Sundry Monday Morning

Posted on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 6:00am by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commodore Raul Mizumoto & Commander Fiona McCray & Lieutenant Commander Siivas McKenzie & Lieutenant Velth Andurean
Edited on on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 6:01am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Present Tense
Location: USS Victory, Deck 6, Sickbay
Timeline: 2285

The Deltan Cruiser Eleganza approached the Victory in spacedock a thousand kilometers off the port bow. As she arrived, she sent a tightbeam signal to Victory and received the appropriate response. A moment later, Andurean called the captain.

+Captain+ came the Kolari's voice through the com system +Siivas' primary shipment has arrived. They're asking for permission to beam materials and personnel directly in to their assigned locations, bypassing the transporters since they have so much to send. They've coordinates and exact volume specs+





That brought a chuckle from the Vulcan vixen. "Why Mister Andurean... I don't recall seeing any requisition forms passing over my desk for materials to be delivered from the Eleganza..." she replied in a sweet and innocent voice that was convincing to no one in particular .

"I believe the Doctor took you at face value when you said 'anything and everything necessary to get your departments in order on time'," Andurean replied, the hint of humor there, she was learning to read him, "captain."

"Of course, Lieutenant. Please extend my thanks and compliments to the Eleganza command and express that we would be more than happy to witness a demonstration of their precision transporting techniques."

+Aye Captain+ he replied and closed the channel, a moment later a flashing light on her console showed her the ship's sensors had detected foreign materials and personnel materializing in sickbay. As she watched the sensor telltales, fourteen people materialized along with sixteen tons of cargo, half in sickbay and the other half in cargo bay one on the cargo transporter pad. Of the personnel that came over, nine were Deltan, three were Efrosian, one Kolari and a humanoid the sensors didn't immediately recognize.

Xenobiology was not her strong point... it never had been, and she never seemed to be able to slow down keeping up on the curve of technology long enough to study up on it. Coming from a speciesist culture, then moving to one that considered itself superior to other cultures had put her behind the curve, and she had never managed to catch up. So while the signs were there, and someone who could interpret them would likely recognize them, Captain Charybdis was rather lost.

Fortunately she was a technologist, and she knew how to use her ship's sensors just fine. And routing them through the medical software... which was slow and unresponsive, which she felt confident was on Dr. McKenzie's very long 'to do' list... would produce answers for her, she was sure.

The sensors detected an impressive skeletal structure, a well developed rib cage, a thick skull with an odd spinal cord attachment in the front instead of the back, duplicate primary organs and she... given the organs... was several inches taller than anyone else down there, topping just shy of two meters. Char's eyes narrowed and her teeth ground.

Klingon.

The comely captain had encountered Klingons on a limited basis... but it had not just been a bad experience, it had been a traumatically bad experience which she had never fully dealt with. Well, not in a healthy way, at least. On the one hand, she somehow doubted that Starfleet would be particularly happy with a Klingon onboard their theoretically state-of-the art starship under construction. And her immediate reaction was to go physically beat it into submission, then cook the remains with a phaser and have remarkably strong words with Siivas about bringing it aboard.

However.

Siivas McKenzie was a man who embraced alien species. The Sulamids still creeped her out, but they had showed her kindness in an hour of need, and it had reminded her that Starfleet was the epitome of tolerance and embracing new life, and new civilizations. In short, she needed to be better than her origins, and she needed to rise to the principles she had sworn to protect and defend. She was planning to spend more time with the Sulamids, to overcome her revulsion of their physical forms and embrace their diversity and see them as the valued sentients that they truly were.

But a Klingon...

Flipping the comm channel open, she asked to be routed to sickbay, and in seconds she had an open channel.

"Doctor McKenzie, is everything all right down there?" She tried to keep her tone casual, somehow doubting that it would fool the Deltan Doctor.

+I take it the medical sensors need to be resolved+ Siivas replied amidst a great deal of background conversation and many voices she didn't recognize. +It took you much longer than I expected but I had also assumed SOMEone had checked the sensors already+ She heard a muttered sound like an apology from someone else nearby.

One of those voices shouted gruffly +No! You're doing it wrong! You must NOT activate the scanner prior to connection to the diagnostic unit or the network fibers will overload! Urrr!+

+Vehement isn't she?+ Siivas asked the captain conversationally as the sounds faded away somewhat, clearly amused by whatever he was watching. There were sounds of clanging metal-on-metal and metallic squeals of protest.

"Yes, she is..." the curvaceous captain managed through gritted teeth. That confirmed it- she was here as part of the 'by any means necessary' edict that she herself had put forth, as Andurean had reminded her. And this was the flip side of Siivas' compassion and embracing of diversity- he accepted her, and he accepted everyone, basing his decisions on who someone was rather than what they were.

+Her name is Qurka+ sounding almost like someone was making a joke of the famous Starfleet Admiral by a similar name +And she's a medical technology specialist in interspecies medical adaptations. I brought her in as a consultant, since she was already under contract with my family anyway to develop some of the things she brought with her+

May I come down and personally beat her into submission then hurl her out an airlock? were the next thoughts to come, and she forcibly stifled them. Be calm, woman. Tolerance. Diversity. IT. IS. A. KLINGON. Patrick also hated Klingons, as you recall, is that behavior that you wish to emulate? You cannot be a Starfleet officer and be a friend of Siivas' and not anticipate moments like this in your future. Be a bigger person. Put aside your prejudice and intolerance. Go meet... her. It is a female, surely that makes a difference... ENOUGH.

Idly Charybdis wondered if normal people had internal debates such as she experienced, then she smirked. If she ever met any normal people, she would be sure to ask them.

"I will be down momentarily to meet your refurbishing crew, Doctor." And I will be calm, and I will be dignified and I will be tolerant. I am a Starfleet captain. I can do this.

+Yes you can+ Siivas replied is the channel softly, answering her unspoken thoughts +And yes, you were projecting+ Then in a more conversational tone +I look forward to your visit Captain, I'll allow my staff to react to your presence as a surprise. Spot inspections will keep them sharp+

Urgh, she thought to herself. Just how hard to you have to be thinking something for Siivas to pick up on it all the way in Sickbay? She rose smoothly from the panel that she had been working on, cleared her connections and powered it up. Sure enough, it came to life with a soft glow, so she began a diagnostic routine on it. "Ensign Plummer, please watch for this cycle to complete if you will, then start a level two, and keep moving it up the scale if you will until it passes a level five diagnostic. I will return long before that according to my plans... but if not, will you accept responsibility for this particular task?"

The ensign was unaccustomed to being assigned a duty in such a manner, so he looked confused, but he nodded. "Yes sir.. ma'am... yes, Captain, I'll handle it!" She was still getting a lot of that. Female officers there had been in the fleet since her own time and far earlier, yet somehow the gender issue was still a confusion given forms of address. Perhaps she should make a shipwide decree, but better to let them use their freedom of expression to choose, she felt, despite her own minor annoyance at being called 'sir'.

Sickbay was still Deck Six, and at the heart of the 'saucer section' of the mighty vessel- while some things changed, some did not. In danger, Sickbay was still the safest place to be, and Charybdis rather liked that for her wounded and those devoted to their care to be the best protected. She worked her way down the access ladders to give herself time to think- it was a habit she had picked up in her early days aboard her first Constitution-class vessel, and she maintained it today to keep herself in shape as well as giving her time to think when she was not in a hurry.

As she approached Sickbay her heart began to pound, and she willed it calm. You are a strong and dangerous Starfleet officer, not a restrained captive. You are safe amongst friends. This is your ship, your seat of power, and no one can harm you here. She is here to help your doctor install medical equipment, likely as a favor. You will be calm, you will be gracious, you will keep an open mind. You will NOT look for an opportunity to pick a fight. Now calm your fierce grey heart and comport yourself like a Captain, woman. She took a deep breath, let it out with a shudder and put on what Fiona referred to as her 'company smile' and strode through the frosted transparent aluminum doors of sickbay.

 

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