Incommunicado – Emendo Erratum
by Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton
Post Details
ON:
Her hands held either side of her drawn-back hair as she tried to make sense of the message from Starfleet. She could make out the words 'Doctor Bridget Stapleton', 'service', and 'promotion to Lieutenant' - but she was not sure of the meaning. As far as she was aware, Doctor Bridget Stapleton was a Civilian. She grunted under her breath as she tapped at the computer and pulled up the Doctor's personnel file and read.
A few minutes later, as Tasha reached midway through the biography of the Doctor and it was easily apparent that somehow, Bridget had been mistakenly assigned as a civilian on her arrival to the station and that she had failed, or Chelsea had failed, to notice that Bridget was in fact an officer.
"Computer, locate Bridget Stapleton."
'Bridget Stapleton in Medical Lab four,' Came the response.
Tasha tapped her comm.
=^= "Doctor Stapleton, can you report to operations please?" Her tone was light as she made the request.
~Ops? Crap, what did I do?~ Bridget furiously thought through the past couple of weeks as she tapped her badge to reply.
=^= "Yes, Ma'am. Sir. Be right there." She knew things with Edward had spiralled out of control and it was a messy situation; but she didn't think it was something deserving of the Captain's intervention. Or was it? The phrase 'behavior unbecoming of an officer' flitted through her mind.
Two turbolifts and an interminably long corridor later, Bridget arrived at the Operations deck. She nervously smoothed her lab coat down... ~Double crap! I should have taken this silly thing off!~
But it was too late now, she reasoned, and entered the outer perimeter of the station's brain center. She hadn't been there before so she hesitated, wondering who she should speak to first.
Tasha had been watching from her large observation window and could not contain the smile on her face as she watched the doctor make an entrance. The only thing that was her hand coming to her mouth to check her breath. She was obviously concerned about her appearance as she smoothed down the near white lab coat, but Tasha put that down to being summoned and she also felt a little pleasure that the Doctor had not tried to hide anything by changing before arriving on operations.
She turned to glance at her desk and the box that held two gold pips in her drawer and then a cursory glance told her that the office was fine and she strode towards the office door and out onto the platform above operations.
"Doctor, up here." Tasha's hand signalled to the stairs that led up onto the upper level of Operations. She turned once the doctor looked up and retreated back to the outer office.
"Zeus commands Hippocrates to ascend Mount Olympus," Bridget muttered under her breath, looking mournfully at the Captain's back. She made her way toward the stairs and counted each step as if they marked time to the gallows.
If Tasha had heard the Doctor's remark, it would have made her laugh.
She leaned against the outer office desk with hands supporting her as Bridget entered. Tasha thought the Doctor looked concerned, even more so close up, and she could also tell by her eyes that she was nervous and she needed to be put at ease. Her eyes also gave away signs to her age and the Captain thought that she must be in her early forties or at best, late thirties. Her light brown hair shone and the lab coat did little to flatter her shape beneath but she still managed to keep herself in great shape.
"Doctor, thank you for coming up so promptly." She said as she pushed herself from he table. "Please, come in." She turned and entered the inner chamber, her office. "Can I get you a drink? Hot, cold or something stronger if you prefer," Tasha offered, trying to assure Bridget that nothing was wrong as she kept her tone light and bubbly.
Bridget smiled her business smile, the one that moved her lips but not her eyes. "Water would be appreciated, thank you Captain." Her reply was formal and her body language stiff.
Tasha hadn't failed to notice these things. "Doctor, let me assure you that you have not done anything to worry about. Quite the opposite, in fact." Tasha reassured Bridget as she entered over the threshold of her office and made her way to the replicator.
"Oh?" The part about 'quite the opposite' made Bridget wonder what she could have done that was then worthy of taking up a station Captain's time.
Tasha ordered a cold water for the doctor and her favourite beverage of the moment, a Mocha, one that she had found herself becoming quite accustomed to of late.
She placed the glass on the desk in front of the still standing Doctor.
"Please Doctor, you look quite awkward. Sit down, relax." She advised as she put the hot coffee onto a small wooden cup mat and took her seat behind the desk. "As I said, you have done nothing wrong, but I need some clarification as our records don't quite match up with your current position," Tasha stated, not mentioning rank. "And I don't mean as a Doctor." She took a breath, "I had a message from Starfleet this morning, regarding you. I was, to be honest, confused. So tell me about your training, in Starfleet." Tasha requested as she lifted the clear glass mug of chocolated coffee and brought it to her nose and allowed the aroma to seep up into her nostril.
Bridget sat, eyebrows both raised, mildly confused. "Sure. Okay. I applied to the academy in seventy-six," she began, and adjusted herself in the chair to make her monologue more comfortable. "They interviewed me a few times, each time with someone higher up the chain of command. I think most of it had to do with questions of my age. Most applicants are considerably younger," she indulged a brief, but genuine, smile.
"They finally decided I would be physically able to handle the training, because I received a packet in seventy-seven, and started at the Academy in the fall. They did stipulate that I'd have to go through pre-med all over again, even though I was already a licensed physician. Bureaucracy and all," she gave a side comment. "Not that I mind bureaucracy," she amended, back-pedalling with a blush, in case the Captain was a fan of big government. "But my experience helped me sail pretty quickly through the secondary training," she quickly went on, "which gave me good enough marks to apply for the starbase, rather than being stationed closer to Earth."
Tahir nodded in the right places, listening intently to Bridgets every word.
"Horrible word, Bureaucracy, the bane of every starship and starbase Captain. In fact, I don't think there is a person alive, except of course for the bureaucrats, who like bureaucracy." Tasha stated as she started to confuse herself. "Anyhow, what I needed to clarify, is your rank. When you left Earth for DS5, were you ranked?" She asked.
"As an Ensign, Ma'am."
"And how long have you been an Ensign?" Tahir pushed.
"A month. I graduated in December, and received my orders to Deep Space Five in January."
Tasha leaned back in her seat, taking the PADD that was on her desk and tapped on it and read.
'Starbase Captain Tahir. It has come the tention of Fleet, that Doc Bridge apleton has attained the rank Lieutenant as she to that the rank prevails. pass on the commendation.'
"From that, I firstly had to decipher if they were enlisting you, promoting you or demoting you. When I checked our records, your personnel file had no rank, and you were listed as a civilian Doctor. As I look at your collar, I see no rank insignia. As you can imagine, I was quite concerned. Now, the message is somewhat abridged and your name has not been spelled correctly, but I can only put that down to to either interference or sub space packet loss. By my best guess, you are in line for a promotion," Tasha stated as she placed the PADD onto the desk and slid it over to Bridget to read whilst picking up her cup to sip at her mocha to disguise her smile.
Bridget had been fingering the collar of her uniform, and as she reached for the padd she slowly said, "My pips hadn't arrived yet, I just figured they were delayed in transit." She read through the communique, frowning at the garbled message. Looking up at the Captain, she asked,"Why would they be promoting me so soon? It doesn't make sense." She handed the padd back and wondered if it was just a mistake, and once things were sorted out she'd be demoted back to Ensign again. "Not that I care whether I'm an Ensign or Lieutenant, to tell you the truth. But I'd rather have things straightened out, one way or another."
Tasha eased open the drawer with one hand, placing the beaker back on its rest with the other.
"I think we can straighten that out this way," she said as the smile on her face widened and she now slid across a small blue velvet box which contained not one, but two golden pips. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Apleton." She teased.
Bridget's face brightened into a smile as she looked from the Captain to the box on the desk. ~Okay, maybe I do care about rank, just a little bit,~ she thought as she reached for it. The emotions were like opening up an anniversary present - she was excited and nervous at the same time. Lifting the lid, her grin widened to match that of the Captain.
"Thank you, Captain Tahir," she said softly. "I know it wasn't your doing but I appreciate it anyway."
The captain shook her head. "You're welcome, doctor," Tasha replied as she leant back in her chair, the feeling of satisfaction that she felt whenever a promotion was passed on. "and deserved. Now, put them where they belong, on your collar." Tasha stated as if it as an order. Tasha felt a pang of guilt for not looking closer into her records earlier, but that was dispensed with by the smile of pure elation that Bridget had on her face.
Tahir rose from her seat once the two new pips were firmly fixed into position and extended her hand. "Congratulations Lieutenant." She said with no small sense of pride.
"Thank you. I'll be in wonder over this all week," she said, still grinning as she shook the Captain's hand. Her descent from the office down to the main floor of Ops was completely different than her ascent; head held high, she paused at the exit to turn and look back up at the glass windows above.
::OFF::
LIEUTENANT Bridget Stapleton! :D
Doctor (General practitioner)
Main Sickbay, DS5
&
Captain Tasha Tahir
CO
by Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton
Post Details
| Title | Emendo Erratum | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | Captain Tasha Tahir (NPC) & Lieutenant Bridget Stapleton | |
| Posted | Fri Feb 10, 2012 @ 7:47pm | |
| Location | Captains Office | |
| Timeline | SD54 11:45 |
Her hands held either side of her drawn-back hair as she tried to make sense of the message from Starfleet. She could make out the words 'Doctor Bridget Stapleton', 'service', and 'promotion to Lieutenant' - but she was not sure of the meaning. As far as she was aware, Doctor Bridget Stapleton was a Civilian. She grunted under her breath as she tapped at the computer and pulled up the Doctor's personnel file and read.
A few minutes later, as Tasha reached midway through the biography of the Doctor and it was easily apparent that somehow, Bridget had been mistakenly assigned as a civilian on her arrival to the station and that she had failed, or Chelsea had failed, to notice that Bridget was in fact an officer.
"Computer, locate Bridget Stapleton."
'Bridget Stapleton in Medical Lab four,' Came the response.
Tasha tapped her comm.
=^= "Doctor Stapleton, can you report to operations please?" Her tone was light as she made the request.
~Ops? Crap, what did I do?~ Bridget furiously thought through the past couple of weeks as she tapped her badge to reply.
=^= "Yes, Ma'am. Sir. Be right there." She knew things with Edward had spiralled out of control and it was a messy situation; but she didn't think it was something deserving of the Captain's intervention. Or was it? The phrase 'behavior unbecoming of an officer' flitted through her mind.
Two turbolifts and an interminably long corridor later, Bridget arrived at the Operations deck. She nervously smoothed her lab coat down... ~Double crap! I should have taken this silly thing off!~
But it was too late now, she reasoned, and entered the outer perimeter of the station's brain center. She hadn't been there before so she hesitated, wondering who she should speak to first.
Tasha had been watching from her large observation window and could not contain the smile on her face as she watched the doctor make an entrance. The only thing that was her hand coming to her mouth to check her breath. She was obviously concerned about her appearance as she smoothed down the near white lab coat, but Tasha put that down to being summoned and she also felt a little pleasure that the Doctor had not tried to hide anything by changing before arriving on operations.
She turned to glance at her desk and the box that held two gold pips in her drawer and then a cursory glance told her that the office was fine and she strode towards the office door and out onto the platform above operations.
"Doctor, up here." Tasha's hand signalled to the stairs that led up onto the upper level of Operations. She turned once the doctor looked up and retreated back to the outer office.
"Zeus commands Hippocrates to ascend Mount Olympus," Bridget muttered under her breath, looking mournfully at the Captain's back. She made her way toward the stairs and counted each step as if they marked time to the gallows.
If Tasha had heard the Doctor's remark, it would have made her laugh.
She leaned against the outer office desk with hands supporting her as Bridget entered. Tasha thought the Doctor looked concerned, even more so close up, and she could also tell by her eyes that she was nervous and she needed to be put at ease. Her eyes also gave away signs to her age and the Captain thought that she must be in her early forties or at best, late thirties. Her light brown hair shone and the lab coat did little to flatter her shape beneath but she still managed to keep herself in great shape.
"Doctor, thank you for coming up so promptly." She said as she pushed herself from he table. "Please, come in." She turned and entered the inner chamber, her office. "Can I get you a drink? Hot, cold or something stronger if you prefer," Tasha offered, trying to assure Bridget that nothing was wrong as she kept her tone light and bubbly.
Bridget smiled her business smile, the one that moved her lips but not her eyes. "Water would be appreciated, thank you Captain." Her reply was formal and her body language stiff.
Tasha hadn't failed to notice these things. "Doctor, let me assure you that you have not done anything to worry about. Quite the opposite, in fact." Tasha reassured Bridget as she entered over the threshold of her office and made her way to the replicator.
"Oh?" The part about 'quite the opposite' made Bridget wonder what she could have done that was then worthy of taking up a station Captain's time.
Tasha ordered a cold water for the doctor and her favourite beverage of the moment, a Mocha, one that she had found herself becoming quite accustomed to of late.
She placed the glass on the desk in front of the still standing Doctor.
"Please Doctor, you look quite awkward. Sit down, relax." She advised as she put the hot coffee onto a small wooden cup mat and took her seat behind the desk. "As I said, you have done nothing wrong, but I need some clarification as our records don't quite match up with your current position," Tasha stated, not mentioning rank. "And I don't mean as a Doctor." She took a breath, "I had a message from Starfleet this morning, regarding you. I was, to be honest, confused. So tell me about your training, in Starfleet." Tasha requested as she lifted the clear glass mug of chocolated coffee and brought it to her nose and allowed the aroma to seep up into her nostril.
Bridget sat, eyebrows both raised, mildly confused. "Sure. Okay. I applied to the academy in seventy-six," she began, and adjusted herself in the chair to make her monologue more comfortable. "They interviewed me a few times, each time with someone higher up the chain of command. I think most of it had to do with questions of my age. Most applicants are considerably younger," she indulged a brief, but genuine, smile.
"They finally decided I would be physically able to handle the training, because I received a packet in seventy-seven, and started at the Academy in the fall. They did stipulate that I'd have to go through pre-med all over again, even though I was already a licensed physician. Bureaucracy and all," she gave a side comment. "Not that I mind bureaucracy," she amended, back-pedalling with a blush, in case the Captain was a fan of big government. "But my experience helped me sail pretty quickly through the secondary training," she quickly went on, "which gave me good enough marks to apply for the starbase, rather than being stationed closer to Earth."
Tahir nodded in the right places, listening intently to Bridgets every word.
"Horrible word, Bureaucracy, the bane of every starship and starbase Captain. In fact, I don't think there is a person alive, except of course for the bureaucrats, who like bureaucracy." Tasha stated as she started to confuse herself. "Anyhow, what I needed to clarify, is your rank. When you left Earth for DS5, were you ranked?" She asked.
"As an Ensign, Ma'am."
"And how long have you been an Ensign?" Tahir pushed.
"A month. I graduated in December, and received my orders to Deep Space Five in January."
Tasha leaned back in her seat, taking the PADD that was on her desk and tapped on it and read.
'Starbase Captain Tahir. It has come the tention of Fleet, that Doc Bridge apleton has attained the rank Lieutenant as she to that the rank prevails. pass on the commendation.'
"From that, I firstly had to decipher if they were enlisting you, promoting you or demoting you. When I checked our records, your personnel file had no rank, and you were listed as a civilian Doctor. As I look at your collar, I see no rank insignia. As you can imagine, I was quite concerned. Now, the message is somewhat abridged and your name has not been spelled correctly, but I can only put that down to to either interference or sub space packet loss. By my best guess, you are in line for a promotion," Tasha stated as she placed the PADD onto the desk and slid it over to Bridget to read whilst picking up her cup to sip at her mocha to disguise her smile.
Bridget had been fingering the collar of her uniform, and as she reached for the padd she slowly said, "My pips hadn't arrived yet, I just figured they were delayed in transit." She read through the communique, frowning at the garbled message. Looking up at the Captain, she asked,"Why would they be promoting me so soon? It doesn't make sense." She handed the padd back and wondered if it was just a mistake, and once things were sorted out she'd be demoted back to Ensign again. "Not that I care whether I'm an Ensign or Lieutenant, to tell you the truth. But I'd rather have things straightened out, one way or another."
Tasha eased open the drawer with one hand, placing the beaker back on its rest with the other.
"I think we can straighten that out this way," she said as the smile on her face widened and she now slid across a small blue velvet box which contained not one, but two golden pips. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Apleton." She teased.
Bridget's face brightened into a smile as she looked from the Captain to the box on the desk. ~Okay, maybe I do care about rank, just a little bit,~ she thought as she reached for it. The emotions were like opening up an anniversary present - she was excited and nervous at the same time. Lifting the lid, her grin widened to match that of the Captain.
"Thank you, Captain Tahir," she said softly. "I know it wasn't your doing but I appreciate it anyway."
The captain shook her head. "You're welcome, doctor," Tasha replied as she leant back in her chair, the feeling of satisfaction that she felt whenever a promotion was passed on. "and deserved. Now, put them where they belong, on your collar." Tasha stated as if it as an order. Tasha felt a pang of guilt for not looking closer into her records earlier, but that was dispensed with by the smile of pure elation that Bridget had on her face.
Tahir rose from her seat once the two new pips were firmly fixed into position and extended her hand. "Congratulations Lieutenant." She said with no small sense of pride.
"Thank you. I'll be in wonder over this all week," she said, still grinning as she shook the Captain's hand. Her descent from the office down to the main floor of Ops was completely different than her ascent; head held high, she paused at the exit to turn and look back up at the glass windows above.
::OFF::
LIEUTENANT Bridget Stapleton! :D
Doctor (General practitioner)
Main Sickbay, DS5
&
Captain Tasha Tahir
CO