Facing Her Fears (Backpost)
Posted on Thu Apr 10th, 2025 @ 5:12am by Lieutenant Aleksandra Litvyak 'Sanya'
917 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Atlantic Trouble
Location: Chief Medical Officer's Office
Sanya made her way to sickbay to report in to her boss, Felicie Giehl. Giehl was Sanya's rank equal, a fellow Lieutenant. But that hadn't stopped Sanya from being nervous off her ass. She had begged, pleaded even, to have Eila accompany her. However, Eila remained firm in her stance, as she didn't want to make the department heads nervous by being there as the ship's XO. However, she had told her girlfriend to remember everything they had talked about over the years, and Sanya would be just fine.
And remembering their talks was the only thing keeping Sanya from freezing up in fear as her feet carried her towards the Chief Medical Officer's office, and once she reached the office, to bring her finger to press the chime and not run in fear as she waited to be let in.
"Ah, good morning Lieutenant," she commented to the doctor standing in her doorway. "How are you doing today?" She asked the other woman showing her a seat across the desk from her.
Timidly, Sanya stepped inside the office and stopped to stand at attention:
"Lieu... Lieutenant... Sanya Litvyak, re... Reporting for duty, as... Ordered... Ma'am." The words struggled to leave Sanya's mouth.
"It's okay, Lieutenant, you can go to ease," Felicie stated with a warm smile. "Can I get you something? Tea?" Felicie could feel the nervousness roll off the other Lieutenant in waves. It didn't take a telepath to get that reading on the room.
"Vodka would be fine..." Sanya muttered. "Unless... It is too early to drink?"
"Technically it's after five pm somewhere," Felicie joked to ease the tension. "However, we're technically on duty and that's highly frowned upon by upper command staff. We can always arrange a rain check for after shift for that Vodka. I prefer mine with cranberry and orange juice, or with sour cherry."
"You drink vodka too, comrade?" Sanya asked, her tone still unsure.
Felicie smiled. "Night caps are nice, staring into a glass of anything when you lose someone can help. I more drink socially than anything. Romulan Ale is one that I will not drink. I tried it once as a dare at the Academy and I'll never drink that again," she said finishing on a laugh.
"Oh, Romulan Ale is absolutely vile, comrade." Sanya agreed. "I never understood why so many in Starfleet like to drink it..."
"Job security I guess for us and Security, I guess," the doctor joked.
"I suppose so..." Sanya shrugged. "You'll forgive me if I'm not one for many words... Socializing has never been my thing... Not since... Not since I lost a patient..."
Nodding, Felicie understood where the woman was coming from. Unfortunately, there were many patients that were lost, and it was something that never did get easier with time, just number. "It's something that happens in our line of work," the doctor said quietly. "it does not get easier in my opinion; I'd just say I'm more numb to it than what I was previous. Do you want or need to talk about it?"
"No, thank you..." Sanya declined. "That's what I have... My girlfriend for... She'd be here, but... She is first officer."
"That's good to have someone close for it," Felicie commented. "My husband is too. he's my sounding board for most things. We have a rule to get everything out about work within the first five minutes to keep our work at work and home at home, especially since we're working together."
"My girlfriend is a bit more generous." Sanya said. "She usually wants 15 minutes to vent about work... Not sure she could pull off 5..."
Felicie smirked. "It's easier when we work in the same department to get it within five minutes." A slight laugh came out afterwards. "Sometimes it requires more, and sometimes much much less."
"It used to be that simple." Eila explained. "She was counseling, I was medical, but since she's become First Officer, she's had a lot more to deal with than simple medical issues."
"That's where you just adapt and be flexible to needs," Felicie responded.
"Agreed." Sanya nodded. "So, what can be expected of me?"
"Everyone will mostly be rotating in and out of shifts unless people volunteer for the oddball shift. i would recommend keeping up to date on the latest medical journals and continue studies. While medicine has gotten beter than it was, it's still not great and things are lost. Tribal knowledge, while a blessing for our field, is quite a curse as well. Don't be afraid to ask questions. See something, say something."
Sanya nodded. She was quite familiar with losing things, like the lives of her patients...
"Okay, I will keep that in mind." She said, suppressing the bubbling sadness. "So, which shift am I specifically assigned to?"
"Right now, I have everyone rotating. So it'll be a fortnight on alpha, a fortnight on beta, and then a fortnight on gamma. Eventually I'll have everyone on their own desired shifts, but this is the way that we can actually work a realistic schedule," Felicie replied.
"I understand." Sanya nodded. "Though, for reference, I do tend to prefer Beta and Gamma shifts... Once we get to that point, of course."
When Sanya left the CMO's office to resume her normal duties, she was feeling more confident about this assignment. Perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as previous assignments had been...
Posting by
Lieutenant Felicie Giehl
Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant Aleksandra "Sanya" Litvyak
Medical Officer
RSS Feed