Post number 268 - Laying down the law

Posted on Sun May 18th, 2025 @ 4:08pm by Lieutenant Amanda Hemsley
Edited on on Sun May 18th, 2025 @ 7:11pm

1,233 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A New Beginning
Location: Surgical wing

"Thanks lieutenant. I'm sure we'll work well together. And don't worry, I harbor no hard feelings about the change in position.I knew coming back after such a long time a lot would've been changed." Hemsley said. Lieutenant Stokes and Hemsley had taken the same lift and inevitably started talking about Hemsleys return and the current mission. "If I need anything, I know where your office is" Amanda joked, as she walked into the surgical wing of starbase Obidian. Just as the CMO, the Chief of Surgery has their provate office on the Medical Admin decks of the station but also has a public office in the surgical wing. A way to directly oversee the operating rooms, recovery rooms and prep-rooms without having to go 30 decks up and down 10 times per shift.

"Crewman Williams, whats the first thing on the agenda today?" Amanda said, walking into her public office. The room wasn't was large and cozy as her private office was. There were no comfortable couches, there were no orchids on the table, there was no, as Amanda called it, tea corner where she received appointments in a more casual way. No, this office had one purpose and one alone. Efficiency. There was a desk, with a desk char for her and two simple chairs for visitors, there was a computer terminal on her desk, a stack of padds and a simple replicator. The bright flurecent lighting and the hospital while environment made this place less than inviting. You wouldn't want to have hours long meetings here. You wouldn't receive a foreign dignitary here. This place was to direct the day to day operations of the surgical staff. For anything else, she'd go to her private office 32 decks down. "You have a meeting with doctor Rick Montesorri in a couple of minutes. He's a civilian from Earth who wasn't able to get back. He got permission to join us. He finished medical school a couple of months ago and was on Obsidian as a transit stop when all hell broke loose. He was on his way back to Earth to start his surgical residency."

Amanda looked at the personnel file her assistant gave her. "Ah yes, I read something about that in the 'welcome home package' I got from Stokes yeomen." She took a couple of seconds to skim through the file. "He graduated with the lowest scores of his class, is known to backtalk to his teachers and thinks he is gods gift to medicine. You met the guy, what is your assesment of him? Will he be a good fit?"

Crewman Peter Williams, was young and fresh from the academy. At just 18 years old, he looked like he's seen his nightmares come true. But who didn't? In wartime, everyone ages like milk. And this kid grew up in that. "I.... euh... I.."

"If you're going to be my assistant, let's get a couple of things straight. Okay?" Hemsley sat down behind her desk and gestured to Peter to have a seat. "Within the walls of this wing I expect you to speak your mind. Just as I expect from all my staff. In a medical setting, the rank on our collars goes out the window. We all work together for a common cause, to give our patients the best care that we can. That means that all of us in the medical field need to be able to communicate as equals. We need to be able to call out our surperiors if we think they are making a mistake or if you differ of opinion on a course of treatment. Now, you don't directly have anything to do with patient care of course but if you have information that I need to do my job I expect you to give it to me. As long as all my staff speak their mind in a respectful maner, no one needs to fear repricussions because you don't agree with my orders." Amanda ordered a cup of tea from the replicator and took a sip. "In an emergency setting things might change of course. We'd go from a 'lets discuss this like equals' to a 'I give the orders and you'll have to follow them' structure. But in any other situation, speak your mind!"

Williams nodded. "Yes Sir, I met with the guy. Medically speaking he seems to know what he's talking about. At the level he is at, a surgical resident who hasn't yet done a days work. But he is very argumentative, thinks he can do no wrong, thinks he is much better than anyone else, looks down on the nurses because they are 'just nurses and not doctors.' My assesment of the guy is that if you can break him from that behavior, he'll be an okay surgeon. But I doubt he will ever be more than an okay surgeon."

= FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER =
"Come in." Amanda said, as the doorbell chimes. In stepped a young man, wearing a suit and tie. "Doctor Hemsley, it's good to meet you." he extended his hand to shake hers. "I think this department could use a couple of improvements I wanted to discuss with you. Have a seat."

Lieutenant Amanda Hemsley, who is dating an 7ft Klingon, who was taught by an Andorian surgeon who was condecending and flat out annoying untill he knew you had what it takes to be as good as he was, had never been flabbergasted like that. "Excuse me? Let's get one thing damn straight. You are a first year surgical resident, thats it. You are here to do what I say, when I say it and how I say it. And when you can remove a splinter without messing up, we'll talk more. Now sit down!"

For the next half hour, Amanda layed down the law. In no uncertain terms did she tell Montisorri how she runs her department and what she expects from him. "You are a civilian in a military setting. That means you will very quickly need to become accustomed to taking and folliwing orders. The military hieriarchy in the medical field might be a bit more relaxed than any other department but it is still there. And being a civilian, directly employed by Starfleet means you fall under the uniform code of Starfleet military justice and can and will be courtmartialled if you don't follow said orders. As a civilian, you are expected to wear scrubs while on duty. As a first year resident you will listen to the nurses. They know a heck of a lot more than you do."

"But they are..."

"I don't want to hear it! I've read your personnel file that we got from your medical school and the hospital you interned at. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated here. You are here to learn, I am here to teach. But the second you decide that I have nothing to teach you, you'll be off my service and in an escape pd back toward the wormhole! But if you decide that you do want to be taught and are able to work within the system we have here I will make sure that you get everything you need to become the best surgeon you can be. For now, you're dismissed. Your first shift starts tomorrow morning at 0800 hours."

off:

Lieutenant Amanda Hemsley
Chief of Surgery
Starbase Obsidian

 

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