Excalibur Medical

[LeftEar JoNs 0]

Excalibur Medical Bay

Doctor B’Etor Patterson and Commander Left Ear JoNs

 

Commander JoNs carefully rolled over onto her side and sat up, swinging her cat shaped hind legs over the side of the bio bed. She felt marginally better. She was no medical doctor, but if she had to take a guess, her pressure dropped dramatically when she was on the bridge.

 

Dr. Patterson came out of the lab, obviously still slightly angry. She chose to ignore the already messed up Ziers and stopped, looking up at the XO. 'Is she retarded? Cats are not this dumb!' She thought to herself as she moved to her, standing to face her, arms crossing her chest, head shaking with a look of 'move and I will use a force field'.

 

The commander stopped in mid stretch and eyed the, um, presence in front of her. "Doctor, I am not going anywhere. And I apologize for pulling rank on you earlier."

 

"You are moving. Moving constitutes a plan to go somewhere. Lay back down. You saw what happened the last time and how many times you gotten up? God, don't you patients ever learn?" Her voice was naturally low, but had the excited slightly higher pitch that Klingon women got when they were upset or angry. She thought about she said and for a moment, looked guilty. She had just told the 2nd highest ranking officer of the ship off. Her black eyes flickered between anger and fear.

 

JoNs habitually rankled at the tone, and her pressure went up again. "Doctor, control yourself. I know …," the feline stopped in mid sentence and shook her head again as her pressure continued to mess with her physical recovery, "... I know that I have made a couple of recent mistakes; it's difficult for a warrior to remain sidelined."

 

She listened to the XO try to explain why she had once again, tried to run, at least to B'Etor anyway. She heard the "warrior" part and her black eyes crossed as she looked up at her ridged fore head crest, then back to the XO. "Sorry sir. I just, should anything happen, I am the doctor responsible."

 

Left Ear waved a paw gently in the air in acknowledgement. "I know. If something were to happen to a patient on your duty watch, then that would be an unfortunate consequence and you would be the medical doctor responsible. For myself, again, I apologize. I can't speak for, nor do I necessarily condone Mister Tr'Lorin actions of leaving the medical bay even if I screwed up the same way, but if I were to take a guess, I am sure he is assisting Commander Admiran with the cloaking device repairs."

 

The feline senior officer lowered her voice so as not to further alarm the grieving Ziers who comforted each other out in the ante-room. "We do need that device to be in working order Doctor. The sake of this rescue and recon mission depends on the camouflage that the cloak affords us, and the Excalibur and her crew need every advantage that we can beg, borrow or steal to deal with these Boganary pirates.”

 

She looked at her and shook her head. 'Kahless, are all patients that dense?' She looked over at the Ziers as she mentioned the cloaking thing. That meant nothing to her. Yes, Julie meant almost as much to B'Etor as she did to her own parents. B'Etor delivered her, heck she was christened an Auntie. But the point was, he wasn't cleared to leave the medical bay, and as XO, JoNs should know that as well. "I am not saying what either of you do is not important. I am saying that neither of you are in any condition to work a half shift, never mind a full, and I guarantee you that Lieutenant T'Lorin is not capable of working on that cloaking thing in his condition. The slightest wrong move, he could be dead. I can't have that on my head. I can't." She looked away, feeling that evil emotion that made her eyes water. That one feeling she hated the most, upset sadness.

 

Both of JoNs's ears flipped back in distress; she had never really been good at the whole comfort thing when someone started getting all emotional on her. It was usually easier to just bark orders and tell a security or pilot squad to hop to it. But, with that said, it was an executive officer’s responsibility to look after the well being of the crew. So, JoNs dove in head first with the current issue that had seemed to manifest right here with Patterson.

 

"Look, El Tee. I mean, B'Etor. It was the Lieutenant's decision, and mine, that we leave this medical bay before we were both cleared. That most certainly is not your fault. Marius will be fine, and if he's not, his department head will inform the sickbay." The feline purred a bit before continuing to speak. "And, everyone is worried about the little one."

 

Patterson did not look at the XO as she spoke. Being comforted for an emotion she neither felt, nor referred was bad enough, but it being one of her patients and the XO on top of that, she felt like an idiot. She shook her head, now looking at the XO. "I am not a child. I'm just … all these feelings around me, and no one listening to me. I may be the lowest ranked and newest member of the medical team, but I know my job, I do it well, and I cannot allow patients to just walk in and out of here as they please."

 

Left Ear did another stretch and reached around to place a paw on her lower back; the old injury had flared a bit, and the muscles had grown sore with the stress of the general situation. "I agree with you. Regulations, and respect for the medical staff, are very important. Look, Patterson - you are a member of this crew and this medical staff. That has not changed, nor will it change."

 

She listened to her and a vulnerability came out that was seriously getting on the half-breeds nerves. She felt things that she had never felt before and it bothered her. "I know it won't ... but no one respects it. I am just a little mini Lieutenant and the new girl. Why listen to me, when they are higher ranking. But the second the get a paper cut, they come running to me to fix it..." She shook her head, not sure why she was venting this to the XO of all people. 'In for it now, stupid. She doesn’t care. Shut up.' She thought to herself as she spoke.

 

A low growl issued forth from Left Ear. Not necessarily a reprimand, no, more like a warning. "Medical is typically a department that gets no respect. If all is going well, you are not needed. Then, when the excrement hits the oscillating device and someone gets injured, suddenly the Docs are very popular. My brother came up through the medical ranks before he retired, so I'm pretty familiar with the ups and downs of being a medical officer. However? Don't get too far down into the dumps or I'll kick your keester back up. You don't strike me as the self pity type El Tee." See? The feline could totally be a counselor. Yes.

 

She looked at her, shaking her head. "I'm not! I mean, beyond the anger fit where I almost tore Wilson's liver out and crammed it down his throat. I do not show emotion. I am either neutral, or easy antagonized. I don't know why I have been so emotional lately." She thought she knew why. She had not seen her boyfriend in a month. She didn't know where he was, or if he was even alive. She chalked it up to that. "Besides, sir. No disrespect, but I think I could crush you."

 

The brown furred Caitian tried a bit of humor; it was rare, but the event was known to happen. She sized up the taller and more muscular half Klingon medical doctor. "Doctor, I have no doubt that if I tried to leave this medical bay again, I'd have to deal with you." A fanged smile completed the statement.

 

"Not me, sir, I would let Dr. Wydown at you. You know she is worse than me." She looked at the XO, sizing her up as well. "Sir, please lay down. The CMO comes out, you are in trouble for sitting up, never mind leaving."

 

It was about then that Left Ear noticed Patterson's bloodied knuckles. "What in Hades is this?" Immediately, despite her own healing injuries, she went into Exec Patrol Mode.

 

B’Etor looked at her hands, seeing the dried blood. She shrugged like it was nothing. "Emotion, again. It happens a lot lately." She moved to the sonic sink, cleaning the blood off, apparently last time she didn't do a good enough job. She then took the dermal regenerator and ran it over her knuckles.

 

The brown furred panther merely leveled a concerned gaze at the medical officer, although the look was also one of ‘don’t give me any nonsense’. "If this type of episode continues, I know I don't need to tell you to seek some sort of medical attention Doctor."

 

She heard her and looked down at the blue uniform, thinking how oxymoronic that statement was. She then nodded. "Alright, I will seek medical treatment if you lay down. Don't make me sedate you to make myself look good in front of the CMO."

 

"Ah, right." The recently recalcitrant executive officer obediently laid down on the bio bed; she tried to say something more, but within seconds the mornings events caught up to her and she was in a half sleep.

 

"See, why you don't leave AMA? Good night sir." She watched her quickly zone out into the land of sleeping kitties. She then started updating her bio scans, uploading them to the computer. "If they just listen ... They would get out quicker."