"They seem to be getting along all right so far..."

Just then, someone comes up and quietly gets the head doctor's attention. He looks concerned, then angry, then he leaves the room. Cordelia keeps an eye on this exchange.

"So long as I get my medical technician back intact, I suppose."

She also eyes the exchange. Hmm. Interesting. Not that she knows what that was about, something to do with something down the hall...?

The doctor returns, trailing another man in uniform, his collar adorned with two silver stylized eyes. He is calm and watchful and slightly wary, particularly when he sees Lord Callida, but it's when he catches sight of Cordelia that he begins to be genuinely nervous.

Cordelia raises her eyebrows at the newcomer.

"Have you been harassing my son, Simon?"

"...That description is not without merit," he acknowledges.

Callida is reminded somewhat of Occlus. Not precisely, but enough that she has to resist the urge to smile.

She stays silent, content to watch.

"Desist," advises Cordelia.

"So I have been instructed by Dr. Fuller." He glances at Callida, then at her rather swamped doctor. "Medical aid from the Sith fleet?"

"Yes. Lord Callida, this is Captain Simon Illyan, Chief of Barrayaran Imperial Security and my son's employer."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she says, inclining her head.

"Dr. Gelrath is quite certain that Lord Vorkosigan will have no trouble taking advantage of Sith medical technology, but I believe the doctors here are more skeptical of its effects." Which is of course a polite way to give him an opening to solving this problem, should he happen to want to. Perhaps to avoid Cordelia's wrath?

"Although I'm afraid one of the available treatments will put him beyond the reach of your interrogations until he recovers," Cordelia puts in.

"I'm not doing this for personal amusement," he says. "There are urgent questions only Miles can answer. Though I will grant you I could have phrased them more delicately."

"Well. Perhaps if you had me along," she suggests.

"That... would be acceptable."

"Lord Callida, will you be all right waiting out here enjoying the show," with a gesture at the ongoing cultural exchange, "for—perhaps an hour or two, Simon?—" (He nods.) "—while we speak with Miles?"

"Certainly."

"Thank you. I appreciate your patience."

Off they go, presumably Milesward. Dr. Fuller shoots a suspicious glance at Captain Illyan as they leave, but seems mollified by Cordelia's presence.

Callida finds herself a chair, and sits to watch the ongoing cultural exchange while reading reports of various matters involved with running her fleet.

A little more than an hour later, they return.

Cordelia takes Dr. Fuller aside and murmurs a few words to him. He nods.

The cultural exchange has calmed down a little, but has not ceased. Dr. Gelrath is still very excited to answer all of their questions about the various types of human, and seems to be having the time of his life.

Callida notices when they return, finishes the paragraph she was reading, and stands.

Cordelia smiles at Callida.

Dr. Fuller gently steers the conversation back to the topic of Lieutenant Lord Miles Vorkosigan's medical care.

Dr. Gelrath is definitely willing to talk about that topic, yes, right after he answers this latest question - wait, no, two questions, sorry, had to finish the train of thought. Give the topic the respect it deserved. Yes, back on topic, will they please let him go test Miles for a kolto allergy and then, when he's not allergic, which he won't be, dump him in a kolto tank?

Lord Callida smiles back.

Dr. Fuller makes a quietly skeptical face at 'which he won't be', but he gives his permission. Cordelia nods approvingly.

And so Dr. Gelrath gets appropriate samples of blood, bone marrow and tissue, and slots them into his medical datapad to study. Someone is confused about why he's not taking them back to a lab or something, and he proceeds to excitedly explain how this is the latest technology and they can test for bizarre reactions right under direct study from a datapad! It's so convenient, he is so pleased about having it, there's no way the Sith Empire could outfit every doctor with this but he has high hopes that they'll become common in their fleet under Callida's watch, she always gets him neat toys -

His datapad pings. He peers at it.

"Ooh, that's interesting," he says, tilting his head and sounding entirely too interested in the results.

"Don't tell me after all the reassurances that he's allergic," says Callida, dryly.

"No, no," says Dr. Gelrath, waving a hand. "Quite the opposite, actually, projections think his metabolism will take to it with the biochemical version of delight. Hmmmmmm!" And then he starts poking at the datapad with single minded fascination.

"Really," he says, after a little while of this and ignoring everyone around him, "the only problem might be with higher ratios of kolto to nutrient solution, wouldn't kill him, well, not unless you were trying really hard, but that's true of everything, he'd be abnormally exhausted after getting out of the tank and would probably need to stay in bed for a while. Oh, oh, and that's a solution to the bone density if I ever saw one, I'll need to specialize a calcium supplement to mix with the kolto so his healing speed isn't impeded -" and then he's furiously tapping at the datapad. Again.

(Cordelia smiles again. Dr. Gelrath is so - himself. She has half a mind to introduce him to a few people and see how they all get along.)