Playing Chicken Soup for the Soul (Backpost)

Posted on Thu May 5, 2022 @ 9:13am by Lieutenant Commander Zachary Addams & Commander John Logan & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit

1,785 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: We Will Take Care of You
Location: Sickbay/Intelligence Office

Zach looked over his tray and made sure the exam room was set before tapping his combadge. "Addams to Logan, please report to Sickbay, immediately." He closed the channel and walked into the lobby, waiting.

Logan tapped his com. “I’m a bit busy Doctor. I had a full physical prior to departing Starfleet Command. I’m sure this can wait.”
Logan returned to reviewing his files on the androids. He found where Kennit got herself into some trouble, which causes even more trouble for the rest of her crew. She even had an android in her staff, but he wasn’t sure how that might play into the upcoming crisis that he was charged with repairing. ::We need the androids::, he thought. If not, things will go very badly. He realizes that the androids felt humans were violent and their intentions were good, with meeting. They wanted to help find peace. But peace is fleeting and their brethren were used as slave labor on Mars. History recorded the explosion of mars because of an android revolt. This needed to be averted. With Rhea not trusting him, he knew he had a tall order.

Zach sighed and tapped his combadge again. "Immediately. Adverb. From the Latin word, immediatus meaning 'without anything in between', as in the sentence, 'that was an order, by the Chief Medical Officer to report to Sickbay immediately, Commander.'"

Just as the Doctor finished issuing his order to Commander Logan, a single drip of water fell from overhead and landed on the Doctor's head. Zach flinched and reached up to wipe his hair, looking up to see where it had come from. There was no evidence of a source, no water stain, there weren't even any pipes or cooling conduits located in the overhead of sickbay. He huffed and returned his attention to the matter at hand.

Logan heard the doctor’s “order”, but saw no purpose for another medical check. “Doctor, if you want to provide another medical exam, I suggest you come to me. I have orders from the Captain, which I am carrying out. Otherwise, take it up with her. Logan out”. Logan spoke aloud. “Computer, silence all hails from medical until further notice”.

Zach blinked and set his jaw. "As you wish, Commander," he said to himself and tapped his combadge again. "B'tal and Matisse, report to my office with a lab kit and an AVG...and bring the P.R.O.B.E.."

A pair of "yes doctor" responses came in, and a few minutes later, the three men were walking with a medium-sized crate on an antigrav gurney down the corridor.

As they arrived at Logan's office, Zach entered a medical override into the door controls. The doors opened obediently and he stepped inside, flanked by two equally tall and imposing nurses. "We're here, as requested, Commander," he said, looking at Logan. "Now it's your turn to keep your end of the bargain."

Logan noticed the entry of the medical staff and shut down his display, to avoid any sensitive information being leaked. The then turned and picked up his PADD and moved it into his desk drawer. “Good to see you all. Let’s move into the other room. You have 15 minutes.”

"You heard the man, no foreplay," Zach said, gesturing to the men to bring the gurney along. As they entered the side room, the three men pulled the crate to the floor and opened it, pulling out a folded metal contraption. They opened it up and laid it out on the gurney, propping up the back. It had a tri-folded cushion with a metal arm over it and a display that folded out on the side, along with clamps to keep it on the gurney. "God bless portable biobeds," he said. He patted the bed and looked at Logan. "Giddy-up."

Logan quickly sat in the bio-bed. “Time is money, let’s get this completed. The androids aren’t waiting.” This delay was not good for the mission at hand. His job was to keep Kennit and the crew of Victory, alive. Every second he wasn’t engaged, was another second he lost in the battle. He understood the “why’s” for this medical exam. If only they knew the impact this delay could have for them. He sat back and reminisced of his departure from Hope. ::“Bring her back to me John”::. He’s never let his wife down and he wasn’t about to, today. His father-in-law also wished for a successful outcome. ::”This is a pivotal moment. Everything will work against you but you must prevail. God speed!”::.

"As a matter of fact, we're the ones who are waiting," Zach said, flipping open his tricorder while the nurses began setting up the lab kit. "And while we wait, we can multitask." He began with a more intensive scan, deciding to get the slower procedures out of the way before he lost his patient's patience, as one of the nurses began to prep a vial for a blood sample. "How have you been feeling lately? Other than obstinate."

Logan looked at the doctor. “Enough small talk. You have 10 minutes and then I’m kicking you out. We don’t have time for this.”

Zach instructed the nurses to begin collecting the samples and continued his scan, looking down and giving Logan a small smile. "It's cute how you think you're in charge of this," he said, then dropped his smile. "Now answer my thoroughly-relevant medical-related questions, please, or these gentlemen will hold you here until you do."

Logan replied. “9 minutes & I fully understand who is in charge of this, Doctor.” Logan was growing weary of the attitude from the Doctor but wanted to give him his due. But he wasn’t joking. He had 9 more minutes and this get together was over. Logan’s authority went well beyond that of the officers on the Victory, including Rhea’s. The mission took priority over everything else. He understood that the Doctor wasn’t looped in. Rhea’s knowledge was limited to what the Admiral revealed. These events were being closely observed and Logan couldn’t fail at correcting the outcome.

"Eight minutes, thirty-six seconds," Zach said. "And I'm still waiting. Please, tell me any physical symptoms you've felt lately outside the human norm, and don't spare a detail. After all...you have almost eight minutes to spare."

While the two men stared at one another, first Dr. Addams and then Cmdr. Logan were struck in the head by a single, if somewhat large, drop of ice cold water.

Zach glanced up in annoyance at the distraction, then refocused his attention on Logan. "Seven minutes, forty-eight seconds," he said, casually. He stepped away, putting his tricorder down and pulling Logan's chair over, sitting down with a sigh of relief and crossing his legs. He let the nurses continue filling the kit and reached up, pulling his favorite coin out of the air and rolling it through his fingers.

“Nothing unusual, Doctor. Are we done here?”, Logan replied. His work wasn’t finding a way to complete itself.

"Nope," Zach said. His voice was flat, his face like stone. He flicked his wrist, the coin vanishing and picked up his tricorder again. He looked at it, and then closed it, letting his arms drop to his sides and tapping it gently against Logan's desk. "You said I have ten minutes. I intend to use every single one of them. Mostly, because I don't believe you and I'd like to conduct a thorough exam that will justify the effort you're putting me through."

He stood up and began scanning again, now going deeper than the basic tissue scans. The portable biobed was capable of doing most of the diagnostics that a full-function one in Sickbay could do, but not quite all. He doubted he'd get Logan into Sickbay for those, but there was always the hope he'd break a limb and have no choice.

"Out of curiosity," he said as he moved southward to Logan's stomach, "what is it you have on the hopper that's so time-sensitive?"

“Enough with the small talk Doc. My work is classified and every minute counts.” Logan paused. “You’re down to 4 minutes. Make them count.”

"Oh, I am," Zach said, scanning slowly. "But I'm the type who likes to multitask; it helps me focus." He reached Logans knees and looked back up at him, giving a more casual smile. "How does it feel to be back out in space? Got your equilibrium back fast?"

Logan looked at his Padd. “2 minutes, Doc”. Logan ran some computations and typed in some more data for the captain’s review. He knew what the doctor was attempting to do but wasn’t going to engage.

Zach stood up and finished collecting his samples, closing his tricorder and let out a sigh. "Well, John, scans are done and I've got everything I need here. This boils down to one of those 'good news/bad news' kind of situations. The good news is that all early indications show you're healthy as a horse. The bad news is, you're a bit of a dick." He gave a stern glance at one of the nurses who'd let out a snort.

He had them pack everything up as he helped Logan off the biobed and onto his feet. He stopped and looked down the two inch difference into the other man's eyes. "I'm a pretty easy-going guy overall, but when I feel someone is screwing with me, I have this..." he looked up as if searching for the right word. "This compulsion to give it back in spades." He gave John a friendly smile. "So, in the spirit of looking after your well-being, I'm going to recommend you to our ship's counselor. And if you give her the same treatment you gave me, I give you my word, you will be taken off duty before you can say--" His tricorder beeped and he smiled again. "Time's up. Good day, Commander." He signaled to his nurses and they left.

Logan was preoccupied with an intriguing discovery. He could hear background chatter but had tuned it out as his senses were focused on his findings. It wasn’t long that he heard a chirp from the doctors tricorder. Instinctively, he knew to get off the portable bio bed and return to his desk. From there, he moved his work to the larger screen and began tapping on his keyboard. He didn’t notice the medical team depart, nor had he had any departing comments. After all, they were wasting his time and their own. The clock was ticking.

 

RSS Feed