Posted by Lieutenant William Hampton (Chief Engineering Officer) in Side Sim- Sickbay: Hampton physical

Posted by Lieutenant Fey Kastil (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim- Sickbay: Hampton physical

Posted by Lieutenant William Hampton (Chief Engineering Officer) in Side Sim- Sickbay: Hampton physical
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
William Hampton had prolonged the inevitable as long as he could. He had performed a maintenance on damn near every system in engineering, he’d even run a diagnostic on the doors to make sure their proximity sensors were properly calibrated. It wasn’t that the doctor scared or frightened him, as she seemed to do to many of his colleagues on the senior staff. He was just annoyed by the Doctor’s seeming willingness to put up a routine to play up her grotesque looks. Walking around the ship purposely startling people instead of just calling them on the comms, or hissing with a raspy voice at the people she was talking too. It irritated the Chief Engineer to no end.

He had intentionally waited for the rest of the senior staff to be checked before he himself submitted to the exam. Just to be sure nothing out of the ordinary was being done. At least on the surface, everything was being done in an orderly fashion. Although Hampton could not get the nagging voice out of his head that something was amiss. How did the computer manage to lose all of the files on the senior staff’s medical information? Hampton decided that if the ominous feeling inside of him would not subside, he would do some further investigating. And, as it seemed, the physical exam was one of the best ways to do that.

Stepping out of Main Engineering and walking towards sickbay Hampton debated how to approach the doctor. He settled on being only slightly confrontational and more directly honest with the creature who was the ship’s chief medical officer. It both made complete and no sense that she had that position, on the one hand, she was put on a deep space vessel that rarely, if ever, was going to interact with the main fleet. So in a sense, he felt starfleet had simply shouldered her off to the far reach of the universe to get her away from the every other crew and civilization. On the other hand, on a crew like this, Hampton felt the Doctor should be a comforting and calm presence to counter the bizarre escapades the ship was sure to get involved in. Staffing Leviathan with a CMO who looked like one of monsters the ship would no doubt encounter did not exactly achieve that purpose.

All of those thoughts circulated Hampton’s head as he made his way to sickbay. Arriving he stepped inside confidently. “Alright Doc,” He called out, looking around to find her, as he did not immediately see her as he entered. “Now that you’ve finished with everybody else I’m up for this fun little examination.”

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor was working with one of her staff members working out a chemical solution for some project she was working on. When the Chief Engineer walked in and made his proclamation she looked up at him to acknowledge that he had arrived, then sighed and shook her head. “Please take a seat on a biobed, I will be with you shortly.” Her deep raspy voice carried to the other side of Sickbay where the Chief Engineer stood as she dismissed her staff for a long lunch break, allowing them to return at 1300 hours. She retrieved her tricorder while her staff filtered out of sickbay, putting their coats, gloves, and boots away. Most just lifted the goggles, a few took them off, but soon the only two in sickbay were the Chief Engineer and the Doctor.

The ambient music of harpsichord was shut off as the Doctor approached Lieutenant Hampton. “Do you happen to have your own copy of your medical records? Yours were among those that were either lost in transmission or corrupted in the files Starfleet Personnel sent me. I’ve made several requests for a cleaner version of the files, but still have not gotten a response.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

That voice, that obnoxious, raspy voice, Hampton could not stand it. He made no outward indication of that frustration however, as he knew no good could come of it. He simply walked over to an adjacent bio-bed and took a seat. He groaned softly at seeing the rest of the medical staff leave the room. It was going to be just the doctor and him, fantastic, Hampton would rather have eaten a battery than do this. He waited several moments for the Doctor to approach him. He simply had to filter out his irritation when she began talking to him. “I have them but not on me at the moment Doctor.” Hampton replied, looking her right in her orange and red eyes. He wasn’t going to be confrontational, but he wanted to establish to her that he was not intimated by her disgusting form.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The doctor returned the gaze, though hers showed more confusion than anything else. “Lieutenant, do you not remember me asking you to bring them to your medical exam when you decided to take it back when I came to Engineering to check your people?” The doctor started reading the gaze as standoffish and simply shook her head and pulled out her tricorder and sensor to start the scan.

• Doctor Fey Kastil

Hampton shook his head. “I’m afraid that must have slipped my memory. Working on the warp drive for six hours straight can do that to a man. However, if it is such a pressing concern I can grab it right now from my quarters if you would like.” Hampton did not flinch for a moment at the doctor’s seeming annoyance with him, that may made both of them in fact. “I apologize that I can’t pick up starfleet medicals slack and my own at the same time.” He muttered.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor continued her scan looking for anything out of the ordinary for a normal human bio scan. “That’s alright, you can bring them later when you have a moment but I will need them before I can officially clear you for duty. At this point, I will not be able to and it will be the Executive Officer’s decision as to weather or not to allow you to conduct risky duties.” There was no malice in her raspy voice, just statement of fact as if it were an almost pre-recorded response. “Besides the early departure and this odd dehydration from those working in Engineering, is there anything else that could be causing the slack in Engineering? Ensign Horoka has a dual major for cybernetics and may be able to lend a hand when Sickbay isn’t as busy. She’s on the fourth shift which means she has more time to work on other projects if needed. In fact, if there is any way my staff can help just say so and I’ll see what I can do.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

‘Yeah no.’ Hampton thought to himself. “I’m returning to engineering Doctor, whether starfleet certifies me or not.” Hampton responded in a measured tone. His frustration, which had been rising for a while now, began to spike exponentially. “Starfleet lost my records, I’m not going to sit in my quarters and twiddle my thumbs just because some secretary at starbase 237 couldn’t do his job.” He maintained his composure, but he was almost becoming angry the more he processed what he was being told.

It took him a moment to register the doctor’s question. “Nothing that I am aware of, but if I had to put latinum down on what I think the problem it might have to do with the fact that every single engineer I have is working 16 hour shifts right now to keep this ship from flying apart. So my guess is its general fatigue.”

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor gave a look that seemed to convey surprise and disapproval, or something akin to a sudden need to eat someone’s face, either way, it wasn’t a good look. The Doctor retrieved a PaDD and started filling out information on it. “That isn’t maintainable, even the most adept and intelligent of Vulcans can only maintain a safe working environment with no more than 14 hours of work. If your people are showing exhaustion already, we need to rotate some of the less technical tasks to others so as to lighten the pressure on your own. My own staff only works 8 hour days so there isn’t a reason for yours to work so much. If you can send me a list of minor or low skill tasks that are taking up your engineers’ time, I can draft a proposal with the other department heads and the XO to allow more relief. Medically I can’t clear more than 12 hours in a single shift, with what we’re going to be dealing with, I wouldn’t want to push more than 10 unless it was absolutely necessary.”

The doctor pauses a moment and sets the PaDD down, “I apologize, I got ahead of myself and put on the Legal Advisor hat a little too soon. I don’t wish to step on your toes at all, but I do want to be sure that your team is just as healthy and well treated as the rest. I’ll draft a proposal only if you are okay with it and submit it to you for approval before I take it to the XO and Captain for approval. This is intended to be a temporary measure until the task requirements on your team are more reasonable and are in no way a testament to your skills or abilities as Engineers. I’m going to make sure that there is full emphasis on the fact that the ship leaving early has put far too much unnecessary stress on your team.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

For the first time since he had met Kastil, Hampton felt a ping of understanding between himself and the doctor. His frustration began to lower as he took a deep breath, internally his emotions softened slightly, not drastically, but enough to leave a visible change in his tone. “It is quite alright doctor.” He said after a moment. “But I’m afraid your idea has already been contemplated and dismissed. The engineering team isn’t simply screwing bulkheads onto the ships, we are monitoring plasma conduits and adjusting the coolant systems as the warp core operates. We finished all of the small hands on jobs that a lower level technician could complete a week ago.” He smirked, “We won’t have to keep going at this pace much longer, but the my personnel need to know with one hundred percent certainty that the warp core is not a time bomb at the moment.” He looked down at the Padd. “By the time you had written and submitted a proposal we’d be back to eight hours. Which is why,” Hampton looked back up at Kastil, but this time the resentment had faded. “I have to get back to work, the best thing you can do for me right now is to get me out of here as quickly as possible. My team and I have been royally screwed by our commanders, and the best we can do for now is cope with that fact.”

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor nodded softly, “Drink more water and electrolytes, keep an eye on your team for signs of dehydration and make them take a break if they’re not staying steady. If you can get me your medical records before the end of the day, you’ve got an all-clear. Otherwise, I’m legally obligated to report it to the XO and leave the decision up to him. Not saying he’ll stop you or that anyone will rat you out, just that you’ll have to be more careful or we’ll get into more trouble with the agencies that just gave us the boot from the station before we were ready to go.” The doctor returned to her desk for a moment and retrieved the small stasis box to bring to the Chief Engineer. “Here, my sister is a Chef in San Fransisco and will frequently send me pastries, cookies, cakes, and other delicacies to share with the crew of the ship I am on. A form of advertisement I’m sure, but I can’t deny that the food is good. The stasis box can preserve the freshness of the food for up to three years.” Inside the stasis box is a collection of checkerboard sugar cookies, a mix of chocolate and vanilla in the form of a square grid.

• Doctor Fey Kastil

“Don’t worry,” Hampton shook his head. “I’m not like the other members of the senior staff, I do my job.” Hampton got off the biobed and eyed the cookies suspiciously, for a moment or two, he actually considered if they were poisoned or not. He eventually decided to take one of the sugar cookies and nibbled off the smallest of crumbs, it tasted quite good. “Are there any other tests you need to run on me?” The chief engineer asked. In his head, a raging debate had began, had he actually made a mistake in his initial assessment of the doctor? Could it be that she was not actually a hideous life form intent on sowing fear among the crew? Hampton began to feel slightly uncomfortable. He still didn’t trust the doctor, or even like her, but, the candle of hatred that had been burning in his chest directed at the CMO was beginning to fade. Hampton’s default attitude was hatred and disgust, so this sensation was a peculiar one.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor shook her head, “Not at all, you are free to go. Take care for the rest of your work shift and let me know if anything important happens that I should be aware of.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil