Whatever Happened to Andreus Kohl? (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 07 Apr 2013 @ 10:40pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.

1,752 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 04 - 0745 hours

[ON]

Standing beside a biobed, Andreus Kohl was tapping and swiping his finger across the interface controls on the biofunction monitor. There was no patient on the bed. It was questionable if there was anything Kohl could have been doing of value, especially since his gaze twisted over to the doorway every thirty seconds. It was no surprise when his head snap-turned towards the door at the sound of it opening. This time, though, she was the one walking into Sickbay, and something sickening twisted in the pit of his stomach.

Reading the PADD in her hand as she walked, it had been Pola's intent to try catch Jessica before she finished her Gamma shift. There was a number of elements she needed to review with the intern, nothing of priority but Pola was always one to try get things done now rather then later.

Pushing her fingers through her still loose hair, she bit her lower lip as she focused on the list she had compiled, not even paying attention to those around her as she passed over the sickbay threshold.

"Good morning, Doctor Ni Dhuinn," Kohl called out --probably too loudly-- in his most formal tone of voice. He stood there stiffly beside the biobed, with his torso twisted awkwardly to face Pola. Kohl offered her a rictus grin.

Looking up as she heard her name, Pola stalled for a moment as she spotted Kohl uncertain what to say or do. Moving the PADD down to her side, she stayed where she was as her eyes never moved away from the nurse. "Lieutenant...So you decided to rejoin us?"


Location: USS Galileo on the surface of Vega IX - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: Episode 2 - MD 15 - 1415 hours

Lacking the vitality of an intensive care unit, Galileo's morgue was empty except for one man. One man with a pulse. The room had no purpose at this time, which meant there were no prying eyes or ears around any corners. Medical technicians had already sterilized every surface and re-stocked the cabinets. The lights weren't quite darkened to "night" shift levels, but had been dimmed to reserve resources. The multi-hued LCARS displays caused harsh glows and shadows throughout the dimly-lit room.

Sitting on the edge of a cabinet was one Andreus Kohl. His sulking posture made him look like a cadet waiting for the Academy Commandant. But it was only the posture that made him look like that. Otherwise, he was dressed in black trousers and a polka-dot tee shirt under a fitted purple blazer.

Pushing a hand through her hair, Pola walked into the morgue with a held breath, she didn't want to be here, it had been too soon since the bodies of their fallen comrades had been removed but she'd been given no choice. He had never given her a choice. "Lieutenant...care to explain to me what the hell is going on?"

Sputtering in abject shock from Pola's aggressive entrance, Kohl could only manage to say, "You-- you said you needed to speak with me. So... Here I am." He rolled his shoulders back and tightly gripped the edge of the counter top with both hands.

Pushing a hand back into her tied hair, Pola pulled strands loose as she detangled her fingers with a jerk. Her whole body was tense and she was unable to stop pacing the floor. "Where the hell have you been? We might be on shore leave but we still have a duty of care to this crew and from the reports Ive have back, you've been missing shifts and failing to respond when people have tried to contact you."

Kohl, meanwhile, didn't move. He held firm to his patch of the floor and he spoke impassively, hoping that might defuse some of the tension. "The Captain granted me shore leave without exceptions," Kohl said. As he continued, some of his typical spunk started to creep in. He shrugged helplessly. "I volunteered for those shifts, but Central Hospital has been supporting this Sickbay since we arrived."

Shaking her head, Pola turned to face Kohl in order to look him right in the eye. "And who was looking after your patients? Who was looking after Maenad and the test results which were overlooked until I did a spot check and came across what you'd missed. You know that left untreated, haemolytic anaemia can cause damage which can be prevented from an unset. You know your patient well enough to know that when she developed further complications she wouldn't come to us until it was exceptionally bad."

At that, Kohl rocked off his perch on the cabinets and stood firmly on his own two feet. "When was she diagnosed with haemolytic anaemia?" Kohl asked, ignoring Pola's barrage on his abilities to find out more about Panne's condition. "I didn't see anything like that in the results."

Pulling a PADD from the nearby table, Pola accessed Maenad's file before holding it out for Kohl to take. "Then you didn't look close enough at the results. Of you had, you'd have noticed the evidence of hemolysis within her blood stream. How could you have missed something so simple? An abnormal break down of the red blood cells in a persons body is hard to miss."

Kohl held firm to his eye contact with Pola, rather than look away to study the PADD. He faced her accusations head on. Kohl corrected Pola's assumption in a firm, but low tone. "Hard. For a doctor. To miss," he said. Waggling a finger at that PADD, he said, "That may have been incompetence, but it wasn't neglect."

Slamming the PADD down onto a nearby mortician's slab, Pola's eyes hardened as her body language showed the anger which was boiling inside. "Incompetence which was enough to put her life at risk. You're the Assistant Chief Medical Officer of this department, noone expects you to be super human but mistakes like this put other people at risk. Not even a nurse in training would take such risks."

His posture stiffening, Kohl kept his tone impassive and firm. "I understand, sir," Kohl said, knowing she hated to be addressed as such, but feeling as if she was asking for it all the same.

Pola stared at Kohl a few moments as she tried to figure out what precisely was going through his head. The mistakes and facts were obvious but he seemed just content to sit there and..well almost brood. "Lieutenant...If you feel incapable of being able to do your job, tell me now and I will have you transferred off of this ship and replaced. This department is small enough without me having to continuously recheck work of someone I should be able to trust when my time can be better given to patients and our intern."

"You may never get the pleasure of transferring me..." Kohl remarked. There was a steely calm to his timbre, but a manic panic behind his lightning blue eyes. He sucked in a breath sharply, and he elaborated with, "That communique I received? When Liyar came to speak to us? It wasn't from my family. It was from our family. From Starfleet Medical." --He took a deep breath through a wince-- "I have been ordered to report to the nearest Starfleet facility. It's time for my Nurse Practitioner re-certification, and, and," --He shook his head, nearly laughing at the absurdity of his own words-- "And I haven't been studying for the exams!"

That's when he did laugh. Laughed so hard, he doubled over.

Pola just watched as Kohl laughed, watching as the man seemed to loose control over something so simple. She waited him out, not quite certain what to say or what to do. She just watched him understanding the implications of Kohl failing his recertification but also seeing how he didn't seem to be taking it serious at all.

Once the air had gone from his lungs, Kohl straightened upright and sucked in a shuddering breath. "I can't-- Again--" he blurted. Kohl tightened his jaw, his teeth clicking against one another. Kohl locked eyes with Pola's, and he had the wide eyes of someone hunted. Shaking his head, Kohl said, "I can't start again. Not again. After diplomacy went bad... If I'm not a Nurse Practitioner, I won't be a Medical Officer. But I can't go into Operations or Security... It's over." --He shook his head again-- "If I fail my exams, I could come back to Vega Colony. I could be... I don't know, a massage therapist? And I could be with Edias."

Moving her hand, Pola pushed her fingers through the front of her hair, causing it to fall down loose but her fingers kept it back from her face as she watched Kohl in frustration. "It sounds to me that that's what you want. You want to fail, you want to go back to Vega Colony."

Pursing his lips firmly, Kohl folded his arms across his chest and stared across at Pola. He watched her fidgeting fingers and he studied her eyes before he spoke. "They don't have rogue Klingons out there," Kohl said in clipped, pointed tones. "No chance of crash landings either..."

"Oh that's right Kohl..." Staring at the man, Pola just shook her head before taking a step backwards towards the door. "...just take the easy way out right? Because god knows we all have to go through hell and dig our way out but why bother do the same when you can just turn tail and run instead."

"It's not turning tail when you're running towards something," Kohl said, and he only sounded tired now. "You told me, you said I was always angry aboard this ship. Well, I've been content on Vega. That has to mean something."

Pola didn't even bother to respond to this statement, instead choosing to turn on her heel and leave before she had opportunity to well and truly loose her temper completely. Although he was a member of her staff and her ACMO at the end of the day he was his own man and was the only one could could control his thoughts and behaviors.


[OFF]

To Be Continued



Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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