Get this axe out of my head!!

Posted on 29 Oct 2011 @ 11:46pm by Lieutenant Commander Doctor Alex Frece , M.D. & Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Captain Reva Madhava

2,039 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: M8-A: Kzinti War - Recon from Hell
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: 915

ON

For the last few days Don had had a headache, reminding him of the days when he had a little drug problem. Well actually, quite a big one. For nearly six years he used a drug known as 'Jabba', a derivative of one of the lesser known opiates, found on Stanger III in the Ovaihi system. His father was stationed there for a while and a rebellious teen, Don was rather eager to try it. When he joined the marines, a doctor recognized the symptoms, but rather than exposing him, and thus ruining his career before it even started, chose to treat him quietly. That was where he got to know the terrible headaches associated with the early signs of withdrawal. With a famous Marine general as father, Don had a hard image to live up to. Three years later, Don fell into using Jabba again, and managed to hide it for a few years. When he got caught out the next time, he was demoted, placed on probation, actually one of the reasons, he was no longer in the Marines.


While on the Starbase, Don had gotten some pain tablets from a private medical practitioner. His excuse for requesting them was that with the war, sickbay could be too busy, etcetera. It worked, he got tablets. Though they were slower to work, they helped. But now he was running out of them and his headaches seemed to be getting worse. When he had a moment, he made for sickbay. He was a little apprehensive, but either that, or he had to endure the pain, and it could influence his work.

Before heading to the transporter room for the awayteam, Don walked into sickbay hoping to catch a nurse quickly. He saw the CMO standing across the room and no one else. "Shit.." Don mumbled and started to walk out again.

"No, No Commander. Get back in here. That's an order. Have a seat and tell me what this visit is about." Alex said sternly but nicely.

Don halted, grimaced and turned reluctantly on his heel to face the Doctor. ~Shit....~ he thought. He was less concerned about the medical reason for the headaches, he was more concerned about the CMO's reaction to the illegal tablets he has been using. There shoudl also be no alcohol in his bloodstream. For some reason that also brought relief. He wanted to avoid anything more than a routine checkup, in which his background with Jabba would remain hidden. But scrutiny by a Doctor might pose some questions. A nurse would have been less likely to pick up on it. "Ah Doctor," he said as he walked towards Frece. "I thought you were too busy, I was just looking for something for a little headache..." he tried to dismiss the severity.

"Too Busy? Sickbay is deserted." Alex stated, knowing the man must be hiding something, but chose not to comment as of yet. "Alright. Hope on bio bed two and while you're here I can give you your full Medical evaluation that is due every 2 years."

Reluctantly, Don crossed the floor to the biobed, the Doc pointed to and as he wanted to hop onto it, a sudden wave of pain nearly caused his knees to buckle and he gripped the side of the bed. "Can someone removed the axe from my head...." he joked weakly, turning as white as a sheet.

Alex raised his eyebrow but said nothing. "So, any allergies, abnormalities, and or injuries to report?" He asked the standard questions that he did with all physicals. He could tell this was going to be one long physical.

"No, not that I know of," Don said, grimacing as he got on to the biobed. "Just this damn headache. I would appreciate it if you skip the pleasantries and get rid of this." he added, irritation now clear in his voice.

"Alright. But Just don't tell anyone I can." Alex replied with a smile as he administered a slight pain curer.

"Thank you," Don said rubbing his neck. At least the doc didn't dig any deeper. He got up and flinched as the pain hardly subsided. "Doc, frankly, you should do a bit better than this," he said. "And please give me something I can administer myself, in case it comes back."

"I was going to , but your frank comment gets you nothing. Come see me if it comes back. That is all." Alex said ending the ordeal abruptly. "Now if you need me anymore, you know where to find me." He said as he moved towards his office.

In a sudden fury, Don jumped up and grabbed the Doctor from behind, turned him around and pushed him against the wall, his face inches from the Doctor's. "Don't walk away from me.. you know as well as I do that ... you didn't give me enough to make a dent in this pain!! You frigging bastard!" His face contorted as his rage just made the pain worse. He shoved himself away from the man and stumbled towards the door, putting his one hand out to steady himself and the other to grasp his forehead.

"Commander, I hereby relieve you of your duties effective immediately. COMPUTER: Please log that the XO has been relieve per the Chief Medical Officer." Alex said after recovering from his nervousness.

Don turned around, livid and while staring at the Doctor, he tapped his badge. =^="Killian to Da'nal, please come to sickbay immediately!" =^= he said, still holding his head.

[Bridge]

~Sickbay?! What's going on...he supposed to be heading over on the awayteam?~ =^=On my way=^=

[Sickbay]

It didn't take him long to get there but little did he know time was running out over on the remains of the Federation ship. "What is going on, Commander you are supposed to be leading an awayteam rig..." He cut himself off as he glimpsed his XO gripping his head in obvious pain."

"This quack has decided to remove me from duty, because He. Can't. Do. HIS JOB!!" Don literally growled, his voice raising intensity towards he end. His aggravation only served to increase the stabbing pain, which in turn increased his aggravation.

"No, I am doing my job. You just won't let me however." Alex replied with a smile. "Let me also state that he became violent and jumped me. Which, I am going to be nice and not file charges. I happened to like Commander Killian before all of this."

Not even hearing the last part of the Doc's response, Don reacted. "Doing your job!? If you were doing your job, I wouldn't standing here with this headache, you stupid clot!" Don exploded again, grabbing his head again. He was beyond reason, and wanted to get to the one thing that seemed to help. Alcohol.

"Enough!" It was obvious there was something wrong with his XO and he needed him on his feet, but it was clear that he was in no condition to lead the awayteam.

Tapping his commbadge. =^= Captain to Lt. Madhava. Lt. Report to Transporter Room 2 and take command of the awayteam. =^=

Down in the depths of Engineering, where she'd gone to hide from the reality of having suddenly been assigned the ChEng position, Reva looked up in shock. It took her a moment to recover from this new shock. During that moment, she cursed, asked the gods why they were letting Da`nal pick on her and, once she had control of her tongue again, answered, =^=Certainly. Sir.=^= In the emptiness of her corner of Engineering, she ranted; some of the words involved were 'stupid'; 'crazy'; and 'Klingon'. Finished with her rant, she headed for the designated transporter room.

Now that that was taken care off Da`nal addressed his CMO. "He attacked you?"

Don grunted his displeasure about the Captain's choice of words, but between his aching head and some sense not to make the situation worse, he didn't voice his objections, or *attacked* Da'nal, which would probably result in him loosing his head... literally.

"Yes. Captain He did." Alex responded in harshness. "And I don't appreciate it."

The Captains head darted from the Doctor to the XO. "Relieved..." A ships CMO had the authority to remove any officer from duty and that was the one thing he couldn't override. "...Doctor I need you to reinstate him. I need my XO. You have my word I will deal with this personally."

Don grimaced and narrowed his eyes. ~Was the Captain asking for him to be reinstated?~ When the last part about dealing with him personally, penetrated his mind, he wasn't so sure that it was good, then again, loosing his head after all, could relieve the pain.

A thought occurred to him; this could work to their advantage. "Dr. Frece. There are things in play that you have not been briefed on. I need him reinstated but as far as everyone outside this room is concerned his removal from duty will stand. Please give him something for his pain and I want everyone in my ready room in one hour to go over everything."

"Something stronger than last time," Don insisted. He was still very puzzled over the previous medication he had received. "Much stronger..." he said, hoping he was still more or less coherant.

"I'll place him on administrative restricted duty. After whatever he has to do is finished, he will report back to me and sickbay and I will evaluate whether or not he is ready to be reinstated. However, Captain, if he messes up between then and now, I will have to choice but to relieve him pending we get to a starbase for a further hearing." The Doctor replied in all seriousness. "Restrictive duty means the captain or I have to be with you wherever and whenever you are on duty. Understood Commander?"


Don glared at the Doctor and then turned to Da'nal. "Captain. If this man treated me correctly the first time, THIS would not have happened," he said in measured tones. "He has failed in his duty to look after the health of a crew member, so, that is acceptable?" Don asked, white as a sheet from the headache still pounding away at the inside of his scull. "And I know what *restrictive duty* means," Don commented in the Doctor's direction.

Da`nal had had quite enough of the arrogance and bickering...from both "Enough! We are at war and all you two can do is fight amounst yourselves! Doctor....treat his for whatever his condition is! Commander report to my ready room when finished here!

Spinning on his heel Da`nal head for the door and stopped as the doors opened. "Doctor, I want a preliminary repot on the cause of Stryers death within the hour." And with that the doors closed behind him and those in the corridor made sure they were out of the Captain's way.

[Back inside Sickbay]

Don sat down on the biobed, using his arms to steady him. He realized that his behaviour was pushing boundaries, but at the same time, he couldn't think straight. He breathed in and out deeply. "Doctor please. make this pain go away," he said, sounding more like himself, but the strain clear in his voice.

Grabbing a real strong pain med, he quickly injected the man with a hypo.

Don grimaced when the hypo penetrated his skin and he rubbed his neck with his hand. It seemed that the axe had been removed from his skull at long last and he closed his eyes at the relief. Slowly he got upright and without a further word he left. Apart from not understanding the initial treatment, he wished he could have had answers to the cause of this incredible pain. Didn't he actually like the doctor before? It was as if his life was spiralling out of control and he could do nothing about it.

On the way to the Captain's ready room, he could go past his alcohol stash. Maybe it had preventative properties too. Then he had to stay away from sickbay....yet he needed relief...

------------------------------------

Capt. Da`nal
CO

Lieutenant Commander Alex Frece
CMO

Commander Don Killian
XO

Ltjg Reva Madhava
CEng

 

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