Academy Snippet 4

Sitrep:  Goodlifeguide stated they'll try to get the manuscript back to me by this weekend. We'll see.

Rea also dropped a broad hint for me to write a Christmas story and post it here or in another book. I'm thinking about it but it isn't a priority. Right now it seems like I'm being pulled in a half a dozen directions all at once. (multitasking!)

Anyway, the next story snippet:

What’s Up Doc?

 

“Why not?” a voice asked behind her.

Dorothy Gayle twitched her ears as she finished reading the chart of the patient and then turned to the lead nurse.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” the small Neodog asked. “Why not what?”

“Why not go for it?”

“Go for what?” she asked, this time in a testier tone of voice. She had to scramble down the steps behind the nursing station until she hit the floor. Sometimes it really sucked to be only a meter tall.

At least she wasn’t an elf. They really had it bad.

“Go all in. You have the education, right?”

“I’m still not following.”

“ET.”

“What about it?” she asked.

“Your training.”

“I was an AN there,” she said patiently. “Assistant Nurse, remember? They yanked me out of training and threw me into the trenches,” she said.

Raina nodded. “I know that. But when the plagues were over, you were an RN,” she said.

“Yeah, and they saddled that damn ensign rank on me too. So what?” Dorothy asked.

“So, you want to be a surgical nurse still, right?”

“It is a thought,” Dorothy said with a sniff. She was actually considering resigning her commission in order to go into civilian practice. Only the regular work, good pay, and free education kept her from doing that. That and she was supposed to have some retirement in the pipeline whenever she did retire.

If she resigned before a set period, she wouldn’t get much at all or so the scuttlebutt experts insisted.

“Why not go for the full experience?” Raina insisted as she crossed her arms.

“And that is?” Dorothy asked as she checked the medical cart. It was robotic; all she had to do was follow it and make sure it administered the right medication to the right patient. Some of the patients were a bit wary of having a robot mist them or give them a small paper cup with pills in it.

“Go full medical. Become a surgeon,” Raina said.

Dorothy paused and turned to her. “Are you serious?”

Raina studied her. “As a heart attack. You’ve got the grades, right?”

“Sure.”

“And you’ve got the background. Your family eats and breathes medicine.”

“That’s the family. And that doesn’t exactly translate over,” the Neodog said. She was a mutt, a small Neodog that had so many mixed breeds in her ancestry they all sort of blended together. She had floppy ears that still bothered her. Her friend Katya had saddled her with Toto on her for a nickname. Only when she’d found the reference had she been ready to strangle the pilot.

Katya of course had loved it. She shook her head slightly.

“I’m serious. I’ve seen your bedside manner. I’ve seen you close wounds and you caught a few things that the doctors miss. You could do it,” Raina insisted.

“That eager to get rid of me?” Dorothy asked as the cart began to move out.

“No, but I want you to live up to your potential. Right now you are just filling a slot. I know you can do better.”

Dorothy blinked, looked back to the senior nurse but another had distracted the woman. Instead, she sniffed and went on her rounds. It did stick a bone in her mind to gnaw on for a few days though.

<<<*>>>

Raina thought about it and then checked Dorothy’s credentials. The Neodog had an ensign rank but had been stuck in that rank for three years. She finally realized why when she noted that the Neodog had never completed the officer training courses mandatory for nurses.

She knew the hospital administrator was a prick about such things. She decided to get on Dorothy’s case and get her to at least get that squared away by the end of the fiscal year.

<<<*>>>

When Dorothy woke the following morning, she had an email in her work inbox. She grimaced and checked it and then her grimace turned into a ferocious scowl as she noted the heading. Apparently, someone had noticed she hadn’t taken the courses for the navy and were now requiring it. Damn.

Like she needed the distraction.

She was still fuming at the injustice in the universe when she got to work. She checked in and got another email with a text to report to the educational administrator’s office. She sighed and handed her duties off to her partner and took off to find out what the problem was.

“Ah, Nurse Gayle. Interesting name,” the Veraxin stated when she knocked on the office door. He scuttled and tilted his odd head until all four eyestalks looked at her. “Ah, there you are.”

“You wanted to see me, Director?”

“Yes. It has come to my attention that you have been remiss in updating your credentials.”

“Sir? I am up to date on all certifications.”

“Except your naval career.”

“I’m in a navy hospital, sir,” she reminded him. The director was a civilian contractor, one of the rare civilians in the hospital. He was so good at his job that the navy had accepted his services and had not forced him to become an officer.

“I understand that. But the navy wants all of the I’s dotted and T’s crossed as the metaphor goes. Which means we need to carve out some time for you to get that sorted out. And I understand you applied to become a surgical nurse?”

“I was undergoing classes for the upgrade before I was reassigned to Antigua,” she said stiffly.

“Well, that is on hold until the military gets its way. Unless you are considering resigning?”

“I did think about it,” she admitted.

“Well, if you did, you would be missed here,” he said offhand.

Her eyes narrowed. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you would be unqualified to work in this hospital. You would no longer be a naval officer. You would have effectively quit your job. Of course with the capital expanding so explosively, you would find work elsewhere in our industry. The resignation might serve as a cloud over any prospective employers though,” he warned.

She frowned, clearly unhappy. She hadn’t quite gotten that far into gaming out her possible life paths. Now that he mentioned it, the idea of a resignation in her record would not look good. There would be questions as to why. Her answer of not wanting to get qualified to be an officer would make them wonder if she tended to skip over critical details, which would mean some juicy jobs might pass her over for patient safety.

Which wouldn’t be good on her record either. Word like that got around.

“I can take the online courses,” she sighed.

“I’m afraid it is a bit more involved than that,” he said.

“Excuse me?” she asked as she blinked.

“You are an officer who never attended the academy. You have served in that capacity for some time. Makeup classes can be taken but you also are required to attend in person classes.”

She frowned. “I took a few basic courses on ET. The mandatory ones.”

“Which are in your record. But to be an officer, especially a medical officer, there is a lot more involved I’m afraid.”

She growled softly and wondered if Raina had set her up. She wouldn’t put it past the senior nurse to try to push her out of the nest just when she was getting comfortable.

“What are we talking about here? I’m not willing to run around a track or play soldier,” she growled.

“Your ignorance of your naval career is one reason you need this educational experience. I suggest you take a tour of the academy and look into your future more deeply. To that end you’ll be reassigned to half-day shifts three days a week. The rest of the time you are to get your credentials up to date. If you need to adjust that schedule, let me know.”

She opened her mouth to protest and then closed it slowly. Half-day shifts were nothing. Nurses worked full twelve- or twenty-four-hour shifts. Being on half day would make her a fill-in. She didn’t like it.

“I realize it is not optimal to your current schedule. But this must be rectified,” the Veraxin said sternly. “I suggest you consider your options carefully.”

“Am I still going to be paid to train?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“Fine, I’ll look into it,” she growled, clearly unhappy.

“Excellent. This is, after all, a teaching hospital, so we encourage all of our staff to continue to better themselves. Please avail yourself of the educational opportunity here.”

She sniffed and then left. It wasn’t quite a storm out but it was as close as the diminutive nurse could get to it.

<<<*>>>