Despite the size of the ship, the detour to the crew berthing section had been a relatively short journey. As a non com, Serena was used to smaller living spaces and even having a room mate in previous assignments. Only her time on a space station was when she’d been lucky enough to get an officer’s quarters since they had so much space available. But while she wasn’t keeping her hopes up for something similar onboard, the Olympic class was a medical ship after all, she wished that at least it was close to a turbolift lobby and that her roommate didn’t snore so loud.
At least the first part of her wish was granted as soon as they exited the lift and barely took a dozen spaces before they reached their destination.
Caradoc checked the padd in his hand and looked at the quarter’s numbers.
“Okay, you are… this one here,” he announced, nodding to the door in front of him. “The door should be keyed to your biosignature already. It’s a double, but you’re on your own for the moment by the looks of it. We have a few spots on the critical care team I’m working to fill.”
He nodded to indicate the rest of the corridor. “All critical care staff are assigned along here.” He even had a room, just in case he needed to crash down here in the middle of an emergency. And, like most corridors and spaces on the ship, emergency bunks could be pulled down from the walls.
“I see, so because we’re so close to sickbay, we don’t need an on-call room, and we’d revert to our quarters instead,” she murmured as the door opened. “That’s very convenient, sir.”
As soon as she stepped in, the lights turned on without prompting, likely because there weren’t any occupants in the room. It was just like any other double berth on any Starfleet ship she’d been on, just slightly different with the layout. But it was clean, comfortable, and there was more than enough space for herself on her side of the room. If she ended up having a roommate, it would likely be another non com or a crewman from the critical care department.
Not wanting to take too long of her CO’s time, she thanked him as she took the bag from him and hastily set it on the floor next to her bed, thinking of sorting it out later on her own time.
“So just out of curiosity, sir, where’s your quarters on this deck?”
Caradoc had remained out in the corridor as Serena dropped off her bag. “The one on the left nearest the turbolift,” he replied with a smile. “Equal distance if I’m needed either on the bridge or in CCU.”
She stepped out of her quarters, letting the door close behind her as she peered around him to glance at the door in question and smiled back at him. “What a nice spot. Perks of being the Captain I guess. Maybe I should have gone through the officer course.too instead of opting to enlist, but I actually like being chief too much to consider it.”
He grinned, a flash of white teeth. “If you want my opinion, unless you have a burning desire for paperwork and politics, being a non-com is the sharp end of the battle.” Holding out an arm, he motioned for her to join him as they headed to CCU. “You’ll find most of my team, the actual working team, are senior-level non-coms. I have no room or patience for ego in CCU. I’ve got plenty enough of that for everyone.”
They reached the main door and it swept open in front of them. “So, tell me, chief, what’s your favourite and least favourite part of the job?”
“Thank you kindly, sir,” she said as she took his invitation to follow him. He was much taller than her, and it didn’t escape her notice that he was nice enough to limit his stride so she could keep up with him. She appreciated that.
“For me it’s knowing I managed to make a positive impact in someone’s life, not just saving them,” she related. “I mean, I don’t want to sound all goody goody or some hero type, but being able to help people has always been my motivation for choosing this career path. Though the process in providing care in the Federation is different than what I’m used to, the end result is the same, and it’s been interesting learning other ways to take care of people.”
Then she chuckled. “As for the least favorite, it would have to be… No, not the constant travel, or the sleep deprivation, or the caffeine addiction… ground level politics, I’d say. Specifically when it affects one of my patients negatively. That always annoys me to no end.”
He nodded. “Add that to the list with ego. We have a daily operational meeting in CCU. Bring any and all issues to the table. I can’t say you won’t encounter that, particularly cross-departmentally, but we do our best to minimize it. I should also point out that all CCU staff are monitored closely by our counseling team. This is a high-pressure job, so we do our best to ensure you don’t break here on the front lines.”
Today was her first day, and she hadn’t seen how they did things yet, but just from seeing how her new CO was like, and hearing sound policies from him, she had good hopes about her new assignment, which was always great since she’d been the one wanting this change in her career for a while now.
“I appreciate knowing we have full support, sir,” she offered. “Not just for me but the younger staff I’ll be working with. It’s great knowing that our leadership is also looking out for us.”
The landscape gradually began to change, from crew quarters to the more operational section of the ship. “So what kind of patient volume do you normally handle on the ship?”
He chuckled. “That is very much ‘how long is a piece of string’? CCU is part of the operational unit of the ship, so we deal with the crew. I may also pull staff out as needed for the neurosurgical unit or to support any of the other units aboard. We’re both a working ship and a medical training vessel, but at the moment we only have a few student cohorts aboard; One in counseling and one in pediatrics. Actual on-going or long term cases we have just under a hundred. We’re also responsible for the long-term medical needs of the Reverent squadron with several interesting cases. For example, we have one human-Ract’l hybrid in the squadron who has agreed to a full workup as well as an officer with multiple replacement limbs, interestingly non-fleet replacements, so I’m looking forward to getting a look at the neurology there.”
She was quick to absorb everything he said, a habit she developed since being a nurse in critical care meant you needed to be able to understand important details when presented the first time. You often didn’t have time for a follow up when seconds counted.
So they were primarily more of the emergency room and intensive care unit for the ship’s crew than the broader line service of a hospital ship handling all kinds of emergencies. At least that meant their scope was more limited so they could provide a more personalized level of care. Having worked at an understaffed major hospital before, it was sad and unfortunate to not be able to give all patients the ideal amount of time with care that they needed but they often had to work with what they had, and when you were short on people, you learned to make sacrifices or burn out fast.
She didn’t miss the part where they could be assigned to departments in need which wasn’t surprising. Since they were a hospital ship, if they needed all hands on deck to handle a major disaster, you needed to be able to pitch in and hit the ground running no matter which department you ended up in.
Long term care sounded more familiar to her, as part of her job meant she took care of patients in intensive care with delicate conditions. But when she heard about the interesting cases her CO brought up, that caught her attention.
“I’ve never met a human-Ract’l hybrid before,” she mused out loud. “And multiple non fleet limb replacements? As in arms and legs or… more?”
”They are interesting. Totally different physiological and biological makeup,” he commented. “The replacement patient. Partial on an arm, some ribs, and a partial leg. We also have a below leg on the same ship.”
Serena smiled. “Fascinating cases,” she declared. “It sounds like being on this ship is going to keep me on my toes the whole time. I’m looking forward to contributing to the team.”
