Palmieri Reassigned

Posted on Wed Jul 12th, 2017 @ 11:37am by Lieutenant Sydney Palmieri M.D., Ph.D.
Edited on on Wed Jul 12th, 2017 @ 11:38am

Mission: The Band (Episode 1)
Location: USS Argonaut

With one last grunt, Doctor Sydney Palmieri pried open the doors to her quarters aboard the USS Argonaut. Now that they had arrived to a proper starbase for repairs and debriefing, she had been assured it wouldn't be long before that particular nuisance was attended to, but frankly, all Sydney cared about was getting a shower and rest. Although her adrenaline had stopped pumping, her perspiration soaked uniform still clung to her, a reminder of the terror induced fight or flight instinct from hours earlier as much as a reminder the ship's environmental controls were on the fritz.

"On the fritz" was not the most accurate term befitting a Starfleet officer, but when one was in the middle of healing and consoling traumatized colleagues who'd seen their lives flash before their eyes more than once that day, "on the fritz" was a descriptor befitting all the effort she was prepared to spend on taking note of something she could not fix, let alone explain.

Palmieri exhaled slowly, reaching for the hem of her tunic, already anticipating how good it would feel for the cool air to hit her drenched skin, a mere preview of the pleasure she was going to feel when warm water hit her tense muscles.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

"Worth to Palmieri. Will you join me in my ready room as soon as possible?"

Stifling a curse and a groan of frustration, Sydney took a moment to gather herself. When the ship's commanding officer asked for one's presence, it really wasn't a request.

She tapped her comm badge. "On my way, sir." If anyone was giving out awards for keeping bone tiredness from one's voice, she would've won it hands down.


Unfortunately, she had no such control over her eyes and her skin, which revealed just how done in she was, a fact that Captain Jeffrey Worth picked up on as Palmieri read the regret and concern in his own eyes.

As if he needed to convey the expenditure of blood and sweat was worth it, he opened with a recap of the day. "You did well today, Syd. A search and rescue vessel like ours isn't supposed to break down in the middle of a rescue, and the subsequent panic could have sunk us all, but you helped keep us all focused and ensured everyone got to escape pods."

"Thank you, sir. I'm just glad we were able to rescue the stranded civilians like we planned. The only thing worse than getting crippled by a nebula and its complicating conditions while trying to save other people, would be to get crippled by a nebula and to fail in the rescue in the first place." She paused, then offered, "Something tells me you didn't ask me to come here to rehash our mission, and you've never asked me to come by to be a sounding board."

At this, Worth smirked. "That's because you always came to me first, whether I wanted you to or not."

Palmieri rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "As I keep telling you sir, I have no psionic abilities. Contrary to modern opinion, sometimes good old-fashioned woman's intuition trumps telepathic or empathic ability."

Instead of engaging her in the very old and very familiar debate, Worth handed her a PADD and said without preamble. "You're being reassigned a to a Rapid Response Team being commanded by one Jordan Gunning. I don’t have many details beyond that, but I’m told the brass was quite selective. Congratulations, you get to exercise those forensic psych muscles once again."

The truth was, Sydney had worn any number of hats, whether as a physician, psychiatrist, or an expert in crisis response. She was also a trained and experienced forensic mental health professional, but she wasn't exactly cooling her heels at a job that she just barely enjoyed. Sydney's biggest problem was that she loved to learn and she loved helping people heal, whether physically or psychologically. Her interest in the application of mental health principles to the legal system stemmed from a desire to help traumatized people. Studying criminal behavior, psychological competency issues and all the rest of it just seemed like a natural extension of it all.

For several long moments, Sydney was speechless and she could barely place the PADD in her lap. She wouldn't deny she wanted another opportunity to utilize her clinical forensic skills, but she also understood such assignments were rare and competitive. A Starfleet vessel with only a small group of specialists was rare indeed. More likely, such assignments were limited to intelligence and tactical types, not healers or “shrinks” like herself.

It was hard to know how to feel. On the one hand, she was being given a dream opportunity. Hazard Teams themselves were plum assignments for anyone since they were rare and viewed as elite, especially for medical personnel. On the other, it had come at a time when she was absolutely exhausted and had just started to wrap her mind around not only having to help the damaged Argonaut pick up its pieces, but also helping the crew move forward. Besides having to cope with the momentary whiplash associated with adjusting her expectations, she was now starting to grieve the lost opportunity to help the crew overcome this tragedy. She'd only been assigned to the Argonaut for six months, but in that short time, the crew had rescued any number of people who would have died if they had been unwilling to travel in harm's way. The least Sydney could do was offer comfort to those who had been rescued and solace to those on the front lines.

As if sensing Sydney's reluctance, Jeffrey said, "This isn't public knowledge yet, but the Argonaut is going to be under repairs for quite some time. There's a good possibility the crew will be reassigned rather than given quarters here while they wait. Starfleet can't afford to have personnel sitting idle. Look at this is an opportunity to snag a dream assignment before they decide to send you to the Federation embassy on Breen." Worth was smiling as he said the last, but as Sydney looked up into his eyes, she could see not just the fatigue in them, but the genuine sorrow, and more than a touch of moisture. It was never easy to lose a command, temporary or otherwise.

Without a word, Sydney set the PADD aside, and stood to embrace Captain Jeffrey Worth.

An observer might have assumed the embrace was motivated by Palmieri's happiness, but the two of them knew better.