Incommunicado – Medical
by Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
ON:
Chelsea was doing her usual mundane rounds almost on auto-pilot as she made the daily Sickbay chores into an art that didn't take much out of her conscious thought process unless something odd were to happen. That was unlikely but then again, just when she started to get too comfortable with the commonplace, something in the fickleness of the universe would probably stir.
Today was one of those days as it happened and an unusual occurrence descended on her unseen and unanticipated as the doors to sickbay slid back.
Meryn's head had almost not stopped spinning since he arrived on the base. The day before had been a blur and its end - a quite perplexing encounter with the owner of the Box of Delights - had only served to add to the feeling. After an extremely long day he finally came to the doors of sickbay once he got off duty. After such a couple of days most Starfleet officers would probably skulk off to their quarters or the nearest bar, but Relma, as a professional with an eye to detail, insisted to himself that he was above such a reaction. He had not had a Starfleet-approved physical in 4 years - and that was something which had to be put right. He was struck by how large a space opened out on the far side of the doors - and how bright it was as he stepped through. The size of the medical facilities made sense given that the station was home to 100000 people, but to someone used to the cramped medical facilities of Miranda and Excelsior class starships - not to mention the Cardassian-built Deep Space Nine and Bajoran vessels - this environment seemed totally alien. Stepping forward, almost in a trance, he moved into the centre of the room, almost oblivious to his surroundings as he admired the architecture of the place.
"Welcome to Sickbay, can I help you?" Chelsea grinned good-naturedly as the apparently 'moon-struck' officer stood gazing around himself, clearly lost in deep thought. "Pretty, isn't she?" the CMO commented with a natural pride in her 'baby' as she considered the state-of-the-art Sickbay to be.
Snapping back to concentration Relma noticed the insignia and stood at attention. "Sorry, Doctor, yes... yes she is. Good to see you again, Commander Dunham, right? I think we met at the meeting this morning?"
"Yes, we did Lieutenant Meryn. Welcome to DS5." Chelsea replied amicably. "What can I do for you?" It was infinitely easier for the established staff to remember the names of a new incoming officer than it was for the latter to remember all the names of those he or she had met recently. Chelsea was impressed that Relma had done so in her case.
Relma glanced around again. "This place is vast... Especially when you've spent most of your career dealing with cramped Cardassian-built, Bajoran, Excelsior-class, or Miranda-class facilities. Speaking of which... it's been almost four years since my last assignment to a Starfleet facility and Starfleet approved medical, so I'm afraid I might be a little overdue."
"That's okay, I can just give you the whole re-run as if you never had one!" Chelsea smirked mischievously and showed him into a side cubicle. "Don't worry, my hands aren't tooooooo cold!" she joked, trying to be light about it, hoping he had a sense of humour.
"Thank you, Commander," he replied as he took a seat on the bio-bed "the Doctor on the Bismarck was a Trill - so you have nothing to worry about there - I've had worse." He watched as she moved to a console at the side and, assuming she wanted to pull up his records, said "Chief Warrant Officer First Class Relma Meryn, TR-474-777. I brought my medical records with me and uploaded them to the station's computer yesterday - I thought it prudent given the comms situation."
"Very wise and impressively well thought ahead." she smiled approvingly. "Are you always this quick off the starting blocks?" she replied with a disarming smile that told him she was just making conversation as she set up his file and ran the program and data to the terminal in front of her.
"Advantage of experience, Commander," he replied "and a force of habit. The Militia didn't transmit medical data so you always had to carry a hard copy when going to a new assignment. It's a habit I've never lost. Didn't expect it to be so useful again though." He was trying to work her out - she was definitely Bajoran, but possibly not full-blood and appeared to act in a more human manner - and, if he had heard her name correctly in the morning was certainly named in a human manner.
"Wise." she nodded again. "Nothing worse than not having your medical records as that's bound to be the time that you'll have need of them.... or more to the point, that *I* will.
"Always the same for Operations: just with the tech specs and repair logs.' Chuckled Relma. "I imagine I must be one of the very few who actually comes looking for a physical. On the Talos I remember I was one of the only officers allowed on duty one day while the Doc rounded up everyone else one by one."
"Sounds like the sort of place that keeps a doctor busy with fire-fighting the events that could have been avoided if the routines had been done in good time rather than let everything get to medical red-alert before reporting or dealing with. Typical of just about everywhere you go - especially when dealing with Terrans.... or part-Terrans at least." she smiled.
"Bajorans however are VERY organised." she teased, flashing him a good natured grin. "Those of us who aren't half Terran that is." she finished, poking fun at herself. In the meantime she began his scan.
Meryn nodded "Ahh..." he began "I did wonder. Did you spend much time on Bajor?"
"As a young child yes, but once my father was murdered by my hald-sister who was possessed by a Pah-Wraith - my Mother took me to Earth for my Terran Grandparents to raise while she went back to spend the next 20 years tracking the murderer and exorcising it from my sister. i was aware of none of this until this year but I did go back to Bajor to work for a year before I transferred here." she explained.
The Bajoran's face went stoney-cold. This topic was no laughing matter. "I...I'm sorry." he mumbled.
"Would you like me to fix these scars? Something tells me by the age of a few of them that you haven't chosen to yet?" she added.
Relma's hand immediately went to his forehead and moved his fringe back over it to move it back over the Z-shaped mark. Mumbling, he answered, "Oh... err... n....no.... Th...thank you, Doctor." He gulped loudly and stared at the floor, obviously unsettled.
"Sorry, i didn't mean to bring up an uncomfortable subject.
Meryn shook his head. "No problem, Commander." It was a lie, but a well covered one. The Occupation had been hard and this woman would barely understand - at best empathise - with that. While it was an important part of the man it was an extremely difficult subject to open up about. "So whereabouts did you work on Bajor?" He asked, attempting to move away from the harder topic.
Chelsea took the hint and moved off the former subject co-operatively. "About four years ago I spent almost a year practicing at the Ilivian Medical Complex. I was keen to find out more about my heritage but I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked, it was a very busy centre and we were under-staffed. I spent the little time I had off researching my father's family and his life."
The man nodded. It was a common tale among Bajorans - especially those who had fled the occupation - those left behind disappeared without a trace. The Cardassians, of course, claimed that their meticulous record keeping would show where all were, but this rarely became the case. "I've never been to Ilvia." he answered "And I'm sorry to hear about your father. If you know his name I could ask my sister to look into it when we get comms back - she's deputy minister of state so I'm sure she'd have access to archives not well known about to most."
"This is your copy of the report" she finished, signing the Padd she was holding out with her thumb-print and signing off from the main medical database at the same time. She chose not to mention that he was less fit than his record said he had been in the past because, despite that he wasn't in bad shape and still passed the criteria for a serving officer.
"There, that didn't hurt, did it?" she teased softly, a sparkle in her eyes as she stood aside to open the way out to him. "Perhaps you won't be so reticent about popping in to see me again after today? If I say so myself, I do make a mean cup of Deka tea - do you have time to stay longer and share a pot with me? Or have you a routine appointment with the Counsellor?" she offered tentatively and with some insight into the idea that he might need both some Deka tea and an appointment with the Counsellor but not necessarily in that order.
"I'd love to, but I've got to get back to piecing the Pollux back together I'm afraid. Another time for the tea perhaps?" replied the man. He'd never minded doctors particularly, but Counsellors were another matter. The tea was very tempting after such a long day, but there was no rest for the wicked - he had to go and feed Jolan and then get right back to work.
"I look forward to it" she replied, putting her med kit back in order and watching him go on his way.
~Hmm~ she thought, taking her thoughts about the matter with her to the next task rather than taking the liberty of expressing them.
The man stood, stretched for a moment, and began moving back out of the sickbay, waving as he reached the door. The Counsellor comment was certainly something he'd have to deal with sooner or later - given his service record it was stunning he hadn't been chased up about that since he started at Qualor II, but for now he had neither the time nor the inclination. He'd dealt with his issues, he didn't need to again.
A JP between:
CWO1 Relma Meryn
Chief of Operations
and
Cmdr Chelsea Dunham
CMO & 2CO - DS5
by Commander Chelsea Dunham
Post Details
| Title | Medical | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham | |
| Posted | Wed Sep 05, 2012 @ 2:30pm | |
| Location | Sickbay | |
| Timeline | SD58, 2010 hours |
Chelsea was doing her usual mundane rounds almost on auto-pilot as she made the daily Sickbay chores into an art that didn't take much out of her conscious thought process unless something odd were to happen. That was unlikely but then again, just when she started to get too comfortable with the commonplace, something in the fickleness of the universe would probably stir.
Today was one of those days as it happened and an unusual occurrence descended on her unseen and unanticipated as the doors to sickbay slid back.
Meryn's head had almost not stopped spinning since he arrived on the base. The day before had been a blur and its end - a quite perplexing encounter with the owner of the Box of Delights - had only served to add to the feeling. After an extremely long day he finally came to the doors of sickbay once he got off duty. After such a couple of days most Starfleet officers would probably skulk off to their quarters or the nearest bar, but Relma, as a professional with an eye to detail, insisted to himself that he was above such a reaction. He had not had a Starfleet-approved physical in 4 years - and that was something which had to be put right. He was struck by how large a space opened out on the far side of the doors - and how bright it was as he stepped through. The size of the medical facilities made sense given that the station was home to 100000 people, but to someone used to the cramped medical facilities of Miranda and Excelsior class starships - not to mention the Cardassian-built Deep Space Nine and Bajoran vessels - this environment seemed totally alien. Stepping forward, almost in a trance, he moved into the centre of the room, almost oblivious to his surroundings as he admired the architecture of the place.
"Welcome to Sickbay, can I help you?" Chelsea grinned good-naturedly as the apparently 'moon-struck' officer stood gazing around himself, clearly lost in deep thought. "Pretty, isn't she?" the CMO commented with a natural pride in her 'baby' as she considered the state-of-the-art Sickbay to be.
Snapping back to concentration Relma noticed the insignia and stood at attention. "Sorry, Doctor, yes... yes she is. Good to see you again, Commander Dunham, right? I think we met at the meeting this morning?"
"Yes, we did Lieutenant Meryn. Welcome to DS5." Chelsea replied amicably. "What can I do for you?" It was infinitely easier for the established staff to remember the names of a new incoming officer than it was for the latter to remember all the names of those he or she had met recently. Chelsea was impressed that Relma had done so in her case.
Relma glanced around again. "This place is vast... Especially when you've spent most of your career dealing with cramped Cardassian-built, Bajoran, Excelsior-class, or Miranda-class facilities. Speaking of which... it's been almost four years since my last assignment to a Starfleet facility and Starfleet approved medical, so I'm afraid I might be a little overdue."
"That's okay, I can just give you the whole re-run as if you never had one!" Chelsea smirked mischievously and showed him into a side cubicle. "Don't worry, my hands aren't tooooooo cold!" she joked, trying to be light about it, hoping he had a sense of humour.
"Thank you, Commander," he replied as he took a seat on the bio-bed "the Doctor on the Bismarck was a Trill - so you have nothing to worry about there - I've had worse." He watched as she moved to a console at the side and, assuming she wanted to pull up his records, said "Chief Warrant Officer First Class Relma Meryn, TR-474-777. I brought my medical records with me and uploaded them to the station's computer yesterday - I thought it prudent given the comms situation."
"Very wise and impressively well thought ahead." she smiled approvingly. "Are you always this quick off the starting blocks?" she replied with a disarming smile that told him she was just making conversation as she set up his file and ran the program and data to the terminal in front of her.
"Advantage of experience, Commander," he replied "and a force of habit. The Militia didn't transmit medical data so you always had to carry a hard copy when going to a new assignment. It's a habit I've never lost. Didn't expect it to be so useful again though." He was trying to work her out - she was definitely Bajoran, but possibly not full-blood and appeared to act in a more human manner - and, if he had heard her name correctly in the morning was certainly named in a human manner.
"Wise." she nodded again. "Nothing worse than not having your medical records as that's bound to be the time that you'll have need of them.... or more to the point, that *I* will.
"Always the same for Operations: just with the tech specs and repair logs.' Chuckled Relma. "I imagine I must be one of the very few who actually comes looking for a physical. On the Talos I remember I was one of the only officers allowed on duty one day while the Doc rounded up everyone else one by one."
"Sounds like the sort of place that keeps a doctor busy with fire-fighting the events that could have been avoided if the routines had been done in good time rather than let everything get to medical red-alert before reporting or dealing with. Typical of just about everywhere you go - especially when dealing with Terrans.... or part-Terrans at least." she smiled.
"Bajorans however are VERY organised." she teased, flashing him a good natured grin. "Those of us who aren't half Terran that is." she finished, poking fun at herself. In the meantime she began his scan.
Meryn nodded "Ahh..." he began "I did wonder. Did you spend much time on Bajor?"
"As a young child yes, but once my father was murdered by my hald-sister who was possessed by a Pah-Wraith - my Mother took me to Earth for my Terran Grandparents to raise while she went back to spend the next 20 years tracking the murderer and exorcising it from my sister. i was aware of none of this until this year but I did go back to Bajor to work for a year before I transferred here." she explained.
The Bajoran's face went stoney-cold. This topic was no laughing matter. "I...I'm sorry." he mumbled.
"Would you like me to fix these scars? Something tells me by the age of a few of them that you haven't chosen to yet?" she added.
Relma's hand immediately went to his forehead and moved his fringe back over it to move it back over the Z-shaped mark. Mumbling, he answered, "Oh... err... n....no.... Th...thank you, Doctor." He gulped loudly and stared at the floor, obviously unsettled.
"Sorry, i didn't mean to bring up an uncomfortable subject.
Meryn shook his head. "No problem, Commander." It was a lie, but a well covered one. The Occupation had been hard and this woman would barely understand - at best empathise - with that. While it was an important part of the man it was an extremely difficult subject to open up about. "So whereabouts did you work on Bajor?" He asked, attempting to move away from the harder topic.
Chelsea took the hint and moved off the former subject co-operatively. "About four years ago I spent almost a year practicing at the Ilivian Medical Complex. I was keen to find out more about my heritage but I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked, it was a very busy centre and we were under-staffed. I spent the little time I had off researching my father's family and his life."
The man nodded. It was a common tale among Bajorans - especially those who had fled the occupation - those left behind disappeared without a trace. The Cardassians, of course, claimed that their meticulous record keeping would show where all were, but this rarely became the case. "I've never been to Ilvia." he answered "And I'm sorry to hear about your father. If you know his name I could ask my sister to look into it when we get comms back - she's deputy minister of state so I'm sure she'd have access to archives not well known about to most."
"This is your copy of the report" she finished, signing the Padd she was holding out with her thumb-print and signing off from the main medical database at the same time. She chose not to mention that he was less fit than his record said he had been in the past because, despite that he wasn't in bad shape and still passed the criteria for a serving officer.
"There, that didn't hurt, did it?" she teased softly, a sparkle in her eyes as she stood aside to open the way out to him. "Perhaps you won't be so reticent about popping in to see me again after today? If I say so myself, I do make a mean cup of Deka tea - do you have time to stay longer and share a pot with me? Or have you a routine appointment with the Counsellor?" she offered tentatively and with some insight into the idea that he might need both some Deka tea and an appointment with the Counsellor but not necessarily in that order.
"I'd love to, but I've got to get back to piecing the Pollux back together I'm afraid. Another time for the tea perhaps?" replied the man. He'd never minded doctors particularly, but Counsellors were another matter. The tea was very tempting after such a long day, but there was no rest for the wicked - he had to go and feed Jolan and then get right back to work.
"I look forward to it" she replied, putting her med kit back in order and watching him go on his way.
~Hmm~ she thought, taking her thoughts about the matter with her to the next task rather than taking the liberty of expressing them.
The man stood, stretched for a moment, and began moving back out of the sickbay, waving as he reached the door. The Counsellor comment was certainly something he'd have to deal with sooner or later - given his service record it was stunning he hadn't been chased up about that since he started at Qualor II, but for now he had neither the time nor the inclination. He'd dealt with his issues, he didn't need to again.
A JP between:
CWO1 Relma Meryn
Chief of Operations
and
Cmdr Chelsea Dunham
CMO & 2CO - DS5