A Bitter Pill to Swallow: Part 3

Posted on 07 Oct 2014 @ 1:44am by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Jonah Chaparral M.D. & Crewman Corealina Vipsania & Commander Scarlet Blake

3,535 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2 - First Officer's Quarters
Timeline: MD 10 - 1425

Previously...

In the end, there was little he could do. With his head held high, chest puffed out, arms stiffly at his sides, Mott whirled around in an about face and tried to make his way out of the office with some dignity. That was complicated, of course, not only by his size but the cramped office being jammed full of the entire medical staff. He bumped several shoulders and chairs on his way out, but finally made it into the corridor. He supposed he could catch that post-lunch nap after all.

Lina let out a breath of relief at Mott leaving without causing anymore of a scene, her hands folded in her lap. The whole...exchange had made her feel ashamed. She looked around, at these people...her colleagues. Who did not listen to a First Officer. As someone who had just stepped out from the Academy, that was frightening. She could only hope that this had been a one-off and that her superiors in Medical were sensible people most of the time. She was very aware of the low rank she wore, as well as the new status she held.

And now, the conclusion...


Blake took a breath, waiting for the doors to close before looking back to the others. "This isn't a casual chat," she said quietly, shaking her head with a frown. "We're all Starfleet professionals. If you don't agree with the dressing down your First Officer is giving you, you suck it up and say 'Yes, Sir' or nothing at all, and then you work out how to put the situation right," she couldn't believe she was having to give this speech. "You can moan in your log about me all you like in your free time, on duty? There's a chain of command."

Moving to sit back on the desk, Scarlet watched them, shaking her head as she crossed her legs. "We're going to move forward to improve things with an action plan. This is what's going to happen. The medical department are going to have a full departmental meeting to discuss their team work and how to improve it. Then, all medical staff are going to train with large triage simulations in the holodeck working as one team, and you will keep doing them until you score a distinction Academy grade on three different scenarios.

"Third, from now on, all resident doctors will be properly supervised by senior medical staff on the diagnosis and treatment of patients, or at the very least, by fully trained attending physicians...no compromise. That also means that if a fully trained attending physician tells a resident doctor they should change their treatment plan, they respect their level of experience and expertise and do it," she added for good measure after the objections she'd already heard about it. She was rather surprised and concerned that the concept of supervision of doctors in residence was an alien concept to them....it was the entire point of it.

Taking a breath, Blake folded her arms and continued, now wanting this over and done with before someone else managed to get themselves into trouble. "And fourth, as of now, privacy of patients will be fully respected and ensured by medical staff. That means that any treatment that requires either the removal of clothing or the cutting or opening of flesh will be protected by some kind of privacy screen or arch, or even a damned blanket. It takes just a couple of seconds to ensure, I'm sure the nurses will be pleased to oblige, and it is vital in patient trust...more, it's their right. There will be no debate on this point. Understood?"

"Are we done here?" asked Tuula, her tone betraying her true feelings about this little exercise in beratement. All she did was follow her training and try to save a life. Maybe she had been a little short with the commodore, but her frustration was understandable, given that the commodore had grabbed her shoulder while she was in the middle of a delicate surgery. For that, she had been threatened with a phaser, bossed around by a lower ranking officer, had her medical judgement questioned by people with no medical training, and now had been called on the carpet to be bullied by her executive officer in front of her colleagues.

Tuula wanted to stand up for herself. She really did. If she could, she would have stormed out of the room, chased Dr. Mott down, and came up with some sort of plan. But she was badly shaken, even traumatized, by her treatment at the hands of the command staff over the past three days. Feeling small, "Are we done here?" was all she could muster. It was probably for the best anyways, she was starting to realize that she had two choices: shut up and take the abuse, or stand up for herself and invite more. The only bit of solace she could find in the situation was that deep down, she knew her decision to perform emergency surgery was the right one.

Allyndra listened quietly. She was used to this kind of tirade. It was no different then being called into the Guild Mother's office and probably with less dire consequences. She would have said something but it was obvious after a short time that the First Officer was not going to listen to anything but her own self. She still disagreed that the Security officer had ignored her own commands and then she noted that the Blake sweetly sidestepped the fact that no matter the rank, an officer had pulled a weapon on another officer. She spoke about proper behaviour of an officer but that was never acceptable behaviour unless it was to save a life and while chaotic and messy as it had been it was still not acceptable neither was it acceptable in any form to as the First Officer had said overcrowded to have ignored having extra personnel that were not needed there. Well the First Officer had given her view and command, Allyndra would accept that but her own objections, which would do no good here would go into her own official medical log.

"Everyone," Allyndra kept that cool tone she had learned from long ago from the Guild House. "We gain nothing more, please respect that." Allyndra looked at Blake tilting her head slightly so the light would catch the facets of her eyes. "Are we now done?"

Naois had been listening in silence after the berating he'd received but seeing one of his fellow doctors. A most respected doctor, from what he'd learned just by listening to medical staff gossip. Now however, after listening to orders for triage training, he stiffened and his eyes narrowed as his tightly maintained control was starting to slip. "With all due respect commander. If we are to commence training, who will man sickbay while the entire staff is out for training? And if we are to commence training, will non-medical staff be receiving medical training to do a better job when there are no medical personnel available? This seems like punishement where none is due, and it is unfair. You have no medical training, how can you judge the teamwork between highly trained physicians? And here I include Doctor Voutilainen, who in my opinion, is highly skilled and quite talented."

Alexion couldn't help but cover his face with his hands at what he was hearing, sighing heavily. What was wrong with them? How could any serious doctor make a professional judgement on a resident's full levels of skill and ability when they'd only been onboard a few days? Worse, only a couple of days when the Sickbay mess had happened. Saying things like that made it sound like they were blindly taking sides out of loyalty to the medical nest rather than making a real professional judgement. Not a smart move when the frustrated First Officer had already expressed concern over their judgement in that area. He also didn't get why everyone kept bringing it back to Voutilainen? It was pretty clear they were all being bollocked together, that little corner of the mess was only a tiny part of the bigger picture they were all being chewed out for, and it was all too clear that they were all in the fire for it, not just Voutilainen.

Was he stuck in a department full of masochists? Alexion was pretty sure he had to be, when they seemed intent on making the already clearly pissed off First Officer think less of them. And frankly, he just wanted to get out of there. He was embarrassed at the whole Sickbay debacle, and he was pissed off that he was a part of it. Now, he just wanted to get on with using the training and meetings to show his true ability and standards and improve her view of the teamwork in Sickbay.

"Dr Mercy, how on earth would you know what I am trained in? The short answer is, you don't," Blake watched Mercy with cool eyes, folding her arms. "You don't have access to my service record. You don't know what my experience or training is. A word of advice, assumptions can make people look very, very silly, especially when they're wrong. And they can make an already disappointed and angry First Officer question the judgement of her Sickbay staff even more," she said softly.

Blake was, frankly, concerned by the amount of questioning of her credentials voiced openly in the room, and the fact they seemed to think that it was appropriate to question the experience of the First Officer, coupled with the clear lack of respect when speaking to a command staff member. She was starting to think that the medical staff required even more basic re-training in the chain of command and working within a hierarchy. And that worried her even more. Hell, she'd had her own fair share of dressing downs in the past. She'd known better than to say anything more than 'Yes, Sir' 'No, Sir' 'Three Bags Full, Sir' when she didn't like what she heard though and then vent her frustrations after on a punch bag, and then in the morning when the world looked better, put whatever it was right. It happened to all officers at some point, it was just a part of climbing the ranks.

"You have an EMH to cover Sickbay whilst you train. Use him," Scarlet continued bluntly, shrugging. "You can be back in Sickbay within a moment if needed."

Alexion rolled his eyes, his breath tight as both of his hearts beat hard in his chest. Great. Now she was even more pissed off. She'd made it clear they'd been pulled in as a team and that they succeeded or failed together. And now, because people couldn't keep their tongues civil or silent, they were sinking even deeper into the fire together. Nice. "Understood, Sir," he said in a loud, clear, gruff voice, just wanting it to be done and over so they could get on with clearing their act up. He knew he was older than them, but he'd never felt it so acutely until now.

Scarlet gave a nod, motioning to the door. "So, it seems that 'we are done'," she repeated the phrase that had been asked of her no less than three times rather than waiting to be dismissed. "I'll be keeping an eye on progress. Dismissed."

Eyes glittering, Naois rose and started towards the door, waiting just outside for others to catch up. "She does not like doctors very much, does she," he commented angrily through tightly gritted teeth.

"Thank you for your time, Commander," Lina said and bowed her head, in a respectful goodbye. She stood and walked out, stopping to look at Naois with brief disbelief at the open disrespect shown towards the Command staff. Clearly, things were different on ships than they were when she was training. But even so. "I believe that no one should judge whether or not a person likes or dislikes someone based on a professional dressing down. I believe she does not like an emergency situation ending up as a compete mess due to...lack of training or details or even a coherent workforce," she said and bowed her head, with a smile. "Perhaps, rather than argue the point, the department has a better advantage of further their training to bring all together into a smooth...machine?" she raised her eyes, the smile still there. "And let the past be the past."

Naois simply glared back at her, not in any mood to even try and be pleasant even if he had wanted to. He said nothing as he waited for others to clear the room.

Jonah was seething on the inside. First by how this incompetent idiot had raked the entire medical staff over the coals, for making mountains out of molehills and secondly by the attitude of some of the officers as though she walked on water. He only knew of one person who was supposed to have done so, and he wasn't sure if that was just a legend.

In any event it was repulsive to see some of these Fleeters bowing down to her. She too, obviously thought she walked on water and was perfect.

He knew now more than ever why he was a civilian.

He turned to Lina,"I can't believe you're thanking her for her time. I don't care who she is or thinks she is, she should not be allowed to talk to people that way. She claims she wants some respect, well you have to give some in order to receive it and all she has done is given us a rather incoherent and childish rant."

"I agree," replied Tuula, safely out of Blake's earshot with the doors closed behind her, her voice teeming with anger. "I can't believe she's telling me what I should have done, with no medical expertise and without seeing firsthand the condition of the patient. If I didn't operate, the patient would have died right there on the biobed." She shook her head as she angrily pushed herself down the hall. "And that... whatever that was... was totally uncalled for."

Jonah turned to her nodding. "Sorry, I can understand her concern, but I think her approach is all wrong. It seems to me that she may not not just be trying to play nice as she says, but trying to cover up for what the Commodore did. The medical staff might be slightly reprimanded but I think her lack of medical knowledge would come to light.

And the Commodore on this ship, pulling a phaser? I hope she doesn't try something like that with me. That, placed the life of the patient in danger and achieved the opposite of what she was trying to achieve. I know we're supposed to respect the chain of command, but she didn't show much respect or care the other way. If she tried pulling a phaser on me I' d do what I had to do, to defend myself. Her actions were inexcusable and disgusting."

"Don't even get me started." Tuula tried to find some humour in the situation, but there was little to be found. "She's just lucky I wasn't carrying my bone saw."

Lina watched them all with disbelief as they walked past them. "I do not understand. Your superiors have told you what is the fault and you argue like toddlers," she said and shook her head, walking quickly to get past them. "Perhaps, rather than feeling slighted, we move forward and do the best job we can do," she commented to Jonah and Tuula as she walked past them, not caring if she was in the way of the wheelchair. She had finally had enough of the childish behaviour of what was meant to be medical staff. They were all adults. They were, for the most part, Starfleet trained. Even a child knew well enough to keep silent when an elder was telling them off. Not this bunch. No. They dwelled on imagined slights and saw no faults in themselves.

Jonah turned and looked at her as if she had grown a second head. Whatever comment he had been about to make, he thought better of. and just shook his head at her and her naivete Finally he did say, "I just have no respect for anyone who would step into a situation and make it worse by trying to fix something she clearly knows nothing about and was making a snap judgement on.

Lina watched Jonah, with disgust and then disappointment. "If you believe that of your XO...why are you even on a Starfleet ship?" she simply asked. "Clearly, you do not care for it. My advice is for you to...leave. Forever." She smiled and bowed her head. "She does not have to earn your respect. She is entitled it because she is the XO." With that, she walked away from them all, having had enough of this...so-called medical crew. On her homeworld, they would all have been punished severely. Not like this. Unofficial...bollocking.

Tuula turned to Jonah, surprised at seeing one of the medical staff side with someone with little medical training. Obviously, Lina didn't examine her patient. Had Tuula tried to use regenerators instead of open surgery as the executive officer suggested, there was a good chance that they would all be at a funeral right now. Though, had she spent critical seconds setting up curtains and followed the medical advice of her alleged superior, at least Siren would have at least had her privacy; there aren't a lot of peering eyes inside a coffin. "If this is the thanks I get, remind me never to try to save anyone's life again."

"Tell me about it, " Jonah said, I'm not so sure she's interested in finding the truth, it sounded more like she was on a personal vendetta and like I said, she's trying to cover up for the Commodore. If it were anyone of us that pulled a weapon, even it was allegedly to save a lover, we'd be in the brig, court- martiled and on our way to a penal colony."

Alexion caught what they were saying, standing in the doorway to the First Officer's office for a long moment, listening to their 'interesting' and rather self-absorbed interpretation of events. He finally moved to walk past them, laughing softly at them and their words as he just shook his head with a click of his tongue, sliding his hands in his pockets. It was a shame all that wasted energy wasn't put into something productive. He whistled gently to himself as he strolled down the corridor.

Allyndra listened and then finally interjected. "Well, then Mott is off duty until the Executive Officer allows him back, and I am going to say the same. I will have to approve that. Second I am putting myself on medical leave due to injury. Tuula I would like you to think about scenarios and research the case you worked on to see what might be improved. Since you are not to function without a SENIOR officer and Mott and I are both off and that leaves no medical officers then you are not to practice. Everyone else that has not disappeared..." She looked at some retreating backs. "Are ordered to begin holodeck triage practice until the full complement of people are ready to partake." Allyndra smiled but as she did so showed oh so very briefly those sharp inner teeth, "going to follow EXACTLY to the letter, what was ordered. I think our EMH is going to be a very very busy hologram for a bit. Now...if you will all excuse me I have to put something in the official medical log."

"I can do it," Naois offered, stepping up to them. "When needed, I can supervise Dr. Voutilainen. If you can approve that." The irritation over the whole situation showed on his face, his blue eyes sparkling brightly.

Allyndra settled and made that odd shrug that fluttered her wings slightly. "Thank you, and if the dire needs arises fine. However, I would like to see what Doctor Voutilaninen's research turns up." She looked at the group. "Now as I said we do no more or less and certainly while I understand everhyone's feelings, and mine have been hurt, we do so with courtesy." Allyndra again smiled and again briefly showed those tiny sharp inner teeth. "Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting, now let us move forward."


OFF:

---

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

Nurse Corealina Vipsania
Medical
USS Galileo
[PNPC Rice]

Jonah Chaparral
Civilian Epidemiologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Nicholas]

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Gallileo

Lt. j.g. Naois Mercy
Medical Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC T'Vanna]

SWO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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