The Right Mix

Posted on Sun Jan 22nd, 2023 @ 2:56pm by Lieutenant Dr. Daniel Brasken & Callie Marshall

Mission: S1 Episode 4: The Cloud
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1000
767 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Callie was clearing out her things from her office when she received a call from Doctor Bracken, asking her to drop by at her earliest convenience. Having dropped off John with those running daycare, she made her way straight to Sickbay. Walking in she offered a warm smile as she approached Bracken.

“Good morning Doctor, you asked to see me?”

Daniel looked up from the patient he was dealing with at the moment and gave a nod. "We are done here, crewman. Come back tomorrow to confirm." With that he turned fully to Callie and returned the smile she had greeted him with. "If you could please join me in my office."

Callie smiled and nodded. “Of course Doctor.”

Daniel made his way over to his office and once they had settled in activated the privacy mode to cancel out the distractions of Sick Bay. From there he looked across his desk at Callie. "I would like to pick your brain on a possibly sensitive subject but one that my understanding of your file says you're the best person to discuss with. I am researching the concept of better management of the Kazon and others that we bring into the fold on our journey by means of chemical dependence."

“Chemical dependence?” Callie gave Daniel a surprised look. “Forgive me, but as a physician I’d have thought you’d have been against that kind of thing. That, and the fact that our current medical supplies are limited by what we can get our hands on.”

"That may not always be true but this is mostly an academic project for the moment. We also do not have the resources to deal with a labor shortage if we cannot replenish our ranks or backup if too many of them decide to object at a bad time." He shrugged slightly before gesturing to her. "There are down sides, of course, and I was considering additional levels of control besides that but, I'm less wanting to look at it as an enhancement type thing as I am wanting it to replace a vital system."

Callie nodded. “I guess I can see your point, we can’t afford a slave rebellion to start at any point. The downside, of course, is that once you have chemical dependence if supplies run short you’ll have slaves who are unable to work because of withdrawal.”

"Agreed. I figure this is why planning will be very important. It needs to be useful and able to be administered in small enough doses that creating it shouldn't be easy but also means stocking it up when ingredients are lacking wont be a hardship." Daniel leaned back and rubbed at his chin a moment. "Admittedly not a small order of course and something that has been tried many times over the years."

“Indeed” Callie nodded. “My Father was one such person who believed in slave loyalty by any means necessary. He also saw to it the ship’s doctor gave me a cocktail of drugs during my training, narcotics can make you believe and do just about anything. In his case he wanted me strong, loyal, and ruthless. Coming down from that at the end of training was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

Daniel nodded and shrugged slightly. "I am hoping that we can cut out some of the more extreme physical and mental effects. I'm looking more to a physical dependency to maintain normal function and possibly act as a nourishment. Possibly with a synthetic organ to process it?"

Callie nodded. “A synthetic organ? That’s a unique idea. Also the idea of acting as a form of nourishment is a good suggestion. How long would you expect to go from planning to implementation?”

"That really depends on how well the planning goes, I suppose." A shrug lifted one of Daniel's shoulders before he continued. "I have some leniency with resources and if the planning is promising then I would absolutely divert some into execution."

Callie nodded. “Well I hope it works out, given the time to plan I’d imagine it should.”

"If you could submit any information you may have on your father's efforts, that may be useful in progressing the research." Daniel slid a PADD over to her and gave a nod. "The sooner the better, obviously, but as this is still in the concept phase there is no particular rush."

Callie nodded. “Of course, I’ll get that to you as soon as I can. I have nothing but time on my hands now I’ve resigned my commission.”