Finch meets the CMO
Posted on Sat May 31st, 2025 @ 9:25pm by Commander Martin Sorenson & Petty Officer 1st Class Noah Finch
Mission:
Take My Hand
Location: Sickbay
1493 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure
Medbay was busy, though not so much with patients. With the ship newly repaired there were systems that needed to be re-validated, so personnel from every subspecialty were running verification data sets and checking off V&V requirements. The CMO had less to do with most of that, but a steady stream of 'paperwork' documenting it all required his review and signature. Martin sighed as his PaDD flashed a notice for yet more reports for review. As much as he was proud of the progress and efficiency ...more paperwork. He felt a brief moment of longing for an actual medical issue, and immediately felt guilty - a quiet medbay meant no one sick or hurt, and that was a Good Thing. Even if it meant he had nothing to do but paperwork.
Deciding on a sanity break, he left his office to stroll over to the nurses' station for the strong coffee they actually brewed in a pot to avoid lines at the replicator.
A few steps away, Finch stood casually shifting his weight from the balls of his feet to his heels rocking back and forth while absentmindedly flipping the thin display device between his hands. When the CMO had walked to the nurses’ station, the momentary distraction caused him to fumble the PADD as it bounced chaotically off his wrist. He knocked it into the air twice in a mad scramble before grasping it securely against his chest.
“Sir,” Finch acknowledged the CMO politely as if nothing had happened.
Martin suppressed a chuckle, torn between amusement at the fumble and being impressed by the recovery. He didn't recognize the man, but then there'd been a look of turnover while he'd been away on the Nelson and he hadn't gotten a chance to meet all the new people yet. "No problem," he assured, offering a friendly smile and trying not to look hopeful that an engineer in medbay would mean a break from paperwork. "Can I help you?"
“Oh, just new guy stuff,” he returned the smile and stepped closer. “I transferred over with some others from the refit team and just now getting time for a medical.” He placed the PADD down on the nurses’ station and leaned against it. “Are you Commander Sorenson? I think we’ve only communicated in writing so far actually. I’m Noah Finch. My report on the atmospheric mix, and the recalibration diagnostics for the CO₂ scrubbers are probably one of a thousand other reports you’re sifting through right now.”
"Ah, yes, of course. Pleased to finally meet you, Mr. Finch, and welcome aboard." Martin glanced at his PaDD. The reports were undoubtedly in there somewhere. "It was good work on the atmospheric mix. But, yes, I haven't gotten to the other one yet. Lots of work to review," he waved vaguely at the busy medbay, "but I'm glad to find time for a medical. Take a seat on the biobed here and we'll get started."
The younger man nodded. "That would be great,” he said. He slid over towards the biobed, "Only if you have the time though,” he qualified. When he laid down, he immediately recognized the light, barely noticeable vibration of the biobed passive monitoring field. Finch chuckled, “To be honest, I’m not used to being on this side of the diagnostics loop."
"Honestly, I'm glad to have an excuse to step away from reports for a moment," Martin admitted. "And I understand - it's always a bit odd for me when I'm the one on the biobed." Ignoring an eloquent eyeroll from his head nurse that conveyed just how much of an understatement 'a bit odd' was, the doctor focused setting up the scan as the biobed sync'd with Finch's commbadge ID to pull his medical records for comparison with the current scan. "Before we begin, are there any medical issues or concerns I should know about?"
Finch had clocked the nurse’s eyeroll, and grinned, “I’m still waiting on a cure for poor work-life balance, but otherwise I try and keep fit,” he joked. The refit had taken a bit out of him, but his overly dedicated nature to work wasn’t a new thing and he knew the limits he could push himself to. Regardless, he took a moment to think before adding, “As far as I know there’s no family history of anything out of the ordinary either, and my parents are healthy.”
"Nothing in particular to worry about is good," Martin replied, falling into friendly reassuring doctor tone to prevent any hint of disappointment that this would be a quick check up. "As to poor work-life balance, I am waiting some cure for that myself. But your scans do indicate a good level of fitness and good general health, though there are a few fatigue indicators. Nothing serious, but since the press on the refit is over, try to tip that work-life balance a bit more life. Or at least catching up on some rest."
"I'll try my best," Finch assured with a smile. He glanced upward at the ceiling and folded his hands neatly over his chest as the scan continued and tried not to focus on how awkward he felt about doing something unrelated to engineering. Instead, he added, “I appreciate the reminder, sir. I’m kinda like a misaligned EPS tap; I don’t notice the draw until it starts affecting other systems.” He paused, before tilting his head back toward the doctor, “I mean, not that I’m comparing my metabolism to shipboard power distribution. That’d be weird.” He returned his gaze to the ceiling, but after a second, he added dryly, “…even though the parallel’s not entirely inaccurate.”
Martin paused a moment to run a mental translation. Outside of prosthetics, engineering really wasn't his field, but Command Training had forced him to pick up a lot more than he'd had previously. "No so weird. The ship does in a sense have nervous and circulatory systems, as well as energy management, so I guess there are parallels. Given that, perhaps we should work out some monitoring system to alert you before other systems are too affected."
The engineer flicked his brown eyes toward the other man with amusement and mild surprise. The appreciation for his willingness to follow Finch’s metaphor showed on his face and immediately felt less awkward. Finch being Finch of course, couldn’t help himself and said, “The only downside to a monitoring system would be my natural inclination to reroute the alerts to internal diagnostics.” Finch chuckled loudly, “Engineers are notorious for muting maintenance warnings until something literally catches fire.”
"You don't have to tell me," Martin laughed, if somewhat ruefully given past experience of the fact. "Of course, we could set up a monitor that also sends an alert here. That way, we can make sure you don't ignore too many warnings." It was said as an offer - Martin had enough self-awareness to know he was the last person should order something like that unless it really was medically necessary.
“Oh gosh,” Finch said in mock alarm, “I can see it now. Internal sensors flag elevated cortisol, and the next thing I know I’ve got a nurse paging me in Jefferies Tube 12-Alpha with a reminder to hydrate and do my stretches…I mean…” Finch thought about it for a moment, “Honestly, though? Probably not the worst idea. Sickbay would have a better chance of getting me to take a break than the ship’s core systems do. I know I need to get better about it. The work matters but so does being able to keep doing it.” Finch glanced at the overhead scanner. “Guess that’s what these check-ups are for.”
"That they are," the doctor agreed. "But yearly physicals can only do so much to prevent ...let's call it 'wear out'. If you're amenable, I can set up monitoring. And don't worry, we won't page you unless it's more than a little elevated and you've ignored the monitor's alerts more than a couple times." He smiled, not entirely joking as he added. "Though I do reserve the right to send one of my more nonsense nurses to check on you in person if you if keep ignoring us."
Finch let out a soft laugh, “I appreciate the restraint,” he said with a grin, “and the warning. I’m amenable. It’ll probably help more than I’d want to admit.”
"All right." Martin scratched an order on his PaDD. "I'll have a med tech set you up with monitor bracelet. For now, you're medically cleared. I'd say welcome aboard, but you've been here for weeks now, so welcome to the crew."
Finch sat up, "Appreciate it Commander." He slid off the biobed and out of habit dusted his hands off on his pants as if getting rid of imaginary plasma residue. "And thank you."
