Is It Really Snitching When You're Trying to Save Someone from Their Self?

Posted on Fri Jan 31st, 2020 @ 11:31am by Commander Sthilg

Mission: Casperia Prime - A lesson in relaxation
Location: Sthilg's Office
Timeline: after A Big Setback
1499 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

Ensign Luanne Walton had always taken pride in her job, her profession, no, her craft as a nurse. She was dedicated to saving lives, something she felt born to do. That made this all the more difficult for her because in the entirety of her career she had never gone above her assigned MD's head about anything, but this Strode woman, she couldn't even think of her as a doctor anymore, was reckless to the point of being dangerous and something had to be done. She reviewed her report on her PADD for what had to be the ninety third time and knocked on Dr. Sthilg's door, "Sir, do you have time to speak to me about a matter of great importance?" She asked, though a small part of her really wanted him to tell her to go away so she could both skip doing this and cover herself from the fallout that would surely come if Tallia Strode wasn't stopped.

The gorn was doing some work on his artificial arm when he heard the knocking. He took the torch from his mouth before reattaching his arm before calling out. " My door is always open Walton. Come in. "

Walton stopped for a second, the smell of the recent use of the torch lay heavy in the room, "Sir, it's about Lt. Strode." Walton began, "She's trying to do an ultra rapid detox on the Marine Chief De la Rosa found on Casperia Prime. I've warned her about the possible ramifications of this, but she's not listening to me."

" Ssshe'sss what?" The gorn asked shocked as he looked at the ensign. " Why is ssshe doing a rapid detox?" He asked already typing something into his wrist computer.

"Sergeant Raines has had several bad reactions." Walton answered honestly, even though she knew it might hurt her case, "Dr. Strode, I think out of frustration, is planning to employ extreme measures to break the addictions quickly. I think she's lost perspective, Doctor."

The gorn nodded. " Thank you for bringing this to me ensign. " He said as he finished locking Dr Strode out of the medicine cabinet and medicine replicator. " What makesss you think Dr Ssstrode is doing thisss out of frussstration?"

"That's solely an instinct, sir." Walton answered, "She just seems frustrated with the whole thing. I feel like she's thinking more about getting this over with than she is about the patient. The patient refused originally, now Lt. Strode has gone back and convinced her to do it."

The gorn nodded along as he listened to the ensign. " Very well ensign I'll have a word with her and sssee if your right. Thank you for bringing thisss to me." He preparing a message for the doctor that he'd send as soon as the ensign left.

"Yes, Doctor." She nodded, "Thank you." As she turned to leave she felt a twinge of guilt, she'd probably just ended Lt. Strode's career, maybe even put her on the way to a court martial, but it was the right thing to do for the patient.

The gorn waited a few munites before tapping his combadge giving the nurse time to get away and start work on something else. " Dr. Ssstrode pleassse report to my office." he said calmly.

=^=On my way.=^= Tallia replied, she'd expected Walton to run and tell, but even she was surprised by how fast she'd done so. She walked into Sthilg's office, "That was fast even for Walton, she can snitch at warp fifteen."

" We don't sssnitch here Dr Ssstrode. Every member of my ssstaff is allowed to inform me if they believe another is harming a patient. Now would you pleassse tell me your ssside of the ssstory." He said keeping his voice professional as possible.

"Very simple, really." Tallia began, "Sgt. Raines was having a series of grand maw seizures due to the drugs her former captors had been pumping into her system to keep her from escaping. The seizures were going to kill her if they continued, so rapid detox made sense in this situation. The patient went in with informed consent, having been presented with facts and statistics both for and against. In the end, it was Sgt. Raines' choice, Sir, and I honored it."

Ancestors this situation was bringing back some memories for the gorn. Some very bad ones. " Do you have the audio recording of your conversssation or her written sssignature? " He asked hoping that she did. " May I asssk what drug her captorsss had been usssing on her. I encoded sssome really nasssty ssstuff during my time in the KDF that may not be in ssstarfleet recordsss. My wife had been under the effectsss of one before we managed to cure her."

"She consented with the computer recording, yes." Tallia replied, then handed Dr. Sthilg a PADD, "This is her tox-screen, probably easier to tell you what's not on it than what is on it. Nothing unknown at least."

The gorn read through the list and another part of his soul died as he did so. How could anyone with the slightest medical training do this to another sentient being? This amount of drugs could scramble the brains of some lifeforms. As his white eyes looked down they pushed as something from the corner of his eye made him blink. By the ancestors not now. Trying to ignore the ghostly image of his long-dead wife he turned to look at the human before him. " In a worst cassse ssscenario am I right to assssume thisss rapid detox could prove fatal for her?" He asked.

"In a worst case scenario, yes." Tallia said flatly, "But in this case, it worked. Sgt. Raines is clear of all drugs and, hopefully between the detox and a rigorous counseling schedule I'm going to prescribe her, any cravings for them. I'm going to be sharing quarters with her for a while, taking responsibility for her myself, Sir."

The gorn let out a sigh. " You ssshould have run thisss by me first Tallia. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but let'sss not go through this again. " He opened the computer and opned the lock on the medical replicator. Glancing with his eye he noticed the ghostly image was still there. " Doctor Ssstrode can you pleassse confirm that no one is ssstanding there. " He said pointing to the corner of his office.

"I don't see anyone, Doctor." Tallia replied, turning back to Sthilg, "Are you having ocular issues, sir? I'd be happy to check you out."

" I have no idea Tallia. I've run the ssscansss as hasss doctor Andrew and Sssthehnay and none of them found anything wrong with me.. You're welcome to run your own to sssee if you can sssee anything the ressst of usss missssed." The gorn replied.

"Okay, do we want to do it here or in sickbay?" Tallia asked, both had their merits: the office granted privacy, sickbay better equipment, but it would, as ever, be up to the patient.

" Here would be bessst given i can sssee her." The gorn replied.

"Her?" Tallia raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean her?"

" The individual I keep ssseeing isss my dead wife Ssshassssssou. " the gorn said trying not to glance at the ghostly orion that was just in the corner of his eyesight.

"Your dead wife?" Tallia asked, deciding to run a scan for any brain damage as she did, "Understand I'm not dismissing what you're saying, Doctor. Indian Culture is full of tales of the supernatural and beliefs in ghosts and the afterlife, so I'm not a scoffer at all. Still, looking for brain injury or damage when someone says something that suggests hallucinations is just good medicine." She looked at the tricorder's reading and muttered, "That's odd."

" What isss it?" The gorn asked.

"Nothing." Tallia replied, "Literally nothing. That's what's got me so damn confused. You might really be seeing a ghost..." More than confused, she was scared; yes, her culture was full of legends of the supernatural, and they all had one thing in common, they scared the crap out of her.

" I've never been much of a ssspiritualissst doctor, but right now I'm consssidering anything." Replied the reptilian doctor as his long dead wife vanished from his sight. " Ssshe'sss gone now."

"Is there a pattern or a place where she appears most frequently?" Tallia asked, she was looking for anything, even an external factor, that could answer this question for her fellow healer.

" No, I firssst sssaw her during the promotion ceremony and ssshe's been appearing at random ever sssine." He explained.

"Okay." Tallia nodded, "So, I'm going to save your readings from today, check you again tomorrow, that way we can see if anything changes on you. At least now we've got a starting point."

" Okay. I'll keep a recording if i sssee her again." The doctor replied.

"Right." Tallia smiled, "I'll check on you tomorrow, and thank you."