The First Victim

Posted on Tue Oct 22, 2019 @ 7:50am by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

946 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: Main Sickbay, USS Victory

T'Mira felt a chill race down her spine. Here she was standing just outside the sensors of the sickbay doors. She looked up at the door and sighed. She hadn't seen Anderson over the past few months, preferring the less invasive doctor of the station. She'd been busy and kept her mind occupied, and now she had to face another exam by the woman she'd dubbed 'The Doctor'...not in a good sense. She was intimidating to a woman who'd worked for Section 31. Resigned, though, she decided that this was a new ship and it was a new start. She wondered if the doctor would see it that way.

She stepped through the doors, her Vulcan reserve in place.

Nicole heard the doors open and close, grating her teeth at the echoing sound. "I'll rip the tile out myself," she growled under her breath.

She drew herself up and walked out of her office and around the partition to the waiting area. She avoided looking at the sealed counselor's office, trying to avoid a pang of loneliness, missing her friend, and turned towards the entrance. She paused, seeing a less-than-friendly face, but put her hands behind her back and adopted a neutral expression. "Lieutenant, how may I be of service?"

"I am here for my onboarding exam." She held out a PADD then recalled that the last time she'd brought a PADD from the CMO of the previous ship Nicole had blown a gasket. It had been a happy coincidence that she'd forgotten the incident when she'd asked the Station CMO to prepare this one. Now she braced for a second blown gasket. "A report from the Station CMO."

Nicole's eyes narrowed, and she took the padd. She looked it over quickly and nodded. "All right, follow me." She led the Vulcan into the exam ward and gestured to the biobed. "Lie down please," she said, putting the padd on her desk. She opened her black bag, pulled out a tricorder and came over, activating the biobed's sensors, deciding to multitask and make sure the main surgical bed was calibrated as she scanned.

"Have you had any medical issues over the last four months not indicated in the report?" she said.

"Not precisely. A bout of sleeplessness that seems to have receded." She didn't add for the moment. It would be back, she knew it would. She also didn't mention the panic episodes.

"This is the second time you've mentioned it," Nicole said, frowning. "Is it cyclical? We may need to do some tests."

Curse her slippery tongue. She held back a sigh. "It is cyclical. I am sure it is fine. No lasting effects. I tend to fill the time with meditation or work."

"Well once we launch you can fill the time with meditation here while I scan," Nicole said. "We do not need crew members who are sleep-deprived. That does, in fact, have lasting effects, even if you cannot feel them yet."

"Yes, Doctor, but I am Vulcan. We are known to go without sleep for long periods of time when we have to. My position and training has helped with that as well. I will of course yield to your request, as you are the CMO."

*And don't you forget it,* Nicole thought to herself.

T'Mira found it odd that Anderson hadn't commented about the PADD. "I do however wonder if you are well."

"I'm quite well," Nicole said. "Why do you ask?"

"You are known for having a rather volatile personality and your volatility seems muted."

"It helps when you don't hand me a fake medical report," Nicole said evenly.

"I did not hand you a fake report. I simply handed you one that omitted certain facts I did not find relevant."

"And details that were out of date, and details that shadowed your lack of sleep," Nicole reminded her. "And, since you're aware I am the Chief Medical Officer, you're no doubt aware that it's not your discretion as to what's relevant."

"Ah, there it is," she said. "I was, Doctor, worried that you might have been replaced by a look-alike for a moment."

"Funny, I was wondering the same thing," Nicole said, looking at T'Mira's scans. "Fortunately, you check out." She closed her tricorder. "I'm curious. If someone deliberately gave you, forgive the term, doctored intel, what would you do?"

"Be very cross."

"Thank you," Nicole said.

"Doctor. Permission to speak freely."

"Follow me," Nicole said. She walked to her office and sat down behind her deceptively clean desk, offering another seat to T'Mira. When the door to her office closed, she laced her fingers together. "I thought privacy would be preferable."

"Logical but unnecessary. I was simply going to say that it is unnerving to have you so nice. I prefer the volatility."

"Odd statement from a Vulcan," Nicole observed. "But I'll do my best to level my ire at you going forward."

T'Mira's lip twitched. "Excellent. That will tell me that you are indeed you. Dealing with the Terran Empire I found that generally they tended to be the opposite of our personality. You were being much too nice for the real you." She figured that would get a rise out of the woman. In that moment T'Mira could tell she needed Nicole's animosity. It was an odd realization.

"If it's any consolation, it's a statistical impossibility for me to exist in that reality," Nicole said. "So whether I'm in a foul mood or not, rest assured, I am me. Now," she stood up and leaned over her desk. "Get the hell out of my Sickbay."

"Indeed." She said. With a final nod she left the sickbay.

 

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