First Meetings

Posted on Thu Jun 24th, 2021 @ 8:51am by Lieutenant Commander Robert Hendon

Mission: The Thorion Conundrum Mission Brief
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: TBD (Possible backsim?)

[ ON ]

Alessa had come to sickbay. She finally had a chance to slip into a uniform and had a large steaming mug of coffee in her right hand. She gave a cherry smile to the nurse on duty and went to the office of the CMO. Since she was the Chief Counselor, it would be prudent to at least meet the CMO maybe build a good professional working relationship with him.

She cleared her throat and was about to knock on the frame but then decided to give it an old fashioned chime not sure what the doc would have prefered.

Robert had been walking around sickbay checking on patience. As for Bryan that would take time. Orions. They could be brutal when the mood suited them. Sadly it was always the weaker constructed humanoids. That bore the brunt of the injury list. It made Robert angry. He looked up when he heard the door chime.

" Please come in." He called out.

Alessa walked in with a smile on her face and a look of wonder in her eyes. She drank the office around her in. She had been in a few clinical offices of doctors but what took her back the most was the size of this man, she noted he looked like he should be a security officer or a Marine Corpsman. She shook her thoughts out of her head and cleared her throat.


"Doctor Hendon? I'm Lieutenant Herria, but you can call me Alessa. I am the new Head of Counseling and before I did any serious check ins up the command chain I thought I would come in and introduce myself. Since we are either going to be working in tandem a lot or we are going to be trading cases to each other back and forth like a couple of crazed voles. I figured we could chat or at least get to see each others faces?"

Robert liked Alessa usually the ships counsellors avoided speaking with the Chief Medical Officer. Until needs be or they needed backup with a difficult patient.

“ Hello. Welcome to the Leto. Actually talking of cases I may have a customer for you. Lcmd Ryan Blake at the moment he’s in a coma. But once he comes round Blake will need your services. The Orions used his head as a punch bag.” Hendon explained

She covered her mouth in shock and sat there for a moment.

"What is his prognosis? Is there brain trauma?" She asked.

~ Good one Alessa of COURSE there is brain trauma!~

"I mean what kind of trauma is there? Is the prognosis a good recovery? I have heard that Thetramine in small doses can reduce brain swelling." She asked and added trying to sound like a responsible medical professional and not the frightened girl she just seemed to act like.

Robert gave her a padd.

“ It’s all on this report. As you can see Blake was struck on the side of the head. Damaging the part of the brain that controls speech. This caused a artery in the brain to become damaged causing a serious brain bleed. A very serious injury indeed. Blake survived the surgery but there were complications. He’s in a self induced coma and now it’s a matter of waiting.” Hendon said

"Alright its going to be speech therapy when he recovers I assume for no less then six weeks. I would not presume to tell you what to do medically but trianoline assuming he isn't responding well to the other drugs maybe at .008 ccs? I know double the normal dose but we saw some cases of traumatic head injuries particularly among vulcans. If he isn't coming out of it there could be mental blockage which if you can get a consent from his wife or family I would be happy to do a telepathic pull him out of it?" She offered.

Robert thought about that.

“ At the moment let’s leave things as they are. His vital signs are steady if they drop. Then that’s a possibility.You would need to speak to Commander Toran. She is his Imzardi so you would best ask her first. It may be prudent to keep an eye on her to. Having a loved one on deaths door can be quite a strain.” He said

She made a notation to sit down and talk with the Commander. "I am just looking to make life easier not harder, I promise you I will speak to Commander Toran. In the mean time how are you handling things doctor? I can only imagine all of this has got to be rough on you?"

It was the first time Robert had thought about himself. What with the move to the Leto with the family. Then having to operate on Blake after his encounter with the Orions . Robert had to consider the question.

“ To be honest I am quite ok. The family is settled in. No one is in danger here in sickbay. Things for the moment are running well.” He replied

"Well given the fact you are Chief of Medicine in all these crisis going on if you need somebody to talk to with a detached opinion about things let me know. If you would need somebody to prescribe you anything let me know as well. If you need an extra hand with medical problems I am a LPN and certified first respond medic according to Starfleet. In reality I am a nurse who can open and close for you. That is if you need it? Otherwise Doctor, my office is right across the way okay?" Alessa offered that last part at the end.

Hendon tapped the side of his mouth.

“ Actually there is something...... I noticed that you are due for a physical. Seeing your here maybe you could have it now? I could get a female member of staff to do if you would prefer?” He asked her.

"I understand what its like trying to get somebody to co-operate. A physical won't kill me. Worst you will find is a nasty case of the giggles that I have a perpetual case of." She said.

"Want me to sit anywhere specific for the old tricorder run?" She asked.

Hendon gestured towards the bio bed.

“ If you could just lay down well begin. Hmmm blood pressure up a little from last time? Heart rate seems exceptable. Tell me what do you eat usually?” Hendon said.

Alesa thought fot a moment, "Everything replicated, usually bagel and cream cheese with a coffee for beakfast. Ration Bar number 33 for lunch with a bottle of water, for dinner either a garden salad and plomeque soup. Bedtime I have a glass of red wine unreplicated otherwise when its only replicated cup of herbal tea."

She knew that was going to make it sound like she under ate. But keeping a figure was hard,It was something she had to work at,

A warning light began to go off in Robert’s head. He looked at her weight and checked it against her last physical. He looked at her and sadly shook his head.

“ I don’t know how to put this bluntly and I am sorry if I sound all preachy. But this diet just will not do. Your body is not getting to nutrition it needs. Your beginning to show symptoms of this. Yes your heart rate is ok for now. But these other readings I am not happy with. I am putting you on a weight gain diet. Don’t worry you won’t turn into a hideous overweight blob. But it will help you to get to a more healthy weight and keep you there. It has plenty of food options and tasty recipes. I need you to promise to keep to it for the next month or I will have to sign you off duty.” He said

"Atelophobia!" She blurted out.

"Sorry its something wee all suffer from in one degree or another... Right now I would say I am at the bargaining stages of problem management. But the food is replicated shouldn't it be providing all the nutrients no matter what form they are brought in?" She asked.

" In all my years as a doctor I have to confess that I have not heard of Atelophobia. Perhaps it is known as something by another name. but as regarding the replicators. They replicate food items as they are. They do not add extra nutrients. If anything in some foods they replicate less. So sometimes it is unfortunate all to easy. To under eat without realising. But this diet will help you." Robert said

"Its a fear of imperfection, commonly known as a fear of failure. Well its the clinical name of it. I used to deal with cases of it on officers about to be deployed. But there is a thing still in this age about looking attractive and struggling with body image. Its a lot harder when you are single I suppose?" She suggested.

They lived in an age of wonders. Where a space ship could travel at unimaginable speeds. To planets far out in space. Talk to people that spoke a different language. Without having to learn how to speak it. Made first contacts with dozens of new alien races. Yet people still had fear of failure. Even though we could do all these things.

" I can never understand this. It reminds me of a friend of mines cousins girl. She wanted to be a ballet dancer. So she starved herself and ended up with an eating disorder. She was only 8 years old. Her body had not yet matured. So still had her baby fat which as you know starts to dissipate when her body starts menstruating. There is no such thing as perfection. Look at the Borg their always on the look out to reach total perfection. If a bunch of psychotic cyborgs can't reach perfection. What chance have any of us." Hendon said

"Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. For me its staying under the weight limit, because otherwise I would be in a private practice and not seeing the universe. I see all these women out here who are just so perfect looking. I see them eat whatever they want and I so much as look at chocolate I gain a kilo." She said jokingly.

Robert could see this conversation was going in circles.

" I think it might be prudent for you to see a counsellor. This dieting idea you have is a worry to me. You a clearly slipping down a slope leading to health problems. Plus you are clearly under weight. Reaching Perfection is like tomow it never comes. Now can I trust you to follow this diet and see a counsellor or do I have to recommend you off duty until your weight increases?" He asked her.

"Seeing how I am the Counselor, I promise I will follow your recomendations. There is no need to get hardball, I just so rarely get to actually talk shop as it were with other medical professionals I can go on and on about nothing while going through the motions." She sighed.

Robert ran his hands over the bio bed controls.

" Look I am not trying to be mean here. I am responsible for your health and this is a problem. The crew would have difficulty trusing us. If they see you becoming dangerously thin. So please take this seriously. Actually talking of your counseling duties. I have two children who seem to make it a daily sport, of rubbing each other up the wrong way. I was wondering if you would like to perhaps have some sessions with them. Only at the moment they are both five. So if we can catch this early. It may spare Alice and myself some very sore throats." He said

She smiled and relaxed right up, "Actually family counseling is my specialty, Bring them by my office say 0700 before school starts and I can sit down with both of them. I will be more then happy to get to the bottom of this, If it helps I am the youngest of five kids myself so figuring out something like this shouldn't be too hard." Alessa offered her best smile at the doctor.

Hendon gave her the thumbs up.

" Thanks I hope you can help us. Those two do nothing but argue. Now as for you good self. For now the physical is over. But I want you to come back here in a week for a check up and please give this new diet a try." Hendon said


"Yes sir." Was all Alessa managed to get out she felt almost embarassed by this whole ordeal. She was going to crawl into a hole after this.





Lt. Alessa Herria
Chief Counselor
USS Leto

Lt.Cmdr Dr Robert Hendon
Chief Medical Officer
USS Leto