LT Gila Sadar - A Promotion to Magnify the Guilt

[LT Gila Sadar]

(( Main Shuttlebay - Deck 11, USS Artemis-A ))

Seeing that the farewells were starting to lag towards the end, Gila prepared to leave the procession, before she was halted by the most unlikely of persons.

MacKenzie: Lieutenant Sadar, a word.

Gila froze. Why did the Captain wish to speak with her now? At this important time? Surely she had to focus on bidding her old friend farewell? What could be important enough to temporarily pause the ceremonial send-off for the Artemis’ departing CMO? Gila knew, of course, and the palms of her lavender hands grew clammy with fear. Surely not. Surely her temporary countermeasure hadn’t been discovered this quickly? She hadn’t even had the chance to do any research at all into the issue!

And why would the Captain catch something like this so quickly, but have neglected to point out that Gila hadn’t submitted to an X-Ray for almost two years!? The priorities in terms of due medical diligence were all over the place!

Conflicted between falling on her knees out of guilt and confessing to everything right that instant, and running head-first out of the nearest airlock, Gila instead uneasily shuffled after the Captain, as she led her away from the gathering near the shuttle.

MacKenzie: Doctor, with Commander Adea leaving, I’ve decided to make Doctor Morgan the interim Chief Medical Officer. I’ve also decided to promote you to Assistant Chief Medical Officer as his replacement.

The apology and pathetic attempt at an excuse that she’d been busy concocting all but froze into an overwhelming static as Gila tried to process the ludicrous words Captain MacKenzie had just spoken. Not the part about Doctor Morgan’s promotion, of course, that had been all but a given, but the matter about the replacement for Doctor Morgan’s previous position. A position of authority. Of leadership.

Once again, Fleet Captain MacKenzie astonished Gila with her stubborn dedication to putting Gila in the worst thinkable situations.

She had to be doing it on purpose at this point!

Sadar: E-E-E-E- Wh-What do- I-I’m- Why!?

MacKenzie: I don’t assume to know what Morgan has planned, but I can imagine the structure will largely remain the same – you’ll be responsible for the instrument and medical inventory, the nurses schedules, things like that.

oO That is NOT an explanation! Oo

Sadar: I-I-I’m sorry, Captain, I-I don’t mean to be, uh, ungrateful, b-b-but s-surely there are better options!? I-I mean, I-I’m hardly leadership material, and I’ve just barely started being able to face the patients properly, and- ::twists anxiety band:: You truly can’t mean to make me A-A-Assistant Ch-Chief?

While Gila’s explanation was certainly a well-founded one, and one far more rooted in logic and realism than the Captain’s notion that Gila was in any way, shape or form suited for this, there was - of course - a far more glaring issue.

One that Captain MacKenzie was, obviously, completely unaware of.

MacKenzie: Yes, Doctor. I am confident you will do an acceptable job.

If Gila was smart, she would have just accepted the promotion. Considering the Captain’s explanation of her work duties - inventory, schedules and the like - it frankly wasn’t that much of a change compared to what she’d been assisting with already since her promotion to Lieutenant. It wouldn’t be difficult, and objecting was just making her look all the more suspicious, she was sure.

But something deep within Gila’s core knew that this was wrong. There were others in the department, Lt Meyers, Dr Rani, who were equally capable - but more importantly far more morally suitable - for the position, and knowing what Gila did - knowing of the extent of her depravity and wrongness - there was no way she could accept this. She had to do something.

Sadar: B-But, I- N-No, I-I really don’t think-

MacKenzie: Response

This was her chance. Her chance to come clean. To tell the Captain, in no uncertain terms, that this was the wrong choice. And yet, one look at the Captain’s face, and the words died before she had the chance to even try to form them.

Sadar: N-No Sir... ::lowers head:: U-Understood, Sir.

MacKenzie: Response

With that established, the conversation was done. The deed was done. And Gila felt, far more viscerally than before, how far off of the deep end she was. Out of all the things the Captain could’ve done to her, this was by far the greatest and heaviest punishment of all, and Gila felt the responsibility - and the emptiness - that Commander Genkos Adea had left her far more cruel than first anticipated.

Gila had never been good at hiding her emotions. So instead of heading back to see her former superior off, as it was proper to do, she left the shuttlebay behind, desperate to find something to do. She needed something to hold her mind together, even as she felt her grasp on reality crumbling away at an alarming rate as the true horror of the situation made itself manifest.

A criminal had been made Assistant Chief of Medical aboard the USS Artemis-A, the Federation flagship in the Borderlands.

And Gila didn’t know how to fix that...

End Scene for Sadar

LT Gila Sadar

Assistant Chief of Medical

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1