Assignment

Posted on 21 Dec 2013 @ 3:18pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Olsam Mott

2,281 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Starfleet HQ - 4th Floor, Medical Offices
Timeline: MD 03 - 1300 hrs

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Olsam had started counting the papillary ridges on his right index finger two hours into the debriefing. He was starting to regret the number of "fascinating" scientific discoveries they'd made during the Odyssey's three-year sojourn into the Beta Quadrant because it was beginning to feel like they'd be debriefed about it for an additional three years.

It wasn't that Olsam was a poor officer or even that he had poor focus, when it mattered. Debriefings were just so...uneventful. Fruitless. Hashing and rehashing and hashing the rehashing... How many times could you talk about bacterial photosensitivity before your body flung itself out the window for want of something more productive to do?

His papillary ridge count got as high as 147 before he heard his name being called. Twice.

"Uh, huh?" he said, conjuring up an eloquent response as his attention snapped back to the meeting. He could feel the eyes of every Vulcan in the room bore into him. Somehow they always knew when he wasn't really paying attention.

"Dr. Olsam, we were just discussing practical applications of the unusual photosensitivity of the bacteria your away team collected on YZ-3347. Did you feel there were any particular medical applications not already listed in your report?"

He blinked. Bacteria. Photosensitivity. YZ-3347. Which one was that? The green planet, or was it the one with the weird yellow clouds? Wait... What if it wasn't a planet? Maybe it was that planetoid they'd landed the shuttle on. He grappled for his PADD.

"Uh, well..."

The door to the room suddenly swished open and an inquiring green head popped in, quickly searching around attempting to locate a Bolian medical officer. It was not usually like Lirha to interrupt debriefings, especially when they did not concern her department, but she had been searching the halls of Starfleet HQ for the Olsam for over fifteen minutes now. As the newest member of her crew to be assigned to Galileo, she thought it prudent to introduce herself to the man and welcome him to his new posting. "Excuse me, I am looking for Doctor Mott?" she said as she stepped further into the room filled with many Vulcans and other blue-collared medical personnel.

"Me!" he practically shouted, rocketing out of his chair and standing at attention. One glance at the pips on the collar of the Orion officer reminded him to hastily amend a 'ma'am' on to his blurted identification. The rest of the room was slower to come to their feet but did so nonetheless. "That's me, Dr. Olsam Mott. Uh, do you need me, ma'am? I'll just step out, then."

The irregularity of the interruption caused a muted ripple of conversation to circulate through the room, particularly among those who knew Olsam well. What could a commodore in command red want with the Bolian? Was he in trouble?

But the thought of disciplinary action hadn't yet crossed his mind as he stepped out into the hallway. Only relief. A big sense of relief, to be saved from the horrors of reliving YZ-3347 again and the embarrassment of not having a clue what the rest of the room had been talking about.

Relief was immediately followed by panic, though, because he realized he had to be in trouble. Why else would the Commodore come looking for him after the morning's meeting? Had they realized he wasn't paying attention and summoned her from Starfleet Command that quickly? It was just a slightly extraordinary bacterial strain, for goodness sake! It probably wasn't going to save lives. There was no great sin in letting one's attention wander from that for a moment or two...or twenty. Was there?

By the time he turned to face Commodore Saalm in the hall, Olsam had whipped himself into such a frenzy that he was sweating, wide-eyed and rubbing his palms together like an Flaxonian flu patient.

Now standing out in the hallway, Lirha looked at the gold-eyed Bolian in more detail. "Doctor Mott, I am Commodore Saalm from the USS Galileo," she introduced herself with a pleasant smile and extended her hand for him to shake. "I wanted to meet you in person and welcome you to the crew. We have been without a full medical compliment for many months now, and it is a relief to have another qualified doctor assigned to us."

Olsam shook the commodore's hand and hoped his wasn't sweaty. "It's nice to meet you, Commodore. I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to speak with you this morning. And, uh, I hope you won't think I'm too forward for saying so but I prefer Dr. Olsam to Dr. Mott. The informality tends to make people a little more comfortable in Sickbay. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to follow up with you or Captain Holliday. These debriefings have kept us detained. The Odyssey was on a very long mission."

"Not a problem, most of the crew have been rather busy ever since we touched down," Lirha replied in reference to his busy schedule. "And...Doctor Olsam it is." Most Bolians were known for their cordiality, and it didn't surprise Lirha to hear him preferred to be called by his first name. "What exactly was Odyssey doing during her last mission?" she proceeded to ask, now curious as to the details of the ship's assignment.

"It was a three-year deep space exploratory mission to the Beta Quadrant. Mostly a great deal of planetary surveys, investigations of anomalous sensor readings and the like. We discovered three pre-warp civilizations, but no First Contact." He sounded a bit disappointed. "Not that I would have been on the team to meet them or anything. I just like to meet new people. We made a few medically noteworthy discoveries, but nothing particularly astounding or even interesting to anyone outside the scientific community."

"The Beta Quadrant is an interesting region of space," Lirha commented. She was, of course, a native inhabitant of the area having been born on Rigel VII, and the quadrant was rather well-known for its volatile political mechanics involving three of the known major powers -- the Federation, Romulans, and Klingons. "While the press might not find such an exploration newsworthy, I am sure Starfleet Medical and the Science Corps were pleased with your findings."

"Yes, maybe a little too pleased," Olsam replied, glancing over his shoulder at the doors leading to the conference room. He was in absolutely no hurry to get back in there, so he tried to draw to the forefront of his mind all the questions he knew he'd regret not asking. "I think I heard the Galileo is here for repair and refit, is that right? Is there any chance we can access the ship? I'd just like to familiarize myself with the surroundings."

"Yes, though mostly refits. We were fortunate enough to encounter an advanced alien race about a month ago, and they were kind enough to use their technology to repair most of our damaged systems. They are quite an intriguing species, actually," she replied, turning her thoughts to the Le'kt and their technological prowess which was so advanced that it had allowed them to control the Borg.

"As for access to the ship," she continued, "it would be best to contact Captain Holliday, as he is now the ship's commanding officer. From what I have been told, Galileo is currently undergoing a deck by deck refit with new rooms and laboratories being installed. I am not sure if the yard engineers are allowing personnel access to every deck."

"Hmm, yes, yard engineers," he said, nodding gravely. A particularly nasty yard engineer named Kerlin had once threatened to flush Olsam out of an airlock. He cleared his throat and then cleared his mind of the unfortunate incident, turning to one of the more burning questions that had arisen among the crew at the end of the morning meeting. "Commodore, you wouldn't happen to be able to divulge anything about our next mission, would you? The crew seemed surprised this morning, and some colleagues in Command confirmed for me that's it's a bit unusual for a flag officer to be retained as an onboard mission adviser without a good reason."

She shrugged then lightly shook her head, her dark hair bobbing gracefully across her shoulders. "No, I am not privy to that information at the moment. I believe right now with our ship in port, Starfleet's priorities for Galileo are completing its refits. Mission assignments will probably come later. And as for remaining aboard the ship...well, my background is in intelligence, and the mission advisor role will allow me to conduct my duties for Task Force Command while also liaising with Captain Holliday." She hoped that had made sense, and she realized she had still not divulged many details.

Practically all Olsam heard was 'intelligence background' since that explained everything to him. An Orion spy! Like a holonovel. "I suppose we'll find out when we need to know." He almost winked, as if to emphasize his joke, but remembered he was speaking to a commodore and held back. Decorum, Mott. Decorum. "Uh, Commodore... I haven't had a chance to look at the mission review for the Galileo, but Lt. Stace was mentioning something about Captain Holliday and the Borg. Is he...a liberated Borg?"

Liberated Borg? Now that was an interesting way of referring to the CO's situation, Lirha had to admit. Nodding slowly, she supposed it was an accurate enough description. "Yes, sadly the captain was assimilated during our mission and forced to serve as a representative for the Collective. Legatus of Borg, I believe was his designation. A similar situation to what Captain Picard once faced when he was forced to serve as Locutus, although fortunately Captain Holliday was never forced to fire upon his own ship." Lirha declined, for the moment, to mention her own assimilation which had thankfully been reversed due to some rather ingenious medical procedures by her CMO.

"Hmm," Olsam said, shifting from foot to foot. He wanted to speak up about it - every protein of his opinionated Bolian DNA was screaming at him to do so - but he didn't know how it might be received. Some officers appreciated Olsam's opinionated nature; some did not. In the end, he couldn't deny who he was. "I hope you'll forgive me if I seem too forward, but is that such a good idea? Captain Picard's situation was required reading at the Medical Academy, and the long-term effects of assimilation and reversal thereof seem somewhat open-ended physiologically, much less psychologically. The impact of such a traumatizing experience could have serious repercussions! What if we encounter the Borg again?"

She would be lying if she told the Bolian she had never considered that possibility before or had her own concerns, but she had kept them mostly private to herself. "Yes, I have considered that also," she admitted, "but I know the captain very well and he is a very resilient man. I have the utmost confidence in him, and I am sure if there are any pressing concerns within Starfleet Medical or the admiralty, they will bring it to our attention sooner rather than later." Afterall, it was not like Starfleet to send a ship out on a deployment with a questionable commanding officer. Was it? "For now, I think it would be best to give him some time to adjust. Hopefully our shore leave will allow him to relax and recover, both physically and mentally as you pointed out."

Olsam lifted an eyebrow (or what would have been an eyebrow, if he had one). It wasn't completely unusual for a superior officer to listen objectively to his concern, but more often than not he'd been accustomed to a reaction that frowned upon being so vocal about command staff. It wasn't that he thought himself on equal footing with them or the Admiralty; rather, he felt it was just his duty to speak up rather than remain silent out of mere deference. It often rubbed people the wrong way, especially when combined with his informal congeniality. He'd struggled on more than one occasion with a superior officer seeking to put the Bolian 'in his place.'

"I'm looking forward to meeting him, and if any issues arise then I'm sure Dr. Allyndra and I will be able to work with the counseling staff to address them," he said with a smile, quickly abandoning any contentiousness over the captain's condition. You could argue endlessly with people, but there was some wisdom in trusting the judgment of your superiors. Olsam cut his eyes back to the conference room and then lowered his voice. "So, uh, Commodore... Do you have any very exciting, very lengthy spy stories that might extend through the entire duration of a certain Bolian physician's debriefing?"

Lirha gave him a coy look and a sideways smirk, realizing the new doctor did not want to return to his briefing. She sympathized with his plight and had been there many times before, and had no qualms with keeping him occupied for a little while. "Yes, I do, actually...would you like to come to the mess and we can chat over lunch?" she offered, giving him a discrete wink.

Olsam breathed a sigh of relief. A reprieve from the debriefing and lunch? Orion women were apparently every bit as alluring as he'd heard rumored.

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CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

&

LT JG Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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