Popular Post Alieth Posted December 10, 2023 Popular Post Posted December 10, 2023 Trigger warning: self harm There are themes that are difficult to address, but to do so with elegance and delicacy and to do so in a way that shows us the development of the characters, their relationships and how they are as people and officers requires a very high level of excellence. As @Karrod Niac and @VLen Kel show here. Excellent work guys, we'll see how the Ronie's Pike & McCoy evolve Part 1: Quote ((Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 3, USS Ronin)) The first time V’Len had stepped onto the bridge it was awash with techs working to get the ship underway. Arriving back at its starting point, the situation had not changed. There was one difference, this time the techs were damage control as well as engineers. V’Len headed across the room toward the Captain's Ready Room. When he’d come previously he’d brought brandy, but this discussion seemed to be a non-brandy affair. He had been summoned and he knew why. He steeled himself before the door and then pressed the chime. His antennae were already dancing atop his head. Niac: =/\= Come in. =/\= Glancing up from the padd in his hands, Karrod watched as his Chief Medical Officer and the author of the report in his hands walked into the Ready Room with no small measure of surprise. V’Len stepped in and walked toward the Captain, but even before he was across the room the Niac began to speak. Niac: Doctor, I respect that you have the final say when it comes to the health and well being of the crew but this couldn’t have come at a worse time. Kel: Yes sir. I can appreciate that it’s difficult to get a ship repaired with no chief engineer. Karrod tapped a few controls on his desk and the medical report came up on the wall display behind him. He quoted from the report aloud. Niac: “Pursuant to Starfleet Order 104, Section C, I Lieutenant V’len Kel, M.D. Chief Medical Officer of the USS Ronin, am relieving Lt. Kammus Corelli from active duty effective immediately and recommending he return to Starfleet Medical for psychological assessment and treatment.” Kel: ::stopping before the Captain’s desk:: That’s right. I relieved him from duty and placed him on medical leave. Karrod looked over the man and could see the uncomfortable tension in his antenna and the grave seriousness in his eyes. Niac: I understood that part, Doctor. I need to hear the why. Kel: ::angrily:: The man told me he was planning to overload a phaser in his office. The wind seemed to come out of the Captain’s sails somewhat. Karrod let the padd go flat on his desk as his face tightened in disquieted shock. The mission and the days leading up to it replayed in his mind as he tried to make some sense of it. Niac: That’s…extremely disturbing, Doctor. Kel: :: still a bit angry:: I think you can appreciate that Starfleet Medical has some VERY clear guidelines on officers and crew that threaten self harm. V’Len turned and walked slowly to the window and gazed out at the stars. He hadn’t even noticed his hands were trembling. Niac: Explicitly clear, Doctor. I didn’t ask you here to debate the regulations and I certainly didn’t intend to question your judgment. I needed to understand exactly what happened. V’Len breathed a sigh of relief. From time to time on the Oumuamua his medical advice had been questioned, particularly by Wes Greaves. He was unsure how Niac might view the situation. Thankfully he seemed more level headed. V’Len flexed his fingers trying to get his shaking to subside Kel: Thank you Captain. I realize that medical decisions can be challenging at times for command. There was more V’Len wanted to say. It was nice to be somewhere where he did not feel an adversarial relationship with command. He and V’Airu had always been on respectful terms, but her Vulcan coldness made her challenging to read. Karrod stood and emerged from behind his desk, climbing the few short stairs up to his office's small sitting area. Doctor Kel’s attention stayed firmly on the stars beyond the forward saucer section so he moved to the replicator instead. Niac: Pyrellian ginger tea for two. Hot. The device whirred as Karrod looked back to his CMO, his tension and discomfort obvious in his bearing. Niac: Join me, Doctor. Please. Kel: Thank you sir. V’Len sat down at the end of the couch. He took another deep breath. Karrod nodded and brought both cups to the small table and took a seat at the end of his couch, waiting. For what he wasn’t sure. Kel: This particular situation is challenging for me, both medically and personally. Niac: You’ve served with Lt. Corelli for quite a while now, haven’t you? Kel: ::reflecting:: Nearly two years. Had it been just two years? It seemed like a lifetime ago that V’Len had been a shiny new ensign coming aboard the Thor. He took a drink of the tea. It reminded him of Nesre. She was forever drinking the stuff. Kel: We came aboard the Thor at the same time. We became acting department heads within days of each other. Just a few months ago we were being chased through an asteroid mine together. For a moment, Karrod remembered his earliest days in the fleet and the times he’d called Ensign Makisig Corcino a friend. Years and experience had changed them both in ways neither would’ve expected, driving them apart and putting them at odds in the unique way only former friends can be. Niac: In Starfleet terms that’s nearly a lifetime, Doctor. I can understand why this would be…how did you put it? Challenging. Kel: Kammus is smart as a whip when it comes to engineering. I had no idea he was having trouble adapting to the Ronin. In that regard V’Len was perhaps most injured. How had he missed that Corelli needed help? Both men grew silent as they reflected on the past weeks and Karrod suspected they were both asking themselves the same questions. Niac: Neither did I, Doctor. While he was clearly showing signs of stress I attributed that to the stress we were all feeling - the pace of our abrupt launch, the intensity of our mission. I didn’t realize how deeply his feelings ran or how severe those stresses were for him. Kel: Sir, I feel I should offer my resignation as CMO. I’d be happy to continue to serve, perhaps under Morgensterns leadership. [TBC!] ================================ Lieutenant V’Len Kel Chief Medical Officer USS Ronin NCC-34523 T239811VK2 He/Him (character and player) & Commander Karrod Niac Commanding Officer USS Ronin - NCC-34523 V239509GT0 Part 2: Quote ((Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 3, USS Ronin)) For the first time since the conversation started, Karrod blanched and put his tea back on the table. Niac: Doctor Kel, I don’t look upon this situation as your failure in any respect. Frankly if anyone is at fault, it’s me. V’Len stood up to face the starscape again. Kel: With all due respect, I’m not sure of that. As CMO every member of this crew is my patient. How qualified am I if one of them is ready to end their life? What does that say about my ability as a doctor? oO Let alone as a friend. Oo Leaning forward with his tea forgotten, Karrod spoke in low, somber tones. Niac: V’len…this wasn’t your fault. You can’t possibly know what’s going on inside the mind of every member of the crew all the time. Even people you’re close to. Kel: Eight lifetimes of experience ::pointing at the symbiote:: and I still missed that a person I knew for years needed help. There was a genuine anguish in V’len’s voice that caused Karrod to wince. He stood and joined him at the window, trying to find some answer out among the stars. Sadly, the cosmos provided no celestial insight. He considered Niac within and found it strangely quiescent, reflecting in its own way on what had happened. Niac: You know, I never wanted to be Joined. Thought that our lives should be our own, not shared with another being. But now? Today? I’m glad for Niac…because it didn’t catch this either. None of us did. Karrod sighed and shook his head. V’Len turned to wonder at the man for a moment. He had worked his entire life to earn a place to receive a symbiote. He’d been the discipled scholar throughout his youth thinking only of the goal of his life being part of the collective memory of the symbiote and the Trill at large. Niac: But ultimately the responsibility for the crew is mine, Doctor, a point I’ve made that clear to Starfleet Command. You took expeditious action in the interest of the crew and the ship as a whole once you identified a problem. That is all I could ask of anyone. You didn’t fail your friend or your shipmate, V’len. You may well have saved him. V’Len had to pause. The captain did make a decent point. Probably one that Brodie or Nesre would have made. Corelli was alive and getting help and a rest, which was the best thing for him. This was not necessarily due to anything V’Len had done, but rather because subconsciously Kammus probably didn’t want to end his life, he wanted help. Kel: Still sir. This can’t help you have confidence in my abilities. If I’ve missed this, what else might I miss one day? Niac: It hasn’t shaken my confidence in you, Doctor, it has reinforced it. What you had to do was terribly hard…but you did the right thing. It’s why my trust in you is so absolute. It’s why I think you’re exactly the officer I need on this ship. The Captain certainly had a gift for restoring confidence in his officers. He could give Kirk or Picard a run for their money when it came to inspiring speeches. Kel: ::hesitantly:: You’re telling me to stay put aren’t you? Karrod turned away and looked down to the small set of shelves behind his desk, the mariners compass gleaming in its antique wooden box. He thought of the Captain who had given it to him and the troubles that seemed to hide just behind his eyes. He thought of Commodore Nicholotti and the haunted look that would vanish behind a iron mask of composure a moment later. Niac: You’re not perfect, V’len…none of us are. I’m not. That’s something I’m going to have to learn to live with if I’m going to serve the crew properly. On the other side of those doors ::He pointed towards the doors leading out to the bridge:: The Captain is always confident, always certain. In here? I have no such luxuries. I’m afraid that’s one of the burdens of command…but it’s a burden you wear well. Kel: ::slight smile:: Your confidence in me is very inspiring sir, I’m just not sure what else I bring to the table right at the moment. Karrod turned as the man finally rotated away from the viewports and locked eyes with him. Being face to face with Niac was much different from being face to face with Greaves or V’Airu. Conversations with them seemed to be nearly sterile along with their manner. Niac was different. More like Commodore Kells, his first CO. Less a commander and more a person who you could approach and even be friends with. Niac: Your compassion, Doctor. That a situation like this could have this profound an impact on you means that you are dedicated and empathetic to a degree that would make a Betazoid jealous. That’s what I want in the Ronin’s Chief Medical Officer…and it’s also a perspective I want on hand when things get…challenging. V’Len gave a reluctant smile. Kel: Alright Captain. ::beat:: You’ve cajoled me into it. I’ll stay as CMO ::raising his finger:: For now. Karrod’s smile was warm but he raised his hands in mock defense. Niac: Right right, till you find a better job somewhere else. I hear Chief of Starfleet Medical comes with a nice office. Great view of the bay. Kel: For what it’s worth one of my previous hosts had a wife who was an engineer. I probably have enough knowledge to be dangerous. I’d be happy to help if I can. Karrod crossed his arms and chuckled. Niac: When you came in here you didn’t want to run one department and now you want to run two? He stroked his beard as if considering this revelation with a smirk. Niac: Maybe my speeches really are getting good. ::He laughed self-effacingly and shook his head:: I don’t think that’s necessary, Doctor. In fact, I’ve been reading Lt. Cmdr. Raga’s mission report and it seems like Mr. Tucker did quite well on the Kushiro. I was thinking about him for the job. Kel: If you say so. ::thinking:: My overall impression of Mr. Tucker has been quite positive. Think he’s up to being Chief? Karrod had a strange flash of memory that was not his own…images full of explosions, calamity and no small number of self-inflicted injuries. In his mind's eye he saw a pasty officer had been promoted to Acting Chief after his first mission and gone far from there. There was the oddest smell of coffee and, as the image faded, a flash of red hair. Karrod shook away the confusing urge to sing a sea shanty as he focused back on his CMO. Niac: Stranger things have happened, Doctor. The two men shared a nod as the Doctor headed for the door, leaving Karrod alone with his thoughts. With a final look towards the infinity of stars he caught his own reflection in the viewport and wondered to himself exactly when he’d become the ‘Old Man.’ [End] ================================ Lieutenant V’Len Kel Chief Medical Officer USS Ronin NCC-34523 T239811VK2 He/Him (character and player) & Commander Karrod Niac Commanding Officer USS Ronin - NCC-34523 V239509GT0 5 2 Quote
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