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Sickbay - CMO Rahm Inspects Medical

Posted Aug. 1, 2022, 10:55 a.m. by Ensign Johnathan Baptiste (Doctor) (Christopher Huskins)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Dr. Rahm Vesta (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - CMO Rahm Inspects Medical

Posted by Ensign Johnathan Baptiste (Doctor) in Sickbay - CMO Rahm Inspects Medical

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Dr. Rahm Vesta (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - CMO Rahm Inspects Medical
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻
In her quarters, Vesta woke up three hours before her first day in the Sickbay and made several calls: one to her elderly mother on Bajor who was hosting a concert that evening at the family theater, The Jewel of Bajor. She talked to a couple old friends, members of her network of friends. Then, she took a sonic shower and fit her working prosthetic right leg, and dressed in a voluminous robe in Medical blues with a matching Bajoran earring. After a quick breakfast of fruit and cheese, it was time to inspect Sickbay, meet her cadets and the outgoing ensigns, and to get her office prepared for her stay on the Challenger.


The doors to Sickbay opened, and Dr. Rahm strided in like a cowboy, her synthetic leg jutting out slightly and giving her a unique gait. Dressed in Bajoran robes with her comm badge and pips, she typically eschewed the traditional uniform unless the occasion called for it.

She looked around Sickbay and found it to be adequate. The rooms were neat and prepared. The front desk was staffed by a young-looking nurse named NE Liu.

“Are any of the senior doctors present?” CMO Rahm asked. “I think it’s time for a brief meeting in my office. I’ll be waiting. Thank you.”

The CMO’s Office still had the previous chief’s nameplate on the door–Dr. Frankenstein. Vesta knew her by reputation as a very good doctor, so she removed the nameplate with the intent to mail it to her in the future or save it somehow, as a sign of respect.

She took a seat behind the desk and began reading her staff’s bios on a PADD until they arrived.

-CMO Rahm Vesta

P’Mala Dawes was clearing out her desk in the very back of Sickbay when she heard a woman’s voice talking to NE Nurse Liu and then the door to the CMO’s office close. She thought Must be the new Medical Officer.

Nurse Liu peeked her head in around the corner. “Dr. Rahm would like to see you, P’Mala. Didn’t have much to say, yet.”

“Thanks, Susan,” P’Mala said. She put down the papers she was paging through–mostly things to vaporize–and walked down the corridor, pressed the buzzer at Dr. Rahm’s office, and walked in–she knew the woman was ready for her.

“Come in!” commanded Rahm Vesta, but low and calmly. The Vulcan Dawes was quite taller than she’d remembered, and with navy blue hair now. Interesting. The woman had seemed the reticent type in school.

P’Mala recognized the short woman with graying curly hair–she’d attended a couple guest lectures the elder doctor had given at the Academy.

“Dr. Rahm, it is nice to see you again,” P’Mala said evenly.

-Ensign P’Mala Dawes, Medical

“P’Mala, dear, it’s nice to see you, too. I can see that your tour on the Challenger has been good for you! Sit, sit.”

P’Mala took a seat at the desk, where, not too long ago she had been seen by Dr. Frankenstein. How quick the time had flown since her first dazed days on the Challenger.

“It certainly has been… interesting.” P’Mala said, landing on that last word a little unceremoniously. It wasn’t the right word, exactly, to explain all that had happened.

Vesta had a glint in her eye. “So, tell me, how have you found your first tour? Do you know what your next orders are, yet?”

-CMO Rahm

P’Mala thought about it a little, avoiding eye contact with CMO Rahm somewhat. “I still have no plans,” she said.

“That surprises me. If I recall, you were very focused in the Academy,” Dr. Rahm said. She supposed she was being a little personal, but she was quite curious about the half-Vulcan woman who seemed quite different than the one she’d met before.

“But I really have enjoyed most of my time here. I’ve also seen crewmen injured out of nowhere, and dealt with too many cases of the Bolian flu already. It has been nice, though. I regret it’s ending so soon.”

Dr. Rahm touched her earring self-consciously. “Aah. On Bajor, I would say that you have a blocked pagh, P’Mala. Sometimes change, it can be hard.”

“You’re right,” P’Mala said. “I’ve been meditating about Medical. I enjoy parts of medicine, but I’m more interested in science and diplomacy right now, and after a decade in healthcare it seems impossible to make a decision on whether to be a doctor or not.”

Dr. Rahm laughed. “You don’t have to decide now! After the Resistance, I was 30. I thought my lot in life was to play the Bajoran harp in my family’s theater, but here I am. With you.”

P’Mala thought a minute. “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you decide to become the CMO of an academic ship? The last time I heard you speak, you were doing embassy work, not medicine.”

-Ensign Dawes, Medical

“I do what interests me at this point in my career,” Dr. Rahm said. She cracked her knuckles.

“Some people like myself thrive on change,” Vesta said. “And at my age, when Starfleet tells me to go somewhere and do something, I’ll do it. I’m almost 60, and am not looking to be a Lieutenant the rest of my life,” she laughed.

-CMO Rahm

P’Mala thought about this for a minute. “Do you think I could get a posting in a swing department or Science somewhere out there?

-Ensign P’Mala Dawes

“I would say, probably.” Dr. Rahm said. “Have you even asked anyone about it, or have you been suffering in silence. A rather Vulcan thing to do.”

-CMO Rahm

P’Mala listened thoughtfully. She knew Dr. Rahm was right. It was her career, and she had to take some control over it, instead of just filling the slot grooved in before her.

“You see a lot, Doctor. I have a lot to think about. I think I’m going to talk to Command and see about getting a Science position somewhere–even if that means working on a Starbase for a while.” P’Mala stood up to leave. “Thank you for your time. I’ll be here to continue my usual shifts until graduation is complete–if I can help you get acclimated, just let me know.”

-Ensign P’Mala Dawes

Dr. Vesta Rahm stood up as well, walking P’Mala to the door.

“Now, feel free to stay in contact as you embark on your career in Starfleet. Feel free to message me and let me know how things go. I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said, gently touching P’Mala on the shoulder and adjusting her false leg.

“Absolutely, Doctor. Thank you for the offer,” P’Mala said. She could use all the mentoring she could get. Suddenly the universe seemed bigger.

“I need to get this thing refitted eventually. Now, do you know if Baptiste is still on duty? I’d like to meet him as well before graduation completes and you folks leave us.”

-Dr. Rahm, CMO

“You know, I am not sure,” P’Mala replied. “If I see him, I’ll send him or any incoming cadets, I’ll send them your way.”

With a slight bow, P’Mala left the office. It was the end of her shift and a sonic shower sounded fantastic, followed by a mug of warm tomato soup. She waved goodbye to Nurse Liu and left the sickbay for what left like the beginning of something new.

-P’Mala Dawes

Cadet Baptiste was sitting down eating a plate of Poutine and having a strawberry lemonade, while he was catching up on his reading of the Journal of Emergency and Trauma Care when his comm badge chirped. =^=Cadet Johnathan Baptiste report to the CMO’s office=^= it had come from NE Nurse Liu. With a sigh Johnathan got up and placed his meal in the recycler and picked up his PaDD. He headed to sickbay, curious as to why he had been summoned, he was off shift and not the on-call emergency trauma doctor for the day. He entered the sickbay and stepped up to the CMO’s door and hit the chime.

-Cadet Johnathan Baptiste, medical

“Come in!” Dr. Rahm Vesta said, hearing the door chime.

She leaned over a PaDD, typing a letter of recommendation for one of the outgoing nursing NCs. The older Bajoran woman was ready for her shift to end, to take off her artificial leg, and have a glass of moscato and some cheese.

-Dr. Rahm Vesta, CMO

Ensign Baptiste stepped through the door and stood three feet in front of the CMO’s desk and stood at attention, “Cadet Jonathan Baptiste reporting as ordered, Sir!”

-Cadet Johnathan Baptiste, medical

“At ease, Cadet,” the older woman said. “Would you like me to replicate you a glass of water or something?”

“I just wanted to meet you and do your outgoing interview before it was your time to graduate. I apologize that I’ve only just arrived at the end of your time on the Challenger, but I’ve heard great things,” Dr. Rahm said.

-CMO Rahm Vesta

“No thank you. I was finishing up my meal when I was called.” Johnathan said with an easy smile. “Figured I best get down here as soon as possible, given what has happened previously I was not sure we didn’t have a major medical emergency going on.” He relaxed a little more “I am glad to see that wasn’t the case. I am glad to hear that people said great things about my performance. I try my best.”

-Cadet Johnathan Baptiste, medical

Dr. Rahm stood, her false right leg jutting somewhat to the side. “That’s all Starfleet can ask of you–that you try your best,” she said. “Take a seat for a moment.”

She sat back down in the CMO’s chair. “I have heard that you and Dr. Dawes were on the scene of an… incident with Ensign Morton before I came aboard the Challenger ” she said, inquisitively. “How was that experience for you? Dealing with such anolomies?”

-CMO Rahm Vesta

“Yes sir, we did our best to treat him and bring him back whole. He is still a little peeved at me though as I currently have him on a strict cardiac diet, doing cardiac rehabilitation, and checking in with the sickbay personnel once a week for routine monitoring. He believes it is all unnecessary. I informed him if he had an issue to take it up with the Chief Medical Officer and the Captain. Until you clear him personally I am not going to allow for the medical staff to miss something important. His heart was placed under extreme stress and needs time to heal, and God only knows what was on the other side of the dimensional rift he was caught in.” replied Baptiste. “As far as the whole thing, I studied and specialized in Emergency Medicine and Trauma surgery, where else would one get to experience the whole spectrum of unique medical emergencies other than in Starfleet.” He said with a Cheshire cat grin.

-Cadet Johnathan Baptiste, medical


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