JDL | RAdm Cintia Sha'mer, Lt. Evan Merlin, Cmdr. Valeese | "Mercurial"

Posted on Sat Dec 2nd, 2017 @ 5:18am by Commander Valeese Stacker & Commander Evan Merlin

It was weird, Sha'mer reflected as she made her slow way to sickbay, helped along by the odd lieutenant, how she could forget how much each fresh injury hurt, until it happened again. You'd think by now I'd be used to pain, she thought with a scowl. But no such luck.

The lieutenant *really* was an odd one. When they'd entered the turbolift, he'd waited until she was safely settled, then touched one of the lift walls with both hands and said in a low voice: "And now behave. I mean, really. Or you'll be next on the replacement list, I swear."

Sha'mer had blinked at him, convinced that either he was out of his mind or she was. But instead what followed was the smoothest turoblift ride she'd experienced since she arrived on the station, and not much later they arrived safe and sound in sickbay.

The lieutenant smiled at the person behind the reception desk. "Which room?"

"Room three," the receptionist said, sitting up a bit straighter as the man smiled at him, and sent a very friendly smile back.
"Thanks!" the lieutenant said with a wave and lead her to what turned out to be called Examination Room three. It made her feel like a lab animal. Then again, most sickbays and hospitals made her feel that way. Nothing new there either.

Having been organizing supplies, Valeese was a wee bit startled by the sudden intrusion by the strange Lieutenant and... Her eyes widened, an Admiral, limping into her exam room. "Lieutenant Merlin, please help her onto the bio-bed if you don't mind." She said, putting down the packs she'd been rifling through. Concern darkened her eyes, setting the lines of her face into one of worry and puzzlement as she considered everything being presented to her, "What happened?" She finally asked.

"Thank you," Sha'mer said softly to the lieutenant once she was settled on the bed. Dependence never got any prettier with repetition, far from it. She almost shrugged at the doctor's question. "I fell and landed on the leg," she said with a shrug. "Probably sprained something." If I'm lucky. "It's kinda hard to tell."

"Well then," the little Vorta nodded with a sigh and spun to find her tricorder, grabbing it quickly and beginning to calibrate to read the information gleaned by the bio-bed. So far, no hint of anything tragic, and that was something she was hoping to that motion towards diagnosis wouldn't stall or change direction, "Let's just take a look, shall we?" It wasn't every day that an injured Admiral walked, or was carried, into her office - and it wasn't a practice she was hoping to keep up though she knew at least two now resided full time. "Did you see her fall, Lieutenant Merlin?" She asked the Cimmerian man, working to lock eyes with him in a silent demand that he spill the beans and give her the details she needed to ascertain just how bad the situation had been.

"Yes, I did," he replied, trying his best to retain a professional attitude. It was hard for his normal ebulliant self, especially since his mind was in 'off-duty' modus and had been for quite some time. "Near as I can tell, some kid knocked her off balance. She was already on crutches, of course, so that wasn't hard."

Meanwhile Sha'mer sat on the biobed, eyes closed, the braced leg stretched out before her, breathing slowly in and out. Why couldn't doctors just administer a painkiller and have done with it? That's all she really needed, and if she had been near her vessel or in any condition to go there quickly she would've replicated one herself. But she had long given up arguing with medical, so if this doctor wanted to scan her and poke her, it was best to get it over with as soon as possible.

"How rude." Valeese replied in kind, turning her attention back towards the resting Admiral. She could feel the annoyance and irritation bubbling up and away from her, rolling like great clouds. This wasn't something new, and it likely wasn't something that the likes of the Vorta had any right meddling in. Instead she simply discarded the tricorder and began to ready a hypo. A quick glance towards the woman's vitals ensured that she wasn't about to be overdosed by someone moving too quickly and acting in a manner too rash for safety, "Unfortunately I don't believe there's much to be done that wouldn't waste your time, Admiral." She said, passing Merlin on her way towards the head of the bed. A quick swab on alcohol against the neck, "Pain management an an order to rest is really the only thing I can offer. That and a suggestion to report the incident to station security and operations, but..." She gestured to him as she pressed the hypo against the woman's neck and listened to its obedient hiss as it deposited its payload into the Admiral's bloodstream, "moot point seeing as an officer is standing here already and the report is probably already written in his head."

Sha'mer relaxed at last, releasing a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding as a pleasant numbness finally dampened the fire in her leg. She had forgotten how good it felt not to feel any pain at all. "Thank you, Commander," she replied, sounding to her surprise more composed than she actually felt, "and thanks as well for not going all 'twenty questions' on me." Most doctors she had encountered in the past wanted to know all about what had happened to her before, as if telling it would be faster than them simply reading her (admittedly quite lengthy) file. "Oh, and you can skip the 'Admiral' until I'm in uniform," she added with a weak smile.

An ear flicked beneath the layers of her raven hair at the kind sound of the Admiral's voice. Where so many hid disgust and concern, hers rang free and clear without any inhibition or accusation of any kind. It was like she hadn't realized that her doctor happened to be a member of one of the most hated species in the universe and the station's own persona non grata. "You're welcome. I'll keep that in mind." She replied, doing her best not to pry and not wanting to continue on into the realm of the fact she'd literally felt her exasperation wafting off of her in undulating waves. "Are you visiting the station on business or just a lay over?" Hardly anyone chose to stay for 'pleasure' as the station just simply wasn't one of those types of destinations. Not yet, anyway. A worried eye cast back towards Merlin, hoping he had some idea as to what was going on.

The lieutenant, standing out of Sha'mers line of sight, looked back and shrugged. The topic had come up during their earlier conversation, but briefly. Sha'mer, however, readily answered. "I took a LOA. My daughter serves on the USS Vindicator, the ship which vanished in the Expanse. If she gets found, if she returns, this station will be their first port of call. So I came here," she said with a little shrug. At the same time, there was a kind of naked relief on her face. Her leg always ached, only now, it suddenly did not. There was nothing at all. She could barely keep a goofy smile from her face.

"Seems that there are a lot of brass here for the same reason..." Valeese replied with hushed tones, her head dipping briefly in honor of those perceived as lost. The Expanse was a lot of things... Kind wasn't one of the terms on that list, and she knew it well. Too many stories had come from it, and many more would continue to fill the void of the unknown. Whether or not the Vindicator would remain as part of those legends remained to be seen, but the doctor certainly hoped not. "I hope that your daughter returns soon. If any ship can come through this, it would be the Vindicator. She has quite the reputation." She offered a smile in consolation and reassurance. It wasn't a lie, either, for the Vindicator's own legend was just as stalwart, bold, and detailed as that of the Expanse. They were a perfect match for one another with the great ship playing the role of Bellerophon to the Expanse's Chimera, with any luck that was. Hope had to remain... For all of their sake.

Sha'mer nodded. People had defied the odds before, many times, she herself was living proof of that. Then again, for all those lucky ones there were equally bad ones which never got resolved, or which resolution did not point to a good ending. The tragic accidents, the mysteries. "Yeah. The other brass came here because they could, possibly, add something to the search. I could not, hence I didn't come here as an Admiral, merely as a mother who had the good fortune to have a swift way of getting here." Her answer triggered a recent memory in her mind, something she hadn't consciously noted earlier because there were simply too many other things going on. "Good call there, by the way. I didn't think anyone on this station even knows I am."

"I sure didn't," the lieutenant muttered in the background. "Good thing I don't get starstruck easily, or the idea of dining with brass would made me faint."

Hiding a small smile, the little Vorta flicked her eyes towards Merlin and then shrugged gently, "It pays to be of note of the who's who within Starfleet and the Federation. You never know what's going to come your way when you run the med bay of a station like this." She explained. It was an easy enough half truth that it rolled from her mouth with casual grace. "You'd do well to study every dossier that you can access, Lieutenant." Valeese teased, and went back to the PADD at hand. Discharge instructions and an easy way to hide the fact that she had to know the who's who for reasons entirely separate to the task at hand. A noble reason, but it was what it was. "Now. I'm prescribing pain killers and anti-inflammatories that should hold you during the duration of your stay on Cold Station Theta, Admiral. Should you need anything else? You know where to find me."

"Only if you promise only to call me Admiral when you see me in an uniform. Commander." Sha'mer smiled, somewhat wryly. "But thank you, again. Insofar as any visit to sickbays can be termed as much, it has been a pleasure." She began to climb down from the biobed, turning briefly to the mostly silent spectator behind her. "And as for you, I doubt you'd faint if the Klingon Emperor came by and offered you a bloodwine. Let alone for some brass."

The wild-haired lieutenant's mind flashed to memories of another royal – a Stenellian Empress – and shrugged, trying his hardest not to grin. "You might be right at that."

"Consider it a deal, Cintia." Valeese chuckled at the quick jab made at Merlin's expense, and held the PADD out to the Admiral in question, "Pretty sure she is right." She said off handed, choosing not to engage the man's fathomless eyes. He was a strange one, a rogue, but harmless. Teasing him was fair game as he always seemed to take it for what it was an handled in a graceful stride. "Please, do try and enjoy the rest of the day."

Sha'mer quickly read the PADD (years of experience in dealing with paperwork made processing information a quick process, even in her slightly weird state at the moment), nodded and accepted. She wondered briefly which version of her file the doctor had seen: the old one or the most recent one. If it was the latter, Sha'mer wondered if the word 'Vo'Sh'un' had any relevance for her. Probably not. The encounters between that empire and the Dominion had been rare.

"It's been a pleasure meeting you, doctor," she said with a smile as she handed the padd back. "And coming from me, that's saying something." She gathered the crutches and left the room, with the lieutenant in tow. He turned at the door and waved at Lee. "Don't stay up too long," he called with a grin. Then the door closed after them both.

With knit brows and eyes that lingered on the empty doorway long after they had departed, Valeese was left wondering just what the hell had happened in her sickbay. What had the strange mercurial man meant by 'Don't stay up too long', and did it mean anything at all or just further gibberish from a profoundly enigmatic creature? Her lips twitched as she tried to placate her curiosity and finally, with a shrug, she simply nodded and set back to the task of restocking supplies. It was better that way.

---

Rear Admiral Cintia Sha'mer
Director
Starfleet Operations

Commander Valeese
Chief Medical Officer
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170

Lieutenant Evan Merlin
Chief of Special Operations
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170