Laughing Lecture

Posted on Mon Aug 15th, 2016 @ 8:49am by Commander Hades,MD & Lieutenant Shrivol Thr'elanon

1,838 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 92 - More Questions than Answers
Location: Lecture Hall
Timeline: M04 - 1830 Hours

[ON]

It had been a long day. He'd gone home and taken a shower and rested a bit. Now he was headed back to sickbay. He an Shrivol were suppose to take in that lecture. He pasted a smile on his face that never reached his eyes and he headed in. He wondered if the nurses had talked to the CMO about his refusal to give up on the Romulan and his refusal to listen to them.

"Hi Shrivol. Ready to go to the lecture?"

Shrivol lowered the PADD he was holding. "Of course, Doctor." he stood up, and walked out with Hades. "Impressive job with the Romulan patient, I am sorry he didn't survive." he said.

He sighed. "I realize that I...was a bit persistent but I didn't want to loose a patient."

"None of us do." Shrivol replied somewhat sounding sorrowful. "But unfortunately as someone once told me 'It is possible to do everything right and still lose' No one really understands that more than Doctors."

"Very true." He said. "Alright of we go to see the stuffy Vulcan, who is now half an hour late, talk about herbs."

"What enchantment. Last time I was at a lecture like this they forgot to label a herb that Klingons are inherently allergic to." Shrivol said. He still was sipping his coffee, he believed it was his eighth pot.

Hades laughed and shook his head. "That must have been...interesting." He took the coffee away from Shrivol "How many have you had?" He asked keeping the cup away from Shrivol.

"I think eight or nine pots, and yes 15 Klingons in anaphylactic shock was beyond interesting." Shrivol smiled. "You know us Andorians do process caffeine faster than most species." He said as he motioned to two seats.

He smiled and they sat. "Well that much coffee is still not good for you. As your doctor I forbid it. I'm cutting you off at three pots."

Shrivol smiled "Well I guess I am at a loss. Thankfully I can stock up before my shift in my quarters." he was enjoying this time, even when the lecturer arrived. "Oh I am going to need that coffee back." he said almost in fear.

Hades laughed. "No way."

They sat watching the Vulcan speak. An hour into the lecture it was obvious that the Vulcan was...not firing on all cylinders. Hades put up his hand and when acknowledged he stood up and spoke to the Vulcan. "Dr. Speralk your suggesting mixing dry sage with Betazoid Eldon Root. Um...you do know that the mix will cause hives in whoever takes it."

He sat back down watching the Vulcan back peddle. He leaned over and whispered to Shrivol. "Can you believe this dum dum?"

"Yes I can." Shrivol said with a chuckle. "The Vulcan science academy denounced him, he doesn't understand why other species aren't as resilient as Vulcans. By the way he was the same person who didn't realize Klingons were deathly allergic to Tragonian weed."

Hades bit his lip to keep from laughing. "I think by the time this is over I'm going to need your brand of cardiac resuscitation about 5 thumps to the chest." He bit his lip again. He was on the verge of bursting out laughing.

Shrivol saw Hades trying to compose himself and couldn't help but burst out laughing. A laughter was loud enough to make the Klingon's take notice. "I am sorry Doctor Speralk, I am allergic to something here, I think I need to leave for a moment." Shrivol motioned to the door to Hades.

Shrivol's outburst only fueled his own. "I ...I think I smell Tragonian weed. We should g..g...go." Laughing and holding his side he followed Shrivol out the door promptly collapsing by the closed doors and clutching his side. When a group of Klingons followed he howled laughing. "Oh....I can't breath."

"I can't either, we need to talk to command to not allow crackpots like that on the station." Shrivol started tearing up. "So shall we try that Romulan Ale now?"

Hades took a moment to compose himself and to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Oh I haven't laughed this hard in ages. I think the crackpots should stay with the explicit order that we attended every lecture as a stress buster." He stood. "Let's go get that ale."

Hades and Shrivol walked to Shrivol's quarters. His quarters were average for the station and large in comparison to a starship. There were various pictures of Shrivol's family and friends as well as medical artifacts from the past of various worlds, including various Starship models of Starfleet and Andoria's history. "Welcome to my current home, I am sorry I forgot to put my gym clothes away."Shrivol said as he picked up a few items and placed them to be recycled in the replicator.

Shrivol pulled out a large ornate bottle of Romulan Ale and poured two glasses. "Strong stuff, this bottle is over a century old."

Hades accepted the glass and as he sipped he looked over the ship models. "I collect models too miniatures though. Starships and various figurines." He looked over the medical artifacts too. "These are amazing."

Shrivol took off his jacket and sat down on a chair. "I think so too, some date back hundreds of years. Most were gifts and others I collected through the years." Shrivol started sipping the ale.

Hades sat down across from Shrivol. "This is strong." He looked at the lovely ale colour. "So I saw next weeks shifts I really appreciate you giving me Gamma shift. I like the quiet of the night."

"I was told you did. In a letter of recommendation by the CMO of the Olympus he mentioned you loved the night shift." Shrivol said as he took another sip, stretching his arm to the back of the chair.

He smiled. "I'm very much night owl. Plus because my sister asked for this Sabbatical instead of telling Starfleet I was ill I now must produce a year's worth of research quickly. Not to mention my publisher is tearing out is hair."

Hades rose to look at the family photos.

Shrivol chuckled slightly "I have no doubt you will be the youngest person to get a Carrington award." Shrivol let Hades look at the pictures, not saying much about them. Shrivol took another long sip, he wished he opened an Andorian alcohol instead, especially because Andorian drinks could be stronger than most other planets alcohol.

Hades' eyes rested on a picture of two people who looked very much in love. "This was your fiancée."

Without looking directly at Hades, Shrivol replied "Yes, that was S'rik" the sips became longer, he poured himself another glass.

"How did you two meet?" Suddenly he wanted to know. He sipped his ale.

"Starfleet Academy, he was on the swim team same as me, but excelled in other sports that I had difficulty with." Shrivol said in a low deep voice, caused partially because of being tired and partially because of the subject matter.

Hades looked at the photo again. He turned to look at his friend. "I bet it was love at first sight."

"Actually, it was a rivalry at first. I am deeply competitive and he was in the 'purest' logical sense, even though he was never one for pure logic." Shrivol smirked "But we became friends then went from there. When he found out about my condition he became caring." Shrivol didn't want to mention that, he hated people knowing except those who NEEDED to know.

"Condition?" Hades' brows furrowed.

'Damn' Shrivol said to himself. "Yes. I have a rare condition that affects few Andorians. My muscles took forever to develop and walking was extremely difficult when I was younger. I had to get treatments on Earth, it almost kept me out of Starfleet but swimming helped and eventually I had less and less problems." Shrivol kept it to the facts, mostly facts that is. He still had episodes where he had difficulty but it was rare.

Hades sat down in the chair beside Shrivol. "What are you hiding?"

Shrivols antenna took on an almost defensive look. "Nothing." he wasn't sure why he even mentioned it to begin with, ultimately Admiral Bremer was the only one who needed to know about his condition. "Can I get you another drink?" Shrivol stood up to get the bottle.

Hades shook his head. "No. Again with the trust thing. You said you have a rare condition which makes me think that you are not free of it yet. I know which one it is. Actually there are two conditions with similar symptoms one is a childhood type that goes away the other one that does not. How often do you get episodes?"

Shrivol drank his remaining ale. He pointed toward another picture of him and his fiance "When I lost him. I had to have a month of treatments." Shrivol poured another glass and sat down. He was going to be glad he was off duty tomorrow.

Hades reached over and pulled the glass out of Shrivol's hand. "No. No more."

Shrivol didn't argue, he knew he should stop even though Andorian metabolism was high and it took a lot to effect him. "Okay, Doctor." he said. "It has been years since it happened, I keep up with it and send reports to Starfleet Medical Command."

"Well I'm here now so I will help. I promise. Now I should go and you should rest."

"Thank you." Shrivol unzipped his vest and walked Hades to the door "I had a good time despite the lecturer." Surprisingly Shrivol was walking steady and didn't appear to be intoxicated. He grabbed a bottle on the shelf. "Here 2285." The liquid was as blue as the sky on Earth.

"A good year. Thank you. Enjoy your day off tomorrow Shrivol." He took the gift but he wasn't going home.

"Thank you, I will." Shrivol said as he saw Hades walk down the corridor. The door slid shut. Shrivol grabbed his glass that Hades took away and started drinking. 'I really shouldn't have said anything, he is going to try and cure me, guess it'll have to be mutual.' he said to himself.

Within minutes he was in his office. "Computer access Chief medical officer's medical file Authorization Hades Alpha Beta Omega Omega one. Also pull up all research current and in the last 30 years on muscular conditions that affect Andorian children."

He watched his computer come to life. "Message to Dr. Galen Veldez Starfleet command. "

=/\= Proceed. Message system ready.=/\=

"Begin recording. Galen I'm calling in a favor. I'm sending you some information and questions. In return I need all the updated info you have and I need it yesterday." He walked over to the replicator and ordered a mint tea. "Computer send message," he said sitting down. I was going to be a long night.

[OFF]

Dr. Shrivol Thr'elanon, CMO
Dr. Hades, ACMO

Starbase 400

RSS Feed