Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton/SARAH (Ships AI/Avatar) in Pre-Sim: Doctor? Don’t mind if I do…

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Royal Sinclair (Counselor) in Pre-Sim: Doctor? Don’t mind if I do…

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Royal Sinclair (Counselor) in Pre-Sim: Doctor? Don’t mind if I do…

(snip)

“I’m gonna wait. See how this goes. And then I will either have a drink in celebration… or a drink in anger. But either way, I see a significant loss of my whiskey inventory over the next few hours.”

As if on cue, the screen came back to life and the panel was visible again. Admiral Turner held a look on her face that was a cross between smug satisfaction and that of a sniper with their target firmly in their cross hairs. “Commander, our apologies for the delay. Captain Welby, please go ahead.” was all she said. Welby looked at the screen, his face flushed with either embarrassment or anger… or both…, and said “Lieutenant Commander Sinclair. Please expand on your statement in Section Four, Paragraph Two where you say that it should be required that Counselors aboard a ship should be mandated to cross train in both Command and Operations capacity? Surely the time constraints for such training would detract from the level of patient care the Counselor was able to provide.”

Sinclair didn’t grin. He didn’t smirk, nor did he laugh. Although the temptation was there. He simply cleared his throat and took a drink from the glass of water before him. “Well, sir…” and he began expounding on how his own varied background has already proved useful in some circumstances and so on. About twenty minutes of explanation preceded Captain Welby saying simply “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. That explains your point.” and he looked at Admiral Turner and gave her a questioning look. “Yes, Captain. You are excused to return to your duties.” at which Welby almost ran out of sight of the comm screen. The sound of a door sliding open and closed and then the last person on the panel, Doctor Rissn, laughed audibly. Admiral Turner looked at the screen and said “Royal, if I was there I would kiss you… regulations be damned. Captain Welby pulls stunts like that on candidates all the time. I don’t know how he gets his information, but he does. And he wields it like a damn weapon. But this is the first time he has run up against someone who isn’t a straight up student. I knew when I picked you for the program you would do well. But that was not only the correct response, but you delivered it perfectly.” and then a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Wait. Royal, do you know if Lieutenant Dalton monitors comms? I would hate to think that she -” and Sinclair cut her off while making a gesture to Corrine out of the shot from the vid screen. “Only if instructed to do so or she picks up on certain key words or phrases. She is, after all, a Star Fleet officer Admiral. She does her duty and respects the privacy of both her crew mates and their communications. Far be it form her to eavesdrop.” Turner noticeably relaxed a bit. “Good. Welby is a jerk, but he knows that what he opened his mouth about is classified. And for all his arrogance, he does follow the rules. Which is why I was happy you slapped him in the face with them, Commander. Now then…” and she looked at Rissn, who was still chuckling. His Vulcan compatriot was, of course, stoic throughout the exchange, but even she had seemed to be less tense in the aftermath.

Cori wisely kept herself silent, though she had no doubt that Sinclair would know that she still had her attention on the conversation. He was correct; normally she had too much decorum, nor was she really that interested in what people got up to on their downtime. But as she mused before, he was on her side and she wanted to understand better the man that would likely be going to bat for her over and over again. This was a rare event, and one worth noting, of which she not doubted he would.

Rissn said simply “Oh, I have nothing for the candidate, Admiral. My purview lies in ensuring candidates follow all of the rules and regulation, both Federation and Star Fleet Medical, with regards to patient information and disclosure. My questions for the candidate have already been answered.” and he looked at Sinclair. “Well done, sir. Welby needed the wind out of his sails a bit. And kudos for knowing the law. Make sure you keep that in your head going forward and you should do just fine.”

Admiral Turner nodded and said “Well, then. Normally at this point, we would adjourn and discuss and contact you in a few days or weeks and let you know the results of the deliberation. This is, however, a somewhat unique circumstance. As I have already spoken to Doctors Mu’tah and Rissn, and Captain Welby has abstained from the vote, I believe that we are all in agreement, yes?” and Mu’tah and Rissn both nodded. Looking at Sinclair, Admiral Turner said “Then I believe congratulations are in order, Doctor Sinclair.” and she smiled at him with no small amount of pride.

Sinclair exhaled and said simply “Aye. Thank you. I appreciate your time and candor, Doctors. I do hope that my interaction with the Captain was not the only thing I am being graded on.” and he chuckled. Mu’tah spoke up at that. “Indeed not, Doctor Sinclair. Your thesis was sound and well researched, and your supportive arguments today were both logical and well-delivered. I believe humans wold say the interaction with Captain Welby was… ah yes… ‘icing on the cake’.” at which Rissn laughed out loud again. “Yes it was!” he said in agreement.

A few more minutes of chit chat and congratulatory words were exchanged, and then the comms went dark. Sinclair leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He then opened them and looked at nowhere in particular.

“Dalton, I wish you were a drinker.” and using an actual key, he opened the lower left drawer of his desk. Pulling a unlabeled bottle and two glasses out, he sat them on the desk and poured two inches of a brownish liquid into each, and slid one across the desk to the empty chair facing him.

Sinclair, CNS

OOC: Correcting typo.

Her ight laughed filled the room. “Me too, actually. I was just thinking when you mentioned whiskey earlier that it’s been a long time that I’ve had a good drink. Though perhaps we should be grateful, because with everything that’s happened to me, I might very well have become an alcoholic.”

“But it’s a bad idea to drink alone. Mind if I join you, even if my glass doesn’t empty?” Corinne asked. “I would like to give my congratulations properly, after all.”

~Corinne Dalton

“It’s a bad idea to drink alone? Love, I’m Scottish. It’s a bad idea for me to drink with others.” and he laughed. “And you are most welcome. I honestly don’t know who else I would like to celebrate with more, right now. And not to worry, I’ll make sure yours doesn’t go to waste.” and he leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the desk, holding his glass on his leg and waiting for Corrine to appear from the ethereal realm of the ship’s computer. He closed his eyes for a moment and chuckled. “I am so glad that is done.”

Sinclair, CNS