How to Annoy a CMO in Ten Minutes or Less

Posted on Mon Dec 24th, 2012 @ 9:27pm by Ensign Soraya Xel & Lieutenant Sngarlassanarn
Edited on on Mon Dec 24th, 2012 @ 9:29pm

Mission: Funzone
Location: Deck 7 - Sickbay
Timeline: Post-"Medical Misnomers"

Snarl had barely been aboard for an hour. He had reported in, twice, and made his way to sickbay. Sitting down in his new office, he logged in to the LCARS database.

17 new messages. He skimmed them. 12 of them were from the Trill Symbiosis Commission. All had about the same gist:

"URGENT! The Trill Symbiosis Institute requires an immediate medical examination of Soraya Xel, as required for recently-joined persons. Please submit updated Starfleet medical records by the attached stardate. Note that Soraya Xel has waived doctor-patient confidentiality with regard to the Symbiosis Institute as required by the standard symbiosis contract, Federation contract record R-484772374-B, revision 3, subsection 4."

Snarl sighed. "Fucking TSC." He hadn't had the... pleasure of dealing with them before, but he had heard stories. He composed a terse reply:

"I have JUST reported aboard. I have not had a chance to review the files of the subject in question, nor have I actually met her. The Arizona is a badly damaged ship, with many injured crew. You'll get your information when you get it."

Sending the message, Snarl tapped his commbadge. "Sickbay to Ensign Xel, report here ASAP."

While waiting for a reply, the felinoid pulled on a labcoat, and headed out into sickbay's main ward. It wasn't as busy as it could be, since they had the resources of a Starbase hospital nearby., most of the critical patients had been transferred out. But they were still handling a lot of minor injuries; mostly bumps and bruises, as well as injuries that the repair crew managed to get.

Soraya had been unpacking when she received the summons. Whoever had made it had not identified themselves, nor their purpose. Without any knowledge as to it's importance or who to call back, she had little choice but to report to sickbay. Several minutes later, Soraya stepped into sickbay. She briefly looked around at both the patients and doctors moving about the room. She wasn't sure exactly who to approach.

Snarl looked up from the broken wrist he was mending as the doors opened, and a Trill in Operations gold came in. "Ah... Ensign Xel? Snarl. CMO. I called, we'll talk in my office." He handed the tools he was using over to a nurse, and headed towards the glassed in room.

As all pleasantries and introductions had... apparently, just been exchanged, anything further Soraya had to say would likely be redundant. She simply nodded in agreement, and followed the large furry doctor into his office.

"Take a seat. Can I get you anything Coffee, tea?" Snarl picked up a PADD with the messages from the TSC loaded onto it, and set it next to the PADD that he loaded Xel's medical records onto.

"Please. Coffee, black," Soraya responded, reciting the drink that the entire operations and engineering departments ran on.

Snarl turned to the replicator off to the side of his office and ordered the drink. Setting the steaming mug down on his desk in front of her, he sat down behind it. "So, you're probably wondering why I dragged you down here so quick..." He slid the PADD with the messages across the desk at her. "It's because I don't want the TSC crawling up my ass."

Soraya picked it up, long enough to glance at it, before setting it back down, "I apologize, sir, the Institute is..." She left the statement open-ended, briefly recalling her and her previous hosts' various frustrations with the bureaucratic organization. She tried her coffee. Nothing was quite as satisfying as discovering that coffee was not one of the tastes her joining had screwed with. In fact, the years Relkin had to tolerate raktajino perhaps made the coffee taste even better. Soraya realized she was smiling, and promptly stopped, and set the coffee back down.

"Nothing to apologize for, Ensign. You don't control the TSC. It just means that... well, you became priority numero uno." He slid the other PADD across the desk. "This is your medical record. Take a peek at it, make sure everything looks correct."

She picked up the PADD and scrolled through it, keeping a mental reminder of which body she was reading a record for. "This is accurate as of my last Starfleet physical on Starbase 67. Before I was joined, sir."

"Well, you know the regs... new assignment, new physical. Got time now, to get it over with?"

"Might as well, sir," Soraya replied, "Appeases two bureaucracies at one time."

Snarl chuckled, although it probably sounded more like a purr. "Well, let's go find an empty biobed. How are you adapting to the joining process? Any odd flashbacks, symbiont memories overwhelming you, anything like that?"

Soraya followed him out of the office, "Just the occasional desire to do something that seems incredibly random to me, sir. Some of Xel's previous hosts were... eccentric? I adjusted to most changes while on Trill, but new things have also cropped up when I returned to Starfleet." She hopped up onto the biobed that the L'Diran doctor stopped adjacent to.

"What kinds of new things?" Snarl asked, as he pulled a medical tricorder out of his lab coat's pocket.

"I have to remind myself of my rank and position," Soraya replied, "It's been a long time since I've served on a starship though, the difference in location helps."

Snarl nodded. "Well, just don't order the Admiral, and I think you'll be fine." He took a few cursory scans, and tapped a few controls on the biobed, using it's more sophisticated sensors to take a battery of scans almost instantly. "I've got the data I need. Isn't technology grand? No need to disrobe or get cold instruments shoved in awkward places."

Soraya nodded in agreement, before noting one element needing clarification. "What Admiral?" she asked.

"You hadn't heard? Admiral Nathan Cowell. He's ah... taken over command. And put a Captain's uniform on.... really quite unorthodox, but he strikes me as the unorthodox type."

Soraya muttered something about a "crazy old hot-headed warmongering nut" under her breath. "I thought this was Captain Haverson's ship," she stated, addressing the doctor once more.

"Apparently Captain Haverson is responsible for the... condition of the ship, and the Admiral relieved him, pending JAG proceedings.... judging from your muttering, I presume you know the Admiral?"

"Sorry, sir," Soraya replied, "Relkin never thought very highly of Admiral Cowell's problem resolution strategy. It's a... view he held quite strongly."

Snarl nodded. "You're the first joined Trill I've seen as a Doctor, so I may have to call you back if I find out that I missed a scan that the TSC wants. You are OK with me sharing this with them, right?"

"It's part of the deal. You get hundreds of years of experience, they get complete and unrestricted access to every detail of your life," Soraya replied.

Snarl nodded. "I just wanted to be sure... I'm not so sure I'd take that deal. Living your life under a microscope can't be fun..." Snarl cleared his throat. He could feel a hairball coming on. Best to end this. "Like I said, I've got everything I need... I think. I'll call you if I need anything else. Thanks for coming down."

"You're welcome," Soraya replied, "Hopefully, it will get the Institute off your back. For a while, anyways."