House Keeping

Posted on 01 Jun 2012 @ 11:35am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Edited on on 01 Jun 2012 @ 11:53am

3,360 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD 07 - 2230hours

[ON]

Walking into Galileo's sickbay, Lamar absentmindedly tugged on his uniform jack to straighten it and smooth out the wrinkles, then paused to look around. The light gray metallic walls were brightly lit and illuminated the three vacant biobeds lining the wall, the fourth occupied by a sleeping patient covered in a silver blanket. Overall, the room was the cleanest and tidiest that he had seen since he'd been on board. Walking further into the room, he finally stopped next to the large surgical bed in the center and looked around for any sign of a doctor. He wasn't particularly fond of sickbay but didn't mind it either, and was merely here to complete his required physical checkup.

Sitting back in her chair, Pola pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. Between the transfer of the staff personal and helping them settle, the senior meeting and follow up meeting with John, the waking of Drusilla and the medicals for the new personal, it was extremely tempting to curl up under a desk and hide. To top it of she'd promised Brayden she see him for a counselling session tonight, the state she was currently in, he'd take one look and relieve her from duty.

Hearing a sound from sickbay, Pola groaned softly. Realising she needed to go out incase it was Dru in trouble, the Doctor grabbed her tricorder and limped out to main sickbay not really caring at this point that pieces of her hair were falling around her face and her uniform was very wrinkled. Seeing a man looking a little lost, she cleared her throat gently,"Hello. Can I help you with something?"

Lamar watched as a very attractive young black-haired doctor came out of her office. He grinned a bit sheepishly as she approached, momentarily forgetting the reason he had come. "Hey there, Doc." he replied in a rather cheerful voice, then glanced around somewhat awkwardly. "I, um, guess I'm here for my required physical." he finally said, more of a question than a statement. He had no idea why these things were required so often and had a bad habit of 'forgetting' to complete them.

Grinning as she noticed the man seemed abit awkard, Pola indicated towards the biobed furthest from Drusilla. Trying to understand why a man as strongly built in height and body seemed put out by being here, the Doctor decided to see if she could lighten the mood. "I promise I don't bite."

The chief of the boat let out a light laugh. "That's too bad, I kind of like a good nip here and there." he said with amused eyes, trying his best to suppress a grin. He felt bad for teasing the doctor who he'd only known for mere seconds, but she had set herself up for that one.

Turning to look back at the man, Pola laughed as she looked at the guy's face, a twinkle evident in her eye. It had been such a tough few hours that it was nice to be able to just laugh and the weight lifted off of her shoulders. "In all honesty, I prefer to at least know the name of my patient before I try nibbling on him."

Lamar tilted his head to the side and shrugged. "Suit yourself, Doc." he said, then smiled a bit and stuck out his large hand. "Lamar Darius, Chief of the Boat." he said, formally introducing himself. "And you, Lieutenant...?" he asked, glancing at the rank pips on her blue collar.

Taking the offered hand, Pola noticed the man's strong grip and firm handshake. It seemed that despite his awkwardness, the man had some confidence. Grimacing slightly at the use of Lieutenant, the Doctor indicated for Lamar to take a seat on the biobed they had reached, "In hear please, it's either Doctor or Pola, preferable Pola. I'm your Doctor, it's easier to do that on even ground. But to answer your question, Lieutenant Pola Ni Dhuinn at your service."

"Nice to meet you Pola." he replied, then followed her to the biobed and took a seat casually on the end. Still feeling slightly uncomfortable in the empty sickbay, Lamar glanced around, noticing the peaceful nature of the room. "Slow day so far?" he asked, wondering how the shift had been treating her. Reaching up, he unzipped his collar and loosened the neck of his undershirt as he was beginning to feel warm.

Frowning as she tapped the tricorder against her hand, Pola internally groaned as she realised it seemed to have malfunctioned. Leaving the scanner to the side, the Doctor picked up another which was resting on the table beside Lamar's bed. Turning just as he made the last statement, Pola found herself raising her eyebrow, "If you can call a senior staff meeting, alot of medicals, a counselling session and briefing, a meeting with the XO, helping to transfer starbase staff and then having a coma patient wake up a slow day I'd surely hate to see what you classify as a busy day." Pola found herself needing to take a deep breath after all of that.

"Oh, sorry...I didn't realize." he said in a more quiet voice, then shut his mouth as he sat silently on the biobed. He didn't want to accidentally antagonize, even playfully, an already-tired doctor who was about to perform his checkup. Looking up at the blue-eyed woman, he watched her fiddle with the medical tricorder, then glanced back over at the sleeping brunette. He wondered who she was and what was wrong with her.

Placing her hand briefly on Lamar's arm, Pola smiled gently, "There's no need to be apologetic, appearances can often be deceptive." Taking away her hand, Pola noticed that the man's attention seemed to have been drawn towards her patient in the corner. "Lieutenant McCarthy. Have you heard about what happened?" Pola knew that the story had spread like wildfire at the time of the in incident so she didn't want to look stupid by repeating herself.

"Is she the counselor? Some sort of seizure?" he asked. He had indeed heard bit and pieces of an incident involving one of the senior officers in the medical department, but it had occurred shortly after he arrived on board and was still unfamiliar with the ship's personnel at the time.

Nodding her head, Pola leaned her hip against the biobed behind her, programming the tricorder for Lamar's medical. "Well it's wasn't really a seizure...to try explain it...she had a bleed in her brain. We figured the pain she experienced caused her to fall, bang her head on a table which caused further brain injury. She was in a coma over the last few days but came around a number of hours ago. I've given her something to help her sleep so you don't need to worry about disturbing her." Looking over her shoulder at the young woman, Pola still wasn't certain what they were going to do with Dru.

"Well, I don't know her but I hope she makes a strong recovery." he said, his best attempt to offer condolences for the unfamiliar Starfleet woman. During his various tours of duty in the Corps, he had seen a lot of good soldiers sprawled out on similar-looking biobeds, some with blue bags over their bodies. With a mental sigh he turned back to Pola, unsure of what else to say or do so he decided to sit there and patiently wait.

Noticing how quiet Lamar had become, Pola smiled gently before started a scan from the man's head downwards, "Something on your mind Chief? You don't seem like the kinda man who suffers from incidents of cat getting your tongue."

Lamar shook his head, suddenly snapping back to reality. "Sorry... No, everything's going well. For the moment, at least." he replied, shifting a bit on the soft bed. "So how has your time aboard the ship been so far?" he asked, "You must not have been aboard long since Galileo was only commissioned seven days ago." he added, attempting to be polite and strike up casual conversation.

Studying the tricorder readings, Pola absent-mindedly nodded her head in response to Lamar's query, "I'm onboard about four days now. It's been an extremely busy four days I have to say. Spent it trying to get sickbay in order, hurting my ankle and generally trying to help get the crew in order." Setting the tricorder to upload the scans to the bio bed monitor, she leaned back against the bio bed behind her as she recalled the Captain's orders this morning. "Your in charge of the enlisted and civilians aren't you? How are you finding things at the moment?"

The chief sat quietly for a moment as he thought about the doctor's question, then shrugged. He was indeed in the senior-most enlisted man in the CoC, but he was also relatively new on board. "I'm impressed with the crew so far," he replied, then scratched his goatee absentmindedly. "In the short time I've been on board Galileo, I've seen most of the junior crew performing well and tending to their duties." he elaborated, then shifted in his seat to face the doctor. "Why do you ask?"

"As the temp Chief of Counselling I've had to observe how the crew are getting on and there's been a few reports of disturbances and a low morale. The CO asked this morning that I connect up with you, see if we can work together, keep an eye on the situation and prevent anything from spilling over into anything more major." Smiling gently at Lamar, Pola programmed the tricorder to upload all of the scans to the bio bed monitor, allowing her to study them more carefully.

"Commander Saalm asked?" he said with a raised eyebrow. It was strange to him that he had not been asked directly, as the CO, XO, and Chief of the Boat were often in regular communication with each other. "Well, I guess there's been a few minor scuffles. I witnessed a couple crewmen get into an altercation outside of the crew quarters a couple days ago...but I think everyone was dealing with a lot of stress while we were in Klingon territory. To be honest, the last thirty-six hours have been great." he said, then paused to flash her a smile. "Did you go to the mess hall for Pizza Wednesday yesterday? From what I saw, I'd say morale was pretty good, all things considered."

Blushing slightly at Lamar's smile, Pola casually shrugged her shoulders. "It came up in a senior meeting this morning and she mentioned it to me then." Looking around at the monitor at the scans finished loading, Pola started to flick through each of them, taking her time, to see if anything stood out. "I think excitement about our new crew members and scientists we brought onboard is also helping to calm people a little. I managed to pop my head in for a few minutes but I spent it in the kitchen with our chef. I needed some nutritional advise. Have you met Ansen yet?"

Ansen? he wondered. The named sounded familiar and Lamar thought back for a second to the first day in the mess hall when he had met Lilou. There had been a European man behind the counter flipping burgers who had introduced himself to Lamar, but the chief had forgotten his name. "Um..I think so." he said, still in thought. "Maybe." he corrected himself. "He's one of the cooks, right? Tall and lean with brown hair?"

Nodding her head, Pola turned her attention back to the scans. "That's him..Polish aswell if I remember correctly. Good guy, you should get talking to him someday, I'd say he'd have alot of ideas about other food themed days which could be held." Finishing with the scans, she turned around smiling slightly, "Well everything here looks good. Think your one of a handful of people who seems to be issue free."

"Well whoever he is, he grills a mean burger." the chief replied with approval, then watched the doctor finish her scans. A feeling of relief washed over him after hearing his healthy prognosis. The doctor was right, of course, and Lamar had always kept himself in good condition with no pre-existing medical conditions or family history thereof. "Yeah, I prefer to stay out of sickbay if at all possible." he replied, "No offense, doc." he added with a small grin, then hopped off the biobed and casually stretched his back and neck.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, Pola looked at the crewman curiously, "You seem like a nice guy so let me ask you something. Why do people always say that? I mean, I know people can dislike sickbay but unless they been argumentative of abusive towards me of course I'm not going to take it personally." Suddenly grinning, Pola blushed slightly, "Sorry. I really need to learn when's approximate to query things."

"Say what? That they don't like being in sickbay?" he asked. Honestly, he had never given it much thought, but basic instincts told him that staying out of sickbay was a good thing. Of course he had been in battlefield triage situations...quite a few over the years, but he was never the type of person who enjoyed looking after the ill. With a shrug, he answered his own question. "Well, I guess there isn't much reason for anyone to be in here if all is going well. Most people probably associate sickbay with injuries and illness, something we all want to avoid." he answered.

"No I meant the no offensive intended part. But, you need to ignore me, I'm just rambling." Grinnibg shyly, Pola placed her hands against the bio bed behind her, "So was there any queries or concerns who wished to address with me?"

"No, nothing that I can think of." he replied with a shrug, wandering to the door as he pondered anything else that he might require from sickbay. If there was, it would be best to get it out of the way now and avoid any further visits, he reckoned. Rather abruptly, his thoughts drifted to Lilou and to a question that had been lingering in the back of his head ever since he had met her. And it just so happened that the doctor was probably the best one suited to answer. "Actually," he said as he stopped and turned back towards Pola, "I have a rather strange question...kind of random actually," he began, clearing his throat slightly as he approached the rather private subject, "Are Humans and Trills...um, compatible? You know, I mean...if there was a couple and...let's say they wanted to maybe have kids or something like that..."

Pausing for a moment, Pola indicated for Lamar to follow her to their office where she closed the door. Picking up a PADD from her desk and started to access a number of files, "Ok well first and foremost I have to give you the lecture. You know it's compulsary that all unmarried people in Starfleet must have a compulsary contraceptive shot once every three months to prevent against pregnancy outside of marriage."

Finally finding the file she needed, she handed the PADD to Lamar, "Outside of that, here's some information you can read over. The easiness of having a child depends on the person your with. It's more difficult with a Trill who has a host. If the woman your thinking of isn't joined than there should be no difficulties. There is lots of cases of a human and Trill successing going on to have children."

He watched the medical chief motion for him to follow her into the office and complied, entering with a swish of the door. Once inside, he stood casually against the far wall. He felt a bit uncomfortable at being called into what appeared to be a private meeting after asking what he thought was a relatively basic query. Did I ask the wrong question? he wondered as he listened to her talk about contraceptive protocol. That wasn't really what he had been asking about, and he was well aware of Starfleet regulations regarding birth control. He was simply more curious as to the compatibility of different humanoid species, specifically Trills and Humans. After the lecture he received, the doctor finally got around to answering his question and he gratefully took the PADD from her as he listened to her answer. Her words regarding Trill hosts made sense, and he had completely forgotten that Lilou could possibly have one of those large worm-like symbionts inside of her. The chances were rare, he knew, considering only a tiny percentage of their species went on to actually take a host, but it was worth asking her about the next time he saw her.

"Well," he began as he briefly scanned the PADD in his hands, "That's good to know." he said as he looked back up at her. "Thank you, Pola." he said with a nod of approval. Inside, he was grateful to hear that his species was a compatible match. In reality, children were a ways off in the future for him, but he always liked to be as knowledgeable as possible when it came to situations in which he was unfamiliar.

Nodding her head, Pola suddenly had a thought pop into her head. Thank god the EMH was male so he could handle the male patients who might not be comfortable having a female examine them. Looking back over at Lamar, she gently gripped the edge of her desk with both hands, "Trills are a very private race so not much is known. If yourself or your...partner...need anymore information, come and made an appointment with me and I'll see if I can dig abit deeper."

"My partner?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, trying to remember if he had accidentally mentioned Lilou at some point in the conversation. He had tried his best to keep the matter relatively anonymous, but the doctor seemed to have apparently known the exact reason why he had asked. It could just as easily have been a friend or family member he was asking about, or a Trill colleague on some remote colony. But Pola had seemed to just assume that he was referring to himself, which was a rather bold assumption and slightly irritating. Despite being a rather personable guy, Lamar did not know Pola well enough to want to divulge information about his personal life.

"Partner is a choice word. You can interchange it with friend, colleague, family member or anything else if you prefer." Pola raised her own eyebrow back at the change in the crewman's body language. It was an offer she made, she'd deliberately hesitated before saying partner because she didn't wish to make assumptions. Aslong as both were up to date on their compulsary contraceptive shots, what two unmarried people did was non of her business.

"Strange choice of words, Doc, but fair enough...thanks for the offer." he replied. "Have a good day." he said, giving her a mock salute. The chief turned on his heels and headed for the door, grateful to be finished with his checkup and also for the information the blue-collared woman had provided.

Watching as Lamar left, Pola felt the wave of tiredness she'd been surpressing finally overtake her again. It had been far too long a day, maybe she did need to start weighing up a transfer to alpha shift, the only issues that presented is that sickbay was so short staffed, she needed to be able to work a full shift in order to take the pressure off of her people. Sighing as she sunk down into her chair, Pola figured it would be food for thought at least.


[OFF]

--

MCPO Lamar Darius
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Lirha Saalm

Lt. JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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