LT Gila Sadar - As She Did for Me, So Too Must I for You

[LT Gila Sadar]

(( Outskirts - Breetia Township, Galaris IV ))

It was quite the awakening that greeted the trio of Starfleet officers as they arrived in the Breetia Township. Whereas New Kehixa was a monument and testament to the Grunden’s perseverance and ability to maintain the past and defend their heartland in the face of overwhelming odds, Breetia was evidence of what happened when gut and grit was not enough. Gila wondered what Breetia had looked like back in its prime, for she was certain it was nothing like the disemboweled shell of civilization she was looking at now.

Regardless, in order to complete their task, they had to find some corner of this hurt and damaged hamlet that could serve as testament to the degree with which technology was utilized by civilian Grunden. Not an easy ask, but one Gila was determined to succeed in.

Sadar: Ideally, we find a place that's a good benchmark for the general development of the community here. A clinic would be best - you can tell a lot about a society based on its medical advancement - but a town hall or, uhh, a center of commerce could also work. Preferably one that's still functional despite ::gestures to some of the more dilapidated buildings:: this.

Bancroft: ::glancing from side to side:: Given the state of things, we might have to settle for anything with four walls and a functioning door hinge.

Cole: ::gesturing towards one of the buildings:: We should move carefully, there might be some unexploded ordnance in some of these buildings.

That was a uniquely terrifying notion, and Gila didn’t like it one bit. Perhaps ushered by the notion that any building surrounding them could explode at any given point, the trio moved forwards, the squelching of the mud beneath their field boots the only evidence that the city even reacted to their presence. In many ways, Breetia seemed a city lost to the war, where time didn’t really move. Gila wasn’t sure it ever would again until the war was over. The cracked signs of old buildings, scrawled over with new meanings, the walls torn open by force and violence... 

It felt like exactly the kind of stories that naysayers on Mizabet told of the galaxy to strengthen the narrative that Mizarians should stay on Mizabet. And Gila felt sick to her stomach. 

Grunden child: Zap zap. You’re a Kobyar. You’re dead!

Gila jumped slightly out of her skin at the guttural, and yet quite lightly toned?, voice exclaiming this warcry, and she felt her spine run cold at the implications.

Children? Playing at war?

oO I will never understand aliens Oo

Bancroft: ::quietly:: And we wonder why peace takes generations.

Gila was thankful that Ensign Bancroft shared her concerns about the scene unfolding before them, but frankly, she just wanted to move on and preferably out of earshot of the child.

Cole: Response

Sadar: ::uncomfortable pause:: L-Let’s move on... 

The town was not a true ghost town, as one might expect the word to mean. There were Grunden littered around the place - a child playing, a shopkeeper repairing a hole in his shop, Grunden sitting in the street - but regardless of their lot in life, all of them showed visible influence by the war that had ravaged their world for years. It was a scenario that was hard to witness, and perhaps especially for Gila and Ensign Bancroft. Gila noticed the injured Grunden a moment later than her junior officer, but she noted his reaction to them - the hand hovering by the medikit, his tormented expression - very viscerally.

A memory invited itself into the forefront of her mind, unbidden. 

((( Flashback: SD240101.15 - Artemis-A Sickbay )))

MacKenzie: If I might, I’d like to give you some advice – one doctor to another.

Sadar: Of course, Sir.

Gila raised her head from it’s slightly inclined position, awaiting the words of her superior officer with a healthy dose of curiosity, as well as humility. Considering the rather clumsy way she maneuvered life aboard a Starship, she’d take all the advice she could get.

MacKenzie: There are going to be things about doing this job in this place that test you. I mean, really test you. The oath to “first do no harm” will be called into question as you are faced with scenarios that you never thought you would be. It is at the very core of your duty to voice when you feel that oath might be compromised.

Was this… An attempt to comfort? Gila wasn’t sure. The Captain’s tone of voice was inscrutable at the best of times.

Sadar: Yes Sir.

The Captain continued.

MacKenzie: But, as a Starfleet officer, you also have to realize that my scope of responsibility stretches beyond any one person or group of people… But, I swore the same oath that you did, and even when my orders seem to the contrary, every decision I make is filtered through that same lens, whether I like it or not.

Gila internalized this message with slightly trembling eye folds. The fact that her Captain - Addison MacKenzie - was a fellow Doctor was something that she was aware of in the larger scheme of things, but she supposed that the synergy between the Doctor and the Captain - how it all balanced out in the end - was a conundrum that Gila had thus far been oblivious to.

oO Do no harm… Oo 

Sadar: I… Yes sir. I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to call your integrity into question...

The Captain’s face changed slightly, indicating that she still had a point to make.

MacKenzie: What I’m trying to say is that it’s not easy. You were right to offer your objection on the bridge, but you also have to trust that my orders aren’t issued haphazardly.

((( Present time - Breetia Township, Galaris IV )))

Gila wanted to find the words to usher the Ensign forward, to combat that very real healing instinct that she too had had to learn to deal with - and had failed to curb many times, but the Wheel saw fit to save her from that specific issue, as the Grunden removed themselves from the interaction altogether by shuffling off down the alleyway. Small mercies, even if Gila was very concerned about the state of their hand.

The three of them started walking again as a heavy mist started rolling into town, and Gila frowned. Was this normal?

Bancroft: ::quietly:: I know we’re supposed to observe, report, investigate – and not interfere. ::his blue eyes swept the desolate streetscape once more:: But some days, “just watching” feels like the worst possible choice.

Gila was quiet. She wasn’t the Captain, and so she didn’t have a measured and acceptable response ready for him. And she was supposed to be the Assistant Chief of a Department? The whole thing was laughable.

Bancroft: ::glancing at Cole:: You ever wrestle with that in your line of work? Drawing a line between “mission protocol” and “doing the right thing”?

Cole: Response

Gila didn’t have an answer. She wished she had, but she didn’t. But she knew that the longer this conversation was going on, the more Ensign Bancroft would think on this disconnect between his duty and his orders, and in the end, it would only cause him unnecessary stress.

Sadar: ::strained expression:: Th-This line of questioning is pointless... C-Come on. We need to start our investigation.

Bancroft: ::to Sadar, softer:: Lieutenant… I used to think juggling medical ethics was the hard part. Turns out that’s just the warm-up act. Now it’s diplomacy, politics, and making sure we don’t accidentally embroil Starfleet in a planetary civil war by offering a bandage to the wrong person. I know that’s the right call… but why does it feel like it isn’t?

Gila stopped and slowly turned about, looking at the human male next to her. They were the same height, but she’d looked at enough aliens to start recognizing age markers, and she knew he was young. Far younger than she’d been when she graduated. She bit the inside of her cheek and twisted her anxiety ring once. While she would never be able to address his concerns in the same manner as Captain MacKenzie did - it was pointless to even attempt it - he was her charge now, as absolutely impossible as that seemed, and as such, it was her duty to reorient his outlook.

Sadar: Ensign Bancroft. When you graduated from the Medical Academy, you took an, ehm, a-an oath. To defend all life, no matter the origin, and to...  Do no harm... ::a ghost passes over her face:: I-It’s an Oath I took myself, and...  So too did Captain MacKenzie. So when she orders us to render no assistance? ::twists her anxiety band twice:: Know that she doesn’t do so lightly. Trust that she only asks this of us because there’s no other way.

Cole: Response

Before Ensign Bancroft had the chance to respond, the sound of a wailing banshee echoed throughout the mist-covered town, now so entirely concealed by the water vapors that it was difficult to see five feet in front of you. It was an awful sound, sad and mournful, and Gila resisted the instinct to pull her hood closer around her head to block it out.

Bancroft: ::quietly, eyes darting back and forth:: Air raid siren? Intruder alert? Cultural symbol? Or just someone’s idea of an appropriate lunch bell?

Sadar: I-I, I don’t know. T-Tricorders out! Scan for any indication of incoming fire. Let’s go ask someone.

Bancroft/Cole: Response

Gila led the two Ensign through the mist - or at least, she pretended to, for frankly she had no idea where she was going - until she all but ran into a Grunden - female, judging by her outfit - who was in a hasty walk away the direction they were currently heading. Gila started a stuttered apology, but the Grunden woman barely looked at her before continuing her trek.

Sadar: Wait! Wh-What’s going on? What does this sound mean?

Gila briefly feared that the woman wouldn’t deign to answer, but while she never looked back, her gruff voice did travel easily in the mist-filled air.

Grunden Woman: Get into hiding, quickly! It’s them Hoppers again!

Sadar: ... ‘Hoppers’?

It didn’t sound scary, but then, this was a world where amphibian aliens reigned superior in the department of aerial artillery.

And with that thought, ‘Hoppers’ sounded immensely problematic.

Bancroft/Cole: Response

Not even two seconds later, a cacophonous sound blasted the air around them, mist visibly swirling from the impact as something - Gila wasn’t sure what - had exploded somewhere to the side of them.  The resulting fire lit up the heavy mist in dull tones of orange and red before white overtook it again, and the sound of shearing rock and tumbling debris filled the air moments after the explosion. The resulting blast of wind was almost enough to make Gila stagger, but instead, she turned about and started to follow the direction the Grunden woman had taken, hoping she knew where she was going.

Sadar: Stay together! Get off the street!

The last thing she needed was to get separated from the two Ensigns at this junction, so she made sure to stay close to them so the mist didn’t end up obscuring them too heavily.

Bancroft/Cole: Response

TAG/TBC

LT Gila Sadar

Assistant Chief of Medical

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1