Check In - Part I

Posted on Fri Jan 30, 2015 @ 1:17am by Captain Isha t'Vaurek & Commander Caden Aldrex & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

1,243 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD01 - 09:00

[ON]

With the Helios safely secured at Dyson Yards Caden Aldrex and Amia Telamon bade farewell to the cadets and transported over to the station. They materialized on the pad closest to Ops, figuring that they should pay a visit to Captain t'Vaurek without delay. To their surprise they found her already waiting for them.

"Captain" Aldrex said with his customary grin, "pleasure to finally meet you. Lieutenant Commander Caden Aldrex reporting for duty." He glanced at his wife waiting for her to report in too.

Taking her cue, Amia offered her hand to shake Isha's. "Lieutenant Commander Telamon, Captain. Pleased to meet you. Thank you for welcoming us aboard."

Isha smiled softly as she swept an appraising gaze over the couple. "Its not every day I get to welcome a new Executive Officer aboard, nor a new Chif of Medicine," Isha retained fond memories of the previous one who had left in her own long absence from Deep Space Five.

"If you have not yet eaten would you both care to join me for breakfast in the Observation Lounge?"

Amia's eyes lit up but she looked at Cade for confirmation that it was okay to accept. She didn't know whether he might think it too much of a liberty to grab too quickly, but she *was* starving and the new CO did seem totally genuine in her invitation. Amia was aware that some might offer with no intention that they would be taken up on such an invitation but she didn't sense that from the Romulan woman in front of her. She thought her very nice....which wasn't what one was *supposed* to think about Romulans, but... well she did!

"We would be delighted," Cade said with his ever-present grin. In all honesty he was tired from the long journey on that clunker of a ship and wanted to settle into the new quarters, but he was also very curious to get to know his new commanding officer. He figured he should take advantage of this first opportunity. The three officers headed for the exit door.

"Wonderful!" Isha replied when he agreed. "My Yeoman has discovered the most wonderful thing. A small bakery. Can you believe that they bake bread? I've never heard of such a thing beyond rustic colonies. She tells me they ship in the flour and yeast and make their goods with their own hands."

The Observation Lounge, its vast windows opening onto the void of space that surround Deep Space Five in all directions was filled with the hot buttery aroma of freshly baked croissants. There were two insulated jugs beside them.

"Oh, and coffee ground from fresh beans, I'm so spoiled I can barely face to use a replicator now," she said, "Please, sit. Help yourselves and tell me about your journey."

Cade and Amia traded a look and a nervous laugh. Where to even begin? "Well, the Helios is secured at Dyson Yards as we speak," the Trill said, pouring himself a cup from the carafe. "Without boring you with the details that ship will need a lot of work in the coming months. As for the cruise ship, it's all in the report I transmitted to you. That one was quite the eye-opener." He offered to pour a cup for Amia. "Coffee, darling?"

"Yes please, Sweetheart" Amia replied and passed him the milk in anticipation of his needing that next.

Isha smiled to herself as she watched the tender interaction, she had long been an expert reader of people and did not think she was wrong here, "When did you get married? Recently I think," True, it was probably documented in their files, but Isha was not up to date with her paperwork. She hoped the question would not feel like an intrusion.

Amia blushed. "Yes, very recently" she answered. "we...." she stopped, deciding against going into too much detail. ".... it was just before we left our old Ship." she finished, settling on a quick answer but one that left some openings as well, just in case Isha was not just being polite and actually did want to hear all the ins and outs.

"It's been a little over eight weeks," Cade said as he poured a splash of milk in and stirred. "We jumped from one duty station right into the next. So I owe her a proper honeymoon." He grinned and stopped himself there, also thinking that perhaps Commander t'Vaurek didn't want to hear every last detail of their marital life thus far. "Has anything of note happened here lately?" He lifted his mug and took a sip.

"Congratulations," Isha said, "unfortunately our location is rather remote, but I'm sure there'll be time for a vacation before long." She turned then to his question, "About a month ago we suffered from the most dreadful virus, it was brought under control and new cases have reduced to almost zero. It is somewhat challenging with so many travellers coming from beyond the known. One can never be entirely safe."

Isha's tone became more serious as she continued, "Immediately after my own arrival a dreadful accident occurred, a malfunction in the defence platforms. A civilian vessel was destroyed but the passengers, almost all of the passengers were beamed off in time. I'm sorry to say that we have not yet ruled out terrorist activity."

Amia frowned. "I'll make it a priority to look over the files on that virus. You're right, with so many visitors we do have to keep up as serious a Medical Security attitude as a physical one. Terrorism can be biological and/or viral - was there any evidence the malfunction was in any way linked to the sudden appearance of the virus? I'm not a great believer in "coincidence" myself." she commented, with her own seriousness matching Isha's but she didn't notice that she used the term "we" when referring to the collective population of DS5.

She had automatically included herself and her husband without so much as a second thought. It seemed that without even realising it herself, Amia had already adjusted her mindset towards their new positions and their new home. It seemed outwardly a surprising development as they had only been here such a very short while but later when it did occur to her what she had subconsciously done, Amia supposed it must have been the long period they had spent in transport, day by day gradually adjusting their focus towards their future and away from their old priorities.

"Our entire staff were overwhelmed. I do hope that you can find us some answers in time. The incidents don't appear to be connected, Lieutenant Locke, our Chief of Intelligence will be able to brief you on the state of the investigation - there may be something in her records that catches the medical eye," Isha said.

"I'll do that. As soon as I get started in Sickbay." Amia assured Isha, before drinking deeply of her now cooling tea.

"I'm sure you will find it to your liking," the turnover of CMOs was almost as high as the turnover of security chiefs had been - Isha hoped that the new team would bring the stability they desperately needed, "The main facility was refurbished less than a year ago, so you should find everything is as up to date as it can be."

TBC

OOC Louise: Splitting this one into two as we've topped 2000 words already!
Will post later!

 

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