The Doctor Rages

Posted on Tue Nov 29th, 2022 @ 4:10pm by Lieutenant Jayla Kij MD & Lieutenant JG Stanislav Finch

881 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Icarus Files
Location: Intelligence offices
Timeline: Pre-launch

Rarely did the smile leave Jayla’s face, but this was one of those times. She had discovered a camera in Main Sick Bay. At first, she had thought it belonged to security and had been forgotten after the upgrades were completed. That would have been cause for irritation as an overlooked security camera was a liability, bordering on an ethics violation, but then she noticed it was still active. That elevated it to a definite ethics violation. Now she was pissed.

But the camera did not belong to security. Not only we’re all of theirs accounted for, this was an entirely different sort of camera.

So now, she marched angrily into the intelligence office. “Who’s in charge?” she snapped at the first person she saw- a rather sweaty looking fellow that would have probably wiped the smile off her face had it been there in the first place.

"Just me, baby," said Finch who placed his hands in plain sight atop his desk where no claim could be made of him doing anything sordid. "What can Papa Finch do for you today? I just cleared my schedule if you want to play doctor."

Jayla gave him her best icy glare, which for a face so cherubic, came off pretty menacing. “What I want,” she said slowly, as if speaking to a child, “is to know what this was doing- activated, no less- in Sick bay!” And she set the camera carefully on the desk before him. “Please tell me it was overlooked because if it was there on purpose- we’ll, that’s a mistake you definitely didn’t make. Isn’t that right?”

"That looks like a state of the art, cutting edge, industry leading, technologically revolutionary surveillance device from last century," Finch said upon examination. "You have some fine taste, Doctor. The latest models only get smaller but do nothing extra for enhanced imaging or covert transmission. And it's always hot to meet a doctor who is also a voyeur." He ran his tongue along his upper teeth and purred. "Wanna compare highlight reels?"

“Listen, you cretin!” she replied, slamming her hands on his desk. “I am not here to play games. If I find one more of these in my Sick Bay, I’m reporting you to the captain! Understood?”

Finch held a hand to his heart and feigned shock. "I don't understand. You're going to report me to the captain if you find any more of your own cameras in Sickbay?" His right eyebrow arched curiously. "Doctor, are you feeling well? Maybe you should lie down....on my fainting couch." He gave a seedy grin.

“Play dumb if you like,” she retorted, not rising to his bait. “But I know this is your camera. I am not bluffing. If there are any more in sick bay, you’d better get them out as quickly as possible.”

"That's funny..." Finch's tone turned even more nasally as he laid on the sarcasm. He swiveled his desktop display around to show Jayla his screen. "This here interdepartmental agreement between my Intelligence office and the Medical department assigned me custodial management of surveillance devices whose registered owner is the CMO." He read off the authorization code of record. "That was your personal authorization when you first came aboard, was it not? There it is, plain as day on the requisition order." Finch gave an innocent shrug. "Maybe you just forgot."

Jayla’s eyes narrowed, but then her lips turned upward in an evil grin. “Oh, so you won’t mind if I just…” and she picked up the camera, dropped it on the floor and stomped on it, crushing it into a million pieces.

"No! My--" Finch reached out gnarled fingers to grasp for the destroyed device, but he swiftly pulled them back. "--goodness! You scared me, Doctor. I hope you treat your patients better than your equipment."

“Mhm,” replied Jayla, crossing her arms. “And if I find any more of “my” cameras, I’m doing the same. Understood?”

"If you want to be a raging psychotic bitch with your own property, I guess that's on you," Finch said as indifferently as possible, though his eyes broke contact and drifted away to the floor. "I could always just give you a massage or something instead."

“No thank you,” replied Jayla indifferently, adding a cheerful smile. “Have a good day, Lieutenant.” And with that, she turned to leave.

"It's good now that the psychotic doctor is leaving," Finch quipped. He held up a camera identical to the one Jayla had smashed and snapped a video of Jayla's posterior as she turned to leave. "Ah, yeah, double good."

She was aware of his actions, but didn’t care. Pick your battles and all that. Plus, she got the feeling she’d just won a huge battle with this guy and that thought gave her a smug grin and a sense of euphoria that she didn’t want to spoil with a shouting match and charges of sexual harassment. Let him have his picture. It didn’t hurt her any.

So she continued out the door and back to Sick Bay, allowing herself to indulge in the feeling of smug superiority for the entire trip.

 

RSS Feed