First Impressions

Posted on 23 Apr 2023 @ 6:39pm by Captain Easton Lawe & Lieutenant Commander Amelia Warner & Lieutenant Commander Derek Martin

1,305 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Deus ex Machina
Location: Bridge/Sickbay

Derek wasn't the first officer running to stations, and he wasn't the last, but his larger frame and chunkier body jostled along as he hurried to the nearest turbolift.

"Bridge," he said and huffed a little bit. Maybe he could do with a bit of exercise. Being a civilian doctor didn't require him to run to and fro. Even alarms in hospitals weren't that strenuous.

The lift rushed him to the bridge and the doors opened.

While Commander Petrova handled the away team, Easton was manning the bridge and keeping an eye--or, really, keeping more eyes than he biologically possessed--on everything else. He felt a certain amount of tension in his spine regarding the possibility of an attack, given what happened with Ensign Walker, but he was trying to keep a thought open to all possibilities.

Hearing the doors open behind him, he glanced back to see...an unfamiliar face. The man had the pips of a lieutenant commander and Easton knew he'd seen the face recently, but with his mind on other things, he couldn't quite put it all together. "Yes, Commander?"

"Ah! Captain, I know it isn't exactly the best time, but I'm your new doctor on board. Just came on, seems we jumped to warp, an' now there's an emergency, where d'ye need me?" he asked, stepping down toward the command deck. "Oh uh, Lieutenant Commander Derek Martin, at your service sir," he said with a salute. That's what one did in Starfleet. They saluted. They said 'sir'. They stood on ceremony.

"Aha, welcome aboard, Commander," Easton drawled. Inwardly, he wondered if Starfleet Command was purposefully choosing the Odin to pick on when it came to surprise assignments. "Well, so far, even with yellow alert, there's no medical aspect yet, so you can get on down to sickbay and get settled and ready in case this should turn into one. We can do a proper meeting later."

"Aye sir, Ta, I'll be heading to sickbay. Oh uh. Anything I should know about this... uh..." he trailed off and waved his finger in a little circle in the air regarding the entire yellow alert level. "Helps if I know what I'm preparing for sir. If there's any sort of preparation I can do that is," he continued with a light shrug.

The captain smiled slightly and nodded. "A good way to go about things, but we don't have much information yet. Right now, there's an away team off the ship and mostly a matter for tactical and ops trying to reestablish communications with our recon craft. Nothing medical has come up as yet, but be ready for anything. I don't know what the away team will find."

"Aye sir, well, then you know where to find me," he said and gave a quick if somewhat sloppy salute. He headed back to the turbolift to take the shaft to Sickbay.

Meanwhile, a few decks down, Doctor Warner was monitoring the situation, but so far saw nothing that required the attendance of the medical department. She had gotten her report done and sent up the chain about the Oran'taku, but she had no way of knowing if it would be somewhat useless now in the face of whatever was going on outside. So in the meantime, she could only keep on with her usual duties here in sickbay...

The doors to Sickbay swished open and he looked around. Each ship had its own configuration of Sickbay based on where it was, what class it was, the whole set of variables that changed from ship to ship. He'd never manage to remember them all. Getting a bit turned around as soon as he was in the door, he spotted the office and headed toward it to report in and find the doctor on duty.

Her door was usually open and through it, she spotted someone headed toward her. She did not recognize him, although there were several faces on a ship this size that she didn't know on sight. She set her PADD aside and called through the door to him. "Can I help you?"

"Well, I certainly hope so!" he said and walked toward the office. "I'm Commander Derek Martin, I just reported in as your new Chief Medical Officer and find that no sooner do I get aboard that we've left the fleet and gone to yellow alert and now lost contact with an away team. It's almost embarrassing on my first day here," He said with a bit of a self-deprecating huff to his voice.

"Strange timing happens a lot around here," Amelia said with a smile, even as she was cursing inwardly a bit. She knew that she'd been placed here as CMO only until a permanent choice was made, but she'd secretly started to hope that that wouldn't happen... Ah well. "Welcome aboard. This would be your office then." She gestured around. "I'm Lieutenant Amelia Warner. I'll be your deputy chief and have been manning this role until, well, you."

"Ta, sounds like you've been doin' a good job if they've been keeping you aboard. What do you know about this alert if anythin'?" he asked curiously, and stuck out a hand to give a warm shake. He didn't seem to smile at all, his gruff exterior was too craggy and seemed almost permanently molded into a state of 'grump', however the relieved tone in his voice at finding his new deputy chief, and the immediate shake were the closest Derek got to 'friendly'.

She shook his hand and simply nodded in acknowledgement of his first statement. As to the question... "Not much, I'm afraid. I know that we sent out a craft to do reconnaissance--Ensign Walker, an AI-driven vessel--but they lost contact with her and an away team was sent, but I haven't received any information about anything they've found yet."

"Sounds more like a problem for engineering than Sickbay. AI-Driven vessel? Well, why don't you tell me anything I need to know. Obviously have somethin' going on here that's out of the ordinary. Any more surprises I should be aware of before they walk in needing surgery?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, we have two AI aboard...sort of," Amelia began after a few moments of thought, then she laughed. "Odin is one, but she is not exactly an AI. That is a rather long story, though, so I might advise that you you read up on from the computer rather than my inexact summary.

"Otherwise, the ship was recently attacked by some strange creatures we still know little about, but the injuries are recovered at this point though everyone is still somewhat fatigued. It's not the ideal time for a new mystery, but the universe rarely asks us." She paused thoughtfully. "The only other thing we know about our current situation otherwise is that it appears this base may be related to the Oran'taku, which I've written up a report based on Federation and Sal'kiiran database information." She glanced at the desk and found a PADD, which she handed to him.

"Two AI's and new species. Oh well, I suppose it was too much to ask to just handle plasma burns and the occasional broken bone," he said with a deep sigh as he accepted the PADD. "I think I'll get to work reading. Might as well start somewhere eh?" he said with a small smile, giving her a nod. He pulled a chair from a workstation and settled in, letting Warner go back to the office. There was plenty of time for moving things in, getting stuff out, and letting the dust of a transfer settle as it were. All in all, he was frankly glad that the transfer went as smoothly as it did.

No rest for the weary, the wicked, or the wishful thinker, it seemed.

 

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