A Fowl Problem
Posted on Sat Jan 27th, 2024 @ 3:54pm by Captain Ewan Darrow & Commander Martin Sorenson
Mission:
Shakedown Shake-Up
Location: USS Nelson, Medbay
2324 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure
Martin double-checked that the Ziapteryx was out, but he didn't feel right leaving him unattended and he certainly wasn't going reactivate the holograms to watch over him. He tapped his commbadge. "Captain, could you come down to medbay. There's an issue with the patient."
"On my way," came the prompt reply from Ewan.
Several moments passed from the initial summons from Martin to when Ewan walked into the Medical Bay, mug in one hand held loosely as if more by habit then anything as he was deep in thought over the entire situation. The ship had entered warp only minutes before despite protests from Engineering, Jack being the most vocal, but it had been moot points from them. They had to get to the catapult no matter what to return their latest visitor.
The medical bay was empty aside from Martin and their guest, not even a hologram strolled around the room to help. "Don't tell me he's dying or something?" Ewan started with a sigh, "No wait, I don't want to jinx it, that would be the cherry on top of our issues right now."
"No not dying," Martin assured, though not without mentally knocking on wood given everything else that had gone wrong on this 'simple shakedown cruise'. "However, he is badly concussed and requires supervision, which my 'staff' cannot provide as they are all holograms." There was perhaps an uncharacteristic level of annoyance in his voice, but at this point he was beyond hiding it. "Distortions due to avian pectan oculi are a known issue, but generally just make holograms appear somewhat 'flat' and unrealistic. In this case, the distortions seem to create something horrific, an effect exacerbated by the presence of particularly UV sensitive opsins and magnetic field sensitive cryptochromes." The doctor folded his arms, looking down at the pilot unhappily. "In short, my patient came to screaming."
Ewan stopped and stared at the doctor for a moment as he tried to run through what Allison had taught him over the years about the biology of species and the likes, "Wait so are you saying that holograms look like a really bad trip to our guest?" His eyes went wide as considered it, how much that might freak someone out but also the... well humour behind the actual notion.
"Yeah," Martin chuffed, swallowing a short laugh at that characterization. "That's probably a pretty good analogy. I've run a couple simulations to try to understand the effect and what is comes out with..." he grimaced, "...it's like blocky Picasso-esque creatures. If someone randomized perspective and took a laser torch and melted the extremities."
Ewan laughed as his theory was confirmed by Martin, it had been a long time since he himself had experienced anything like that but he still recalled the memory vividly. Even some of the most innocent things could come off as terrifying if it blended right. "Alright then so the holograms aren't going to be able to help with our guest." He took a deep breath as he looked over at the avian lying sedated on the biobed.
"I guess I should ask how he's doing either way," Ewan asked as he took a few steps toward the bed before stopping just short of the alcove it sat in. Setting his tumbler down don't the console beside him, Ewan crossed his arms and leaned back against the same console. "Are we going to be able to ask him any questions?"
Martin nodded. "But not just yet. I've repaired most of the damage, but I'm keeping him in an induced coma at least overnight." His mouth went a little sideways. "Though I admit some part of that is so that I can get some sleep, even if it is on a couch in the office. But given that his first impression of us was fairly traumatizing, I think a little time to adjust before questioning would be advisable."
"Well you and he will get it. We're going to be at warp for a few days now so plenty of time." Ewan said as he stared at the Avaian. "We're heading for the Cygnet system, The Cadenza, Aria, and Hadfield are going to meet us there so you can get some real help once that happens and take a bit of a break. That will give us the time to dig into the systems of the shuttle and figure out what we're going to do to stop this from happening again anyways."
"I can move in here for a few days," Martin said, looking around the medbay. Given the largely holographic crew, it hadn't been as well set up for medical personnel so there was little in the way of breakrooms, but he'd lived in pop-up Quonset huts at refugee camps, so sleeping on a biobed near the patient's wasn't that much of a hardship. "But I should probably step aside as XO until I can hand him off," he said, not without regret. "As much as I'd rather be a doctor, it's almost a shame - I'd just gotten a good holographic assistant, who was making that much easier. But maybe he can be transferred to the Acting XO..." a look of dismayed realization crossed his face, "...which would be Jack?"
Ewan turned and looked at Martin, well that was not something he had considered... "I uh... I dont think it would be a good idea to spring that on Jack at the moment, not while he's trying to keep the ship from shaking itself apart to get us the Cygnet then back to Esquimalt." Ewan said as he bit at his lip in thought, "No I think for now you can just work out of sickbay. One patient shouldn't be too taxing and we'll just make everyone come to you. Anything too pressing I'll take care of."
He let out a sigh, "Besides, if we even want to broach the subject of that to Jack, I think it'd be best we do it in a familiar setting... with plenty of escape options for both sides," Ewan paused before chuckling at the next thought, "And with Yoshi there to take all the blame for the idea if we can finagle that."
"You mean, like how you sprung XO on me?" Martin chuckled. He'd briefly felt like bolting, but he had a little more impulse control that a pre-adolescent (even one centuries old), so it wasn't hard to imagine how Jack might react. "I suppose I can handle the paperwork from here. My office window can become one way, so I might be able to call up my holo PA. But you're going to have to tap others to cover my bridge shifts and any other oversight that needs to happen outside of medbay."
The doctor paused a moment, debating his next words, but decided it was better to bring it up now that the subject was in front of them. "But we should think about how to bring this up to Jack. Or someone else. If this situation has shown me anything, it's that I'm a doctor first and always will be. And that that presents a conflict if I continue as XO."
"Yes, but you are a tad more... flexible and mature than Jack is when dealing with sudden surprises." Ewan countered as he shook his head, he did think that one day Jack would make a good Executive Officer, hell maybe even a Captain but the kid still had alot of growing up to do. Literally and figuratively. "Im sure he'll get there one day, but today isnt going to be that day."
"I'm sure he will," Martin agreed, thinking of the several hundred years older version of Jack he'd seen during the time shifts. "Though, yes, near term might be asking a bit much, which is why I said 'or someone else'."
Ewan turned to look at the Doctor, "You know Allison warned me you might end up saying something like that to me when I told her that you'd be the one filling my spot on this cruise." He reached behind and grabbed his tea mug, lifting it up and taking a long sip before setting it back down. "She told me that in the end you were just too much of a Doctor to end up on a command path," Ewan smiled as he looked back at the Avian, "She did however say that it would be a good experience for you and one that you'd probably need."
"I'm not sure about 'good'..." Martin tipped his head side to side. "But it has been ...clarifying. I feel a real confidence that I won't look back and think that maybe I should have taken command track." It seemed to become even clearer as he said it aloud; not only that he would remain Medical, but that some part of him had entertained, however quietly, the idea of command. So it had been helpful to have the experience. He didn't think he'd done particularly poorly in the position either, so it didn't feel like a failure, but rather something he'd realized that wasn't for him. It simply wasn't his calling. "Allison is smart woman. Someday I need to talk with her about when and how she decided to leave Starfleet medical in favor of practicing just for her family."
"I'm sure she'll have some sort of comment about actually needing to be dating to consider that path first," Ewan snorted as he thought about the conversation he had heard Allison and Alice have over coffee not a few days before they had boarded the Nelson, "Thought I can tell you now that it had to do with my own career and it was not a decision she took lightly, but with young kids it had made sense at the time. At the time, all remaining in the fleet would have done was separate us, especially in the post-war period. Doctors were needed abroad, not so much on Starbases and Shipyards in Sol."
He shrugged, "Though Im sure Allison would be more than happy to talk it over sometime, probably with a bottle of wine. Karrun keeps bringing her random bottles from all over. To 'refine' her tastes or so I was told."
Martin chuffed a laugh. "Yeah, becoming a stay-at-home dad would presuppose finding a woman who could put up with me. Though the usual break point is over putting medicine first, so... kind of a Catch-22 there, eh?" It was said jokingly, but he contained a sigh. He might eventually manage that date with Safyrah, but he suspected she wasn't a woman who would tolerate being dropped for medical emergencies, at least not on an on-going basis. "I do understand Allison's decision given the time. I meant more in terms of how she came to it, weighed competing needs and found the balance. Because I have liked parts of this - at least after we got the Level 7 nonsense sorted - and I feel a bit as though you and Yoshi have invested in me with mentoring and command training, so I don't like letting you down."
He tipped a brow at Ewan. "Which isn't to say my decision isn't made. Only that I may ask your wife about sharing some of those random bottles to help sort out where to go from here."
Ewan shook his head, "All I know is that it's best not to ask Karrun where she got them from, or why she's forcing them on my wife. Easier that way for my sanity I think." He looked over at Martin, a man he could call a friend these days despite a few rough patches here and there, much of that thanks to efforts made by his wife and Karrun funny enough. "But Martin, you don't have to worry about letting us down. A good officer, hell a good commander, knows what they're good at and what they're not. They also know when someone has learned what they need to and can't learn much more. If you've learned what you needed to know and come out a better man and a better officer then none of it was wasted nor would it let us down."
"Thank you," the doctor replied sincerely. In a way it was strange that that meant so much to him. When he'd joined Starfleet, it had been because of the opportunities to practice medicine while also being on the forefront of medical advances and having top notch transportation for reaching people most in need. 'Officer' had been just something that went along with the package; the price of admission to something he saw as advancing his true goal of becoming the best doctor he could be. But somewhere in the last few years, working with Ewan and Yoshi, being a good officer had come to mean something to him too. Not nearly as much as being a good Doctor, but a lot more than it once had. "Still, I'll fill XO until you can work out an option for replacement that won't horrify Jack. Or us,' he added with a wry smile.
Ewan nodded, "Sounds like a plan to me then." He pushed off of the console and looked around, "Well the next step was to call a staff meeting and find out what they discovered on the shuttle before we rebuilt it to send our guest back..." He frowned for a moment, "But since you cant leave... I guess we'll have to do it here."
It was ironic, given that on this ship particularly he should be able to attend any meeting via holopresence, but the chance of the patient needing him and potentially becoming even more alarmed was too great. "There's a conference room with a two-way window," Martin offered, nodding toward it. "For this, it should work as well as the one near the bridge."
