The needs of the many.

Posted on Tue Oct 7th, 2014 @ 2:56am by Lieutenant Commander Aryll LeStrat & Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: Main Medical--CMO's Office

Rosaleen made her way into the stations main medical complex, her dress and cloak flowing behind her like a stream. Her cowl was down today as she was in familiar territory. There were quite a few new personnel here today, a sign that the station was coming even more to life. She nodded at a couple of the staff who had taken notice to her as she passed, including one young man who's jaw almost hit the floor at her passing...he actually gained a smile.

She could tell that things were quickly ramping up in Medical in preparation for the upcoming aid mission. Rosaleen hoped that everybody was getting any rest that they could find time for...they would need it. Finally she made her way to the CMO's office door. The desk in the ante-room was empty...most likely the new officer had not had time to request an assistant. She walked up to the door and, after a reflexive glance around, rang the chime.

"The door is not locked, customarily. This is a place for healing. There are no secrets to be found within. Just step a bit closer to the door. The sensor's not working properly." Aryll said, as she set aside one of several PADDs she was writing, or reading, or signing. She looked up at the incoming person. "Oh. Good. A civilian. Lovely. I've had enough rank for the day. How may I help?" She said, taking in the appearance of the person in question. "I'd stand up, if I could. It's been a rough day."

"Please...don't get up. Besides, I could stand to sit a spell myself." She slid into the chair centered in front of Aryll's desk. "Rosaleen O'Donnell...Lieutenant Commander. I am Commodore O'Shea's personal assistant. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Fair enough, ma'am." Aryll said, nodding. "The replicator is working, if you require anything."

"Oh, I'm good in that department, thank you." Rosaleen's Irish accent was muted, but still noticable. She pulled out a blue-rimmed PADD. "The boss wanted you to have a look through this list. It is all of the supplies for medical that we currently have in storage here at the station. In normal times it would be more than adequate, but as you and I both know...these are most definitely not normal times." Rosaleen handed the PADD to Aryll. "I was told to inform you that anything that you need added to that for operational use, you need but to ask. We have pressed several civilian freighters into service for relief efforts. There are also a couple of cache bases that we are opening up as well, but I have no inventory of those as of yet."

"My big concern is personnel. Even with Starfleet supposedly sending us 200 volunteer Doctors, Combat Medics, civilians, and believe it or not, convicted felons with medical degrees, it's still a scale issue. I'm going to run a few ideas past Operations and Engineering. I plan to have everything mobile, and interlinked. I've seen far too many medical teams on planets become hostage situations, and that's not happening, either." Aryll said, nodding. She reviewed the PADD, then looked up. "Do you know if there's spare holo emitters handy?" She added.

"I believe there are several cases stored down in the Corps of Engineers facility. They use them for a variety of uses, although mainly for tools and other equipment. If you are thinking what I think you are, they would be easily adaptable for EMH use." Rosaleen made a mental note to request one of the cases to be sent up to her office immediately after she left Medical.

"I want a lot of them." Aryll said. "I want to be able to send a crew of security officers in to a remote town, set up a tent, plug a device in to a power generator, and have a doctor, and a sterile operating table." She eyed the trucks on the list. "I've got a few ideas about the trucks, too. Oh." She snapped her fingers. "You can help with this. I don't know what the uniform regs are, but until they're actually operating on a patient, I don't want any medical personnel to stand out. If it's against regulations, I don't give a damn. I want them dressed, and armed as security, right up until they scrub in. Except the civilians. I don't want anyone to have an accurate count of how many doctors, and how many soldiers we actually have, until they're actually practicing medicine, or shooting people."

"Uniform regs are whatever they need to be for a given situation. You will have no argument from either Kathleen or myself. And I will get a team to work on the emitter systems stat. They are a bit bulky with the generator, computer, and accessory parts so be warned. You know...we do have Cerberus Modules already set up for that exact roll...pre-programmed, supplied, and set up to where you literally drop it into place and it's ready to go. Fully enclosed as well."

"Orbital dropping will be useful, but if they've got SAM sites, I want back-up ideas. A crate on an antigrav is just as useful, and twice as mobile." Aryll said, nodding.

Rosaleen smiled slightly...it wasn't the first time that she had worked with officers not up to speed on the Cerberus Logistics System. "No, you don't understand. The transports go directly to the site and offload the Modules. There are many different size Modules as well, and the larger transports can carry several and distribute them to locations that you designate. Some are designed to be mobile as well on trailers. And we send in Scimitars on Wild Weasel ops. We also have a custom shop for designing and building specialized Modules as needed. The Cerberus team can literally provide you with anything that you want or need."

"That's all well, and good, but I want varied options. There will undoubtedly be situations in which that a team of people, with a small cargo supply being combat dropped, is simply more practical. If they really can do anything, I want four three truck teams put together that fold out, and link together, to make a large medical combat hospital unit. Complete with sensor jamming, preferably automated defenses, and a transporter booster/scrambler system, so that an overwatch runabout can easily transfer crew, and patients, between them, as needed, but incoming transporter signals that aren't cleared, get scattered, or reflected."

"We should be able to accommodate you with your requirements. You will want to talk to the Marine CO as well. He has a small medical team already operating in the forward area as well, so he can provide you with cover as well."

"Marine CO is already on my list. The Chief Sec/Tac probably doesn't have many officers prepped for orbital dropping." Aryll said, nodding. "That's why I want the crated quick-deploy stuff. There are some locations that I want to absolutely shock the hell out of anyone acting against medical teams, by choking checkpoints." She took a deep breath. "I actually was planning to do that shortly, just as soon as I can handle standing up."

She eyed her brace, with a discomforted look. "It might wait until after lunch."

"Take your time...nobody's going anywhere anytime soon. Well, except for the Marine CO. He went in with his initial team." Although Rosaleen did not show it, she was worried about Pete. How much so disturbed her even more. "And another area where we deviate from the norm. Tactical is a part of Combat Operations, and Security fall under the Marines. Given the overall situation out here it made sense to organize it in such a manner.

"Fair enough. So I talk to the Marine CO, security gets briefed." Aryll said, taking a relieved breath. "That's so amazingly logical."

"Streamlining the process...something that Command would never think of." Rosaleen laughed. "Some of them are still trying to wrap their minds around some of Kathleen's changes." She turned off her PADD, indicating that Aryll was to keep the other one. "So...changing subjects. Are you getting settled in ok?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen my quarters." Aryll said, with a shrug. "I'm a marine. I'll sleep on my desk if I have to. I've got bigger things to worry about than how shiny the bath tub is. Getting settled in is something I can find time for after we deal with the medical emergency. Time isn't much of a luxury."

"A word of warning. Senior Officers quarters are a bit bigger than you are probably used to. And you will have to make yourself take some downtime. This isn't going to be over in a few days." Rosaleen hesitated a hair before continuing. "You should have access to everyone's medical files by now...except two. At the point that you need to review either mine or Kathleen's, you will need to speak to the Commodore for access. I figure it's better to let you know up front than to have you stumble upon it yourself."

Aryll was about to make a comment about being a big girl, and being able to manage her own stress levels, when Rosaleen continued. "Then I'm going to speak with her. Now." Aryll said, grabbing the brace and putting it on her leg. "Engage safety. Activate." She added, wincing. "Under no circumstances does anyone on active duty, have an inaccessible medical file by the chief medical officer. I need to know that kind of information, in case either of you get injured."

She didn't even wait another moment. She walked past Rosaleen, and was already headed for the turbolift.

Rosaleen was suddenly by her side, having arrived there so fast that it was almost as if time had sped up for her...actually it was almost as if she had just appeared.

"Doctor, I think you misunderstood me.." Rosaleen's voice was very calm, almost melodic in nature. "You have complete access, you just do not have the security codes. I would not hesitate for one moment to give you mine, however Kathleen prefers to do so in person unless it is an immediate emergency." As Rosaleen spoke, the ambient temperature rose just enough to be noticeable, but not uncomfortable. It was actually a bit relaxing. "And they were not restricted by either of us. That order comes from much higher up the ladder." A shy smile. "And nobody thinks you are not a 'big girl'. It may take a bit getting used to for you, but we really watch out for each other here."

Aryll turned, to Rosaleen. "No, you don't understand. If there's an explosion, NOW, on the command deck, I can't get the command codes from the Commanding Officer, if she's unconscious. This is entirely bullshit, and I'm not standing for it. Not for one second." She continued her awkward march out of sickbay.

Rosaleen was completely still for a moment, eyes closed. "The codes...are in your PADD. You need to keep them secured. Perhaps when you have time to review them you will understand a bit better." Rosaleen hated having to keep secrets, but this one was necessary. Once it was discovered that they were not truly human, and that they came from a race that not only had zero connection with the Federation or Starfleet, but was not in the least bit was understood by anybody in Starfleet, the initial decision had been to completely remove them from service. But calmer heads had finally prevailed, and they were allowed to remain, but with stipulations.

"Simple rules." Aryll said. "Mine are really easy. You don't lie to your doctor, or your bartender." She frowned. "All you had to say was I had access to them, and we could've avoided all of this. I don't care what's in there, it doesn't matter to me. I just need to know, so I can treat you both safely. There is literally nothing in that file that I will find, that will cause me to treat you as any less of a person, are we clear?"

"Yes, my lady. Understand that it is not my rules, or even Kathleen's. But I promise you it will be an interesting read. Any questions that you may have feel free to ask. But I must caution you...neither of us have a lot of the answers. Physiologically though, you can essentially treat us as human."

"And the penny drops." Aryll said, with a nod. "You're not. Well. Regardless, like I said, it doesn't matter."

"There are those that would disagree with you on that point, but fortunately they are a minority." 'For now, at least.' Her greatest fear was still being awakened in the middle of the night by a team sent to...no, that wasn't quite right. Her greatest fear was what she was capable of doing to escape. "But yes...I am most definitely not what I appear to be. But that is not a bad thing. Actually I rather like the change."

Aryll shrugged. "Like I said. It doesn't matter what you wear on the outside, to me, beyond that uniform. I've got better things to care about than the petty, racist political squabbles the Federation council debates amongst themselves, or whatever the hell they pay Admiral Quinn to do. I'm a Doctor. Commodore O'Shea is my Commanding Officer. You're her assistant. I really don't care past those facts."

Rosaleen finally smiled again. "I'm not even sure that Admiral Quinn knows what they pay him to do. But he definitely naps a lot at functions."

"I do too." Aryll said, shrugging. "I can't blame him."

A soft chime sounded from one of the many hidden pockets in Rosaleen's cloak. She hadn't realized that it was getting so late already. "Well, that's my cue to leave. My next victim awaits. I'll check in with you in a day or so. In the meantime, if you need anything before then route the request straight to me. It will get taken care of."

"Good luck, Ms. O'Donnell. I may not sleep, by the next time we meet. If I'm still up, please remind me to go to bed." Aryll said, idly. "I've got to set up medical teams for the planet, and draw up some plans. I'll be in touch. I'm sure."
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Lieutenant Aryll LeStrat
Chief Medical Officer

Rosaleen O'Donnell
Commodores Personal Assistant