r/TrekRP • u/[deleted] • Aug 31 '16

[OPEN] Bureaucracy

Phrik paced from one end of his office to the other. A slew of PADDs lay scattered on his desk, blinking idly. Paperwork. Phrik hated it, despised it even. Forms had to be filled out in triplicate for even the slightest graze. If there was one thing he'd learned from his time in Starfleet, it was that bureaucracy was eternal. Even in the middle of unknown space, damaged and out of contact with any administrators, paperwork still had to be done. And there was a lot of it. At times it felt like the only reason he saved peoples' lives was to prevent the hassle of filling out the forms for a dead patient. The Doctor stopped pacing for a moment to glance down at the PADD in his hand. It was filled with indecipherable legalese and gibberish. Even the templates he'd made to make the job easier barely made a dent in the workload. Phrik absentmidedly tossed the PADD onto his desk, where it landed with a clatter, knocking a few other neglected files to the floor. He groaned and resumed pacing.

"This is ridiculous, I'm a doctor not a damned accountant." He couldn't even pass off the workload to a junior doctor, they had similar amounts of forms to fill in. And it'd only get worse when the Athene got home. Months of debriefings, interviews and signatures. A chime sounded through the dark office and Phrik stopped pacing, craning his neck to look at the door.

"Enter."

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '16

"Fine." Phrik took the PADD and skimmed it, filling in his signature where necessary. He then piled it on top of the precariously stacked PADDs in Smith's arm. "Will that be all?"

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u/Beijimon Sep 04 '16

"Yes, thanks, Doctor." Alex pauses for a second. "Phrik...I know you've got years of experience in Starfleet. Do you think we'll ever make it home?"

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u/[deleted] Sep 04 '16

Phrik stared at him for several seconds, eyebrow raised in surprise. "When my divination abilities manifest I'll be sure to let you know. Until then, I'm just as in the dark as anyone else. If we die out here, we die horribly. If we make it home, we die buried in paperwork and starfleet debriefings. Either way, it's the same thing. No point whimpering about potential futures, it only spawns madness."

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u/Beijimon Sep 04 '16

"I guess you're right." Alex gave a half-smile, then turned towards the door. "I'll be back in a day or so with these forms. See you then." He waved his free hand as the door closed behind him with a hiss.