DAY 872 (MID-DECEMBER, YEAR 2)
LTC Lyons, as a rule I don’t keep tabs on all of the After Action Reports on the various DEDEs, since Diachronic Operations is your department and not mine. Medical benefits, however, ARE my department. In that vein, I note that you consulted an external physician upon the conclusion of your most recent visit to the 1045 Normandy DTAP. In order for this expense to be approved, I’ll need details on the nature of the injury, whether it was sustained on the job, and why DODO medical staff were unable to deal with the problem in-house.
Reply from LTC Lyons:
NVM I will just eat the expense.
From Macy Stoll:
Your selflessness sets a brave example, but it’s not just about the money. By tracking these incidents and expenditures, we are able to optimize the planning and budgeting process, unlocking the ability to hire additional medical staff to meet the needs of our growing organization. Also, for legal reasons we need thorough documentation of all on-the-job injuries.
From LTC Lyons:
I came back with a tweaked shoulder. Dr. Srinavasan checked me out and suggested I consult a physical therapist to get it worked on. The PT doc did some myofascial work and sent me home with some exercises. Everything is fine now. To the extent that this is relevant to budget and staffing, we might benefit from having a physical therapist in the medical section.
From Macy Stoll:
Thank you for the explanation. I still need to know whether the shoulder injury was contracted in the workplace.
From LTC Lyons:
If by “workplace” you mean Normandy a thousand years ago, yes.
From Macy Stoll:
Thank you for that additional clarification. Given the unusual nature of DODO, that does indeed constitute a workplace injury. As such, you are required to file an Incident Report crosslinked to Dr. Srinavasan’s outside medical specialist referral paperwork.
FROM DR. ROGER BLEVINS TO LTC TRISTAN LYONS
CC: LIEUTENANT GENERAL OCTAVIAN K. FRINK
DAY 874
Lieutenant Colonel Lyons:
I am in receipt of an Incident Report, filed yesterday, describing events that took place during one of your DEDEs in Normandy in 1045. The account is sketchy and appears to have been written in haste, or perhaps you are simply accustomed to taking a casual attitude toward such matters. In any case, if this document is to be believed, you voluntarily engaged one or more “historicals” in potentially lethal combat during this DEDE. For the benefit of LTG Frink (CCed for the record) this DEDE was strictly for the purpose of gaining fluency in the local language. It did not call for a Fighter-class DOer, and engaging in combat was not part of the mission scope. During the unscheduled and unauthorized tussle, you sustained injuries that later required expenditure of DODO funds on an outside medical specialist lacking security clearance, with possible risk of exposure of top-secret information.
Please consider this a formal reprimand. As the head of the operational wing of DODO, you set an example for the ever-expanding staff of DOers who serve under you, and as such you must be held to a higher standard of professionalism and conduct than you exhibited in this case.
While this is technically grounds for being placed on a Performance Enhancement Plan, or even outright dismissal, I am willing to make an exception just this once. Please consider yourself on notice, however, that further such lapses in judgment will be treated with the utmost gravity.
With that disagreeable task out of the way, I would like to consider the matter closed, and wish you the best returns of the season.
Sincerely,
Roger Blevins, Ph.D.
Director, Department of Diachronic Operations
FROM LTC TRISTAN LYONS TO DR. ROGER BLEVINS
CC: LIEUTENANT GENERAL OCTAVIAN K. FRINK
DAY 875
Dear Dr. Blevins:
Concerning yesterday’s letter of reprimand, I would like to point out the following circumstances that may help clarify matters for you and General Frink.
- The “injuries” that I sustained consisted of a sore shoulder. The “outside medical specialist” is a local physical therapist. I told her that I had sustained the injury while practicing jiu-jitsu. She accepted the story. There is no risk of leakage of classified information.
- The “potentially lethal combat” consisted of swinging a boat oar into the stomach of a drunk and disorderly Norman who was about to chop off a man’s fingers. To describe this as potentially lethal is about like saying that I got up this morning in Boston and took a potentially lethal train ride in to work.
- When we go on these DEDEs, we have to blend in, and behave as the locals expect us to behave. I was the biggest and strongest man in the village and had been practicing stick-fighting with the locals for weeks. For me to have stood by passively during this disturbance would have raised more questions than taking the minimal action that I did.
Merry Christmas,
LTC Tristan Lyons
Annotation, handwritten by General Frink at the bottom of above letter, scanned and delivered digitally
DAY 876
Gentlemen,
Xmas is four days away and we should be focused on (a) brotherly love and (b) turning on the Chronotron at the beginning of the new year. Please consider this matter closed with no further repercussions, and trouble me with it no more.
Happy Holidays
O. K. Frink
Exchange of posts between
Dr. Melisande Stokes and LTC Tristan Lyons
on private ODIN channel
DAY 879 (CHRISTMAS EVE, YEAR 2)
Post from Dr. Stokes:
Subject: Chinese take-out?
My turn to pay, but can you get the usual and I’ll reimburse? Meet at my place. (Trying to get Erszebet out of here before she goes nuclear on Blevins again.)
I know you’re on the outs with Blevins, but we should talk to him about fast-tracking another resident witch. E has stayed far longer than she agreed to; she’s being a good sport (by her standards), but I’m tired of running interference every time Blevins is a jackass to her. There’s three or four who expressed interest (Rachel in Constantinople, etc.) and they’re all in DTAPs with multiple KCWs. Talk about it over dinner?
—MS
PS: Merry Christmas.
Reply from LTC Lyons:
STOKES!
1. Bad form to call your boss a jackass on a company messaging system.
2. Merry Christmas.
3. I thought you were heading out of town to spend time with family.
4. We’ve never brought a historical forward in time before. Can we even do that?
From Dr. Stokes:
Tristan,
1. If we get to the point where said jackass is reading my personal messages to you, then we have bigger issues and we’re all done here.
2. And Happy New Year.