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Doctor Dolittle? No, Doctor Do Lots!

Posted on Fri Sep 22nd, 2017 @ 10:38pm by Commander Mal Xustos & Lieutenant Cassiopeia Yale Md

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: Artan Fortress
Timeline: Current

Despite having a great deal of work to do, Mal was making sure to take advantage of the many amenities of Artan Fortress while the Hera was still docked there. He brought his PaDD with him to the park, sat down at a bench, and began to read through various reports, making notes here and there. He'd invited the new Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Cassiopeia Yale, to meet him here in the park. It would make for an informal meeting, but Mal wasn't concerned about that. He wasn't one of those officers who constantly had to prove that he was in command. As long as orders were obeyed when he gave them, that was good enough for him, so he didn't feel the need to try to intimidate people when he first met them. No, a quiet meeting in the park would be quite nice. He just hoped the new doctor would be able to find him.

The map was able to guide her only so far before Cassiopeia was left to her own devices to wander through the park. For most of her career in Starfleet, she has served on star bases and was familiar with those arboretums. However, this "park" was a tad more expansive than what she was used to.

There weren't many people around, so one small favor was that she didn't have to search through a sea of faces as she sought out the Hera's XO. After a few more minutes, she eventually found who she was looking for seated under an ... oak? "Hello?" she said. And then a little less timidly, "I'm Doctor Yale."

Mal looked up from his PaDD to find a striking young woman standing before him.

"Hello," he said, standing up from the bench he was sitting on. "I'm Commander Mal Xustos, the Hera's executive officer. Unless I'm mistaken, you, Lieutenant, are our new chief medical officer. Please, take a seat. Join me. The Hera's arboretum is nice, but it pales in comparison to this place. Let's enjoy it while we can, shall we?"

Cassi nodded then took a seat, "Yes, sir." She always felt awkward meeting strangers outside of sickbay. "You never have to worry about the weather in a controlled environment like this."

"Too bad, really," Mal replied. "I miss having a good frolic in the rain now and again. So, you come highly recommended. Your colleagues and superiors respect you a great deal. I notice your service has been confined to Starfleet Medical and two starbases. How do you think you'll adjust to being the chief medical officer of a Nebula Class starship?"

"I think I will be able to adjust fairly quickly. I foresee the hardest part will be familiarizing myself with the crew." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I tried reviewing the crew's medical records on my way here, but I wasn't able to access many of the records. I'll catch up quickly," she promised.

"I do hope that's true," Mal said. "Have you been advised of Staff Warrant Officer Nexi's condition?"

"Only very briefly," she said. "I'm afraid I don't understand the situation at all. Who would be the right person to discuss it further?"

"Doctor Tuborno here at the Fortress's medical center can fill you in on her current condition," Mal said. "Crewman Ida Dedjoy in Hera's science department has been working on the problem, and I just tasked Lieutenant Summers, our new chief science officer to work on the problem as well. The gist of the problem is this: the Hera has been pursuing a mad scientist with a penchant for genetic manipulation, a very long lived one. We discovered recently that he, he goes by the grandiose title of 'The Master', if you can believe that, we recently discovered that he is an Iconian. He is also, for lack of a better word, a demon. You'll have to ask Captain Telvan to give you the details we have about his origins. Our pursuit of this man has taken us through both space and time. We recently returned from the year 2160 by Federation calendar. During our encounter with him there, he cut Staff Warrant Officer Nexi and she cut him. His blood seems to have gotten into her cut and now whatever he is, she seems to be becoming. Crewman Dedjoy managed to cobble together a belt that slows the process, but when she gets angry, the infection, again for lack of a better word, progresses. When you meet Nexi, you'll soon realize that asking her not to get angry or upset is like asking her not to breathe, so there is some urgency to this matter."

"Well, there's nothing quite like starting a new job with an impossible task for your first assignment. You said - Dedjoy has been working on this? Is he in medical?" Cassi asked. She wished she had brought a notebook with her to jot down notes.

"Ida Dedjoy is a woman," Mal said. "She's in the science department. We haven't had a chief medical medical officer in a while. You'll have to meet with your staff to see who's doing what about Nexi's condition."

She nodded, "I will definitely do that. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Just this," Mal said. "You are about to enter a very strange world. Demons, so-called gods, 'mythical' creatures and species. Well, I suppose you already guessed about the mythical species because, well, here I am before you. But I digress. You are going to see strange things, some wonderful, some horrible. On a starbase, trouble comes looking for you. On a starship, particularly this specific starship, we go looking for trouble...and find it nearly everywhere we look. Forget about thinking outside the box. With our missions, there are often no boxes to begin with. You are considered to be extremely intelligent. Others have called you courageous 'especially with her background' but they failed to elaborate. So...be bold, be courageous, be what everyone is telling me that you are, and you'll do fine here. My door is always open...well, figuratively. There's often classified material in there, so I have to keep it closed when I'm not there, and even when I am there, the activity on the bridge can be very distracting, and then there's the times I need to have private conversations in there...well, you get the point, I think. If you need me for something, you can come to me. No question is too dumb, no idea too crazy, no problem too trivial. Understood?"

"I would answer 'understood' eagerly... but it all sounds so unbelievable. I'm not even sure I'll understand when I see all the facts and records in front of me. I can promise that I will try though," Cassi said. She shoved her hands into her lab coat pockets. With her hands in her pockets, she hoped to control the trepidation. If the executive officer was playing a joke, it was a cruel one. But worse than that, Cassi was pretty sure everything he said was truth. "And I'm up for the challenge," she added.

Mal smiled.

"I believe you are," Mal said. "Well, I'll drop in to Sick Bay to see how you're settling in very soon. Again, if you need anything, come to me and I'll see what I can do."

The chronometer on Mal's wrist beeped. He looked at it and sighed.

"I'm afraid that I've got to get going," he said. "One more meeting for the day, and then I'm changing out of this utilikilt, uniform shirt, and jacket into something much more comfortable, and then I'm going to grab my lyre or maybe one of my other instruments and settle down here in the park and play music until I absolutely have to rest! It was very nice to meet you doctor. I look forward to working with you."

"Likewise, sir." Cassi stood up also but didn't join the first officer on the path to the exit yet. Instead, she returned to the bench and took a deep breath of the fresh air. "I must have pissed off someone in command..." she thought.

 

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