Posted by Lieutenant Allison Scott (CMO) in XO meeting the CMO

Posted by Commander Balfor Kolar (XO/CSO) in XO meeting the CMO

Posted by Lieutenant Allison Scott (CMO) in XO meeting the CMO
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Allison Scott stood outside the XO’s office and waited after she rang the door chime. The new rank on her neck meant she would be seeing the man behind the door far more than the occasional cough or fever forced him to traipse into sickbay. It also meant he was going to be her point person to solve problems.

Allison Scott, CMO

“Enter,” Balfor closed off his monitor and assumed a semi-professional sitting posture at his desk. The posture was the exact midway point between relaxed informal one had with friends and the straight-backed get-ready-to-pay-the-piper when the person on the other side of the door was about to be read the riot act. It was a test of sorts for the person entering the room. It allowed Kolar to quickly ascertain how to interact with someone coming in.

Kolar XO

Hearing permission being granted to enter, Allison did not just enter but burst forth into the room as if she was running for her life. For someone so petite, her rapid strides cleared the distance between the door and the Commander’s desk before the man could even properly focus on her. “Commander Kolar,” she stated in a formal tone that somehow conveyed, “we have a very serious problem on our hands that requires your immediate attention.”

Her rapid entrance led Kolar to stand from his seated position. Seated was not a good reaction alignment and would put him at greater risk if there was a danger.

Seeing the XO rise she semi skidded to a halt. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail that swung with her sudden shift in momentum. Taking one more step forward, Allison Scott put her hand on the chair in front of her steadying herself for a heartbeat.

Dropping into the chair across from her superior officer, Ally took a far more relaxed posture based on how Kolar was sitting. She had read the basics on the man from his medical records. She had listened to the scuttlebutt around the ship as to his characters. This was however her first one-on-one interaction with the man. His ginger-colored hair, brilliant blue eyes, and ruddy complexion invoked the image of someone who spent their time outside rather than behind a desk. After making a mental note to ensure his away team preparations included applying sunscreen, Ally leaned forward and locked eyes with the XO. It was not confrontational in any capacity. It was to ensure Kolar understood how important this conversation was to her.

Looking over her shoulder for a moment he was able to confirm she was along and thus not evading some sort of threat.

“I just opened my file and saw I was being promoted to medical chief. I am only twenty-seven years old. Well, twenty-eight next month but that is beside the point,” she slipped into a side tangent momentarily. “You need to stop that promotion. I need you to cancel whatever transfer she requested and bring Nat back.” Allison Scott might be young but she has spent the past few years on the Ogawa which was a ship dedicated to medicinal needs. It was a coveted duty station for any young doctor for the experience it provided. Since the Ogawa, Ally had spent the past six months as Dr. Knight’s 2ic of sick bay. Even though she might be on the young side for the position, Dr. Allison Scott had more experience in medical procedures than someone ten years her senior. She also had the benefit of knowing the crew on the ship instead of having to create those relationships from scratch. “You can do that as an XO right? Cancel someone’s transfer?”

Lt. Scott, CMO

Kolar let a small smile pull at the corner of his lips before returning them to a neutral position. “I can do a lot of things Lt. Scott but usually I have a reason when I do them.” The officer across from him seemed to be on about something as she Auntie said when he was a kid. Instead of lobbing questions at her, Kolar decided to leave it an open question and let Ms. Scott fill in answers to her own questions. “Being ‘only twenty-seven years old. Well, twenty-eight next month,’ is not a criteria that Star-Fleet would respond positively to.”

“Well, they need to respond positively to me being number two like you instead of the big boss man. I mean can you see me sitting at whatever table you guys sit around and anyone giving Malibu Barbie’s opinion an ounce of weight?” The tone Ally used showed she was being humorous in her moniker. There was a very strong physical resemblance to herself and the doll in question.

“Malibu Barbie,” he asked rhetorically with the small smile again curling the sides of his lips. “You certainly are amusing. Most likely a strong asset to bed side manner.” Only marginally aware of the term Barbie and his understanding of that term was not particularly flattering in regard to intelligence.

“My presumption is the captain and the prior executive officer felt you were capable and worthy of respect. So both your request and my canceling the transfer would call into question both officers decision making and your competency. Is that what you are requesting?”

Kolar XO

“How did you make the jump from officer to XO,” Ally answered his question with a new question of her own. The man had a calming presence. He was also rather young. Most of the XO’s she had known were stodgy middle-aged men who had had their funny bone surgically removed. This XO intrigued her. Maybe talking to him a bit might change her mind about remaining on the Saracen as the CMO.

Ally Scott

Tapping his stylus, Balfor debating about answering her question to his rise to XO. She could easily read his command jacket detailing his upward journey but that was not truly the answer she was seeking. She was seeking the why did he want to be XO. “Are you being evasive Ms. Scott?” He didn’t wait for her to respond as he didn’t really care if she was being evasive or wanted to take a dominant position.

Balfor was going to take time to get to know. It was rare that Ally got a rhetorical question from a superior officer. His demeanor seemed to remain in a neutral position so it was hard to read if he was being humorous or serious.

“I spoke to my previous Captain about command, because I never sought it, never wanted it. What kind of arrogance must you have to want to command a ship that could vaporize a planet, kill billions, start a war, decide life and death of a single person.” He looked at her, “and he informed me that command is often granted to those who take it. He was advising me to be more aggressive about my career but that wasn’t the lesson I learned.”

“I slept on that comment. ‘It was given to those who take it’.... not always those who deserve it. I decided that it is actually incumbent on those who merit it and will treat it with the respect it deserves to take it to prevent those who want it only for powers sake do not get it.”

Ally waited for more to the statement but nothing came. She was used to long uncomfortably long pauses during discourse where she was seeking information. A paternity test with unexpected results, an unexpected medical condition, or a case of a shore leave docking maneuver which brought home an STD often resulted in a person taking a long time to respond. Ally was used to waiting for a reply so she patiently sat and waited. As the seconds continued, Ally realized Balfor was not waiting to impart more information but allowing her time to ponder his comment.

He paused, also too long so that it was uncomfortable, “Which one of those people are you? Because I’m fairly certain you are one or the other. I will get rid of you it you’re for the former and if you are the latter, you shouldn’t be asking me the why in the first place.” The was a little metal behind the soft edges of his overly polite man.

Kolar XO

“No one is one way or the other. If I have to pick one then I am the moderate in your scenario.” Ally had never had a problem with speaking her mind. Regardless of rank or position, everyone put their uniform on the same way. Balfor’s candor encouraged her own. “I would be a fool and a liar today I do not dream of being a chief medical officer. I have always dreamt of being that good at my job that I would not hesitate to know exactly what to do and when in any situation. I might not be sitting on a bridge taking on an enemy in combat but at any second someone could walk into sickbay and their life is in my hands. Some people get a God complex out of the power but I find it incredibly humbling. The weight can also be crushing. My actions or inactions have the potential to alter not just my patient’s lives but the lives of everyone they touch. Whether I am the medical chief or not is not going to alter that. I am a doctor but I have never had to send people into harm. We just rush in because that is what we do. As medical chief, I will be required to send people down. How do I even figure that out? No one teaches you that in medical training? As XO how do you decided things like that?”

Ally Scott

“Arguing that there aren’t totalities is playing with semantics. I was discussing of the core truths that have to inform our decisions.” He countered.

“Nothing in the future is known, all we can choose is what we believe is best knowing what we currently know. Anyone could say we should have gone left when we went right after the results are known. One of the presidents of the United States said. “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly”

Kolar

Ally mulled over the words and the man in the chair across from her. Dante had been the perfect CO to serve under. Colter had been a dream. Neither man asked questions which is what Ally needed from time to time when Lauren Shan sent a special assignment for her. He advice seemed to appease her. Half the reason Ally was so tense about taking over the CMO position was filling the shoes that had left it. Natasha Knight was a force of nature, ten foot tall, and bullet proof. The crew had been under her care for years and now they were getting a new CMO that was relatively young for the position.

“So if I am going to be the new CMO I have been thinking about instituting a few changes.” Reaching into her pocket, Ally withdrew a small PaDD and sent a document to Kolar.

She did not wait for him to open it on his console but began to explain it. “I would like to start some emergency preparedness drills for the crew. We are not the Ogawa. People tend to shoot at us in a battle versus stop shooting at us once we arrive. We have not had many battle injuries but the possibility remains. My plan, detailed in the memorandum I just sent you, involves sending the crew a message over two weeks. Each crew member will receive a detailed description of an injury, the symptoms, and how they are to act. My medical staff will be called to treat it only we will not know what that injury is until we get there and triage. This will help us practice our triage skills and have your crew compensate for how to handle a medical emergency in their departments. It is the normal things one sees like heart attacks, broken legs, appendicitis, chemical burns, and impalements. I think this could be a fun exercise and kind of a different way to meet your new CMO. What do you think? I was just going to start it but I figured I would let you in on it before the fact than after.

Ally Scott CMO

Kolar opened the document she sent him and shifted his attention from skimming it and listening to his new CMO who appeared to have a change of heart with the promotion.

“I’m sorry did you say heart attacks, chemical burns, and implements,” Kolar leaned slightly forward, clasping his hands in front of him on his desk. Miss Scott, where did you work that heart attacks and impalements by,” he let his voice drift slightly as he read over the much detailed list of medical conditions the crew would be acting out, “large structural beams or legs of furniture were the norm?” The question was rhetorical. He knew she had come from the Ogawa. Kolar was looking more to find out where her head was at in this venture.

“Any combat situation,” Ally answered as if his question was looking for an answer, “the minute you all start jinxng right and juking left. The engineers are so quick to blather on about inertial dampeners but what happens when they fail.” Leaning forward in her seat, Ally looked as if she were about to impart a life secret. “Engineers are my second biggest customers after security. They are always poking around with things and usually suffer from electrical shock, impalements, falls, and burns. You have no idea how many times someone is falling off a catwalk or getting stabbed with some sonic screwdriver.” Ally’s tone indicated it was probably far more that the XO ever cared to check out. One of his jobs was making the duty roster so typically the XO only cared about who was available for duty and who wasn’t. The XO’s paid attention to critical injuries but not necessarily bumps, bruises and ouchies.

“Mmmhmmm,” Kolar listened giving Ally only an interjection. In the short period of time the medical chief had been in his office, Kolar learned one important thing. Allison Scott was a talker.

“It is also why I keep a pair of magna-boots in sick bay. Why complicate an emergency more by trying to float around during treatment?” Settling back in her seat, Ally looked far more relaxed talking about her profession than she did ten minutes earlier trying to leave it.

“You understand Magnetic Boots will just rip your legs off if the inertial dampeners go offline. I think you mean the artificial gravity. If the inertial dampeners go off line and the ship does anything, we will all be different colored smears on the wall.” Just how many times did Dr. Scott need to go tramping around in magna-boots treating crew? How bad were the engineers on the Ogawa that gravity went off line so that she needed the boots as standard equipment? These were just a few questions he had and yet Kolar did not voice them. Doing so would probably send the woman down a rabbit hole and lunch was only twenty minutes in his future. Instead, he opted for elucidation on a question more pertinent to him.

“Mmmhmmm,” Ally replied thinking about his response. She did not doubt him and his analysis of Magna-boots versus inertial dampeners. The only thing she had in common with engineers was the fact they both put things back together again. After thinking about his answer for a moment she responded, “Yes, artificial gravity,” she smiled. Working with Kolar was going to be easier than she thought. His reserved manner had put her slightly on edge at first but the man had a gentle way about him. He had technically put her in her place twice during this visit and yet Allison did not feel chastised or defeated. She didn’t doubt the man could turn someone into a mewling infant if the situation called for it but it was not his first course of action.

“Also were myocardial infarcts a common illness among your superior officers in the past?” This new officer was going to be a handful. He could feel it in his bones.

Kolar XO

“Depends on how hands-on they want to be in my sick bay.” Ally’s comment and tone were open to vast interpretation depending on the listener’s mood.

“Mmmhmmm.” Again with the interjection but this time to take a moment to reflect on his response. Dr. Scott did not appear to be one of those holier-than-thou doctors who treated sick bay as if it were their own personal slice of the Federation. She was not openly challenging him but there was an underlying tone that could go as humor or a threat. Dr. Scott might look like she had just taken first place in a beauty contest, but there was a lot more to the woman that lay under the warm smile and perky optimism.
“Let’s just say I do a lot of humanitarian work outside normal business hours.”

Ally Scott CMO

“Tell me about that,” Kolar asked. For the most part, Starfleet was a humanitarian organization until it was called up for aggressive negotiations. Why Ally was making a clear distinction about this intrigued him.

Kolar XO

Allison sat up straighter and grew quiet. She had not expected the XO to pursue or care about her last statement. Clearing her throat, Ally responded far more succinctly than she had in any previous comment. “On the Ogawa we dealt with many people in need. I have kept in touch with some of them.” Allison adjusted in her seat attempting think of any other topic. If it was so honorable, then why did she need to sneak around to do it. “What do you do for fun?”

Ally Scott CMO

“Gardening.” He responded quickly and then returned to the topic at hand. This time he knew she was being evasive. He also did a lot of praying, but for some reason saying that made people uncomfortable.

“Of course, the Ogawa as strictly a medical ship, people in need was your job, but I don’t see how continuing to support former patients would be a problem unless you do so in a manner that forces you to neglect your current patients or if your continued communication violates ethical and medical norms.”

XO

Allison immediately projected the perfectly honed expression a doctor wore when they had received bad news about a patient but were not ready to share it. “I never said it was a problem. I just said that I can’t ever seem to get away from my work. I would rather enjoy a nice shore leave on some sunny tropical world but,” her voice trailed off.

“MMhmm,” That didn’t sound like the truth to him and it was incongruent with her previous statement that suggested that there was some sort of secondary relationship that was borderline unprofessional.

“Okay, I am going to level with you. When I was a kid I dreamt of being a vet. I was positive that was my life calling. When I was fourteen I was on a volunteering mission with my church. I did it every summer only that particular year we were rebuilding homes devastated by a typhoon caused by a malfunction in the weather systems. It was far different than fixing up some ramshackle housing. I could not wrap my head around how so many lost everything. People say just replicate it again but there are so many objects one cannot replicate that are part of one’s home. Drawings from your kids, antiques from previous generations, images one printed out but don’t have the original,” she began to list items. “Sure if you have them digitally stored but not everyone lives with a backup of their life on hard drive just in case. It was then I realized I wanted to help people so I became a doctor. I still try to devote some of my time to Habitats for Sentients. Usually, I am not patching up roofs but patching up people though.”

Ally Scott CMO

She might be the only person that dreamed of being a vet that ended up a doctor. “I don’t see how that is contrary to any duty of a Chief Medical Officer. In fact Star-Fleet outside of the Dominion War does more humanitarian missions than any other.” Maybe not this ship in specific. Kolar, himself, was a pacifist, which was weird given the ships he served on and the fact hat he grew up on Bajor.

Kolar

“I never said it was,” she smiled. Ally shifted in the chair not sure what say next. Kolar was like a dog with a bone. She would have to keep half an eye on him.
“So what should I know about Balfor no middle name Kolar. Is no middle name a Bajoran thing or your family just not able to settle on one?”

“My middle name is not on my official personal docket. That could be because I have no middle name or that I failed to report it. Bajorian’s typically don’t have middle names, but not all keep this cultural norm.”

Kolar XO

Ally liked the new XO. He seemed rather reserved or maybe he was just nervous and new. Just because one was a seasoned officer did not mean they instantly felt welcome and at ease with the crew. Ally had been on the Saracen a while so even though the man across from her held the keys to the proverbial kingdom, he was just a newbie. “So unless we have anything else I probably should get back to my job but don’t be a stranger okay? We tend to hang out in the lounge on Fridays. Shoot some darts, get some stitches,” she let her voice trail as she stood up.

“It was very good to meet you Sir,” Ally said with a warm smile.

Ally Scott CMO

“It was very nice to meet you Lt. Scott and I will try to see about Friday at the lounge.” Whether Kolar meant it or not would be hard to determine. He had learned the charisma and poise of his position where those leaving his office might be under the impression of somethings but never had a hard confirmation about it.

Kolar XO