Tepid Welcome
Posted on 10 Apr 2022 @ 10:29am by Major Minka Mazur, MD (*) & Lieutenant JG Hannah Wagner
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Infirmary
Timeline: MD02 - 0941HRS
1538 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure
It had been on hell of a morning, especially after another night of no sleep what had taken its toll on her body and her mood. Doctor Mazur's already snappy personality was on high alert. It didn't take the rest of the staff long to give her a wide berth, leaning on Doctor Llwyd for their day-to-day questions so that they didn't have bother. It was what she'd wanted. It was why she'd called for help from the other Doctor's among the fleet nearby. Doctor Pembroke of the Alexander had volunteered his Assistant Chief as he was flush with Physician support. So far, his help had been invaluable.
Doctor Mazur walked slowly into her office and settled slowly into her chair behind her desk, one hand clutching the chair and the other her belly as she settled. She was more than ready to have this baby, and given just how difficult it had been this go around, she was ready to commit to not having another. When she'd told Ptolemy that, he'd laughed at her and told her that she'd said the same thing with their first, Ada, and yet here they were. He wasn't wrong, but she let herself believe he was. She had just turned on the terminal on her desk to read the morning reports when there was a guest at her door. With a sigh, she turned off the screen.
"Yes? Door's open," she called out sharply.
Hannah winced at the tone, before stepping into the brightly lit office that she'd been waiting outside of. Her PADD with her orders was in her hand, steady despite the nerves gnawing at her.
"Good morning, major." She greeted her, honey blonde hair in a neat tail behind her back, except for the curl that caressed her cheek. "Hannah Wagner, your new Assistant Chief, reporting in."
Minka held out her hand for the device, "By the time I get up, you'll be a Lieutenant Commander. Hand it here," she declared waspishly. She'd seen the notice from Command that they'd finally seen fit to assign an assistant chief to this posting but was surprised it wasn't someone on part with Doctor Llwyd who she'd asked to step in to assist with her workload as her pregnancy kept her at her desk more often. "Sit," Minka added to her, gesturing to one of the chairs before her desk.
Hannah leaned over the desk and caught sight of the heavy belly indicative of late pregnancy on the Major. That explained a lot of how she managed to get this posting, not that she would breathe one word of complaint. Nodding once she figured that the bite to her words was not directed at her personally, she handed over the PADD and sat. "Yes ma'am."
"Do you understand the scale of the Medical department aboard a Starbase?" Minka asked as she reviewed the orders and the woman's record as she sat in front of her. "This isn't a tiny science vessel. There are over one-hundred thousand people aboard this station, and we are the only Medical port of call: Civilian or Starfleet," she continued, tossing the PaDD on the desk to the side. "This isn't a scare tactic, Lieutenant, it is a statement of reality. You need to understand the scale in which you'll be practicing medicine. Fancy certifications won't be much help here. You'll live and die by your ability to change gears at the snap of a finger. Especially if you have any hope of remaining my Assistant Chief. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I do." she answered, then took a deep breath and continued trying to keep the sharpness out of her voice. "My last posting left me plenty of time to figure out what I wanted out of my medical practice. The certifications kept me from going mad with boredom. I may not understand exactly the scope of such a place, but I am up to the challenge."
"Ok," Minka nodded, heaving a slow sigh and wincing briefly as her little one shifted and turned her bladder into a footrest. "You can start with a round with Doctor Llwyd, just to get your bearings, and then I want a full reporting on our medical stores and what staff can be missed to assist down on the planet. We've got some of the more challenging patients aboard here, but there's plenty that needs doing on the surface. I want you to handle that," she ordered. Any other time, she'd have managed it all and utilized her Assistant Chief as a second opinion and staff manager. But she didn't have that luxury right now. She could barely walk into the Infirmary and was just waiting for the day that Doctor Llwyd ordered her to bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. She could fight off this newcomer in front of her from sending her anywhere, but Doctor Llwyd was on loan from the Alexander and had no problem walking into the Admiral's ready room and pulling rank. So until then, she was going to get all her ducks in a row, until she couldn't anymore.
There was a part of her that wanted to protest doing staffing and stores, but she didn't. Fire flashed in her eyes but now was very much not the time to speak her mind. Anger overrode her anxiety, but didn't turn her into an idiot. She could hold her tongue. This, she was certain, was a test. one of many, if she didn't miss her guess. She would have plenty of time to prove herself in the inevitable maternity leave that was coming. "Am I permitted to rearrange the staff to work to their best qualities or specializations?"
Minka nodded slowly, "Once you have a better understanding of that, yes," she replied. "With my approval," she added. She was both relieved and afraid to let the new Doctor have that control over things. She knew that it was a necessary task for the Assistant Chief, much he way an XO handled such things in a full command. But the fact of the matter was she'd had full control over everything since she'd set foot on OC and wasn't keen to let it go. It'd taken everything she had just to call Doctor Llwyd to assist. "What would be more helpful," she managed as kindly as she could muster both as a deflection from the point and a true suggestion, "Would be to help vet potential transfers into this command. Doctor's of specialties we need."
"Which is essentially the same thing. Two different lines on the same list." her eyes were shrewd, and the sharpness of the mind behind them was visible as she sat there for a minute thinking. Chewing her lower lip absently she murmured "Doctors of Specialties we need. Doctors of specialties, we could train from some of the Junior Doctors that we have. Provided of course, we're getting more- which I know we are. I bet some of them aren't satisfied just being where and what they are. We, just, apply the right stimulus to the right people."
"I'm fine with trying to train some into specialties, but we need expertise as well," Minka agreed partially, "It might be best to let those specialists decide which of the junior Physicians is a good candidate for their field," she added. "I'll leave that all with you," Minka finished with a tone that was more tired than anything, but conveyed the point she was ready to be alone for a while. If this new Doctor worked out, between her and Doctor Llwyd, maybe she could make a habit of just reading charts here in her office and keep her feet up. There were certainly worse ways to spend her day.
"Of course." she murmured, her tone again deceptively docile. She'd already started reading the jackets for the Doctors here on the station, and her mind was flitting from topic to topic like a hummingbird over the flowers. Absently, since her mind was already far ahead of her mouth "Do I have an office as well or shall I steal a temporary station?"
Minka gestured to the other end of the deck, "There are plenty of open spaces beyond the labs. Take your pick," she waved flippantly. She certainly didn't care where everyone went. On a station this size though, there was no shortage of places to go. To her more immediate need, if it got the woman out of her hair so she could put her feet up and gave her a place to get going with the tasks she'd given her, all the better.
Again, her temper flared and she bit it down, though it took her longer to do this time. Was the woman deliberately baiting her to see what she would do, or did she truly not care? She could appropriate space and make it her own, but she was sure that nothing she offered this woman would ever be good enough. That was no small amount discouraging. She walked away still biting her lip to keep from saying something she'd regret later. She'd long since outgrown that sort of childish behavior.