JP – Cmdr. MacKenzie, Lt. Cmdrs. Adea & Skyfire, Lts. Alieth, Sirin, & Jakobi, Lt. JGs Fergus & Wong – Medical Officers Support Group – Part 2
Zeph
((Subspace))
On the other side of the galaxy, a very small Vulcan woman hopped off the table and disappeared from the screen. There were several wooshing sounds, a few swear words that the UT failed to translate, and a yapping sound. Shortly after, she reappeared on the screen, accompanied by a shockingly large and slightly dishevelled dog.
Wong: So does anyone have any questions or should we just jump right into the fun?
Alieth: Since you are the host, I suggest that you should lead the meeting.
Adea: ::with a grin:: You’re in charge, Ikaia, you lead the way
With that, Ikaia took the floor.
Wong: Ha! Alright. I guess we’ll start simple. I know some faces here but not everyone. So I want everyone to introduce themselves if they haven’t already and tell us about one weird case that they’ve worked on since joining Starfleet.
He took a bottle opener and cracked open the first beer of the night. He looked over the label one more time. Oh he knew this was strong stuff. He’d be knocked flat on his butt by the time he’s consumed two of them. Never mind the fact that he had a WHOLE JAR of chocolate hazelnut spread he was eating directly from the jar.
MacKenzie: ::coughing deliberately:: Dr. Wong, perhaps you could start. (beat) That is, if you don’t mind putting the jar down, first...
Wong: Okay okay. My name is Lieutenant JG Ikaia Wong. I’m the PA on the Veritas aaaaand my weirdest case happened to be when I had to remove the tiniest PADD I’ve ever seen from Crewman Bishop. Like it was the size of my thumb and for some reason, he had tried swallowing it. I never did get a straight answer as to why he did it. All I know is that it’s now in my collection of Things I’ve Removed from Patients. Shockingly, the PADD still works. It’s kind of amazing.
Fergus: Greywin Fergus, MD. USS Astraeus.
Skyfire: There was a bloke on the Montreal who injected himself with Borg nanites on purpose to try and find his lost sister who had been assimilated. Suffice to say I had to call in someone who was an expert in nanotech to assist. Not my finest moment.
Genkos’ eyebrows flew up so fast into his flyaway hair that it sort of appeared that they had beamed right off his face. Addison on the other hand closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Meidra just took another long sip of her drink, thankful to be a counselor and not a surgeon.
MacKenzie: ::muttering:: Idiot.
Sirin: It’s fascinating how some beings are accepted into Starfleet.
Ikaia paused to take a drink.
Wong: Wait. That really happened? Woooow. You know what? I’d almost want to see the report on that one. It sounds incredible.
Genkos paused for a moment; he was fairly certain that he’d met the officer who’d done that briefly aboard Project Capstone. He wasn’t impressed.
Adea: ::rolling his eyes:: Incredibly stupid.
After taking a drink from a steaming mug on her table, Alieth straightened her posture.
Alieth: On our last assignment, due to the peculiarities of the mission, I had to treat a few war targ injuries, at least a dozen of which were sustained trying to jump over one of these animals as it charged down the shuttlebay cause a particular department considered it could be "fun" to dare to do so.
Sirin: Was your friend Teller involved?
A very tiny Vulcan shook her head and, somehow, the corner of one of her slanted eyebrows twitched with irritation.
Alieth: Not only him, which is the main issue...
Meidra snorted into her drink. Truth be told, she’d been wanting to meet this officer ever since she’d learned he’d held the katra of her cousin’s best friend. Another partner in chaos was always welcome, and things had been a bit calm lately. Anyone who could annoy Alieth and yet inspire such loyalty was someone she wanted to know better.
Wong was just in the middle of taking another drink when something someone said caught him off guard. That was enough to send it down the wrong way causing him to start coughing.
Sirin: So you had people jump over a targ in your shuttlebay because of a dare. Was there at least a prize of some sort? Like some counseling?
Wong: ::Coughing:: I’m… ::Still coughing. Wheezes:: Oh stars… I’m fine….!
While a blond Klingon tried to cough his multiple lungs out of him on the other side of the screen, Alieth shook her head once more, this time with a slight green hue tingeing the tips of her pointed ears.
Alieth: ::with a tiny sigh:: No prize... I am afraid it was not our finest hour.
Sirin: We’ll have to talk about this more later krei. I’m quite interested in the full story.
The only retort was a decidedly unvulcan sigh.
Greywin shot a look at his former boss, a brow furrowing up in quizzical confusion.
Fergus: If you want to talk about stupid things done on purpose, what about that time you decided to inject yourself with a modified strain of Plasmodium-falciparum Romulopesti to save the Cardassians in DSX? I wasn’t the only one who thought you were losing it.
Chythar winced and gave a nod. That too smarted, and was partially why he had elevated abilities. He had experienced his own share of problems after that, specifically developing an addiction to neural blockers until he could learn to control his abilities. With all of that many years behind him now, it was still a slightly uncomfortable memory.
Skyfire: Aye, there is that too. I got better…
Addison loudly and deliberately cleared her throat before sitting back in her chair, shaking her head, and proceeding to throw back some of Genkos’ sapphire wine. Genkos shot her a wicked grin.
Adea: When I was serving on the Gorkon, we had a little incident involving misfiring telepathy and fluctuating isoboramine levels that led to my re-enacting the Dominion War in Sickbay. That went down… not well.
Alieth: Mess with telepathy is never a good idea :: Sipping her mug :: remind me to tell you later when a coffee-addicted pocket dragon with empathic skills tampered with a Betazoid officer. Worthy of a report.
MacKenzie: ::looking over to Genkos:: Misfiring telepathy? That’s a thing?
Adea: Oh yeah, I ended up communicating with one of the Trill’s past hosts, they managed to talk me out of it. It was a heck of a ride.
Ikaia was reminded that in comparison to the other MOs, he was definitely the freshest face in the room. He’s only had his posting for eight months and it was his first assignment out of the Academy. He’s certainly seen quite a few things. But some of these stories he’s heard this evening made some of his start to sound tame to him.
Wong: Lemme see….. I was chased by hungry tigers once on Donova during the battle of the bands which I did on purpose. More recently, I froze myself on the Holodeck. Also, on purpose. Er… both times in service to the patients, I can assure you. As far as the Holodeck incident goes, we were fending off a Klingon invasion. My roommate came up with the idea of dropping the temperature. Got authorization from the bridge and myself. I was also the fool who told him how much to drop it by! Pff…. hypothermia is no fun, guys.
Sirin: I suppose I don’t really have a lot of medical related stories, being a counselor. I did have to convince a former officer that losing an arm just to get Intel’s attention was a poor choice. ::beat:: He wanted a transfer.
Wong: Er… yeah. Exactly none of those were fun experiences. But I would do them again if it meant saving as many lives as possible.
Sirin: ::looks into her cup and almost whispers:: The needs of the many. ::raises glass:: Sometimes it is not easy to leave failures in the past, but we do the best that we can to prevent as many as we can.
A very tiny Vulcan raised a freshly wrapped chocolate to the screen in celebration of those words.
Alieth: And you should not abandon those who seek help from you, so that they speak
curses behind your back… As Surak said
Wong: Uh hey! ::Taking a drink:: Who… who else here has issues with appointment dodgers? I can’t be the only one, right?
Adea: Wait, your crew actually make appointments?
Wong: They’re SUPPOSED to. It doesn’t mean they actually do it. It’s like…. Ugh… waaay too many people on this ship will straight up avoid me if they know I’m tracking them down to get their check ups done. Parker is the WOOOORST for this. You know he destroyed my desk when I tried to wrangle him in? I mean I DID do the appointment. But I’m stuck with a new desk that I’m either tripping over or stubbing my toes on.
Sirin: People just randomly appear in my office, usually while I’m thinking of finally getting to my reports. I do sometimes have to remind ensigns to visit.
Wong: Ensigns are easy. They’re usually so well behaved. But there’s…. There’s nothing quite like having a huge beefy marine whining at you for making him come in early for his appointment. He also had the nerve to try to tamper with my tricorder. It’s the most childish thing I’ve ever SEEN out of him!
Adea: ::with a sigh:: Ugh, marines are the worst.
Addison took a moment to think about the few marines she’d served with. While they weren’t standard duty postings on every ship, the Embassy on Duronis II had a marine company stationed there while Admiral Turner was in command. Each of them were dodgers in their own right.
MacKenzie: Good luck getting any of them to show up. I had better luck getting Captain Rahman to make her appointments. In fact, right before I transferred to the Embassy, she even came to see me.
Wong: That reminds me, I really should get Captain Rahman into an appointment. She’s overdue for one. But no, I have to chase down my appointment dodgers and trust me - it’s not fun.
Sirin: I have never had Captain Nicholotti show up for an appointment. I suppose I should do something about that.
Skyfire: As an MD herself, Kali knows the value of showing up for appointments but I’ve noticed captains are notorious about dodging.
Genkos pursed his lips; neither Kalianna nor Quinn had been that evasive for him. Sure Quinn had preferred it if he visited her, but she was fairly diligent about attending. Well, eventually. Kalianna had been quite sensible in arranging hers, but then she’d just had a life threatening head injury, so go figure.
The Vulcan leaned towards the screen, looming over it dangerously close, and fixed a VERY intense gaze on the tiny Klingon on it, her mind still dangling to an earlier part of the conversation.
Alieth: Of all the Marines I have served with, Parker has been the most reluctant to show up on the med deck, almost as if he would melt for setting foot on it. The next Marine Detachment Commander, however, did show up regularly... mainly because he had a tendency to tear himself apart on each and every mission he was involved in.
The Vulcan made a pause, perhaps a slightly long, tipsy pause.
Alieth: I think that is why the targs thing happened...
Wong: Getting Parker to show up… that was an accomplishment. Surviving it was a whole other thing. Did you know that…. that there were crewmen placing bets on which of my bones Parker was going to break? Must have disappointed them when I walked out unscathed…..!
Alieth: If he failed to show up with an ancient firearm in his waistband, you were lucky, he did that with the Boss at the Embassy.:by moving her gaze across the screen to the Resolution crowd and sticking a finger on the screen: Tell them, Mackenzie, tell them.
Genkos raised his eyebrows. He brought a gun to Sickbay? And not a phaser, an honest-to-goodness old-fashioned firearm. How was this man still in the ‘fleet, he wondered. If he’d tried that in Genkos’ sickbay, he’d have had a rude awakening.
MacKenzie: If I recall correctly, I had to tell Major Parker of the time I forced an engineer on the Veritas to deliver a baby… Only when I threatened the same consequence or worse for him did he bother showing up for his appointments.
In spite of herself, Alieth stiffened a bit when she recalled a certain encounter with MacKenzie on a bad day and a particular medieval and utterly unnecessary examination that she had been about to force her to perform. In fact, she actually found herself having to suppress a shudder. Badly.
Alieth: I still remember a related circumstance at the Thor, on the premise that I had engaged in highly unbecoming behaviour for one of your ...minions...
MacKenzie: ::chuckling:: That’s a story for another day… (beat) Assuming we’ll be having other meetings like these…
It seemed like to Ikaia that a LOT of people have threatened Parker into appointments over the years! He was just the most recent person who’s done it. Although, the most he threatened was to use regulation to wrestle Parker into an appointment.
Wong: That’s the plan. ::Takes a drink:: Meetings and…. A support network. We got to have each other’s backs because this is a tough profession. At times…. thankless while we do what we can for the good of everyone. Teal shirts have to stick together. Support each other. Like…. What’s something someone needs right now in their sickbay that they’re having trouble getting….?
MacKenzie: ::muttering, slightly raising her glass:: More booze.
Adea: ::laughing, and raising his own glass:: Hear hear to that Addison!
Sirin: A most agreeable plan
Alieth: :: Lifting up a candy and slurring the words:: Cheers and celebrations appropriate for alcholic beverages but performed with chocolates.
Wong: I’m hearing…. Medical tricorders? Have I got that right? I have a surplus of them. They’re slightly older models since I recently upgraded the sickbay with some newer ones. But they get… get the job done. I can part with them on my end….
Alieth: Wong, what are you saying? We could replicate them… are you drunk already?
Ikaia was definitely feeling the effects of his chosen poison. At least he was still able to string coherent enough ideas and sentences together. But his mind was starting to feel a bit fuzzy. Tomorrow’s hangover was going to be amazing.
Adea: How are you going to… um… transport them? I can’t imagine Starfleet will be thrilled with the use of a shuttlecraft to transport a load of easily replicable medical tricorders halfway across the quadrant?
Wong: Logistics…. We… we still need to sort that one out. Point is… it suuucks having to replicate a lot of something in an emergency. It eats up time you don't have. Better to keep and swap stock when…. When times are good….
Alieth leaned across the table so that much of her screen was occupied by her face.
Alieth: Absolutely illogical, on this you are Wong, Wrong.
Anyone: Response.
Wong: Shipping small things out of The Shoals is easy enough…. But… ugh… bigger stuff is much harder. We need someone who…. Who understands logistics. Do we know anyone…..?
Sirin: My family has a shipping business. I’d be pleased to assist.
Skyfire: I think Teller knows a thing or two about logistics. He was sneaky enough to leave everyone presents on Christmas morning with nobody being the wiser about how it got into the room. If you want me to rattle off more names, I can probably think of some.
Wong: Who’s Teller?
Alieth almost choked on the drink she was sipping at the time.
Alieth: A red-haired catastrophe in the form of a human. And a friend. But mostly a troublemaker.
Sirin: Someone I must meet.
The conversation continued in the same vein for quite some time until, little by little, all the screens gradually faded out, leaving each of the officers (or the small group of them) alone with their thoughts, their light inebriation and a sense that they were not alone in the galaxy.
Fin
---
Commander Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
First Officer
USS Resolution
V239601AM0
Lieutenant Meidra Sirin
Counseling Officer
USS Resolution
R239707MS0
Lieutenant Commander Genkos Adea MD
Second Officer & Chief Medical Officer
USS Resolution
G239502GS0
Lieutenant JG Ikaia Wong
Physician Assistant
USS Veritas
V239711IW0
=================================
Lt. Alieth
Chief Science Officer
USS Gorkon NCC-82293
E239702A10
Image Collective Facilitator /Art Director
=================================
Lieutenant JG Greywin Fergus, MD
Medical Officer
USS Astraeus NCC-70652
O239002CS0
Lieutenant Shakkar Jakobi, MD
Medical Officer
USS Braveheart NCC-55241
O239002CS0
Lieutenant Commander Chythar Skyfire, MD
Medical Officer
USS Chin’toka NCC-97187
O239002CS0