FIC: The Medic's Tale (Valiant Tales)

[lindenharp]

Title: The Medic's Tale
Series: Valiant Tales.  Read them in order here.
Rating: G
Characters: Tenth Doctor, The Master (Simm), other characters
Genre: drabble
Spoilers: Minor spoilers for The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords.
Summary: A series of drabbles about the people who lived, worked, and suffered on the Valiant during the Year That Never Was.
Disclaimer: The sandbox belongs to RTD and the BBC. I'm just playing here, in the corner, making little sand-TARDISs.


I’m not that Doctor, or even a doctor, just a corpsman. The real doctor is Doc Patel, the Medical Officer. He oversees Mrs. Saxon’s drugs, an’ helps the Master's experiments with the prisoner belowdecks.

I do little stuff. Look after the Joneses. Stitch up lacerations, give coldpacks for bruises. Give sleeping pills to Turner in engineering, though they don’t stop the nightmares.

Even though I’m not a real doctor, Doc Patel gave me his mug. Says he don’t need it. Got a gold caduceus, and it says primum non nocere. What’s that mean, anyway?

Comments

[kaffy_r]

Oh my. This is the best thus far, and heartbreaking. You manage to say so much with so few words, particularly the doctor's comment about his mug.

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I actually feel a little sorry for Dr. Patel. Just a little, though.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Excellent work. I touched on those myself, in this story: http://crabby-lioness.livejournal.com/17162.html

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Excellent work.

Thanks!

I touched on those myself, in this story: http://crabby-lioness.livejournal.com/17162.html

I commented on it at your LJ, and I urge everyone else to go read it.

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

Oh, very, very nice. You do a great job with the drabble form.

I really like the use of the Latin here. *embarrassed shuffle* I had to go and look it up because I've never seen that phrase in the Latin form. Looked up the caduceus too, and discovered that you might actually mean the Rod of Asclepius... but then it'd throw out your word count :(

Most of all, I like the way this makes me think, and worry, about Dr Patel...

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Don't be embarrassed about the Latin -- I only knew the English, and had to look it up.

I did mean to write caduceus. Though the Rod of Asclepius may be historically more accurate, the caduceus is the symbol that generally appears on medical-themed gift items. (On this side of the Pond, anyway. If that's not true in Britain, then we'll say that it was a graduation gift from his Uncle Rajesh in New Jersey.)

http://www.giftsforyounow.com/Medical-Coffee-Mug-211060.aspx#

As for Dr. Patel... I feel a bit sorry for him, but not especially worried. He should be worried if he gets too close to a live-and-conscious Jack.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you!

[time-testudinem.livejournal.com]

I have loved all three of these so far. Hope you continue.

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thank you. More will be coming -- I'll just have to see who else walks into the interview room.

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

this series is great and this story is just wonderful!

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

That's heartbreaking :( But excellent.

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I hope it's also uplifting because of the narrator: a hero who doesn't realize he is a hero.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Indeed. "Small" heroes are every bit as important as "big" ones.

[allfireburns.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of looking at the background characters like this - I've been doing something like this myself, with Torchwood One rather than the staff of the Valiant.

The voice here is wonderful - it sounds like an actual person talking, someone I can hear in my head. And just the phrase primum non nocere on the Valiant of all places, just... gah.

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

I've been doing something like this myself, with Torchwood One rather than the staff of the Valiant

Neat! Are they posted somewhere?

The voice here is wonderful - it sounds like an actual person talking, someone I can hear in my head.

Thank you. Voice is very important to me, in reading and writing, so I'm always happy when someone says I've done it effectively.

And just the phrase primum non nocere on the Valiant of all places, just... gah.

That's where it's most needed.

[allfireburns.livejournal.com]

They are! Just the first two so far, but you can find them here (http://find-rightbrain.livejournal.com/122840.html) under the If It's Alien heading, right near the top...

I have a soft spot for minor characters, so I may have to come back and read more of this series. ^^

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I'll read them when I get home from work.

If you want to read the rest of this series, I recommend doing it at ff.net. I have the tales arranged as individual chapters of one story. That makes it easier to read them in order. Although there isn't an overall plot (other than the one we know from canon), some characters do reappear in later tales. I wish I had thought to do so on Teaspoon, but when I began, I didn't realize how many tales there would be.

[allfireburns.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! ^^

And thank you. I've bookmarked it so I can come back to it later.

[azriona.livejournal.com]

Hi! I'm here from the cot_reviews community. First of all, congratulations on your nomination for Round Two of the Children of Time Awards (http://childrenoftime.creative-musings.com/awards/nominees/dw.htm).

We try to review all of the nominated stories in each round, and in today's post we've featured your story (http://community.livejournal.com/cot_reviews/8747.html). Please feel free to stop by and look.

I want to leave you a slightly more substantial note here than I did on the actual review, since I try to keep those short. (Drabbles, you know.) I hadn't read any of this series before I read this drabble, and didn't quite get it the first time. So I went back to read the entire series.

My goodness. I sit here utterly amazed and what you attempted, and what you accomplished. The series, as a whole, is one of the best things I've read in the last month, hands down. I will say that this specific drabble is not my favorite (I think my fave is the Ambassador's Tale), but as a whole, I love the series. I love how you were able to condense an entire person in 100 words - and as you went on, you were able to cover more than that one person.

This drabble, as I read it, isn't just the Medic - it's the Other Doctor, too. And there are some that aren't just themselves, it's everyone else. (Carmela comes up quite often, as does Etienne and Jimmy Stone and a few others.) This entire world that you've painted for us, which surely existed aboard the Valiant, in all its levels of loyalty to the Master and loyalty to themselves - absolutely shines.

I wanted, so badly, to be able to write about the series as a whole, but due to the confines of the way the drabbles are set up, I could not. So I'm letting you know here. The review I've posted at cot_reviews is positive, yes, because I don't post otherwise, but it doesn't say a quarter of what I wanted to tell you.

Congratulations again, and good luck!

[lindenharp.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking time to comment at length. (I've been reading the COT reviews, and I know how much you have on your plate.)

I really didn't expect this to become a series. My intention was to write a few drabbles about the other people on the Valiant. But characters kept walking into the "interview room" in the back of my mind, and demanding to have their say. As long as they keep talking, I'll keep writing.

I can't fault you for your preference. I think "The Ambassador's Tale" is one of the stronger stories in the collection, and Etienne is one of the more likeable characters. If I were going to nominate my own stories -- something I'm not comfortable doing -- it would certainly be on the shortlist.

Thanks again for the kind words.