Posted by Lieutenant Benjamin Grey (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Reporting for Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Benjamin Grey (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Reporting for Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Charlie Bailey (Doctor) in Sickbay - Reporting for Duty
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Charlie’s pace slowed to a crawl as she approached sickbay. She felt her pulse quicken as the doors slid open in front of her. ‘You’ve got this…’ she whispered under her breath as she stepped into sickbay and approached the CMO’s office. Nervously she pressed the chime and waited to be admitted. She did a quick breath check and made sure her hair was still in place whilst she was waiting and checked she was presentable, hoping she wasn’t sweating too much. She wasn’t even sure why she was so nervous, she had prepared for this moment, she was an experienced doctor but there was always a nervous anticipation starting a new post. She just hoped that she could make friends easily and find some people with common interests.

As she waited, a friendly nurse smiled and said good morning to which Charlie replied with “ho, yo, heya, yes…” followed by a little voice in her head saying, ‘well done genius, way to make a good first impression…’

• Lt (jg) Bailey (Med)

“Enter” the voice behind the door called as it slid open on its own. Inside was a standard CMO Office for a Mythology class. A curved L shape desk with a standard console facing the door and larger screen to the side with information from all Sickbays. There were two chairs on the opposite side of the desk and a small cabinet to the left hand side with a few personal items, a holophoto of a family on what appeared to be a farm, a few medical textbooks in actually printed books and various vials and jars that seemed to contain various perfumes, colognes, creams, and similar objects on display. There was also a trophy and a handful of meddalions for the Starfleet Academy Boxing club.

Charlie took a deep breath and stepped into the doorway, getting her first glimpse of the office.

Behind the desk sat a man in his mid-thirties, with neatly combed brown hair and bright green eyes, he had a metallic cup to his face, mostly smelling the contents, not drinking, mostly just lost in thought as Bailey entered. He looked up and put the cup down and smiled politely, “Leftenenant Baley?” He asked “I’m Doctor Benjamin Grey, Chief Medical Officer for the Athena

Doctor Grey
CMO

Charlie tentatively took a step through the door and was pleasantly surprised at the homeliness of the CMO’s office. She desperately wanted to look around at all the oddities on display but she didn’t want to snoop so decided to take a seat opposite the desk instead. Charlie unconsciously bit her lip in anticipation as she fidgeted in her seat and tried to look casual.

With a gentle clearing of her throat she stuck out her hand, perhaps a little eagerly, as she spoke. “Yes sir, that’s me, Lt (jg) Bailey reporting for duty,” she replied, before taking a nervous gulp as she noticed her sleeve was now half way up her arm exposing her scars.

-Lt (jg) Bailey (Doctor)

Benjamin looked down at her arm for a moment, raised his eyebrow, then looked up at the screen and tapped his console, bringing up her file “Class of ‘95, top of your class. Trauma Specialist.” He already had the information in his head but had long since learned that most people are unnerved when he remembered everything about them without referencing a document. He turned to look at Bailey and interlocked his fingers “Why Starfeet?”

Doctor Grey
CMO

Charlie saw Dr Grey notice her burns but breathed a small sigh of relief that he decided not to mention it right away. She gently pulled her sleeve down again to cover them and took a moment to think. “Both my parents were in Starfleet so in some ways it was a natural fit for me, although not a particularly popular one with my sister and aunt. I knew from a young age that I wanted to pursue medicine but I’ve always wanted to travel and I guess the thrill of being on a starship was hard to resist,” she replied thoughtfully as she allowed herself a brief moment to think back to nights staring up at the stars with her father as a child. She gulped and quickly brought her mind back to the present, knowing this was not time for a trip down memory lane.

• Lt (jg) Bailey (Doctor)

Benjamin nodded slowly; she seemed nervous, or perhaps it was something else; he was never certain. “All right, it’s been about five years since you were commissioned. What do you think you’ve learned as a Starfleet doctor in that time, your most important or valuable lessons?” He asked

Doctor Grey
CMO

Charlie paused for a moment to think. She knew she had grown so much as a person since she had graduated but one painful lesson stuck in her mind. “I think one of the hardest lessons I have learned is that although we have so much technology and medicine is always advancing, sometimes we have to accept that we can’t fix everyone,” she mused. It was the hardest thing she had come to realise with her father. That despite her extensive training and the combined knowledge of the staff at the institution, she had reluctantly accepted that he may never be the man he was before. It was in truth, it was part of the reason that she had not had her burn scars fixed. Somewhere in the back of her head she had always told herself that when her father got better, she would have them removed although now they had become part of her and she wasn’t sure she could let them go.

• Lt (jg) Bailey (Doctor)

Benjamin nodded “That’s a hard but good lesson” He liked to ask the more senior doctors who came to work for him variations of that question, it provided both insight into their careers and their personalities. When Ben was asked the same question years ago his answer had been more clinical, regarding lessons learned during surgeries, how to better cut and how to react to certain unexpected situation, he had the mindset of a surgeon, life focused on that. He liked to think that he’d grown a bit in the last decade and a half but still his mind always led him to the thrill of the cut “You have good experience already, had some good postings for an officer, you have a career path in mind?”

Doctor Grey
CMO

Charlie nodded as she thought. “I’d like to be a Chief Medical Officer one day but for the moment I just want to gain as much experience and knowledge as I can.” If she was honest with herself, she had probably held herself back a bit in the past. She could have progressed further but had lacked confidence in herself early on so hadn’t really lived up to her true potential, but she was ready for that to change.

• Lt (jg) Bailey (Doctor)

Benjamin nodded, Not everyone wanted to spend their entire career as a Ship’s head Doctor, many worked their way up the ladder so they could get more prestigious dirtside work. “Alright, that checks most of the boxes, now please tell me about yourself” An open-ended question to allow the interviewee to choose the subject of their answer, both in matter and depth.

Doctor Grey
CMO

Bump

Charlie smiled warmly and gave a little chuckle. “What can I say about myself?” she pondered. “Well, I always welcome a challenge and I work well under pressure, in fact I thrive on it and I feel as though it keeps me sharp. Outside of work I have a great passion for music, particularly classical and folk. I love playing the piano and I cherish getting lost in a beautiful melody. I enjoy cooking and sharing food with friends and I make a mean cupcake…” Charlie gulped as she realised she was waffling. She took a deep breath as she decided whether to talk about the elephant in the room.

“I was born on Earth and moved to the Vega Colony when I was a child,” she started in a more solemn tone. “After the accident, my sister and I moved back to Earth with our Aunt Sara who raised us.” Charlie kept her answer short and to the point.

• Lt (jg) Bailey (Doctor)