Bedside Manners
Posted on Oct 13, 2014 @ 8:42pm by Lieutenant Eve Dalziel
Edited on on Oct 13, 2014 @ 8:42pm
Mission: Absolute Power
“Bedside Manners”
(Continued from “BIRDMAN!”)
=/\=
“The pale child, Eve, leading her mother, Night.”
-Alexander Smith
=/\=
Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: 2.141006.2230
Scene: Sickbay
Cade sat on the adjacent biobed, watching. He found himself oddly quiet and still, as if any noise he made would make a difference in Phia’s recovery. Holy hell, she wasn’t a soufflé. Truthfully, a shuttlecraft could explode within the confines of Sickbay, blasting a hole to the vacuum of space, sucking everything out until the room were an empty husk, and it wouldn’t so much as rouse her.
In spite of the anger and confusion that had been seething since this morning, he found memories of their argument playing through his mind, but not for their sordid content. Images of her in still frame, no sound. Only her. Her scowl. Her smirk. The way she could tell you to ‘go to hell’ and make it sound like a love sonnet.
He drew a ragged breath, running a hand along the scruff on his chin, then trying to rub the fatigue out of his eyes. It was a good thing he didn’t buy into all that regret crap.
“Sir?” a slightly wavering voice interrupted his complete denial.
He turned to the woman, She was an exotic drink of water, wearing a teal uniform and a puzzled expression. Her full lips gaped slightly as if she were struck dumb. She knew she was an hour or two early for the official arrival of the crew compliment, but she saw no need in being inefficient at a time like this. A quick stop at her apartment in San Fran to replicate a new uniform, decide that none of her belongings were really worth taking, or could easily be replicated, and say a hasty goodbye to her parents via video conference was all she needed before diving headfirst into the deep end of the Fleet pool.
The way some people talked about the PHOENIX, it was as if they were referring to the jewel in the hilt of the dagger strapped to Starfleet’s thigh. Since the ship hadn’t been officially christened yet, she expected it to look fresh and pristine. She hadn’t been expecting an aftermath.
A trail of smeared cupric blood, mud, dust, part of a uniform, empty hypo cartridges, and an empty box littered the floor, like a trail of forensic breadcrumbs.
A bluish woman with elegantly pointed ears and dark hair was surrounded by the full equipment complement of biobay three, obviously monitoring every possible function. The middle aged man the unexpected visitor presumed was a physician was wearing blood spattered yellow scrubs and a thoughtful scowl.
The new arrival looked a little pale; maybe she hadn’t seen that kind of thing before. But she was still standing, holding her own, and that was good enough for him. “Good. Reinforcements. You can start by cleaning this place up… Lieutenant.” He’d glanced at her rank as an afterthought. It was obvious he was exhausted.
Words formed in her throat, but she held them back. This was irregular. This wasn’t the kind of thing they put in the Starfleet brochures. Then again, when she woke up this morning, she hadn’t known it had been her last night on Earth for a while. “Yes, Doctor,” she said compliantly, trying to remember her field medic training. She found some gloves, realizing any debris could be potentially hazardous, and began carting it away to the reclaimer.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, it’s Cade.” The situation was hardly formal.
“Eve.”
“Like as in Adam and Eve?” It was time for coffee. He hopped off the bed, trying to loosen up the residual tension in his body by going over to the replicator.
“Actually, no... as in short for evening. It was a split decision between that and Dawn and I didn’t look like a Dawn.” Her nose crinkled in remembrance.
“Coffee?” he asked.
“Yes- double everything,” she said without missing a beat. She nodded for him to set the cup down on a nearby table outside the disaster area that was Phia’s surgical suite. She was still trying to vibrate the stains off the floor and sterilize the surface.
“So Eve as in evening, what brings you to the ship?” Cade wasted no time in returning to his vigil, downing as large a gulp of coffee as he could stand without burning his mouth.
Dalziel mentally shrugged. “Orders. I was recruited by Secretary Martine.”
“You’re supposed to say something enthusiastic like ‘the spirit of adventure’ or ‘because it was there’.”
“I don’t mind orders,” she said, broadening the light spectrum on the sterilization device.
“Are you in the habit of lying to your superiors?” he said sternly, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Her gray eyes glanced up coyly. “Only if it confuses the shit out of them.”
Cade feigned shock. “I thought you were a lady…”
“You have no idea,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“And where are my manners?” He rose with a tired flourish. “Welcome to the USS PHOENIX. I’m Lieutenant Commander Cade Foster, M.D., Chief Medical Officer. And you are?”
“Lieutenant Eve Dalziel,” she offered, but nothing more. He went over to the office, and quickly looked at his personnel roster, but she wasn’t in the medical rotation. “Why aren’t you here?”
“Last minute addition?” she questioned, knowing full well why she wasn’t part of the surgical or nursing staff.
“And isn’t Dalziel an Irish name?”
“Scottish actually. But I’m sure more than a few of the Dalziels drifted into Ireland and Britain hundreds and hundreds of years ago.” She carefully shucked off the gloves into the biohazard reclaimer, now that the area was spic and span, and grabbed the coffee.
“You don’t look Scottish… or Irish for that matter.”
She choked on her coffee- almost. “I’m adopted.”
Cade was about to pry further, trying to plow through the next twenty-something hours until the first twenty-four had ticked by and Phia was past one hurdle of many. But there was an interruption.
[[Lieutenant Dalziel.]] The Andorian’s voice was clipped and to the point. Cade was impressed with how alert he sounded.
“Present.”
[[This is Lieutenant Commander Jos. I expected you about ten minutes ago. Are you aboard?]]
*Oh crap*. “Yes, Sir. I’ve been in Sickbay.”
[[Sickbay?]]
“I needed to discuss a medical issue with Doctor Foster. Can you give me five more minutes?”
[[Of course, Counsellor. But make it as soon as your are able. I expect full psychiatric evaluations and workups of the crew completed within seventy-two hours.]]
“Understood. Dalziel out.”
*Counsellor?* The connection was barely broken when Cade tossed his cup in for recycling with a satisfying thud and glared at her. “Are all women fucking liars?!” he exploded.
Eve took a breath. “It was an omission,” she tried to explain, but it came off as a poor excuse. He must have cared deeply for the injured woman, and that woman must have been the Cns she was sent to replace. He hadn’t stopped watching her vitals the entire time.
“Dammit, you could have said something.”
She shook her head. “No,” she replied firmly.”You looked like you could use the help. That’s what I do.”
Begrudgingly, he admitted to himself she was right. “Are you a telepath?”
“If I were, I’d be striking it rich at the Dabo tables somewhere,” she said flippantly. “And I actually do have a medical issue to discuss with you.”
“Finally the truth comes out!” Cade sat back down on the biobed across from Phia. “This should be good. Fire away, Counsellor. Just don’t tell me you’re an android.”
“What do you have against androids?” she shot back, playing Pah-Wraith’s advocate.
“They’re very pale… and they lie a lot.”
Eve laughed. “I’m not an android.”
“But you agree with me, right?” he goaded.
“We’re going to have to table that debate for another time, or else the ExO is going to have my ass in a sling,” Eve said.
“Okay, what is it?”
“I know my records state that I’m Human or Humanoid, but that isn’t correct. Genetically, I’m Cardassian. Just a heads up.” She said it like she was ordering a sandwich.
Cade’s blue eyes bugged a little. “I don’t fucking believe you.”
She waved him off, heading towards the exit, her nearly raven ponytail streaming behind her. Message delivered. Whether he believed it or not was not her problem. “Tell it to me at the physical, Cade. I have to report to Jos… now.”
=/\=
Susan Ledbetter
Lieutenant Eve Dalziel
Counsellor
USS PHOENIX
Marie-Claire Martine
Secretary of Starfleet
Captain Siobhan Reardon
Currently Unassigned
