#Dr Alfred 'Alfie' Nahdi

[medlilove]

So, I have been playing with an au/oc with ToS and hired a Botanist character. But somehow I have extebnded a few bullet points that explain why Bones was last to meet him on the ship to like, a massive, rather mundane fic that has given me the chance to explore how the different characters interact with each other. All before the Botanist even shows up, in fact, I keepo adding things to put it off.

The scene was initial made to be a rather uneventful first interaction. But it just got longer and longer

and longer

The Botanist Part One 🌱🌱🌱

Bones' thoughts on The Botany Department weren't great. They didn't really do anything. Yes, it could be argued that his general disconnect from the department stemmed from his distaste for Dr. Daniel Yvonne, who was a very uninspired man. Here he was, exploring a strange new world every month or so, full of life completely unknown to science, and what did he do? The bare minimum needed to submit the paperwork. McCoy felt that the man would be just as inspired working in the basement of an Earthside insurance office, opening mail.

McCoy couldn't understand why someone would take on such an incredible role as that on the USS Enterprise, and do so little with it. He often complained loudly to Kirk in confidence that the department's resources were being wasted and the man should be kicked out. 

There was so much out there, yet Yvonne was just ticking boxes. Sending his poor team out to the planets to collect minimal samples while he remained in his lab. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the lab and medical spaces shared the same deck on the Enterprise, and often crossed paths. 

Although McCoy and Chapel snarked and sniped at each other on a regular basis, often alarming new patients, they had the same care and ambitions and had more in common than not, especially regarding Dr. Yvonne. Nurse Christine Chapel was another crew member who McCoy could mutter openly over his dislike of how Botany was run. One of the few things they agreed on in fact. Chapel hated how cold and unsocial he was to his team, whom she had grown to know quite well.

It, therefore, came as quite a surprise to everyone when Dr. Yvonne had a complete mental breakdown one morning after a particularly dangerous planetary expedition, in which one of his team, Sacha, was nearly eaten by a giant carnivorous cactus. He broke all the glass in his lab, spreading all sorts of spores and seeds everywhere, and tried to jump out a (very sealed) window. Chapell got to him first and sedated him, a little too enthusiastically, not that Bones would have done it any differently. McCoy had a suspicion that it wasn’t so much Sacha’s wellbeing he was worried about, but the sudden disruption of standard protocol and additional paperwork. 

And thus, Dr. Daniel Yvonne was sent Earthside on the next available shuttle, looking rather glassy eyed and sweaty. That, of course, left the Enterprise needing a new Head of Botany, and with Sacha recovering from the cactus attack, and the only other member of the Botany Department being Edwin, who was only 22, they asked the Federation to assign a new member.

There was a planet a few days away that had a research station on it. Dr. Alfred Nahdi accepted a temporary replacement role on the Enterprise, and would be with them for around six months.

He was brought aboard three weeks after Dr. Yvonne's departure. The federation had assigned him with the go ahead from the Captain. Therefore no one really knew much about him.

McCoy wasn’t available to be at the customary meeting party in the transporter room when Dr Nahdi beamed on board. Turns out, just an hour before the new botanist was set to beam on board, one of Scotty’s engineers, Phoebe Carrilin, had fallen three flights while in the engine room, broken her neck and landed on her head. While not technically life threatening in that day and age, Dr. McCoy needed to take particular care putting her back together, due to the intricacies of the spine and the severe swelling that she had suffered. 

Kirk had explained McCoys absence when showing Nahdi around and to his labs. Some medical emergency that Alfred would rather not know the details of, he was a little more squeamish than he’d care to admit. As they exited the elevator and walked down the wide corridors of the primary science level of the enterprise, Nahdi noticed that the Medical Space was completely sealed off. Made sense, if some major surgery was taking place. The automatic doors didn't respond to them passing by. There was a strip of red light along the borders of it, that Nahdi recognised as an indication to only disturb for serious medical emergencies.  He wondered what kind of man was behind that door. 

He had arrived late in the afternoon, so the senior management meeting, to introduce him to who and what everyone did, would be, thankfully, scheduled for the next day. 

After settling into his quarters, Nahdi wandered back to his lab to spend a bit more time poking around and seeing what, if anything Dr Yvonne had left. The science floors appeared to be dead quiet this time of night. Almost everyone was off duty, and unlike engineering, rarely needed staff on rota 24hrs. He was enjoying the quiet hum of his new home. He walked up and down the isles of planters, vessels and canisters. The lights were kept low, and a fine mist filled the space. Making it humid, yet very comforting. The Enterprise had amazing resources, but he noticed that the lab was not fully utilised. There was so much potential. He couldn’t wait to get started.

He lingered for a while just inside the door, analysing the large screens displaying complex calendars and rotas, learning the names of his team. Sacha, Edwin, and Evangeline….just three? Doing some quick maths on the rota, they must be on at least 50 hours a week each, surely that’s not right? He felt a pang that was simultaneously sympathy and pride. 

He was snapped out of his thoughts at the distinct sound of a door opening a little distance away.  He heard a man and women talking softly in the corridor. He couldn’t hear exactly what was said, but the tone was familiar, friendly, yet serious in tone. The woman’s voice seemed reassuring and the man’s tired and almost annoyed. He said something then, while giving out a small laugh of exasperation which made the women give out one small laugh then say something indicating instruction. Nahdi didn’t move, suddenly feeling very self conscious about potentially intruding on something personal. Mortified at the idea of them suddenly spotting this rather tall and broad man they had never seen before standing randomly in a door that was half glass, therefore fairly visible. That would make quite an awkward first impression.

He couldn’t help himself, Nahdi moved his head very slightly and glanced down the corridor.  Just in time to see a blond Nurse turn back into the medical lab, and just caught a figure of a man in the science blue, closing the elevator door at the end of the corridor. His face was hidden by his palm rubbing his eyes as his other hand absentmindedly pushed the elevator button a few times. All Alfred could determine was that he seemed a little skinny, shorter than he (though most people are) and potentially around his age. That was the CMO, he’d bet money on it.

Nahdi thought that the man might have squinted up and seen him in the last blink of the moment, but he couldn’t be sure. 

The surgery had lasted five hours and Carrilin would be on her feet the next afternoon. 

It was around 20:00 when he was finally done. McCoy swapped out with Chapel and went straight to bed without eating, having just enough energy to pull off his uniform. His dreams swam with intricate, fragile puzzles and a strange tall bearded figure watching him from a glass fronted door.

[medlilove]

(Edited to add headshots because tumblr hates detail) I've etched away at this is a lovely few weeks, so click for full res and all the little details, okay? It's my love letter to the journey I've found myself on

This is long-ish, so its under the cut (but worth reading...)

I had been thinking a lot recently about that double feature episode, you know the one? I half remembered it then, when they chased a bunch of alien spies so fast through the solar system they all got thrown back in time. Half the crew went on a little undercover adventure in Toronto in 2024. It was great because they got completely cut off from the Enterprise, so half of them, well mostly Uhura and Spock if I recall correctly, spent their time collecting as many radios as possible and worked on building their own communications. Uhura and Spock were basically taking turns constantly tweaking radios by the window with wires everywhere. Oh yeah, their base of operations was the whole top floor of a worn out old building looking over a big square. They ended up in the really arty/queer part of town full of art galleries and thrift stores.....??

Chapel and Chekov were sent out to those shops to find disguises for everyone. I loved the joke that Chekov was puzzled and slightly alarmed that Christine just knew everyone's clothes sizes and measurements with no explanation. Later on, they ended up getting separated from the rest of the group and getting held up by B story shenanigans, mostly getting lost and running into culture shocks. It was fun to see them having their own adventures and made for a pretty interesting combo. Spock and Uhura spent most of their time with the tech, accidentally listening to the times most popular music while changing frequencies. Jim and Sulu paired off to search for clues, and getting supplies and spent a lot of time talking to the locals setting up for a Pride parade. McCoy, feeling paranoid and irritable that he had practically no equipment, wandered around with Dr Alfred Nahdi, the Botanist, who kept picking random weeds and talking about how extraordinary the little dandelions were. Oh and together they stole a whole medical bag out of an ambulance?? It was pretty funny.  Anyway, the main issue was they couldn’t risk leaving the area because all these alien spies had assimilated into the population and they had to track them all down and bring them back with them so as not to disrupt the timeline or something. They had to track down the aliens while making sure the aliens didn't pick up on who they were or that they were also out of place. They ended up being there for around two whole ass months, I think. The spies were spread out all over and there were about 30 of them, but it ended up being the Botanist, Alfred (Alfie) Nahdi who found the enemy base of operations by complete accident. Alfred, who had spent most of the time studying all the common flowers and weeds that were so ordinary at that time but were extinct in their time, figured out where the aliens' base of operations was because the big plant shop at the end of the square had a few succulents that could not have existed in 2024. It was a big "woah" moment. And there was this whole thing where he had to act like he hadn’t just figured it out because the florist, who was almost certainly a spy, was watching him and McCoy. But soon after, it all went to hell anyway when a fight broke out and Sulu was straight up shot with the aliens' weapon that had bullets made from alien metal. So then Bones had to perform old school surgery on him in their HQ, with only 2024 equipment. Jim, Spock, and Uhura were out fighting and ran into Chapel and Chekov and were able to finish them off, but it got really crazy because there was a Pride parade in the square at the same time so they had to make sure no one noticed them. While Bones was pulling bullets out of Sulu, with the botanist assisting him until Chapel (who had been sent by Jim) appeared and took over. McCoy said something like, “Christine, I’ve never been so glad to see you in my life,” and they sewed him up all old school. And it worked out! But Bones was a mess because he had to do messy surgery with none of his kit, and so much pressure, and more blood than he was used to... Chapel stayed with Sulu, and Bones and Nahdi went to sit on the fire escape stairwell and had a sweet scene of Bones just full of adrenaline, his hands couldn't stop shaking. They sat hand in hand for a while listening to all the people on the streets below. Then Spock, Jim, Uhura, and Chekov appeared at the stairwell and they all had a happy, albeit exhausted reunion. After a day of everyone recovering from all the excitement, Uhura and Spock used some extra tech they got from the aliens and finally made contact with poor Scotty who was up on the Enterprise losing the will to live. Anyway, their outfits were iconic tbh.

I invented this whole thing to draw Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in a sweater. I lost control of the situation. I spent a lovely two weeks etching away at this with the support of my lovely ST server, I love you guys. This ones for you.

[medlilove]

I made a Star Trek OC. Dr. Alfred ‘Alfie’ Nahdi. He’s the head of the Botany Department on the USS Enterprise. He replaced the former Botanist about 1.5 years into the 5. Some alien plant exploded and died on him, it blew him off his feet, and they made him go to the med bay. He’s focusing very hard on looking at McCoy’s equipment, pretending to be interested, because every fibre of his being is screaming at him to stare at those blue eyes. OCs are healing for the soul.

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