A Matter of Concern

Posted on Fri Aug 16th, 2024 @ 7:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Toulaine

1,482 words; about a 7 minute read

A Matter of Concern
Joint log
Captain Avri Byrd
Lieutenant Commander Doctor Toulaine

Begin Log

Toulaine went to her office and opened a private com channel to the Captain. “Captain Byrd, I was wondering if I could have a few minutes of your time to discuss something.” She asked calmly, keeping her voice on the soft side.

The Captain responded “ Is this something that can wait? We are in the middle of negotiations with the Renao.”

Toulaine thought about it and decided that this needed to be addressed and resolved quickly and couldn’t wait or it would disrupt an entire department with feelings of resentment and distrust. “I wish it could, Captain. But this, in part, has to do with our current mission.”

Avri gave a small sigh before responding. “Very well Doctor, we will convene in my office when you reach the bridge.” While she waited for Toulaine she kept her focus on what was going on on the bridge. While she did not have offered the pleasure of knowing 02 very well she knew he was an integral part of the crew and that made her heart hurt but she couldn't show it, not now. The most important thing was to protect the rest of her crew.

Toulaine sighed and turned off her computer. She was going to suggest a meeting via computer from their various offices, so she didn’t have to make the hike to the bridge, especially with sickbay as busy as it was just then. But this was important, so she told Doctor Waters he was in charge here until she returned from a meeting with the captain. Then she started the hike to the bridge, leaning heavily on a cane she didn’t always use. But with how much she had been on her feet already today and she still had four hours before shift ended and she could relax and soak that leg, she needed it for balance. As she rode the lift to the bridge, she gave herself a double hypo of the pain meds and by the time the lift reached the bridge, she felt a little better. Then she hobbled to the door of the ready room and turned to look at the captain. She only hoped that the pain and strain she was feeling was showing on her stoic face as she waited.

The Captain got up from her seat and handed off the bridge to her OPs officer as everyone else was busy with other duties she had them doing on and off bridge. She gestured with her hand for the doctor to go in ahead of her. Once the doors shut she leaned with her backside against the desk. “Please Doctor, have a seat. What can I do to help you?”

Toulaine took a seat and rubbed her leg a moment as a visible twitch had begun. “Sorry, Captain, it's been a very long day so far and it is only going to get longer.” When the twitch had calmed down, she looked at the captain again. “I would like to know, Captain, if I am no longer in charge of sickbay?” She asked rather bluntly, as right now, tact was something she was lacking. The twitch might be gone from the surface, but at the moment, it was deeper in the muscle and even touching on the bone and the pain was enough to make her want to scream, but that wouldn’t work. So she did her best to remain calm and keep her composure, but that meant that tact flew out the viewport.

Cocking her head to the side and a questionable look on her face. “I'm sorry, I don’t follow. Have I said otherwise to you?” Avri was completely clueless and had been far too busy since the murder of her intelligence officer to be worried about much else besides getting the rest of the crew out in one piece.

“You have not, Captain. But your son is running around doing procedures that can only be approved by a doctor without getting any doctor approval. Furthermore, he is also doing the job of science on top of medical. As I told him at the beginning, I know he is the specialist and therefore would have time to be on the bridge and help out. But that doesn’t mean he gets to run over every protocol set in place for the running of a ship. It takes all departments, working in their departments and then coming together to get the job done. But if he is doing it all on his own, how can we keep the team work we have worked hard to achieve going?” She said without excuse. “I have sent him to work with Muffy at the moment, as she has been working on the radiation since we came into this system and might have more insight into it. But again, as far as I know, no one else is trying to take over another department to find the answers.” She then rubbed her forehead, as now she also was having a headache because of the pain meds she took before, a side effect, and she considered giving herself a second shot, which would take care of the headache and the bone deep pain of her leg.

Avri crossed her arms and sighed. “Dr.Toulaine, he may be my son but he is under your command and you are under mine. If a report comes across my desk about anyone under your command I will talk to you about it otherwise it's out of my hands. If I don't trust my chief officers to do their jobs properly without me babysitting them I will replace them. In the meantime I have other matters more pressing if you have already dealt with him. If not I suggest you let me get back to these murderers and you reprimand him how you deem fit to fit the allegations. Is there anything else?”

Toulaine looked at the Captain. “I have already told him he needed to follow procedures. And as I said, I sent him to work with Muffy for the time being. The last thing, I wanted to formally apologize to you for taking our first meeting so hard. It came from the blue and it wasn’t what I was expecting and it hit me wrong. I have only voiced, in that closed meeting, my feelings on the matter. And later that day, I told my staff that as the captain, you would be followed and obeyed like Phoenix was without question. And I have supported you since and thank you for adjusting the days off so that Muffy and I have the same days off. We both tend to get obsessive about our work and with each other, we are able to set that aside and relax. I make sure she doesn’t over do it and she does the same for me. Don’t ask me how that happened, I am still shocked. But I did want you to know that I am sorry for my outburst.” She then slowly and with a visible struggle. “And yes, please find who murdered Otto. Muffy hasn’t stopped crying since she found out, even though she is hiding it behind her professional face. I will leave you now to get back to your work, and I have a full sickbay to go and take care of.” She turned to the door, but took a moment to breathe and steal herself before taking a step.

“Dr.Toulaine, one more thing, sick bay should settle down. From recent reports from engineering and ops the shield has been adapted and with luck you should not see many more with radiation. Dismissed” She gave her a tired, half smile as that was all the energy she had at the moment.

“It will be nice to not have new cases. Thank you.” She looked at the captain and walked over to her replicator and asked for supplement 3 from her own private list and then handed a small glass to the Captain. “This will help, Captain. It has a ginseng base and a few other things in it to help give you needed energy and sharpen the mind. And it’s mixed in a strawberry shake form that is actually a real strawberry shake and not a fake one. Take a minute and drink this before going out there. I promise, it will help, and don’t worry, nothing in it isn’t all natural.” She gave her a smile and then limped from the ready room and up to the lift to return to sickbay.

Avri nodded to the doctor and drank the strawberry energy shake, dropped the glass in the recycler and went back to the bridge.

End Log - to be continued in sim

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