Well Ody, performance issues are not uncommon in older men. Keep at it, you get it done. 

Great Post Doc!   Getting a feel for the new CMO.   He and Cook need to have that conversation soon, as he surely felt some doubt from her at his first meeting with her.  It wouldn’t be fear of him exactly, more like apprehension as she has never worked directly with a Betazoid before now. She’s heard stories, and just needs some reassurances. 

Whenever you are ready, they can have that talk.

Stardate: 2365.05.15

USS Peregrine, Deck 4 - Sickbay - 00:45

“Same to you.  If by chance we are both in the Aerie at the same time perhaps we might share a drink sometime… It might be nice to talk to someone who isn’t in Engineering now and then.” 

Dana seemed taken aback at the offer, and she opened her mouth automatically to gracefully refuse, but then her mouth snapped shut as she thought perhaps she might benefit from sitting with a fellow soul who had endured the same tragedy.  If nothing else, it might beat sitting in their quarters as she drank alone.  

“I would ... like that, Lt.,” Dana said and nodded her thanks.

“Until then…” and with that she strode out of the bay, feeling better and looking forward to curling back up in her own bed.

Dana watched the Caitian officer leave the sickbay, hopefully on her way to her quarters to sleep.   The amount of sedative that she gave her would be enough to make her quite drowsy very soon.  

She turned and saw PO Miraan return to the main area, she tried to look like she hadn’t been listening to the conversation that had taken place just a minute ago.  Cook looked down at her PADD and finished her log entry concerning the medication that she had administered to Lt. Sa’eirdon.  Tomorrow the Doctor would be able to review her assessment of the Lt condition.

When she was done, she switched screens on her PADD and brought up the work schedule again for Beta Shift.

“Nurse Miraan, ” she said, “I switched your Tuesday Beta to Wednesday, but I would also like to switch your Thursday to Friday.  I assume this won’t create a problem for you?”

Miraan took a moment to consider it before answering, “No Chief, that will be fine.”  

Dana finished up her schedule adjustments, then saved them and sent them on to Doctor Veen to review.  Once she had that done, she got up and headed towards the door.  

“Nurse,” she said, “I’m going to call it a night.  Any emergencies, give me a call.”   She finished as she stepped out the door and it closed behind her.  

Miraan didn’t respond as the Chief was already gone.  She just picked up her own PADD and continued with her studies on medicines and treatments.

((OOC: Cook’s proposed changes to the Medical staff, all on the Beta shift, are as follows:  Switch Miraan on Tuesday to Wed and move Varin to Tuesday.  Then move Miraan from Thursday to Friday and move Cook to Thursday.  This should spread them out sufficiently so there are no back to back shifts.  The Doctor has several during the day, but that is his prerogative.  Cook is only on the schedule twice, but she often spends time on either shift as she wishes.  It the Doc approves, the new schedule can start the next week.))

Stardate: 2365.05.15

USS Peregrine, Deck 4 - Sickbay - 00:44

Karri sighed and her whiskers drooped as she frowned.  “Troubling me?”  She laughed slightly.  “Troubling me… aren’t we all troubled?  Honestly Nurse Cook?  Are you sleeping well right now?  Are you dealing well with the memories, and with trying to move on to something normal?  How about reporting to a superior officer who has no clue what you’ve been through?  

“More than anything else I want to move on from…” she shook her head.  “But I can’t.”  She looked over at the nurse, and at the long line of scar tissue that ran down her face.  “I’m not sure any of us really can.  Starfleet said we are okay to return to duty, and sure I get my job done.  But, yes I’m troubled.  My people… we understand honorable death and I’ve dealt with that before.  None of what happened feels honorable though, and I’m not sure how to cope with it.”  

She was speaking more than she had in a long while, even with Reid she had not really been this open, and she wondered if perhaps it was the drugs making her feel more relaxed and at ease.  Karri sighed heavily. 

“Time… I suppose we all just need more time…”

As the Lt spoke, Cook’s face lost it’s smile, her gaze became haunted as if all the things the officer was saying were also running through here mind.  She stayed quiet, and motionless as the Caitian continued to speak.  

Dana hadn’t realized that her exact thoughts were echoed in the minds of the other survivors who were still aboard ship.  When the Lt was finished, Dana took a shuttering breath that couldn’t be hidden from her patient.

“Yes..” she breathed softly, “ .. time.”   She took a deep breath before continuing.

“You are right,” Dana said slowly, “none of what happened was honorable.  It was useless and pointless, and people died, and there was....”

Cook paused as if she were struggling to go on, but eventually she did.

“There was nothing I could do about it,” she said as she closed her eyes a moment to block out the vision again of Sandra laying there with her neck broken. 

Dana’s head came up and her eyes open as she straightened up and looked at the Lt again.  

“Time..” the nurse said as she turned to her desk and picked up her PADD and began entering her treatment of the Officer, “I guess we’ll both have to wait and see.”  

Turning back to the Lt, the Head nurse didn’t look up as she continued to tap quickly into the medical log.

“That sedative should kick in soon,” she said, “make sure you get back to your quarters soon.  You don’t want to be found sleeping in the hallway.”  A faint smile lifted the corner of her mouth.  

“Have a good night Lt.,” Dana said as she looked up and met the Caitian’s gaze, “I hope everything goes well tomorrow.” 

Stardate: 2365.05.15

USS Peregrine, Deck 4 - Sickbay - 00:43

Dana took the Lt’s nod for permission and reached out slowly and pressed the hypospray to her neck.  She listened as the woman began to ramble about her duties tomorrow, and turned to walk back over to the table where she picked up her PADD and tapped a couple things, looked it over then set it down again.   Moving to the rack with waiting colored vials, she studied one and inserted it into the hypospray.

“Well,” Cook said as she returned to her patient, “I can give you something to help you sleep as well.  The Bicaridine I gave you should help ease your headache within a couple minutes, and this Improvoline is a very mild sedative which is compatible with your species.”

Dana set the hypospray and pressed it again to the woman’s neck.  

“I gave you only 5ccs which will help you relax and you should have no trouble sleeping.” Cook said as she returned the hypo to it’s proper place.  

Unseen by the Lt, Cook’s smile had dropped, and she sighed and putting her smile back in place, turned back to the Lt.   

“If you continue to have these headaches,” Dana said as she walked back over to her patient, “you can come back and we’ll get you to see the Doctor for something long term.”

Dana took a step back and looked at the Lt for a long moment as if studying her.

“Is there anything else we can do for you Lt.?” she asked, “something troubling you?”

Her smile increased a little bit as she continued, “I’m not a counselor, but I know how to listen. Sometimes just talking about ... problems can help.”  

Dana said these things, but inside she wished she could take her own advice when it came to talking about her problems.  She just didn’t think she had anyone to talk to about them though.  Most of those she considered friends were dead or gone now.  The new Doctor was just too new, and she hadn’t yet figured out if she could trust him with her issues.

Stardate: 2365.05.15

USS Peregrine, Deck 4 - Sickbay - 00:40

Dana sighed as she noticed that she would have to make another adjustment to Miraan’s schedule as by moving her Tuesday to Wednesday, it still gave her a back to back with Thursday.  She would also have to move her Thursday to Friday to clear up that situation.    

She was considering changes to the other Beta shifts, when the door to the Sickbay opened; Cook looked up to she the Caitian officer walk in.  She hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting this officer directly, but she knew that the Caitian was the Assistant Chief Engineering Officer.  

The sight of the officer brought a slight smile to the corner of her lips. She had met a couple of Caitians throughout her career, and she found the race to be a very alluring, exotic species. She had seen this one about the ship, but they had never interacted; not a surprise since Cook didn’t deal with many of the crew outside of Sickbay.

“Good evening Nurse Cook…” Karri greeted her, and brought her fingers up to her throbbing head again and let out a small growl.  “I’m going to need some assistance tonight, I’m afraid.”  

“Evening Lt Sa’eirdon,” Cook responded as she rose and gestured over to the nearest Medbed. 

The cat-like woman moved over to the nearest bed and sat down, smoothing out the green silk on her robe a little bit and began speaking.  “It’s this headache…” she winced a little and continue to rub her temples.  “It’s been with me all day, but it’s gotten worse in the last few hours.  I can’t sleep.  I’m on duty tomorrow and I need to get some sleep.  Anything you can do to help me out?” 

“Hmm,” Dana said as she picked up a medical tricorder on her way over, “let’s take a look shall we?”  She passed the scanner around the head of the Lt, and studied the tricorder readout.

“I don’t see anything serious,” Cook said lowered the device and set it on a table, “looks possibly stress related.  Not surprising, as we’ve had a lot of .. stress lately.” 

Cook walked over to another table and picked up a hypospray, and selected a vial from rack of colored vials.  Setting the vial into the hypo, she came back to the Caitian.  

“Normally I would give someone Metorapan, for a headache,” Dana said slowly as she stopped before the Lt., “but I recall that Caitian’s are allergic to it.  So I suggest we use Bicaridine, which is a suitable substitute.”

With the Hypo ready, Cook looked the Lt in the eyes and tilted her head slightly and held up the hypo, apparently asking her permission to administer the medication. 

(OOC: Feel free to fill in any where you like, I can adjust if needed.))

Stardate: 2365.05.15

USS Peregrine, Deck 4 - Sickbay - 00:35

Chief Dana Cook sat at her workstation going over the duty roster and thought that it needed some adjusting.  She only had two shifts, and some people, such as PO Miraan, had some days back to back.  Picking up her PADD, she began to make some of those adjustments before submitting it to the new Doctor for approval.

Dana still didn’t know what to make of the new Doctor; Lt Veen had good credentials, but he was a Betazoid and she had a severe distrust of people who could read your thoughts or emotions.  To her, these things were sacred and though they were not supposed to pry into others heads, Dana wasn’t sure about working closely with one.

 PO Miraan was on duty now, and was busing herself with checking inventory and equipment status, since they didn’t have any patients at the time.  She left the Chief alone, as she had noticed how the Chief had changed since the ‘incident’.  Not a big surprise as just about all of the survivors who had returned could be expected to be affected in one way or another.  The Chief hadn’t yelled at anyone since they had launched, and that in itself was a surprising change of character.

Miraan looked over at the Chief out of the corner of her eye; the scar that now ran down the right side of the Head Nurse’s face was a constant reminder of what had happened.  She wondered why the Chief hadn’t had that repaired, as it was easily doable with a dermal regenerator.  She hadn’t asked her why she chose to keep that scar, but she was sure the Chief had her reasons.  

“Nurse,” Cook spoke up, and make Miraan just slightly.  

“Yes Chief?”

“Do you have any objections to moving from Tuesday Beta shift to Wednesday Beta?”  the Chief asked, “I notice you have two days back to back, and I think we should spread it out and have PO Varin on Tuesday Beta instead.”

Miraan was taken aback a little.  She had worked that schedule for a long time and while she didn’t like having two days back to back, she had never considered asking the hard nosed Head Nurse to change her schedule.  

“Ah..,” Miraan stuttered out, “no, that would be fine with me, Chief.”   Fine, it would be great, but she wouldn’t say that.  

“Very well,” Cook said looking back to her PADD as she tapped, “I’ll run it by the Doc for his approval, but I don’t expect it to be a problem.”

Miraan just nodded, though Cook wouldn’t see her nod, and still a little stunned, she picked up an equipment case that she had been working on and headed back to the rear of Sickbay to store it in a cabinet.

Ok took another look at the schedule, and Cook doesnt go on shift duty till Friday night at 1900 - 0700 on Sat.

No worries, she is often in the sickbay when not on duty, especially lately since she hasnt gotten back into her old habits just yet.

She will be in the sickbay with PO Miraan when the cat drags herself in.

Is the 15th a Friday? I think we started on the 14th which was a Thursday.  Is that is correct, then Cook is on Beta shift and till 0700 on the 15th.  So, yes Meri, Cook would the one one on duty to help her out.   

Let me know how you want to do this?  Out in the open or PMing for a collab.  My personal favorite is the open posting, but that is just me.  

Oh, I guess I read that totally wrong.

Your 1st sentence at first sounded as if you were admonishing me for pointing out something you already knew.   But it doesn't sound like that was the case.

I apologize for my error, and I hope I haven't upset you.  

Well, sorry for asking questions.  I'll just be quiet now. 

But there are 3 medical personnel dead on the list of those lost.  So either we go without them or get replacements.  Do we need all those nurses for such a small crew? Maybe not, unless we get into a similar situation as last mission.  

As far as the Medical duty schedule; are you doing that t_catt or do you want the CMO to take care of that?  

my next post I'm working on in my head, will probably refer to it so I'll need to know who is supposed to be on duty.  

I'm in no rush atm, just wondering so I thought I'd ask. 

Thanks Eol.  I'm not so good with words and stuff, but I try to do the best I can.

Glad to get this thing rolling. I'm like a rock rolling down the hill, I pick up speed the further I go.

Cook yelling? Never happens.  No yelling yet, except herself.  

Ok, I wanted to do more with my post, but my thoughts became jumbled and so I decided to keep it short for now.  

More will come as each round of posts are done; more can be revealed about her state regarding what happened.  

We'll see how things go I guess.  

oh, I wanted to add. My words aren't elegant or flow so well as Merideth or Eol, but I do tend to ramble quite a lot.  Just a warning! 

Stardate 2365.05.14
USS Peregrine, SickBay – 10:15

Chief Petty Officer Dana Cook sat quietly at her workstation, her head resting in the palms of her hands. She seemed to be trying to squeeze her skull as if to keep it's contents within. Her eyes were closed tightly, and her face was frozen in a look of pain.

These damn visions, why wont they go away. was the thought that rattled through her brain. Here in the Sickbay, they seemed to be the strongest, as this was the place where she saw most of horrors that happened during the Chimera incident. If she could only make them go away, she might be more like her old self, but she didn't think that would ever happen.

It had been a time she would never forget; all the death, all the distrust, all the terror. Not knowing if a person next to you would try to kill you, or if some piece of equipment might explode around you. She had seem battle before, and come though it with little psychological problems, but this was different. Cook had watched as Nurse Sandra Reynolds, driven mad by the strange virus, tried to kill Doc Reines with a laser scalpel. How Dana had to grab her and pull her away as the Doctor screamed for help. She had pulled Nurse Reynolds off, but in the process, the laser scalpel was turned on her. The pain of the hot beam as it racked down her right cheek was almost unbearable. Somehow she had throw off the crazy woman, who had been her friend and coworker, and hurled her across the Sickbay. She grasped at her burned cheek and turned to look at her attacker, and saw to her horror that she had thrown her hard into one of the medical beds, her head striking the edge hard. Nurse Reynolds was down and her neck at a strange angle leaving no doubt she was dead. Cook was horrified to have killed her, even if it was self defense. If only she could have restrained her somehow, she might have survived; not knowing at the time that a vaccine would be developed to save her.

Chief Cook shook herself out of her reverie of the horrors of a couple months ago. She straightened herself in her chair, grasped the bottom edge of her tunic and pulled it down a little to adjust it properly. I can't let this get to me again. They let me return to duty because they were confident that I would recover, even though I'm not so sure of that myself sometimes.

After the nanite 'vaccine' had managed to stop the virus in equipment and people, they had lost almost half of the ship's crew. Three of her own medical team had been killed, and everyone else seems severely traumatized by the events, even the good Doctor herself. Dana didn't think anything could shake Melody like that, but seeing all of the death and they way people were driven to kill others, had taken a toll on her. Once they had limped back to Starbase, the Doctor was one that had elected to ask for a leave of absence, and reassignment, if she ever returned to service.

Cook had been close herself to losing it completely. During the quarantine period they had all had to endure, had to be sure the virus was indeed gone, she had spent a lot of time with doctors and especially shrinks. They didn't really use that word anymore, but that was the way she saw it. At first it had been difficult to talk about it, but over the time she eventually opened up. Dana saw it as two possible solutions for her; fall apart and let them remove her from active duty and put her in some mental ward, or get through it enough that they would let her go back to work. She definitely wanted option number 2.

It hadn't been easy getting them to buy into her being more capable of returning to work than she had been weeks earlier, especially since she insisted on keeping the scar that ran down her right cheek from just below her eye down to her jaw. In the hospital, they had treated her earlier injuries, but she had refused to let them treat her facial injury with a dermal regenerater. She wanted that scar so that she would never forget what had happened when she got it, and the life of a friend that she had been forced to take.

In the end, Chief Petty Officer Cook had been returned to active status, and about a week later the USS Peregrine had been relaunched after replacing vital crew members who had been lost, or decided not to return. She didn't blame them really, she had thought about it herself. Dana saw it as if she didn't have any choice; to run away from her assignment would be a coward's way out. She had to be here, where it had all happened. It was the only way she could recover, and get on with her life, as it were.

Cook rose to her feet now and looked around the Sickbay; all clean and proper, and gleaming like new. It was new basically, as most of it's equipment had to have been replaced after the incident. She leaned down and picked up the datapad there; she had to check over the duty roster, and see if anything needed adjusting. Dana hadn't handled the loss of Doctor Reine very well, but she was going to give this new CMO a chance, just like the new medical personnel. It was the only way the past would be left in the past.

Time to move forward, time to heal; at least she hoped that is what was going to happen.

Understood. Is it ok to post for the old Doc, since it's not a PC driven character anymore.  So the other medical people survive and  return to the ship.  

I can start fleshing outt my post and should have something up in a day or two at the most. 

looking forward to it. 

Ok, a couple questions.

I don’t see the Doctor’s name on the casualty list, I only see 3 medical personnel on the list.  Did the Doc die, or just leave after the traumatic events?  Did the other medical staff not on the list survive, and who all stayed aboard? 

Am I allowed to backpost till the event and am I allowed to play it out as I see fit, or do you have any restrictions?

Sweet. I've been rolling around ideas in my head but waiting to see what happened exactly so I know what to post.  I'm eager to get things going. 

I can’t wait.  Anxious to get to posting.  Let’s GO!!!!!

Cool.   I assume we will learn what happened to the previous crew in your post somewhere?  

I do want to do some back posts about what happen with Cook.  If you have any thing specific regarding her, let me know, here or in PM if you prefer.  Otherwise I'll go off off of what you post and fill in the blanks.  

Looking forward to the start.  

You know what, I'm fine with Chief Cook so I'll just stick with her.

I know her and I'm looking forward to some RP back and forth with the new CMO.

Once I know more about what happened to the crew, and where the survivors are located, I'll have a better idea of how I'll start. 

Thanks again for welcoming me back. I'll try not to disappoint. 

Story of my life. A lil too late.  Ok let me know.