Temperature Changes

Posted on Mon May 26th, 2014 @ 7:24pm by Commodore Kathleen O'Shea & Lieutenant Alexander Trebe MD
Edited on on Mon May 26th, 2014 @ 7:28pm

Mission: New Frontier
Location: Commodore's Ready Room
Timeline: Current

The Commodore certainly was not the first commanding officer that Alexander had ever reported to, but Commodore Kathleen O'Shea was certainly the highest ranking CO. He stood outside the door for a few moments filtering out all those extra voices. He tapped the door chime and waited what seemed like an eternity for a response.

The door opened to reveal what looked to be a young redheaded woman sitting at the desk. "Have a seat...I will be just a moment." The woman was not wearing a uniform, but a deep blue dress with a built-in cowl that was down at the moment. She continued to work on the left console for a minute before shutting it down. "There...that's all taken care of. Now, how may I be of assistance?" Her blue eyes gleamed like ice crystals.

"I am Lt. Alexander Trebe, your new Chief Medical Officer, reporting for duty." Alex was always under of whether to call a female officer sir or ma'am. Starfleet regulations did not delineate between the genders and all officers were suppose to be called Sir, but that didn't mean that the female officers all agreed with it.

"Oh, yes...I was told you would be arriving soon." She stood and walked around the desk, extending her hand. "Lieutenant Rosaleen O'Donnell. I am the Commodores personal assistant. She isn't due to arrive for a couple more days."

Alexander followed suit and extended his hand to shake the Lieutenant's hand. He never did quite understand the custom, but he had learned to just accept it and follow along. He thought he was meeting the commodore, but he was alittle lost without being able to hear the young woman's thoughts. So he thought he should make some small talk. "I can see it is going to take me a little while to get used to the size of this place."

"Don't worry...it's going to take all of us a while." She returned to her seat, indicating the he should do the same. "And the plan for the station keeps changing, so you never know when a wall will appear where a corridor used to be. Once it's all over and done with, you should be quite pleased with your facilities."

"I am quite impressed with the size of the medical facilities, and looking forward to get a looking at the facilities on the surface." Alex followed suit and took a seat across from Kathleen

"Well don't let the plans impress you too much yet. They are still rebuilding the stations facilities. As for the planetary facility, well...it's small compared to the station plan, but it's still a capable facility. Along the lines of an Excalibur Class ships."

"That is still about three times the size of the sickbay I had when I served aboard the Saladin for a year. Defiant class are not known to be all that roomy." When he was nervous, Alex tended to play with the ring he wore on his right hand on the middle finger. The ring is made of white gold and platinum and the center that spun and set with several white and black diamonds. It was a habit that he often tried stop but never had any success.

"So when will the senior staff meet again? Always seems so much easier to meet them all at once as opposed to individually."

"Probably after Kathy's arrival. We have not had much time for formalities. It's been all work and...well, a little fun." Rosaleen tended to make her way onto the beach by their planetary offices around sunset. "You seem like you could use a bit of relaxation time yourself."

"I will admit to the fact that I have not taken my time to myself in about a year. After I left the Saladin, let just say that my personal life derailed and I just kind of buried myself in work on the Iliad and well... here I am." For some reason this person that he had only just met moment's ago was very much putting him at ease.

"Yes...here you are." She was looking at him with an almost piercing gaze. And yet it was not uncomfortable...quite the opposite, in fact. Oddly enough, something in her eyes had changed. Something...

"It's a long way out here, and the stars are much colder. But there is a beauty which, when one opens their mind to it, exists on a different level than you have ever known." She stood and walked around the desk, sitting on the corner of it. Oddly enough, the temperature seemed to raise a bit at that moment. "I know you are a long way from home. You...you chose to come here, out at the edge of darkness. Why is that?" She crossed her legs, causing the dress to part and fall off to mid-thigh. Her skin was quite possibly the palest he had ever seen. She leaned in a bit closer, and the temperature seemed to raise even more. "What is it that you seek out here?" Her eyes were as soft as her voice, but they gleamed with open curiosity.

The first thought that popped into Alex's head was 'stability'. He hadn't stayed in one place since leaving Starfleet Medical Academy. He was happy and he thought content on the Iliad, but when this posting became available and offered to him, he thought this was his chance for a life change. He let his two word answer fall from his mouth the brain had a chance to filter out his response. "Stability and change."

'You think you have to deal with change...' "Well...stability is completely up to you. You can choose to stay as long as you wish. If that is the type of stability that you are referring to. As for change...what is it you wish to change?" It was the Ka'bu in her; naturally curious creatures by design, they always tried to find out as much about...well, pretty much anything and anybody they could. And she was genuinely interested in this young man's story.

"I guess the two are very objective terms. Stability would be a consistency in my life that I feel like I have not had since the Academy. And yet, I want change. Change from what I have known to something new and exciting. It is all pretty vague I suppose, but I think the change is already starting here along with the stability."

"In what way?"

"Someone from my past is coming back into my life. I always thought that Shakespeare had it right when he said that 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances.' People come in into life, staying for awhile, and filling major roles in your life and then others drift in and out playing very minor roles."

"I understand that completely. Kathy and I have been around each other off and on since my birth. And we have been through a lot together...more than you could ever imagine." The quality of her eyes changed again, and just a hint of a strange...sensation, for lack of a better word, crept through Alexander. "Your curious. You are wondering why you cannot read anything from me...why my inner voice is silent to you."

"Well, I will admit that I sometimes feel something is missing when I can't hear someones thoughts. I have meet a few species that I haven't been able to read, but those seems to be few and far between. Something the silence is nice."

Her eyes changed yet again. "I am not what I appear to be. I am some part Ka'bu. Exactly how much is still a mystery. I'm only telling you this because, as you will be our primary physician while here, you need to know what you are dealing with. And the honest answer to that is...we don't exactly know."

"I guess that means I need to brush up on the Ka'bu, since I don't know much about them. I have worked with alot of different species but you are the first Ka'bu."

She bit her lower lip, and the temperature took a sudden dip. "well, that could be a bit of a problem. There's not really anything to read up on. Our previous Chief Med had made some headway in figuring us out a bit, but that information seems to have disappeared with him. Other than that, there are only legends and folk tales...not a lot of real information that is useful." She took on a bit of a far away look. "My parents told me everything that I know, and this was only after an accident brought out...well, abilities that I never had before."

"I suppose we could start from scratch and start doing some... research. We definitely have all the right equipment to get the research started." Since leaving the Saladin, lab time was in rather short supply for Alex. The Iliad kept him way to busy tinker around in the lab like he had gotten used on the small defiant class starship. "Might even be worth publishing a couple articles in the medical journals." Alex thought that this was maybe the change that he was looking for. Something new and exciting.

The air suddenly turned so frigid that both of their breathes left a visible mist. Her eyes became like pools of ice. "That's not possible. This isn't something that needs to get out. We were lucky to even be allowed to return to duty. If it wasn't for my father..." She stopped speaking, looking away from Alex. However, the temperature remained the same.

"If its about getting out, research can be kept confidential. Anything that I learn ahead of time can only serve to help you later if you were to be injuries or ill." It was was only the research that Alex was really interested in. From the reaction, he was instantly regretting the comment about the medical journals.

"I am not a lab rat. I hope I am making this perfectly clear. We dealt with that once before...I will not do it again." She was instantly regretting even saying anything to Alex. She closed her eyes, focusing on control...reigning it back in. 'Slow your breathing...find your center...Kathy always did say you had a short fuse.'

Slowly the temperature moderated somewhat in the room. When she opened her eyes, they were...well, not normal, but something resembling what they had looked like initially. "I understand that you will need some baseline information for reference purposes. I'm not up for any further research into myself...at least for now. I have been through too much."

"I understand." Alex stood up at this point. "I am sure I can find plenty to keep me busy between the clinic and sickbay and planet." It only too a moment for Alexander's defenses to go back up. "Will you please put me on the Commodore's schedule?" He started moving towards the door. "I am meeting a long time friend that I haven seen in years for dinner." He really didn't wait for a response before heading out the door and to the sanctuary of sickbay.

She was behind him before he even realized it. She placed a hand on his shoulder...it was like ice. "Please...wait. I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I've just been through a lot with this, and sometimes it scares the hell out of me. All of it."

"Again, I understand. Sometimes not knowing is easier and less scary then actually knowing. Just know that there is always a standing offer." His head tilted slightly to the right with a smile. "But I really do have meet a friend for dinner. Give it some thought and let me know."

"I will do so. And thank you...I apologize for my actions. Enjoy yourself." She turned and walked back in to the office.

And with that, Alexander headed back to his office to gather his things before meeting his friend for dinner. The doctor already knew this was going to be an encounter that he was going to be giving quite a bit of thought to.

------------------

Lieutenant Rosaleen O'Donnell
Commodores Personal Assistant

&

Lieutenant Alexander J. Trebe, MD
Chief Medical Officer