Persephone is a phony
Posted on Thu Feb 9th, 2012 @ 6:57pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD
Edited on on Thu Feb 9th, 2012 @ 6:58pm
Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
** Chief Psychiatrist's Quarters - Deck 14 **
Mission accomplished, one happy feline fed, he returns to his desk, bowl of chicken noodle soup in hand. Robin sits down with his bowl and stares silently at his view screen. Moments later he works up the nerve to turn the message that was on hold back on. He had already watched it a dozen times and it never gets any better. How could it get better? Basically it was his brother in law accusing him of negligence and malpractice in the death of Stephan (Robin's deceased spouse).
"AAAAAHHHHG!" Robin shouted in frustration, which only resulted in a spilled bowl of soup and a very confused cat.
He took a deep breath and sat back down content to let the cat work on cleaning up as much of the spilled soup to her heart's content. He would complete the clean up later.
** Admiral's Quarters -- Deck 10 **
Ricky sat quietly in his study reading an old series of books he'd found in the computer's library by a writer named Stephen King. The series was titled "The Dark Tower" and had completely sucked him into the story. Unfortunately, his reading time was disturbed by an indication that his terminal held a message for him.
"A CO's work is never done," he said as he strolled lazily over and checked the message. It was days old, due to the fact that the only way messages could be delivered was when both gateways were open at the same time or when a ship coming through passed them on.
"Negligence and malpractice?" he said, as he scrolled through the message. "This can't be good."
Putting on his uniform, he decided to pay the shrink a visit.
** Chief Psychiatrist's Quarters - Deck 14 **
Jabbing the door chime Rick waited for an answer from the Counselor.
Robin glanced that the spilled soup and decided there wasn't enough time to wipe it up so he left the cat to lapping it up and answered the door chime. He didn't know who to expect at his threshold but the CO was definitely at the bottom of the list of who would show up like this. "Sir?" he said with a very confused look. He hastily checked his appearance with a quick look down at his clothes then met his eyes again. "Please come in Sir. What can I do for you?" He just knew the look of worry was on his face and his quarters were not as spotless as he preferred so a million thoughts rushed through his head as his commanding officer stepped through his door.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Commander, but I'm compelled to discuss this with you," Rick said as he handed a PADD over to Robin with the information he had been sent. "Are you aware of it?"
Robin glanced down at the PADD in his hands and spoke, "Yes sir, I am painfully aware of it." He gestured to the sofa and said "Please have a seat". He moved like a condemned man toward a chair next to the couch and took a seat as the Admiral sat down. He set the PADD down on the chrome and glass coffee table and continued. "Gavin Sullivan, he was Stephan's brother. I received a message from him a few days ago, I guess the same day he filed a grievance against me with Starfleet medical. It's my license to practice he is after. He never agreed with the choices Stephan made in life so much that he wouldn't even share the same last name, he changed his to that of their mother's maiden name.
"They had been rivals since childhood then as adults he accused Stephan of shaming his family. He was/is against Starfleet, saying that humans were better off not knowing about life elsewhere, that our efforts should be put for human good only. He loathed Stephan for joining Starfleet and ...well his relationship with me was more than he could bare. This attack on me, well I don't know what all prompted it. He never was in contact with Stephan or most of the family as far as I know since our wedding. Now, out of the blue, he is saying that Stephan's death is my fault. He says that as a trained psychiatrist I should have seen signs that Stephan was having problems and had no business piloting that day. "
He took a deep breath as put his face into his hands for a moment. "I swear there weren't any problems and if there had been Gavin would have been the last person in hell to know about it. It was a stupid accident, that's what Starfleet found and I know that's all it was. They could never pinpoint if it was a malfunction or pilot error. But I swear Stephan was one of the most focused and mentally stable people I have ever known."
"I'm not a physician, by any means, but I don't see how this accusation could hold any water," Ricky said. "But I'll do what I can to help. What do you need from me?"
Robin looked up at him and said. "Sir, I wish I knew."
"To be honest, I haven't really had to deal with this sort of thing from a medical negligence or malpractice view of things," the Admiral said. "I'll contact our JAG officer, and possibly the CMO, to see if they've had any experience in this area, as I assume this is your first. Otherwise, the only thing I can do is offer my assistance in any way I can. I know nothing of the case but it seems a bit fishy to me, though."
The lack of response from Robin told Rick that he had taken this pretty hard. He wanted to be as supportive as he could but there was only so much he could do. "Well, let me know if you can think of anything that I need to know, or that might help."
The junior of the two could only nod his head slowly.
"Okay," he said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. All of a sudden he felt like he should leave the man to his thoughts. "I guess I'll go." Looking at Robin a moment, he asked, "Are you going to be okay?"
Finally, the shrink looked to him and half-smiled. "I'll be fine. Thank you."
With a nod, Rick turned and left. Of course, at this point in time, cut off from the rest of Starfleet, it wasn't like these accusations were going to go anywhere fast. That left them with something very precious: time.
-----------------------------
A joint post by:
LCDR Robin Swift
Chief Psychiatrist
Starbase 900
&
VADM Ricky Wegener
Commanding Officer
Starbase 900
