Making The Rounds
Thanks to Terri for doing this one with me as Val attempts to feel out the people he'll be in command of for the next week or so until the ship safely arrives at Anson's World...;)
Grace Tian is in what passes for the Delilah's infirmary. It's not that bad, honestly... not for a vessel that really should never see more than the occasional sprain or cut or what have you. But Tian has significant concerns about what may be coming at the crew of this boat and so she's doing what she can to stock them up on some of the basics from the supply that she brought on board. They were, after all, people in need.
Valentine Quick walked into the infirmary, finding Dr. Grace pretty much where he had expected to find her. He had checked a few other places out first, but he had expected to find her in the infirmary. Doctors gravitate.
"Dr. Grace," Val says, trying to announce his presence without sneaking up on her. "You have a few moments to talk?"
Tian looked up from where she was doing an inventory of what was already on hand -- woefully little, it turned out -- and set down her smart screen to pivot the stool she sat on around to face him. "Of course, Captain. How can I help you?"
Val chuckled softly as he walked a little further in. "I just went through this protocol earlier with Vikki. I think if it’s just the folks on board ship right now, we can stick with Val. At least for the moment."
Tian smiled. "Val, then. What's on your mind?" Her body language remained casual but her dark eyes on him were watchful.
Val pulled up the remains of a chair. It looked like it had gone through a war zone. Val expected his father had picked it up on the cheap somewhere. He sat down and folded his hands in his lap. "I just wanted to figure a few things out, make sure there's clarity between us. As I told Vikki, I seem to have commandeered the passengers as crew and without boundary lines, it makes for fuzzy situations."
"You said you were military, correct? Navy, if I am remembering correctly."
"You are," Tian replied calmly.
"My intention is not to pry." His voice remained even keeled, never really moving much. "I've said that I don't have any experience with being a captain. I've got some relevant experience, but no actual history aboard a ship. So to be blunt, my first order of business has been to make sure I'm not going to have trouble with anyone if I give out an order. And I couldn't decide whether you'd be more likely to listen to me because of the military background or that plus my lack of experience would work against me."
Tilting her head, Tian observed him with a grave expression. "Val, I've been a ground-side doctor for most of my career. Space postings are not given to single parents. So my experience on a vessel of any kind is limited to a couple of short tours very early in my career as a low-ranking lieutenant, say about 23 years or so ago. I know nothing about handling or commanding a vessel." She paused. "I'm pretty decent with people, I can certainly manage people and supplies. But no, I have no designs on your command."
He shook his head. "It's not necessarily about designs on my command." It felt strange to him to use the words my command in a sentence to start with. "I'm going to let the people who know what they're doing do it and not interfere. That's how things get done. But I want to make sure that if I do give an order, that it's obeyed without argument." He sighed slightly and leaned back a little in his chair from where he had unconsciously edged forward. "If I'm going to be responsible for everyone, I don't want to have to fight tooth and nail about it. If that makes sense."
"It does," Tian replied. "You're an untried captain surrounded by either people who've been on this ship a lot longer than you or who are all apparently clueless about shipboard life, and you're feeling out of your depth because things have already gone pear-shaped." She shrugged a little. "I'd be surprised if you WEREN'T stressed out. Use your assets, Val. Ms. McAllister clearly adores this vessel, and although you do not see any reason for it... she apparently also thought highly enough of your father to remain aboard this boat through what appear to be some really lean times."
She glanced around and then back at him. "I think she can be of great help to you while you struggle to learn the ropes on this venture. And perhaps along the way, you'll learn some other things about yourself."
"I would be surprised if my father had anything but lean times." The statement just floated out there and he chose not to follow it up. Instead he pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at it for a second. "My father's watch. In his way, he taught me everything I know about responsibility. I'm going to make sure that we all make it safe to where we are going because I inherited that responsibility along with this ship. Which brings to my first order, which you already know, but I'll state again for the record." He was leaning forward again. "Make sure to leave those weapons alone. I'm telling everyone this to reinforce it. I'm going to attempt to figure out what to do with them. But for the moment, I'm not going to poke the hornet's nest."
Tian nodded immediately. "I've already told you that I will. Without better containment protocols, there is no telling what may be unleashed. And if it's the aerosolized version of the Chempliant that they used on Boros?" Her expression went grim. "It would be very, very bad to let it loose in a closed-air environment."
"I don't want to imply that I don't trust you. I have a good sense for people. I don't doubt that if you say you'll do something, you will." The casino had turned it into almost a sixth sense for him. He paused for a minute and changed the subject. "Are you taking inventory here?" He waved his hand in the direction of the mostly bare shelves and cabinets of the infirmary.
"I am," Tian said. "It's woefully inadequate in terms of a hospital, but for a shipboard infirmary with no in-residence doctor or medic, it's not horrific. Just understocked. I'm handling that out of some of the IRP supplies," she told him with a faint smile. "I think in this case you are at least as in need of bandages and such things as anyone else."
"I was going to ask you to take on that inventory task, so that saves me the trouble." He pulled a piece of paper out of the left inside jacket pocket and carefully unfolded it. "That leads me to my third question. What can you tell me about…” and he looked at a specific line in the document the lawyer had given him, “Anhydrous Tetrahydrazine?"
He slid the document across the desk in front of Dr. Grace. "I gather it's bad, bad enough to slap a Hazardous Waste Notice on this ship, but looking around, it could probably be classified as hazardous waste without any chemicals."
Blowing out a slow breath, Tian pondered. "It's caustic, flammable -- explosive, in fact -- and extremely carcinogenic." She met his eyes squarely. "I won't know how bad the saturation is until I get a blood sample from Ms. McAllister. I may be able to extrapolate how much exposure will be too much. But quite frankly? It's entirely possible that just what we've already had is too much." She shrugged a little bit. "I'll get on the testing right away. And I'll take some blood samples from all of us, as well. Presuming none of us had any exposure prior to boarding, it may be a good baseline sample. I would think that if Ms. McAllister has never shown any symptoms of anything, we're all right for the moment. Long-term exposure, however, is pretty dangerous. The ship really shouldn't be in space."
It was beginning to sound if they would be lucky if the ship didn't explode or melt before its destination. But Val just nodded in response. "That's about right. This ship should have never left the ground. I don't know what my father saw in it. Not sure I want to know." He grabbed the document back and slid it back in his jacket pocket. "Does the discovery in the cargo hold change things for you, Doctor? Are you still going out and volunteering?" How did she handle adversity? Val didn't consider himself a curious person as much as he did someone interested in people’s motivations.
The answer was a long moment in coming. "Yes," Tian said finally. "I am." A shadow of worry crossed her features, quickly masked behind the calm expression that was her norm. "Although to be quite blunt on the matter, I would like to know if this organization is a front for illegal arms smuggling... because THAT I will not participate in," she added in a firm tone.
"Vikki asked me if we were going to do something about the weapons, make sure they didn't get in the wrong hands. And how do you feel?" He said it coolly, giving no indication how he felt about it one way or the other.
That brought a longer pause as Tian studied him. "I don't feel qualified to determine whose hands ARE the wrong ones," she says finally. "And I think if whoever put them aboard this ship comes looking for them, we may be in F'n Zse (deep crap)."
He nodded. "I'm going to do what it takes to keep us safe. Playing hero is not high on my list." He pushed the chair back and stood up. "You'll report in when you've tested blood samples and taken inventory?"
"Of course," Tian replied. She nodded politely at him and swiveled her stool back to what she had been doing when he walked in. Over her shoulder, she said quietly, "Val?"
Val, who had been turning to go, stopped and turned back around. "Yes, Dr. Grace?"
Without looking at him, she told him in that same soft tone, "You don't have the kind of experience or the kind of crew you're going to need for that." She picked up her smart screen and went back to work.
"To play hero or to keep us safe?" The question was a quiet whisper only he could hear, but it seemed to follow him as he left to go in search for the rest of his makeshift crew.
HOW TO SPEAK CHINESE[edit]
Chinese: F'n Zse = Deep crap. See "Pool of excrament"
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