The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [27]
She watched as Chief O’Brien ran a hand through his hair. His recalcitrance was infuriating, but instead of giving in to impatience, she shifted to her best bedside manner. “I want to conduct an exercise with my emergency medical response team and I can’t accomplish that without your cooperation. The team is scattered throughout the ship. I need you to lock onto them, wherever they are, and beam them into sickbay.”
“I understand your request, Doctor. It won’t be easy, but that’s not what’s worrying me.”
Pulaski pushed on as if Chief O’Brien hadn’t said a word. “Once you have transported them to sickbay, start your timer. When it reaches five minutes, lock onto them again and transport them to the various parts of shuttlebay 2 to deal with a simulated emergency. It’s vital they arrive at their designated positions. I’ll be down there to grade their reactions and time.”
Chief O’Brien ran his hand through his hair one more time and tried to step in front of the tsunami. “And I still stand by my objection, Doctor. A site-to-site transport takes a lot of energy out of the ship’s reserves. Two of them back to back is just begging for trouble, especially one that requires so many separate sets of coordinates. You realize the danger they’re going to be in if anything goes wrong? I might not be able to recover their signal in time.”
Pulaski patted him on the arm. “That’s why I wanted you on the job. It’ll be up to you to make certain nothing goes wrong.”
“Oh, no. No, you’re not laying that on me. I think Lieutenant La Forge should be consulted before we go any farther.”
“Chief, I realize my dislike for these contraptions is well-known, but I do understand how they work. I have run series of simulations, and the energy requirements of this exercise fall within an acceptable range of Enterprise’s resources. There is no reason to bother Lieutenant La Forge. If it makes you feel better, I hereby assume full responsibility as chief medical officer for the entire exercise. If anything goes wrong, which it won’t, you won’t be blamed.”
She heard him mutter, “Famous last words,” but she turned and left before he had a chance to raise another objection.
Reaching shuttlebay 2, she went to a pre-positioned monitor screen and signaled O’Brien to begin the exercise. She glanced at her display and noted the decrease in ship’s power as the transporter chief worked his magic. Another section of the monitor showed O’Brien gnawing his lower lip as he made adjustments on the console as he tracked down the last member of the EMR team. She admired his technique, keeping part of the team in stasis while he locked onto the others before transporting the entire team into sickbay at once.
The team materialized in various positions and states of dress. Pulaski hadn’t told them what time the exercise would kick off, simply that it wouldn’t be during their regular duty hours. She was pleased to see how they reacted to their sudden appearance in sickbay. She focused the monitor to follow them once they realized what had happened. The monitor didn’t have an audio channel set up, but she could watch as they gathered their equipment and changed into proper uniforms.
Outstanding. Only two weeks of training and they’re already starting to work like a team. If everything goes well, I may invite Captain Picard to watch their next exercise. I think he’ll be impressed.
Checking the chronometer, she was even more pleased to see them assembling near the doorway to sickbay in less than three minutes. Fantastic, shaved thirty seconds off their best time. I have to put something in Technician Johannson’s file for her work as the team leader.
Watching the monitor, she saw Chief O’Brien begin preparations for the second stage of the exercise. She glanced at the sensors