Not Quite Done

Posted on Mon May 18th, 2015 @ 4:03pm by Lieutenant Nicolette De La Croix & Captain Julius Whitlam

Mission: Prelude to War
Location: Sickbay, USS Manoora

Captain Julius Whitlam stormed through the corridors of his new ship, using every ounce of his will power to keep himself focused on the job at hand. If he allowed his mind to wander, it would no doubt get stuck in an analysis loop of the extraordinary events of the day. He would no doubt get stuck thinking the looming war with the Dominion. Shots hadn't officially been fired yet, but things had been set in motion today that would inexorably lead to open conflict.

So much for being explorers, he lamented as he rounded a corner and chastised himself for a minor slip in his focus. He had a job to do. They were departing at 2100 hrs and there was still so much to do. The job of the moment was to update the chief medical officer, whom he hadn't actually met yet. So this would be an interesting meeting.

Upon first step into the Manoora's sickbay, it was obvious that someone had gone through great lengths to avoid the spartan feel of your standard fleet medical wing. Whether it was the purposefully subtle scent of lavender on the air masking the ozone edge of air processors or the scattering of watercolor paintings here and there to break up the monotony of being on beige on beige. There was soft music- predominantly strings- playing from one of the offices in the back, but the voices came from another area.

"-Non-replicables here towards the back in the locked unit, grouped by ICD. Any time we dock I want these checked, dated and if need be replaced routinely. I also want a biweekly tally of everything currently in stock in case we need to share out inventory at any point.." the speaker was saying as she moved around the storage space. She stepped out for a moment- attention absorbed in the padd that she was cradling in one arm- before looking back at her assistant. The woman was tall and slim, elegant in her bearing even unconsciously with dark curls done up in a twist except where they framed her face. "Let's finish checking in that last rate and then summon all medical staff for a conference. I want everyone on the same page as to how we'll be running this sickbay. Procedures, logging cases, training schedules, shifts.."

"Ma'am.." the assistant cleared her throat and ever so subtly gestured towards the captain with an elbow before backing into the storage room again. "I'll finish the inventory, ma'am."

Following the other woman's gesture, the doctor took in the captain's presence without a bit of trepidation. A bit of embarrassment possibly at not noticing him sooner, but without hesitation she gave a measured smile even as she eyed him up and down for any sign of trouble. "Welcome to sickbay," she told him in a voice that matched her smile: carefully even. "Are you needing assistance?"

"Not right now," the captain replied as he assessed his new CMO. He knew her personnel file inside and out, having read all of his senior staff files, and found nothing in meeting the doctor that didn't fit with what he'd read. He wasn't sure he approved of the decorations - and certainly not the screeching coming from out the back somewhere - but he had learned early on in his career not to get in the way of the ship's chief medical officer.

"I haven't had a chance to meet you yet, Doctor," he continued in what passed for a conversational voice. "I wanted to make sure you had everything you need for sickbay and brief you on our change of mission."

"Change of mission?" The doctor raised a slender eyebrow at that, then nodded her head in the direction of her office. "Let's catch up in my office, please. I'm Nicolette De La Croix, by the way. Forgive the brusqueness if you would- I tend to be a little short when it comes to time crunches. The majority of the medical crew has arrived only a few hours ago instead of earlier in the week as anticipated. Last minute changes and all that jazz.."

She waved him into a space that was yet to be touched by any decorative flair. It had chairs, a desk and a stack of cartons, padds and unpacked materials all jammed into the far wall. It was pretty obvious that she hadn't spent much time in there at all as the furniture was still mostly wrapped in shipping plastic. Nicolette offered him the single unwrapped chair and took one of the others without much of a care for its state. "As you can see I'm a bit behind, but it's an easy jog to catch up now."

Whitlam lowered himself into the chair as he spoke, "I'm sure you'll manage it." He mostly ignored the state of the office and leaned forward in the chair. "It seems, doctor, that we will very soon be at war. Our mission to Lomax Three is cancelled and we're being deployed to Starbase 310 to join a Federation-Klingon task force. I don't know what our mission will be from there, but it's a pretty safe bet that your expertise will be in high demand."

De La Croix nodded solemnly. Where there was little physical prep that would differ in the way that she'd had sickbay arranged, the mental and procedural prep for her crew would change drastically. All the colics and complaints that came with the drudgery of colony worlds were a pale scrape compared to what you'd see in the throes of war. To say that it'd be ugly was an understatement. "We'll be ready, sir.."

"I have no doubt," Whitlam replied, brushing a small fleck of lint off the thigh of his pants. "You'll also be receiving a somewhat inflated staff." He pointed at the terminal on the desk, half hidden by the clutter. "You should have a message in there from Starfleet Medical outlining your extra allocation. Take a look and let me know as soon as possible if you need anything else."

De La Croix grinned, obviously embarrassed by the mess piled up on that side of her desk. "I'm pretty sure that there's one under there somewhere. Between the crew that just arrived and the crew coming aboard, I'm sure we'll get the last bit of this whisked away."

The captain sat quietly for a moment and looked around the office. He looked for all the world like he was deciding whether to broach another subject, but was delaying or unsure about whether to proceed. Which was true and he hated that. There was something he wanted to speak with the CMO about, but didn't know De La Croix well enough to raise it, which made him unsure about how to proceed. He was harsh on himself for any indecision and quickly decided that now was not the time. Later, he said to himself and decided to change the subject.

He gestured out to the decorated sickbay. "I've never come across a CMO with a flair for decoration," he said, trying to be conversational and seizing on a brief opportunity to learn something about his chief medical officer. "Why the trimmings?"

"The trimmings? You mean the paintings and such?" Nica adopted a much more easy smile at the question. "Two parts psychology, one part commiseration. I've seen several studies about how coming to sickbay significantly raises the anxiety level of otherwise healthy patients. The idea of getting criticized on their lifestyle or lymphocyte level or any of a thousand things makes coming in a trial. That tension trades off to the patients nearby that have to be here and generally makes for a hostile space. That's what the aromatherapy is for. Lavender was rated the most innocuous scent and most tolerated between species."

"The art is all watercolor on purpose. I took a good long look at the ceiling once I realized that I was waiting on shipments and crew since that's what most of my patients will be looking at. Unlike most older ships, the ceiling isn't textured, so the long lived habit of finding Abraham Lincoln's head in random clusters of dots won't be available to the people spending weeks in a bed in here. You can find a million things in the patterns and textures of a watercolor painting. Nothing purposeful, no hidden statement, just what a patient is looking to find." The doctor shrugged lightly as she sat forward in her chair. "It's the little things that make my job easier. If people are willing to come in, I don't have to hunt them down like a rabid dog."

Whitlam nodded and listened to the doctor's explanation. It sounded quite reasonable and it told him that she was somebody who cared about her patients; not every physician would go so far out of their way to make a patient feel comfortable. But does she care too much? The thought floated at the forefront of his mind as he nodded along. A doctor in a warship could routinely face the situation where they had to quite literally decide who lived and who died. He found himself wondering if caring too much might be a liability ...

"Have you been in combat before, Doctor?" he asked rather bluntly; the seeming non-sequitur coming from a genuine curiosity as well concern for the readiness of his ship.

"That depends on your definition of combat," Shifting in her chair a little, Nicolette leaned against her chair arm enough to rest her head on her hand as she spoke. "I've been on rough away missions. The place I grew up in makes the grimiest frontier station that you've ever seen seem like Raisa. I've never been in an all out war before, but I've seen my fair share of combat. Most of it's been hand to hand in truth. Weapons were outlawed on my colony, so you had makeshift weaponry. Lots of tools and shivs. My experience with phasers and phaser rifles is a little on the light side in truth. I'll book some practice hours once we finish getting medical set up."

The captain held up his hand and nodded, satisfied with the doctor's answer. "It's alright, doctor," he said. "I don't expect you to be in the front ranks. I just wanted to be sure you can handle a sickbay in a war zone." He looked around again, collecting his thoughts, feeling more comfortable with the CMO. For a fleeting moment he once again looked like he wanted to raise a different topic, but he quickly suppressed it and instead stood up.

"Well," he said. "I'd better get back to work. Good to meet you, Doctor, and please let me know if there is anything else you need before we head out." He nodded, smiled a crooked smile and headed for the door.

As soon as the captain was out of sight, the shy assistant surfaced again at the office's doorway. "I take it that I'm calling the others sooner?"

"Yeah.."Nica sighed, glancing again at the mess shoved into the corner of the room. "I want everyone here ASAP for a briefing. Any newcomers will have to be caught up to speed on the run."

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Captain Julius Whitlam
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Nicolette De La Croix MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Manoora