Worthy

Posted on Thu Jul 8th, 2021 @ 11:58pm by Lieutenant Commander Timia Svidi & Lieutenant JG Holly Swan

Mission: Helping Hand
Location: Sickbay/ CMO Office
1420 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Meekly Counselour Holly Swan poked her head around the partition mutely to assess Doctor Svidi. There were two reasons, well three actually which was why she was tiptoeing around Sickbay in her attempts to locate the CMO.

Firstly, she hadn't actually official introduced herself to Timia yet, secondly being newly assigned came these dreaded physical exam and like most senior staff Holly would wiggle herself out of it as much as possible. Thirdly, and the most honest reason why she was creeping around like a mouse was out of fear. Having seen her in action in the staff meeting Holly was intimidated by Svidi - the way she dressed down both Hayter and Raiden would make anyone sit up and pay attention. In Holly's case however it made her knees quake.

Taking a steading breath Holly made herself known: "Excuse me Doctor Svidi," she began.

Timia looked up suddenly at her name being called. "Swan is it?" she asked looking down again. "Come in," she said with a bit of a smile. "Give me a moment." she said motioning to a chair and looking down at her computer again. She entered some notes, mouthing the words as she did so before she looked at the woman again. "Bout time you stopped by." she smirked.

Sitting obediently Holly felt herself cringe at the senior officers words feeing as if she'd stepped out of the pan into the raging fire below. Nervously she wiped her perspiring palms on her trousers: "I apologize for not speaking to you sooner."

Timia raised a brow, "Do you feel like you should have?" she asked her pointedly. She had her own opinions on it, but she wanted to know what this nervous heap of a woman thought first.

With a her cringe deepening Holly squirmed in her seat slightly under Timaia's heated gaze. "Aside from a courtesy call, yes ma'am. You are technically my senior officer I should have introduced myself before attending the Captain's meeting."

"Ah, there it is. You did an Endrun. I don't like End runs. That's when you run to the end of the line, by passing the normal structure." Timia said. "At least you figured it out and corrected it with out having me having to nail you down." she grunted. "Well with that out of the way... How have you found the counseling Department?" she asked. "You have a number of offices and environments to help with your cases." she said.

"Indeed we do," Holly wanted to expel a sigh of relief Timia hadn't just eaten her alive just yet. "Our facilities have exceeded my expectations and should provide reassuring, harmonious settings for our patients."

"Good." Timia replied, "I'll expect a copy of your reports submitted to my office daily for now." she said. "Of course anything alarming that may need my direct attention, you should give me a call. I'll make time to review the case. Self harming and stuff such as that." she said waving her hand. "I also am asking engineering to install holoemitters in at least two of your counseling rooms. I've been reading up in some studies that sometimes it helps people when you can have a different basic environment. It wont be much more than projection, because its not an actual holodeck. but you can make your plain room a beach, if needed, and the computer can simulate sounds and smells. If you need an interactive environment you'll have to go to an actual holodeck." she said.

Timia paused and looked the woman over. "Ms Swan, I do want to ask you a pointed question. For a ship this size, a counselor of your... experience..." she said her eyes pausing on the woman's pips on her collar, "Is generally not someone put in charge of the mental health of the entire boat." she said folding her hands on the desk. "Convince me you can handle the job." she said and raised one brow at her.

Sense the vultures were circling above Holly felt herself tense as Timia pecked at her as if wishing to cause an unprofessional reaction. Though it was likely the Doctor meant well and wanted some reassurances Holly wouldn't let her down she wasn't gentle about it. Timia as most defiantly a no nonsense physician not softly, softly fluffy and cotton wool nurturing type, just cold hard facts. Holly made a note to avoid becoming a patient as much as possible.

"The USS Europa, one of my previous postings," Holly steadied herself. "Suffered heavy losses under enemy fire, twenty percent of the crew required additional phycological remedies following the incident most PTSD, survivors guilt that sort of thing. The Europa was a much smaller vessel than this, we only had four counsellors including myself. Our senior most, Commander Carter was also the second officer, following the death of the XO she was pulled away from sickbay regularly. I arranged the treatment of the crew in her place and oversaw the process."

Timia listened intently, "Certainly a challenging position for a junior officer." Timia knew of the events, she'd looked the woman up, she had to to ensure that Starfleet was giving her someone competent. She still had some concerns, but she'd work those out. "Tell me how that went, was the crew responsive to you? Did they respect the care of a younger officer? How did you handle the ones who did not?"

"There was as you said some minor grumblings," Holly continued. "Not everyone was as forthcoming as they should have been with my junior position becoming a sticking point. Doctor Bishop and Commander Carter took over the most resilient cases or where my experience lacked depth of understanding."

Timia grunted with her nod, "And so you'll be passing those cases to me when you come across them here?" she asked her.

"If we agree it necessary or beneficial for the patient, yes." Holly replied feeling the need to assure Timia she could manage herself, the department and the treatment for her patients without needing to be supervised. She knew however it was vitally important for Timia to keep her finger on the pulse of the crew's wellbeing both physically and mentally. It would foolish for Holly to fight against the Doctor's hurricane strength sense of duty and was wise to make compromises.

Timia pressed her lips together, "I'm not a psychologist." she quipped. "I've taken courses, but I'm a rather opinionated person, my psychology skills don't really extend beyond bedside manners." she said revealing a point of weakness in her skill set. "So lets just hope you can handle what this crew throws at you, because I'm more likely tell them to suck it up and stop being a child. We're adults, we are military. Not some group of weak minded poorly trained idiots."

"But we are also living beings not machines or androids," the counsellor countered boldly. "We all have strengths, weakness and moments of vulnerability, and some of those cannot be overcome alone. Which is were you and I come into play. I assure you Doctor I can handle whatever comes my way."

Timia actually let out a smile at the womans boldness. That was what she wanted to see, and she was feeling a little better about Swans assignment. "Good. Now. What questions do you have for me?" she asked her, keeping the small smile on her face.

Relieved Holly still had all her fingers and toes attached she shook her head: "I don't have any questions at the moment Doctor, though I believe I'm required to complete a physical examination following my transfer. Should I report to Doctor Whitlock or would you prefer to conduct exams of the senior staff?"

"Generally I would perform them myself, but I would like to see Dr Whitlock's method of reporting. So I'm going to use you as a ginney pig to test her out." Timia smirked. "If you have any concerns you are not comfortable discussing with her, of course my door is absolutely open to you." she added in.

Uncertain if she should be thankful to be spared Svidi's medical expertise or not Holly decided to bite her tongue regarding being used as a test subject. She'd needed to discuss Whitlock's interest in assisting with counselling but concluded that could wait a little longer. She'd flirted with the lions long enough.

"Thank you, I'll bear that in mind."

"Good enough .. now go " Timia said with a wave of her hand as if shooing away a cat.

~ fin