Settling In

Posted on Wednesday February 19th, 2020 @ 2:24am by Lieutenant Junior Grade Jordan Emerson MD & Ensign Vogil Dersk

Mission: Two Sides of Every Story
Location: Med Bay
Timeline: Current

ON:

Ensign Vogil Dersk sorted carefully though the medical supplies, taking them from a box and putting them into the cabinet and drawers where they were kept. So far nothing of import had happened today. At least not that Vogil was involved in. He had patched up three minor burns and a skinned knee. He had taken his lunch break in the office, using the synthesizer for a sandwich and a cup of tea.

Vogil stretched and yawned. He was almost done with his assigned task, but he hadn't seen Dr. Emerson in hours. Vogil had never been all that great at making friends, so currently, the only person he felt like he was close to in any way was Jordan.

The reason for Jordan's absence was not for any significant reasons, he wasn't dealing with any emergency or even a disgruntled or obstinate patient. It was caused by a much more mundane reason. Paperwork. The bane of his existence.

But, he was finally free of it. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to deal with it for at least a week, but he knew that to be an unrealistic dream. It was just something he was going to have to learn to deal with.

He just wasn't going to have to deal with it anymore that day. He stepped out of his office and into the Med-bay. Smiling at the newest member of his team he said, "Good morning, well I guess it's afternoon Vogil. How are you?"

Vogil grinned. "There you are! I was starting to wonder if there was some emergency going on that I wasn't aware of. I'm okay. I'm done putting all of these things away. Is there anything else I can do to help?" He stood from his seat, hoping that there was something more exciting for him to do.

"Nice job of getting that taken care of. And no, there wasn't an emergency. Just requisition orders and monthly reports. I'm afraid. Not too much to do, I'm afraid. But maybe I can help you with your studies."

Vogil blinked at him, surprised. No one he had ever worked under had offered to help him with his work, which he was still doing and still had to meet those deadlines as well. "I need some help editing my paper?" he offered. "I mean... if you could just read through it... that would be a lot of help. It's about Moclans and how they developed a single-sex race that could still reproduce. It's always fascinated me..."

"It is indeed an interesting subject, I'd love to read your paper, when could you get it to me?"

"Uh... Right now." Vogil chuckled and picked up his tablet. He quickly sent Jordan a link to his paper. "It should let you add notes where you see that edits are needed. Thank you so much for looking over it. I really appreciate it. I need to add to the last bit. I know it's rough." Vogil seemed to be rambling a little, possibly embarrassed.

Jordan put a hand on the junior officer's shoulder. "It will be fine, you have nothing to worry about. I'll be gentle and I promise I don't bite."

Vogil laughed a little. "Do you bite if people ask nicely?" he joked. "But seriously, please don't be nice. My professors will not be. I promise I will not get my feelings hurt." He smiled at Jordan, appreciating his support.

"I'll be fair and objective. How about that? As to biting if I'm asked nicely, that's probably a discussion for a different day. I'll leave it up to your imagination."

Vogil laughed. "I don't think leaving it up to my imagination is a great idea... but okay! Do you have any other plans for me today? I've put everything away that came in. We're missing two boxes. One had saline... and the other was..." He turned back to the desk. "... some sort of instrument... I don't remember." He was looking through files on the console, trying to find the invoice for the missing items.

"Missing items, is, unfortunately, not that unusual here, but I should at least file a report on it. The saline is not a huge deal, but could you check on what the missing instrument was supposed to be?"

Vogil made a triumphant noise. "Found them! Uh... let's see... two dozen electron hypodermics and two Foreign Object Retractors. Everything else was there and accounted for. I put all of that away." He smiled at Jordan. "I just sent you the invoice with the missing items."

"Very good job, Ensign, that saves us a ton of work. I'll buy you a beer when you get off. You are old enough to drink aren't you?"

Vogil snorted and looked up at Jordan like a petulant teenager. "I graduated from medical school. Of course, I'm old enough to drink." He chuckled. "I bet you say that to all the resident medical students..." He stuck his tongue out at Jordan playfully.

"Only the really cute ones," Jordan responded his tone even.

Vogil blushed a little and looked away.

One of the duty shift nurses entered the office. "Doctor Emerson? They're looking for you in the other room."

Vogil looked at Jordan, hopefully. Any chance he could get to observe would be helpful to him, even assist.

Flirting, mostly harmless flirting had become something of an occupational hazard for the CMO, but only during his off time. This was no longer off time. He gave the intern a curt nod and turned to follow the nurse out of the office.

Vogil stood from the desk. "Can I assist, Doctor?" He was in residency, after all, the hands-on training for being a doctor eventually.

"Of course, come along. By all means."

Outside, in the main area of the medical bay, was a human woman and a child. The child was about seven or eight years old and male. He was wearing some sort of sports uniform. He was also holding his left arm out in front of himself with his right arm. The left arm was obviously broken. The mother was trying her best to soothe him, but he was in pain, grouchy and crying. There was another nurse hovering near the mother and child.

The nurse that brought Jordan into the room, glanced at him sideways. "He won't let us touch him..." she said softly.

Jordan took a step towards the youth, then another half step. Then stopped himself. Turning towards Vogil, he asked, "You want to try your bedside manner? See if you can get him to open up and let us treat him?"

Vogil grinned. "I'd love to! Thank you, Doctor." He hurried to the area that served as his "office" and pulled open a drawer, quickly pulling out a small stuffed animal of some sort. It was purple and spotted. He then headed back to the main room and towards the boy.

"Hello there," he said pleasantly to the mother and child. "I'm Ensign Dersk. I'm going to help you out today if I can."

The woman smiled warmly. "If he'll let you." The child was clinging to her and only briefly looking at Vogil before burying his face again. "This is Nate. I'm Lieutenant Banner."

Vogil continued to smile. He held out the stuffed animal where Nate could see it, but he didn't offer it to him. "So, what has happened to Nate today?"

Nate was definitely looking at the stuffy in Vogil's hands. "He's in a sports club, with some of the boys from school. They go to the Environmental Simulator and play soccer and football and baseball. He was tackled during a football game and I'm fairly certain his arm is broken."

Vogil was already scanning the boy. He really didn't need him to hold out the arm or anything. He could easily see that the bone was broken with the scanner. "Ah yeah. That tends to happen." He chuckled. "I used to like to play football too... then I got interested in medicine. You like sports, Nate?"

The little boy nodded, his eyes on the stuffed animal that Vogil was still holding.

"What's your favorite sport?" Vogil asked. He picked up a nearby multijector and returned to the bed, setting it down, trying to be non-threatening.

Nate watched him get the tool and looked nervous until he set it down again. Then his eyes returned to the stuffed animal. "I like soccer..." he replied softly.

"Oh yeah? Soccer is definitely fun. Not as rough as football, which is nice. I bet that hurts a lot. I have some things that might help it hurt a lot less, but I really need your help." He held out the stuffed animal. "So this is Herbert. He really likes kids, but he gets really scared about stuff. He needs a lot of hugs to be brave."

Jordan took a step back his arms folded across his chest. He was ready to intervene if needed but was mostly just observing. The younger man seemed to be handling the situation well

Nate looked up, biting his lower lip, to keep from crying and trying to be brave. "He gets scared?" he asked in a boyish voice. "Do you think I could hold him maybe. You know, so he doesn't get scared?"

"Doctor Emerson," a nurse interrupted, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Margaret, we're all good here, just watching the young Ensign perform."

She eyed the unfolding scene. "He is good with kids. And bonus points, he has a nice ass. But I'm sure you didn't notice that."

"You're incorrigible," he replied but didn't bother to refute her allegation.