242006.11 JL | Cmdr Merlin, Dr Resnik - Reporting In

Posted on Sat Jun 13th, 2020 @ 8:39pm by Commander Evan Merlin & Lieutenant JG Christine Resnik

Mission: When The Circus Comes To Town
Location: CSTheta

Chris lay on her back in her bunk. She had adequate, modest, junior officer quarters. The bed had been comfortable after adjusting it to her preferred firmness level. The filtered light from her viewport wasn't distracting, just a soft, steady glow. The temperature was precisely where she wanted it, cold; much more chill than most humans preferred for sleeping. Yet sleep never came.

Resnik let out a long sigh and turned her head to look at a blank, gray wall. She needed something there, something to populate the space. It had been so long since she occupied one spot for any period and wasn't sure what to put up.

The walls were not the problem though as time ticked on, sleepless and quiet, she yawned, and her ears popped. Chris smirked to herself, realizing the thrum of the ship's engines was missing. She had no particular affinity for the noise, but the station, at least where her quarters were, was all too quiet.

"Computer pipe in white noise to my quarters at all times." The artificial assistant chimed in an acknowledgment, and Chris could hear the noise startup. Subtle, nothing she could pinpoint, but some noise at last. The silence was gone.

She closed her eyes and sighed in contentment, confident that she would be able to drift off now.

"This is your appointment reminder for 'Station Commanding Officer, Oh SevenHundred Hours.' You have thirty minutes until the scheduled time. It will take approximately four minutes of walking and turbolifts to arrive."

Chris cursed the computer and punched the bed as she got up, calling for a coffee with cream to the replicator and scrambling to get dressed and groomed.

Lack of sleep and a rushed morning routine were not evident on Chris Resnik as she left her quarters, PADD in hand. She had on a crisp uniform, clean boots that were unscuffed as of yet. Her face was bright and alert, and her eyes didn't betray her lack of sleep. She hoped her mind woke up before she introduced herself.

This game, though, of sussing out her new commander, and being on the receiving end as well, she could do without. It just seemed like a waste of time to her; she'd rather get right into her work rather than spend a few minutes with someone she may not have any further interaction with during her assignment here. Protocol, she would follow it, but nobody was forcing her to like it much. Resnik would play the Starfleet game and reminded herself that nobody had forced her back in, she choose this.

"Lieutenant Christine Resnik for Commander..." The name, the name slipped her mind as soon as her mouth went to produce it. If he had a Latin name, she may not have let it slip from her brain so easily. She scrunched her nose in frustration at herself and pulled up her PADD to read it. "Uh, Commander Merlin." Chris tried to hide a smirk, wondering now if he resembled a wizard at all, that she could get behind.

"Merlin here," came the instant reply. "New surgeon, yes? Come on in."

At this hour, the tail end of gamma shift, the commander was already in uniform, but his wild hair hadn't been tied back yet. Its wild corkscrews stuck out at all angles, and the fact that he occasionally ran his hand through his hair didn't really help matters. Christine found him behind his desk, staring glumly at the PADDs strewn across its surface.

"They breed overnight," he said, picking one of them up. "When I left here yesterday, the desk was empty. I've heard tribbles are bad, but these things? Drama. I mean, it's not as if one takes a lot of time, usually-" as he talked, he had scanned the PADD, switching effortlessly from looking at her and looking at it, "-but it still takes time all together." He pressed his thumb against the PADD and tossed it over his shoulder. It landed neatly on a small pile already there. "Anyway, welcome to Cold Station Theta." He grinned widely, an expression which sat on his face with much more ease than the earlier glum one. At the same time, he jumped to his feet and extended a hand.

Chris was bemused, trying to assess the situation before her. She already determined that Merlin was not an old school commander, which pleased her to no end. She could do without the completely formal cold suits she'd worked for at various assignments. "I can never understand why every little thing needs to be put on its own unit. Can we not all just have one and transmit information to them. I'm sure you're more than capable of reading many reports on one PADD."

The smirk that crossed her lips shifted into a smile as he rose and offered his hand. She shook it, firm, but not overly so and not too short a time, but didn't linger either. Her eyes scanned his hair and looked him over in a quick assessment, not sure at the end of it what to think. "It's a pleasure to be here Sir. I'm eager to jump right into things in the med bay. This assignment, it seems..." She searched for an adequate term and felt she came up short. "Well interesting I guess, but I am thrilled to be here."

Resnik felt herself starting to pull her bottom lip in to chew it and released it, admonishing herself mentally for the bad habit. "Do you have any advice or wisdom as I get started here?"

"Well…" He ran his hand through his hair again. "Not words of wisdom, per se, but maybe a few notes. Your department head is a Vorta. She's easy to get along with, but once in awhile you might encounter someone who has a problem with that, just so you know. We regularly have visitors from the nearby Stenellian Ascendancy, so you might want to read up on their physiology. Oh, and in a few days we'll play host to something called the Interstellar Cultural Exhibition and Exchange, so we'll get a lot of visitors soon. Of course, we all hope it'll go without a hitch and we won't need any medical services, but it's best to be prepared nonetheless." He smiled. "Do you have any questions?"

Chris was distracted with Merlin's hair, it was something to marvel at. She wondered how long it took him to comb through the curls, his hand running through it again forced her attention back to what he was saying, cocking her head slightly at the mention of a Vorta Chief. That was interesting, but she knew them to be well trained medically and looked forward to the interaction.

Resnik made a mental note to do a deeper dive into the Stenellian Ascendancy. Her response was rather business-like, but sincere and truthful. "No sir, it was a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to contributing to this crew." She smiled producing a pun and said, "I guess I'll get out of your hair as you no doubt have a lot to do in preparation for the exhibition."

"Oh yes, do I ever." He grinned, then sighed ruefully as he regarded the PADDs still strewn across his desk. "Well, I'm sure we'll run into each other from time to time. If there's anything bothering you or if you have questions other people can't answer, feel free to drop by. See you around!" And with a cheerful wave, he devoted his attention to the PADD once more.