The Logical Choice

Posted on Wed Dec 25th, 2024 @ 1:29am by Captain Andre Hunt & Major T'Ria
Edited on on Wed Dec 25th, 2024 @ 2:33am

1,418 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Drydock
Location: USS Meridian- Sickbay

Captain Hunt made his way down the busy corridors of deck E, until he arrived at his destination in sickbay. There were various personnel in and out bringing in all kinds of equipment, medicine and who knew what else was in those containers. As the staff noticed him, he simply waved for them to continue and not pay too much attention to his prescience. As far as he was concerned, productivity and going about their business was more important than stroking his ego. It didn't take long, until he spotted the source to the sickbay being so busy. The Vulcan appeared to be everything, he had been told about. "Major T'Ria."

T'Ria heard her name (and rank) and quickly turned towards the origination point of the voice. Human male, gold piping...four pips. "Captain Hunt. My apologies. I was ensuring that the medical equipment had been properly stowed and then I was going to report you." She grabbed a small data padd and walked to him and stopped, adopting a straight posture with one arm behind her back and held out the data padd in her hand. "Major T'Ria, reporting for duty, sir."

"Don't worry about it Major," Hunt replied. "You are exactly where you need to be right now. Besides my office isn't the only place we can meet. So how are things coming along?"

The human captain appeared to be quite...casual. It was not an unusual stance, from what she had experienced living on Earth, but it still felt rather alien. She slowly dropped her arm and placed the padd on a table top next to her and brought her other arm up behind her to cross them behind her back in a manner that was 'casual' for her people. "Things are proceeding...in an expected manner. I have brought a number of pieces of equipment that may prove useful in deep space along with medicines and components that can be used for treatments." Not to mention her skills. She was internal medicine trained with a focus on alien species, so the management of generalized care was well within her purview. However, her specialty was surgery--trauma surgery to be specific. It would prevent early returns into the newly formed Federation region of space, given that she could perform a number of procedures without needing additional assistance.

"I come to serve. It is my..." T'Ria paused as she considered verbiage for a moment before continuing, "...hope that I prove useful to this crew and the mission."

Andre simply smiled as he reached over and grabbed the PADD that she had placed down. "I'm fairly certain that you will prove to be very useful." Going through the PADD, he scrolled through, tapping a thing or two on the screen. "Welcome on board first of all. Let's step into your office. Also, I read that you grew up Earth until your teenage years."

Dipping her head in a silent gesture of acknowledgement, T'Ria turned and walked across the roughly circular shaped medical bay to the small alcove that would serve as her office. As it was now, it was a blank slate, filled with a few containers of materials that hadn't found a specific home from her predecessor, no doubt. She motioned with her hand to one of the chairs and stood stiffly, unsure of the proper protocol of behavior here. It was best to default to what she knew for now. "Yes. My parents served with Ambassador Solkar and Soval."

Pulling out the chair, he sat down. From what he knew about Vulcans they weren't one to get personal, but Andre was curious about her own experiences of growing up around Humans. "Relax Major, there is no test here. I'm just curious about your experience growing up on Earth. Raised by parents from another world, while growing up to the customs of this one."

The only other chair available was behind her desk, but she took the captain's cue and took a seat as well. "Yes. There was a distinct dichotomy to my upbringing on Earth." T'Ria looked thoughtful for a moment, considering how much to divulge. On Vulcan she would divulge nothing...but humans were far more social, using personal information about one another to form interpersonal bonds. "Vulcan was an alien environment. In some ways I struggled to adapt once my family returned to Shi'Kahr for a new diplomatic assignment."

"So, you found yourself more relatable to Humans?"

"I cannot accurately posit whether I was considered more relatable to humans than other Vulcans. However, I did find humans more...understandable than many of my brethren." T'Ria's eyes widened ever so slightly. Was that perhaps too much divulging? You cannot stop now. The human will simply ask more questions, and being that he is the captain, you will be required to answer, anyway.

"Although I did not have any proclivity to enter into the diplomatic realm that my parents inhabited, I found anatomy and pathophysiology to be far more engaging. It appears I am much better at diagnosing illness and cutting on sentient life than I am engaging in foreign policy."

A smiled suddenly appeared on the Captain's face. "I believe that you just made a joke. But on serious note. Judging from your record you are extremely good with cutting on sentient life. So what are you hoping to gain from this assignment?"

"Knowledge and experience. For transparency it was not my intention to seek out a Starfleet vessel. I was recruited by Starfleet...however, it was a fascinating proposition and it satisfied my preference to treat a variety to patients. As I have no pressing reasons to return to Vulcan, and my particular skills and talents could be of use here, it was a logical choice.

"I'm glad that accepting an assignment on the Meridian was the logical choice. So is there anything that I should be aware of regarding pet peeves that might bother you?"

He was...glad that her posting was a logical choice? Fascinating. It was something she would consider further at a later time. "Pet peeve. A frequent subject of complaint. Are you are inquiring if I find specific things...irksome? Captain...I am Vulcan." Her voice trailed off as she considered, truly considered, his inquiry. There was something that had occurred--and quite recently--that had vexed her. "Yes. Actually. I find lack of transparency to be somewhat...disagreeable."

Transparency was something that he had no issue with. "I can definitely respect. Prefer to have full transparency whenever possible myself. Is there anything that you need before we ship out that your having issues acquiring?"

T'Ria gave his inquiry the time and consideration it warranted and was silent for a moment. "I have not had the opportunity to perform an in depth inspection, however, Starfleet was gracious enough to provide me with a number of tools and equipment that could prove quite useful."

"Sounds like you have everything here under control," the Captain replied standing up from his seat. "One other thing. Do you also have training as a counselor?"

The Vulcan doctor tilted her head in a curious manner. Counseling? She had very little training in that. "I perform a clinical rotation in psych during my third year of medical school. It did not lend well to my personal...disposition. However, part of my responsibility lies in holistic treatment of this crew. Therefore, I did obtain competency in basic psycho-therapeutic techniques but no...I am not a counselor. Will that be an issue, captain?"

"Not at all. I was just thinking about the need to bring a counselor onboard. Going to contact Starfleet about sending us someone who will report directly to you."

"I will defer to your judgement, Captain. I have never served on a Starfleet vessel before...I have no point of reference for crew requirements on long voyages. I would request that you provide me the personnel file of the candidate that you select so I may familiarize myself...if that is allowable?"

"A reasonable request," Hunt agreed. "I'll do even better. Going to provide you with a list and let you decide, if that's agreeable with you?"

Both of T'Ria's brows rose slightly at the offer, as she had not expected such a consideration. "Yes, that would be agreeable, captain. I will ensure that the appropriate candidate is selected for the crew."

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Captain Andre Hunt
Commanding Officer
USS Meridian

Major T'Ria
Chief Medical Officer
USS Meridian

 

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