Moral Ethics (Part 2/2)

Posted on 02 Apr 2013 @ 12:34am by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Edited on on 04 Apr 2013 @ 12:19pm

2,351 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Medical
Timeline: MD 3 1000

Previously......

Uncertain she was reading it correctly, she reset the scan before trying again but still coming up with the same results. "Jeremy had you been experiencing any unusual symptoms recently? Fever, chills, rapid breathing or heartbeat?"

He visibly stiffened as he continued to stare at the surface of the bed. Sidi gave a low whine but Jeremy stopped petting him as he breathed several times. "I..." Closing his eyes he thought about just shaking his head but even that would be dishonest. "Doctor?" he asked instead trying to find some time to think about what she was asking. Fever? Chills? Those were diametrically opposite - but...

He let the silence spin out, choosing to not answer rather than lie.

And now.....

The silence didn't escape Pola's notice but her focus instead was on the readout on her tricorder. As she moved it across Jeremy's body, she followed the presence of gram-negative bacteria in Jeremy's blood stream until she isolated the area where it seemed to be most intense, the officer's right forearm. "Lieutenant, remove your jacket and underskirt and please, do not make me make it an order."

"Doctor, please don't ask me to get undressed," he said, not catching the focus of her attention, that might have reminded him of the wounds there. "i'm...after..." he sighed. "My body isn't something a lady should be seeing."

Placing the tricorder to the side, Pola looked Jeremy dead in the eye. "I can get a male medical officer in here if you wish, Kohl or Varek should be available, but you are taking them off Lieutenant. I can't treat whatever injury your refusing to let me see otherwise."

Jeremy shook his head, "It's not about treatment, or your gender," Jeremy said. "I'm not sexist." he shook his head and sighed. She treated him decently, she probably didn't mean it in that manner - just...he sighed again. What had she said? "Injury?" he asked, blinking several times. He unzipped the jacket and took it off, laying it on the bed. He pulled out the undershirt from his waistband but his hands hesitated. He closed his eyes and breathed heavily, still hesitating. He took the shirt off slowly then stood, facing her, holding the cloth against his chest, still trying to hide the mangled, twisted scarred flesh he kept covered always. Slowly, reluctantly, he placed the shirt on top of his jacket, pushing Sidi's questioning nose away from his arm and the bandages that were already soiled.

"I'm not hiding injury, Doctor," he said, crossing his arms to try to cover as much of his flesh as he could, even though there wasn't much he could do about his arms and shoulders. "At least nothing recent."

Pola found herself just blinking for a moment as she tried to take in the condition of Jeremy's right arm. "What have you done...On second thoughts..." Pola realised that Jeremy would probable just try to dodge the question anyway, turning she quickly gathered together a laser scalpel, dermal regenerator and aqueous solution to clean out the wound. She also sent Eda off to replicate an antibiotic. "Let's get this sorted and then we can sort out your chip."

Jeremy scowled as she talked about getting equipment and antibiotics. The scars were long since healed, there was nothing that could be done about them. He pushed Sidi's nose away from his arm and realized what she must have meant. He went still, the shame and embarrassment of his mangled body forgotten under the new terror of discovery. "That's just...that's not something to worry about. It's just a...you don't need to worry about that. It's fine, almost healed up." He picked up his shirt and looked at the doors. "It's fine, doctor."

Taking Jeremy's right hand, Pola held it fast with a strength which may have surprised some others. "Do you realise how I knew about this? You have an infection in your blood called septicaemia. The name might ring a bell to you, it's a form of blood poisoning The amount at the moment is minimal but left untreated and this will kill you. So...you've two options, sit here and let me treat it or I restrain you."

"Doctor..." he said, hearing the threat of restraint. Sighing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the personal phaser, holding it out to her. "I don't intend to be a problem - again - Doctor, and...I...you can do your job but I can't be restrained. I don't want a repeat of last time if you feel the need to do that."

Pola realised that she hadn't even given thought to the last time Stone had been given an ultimatum such as she had just given now. Internally cursing herself, she shook her head as she refused to take the phaser. "Jeremy. I trust you. I trust you to realise that I am only trying to help."

Jeremy shook his head as he thrust the phaser toward Dhuinn. He breathed heavily, "I can't be restrained or trapped. Doctor, I can't. Eventually I will lose self-control, I will fight to be free. I may lose all control." He rubbed his head with his free hand. "I don't want that, Doctor. Please, don't let me have weapons if you have any thought of restraining me at all."

Taking the phaser, Pola set it to the side before turning back to recalibrate her tricorder to take a better scan of Jeremy's arm. "I trust you Jeremy, I trust that you will stay here and I won't need to restrain you."

"I've been disinfecting it and cleaning it. It's...septicaemia? No, I've..." he made sure to not even glance near Sidi to keep any blame or accusation away from him. "It's nothing. I'm surprised you're concerned," he said, looking at the inflamed and oozing wounds.

Satisfied that Jeremy was going nowhere, Pola used a shortened laser scalpel to take away the bandages that where there, momentarily needed a breath as the stench hit her first. "Jeremy...how are you not in excruciating pain with this?" As her eyes moved up to his in concern, she was grateful that she could at least praise modern technology that they would be able to treat and heal this.

"Should it be painful?" he asked, perplexed. "It's just a...it's no more than a scratch. It's nothing." He looked at his arm, not seeing what she was so concerned about. Sure there was some discharge but that was just because he was keeping it so disinfected and cleaned out. He frowned as he looked up at her. "I've...long ago, Doctor, I...stopped..." he sighed as he squeezed his eyes closed trying to stay centred. It...he was years away from all of that. "I...stopped...I don't always feel pain."

Using her free hand, Pola softly touched Jeremy's own free arm before turning her focus back to the matter at hand. Using the aqueous solution, she started to clean away the puss and blood so as she could properly see what was happening. Adding a numbing agent to the surrounding skin, she started to use the laser scalpel to cut away the dead flesh and muscle in silence.

Jeremy frowned at the silence as he watched - detached - his flesh being cut away. Doctor Dhuinn went silent which to Jeremy meant he did something wrong. What that was, he didn't know, but he must have done something. Perhaps it was another thing that he'd forgotten. Sidi lay on the bed, watching. Jeremy sighed as Dhuinn did her job.

As she cleaned away the wound and dead skin, Pola reached across for a hypo which had had its needle replaced by a nozzle. Positioning it above the wound, she sprayed the antibiotic across the exposed muscle and skin layers before replacing the hypo with a auto suture as she used the instrument to encourage Jeremy's own anabolism to help with the repairing of the injury. "I'm going to need you to be careful with this once I'm finished Jeremy. The infection went deep so a lot of repair will be on your body's side, aided by the work I carry out."

"Yes, Doctor," he answered, still confused. He'd been taking care of it. Using disinfectant and clean bandages at least twice a day. What more was he supposed to have done? But he kept that to himself, still not sure what he did and afraid to find out.

As she finished the repair using the auto suture before trading it for a now familiar dermal regenerator. Smiling as she started to mend the muscle and skin, she glanced briefly at Sidi before back at Jeremy's arm. "You've done a really good job with Sidi, Jeremy. He's extremely well behaved given the situation."

Jeremy jerked and took an automatic step back at Pola's comment. He stiffened and stared at her, his eyes wide as his head shook slightly from side to side. "No..." he said, "No...there's no...he's...there's no 'situation' with Sidi, Doctor. He..." He forced himself to keep from looking at Sidi. "It was a...on the holodeck...not..." He shook his head harder, holding his arm at his side and glanced at the door. Except for his promise he'd have gathered Sidi and have been out of there - gone to his quarters or office and waited for his heart to stop beating so hard. "There's no situation," he muttered again.

Sidi sat on his haunches watching, his gaze rotating between Jeremy and Pola, his eyebrows lifted quizzically.

Slightly panicked that Jeremy hadn't reinjured himself, Pola gently took the man's arm as the checked the half repaired injury. "Jeremy, it's ok. I'm talking about how well behaved he's being in a strange area like sickbay and having to watch you being treated. Neither of you have done anything wrong." Pola wasn't certain what Jeremy had been referring to, right now she was more concerned about his arm.

Jeremy sighed as he reached over and rubbed Sidi's ear. "Yes, Doctor, he's very good, very well behaved. He's...he wouldn't...he doesn't hurt anyone that didn't deserve it." Jeremy felt his breathe unlocking in his chest but his heart rate was still increased and he knew it would be until he was able to get out of Medical and...put this entire affair behind them.

As she guided Jeremy back to the position he had been in before he moved, Pola still puzzled over the man's words as she started the final stage of treatment on the area. "I'm sure he wouldn't Jeremy. Even with me he's been extreme placid and kind despite the tension he is sure to be picking up from yourself."

"Tension?" Jeremy asked, frowning. Was he tense? He had to admit that maybe he was. Medical was not his favourite place despite the Doctor's extraordinary kindness. Even with seeing the ruin of his body. There was also the matter of the wound which was adding pressure. But...she didn't seem to care how it occurred so that should help him relieve the tension. Plus, well, Sidi was there and Sidi was probably the only person aboard the ship that seemed to accept him for who he was and not what he was expected to be. "I'll try to be less tense, Doctor," he said, but still not sure how to keep that promise.

As she made the last sweeping motion with the dermal regenerator in her hand, Pola traded the piece of equipment for her tricorder. "You're doing fine Jeremy, in fact..." Finishing the sweep, she smiled up at the officer as she finally released his arm, "..you're all done now aside from the chips. How do you feel?"

"Less tense?" He hazarded was supposed to be the correct answer. He flexed his fingers then made a fist and flexed that as well. He admitted that it did feel different. Less tight and the burning from the disinfectant was gone as well. He frowned at her silence to his answer. "At least trying to be less tense?" Maybe that would be a better answer?

Laughing lightly at this, Pola turned as she moved back to the replicator to collect Sidi's now complete transponder chip. "Just be yourself Jeremy, that's what really counts at the end of the day. Now to you feel up to me implanting this chip now or would you prefer to leave it to another time?"

Jeremy frowned - she said he was tense like it was something bad for Sidi, then she told him to be himself - which she said was tense? That he didn't understand. "No reason not to get it down now, Doctor, we're both here and have the time. He..." he glanced at Sidi who sat back on his haunches as he tried to sniff the transponder Pola was holding. Jeremy shook his head. If the dog tried to eat it, it'd serve the same purpose...until it passed through at least. "If we could, let's get it done now - so we don't have to try to rush getting it done later."

Running her hand across the top of Sidi's head, Pola smiled down at the dog before over at Jeremy. "Sounds like a plan. I can have you out of here in just a few minutes."

"Thank you," Jeremy said, holding Sidi's head close to him, hoping this wouldn't hurt him too much. It killed him to think he was going to cause Sidi an amount of pain. In the long run, however, it was going to be for the best. He waited and watched, knowing that Doctor Dhuinn would be as professional and gentle as possible.

[OFF]


Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LTjg Jeremy Stone
Chief Security/Tactical Officer/K9
USS Galileo

Sidious MWD 7223
Canine Security unit
USS Galileo

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