The Counselor Missed Something

Posted on Thu 1st Dec, 2022 @ 5:18am by Elizabeth Anderson M.D.
Edited on on Thu 1st Dec, 2022 @ 8:48am

752 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Perspective
Location: Dr. Anderson's Counseling Clinic, Brown Sector
Timeline: MD 5, 1400

"Thank you for the cookies, Mrs. Bectu. I'm going to share them with my best friend at dinner tonight," Dr. Anderson smiled at the Bajaron woman.

"Iba, my dear. Call me Iba. I hope he enjoys them as much as you," she answered.

"How do you know it's a "he"?" the doctor asked.

"Oh, my dear, you've taught me so much about body language!" the Bajaron woman laughed. "It's helped me avoid a few arguments when my husband had a bad day. Now I'm using it on you!"

Elizabeth laughed with true appreciation. "Well, I wish everyone took our talks to heart that way."

Iba turned toward the door, then suddenly turned back. "Aren't you worried about catching this flu that's going around? I half expected you wouldn't be in today. There aren't enough doctors to handle things down here, but thank the prophets for that Romulan doctor, Dr s'Siedhri, and his daughter."

"What do you mean? Isn't Starfleet sending medics down? Even a few Marine medics would help." She quickly scanned the database and found the woman was right. There were no Starfleet doctors anywhere in Brown Sector or the Zodiac. "That can't be right!"

"Oh, they used to send a few down, but some of the gangs that were running around then chased them out. The rest of us didn't stand up to the gangs, either, but they can't send us away from our homes." Mrs. Bectu shook her head. "I just hope you don't get it, my dear," she said before walking out the door.

Elizabeth sat down suddenly on her chair. She didn't have any more appointments down here, and should be going up to her office in Tivoli Gardens, but it hit her wrong that the only help for however many people were down here ... maybe 3,000 was accurate, but the census hadn't been done in a while and she'd heard rumors of as many as 5,000 ... was two Romulan doctors. They also ran a clinic in Tivoli Gardens.

Making a sudden decision, she contacted her secretary in the other office. "Sienna, please reschedule my appointments for this afternoon and tomorrow. I'm going to be working with the flu victims down here in Brown Sector. Before I come home, I'll decontaminate carefully, but I can't stand by while people need my medical skills here."

"Yes, Dr. Anderson. I'll take care of that for you and put a sign on the door when I leave tonight. For what it's worth, I think you are doing the right thing. I keep hearing the news reports from Caroline Post about that flu. A lot of people are worried it's going to come up here, because we're so close."

"I wouldn't worry about that right now. There is a vaccine. I'm sure Starfleet Medical will ship it here as soon as they can get it on its way, In the meantime, I have my personal communicator if you need to consult me for anything. Oh, would you leave a message for Lt. Ildaran about where I am, please? I'm going straight to the clinic."

"I'll take care of that, too. Be well, Doctor."

"Be well, Sienna," Elizabeth replied before disconnecting. She locked her door behind her, admiring the tree in the courtyard outside her counseling clinic. It was one of the reasons she had rented this office space. The courtyard was small, but someone, probably a Bajoran since that's where the tree originated, had planted an Alva tree in a medium-sized brick half-circle next to the faux brick wall in front of the bulkhead. It was about the size of a Terran cherry tree, and she'd seen it blossom with fragrant white blooms twice in the time she'd been in Brown Sector.

It wasn't blooming now, so she smiled at the memory, and hurried out of the courtyard shared with three other businesses, turned left and walked quickly through the local bazaar, not taking time to stop at any of the vendors today. She had more important things to think about right now, but she noticed crowds were thinner than normal.

Even as a doctor, Anderson hadn't been monitoring news of the Andosian flu that was being reported here. She was too used to Starfleet Medical and all it could do. It hadn't occurred to her, and to her shame, she acknowledged that she hadn't checked, that Starfleet was not involved in treating the symptoms of residents on these decks. It was time to fix what she'd missed and pitch in to help.

 

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