Monday, August 31, 2009

Update - A Busy Week

Chief Medic’s Log

This has been a very busy week on the Liberty. I thought when I transferred from Voyager to the Liberty things would be a little bit more exciting, but I did not realize exactly how exciting it would be. I’m not complaining. It is good to be needed. It’s just…. different.

Since the Liberty is following along with Voyager, I can at least visit with friends. Ensigns Braddock and Arda visited me on the Liberty earlier in the week. I got to show them around my office and also to chat with them for a while. I hope that I will be able to visit them on Voyager soon.

I was also very surprised this week to discover a stowaway on the Liberty. I nearly shot him with a phaser in the infirmary whenever I discovered him in a ventilation duct. Come to find out he had been a stowaway sent their last landing and had been surviving by stealing food and other items. His name is Thrail Shra (follow him at – www.twitter.com/thrailshra ) and he and I have had the chance to talk. It seems that we have something in common – we have both lost spouses.

It is somehow comforting to talk to someone who understands the pain and loss of losing a spouse. While other people can be very sympathetic, to be able to share memories and feelings with someone who understands exactly how you feel provides a special kind of comfort. I hope that I was as comforting to him as he has been to me.

I have also found out that Tom is missing. He volunteered to go on a mission – insisted on going – by himself. We have not heard from him since he left. Right now I am not sure he is dead or alive. I keep telling myself that he is too stubborn to die, that he is going to walk in my door with a cocky smile and tell me all about how exciting his mission was. I keep telling myself that he is thinking of me where he is, and that he is doing his best to come back to me.

But I also have to face reality. He may never come back. I just keep taking every day, one day at a time, trying not to dwell on what is happening to him. Or what has already happened.

There was also an explosion on board this week. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but Morgan – our engineer – must have left something running. There was an explosion and I was hurt. I received some burns, nothing life-threatening as long as they were treated quickly. I made my way to the infirmary and Jared helped me to treat my burns.

I believe that both of our shuttles have been damaged and are not able to fly. I also believe that Morgan is working to repair them as quickly as she possibly can. Until the shuttles have been repaired, we are shipbound.

Morgan and Rain – our First Officer/Science Officer – got into quite a tiff about the accident, but I think they are okay now. They seemed like they were getting along fine last night.

Which brings me to last night.

When I came from Voyager, I brought along my database of 20th century music. I was listening to music in my quarters and dancing, trying to keep my mind off of everything that is going on with Tom.

Jared heard music and followed it to my room. He started singing to me and also we begin to dance. I have not laughed like that in a long time. Don’t get me wrong – he is an excellent singer and dancer. He was simply trying to do things in a way so that I would laugh.

Morgan and Rain also followed the music to my room and they joined us. We took turns selecting songs. It was a lot of fun.

The final song we did was dancing to the Time Warp. It was so much fun we did it twice. By the end of the night, everyone was laughing and having a good time.

Then it came time for everyone to say goodnight. Rain and Morgan left, leaving Jared and myself in my quarters. Jared tried to give me a kiss goodnight, but I couldn’t let him. I keep telling myself that Tom is going to come home. I can’t betray Tom like that. Jared said he understood. We ended the night on a good note.

With us not knowing where Tom is right now, I need to make arrangements and plan ahead with the assumption that he may not come back. Since Tom was supposed to be our backup medic, I now have to have a backup plan in case I am the one that is injured. Receiving those burns in that accident really made it hit home. Jared helped as much as he was able to, but if I had not been awake and able to talk him through everything he would not have been able to help me.
Today I will be working on labeling everything in my medical kit in plain English – analgesics will be labeled as pain killers, etc. – along with very explicit instructions on how to use all of the medications and tools that are included in the kit.

I will be including instructions for human, Orion and Andorian first aid. I also plan on meeting with every member of the crew for a quick orientation so that they will be comfortable using everything in the kit in case of an emergency.

I am sure that we will be planning another mission soon, so I want to make sure that I have all of this completed by the time we leave for our next mission.

~Shara, Chief Medic – Liberty

Monday, August 24, 2009

Transitions

This is an excerpt from Ezekiel Storm's Log:

Captain’s Log:

Our mission on Augan was a complete disaster. Not only did we not get paid for the mission, but our medic doublecrossed us. He and his cohorts ended up stealing our payload and also ransacking the ship. My remaining three crew members – Jared Stone, Morgan Connelly and Rain Meadows – were all seriously injured in the process.

Jared was in the worst shape of all three, but Morgan and Rain were pretty bad off, too.

We had a few remaining medical supplies, but no idea what to do with them or even what they were for. Then, we pick up something on our long-range scans that ended up being an escape pod. Two life signs on board, and one of those was weak. One human. One Orion. In the Delta Quadrant!

It turns out that the Orion is a ”doctor’s assistant” named Shara that is serving on Voyager. She patched up her friend that was in the pod with her – some hotshot pilot named Tom Paris – and then proceeded to jump right in and help my crew. I’ll be damned if she didn’t save them all.
Rain and Morgan were up and walking around the next day – weak, but alive.

Jared was still in bad shape, and Doc – which is what we have been calling Shara – said she needed stronger medicines in order to help him. Plus she needed some other stuff for her pheromone shots, whatever the hell those do.

Since we were going to go on a “procurement mission” – in other words, go grab some stuff – in order to get what we needed, Doc went ahead and made up a list for us to get so that we could fully stock the infirmary and also have extra stuff we could sell off later.

We found a nearby planet that operates on a caste system. Upper and lower caste. Morgan had a contact that was a doctor in the hospital for the lower caste. He supplied uniforms, IDs, and map and key cards. We go in, take the meds from the upper caste hospital, then give some to him for payment for the uniforms and ID’s, plus he’d give us crates of food, jugs of water, and other supplies.

Since Jared – our pilot – was in no shape to help, MU Tom Paris (aka Hotshot) offered to pilot for the mission. I’ll say this – he is an arrogant son of a bitch, but he sure can pilot a shuttle. Damn. Poetry in motion is all I can say about that flight. It all went without a hitch – textbook operation. We went in, grabbed the goods, made the exchange and got the hell back to Liberty. Hotshot went right in with us and worked right alongside us – no problems at all.

Doc worked her magic on Jared with those meds we got. He is still hobbling around, but at least he is breathing. Doc says he’ll be walking on his own soon. Not sure when he can pilot. Doc was really hesitant to tell me when that might happen.

I was impressed as hell with that short, green spitfire. Doc knows her way around an infirmary, and her saving my crew – plus Hotshot, her friend – was the best possible job interview I could have seen. I offered her a position as our medic on Liberty.

Tom wanted to stay. Almost from the minute he set foot on Liberty and was conscious. Doc took some convincing. Damn, she is a stubborn one. But she can tell we genuinely like her, and we appreciate her. I think that goes a long way. She accepted my offer.

Last night, I met with the captain of Voyager (Captain Janeway) and one of her officers, a Vulcan named Tuvok. They came aboard the Liberty to see the ship and to see Shara and Tom.

Janeway did her best to convince me that keeping Tom and Shara here is a mistake, but I know in my gut that it’s the right decision, and I told her so.

Still, as a courtesy and to make sure things go well, I agreed to follow close to Voyager for a while and see how things go during a trial period. I don’t have any concerns, but Janeway does. I think it will work out for both of us. I am sure we will see each other again soon.

Ezekiel (”Zeke”) Storm, Captain of the Liberty (www.usslibertyrpg.com)

Thursday, August 6, 2009

A troubling 2 weeks

The past couple of weeks have been upsetting in more ways than one.

First, I had a discussion in the Mess Hall with MU Tom Paris. He said that men are better at some jobs than others. A vice versa. You know - women are better with child rearing, that kind of thing. Grrrrr. The discussion got heated, but not out of hand.

The problem is that it was overheard, and that Seven of Nine took punitive action against MU Tom for voicing his opinion to me in a private conversation. She assigned him to double and overlapping shifts. It was completely out of line, and there has been an investigation.

I went with MU Tom to the interview that conducted by Tuvok, since I was a witness. I am confident that MU Tom will be vindicated.

I have requested that Seven of Nine be reprimanded for this and that - from now on - if any major changes are made to MU Tom's shifts the changes must be approved by Tuvok. I do not know if either of these requests will be carried out. More than likely, Seven will simply get a lecture. *shrugs*

I seem to be fighting with more and more friends. I have now had a falling out with John (Ensign Braddock), Seven and Kala. When I was talking to Adam (Ensign Coombs), he made realize that I can't keep fighting with my friends. It is a really small ship.

John and Seven were about MU Tom. John said some horrible things. I know what he was trying to say - the way it came out was just really bad. I went to his quarters and we talked for a bit. While his words still sting, we are still friends. We will get past this.

Adam said that the reason why John is so upset is that he is in love with me. *sigh* I know this. John and I have talked about it from time to time. I love John dearly, but just as a friend. While it is true we had agreed to start "dating" on the rescue mission to the Mirror Universe to retrieve MU Tom and MU Chakotay, it really didn't happen. MU Tom and I started dating instead.

Adam said he would talk to John and see if he could help.

Jean Pierce has been in and out of SickBay - unexplained periods of sleep - 12, 14, 19 hours. We can't find the cause. Although a visit from Chakotay cheered her up. *grins*

That is all for now. Enough drama for now. *laughs*

Shara out.