.

Why hesitate now?

The answer was easy, and hard – hard? Terrifying.

She had to contact her family.

And Varan.