A Medical Warning of Paranoia

Posted on Wed Mar 25th, 2009 @ 10:31pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell

995 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: In The Dark
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

As Commander Lane rounded the corner of the corridor on Deck 4, the double doors to sickbay appeared in his line of sight. As the sensor detected the Trill upon his approach, they slid open to reveal a rather hectic sickbay with med-techs and nurses criss-crossing each other throughout the spacious decked flooring. Locating the CMO, Commander Lane sharply nodded over to him in greeting and headed straight for him. Faintly smiling at the Doctor, the Trill swallowed hard. "I apologise for the cloak and daggers, Doctor, but I need to speak with you in private if you have a moment, please," he asked, his face stern and unmoving.

Mabren looked up from the central console, it seemed like so much was needing his approval. Hearing the doors open, the doctor glanced up and noticed the Captain, returning his nod he greeted the Captain. "Of course," he said, "We can go into my office."

As they entered the Doctor's private office, the Trill relaxed ever so slightly and leant against the surface of the desk. "Doctor, I have just come from Ensign Turoc who is performing a security sweep as ordered. He has just contacted me complaining of visual hallucinations he believes are connected to his neural inhibitor." He sighed heavily, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation. "He is on his way up to the bridge as we speak and then he is to report here for a scan to determine if the inhibitor is causing him these rather disconcerting side-effects. When he checks the internal sensor results he will not find any indication of what he saw. However, I do not believe it to be a fault of his inhibitor, either… You see, I have also been experiencing this sense of something wrong that I cannot explain. But, I think it is cabin fever, sitting up here in orbit, in a tin-can. But I can't quite shake off the feeling. If the counselor were here, I'd visit her, but with her on the away mission, you're all I got, presently."

As the Captain talked, his mind wandered back to the power fluctuation and wondered if that had anything to do with it. Of course, several rumors that were flying around warp ten hinted at something ulterior, but he didn't put much weight on them. "A inhibitor problem?" he asked, as he spun the computer around. Tapping a few commands, he watched the current feed from it. Looking at the reading, he noticed that some of them were a bit out of sync. "Some of his readings are a bit out of sync, but within limits."

Looking back at the Commander, the doctor shifted gears, "Well, Captain, some of what you're feeling might just be stress. Go to your quarters and try to relax. And get some rest. I can give you a mild sedative to help you if you need to."

"Thank you for the offer, Doctor, but the last thing I need at the moment is to be drugged up in my own quarters," he joked. "I have a few hours secured on the holodeck this evening and I hope that that will relax me sufficiently." The Captain sighed and fixed his eyes on the good doctor before him. "Keep an eye on Mr. Turoc and that damned inhibitor, if you could. I just find it a little ominous that both of us seem to have experienced similar feelings about similar situations but without evidence to support either of our… worries."

He placed a hand on Mabren's shoulder and winced slightly. "I don’t need to remind you of the sensitive nature of gossip, Doctor. And would appreciate it if we kept any information amongst ourselves. Or the senior staff at best."

"Of course, Captain," Mabren said, "Perhaps some tea would be next for you then. But hopefully you can relax on the holodeck. And I'll exercise discretion regarding this, but eventually more people will need to be brought into the loop to deal with it. Have any contingencies been considered?"

"Nothing at the moment, Doc," Lane replied, rubbing the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. "With Commander Arkham and half the senior staff down on the surface occupied with the mission, and with me having no more to go on other than a gut feeling, I didn't want to lay my burdens at someone else's door. I do just hope that that it is just my paranoia."

The Trill smiled and a twinkle crossed his eye. "Do you have a suggestion, Doc?"

Returning the Captain's smile, Mabren answered, "Same as always, Captain. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

"Ah, the default adage," he replied, with a grin creeping across his jaw. "I'm not prepared to give up all optimism just yet. We'll prepare. But not for the worst just yet, Doctor. I still have every hope that this is just my old Academy training kicking in."

The Commander looked out towards the busying sickbay and smiled. "It seems as though you have your department pretty much on top form, anyhow. In any eventuality, I'm sure that this crew can pull together to fend off the any shadow that scratches at our bow."

"Of course sir, that's what we are all here for," Mabren said, "Just try to relax. And you'll see that everything's fine." He didn't want to come across as too dismissive of the Captain's feelings, but he felt that the Captain was pushing himself just a little too hard right now.

"Consider it under advisement, Doctor. I'll see what I can do. And… thank you." He nodded curtly at him and gently grasped his shoulder in a friendly manner. "Let me know how it goes with our resident Yajuta, okay?"

With that, the Trill left the office and sickbay, heading down the corridor up to the bridge.




Commander Coltan Lane
Commanding Officer

AND

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Doctor Gustav Mabren
Chief Medical Officer

 

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