Relkir grunted as they were just finishing up a few bits. Everything had been going well, all their work had been dealt with and Relkir was hoping to finish up early so they could help Gath with moving house. All the little bits and pieces had been arranged, the new contract had been signed and Relkir and Gath were finally going to move into a larger home and start work on having their first (biological) kid. But an odd knock on the clear door made Relkir look up and immediately get worried.
One of Relkir’s captains let the visitor in straight away, without even asking. While Kaldoran, the General of Medicinal Affairs, wasn’t the highest ranked Rethan, they were often treated as being on par with the Vice General and the Master of Generals, and were incredibly well respected. To the point that Relkir immediately got up, bowed and greeted them.
“Hello, General, how can I be of service today?” Relkir asked.
Kaldoran was an old Rethan. A very old Rethan. Still working well past the age of retirement. The average Rethan lived until about 170 years old, and those with finer genetics could make it to 200. Kaldoran was 171 years old and still working, but also still worryingly spry. They clearly looked old, Kaldoran’s natural armour was rather sanded down, slightly dull and didn’t grow much these days, but they were plenty fit and healthy, if a bit wobbly.
The General of Medical Affairs made their way over and leaned on the chair on the opposite side of Relkir’s desk, but they didn’t sit down. This concerned Relkir more than they expected.
“Is this… particularly important?”
Kaldoran looked Relkir up and down, then smiled. “Are you busy right now?”
“I have finished my urgent and critical work, I have a few more things that need doing, but I plan on heading home early. Since I am, uh, moving house.”
“Would you mind coming with me, for half an hour? I know moving is important, but so is this.”
“Uh… why?”
“You have been scheduled for a surprise medical exam.”
Relkir frowned, but quickly relented. It was a bad idea to say no to a Below Twenty General, and an even worse idea to say no to someone like Kaldoran.
“Very well. Do I need to bring anything?”
“No, just your body. This will not take long.”
Kaldoran got up and swiftly left the 99th Legion offices, making their way to the medical bay on the third floor. Well, “swiftly” wasn’t accurate, Kaldoran walked quite slowly, slower than Relkir did, and this annoyed Relkir just a little. Kaldoran then led Relkir to a closed off room at the back, closing the door behind them. In the room was a table and a handful of other implements, a large, locked cabinet, a sink with a soap dispenser, and a chair.
“So, first things first, Relkir, dear, I need you to doff and strip.”
“You… need me to be naked?”
“Indeed.”
“I… did not need to do that for the captains’ medicals I did while working for Rethais.”
“You are a General. You need further testing.”
“Ugh… fine…” Relkir frowned some more, then did as they were told. They didn’t like their naked body being seen by anyone apart from Gath, because Relkir was small and considered themselves freakish. Most Rethans though didn’t care much about being seen naked, being was more of an annoyance to them than an embarrassment, since it was generally harder to work and protect things while naked.
Once Relkir was done, Kaldoran placed all their belongings on the chair, then went to the cabinet and opened it up. Out of it, Kaldoran grabbed several sheets of paper, a pen and a few other bits and pieces, including a tape measure, before taking out a tablet from their satchel. They tapped a few things onto it, then turned to Relkir and nudged them onto a set of scales.
“Hm. You have put on weight…” Kaldoran muttered as they grabbed the tape measure and started measuring Relkir up. “Does not seem to be fat though. Seems to be mostly muscle. You have been exercising more…”
“Is that a good thing?”
Kaldoran didn’t answer. They instead took a strange tool and used it to measure the thickness of Relkir’s plating in various places, then used another tool to measure how dense the plating was. Once Kaldoran had written down some notes, they nudged Relkir onto the table and sat them down on it. With another tool, Kaldoran measured Relkir’s blood pressure, but not just around the arm, but around their ankle and halfway down their tail too. Up next, Kaldoran checked Relkir’s oxygen and nitrogen levels with a device that went around Relkir’s fingers, then they took a small hammer and used that to check Relkir’s reflexes.
Relkir chose not to say anything while Kaldoran worked, mostly to hide their uneasiness. That uneasiness increased however when Kaldoran stopped what they were doing, made their way back to the cabinet and finally spoke, asking the thing that Relkir feared the most.
“Alright. Thank you for your patience. I now need fluid samples. Blood, urine, saliva.”
“Oh. Great.”
“We will do saliva and blood first, then do urine, so you can wash your hands afterwards.”
“Understood.”
Kaldoran placed several items on the bed next to Relkir. The mouth swap was pretty quick and easy, but the blood stuff… Relkir opted to just look away and let Kaldoran work. It wasn’t that Relkir feared blood, they just hated seeing the blood go unnaturally through the thin plastic tubes and fill up the small vials. Doubly so since Kaldoran took five vials of blood. Luckily though, Kaldoran knew what they were doing and the blood samples were done nice and fast too.
The urine sample though, that was more embarrassing than anything else. Most Rethans urinated sitting down, but it was perfectly possible to urinate into the large plastic vial Kaldoran had given Relkir, it did mean that Relkir needed to… excite themselves slightly.
Kaldoran was professional enough to look away while Relkir got up and went to the corner of the room, where the sink was. Considering the sink was at waist level, Relkir assumed that accidents were expected to happen. Luckily, Relkir did already need to go to the bathroom, but they admittedly had more fluids than the tube could contain, and Relkir only just managed to move to the sink proper before anything could overflow.
With the lid fastened on the tube, the tube wrapped up in a convenient plastic bag, the sink cleaned and Relkir’s hands washed, it seemed like Kaldoran was satisfied. They placed all of Relkir’s samples inside a plastic box, which they sealed shut with several special stickers, then patted Relkir on the shoulder.
“Well, physically, you are in fine shape!” Kaldoran smiled. “Sample tests will be done in the next day or so, and I will send you a copy of the report when everything is processed. No need to worry though, you have passed the medical test and the sample tests should also be fine. You are free to go.”
“Can I put my armour back on, please?” Relkir asked.
“Of course. I shall leave you to it. Have a good day, Relkir. Thank you for your time.”
With another shoulder pat, Kaldoran swiftly tidied everything away, took the sample box and left the room.
Relkir stared at the door, sighed, then got dressed and left as well, unable to shake a worrying feeling in the back of their head.