Posted by Cadet Javal (Doctor) in Sickbay - Cadet Javal DH meeting

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Ven Miya (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Cadet Javal DH meeting

Posted by Cadet Javal (Doctor) in Sickbay - Cadet Javal DH meeting
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<snip>

(OOC: Welcome to the Medical Department! I’m using OOC to denote ‘out of character’ moments when we can have a chat before going into IC - ‘in character’ - mode. We’ve already had a bit of a chat on Discord, so it’s great to see you posting here and I’m looking forward to interacting with your character!)

At the intercom’s alert, Miya raised her head. She had been taking advantage of a lull in sickbay to steal some private time in her office - ‘My’ office! It still doesn’t seem real, somehow! - so she could catch up with a new medical journal, but she was looking forward to meeting her latest cadet. Every newcomer to sickbay was a chance to learn and improve. And, Prophets, I have a lot of improving to do!

“Come in, Cadet Javal!” she invited, putting her PADD to one side and brushing her sleek hair behind one ear, setting her d’ja pagh earring jangling slightly. She had read his reports from the Academy, of course, but that was nothing compared to meeting someone in person. He sounded as austere as Lieutenant T’Saie had seemed when Miya had first arrived aboard the Challenger, but she had learned a lot from the Vulcan CMO. She hoped she could be as good a role model to Javal as T’Saie had been to her.

Rising from her chair, she smiled in welcome, habits instilled as a Bajoran cleric rising to the fore: Make your visitor feel comfortable - they cannot share their thoughts with you if they are ill at ease. “Please, take a seat, Cadet. Can I get you something to drink? Or maybe a snack?” Miya gestured to the replicator in a corner of her office - surely one of the best parts of being CMO!

[Lieutenant JG Ven Miya, CMO]

(OOC: It’s great to finally start posting on here! I look forward to working with you. Just a quick question for you, would you recommend that I snip out the post that I sent originally in the reply I’m making now? I’m trying to gauge how best to manage the reply chains with each successive post I make. Thanks!)

The warm welcome from the CMO was met with a similar joviality from Javal’s side, though perhaps his facial expression and body language were subtle in their conveyance of it. He clasped his hands behind his back, glanced over at the replicator, and titled his head slightly in recognition of the kind offer.

“Thank you for the gesture, Ma’am,” he replied courteously, “however I already sampled my share of Plomeek soup before coming aboard the Challenger.”

She is a young CMO but appears to possess a marked aptitude for interpersonal interaction. I should look forward to observing her practice when the time comes, he thought to himself.

He proceeded to sit down on the empty chair nearest Miya’s desk, sitting up straight and folding his hands at his waist. He took a brief moment to observe the contents of her desk, whereby he noticed the PADD laying on the table.

“I trust my early entrance did not disturb your reading?” he said, gesturing toward the PADD left idle on the desk. “The latest edition of this journal in particular obtained some fascinating new results on potential prophylactic treatments for gorch on Klingon patients.”

[Cadet Javal , Medical]

(OOC: well spotted! The <snip> is an essential part of posting here as otherwise we’d quickly have a Scroll of Doom (TM) with some of the longer threads. When it’s a relatively simple thread, like the two of us chatting, we’ll let it go back a couple of posts each - the rule of thumb I was told was to look for three to four of the little arrows at the start of a post, e.g. >>>Cadet Javal passed briskly through the doors ..... then snip the posts with a larger number of arrows. But when the threads include lots of people, it’s helpful to try to keep one post from each character so you can look back and see who’s involved; in those cases the arrows can add up quickly and the “three to four” guidance isn’t as effective! Just remember to put <snip> when you remove something so everyone reading the thread knows some posts have been removed. And if you forget, like I often do, the edit button is very helpful! :D )

Something about that head-tilt, allied to his careful formality, reminded Miya strongly of Lieutenant T’Saie. She smiled at his graceful refusal. “You’re welcome. I’m going to have a glass of water - we’ll be doing a bit of talking and I’m likely to get thirsty. If you change your mind about refreshments, just let me know.”

She was carrying her water-glass, beaded with condensation, carefully back to her desk when Javal’s comment about the journal article took her by surprise. His gesture to the PADD made her realise how he had gained the knowledge about her reading habits. “No - you didn’t disturb me at all. I haven’t reached that article yet, but I’ll make sure I do. There are several Klingon cadets in our crew and, given their ages, a new treatment for gorch might be very useful.” She set down her glass and, with a flick of one finger, moved away from the journal article and onto her personnel files, keeping her PADD screen carefully out of the cadet’s eyesight.

“So, Cadet, can you tell me a bit about yourself, please? What brought you into medicine - and into Starfleet?” She always enjoyed finding out more about each new cadet to join the Challenger’s sickbay staff. As a prylar, she had been privileged to work with Bajorans undergoing many different challenges and struggles; she had found her skills lay in supporting them through their difficulties and helping them lead happier lives. This part of her new role, at least, was one in which she felt secure.

[Lieutenant JG Ven Miya]

(OOC: Thanks for the tip! I just realized while I was writing this that Javal was kinda giving himself his own little psych exam! Perhaps he’s just too introspective for his own good?)

Javal gave a nod in agreement to Miya’s reply to his question about the journal article. In reality, he asked the question to accomplish two different purposes. One was simply to satisfy his rather untempered curiosity, a particular vice that he could recall being reprimanded for often by his instructors back on Vulcan. Unchecked curiosity breeds passionate emotion, leading the mind astray from the logical path, was but one of many such lectures he had experienced in his youth. Even to this day, Javal had struggled to live up to the Vulcan ideal in this regard.

The second purpose for the question was far less unconscionable to his Vulcan ethic: he simply wanted to engage in what humans called “small talk.” From what experience he had gained during his time at the Starfleet Medical Academy, many of his patients, especially the non-Vulcan ones, seemed to regard physician interactions more favorably when such attempts were made. Applying the principle generally to everyday interaction was therefore a very logical course indeed.

His mind briefly wandering off of himself and back onto the Lieutenant that was now seated across from him, he found that the questions would now begin to head his way.

“During my time on Vulcan, it was long assumed by both myself and my elders that I would pursue biomedical studies with the Vulcan Science Academy. I had displayed a particular aptitude in the areas of exoanatomy and biochemistry, and my name was placed into consideration by the Academy’s admissions council.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Javal was speaking at this moment in a straight, informative tone, one might be tricked into thinking he was bragging about himself.

“As the most coveted research institution on Vulcan,” he continued, leaning a bit forward and crossing his right leg over as he explained, “the criteria for admission is very exacting. As it so happened, my elder brother, Javok, made certain…” he paused for a moment, trying to find the right word. “Impressions with the council members that I was not in a position to make.”

Noticing that his attempt at an explanation there was rather vague, he started again.

“Our cognitive capabilities were nearly identical, but I possessed certain unfavorable deficiencies in my conduct. The council eventually decided that they would grant admission to Javok.” It would have taken an experienced counselor to detect the ever so slightest hint of jealousy contained within the austere delivery of his words.

Miya, being neither a counsellor (yet) nor experienced, did not pick up on the slight undercurrent of jealousy in his tone, but she did feel a sudden surge of empathy for the Vulcan cadet. “Unfavourable deficiencies”, indeed! What a way to speak to someone when they’re still young. She kept her own expression smooth, however, hiding her true feelings.

“After hearing the council’s decision, I decided to seek alternative research positions outside of the Vulcan system. I reasoned that applying to different programs in other portions of Federation space might have afforded me the opportunity to offer my expertise to the greater scientific community where it was needed. On one of such postings, I was involved with research on regenerative therapies for orthopedic patients who had received extensive trauma during their service in the Dominion War. The assignment provided me ample opportunity to interact with many different Federation, and sometimes non-Federation, species. The chance to monitor these individuals through the course of their experimental therapies was…intriguing to me. It demonstrated the benefit of application to my research, and I inquired into applying at Starfleet Academy.”

After speaking in what effectively amounted to be his autobiography, he concluded his thoughts with thus: “Ultimately, I joined Starfleet so I could participate in the advancement of healthcare through its practical application both within the confines of the Federation and beyond.”

Miya was nodding as he finished. “I’m very glad you joined, Cadet. You took a challenging situation and turned it into something positive, both for yourself and for Starfleet. That says a lot about your personal priorities.” She gave him a quick smile before taking a sip of her water, marshalling her thoughts. This part of her role really was very like being a prylar, she had discovered. Asking the right questions, listening to the answers, then responding. Truly, the Prophets had known what they were doing when they sent her to join Starfleet!

She set the glass down, the condensation on the base leaving a semi-circle on her desktop. “Your research sounds very interesting - I’d like to hear more about it, in time - but can you tell me about the “practical application” of advancing healthcare, as you put it? Obviously you’ll have been through various placements during your Academy training, but what parts of this practical application interest you most?” Being a doctor aboard a starship, she had found, was a combination of everyday routine and occasional boredom, set against moments of sheer terror. She deliberately tried not to think of the smell and the sounds in the cargo bay from that fateful day when they had saved the refugee colonists. Well - saved some of them. And also lost one of their own cadets.

(OOC: You can probably see that I snipped your first post as we discussed last time, just to stop the thread from becoming too long! Feel free to snip some more posts when you reply. :-) Javal’s introspection seems to suit his character - it’s good to have traits (both positive and negative!) which you can draw on as you develop him over time. I’m looking forward to seeing where you take him while he’s on the Challenger!)

[Lieutenant JG Ven Miya, CMO]