Oaths and Opinions (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 20 May 2012 @ 7:08pm by Lieutenant JG Brayden White Ph.D. & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.

2,562 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD07 - 1330 hrs

[ON]

After the meeting with the Captain, Brayden really wanted a sense of familiarity. He could have headed back to the counselor's office, but he had no sessions arranged for the time and an empty office in which to contemplate the little golden tag on his collar wasn't exactly what he needed at the moment. Instead, he took the turbo lift another level down and stepped off, heading towards the sickbay. Perhaps he could put himself to work, let them send him off on another replicator run, keep his head and hands busy. And if there wasn't anything they needed him for... maybe it was time to dust off his hoverboard and take it for a spin around the holodeck.

In sickbay, found that his new Starfleet leash had changed his usual duties. Instead of being the helping hand, he was handed a pile of PADDs and informed that there seemed to be a small outbreak of molluscum contagiosum thanks to one Petty Officer's excessive social habits. Brayden treated the afflicted - it was a virus that was easily cured - and was just leaving the report on Pola's desk when she walked in.

Looking at the ground infront of her, Pola was still trying to find her centre of balance with the new boot. Smiling to herself as she walked into her office, the Doctor recalled the event of trying to get out of bed this morning. There was a good bit of hoping, a little bit of wind milling of the arms and alot of falling back onto the bed before she was dressed and booted.

Becoming aware of two feet in her field of vision, Pola looked up and grinned widened as she spotted the owner of the afore mentioned two feet. "Brayden, everything alright?"

He held the PADD up for a second before placing it on her desk. "Just cleared four officers of molluscum contagiosum," he said with a slight shake of his head. "Hopefully that's the end of that." He lifted a brow, "How's the ankle?"

Frowning, Pola took the offered PADD and indicated for Brayden to take a seat infront of her as she read through the information on the PADD. Leaning her left hip against the table, the Doctor processed the information. "Molluscum contagiosum? That's strange, I wouldn't expect to see this onboard a ship with no children present. Have you been able to identify a commonality between the effected to see if we can find how it came onboard?"

"Oh, I know how it came on board. All it takes is one person having it, in this case a very friendly petty officer with a kid at home, and then making great effort to have prolonged skin to skin contact with others." He rolled his eyes, "Maybe now he's learned to come to us when he first gets the rash - before he goes and offers it to his friends."

Laughing, Pola placed the PADD down on the table before looking over at Brayden "Let's look on the bright side, they'll all be far to embarrassed to chance spreading it further I'm sure. Ankle is fine. Still getting trying to perfect the balancing act on this boot but I'm getting there. But here...I see congratulations are in order."

Pola nodded towards Brayden's collar as she placed her hands either side of her on the table. Now she took a closer look at her colleague she realised he was in uniform which was unusual for him. She hadn't first taken it in, being so used to being around uniforms so much.

He'd nearly put it from his mind focusing on the problem at hand. "Right," he said, touching the golden pip self-consciously and tugging at the collar. "Thank you." He couldn't rightfully go around complaining about it; it would be insulting to the members of the crew who had worked so hard for their ranks. But he wasn't thrilled and it likely showed in his expression. "I'm not entirely clear on how it's supposed to change my duties on board. I've still got a PADD full of protocols to read through."

Leaning back a little more on both her hands, Pola tilted her head to the side as she watched Brayden. His body language and tone seemed to be giving out a feeling which indicated he was very uncomfortable. "Hum....well having see you at work in both medical and counselling, as far as I am concerned nothing will change, except you'll be wearing a uniform and pips. When you work in our profession what comes first and foremost, before the oath you take as a Starfleet officer, is the hippocratic oath. You already live your life by that oath."

Shifting her weight gently on the table, Pola continued to think over in her mind what would directly impact her colleague with the change from civilian to officer. "The only time it's called into question might be away missions and such. In all honesty, it's only when you become ACMO or CMO that the fact your an officer starts to interfere."

"That's something, anyway," he sighed. "She didn't ask me to take any kind of oath to Starfleet. No one ever has. My concern has always been the crew in one form or another," he looked at Pola. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I like my work and want to continue doing it, it's just this..." he plucked at the uniform. "It's not me."

Taking Brayden's hand, Pola tugged him to his feet so she could look him up and down, "Well I've always loved a man in uniform so I can't comment on that but from what I see, the same Brayden is still there. Your still concerned about your patients, still want to do you job to the best of your ability...honesty, you look very very cute." Grinning more, Pola tugged on Brayden's hand to get him to twirl.

Brayden looked at her sideways as she lifted his arm and bent it, following the motion because to do otherwise would result in him breaking his wrist. "Ah... thank you?" he half-queried. It wasn't enough they'd made him wear a unitard, now she was trying to get him to dance, too? "That why you looked into Starfleet?" he asked when the twirl was finally finished and he could retrieve his hand without injury. "All the men in tights?"

Smiling at Brayden grabbed his hand back, Pola leaned her hip back against the table to take her weight off of her ankle. "I definately didn't join for the long hours and the paperwork. Feeling any better now about the situation?"

"Should I be? Nothing's changed. Or, things have changed. That's the problem." He shrugged, looking at his hands. "I'll find my way through it; not to worry." He cleared his throat, "You're doing your ankle exercises?"

"What that favourite line for counsellors...quit changing the subject?" Pola smiled softly at Brayden, "Apart from the rules you need to read through, why do you feel that things are changed? At the end of the day your still doing the job that you love."

He laughed, scraping his hands back through his hair, "You're right. You're right." He dropped into a chair and brushed his hands down the black trousers of the uniform. "The reason I agreed to this was in order to do the job I love. The reason I started nosing my way into Starfleet personnel lists was to be able to do what I love with a sense of adventure. I get bored easily. I always have. I just... after a while, I get itchy feet or I hear about somewhere I've never been and I just want to pick up and go. And being a civilian, I could." He rubbed his palms against his knees. "I could go whenever and wherever I pleased. I guess... I feel there's a difference between doing the work for the love of it and doing it because you're... contracted to. It's why i didn't join a hospital when I finished my internship. It's why I didn't join Starfleet five years ago when they approved me for solitary practice."

Studying Brayden for a few moments, Pola tried to figure out a responce to this. It was obvious he really did feel like he was being physically tied down. "You wear a uniform and pips and you carry a rank but that doesn't change who you are Brayden. If you want to walk in the morning, noone will stop you as at the end of the day noone wants their crewmember to be happy. In my experience. A person only gets itchy feet as what they are doing nolonger appeals to them. As your boss, I can't promise that every once in awhile you won't get bored, of course you will but I can promise that aslong as you stay here, there'll be work for you to do and if there isn't, you come see me. The day you stand behind you desk and tell me you want to leave..I will ensure that noone stands in your way."

It was hard to explain that that was part of it. That it wasn't up to him. If she decided, for any reason, that she didn't want to let him leave... technically, he couldn't. And with Ayati entering Academy, he couldn't do anything to jeopardize her studies. Having a father who'd been dishonorably discharged wouldn't do anything to help her record. "I appreciate that," he said with a small nod. "Thank you."

Leaning forward, Pola placed her hand against her colleague's arm, "I'm not just your boss Brayden, I'm your friend. Don't ever forget that."

"My mind is a steel trap," he said, then added with a wry smile, "for the most part. Not trying to change the subject, I promise, but your ankle? You are exercising it, aren't you?"

Grinning, Pola pulled up her trouser leg slightly before rotating her foot, "I am, I promise. And the boot is staying on at all times except when I manage to climb into bed. Check it if you'd like Doc." Picking up the tricorder sitting on her desk, Pola tossed it to Brayden.

He ran the tricorder over her exposed ankle and checked the readout, before gracing her with a marginally abashed smile. "Old habits die hard," he told her, handing the tricorder back. "And you're getting enough rest? You look a little better today."

"Weeeell....it's difficult not to do anything but sleep given every time I'm vertical it's a hardship to get around but I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I'm only popping my head in here now as I was coming from a meeting with the XO. How about you? Let's turn the tables, I know your eating well, how's your sleep?" Placing her hands either side of her hip on the table, Pola leaned back and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Honestly?" he asked. "My bunkmate snores like a mating gorilla. I didn't know that a human could make a sound like that. It's kind of like a roar. Except it has these long pauses where I think he might have stopped breathing all together. And then it starts up in fits and starts before returning to that long bowing roar again." He shook his head, "It's got to be allergies. Or an elongated palate. Something. But the guy refuses to let me look in his mouth to find out. It's not so much the snoring that keeps me up; I can sleep through a lot. It's the sound of it... I'm fascinated by how such a relatively small man makes such a massive noise."

Grinning, Pola leaned over to take the tricorder, reconfiguring the scanner so as to run a scan on Brayden. Leaning over, keeping her left foot off of the ground, she started to run the tricorder over her colleague. "The best perk ever about being CMO, my very own quarters...how many hours sleep are you averaging?"

"Not sure, actually," he told her with a slight smile. "Five to seven, I'd guess. I feel rested."

"You know the rules Doctor...you can't lecture me on sleep and minding myself if your not doing it for yourself in return." Winking at Brayden, Pola diverted her attention back to the tricorder. Spotting something unusual, the Doctor looked up at her colleague, "You've got some mild bone growths in your ear? How are you finding the ship's atmospheric pressure? Is it causing you any issues?"

"Not too bad," he told her. "Surfer's ear, they call it. Every once in a blue moon, I get a little ache, but it's nothing that makes messing with that part of my skull worth while."

"And your blood pressure is slightly high, probable not anything to be worried about, I'd assume it's from the morning you've had." Tapping a few buttons on the tricorder, Pola turned the monitor on her desk around for her to view the uploading scans.

"To be fair," he mentioned as they looked at the scans on the monitor. "I am putting myself in a bed for seven to eight hours a night. And I'm sharing a small space with a man with gorilla lungs." He nudged her with his shoulder, "I'm nearing the end of the crew evaluations; any work you want to clear from your desk so you can keep staying rested once your foot isn't keeping you anchored to your bed anymore?"

Nudging back with her shoulder, Pola grinned up at Brayden, "Why Mr. White...are you trying to get out of your medical? I pay attention also to work which needs to be done and your's is outstanding." Grinning wider, the Doctor turned back to the scans on her screen. "Hum...you'd some disc degeneration in your lower back. How have you been handling it lately?"

"Chiropractic adjustments once or twice a month, depending on how it feels, and I self-prescribe photo-dynamic therapy if in the short term if it acts up. That seems to have done the trick for the last four years," he answered her, sitting back to let her have her way.

Frowning slightly, Pola looked around at Brayden, "Self prescribed photo-dynamic therapy? Are you having to this this on a regular basis? There is some alternative treatments and maybe the possibility of replacing the discs which we could look at for a more permanent solution."

"Replacing the discs would take me out of commission for a month, maybe more, when you take into account physical therapy," he shook his head. "That's why I've been going with the adjustments and light therapy. What kind of alternative treatments are you thinking of?"

"Have you ever heard of a branch of medicine known as Physical Medicine? The aim of this branch of medicine is to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. Your side effects of the disc degeneration and the pain you experience when it acts up could be managed under this."Placing her hands back on the desk, Pola leaned back while keeping her eyes on Brayden.

[TBC]
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Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Brayden White Ph.D. (pNPC Kestra Orexil)
Counselor
USS Galileo

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