What's in a Name

Posted on Wed Feb 4th, 2026 @ 4:09am by Chief Warrant Officer Karzen Son of Arjune, Son of Ragan MD, MPH & Technical Sergeant Josi Baro

1,302 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: A New Dawn
Location: Infirmary
Timeline: Current

Sickbay aboard the Ada Lovelace was smaller than most starships’ triage rooms; more practical than pristine, the kind of space that had to serve as clinic, trauma ward, and quiet refuge all at once.

Josi stepped inside and let the door hiss shut behind her. For a moment, she took it in, and noticing, there was only one other presence there.

The person she assumed was the doctor was standing nearby, and he was... striking in a way that didn’t resolve cleanly at first glance; Klingon in his broad frame and grounded presence, but intertwined with something sharper. Perhaps Romulan, in the angles: the set of his brow, the stillness of his posture, the sense of contained precision beneath the warrior’s bulk.

A hybrid.

Uncommon enough to make her pause. Not out of discomfort. Not even surprise, really. Just... awareness. In a room this small, it was impossible not to be aware of him. Josi’s mouth twitched faintly, the start of a private amusement at herself. Then she cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Engineer Josi Baro," she said evenly. "Newly arrived. Commander Aleshanee said I’m due for a physical." A beat, and then she added with dry wit, "I promise I’m only mildly thrilled."

"I will do no harm or injustice to them," Karzen muttered to himself. "If you're Loren's sister, don't you mean you're Baro Josi? Or are you some kind of avant garde, as the humans say, using your given name before your surname for sheer audacity's sake? Or perhaps do you think I can't take one look at your nose and figure out your given name is Josi if you introduce yourself as Baro Josi? Or am I perhaps so stupid that I can't recognize a Bajoran name after living in and around the DMZ for over a half century? Bah! Go lay down on that biobed there. Mind you don't hit the biohazzard button. Wouldn't want to incinerate yourself."

Josi blinked once, then very slowly let the corner of her mouth lift. "Well," she said evenly, "it’s nice to meet you, too." She didn’t get angry, didn’t retreat. If anything, her calm only sharpened, the way it always had when someone tried to loom.

"For the record," she added, stepping toward the biobed with unhurried precision, "Baro is my family name. Josi is what my mother called me when she wanted me to answer. Either order tends to work."

She paused, her eyes flicking toward him with quiet amusement. "And if you’ve been around the DMZ that long," she continued, tone dry, "then you already know Bajorans have survived worse than questionable bedside manner."

She sat carefully on the edge of the biobed, as instructed, then leaned back. "I won’t hit any incineration buttons," she promised. "I’ve had enough dramatic exits for one lifetime." A beat later. "So," she said, voice mild, "Doctor… should I be worried, or is this just your way of saying hello?"

"Hmph," Karzen said, making a non-commital noise. "The jury is still out, as the human saying goes. We'll see. Maybe I'll hit the incineration button 'accidentally' myself. Now lay back and relax. You won't feel a thing." Karzen took out his PaDD, linked it to the biobed, and began running scans. "So, tell about any childhood injuries, battle wounds. Any pregnancies? Any social diseases? Some of those, while curable, can play dead and come back at the least opportune moments. Worse, for example, genital herpes in one species can be something like what humans call 'simian hemorrhagic fever' in another, and so on. So I like to check."

Josi’s brows lifted a fraction at his bedside manner, but she didn’t flinch. If anything, her expression suggested she’d heard worse interrogations in worse rooms. "Comforting," she said mildly, settling back against the biobed.

At his questions, she let out a small breath through her nose; half amusement, half resignation. “Alright. Childhood injuries: a broken wrist at thirteen. Fell out of a tree trying to prove a point. Lost the argument.”

Her gaze flicked briefly toward the ceiling as she sorted through the rest. “Battle wounds… nothing that didn’t heal clean. A few burns, some shrapnel scars. The usual consequences of thinking you’re harder to kill than you are.”

A beat later, she casually added. “No pregnancies. As for social diseases…” Her mouth quirked. “No. I’ve always preferred my complications to be emotional rather than microbial.”

She glanced toward him, voice steady. “If there’s something you need to know that I’m forgetting, ask it plainly. I’ve spent enough of my life being danced around.”

"I have literally just asked you if you ever had a social disease, without any equivocation or hesitation whatsoever," Karzen said. "If that doesn't count as plain speaking, I don't know what does." Karzen made a few notes in his PaDD and then did a few more scans. "If I recall, your sister was on Bajor during the occupation. Is that true for you as well?"

"Fair," Josi said, conceding the point with the barest hint of amusement... "Point to you."

At the mention of Bajor, something in her expression settled; less distant, more deliberate. "Yes," she answered. "Same for me." She drew a slow breath. "I was there through all of it. Old enough to understand exactly what was being done to us, and old enough to remember names, faces, and the days you learned not to ask questions out loud."

Karzen nodded and then set down his PaDD. "There are a number of well-meaning, but ultimately, though unintentionally, stupid things I could say in the attempt to be compassionate. I'll do my best not to say any of them. How about I say that I'm very sorry you had to grow up in that situation, and add that 'Grumpy old Klingon' is only one facet of my personality. 'Good Listener' is another, so if find yourself needed to talk through anything, whether from your past or your present, do not hesitate to come and find me. Unless you are a danger to yourself or others, anything you say to me will be kept in the strictest confidence."

Josi was caught momentarily off balance, not out of pity but because of the unexpected tenderness behind his gruff exterior. Her expression didn’t soften into sentiment, but something in her posture relaxed all the same. “Thank you,” she said quietly, and this time the words weren’t automatic.

She exhaled softly, almost a huff. “For what it’s worth, I’m not particularly interested in well-meaning stupid things, either. I’ve heard enough of them to last a lifetime.” Then she looked at him, wryness returning like a familiar tool. “And I’ll try to remember that ‘Good Listener’ is in there somewhere, buried under threats of incineration.” Her tone grew a little more genuine. “I don’t usually talk much. But… I appreciate the offer. Truly.”

She paused again, swung her legs around, faced him, and then added with a slight smile, practical as ever: “Now... am I medically cleared, or do you still need to find something else wrong with me besides my taste in assignments?”

Karzen 'harrumphed'. "You're fine," he said. "Go," he pointed to the door... and grinned? "Go on your way before you get in the way of an actual sick person."

“Yes, Doctor,” Josi said, sliding off the biobed with practiced ease. "Wouldn’t want to scandalize Sickbay with my continued survival.” She paused at the door, hand hovering near the control. Just long enough.

"…Thank you," she added again, quieter this time, without the armor. Then, with a faint twist of a smile, she stepped out before he could say anything else.

 

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