Captains and Doctors (1/2)

Posted on 17 Feb 2013 @ 8:01pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.

1,805 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 01 - 2015 hrs

[ON]

There was much on Lirha's mind as she walked down the corridors of Deck Four. Thoughts of their recent mission briefing, the possibility of new worlds, dealing with the press, the Borg...all were preoccupying thoughts which seemed to race in sequential order through the captain's mind. But there were also another set of thoughts, much more personal ones, that had also been plaguing the Orion ever since her emotionally-tumultuous evening with her sister and former-lover.

The Orion captain still couldn't believe what Maenad had done, how she had acted so cold and seemingly indifferent when she revealed that she had little feelings for Lirha despite spending most of shore leave together. And then the issue of Lirha's pheromones was, well...disturbing, to say the least. It had always been hard for the captain to balance her own biology with the requirements of Starfleet, ever since her Academy days when she was first required to begin taking pheromone suppressants. It had been a struggle at first for her to adapt to the change in her body's chemistry, but she had always accepted it as a necessary evil, one which she needed to put up with if she ever wanted to gain command of a starship one day and be the first female Orion captain in the Fleet.

Now, that situation had been realized and Lirha did have her own ship; And along with that, she had a brand new set of responsibilities to both herself and her crew. Responsibilities which were more important than ever before, and which she needed to be in peak condition to face.

The captain came to a slow stop in front of the doors to sickbay. She took a long breath and casually glanced around, noticing the various blue-collared personnel who were roaming the nearby corridors. Finally, she moved forward and into the medical bay with a swish of the doors, then slowly walked into the middle of the room and searched Doctor Ni Dhuinn.

Updating the last PADD in her hand, Pola smiled to herself for little known reason except that she felt happy, more happier than she had in awhile. Having worked past her duty time finishing, Pola was more than anxious to get out of sickbay. She knew her responsibilities require that she be 24/7 but that didn't mean that wishful thinking couldn't come into play.

As she placed the PADD on the table behind her, she glanced one last time around her to ensure she had covered what was needed before leaving. What she hadn't expected was for her eyes to fall on the Orion Captain of the ship, having had no appointment scheduled for the woman. "Captain Saalm? Is everything ok?"

Lirha smiled as the good doctor appeared from her office looking a bit more radiant than usual. "Hello, doctor." she said in greeting, then wandered over to a nearby biobed and delicately sat on the corner. "I hope you're not too busy...I was wondering if you had a moment to discuss my pheromone suppressants with me? Specifically, I am wondering if it is safe for me to resume my weekly injections?" she asked in a cautious yet slightly optimistic voice. It wasn't that she necessarily wanted to be back on her medication, but rather that she felt she needed to be, especially for her own sake and those around her...such as Maenad.

Getting over her initial shock, Pola picked back up her PADD and made her way over to Lirha's side. "Hum...well I'll need to run a few scans to check up on how your body is recovering and weather or not we can risk the reintroduction of the pheromone cocktail back into your system. Have you got about 30 minutes and I can run through it now?"

"Thirty minutes...?" Lirha wondered out loud with a bit of surprise, then quickly forced a smile on her face and nodded. Despite the inconvenience of having to sit in sickbay for such a long period, the benefits of getting back on her suppressants far over weighed the minor inconvenience. "Of course, Doctor."

Pola softly, Pola realised that this was an inconvience to their boss, Pola indicated for the woman to lie down completely as she made her way across sickbay in order to grab a sensor cluster. After nearly losing Lirha through the torture of the Klingons, the CMO just didn't want to take any chances. "How have you been holding up Ma'am since we last talked?"

Talking a queue from the doctor, Lirha scooted herself fully onto the biobed and then proceeded to lay down. She had always found the biobed mattresses to be comfortable, and she let out a soft sigh as she closed her eyes for a moment. "I've been feeling better." she answered. "My shoulder and leg do not bother me very often anymore....usually only after a busy day of running around."

As she manoeuvred the equipment in question over the woman, Pola smiled as she noticed how relaxed the woman had become. "You know, I think you're the only patient I've ever had who hasn't complained about the biobed being too hard or too lumpy." Placing her hand against Lirha's forehead, Pola angled her head for the scans which she needed to take.

"I don't mind them," the captain replied quietly, "in fact, I have been known to get a good night's sleep on one from time to time. Compared to the medical facilities aboard many of the civilian starships out there, I think our biobeds are quite comfortable."

"Just stay still for me for a few moments so as I can get the scans that we need." As Pola programmed in the commands and set the scanner at the bottom of Lirha's body, within seconds that scanner started an upward movement. "I sometimes suspect that biobeds are purposely made uncomfortable to keep people away. Otherwise we might become a revolving hotel of people who are having difficulty sleeping."

As instructed, Lirha lay motionless on the biobed for several minutes in order to allow the doctor to complete her scans. "Speaking of difficulty sleeping," she began as she was suddenly reminded of her own troubles, "I admit that I have been recent problems getting a good night's rest. I think it is stress related, possibly. Do you have any recommendations?"

Frowning slightly, Pola watched the readouts as the scanner fed them back to the biobed display. "I'm thinking of recommending that science do a scan for microbes which may have infected the crew. I'm getting alot of complaints lately from people who can't sleep and it's distributed between people who were with us on the last mission and people who joined us via Vega Colony."

"Microbes?" the captain asked. "How would sleep deprivation be linked to microbes?" she wondered, not quite sure why the doctor had chosen that as a possible cause of insomnia. Lirha was not exactly talented in the medical field, but idea seemed...strange.

As Pola's main focus was on the readout of the screen, she considered the Captain's question for a moment before deeming it ok to take her attention away for a moment. "Well in this case I specifically refer to micro-organisms or pathogens. If there is a form of micorobe present in our life support or even water supply it could be causing a side effect of sleep deprivation. Science would obviously consistently monitor both to ensure that nothing has been introduced but sometimes it's better to be safe then sorry. I want to avoid a scenario that the whole crew ends up with sleeping difficulties which have to be treated by medication. When on sleeping tablets, if you're sleeping pattern isn't kept consistent it can have a knock on effect of loss of concentration or drowsiness during the working day."

Lirha understood the implications of sleep deprivation but still didn't understand why the doctor thought that microbes were at the heart of the issue, as opposed to something else. "Do you have reason to suspect that our replicator or life support systems have been...infected?" she asked, laying on her back and looking up at the brown-haired woman.

As she waited for the last of the scans to upload, Pola reset the scans as she programmed in a difference variance and set it to rescan the Captain. "It's part of my responsibilities to look at everything and rule out everything. We have a large number of people complaining of issues with sleeping and that's a pattern. Would you prefer that I was over cautious Ma'am or that I missed something and it ended up having knock-on effects to the rest of the crew as a whole?"

With a slight frown, the captain shook her head. "Obviously I would like you to be as diligent as possible, and if there is indeed a reason for the crew's sleeping problems, I would like you to find them sooner rather than later...microbes or otherwise. I was merely asking a question, doctor, not second-guessing your methods." she answered.

As a frown Pola looked up from the images, "Um..I didn't think you were second guessing Ma'am." A smile replaced the frown as she indicated a hand towards the scan. "Apologises if my explanation seemed abrupt or gruff, my attention is divided between you and the scans."

Lirha closed her eyes again and took a deep breath before replying. "I'm sorry Pola, it's been a stressful couple of days for me. There have been certain members of the crew who seem to question every order and policy that we have on this ship." she explained, realizing that she was once again becoming a bit irritable. It seemed to be happening to her more and more often, and the captain hoped that a healthy dose of pheromone suppressants could get her mood swings back in check.

Resting her hand on Lirha's arm, Pola squeezed gently before pulling away to give her some personal space. "It's alright. Sickbay attracts nervy patients so Ive had worse from others. Your here for abit longer, would you like me to just give you sometime to yourself? I can check over the scans elsewhere and it'd give you a tiny bit of alone time. Or if you'd rather not be alone, I can stay."

"No, I don't mind." the Orion answered with a slight shake of her head. "In fact, I would prefer some company. I don't often get the chance to spend time with my crew and socialize, so it's a welcome change. And...it's good to get my head out of my desk's console every now and again." she added with a grin.

[TBC]

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

RSS Feed