Served Punch

Posted on Sat Jan 21st, 2023 @ 4:52am by Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & David Meddows MD-Ph.D.
Edited on on Sat Jan 21st, 2023 @ 8:54am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Fool’s Errand
Location: Deck 7: Medical Division
Timeline: M1 MD12 (2268.27.05) 0800

Several days had passed since Dr. Meddows had been served punch by Dr. Amato and since Lieutenant Thraxina had served soup to Ensign Dienstag. Now was the time to continue the unpleasant conversation on how to resolve the situation. This time Captain Faust called in backup.

The doors to the recovery ward opened and Captain Faust walked in followed closely by Lieutenant Azrel Vox. Tristan thought Aze's presence would help smooth things over and she could help him convince Meddows to drop the whole thing. They made their way over to Meddows' bed.

Meddows was sat up in bed reading from a viewscreen, which he pushed away as he caught the Red and Gold uniformed figures approaching in the orner of his eye. "Aye aye, here comes the Heavy Mob!" he intoned.

"Captain, Lieutenant." he kept it formal. "I now know exactly what happened the day I was knocked out, and I think we have a problem, don't we?"

"We do indeed Doctor," the Captain responded. He grimaced at Meddows comment as he was secretly hoping the doctor would still remember things differently. "I wanted to discuss the matter with you and I thought Lieutenant Vox could aid in the discussion given your past friendship," he added.

Aze smiled at Meddows although she wasn't fully familiar with situation in question but was there to be of any help she could.

"She certainly can! That's amazing Captain!" yelped Dave, nearly jumping off his bed in excitement: he looked delighted and surprised at the Skipper's prescience. Seeing as Faust knew what he was going to say already, he turned his attention to Lieutenant Vox. He also turned his bedside viewscreen to her, so she could see the incredibly complicated mathematical formula thereon, which included as many geometrical shapes as it included numbers and algebraic letters.

"I've been analysing the data on the Orion attack. It wasn't just a simple shield dodge, they used something I've never seen before. Do you remember the work that Torbin and I did on interstitial-transportation? I think that might be the key to cracking it..." he enthused. By this point he had decided that it was easiest to talk to Aze as her own person, as it were, who just happened to have access to 'data files' of Torbin's experiences. He knew that the truth was more complicated than that: the current host and the previous host's consciousnesses were merged, although with the new host's personality more dominant, especially at the beginning. But this approach got him through the day with a lot less angst about who he was actually talking to.

"I do Doctor. What are you suggesting? Bear with me whilst I try to recall the details. But go ahead." Aze replied.

Meddows jumped up on his knees on top of the medical bunk, with all the glee of a kid on Christmas morning, and pointed to part of the equation that he thought of particular interest. "See this? I reckon the Orion's device used interstitial-transportation along a communications channel. That's why I'm so excited: with Torbin's scientific genius and your knowledge of communications systems, we can work out exactly what happened and track down the anchor."

He thought Captain Faust might be feeling a bit left out of this conversation, so turned slightly to explain it in layman's, or rather nautical terms:

"Captain, you know what a jackstay transfer is?"

"Yes Doctor," the Captain responded, "If you recall I spend too many hours in my youth reading Horatio Hornblower novels." He sighed, "As fascinating as this is Doctor, this isn't why we've come to speak with you," he said, looking up at the crazed ship's psychiatrist.

Dave looked dumbfounded.

"Uh? But Captain, this is of the utmost importance. If we don't find the anchor, there could be some very unusual effects on the ship and the crew, even dangerous effects." he rabbited on.

He looked to Aze. She understood.

"I thought I'd be able to retrace the line, but whoever supplied the Orions with this..." he was suddenly holding up a small ball-like device, made of an unusual metallic purple material with one part of it clearly burned out "... was careful to cancel the line with a stronger signal. Captain, have we received any unusual communications lately? something out of the ordinary that didn't come through the official channels, say?" he asked, turning back to Faust.

"I haven't encountered any, but that is a question of Lieutenant Vox," The Captain responded as he turned his head to look at the young Trill woman.

"Well, if memory serves me right, during the back and forth during the battle there was radio traffic between the ourselves and the Orion ship. Is that any help to you Dr Meddows?" Aze asked.

Dave frowned, rubbing the back of his neck, as was his habit when faced with a tricky question. "Nah, would have been some time after. Not a signal from the Orions, they probably couldn't care less: probably from the irresponsible b... birdbrain that sold them the device, to cover their tracks." he frowned "Oh well, it'll be an interesting puzzle to try and solve between appointments. I suppose I'll have my work cut out for me after this little lot" he indicated some of the other beds where the wounded and traumatised were lying, after the encounter with the green-skinned raiders.

"It's a mystery that can be solved eventually," Tristan responded and then blinked to clear his head, "Now the reason we came here is to discuss the matter concerning Mr. Dienstag, Dr. Amato and you. The situation is serious and could have serious consequences all around."

The patient looked disappointed to have to stop talking about the mystery of the Orion device but looked at the ceiling to recall what incident the Captain could be talking about.

"Oh! You mean when Mike punched me?" he recalled. He clearly remembered everything now. He gave a little shrug. "Occupational hazard. Obvious case of repressed grief. That's the problem with medical personnel: they often think that because they understand psychological symptoms, they don't suffer from them themselves." Meddows nodded sagely "He'd have thumped someone sooner or later. Better me than a visiting Admiral. Or Doctor Kitchner, with his brittle bones. Would've snapped his head off." Dave held up the Orion device again, ready to return to the interesting subject...

"So you are fine with dropping the matter?" Captain Faust asked, looking rather puzzled.

Dave looked equally puzzled. "Captain... why would I want to make trouble for a member of my family" he frowned and shook his head. Presumably he viewed the crew of the Midway as members of some big happy family.

He made a triangle shape with his hands.

"I reach. Mike will too." he assured the skipper.

"And what of Mr. Dienstag?"

Meddows glanced at Aze "Toby Dienstag would be really useful in working out the tangential equations: yes Captain, we would like as much of his time as you can assign him to this task" He was on about the flipping device again.

"I would have to agree with Doctor Meddows, captain, we could do with Mr Dienstag's help. I have an understanding of it all but that's through Torbin. I might be rusty as it's been a while. " Aze replied.

The Captain paused and then said, "Alright then, you'll have what you need." He was still mildly shocked, "You can take Science Lab 2. I'm sure the commander won't mind," he added.

Dave nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that should be all right." he said, but a look of worry did play across his features.

"I must say Captain, I'm surprised you haven't asked me about Ensign Dienstag's Mitsubishi test. Not only did he barely pass it, and run off in tears afterwards, but some well-meaning fool actually signed him off his shift, just because he was a bit upset. You want to find out who that was and have a word with them! Poor old Lieutenant Dora had to pull a double shift. Deinstag's a brilliant young man, but he needs to remember that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one."

"See Doctor this is where you and I greatly disagree..." Tristan responded, stiffing up, "I could care less about command test results. Throughout this emergency Mr. Dienstag has demonstrated command fitness multiple times in very real situations." An annoyed tone entered his voice, "I am the fool who signed him off his shift."

"Oh well, I admire you for taking the blame." nodded Dave, as if he thought this was some admittance that it was a wrong choice. But the next part of the speech put him right on that front.

"I told him to take as the day off after the accident but he assured me he was fine. He appeared to be on the mend prior to that session with you. A command test was unwarranted and completely unnecessary. In the future expect you to treat to the officers on this ship in a calm, professional manner. Otherwise I will find another ship's psychiatrist... Your job is to ensure the crew of this vessel operate at peak performance, not use them as unwilling test subjects for your research. Do I make myself clear, Doctor?" he asked.

Dr Meddows eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up at this diatribe. "Oh! Well. I'm, er, sorry if I, er, did something contrary to your wishes, Captain. I'll make sure that next time I check with you about your personal stance on things. I mean, for instance, how do you feel about fraternization between senior officers and lower ranks?" He was asking because he wondered if there was a 'third wheel' in Ensign Dienstag's unusual behaviour.

"I mean, I know we've all done it, haven't we? Drunken grope with a yeoman at the embarkation party, then spending the rest of a 5 Year Mission trying to avoid her. What I mean is a serious, romantic entanglement with a subordinate officer who you might, one day, need to issue life or death orders to" he asked academically.

"For a counsellor and a scientist you certainly enjoy forming conclusions with little evidence. You will follow what is prescribed by Starfleet regulations and the guidelines of Dr. Kitchner. No more half baked treatments or unapproved command tests. If you follow these requirements, then we shall have no further issues."

"Aye Aye, Sir!" Dave gave a little nautical salute, but wondered what the answer to his question was. In the course of his psychoanalytical duties, he was likely to uncover the sort of onboard relationships between senior and junior officers which Starfleet frowned upon.

"Good, now if there is nothing else," the Captain responded, "I assume you have research to conduct."

"Ye..." he started to agree, pulling the screen across to him again, but then caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye "Oh no, it's Nurse Jenkins, I'm supposed to be taking my nap!" He pushed the screen away, flopped on his back with his eyes closed and started to feign a farcical snoring noise.

I guess that ends that... the Captain thought to himself, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

 

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