Back Log | Meet the Doctor

Posted on Mon Nov 26th, 2012 @ 5:09pm by Captain Olan Dar & Captain Landon Neyes

1,389 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Romulan Ale.. I mean Aide
Location: Crew's Lounge (USS Poncho Villa), USS Vindicator-E
Timeline: Prior to the Vindicator-E leaving Federation space
Tags: Back Log,

This had been Keál’s first journey aboard the Sovereign Class vessel and its size and facilities were impressive. He had heard the new Discovery Class Starship was breathtaking so had come up to the crew’s lounge to view her in the vastness of space as they approached. The Poncho Villa dropped out of warp at the edge of the system near one of its many moons and Keál was slightly disappointed that the ship was not in sight. He was glued to the window like a child, awaiting the return of the sun on a rainy day. He felt silly and turned to leave, when a flash of light caught his eye. There, coming around the moon’s horizon was a ship… a big ship.

There was a familiar chirp from the combadge “Transporter Room Three to Lieutenant Keál.”

Keál reached up and tapped the combadge. “This is Keál. Go ahead."

“Lieutenant, this is Chief Nabrith, You and your possessions are cleared for transport to the Vindicator, Sir. Should I send your personal effects now or would you like to accompany them, Lieutenant?” Keál could tell by the tone and slight grumble of the Chief’s words that he was a member of the Packled species.

“I am prepared to disembark, Chief. I shall been in the transporter room presently. There are a number of controlled substances and fragile pieces of equipment among my belongings and for the sake of the chain of custody; I would like to accompany them to the Vindicator, myself.”

“Yes Sir, we will wait for you then. Nabrith out.” With that the combadge chirped again.

Ke'al stole one last glance at the now completely visible ship that was to be his new home among the stars. “She is a big ship,” was his last thought as the doors to the crew’s lounge hissed closed behind him and he headed to the transporter room.

=/\= Aboard the USS Vindicator =/\=

Keál didn't know how under stated that thought was until he materialized on the transporter pad on deck four of the Vindicator. Even the transporter platform was larger than that of the Poncho Villa. This transporter room had twenty-one pads compared to the federation standard of seven and Keál’s first thought was that they had transported him to a cargo bay instead of the personnel pad, had there not been a transporter chief and a quartermaster waiting on him when he materialized, he would have believed it.

Commander Ayers walked up to the Caitian, "Doctor Keál. Commander Ayers, I'm in command for our trip out to meet the Vindicator-D." he introduced himself.

"Pleased to meet you, Commander. If this transporter room is any indication, this ship is even more impressive than the specs indicate." Keál took a case in each hand and walked up to the Commander. "I would like to see deck three as soon as possible I have a number of inventories to run and I would like to make sure every thing is squared away before the change of command."

"Of course, Doctor. If you like I can have someone take your bags." he motioned to the cases.

"The two trunks there," Keál pointed to the transporter pad, "are my personal effects. If they could be delivered to my quarters, I'll catch up to them later. These two cases I'll hold on to, Commander. Shall we?" Ke'al prompted Commander Ayers.

Ayers nodded to the Doctor and motioned officers in the transporter room to take care of the bags left behind and then escorted Ke'al to sickbay.

Walking out into the passageway Keál was again struck by the size of the ship. Stretching out around a curve was a giant visitors lounge in the heart of deck 4. The turbolift was only a few feet from the exit of the transporter room so Ke'al quickly glanced around the area impressed by it's luxury. It looked more like the promenade of a space station than a lounge on a ship.

Aboard the lift Keál thought he would try to make small talk, a skill he found himself lacking so they rode up a deck in silence. The turbolift doors hissed open and a much smaller lounge waited beyond the door. This lounge was for family members or friends of patients in Main Sickbay, or that was what Ke'al gathered from the sign that read "Waiting Room".

"Commander." Keál said, "could you show me to my office please I need to secure these cases." Keál held up his pharmacopoeia concealed in it's shiny stainless case. He had been careful to select a variety of rare and non replicable medications from the pharmacy on advice from Commander Powell. "They never have what you need out there." Had been his exact words.

Commander Ayers nodded and continued to lead the doctor into sickbay. Sickbay itself on this ship was large with many rows of biobeds and plenty of space around them. Ayers led him to one of the officers situated in opposing corners of sickbay, "This is the office normally assigned to the CMO. Though if you prefer there is another one on the other side though they are identical."

"This one will do just fine, Sir." Keál looked around the sick bay from the door of his new office. There were 122 biobeds in main sickbay alone, a terrifyingly large number and twelve times what the Poncho Villa had. If fully staffed this deck would be able to handle colony sized epidemics with its various suites and treatment rooms. Though not quite as big as a planetary based hospital there was nothing short of that to compare it to. Keál's office it's self was very large for a private office. It had a desk, of course, but also had an oblong table with four plushly padded seats arranged around it near the door, and a large wall display case and shelf and setup.

Inside was a nurse, waiting patiently with a smile and a few PADD's in her hand. "Hello, Doctor. It's good to meet you. I'm one of the assisting nurses working on your staff. I hope you had a good trip?"

"It is my pleasure to meet you as well." Keál smiled at the nurse. As far as the journey goes I can't complain, the Poncho Villa's crew afforded me every hospitality and I even spent some time working in their sickbay reacquainting myself with shipboard medicine. I've been an instructor for the past four years at Starfleet Medical and was worried I might not know how to act aboard a star ship." Keál allowed a tight lipped smile to form on his face. Most individuals were, at the very least, taken aback by a Caitian's full on toothy grin.

She smiled pleasantly, "I'm glad. Whenever you have the chance, the head nurse asked me to run these systems labs reports by you. Best to just dive in, I suppose."

Keál held out his hand and took the PADD's from the nurse. "Thank you, and I agree. I have a lot of catching up to do before the crew arrives." Looking around the room, Keál noticed his desk chair was solid backed and made a note to have a Caitian style chair brought in to replace it. Humans, not having a tail, often overlooked the need to accommodate one.

Commander Ayers had a quick look around, "Well Doctor if you don't have any immediate questions I'll leave you to get familiar with your new sickbay. We have a couple more stops to make but we'll be heading out to meet with the Vindicator-D tomorrow afternoon."

Keál focused his attention back on the Commander, whom he had almost forgotten was there. "No more questions, Sir. I'll let you get back to work. Thank you for taking the time to show me around." Keál was sure he could spend the next few weeks doing nothing but going from suite to suite on this deck learning the various systems and services they would provide to his patients, however, he had only a few days to get up to speed and was glad he had slept before coming aboard.

=/\=

(NPCs by Dar & Neyes)

 

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