Another Day, Another Ship

Posted on Tue Sep 24th, 2019 @ 11:00am by Petty Officer First Class Samuel "Doc" Renfroe EMT-P & Commander K'Niras Sh'howul & Lieutenant Commander Seleya

Mission: S01E04 The Outpost Has Eyes
Location: Main hanger bay and Deck 6 briefing room

:ON

As the shuttle glided into the main hanger bay, a slight thud sounded as it touched down. The hatch opened with a pneumatic hiss and stairs deployed over the nacelle. Samuel made his way down the stairs, a large duffel bag slung over his left shoulder. His shiny new Petty Officer First Class rank pip glistened in the light. He quickly made his way to the deck officer, a Female Vulcan Ensign. Great, he thought to himself. Another walking computer.He made his way over, set his bag down and came to attention with a salute and said, "Petty Officer First Class Renfroe, reporting in, Ma'am."

She raised an eyebrow and looked back down at her PADD and said in a calm monotone voice, "Petty Officer Renfroe, the Executive Officer is expecting you. You can find him on deck six in the briefing room. Dismissed." She returned his salute.

Samuel dropped his salute and said, "Thank you, Ma'am," in his heavy southern drawl. He picked up his bag and headed for the closest turbo lift. As he approached, the doors hissed open. He stepped inside and grabbed one of the handles and said, "Deck six." The computer chirped in response and a second or so later the doors hissed closed and the turbo lift hummed and moved to its destination. He quickly made his way to the briefing room door and pressed the chime.

Lieutenant Sh'howul stood from where he had been sitting in the briefing room and yelled at the door, "Come in!" This wasn't his usual way to welcome new crew members. He preferred to use his own office, but this room was close to the deflectors, so he could return to them as soon as he was done here.

Samuel entered the room and centered himself two paces from the commander. He sat his bag down and snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "Petty Officer First Class Renfroe reporting for duty, Sir." His southern drawl gave his voice a kind of twang.

The Caitian First Officer nodded. "Welcome aboard." He returned the salute. "At ease, Petty Officer. I've already taken the liberty to check you in on the roster. You'll also need to report to sickbay and Doctor Seleya. Have you found your quarters yet?" His tail swished back and forth behind him.

Samuel dropped his salute and relaxed his stance. "Thank you, Sir, and I haven't located my quarters just yet, was hoping I could find them and drop my bag on the way to sickbay," he replied, talking to the first officer's tail movements. Well now, that's kinda distracting, he thought himself.

"Then that shall be our first order of business. I'll take you to your quarters then sickbay. While we do that, you should tell me about yourself. You're from Earth right?" He smiled a little, only showing his front teeth. The tail continued to swish back and forth behind him.

"Born and raised. Not much to tell, Sir," Samuel replied, as he picked up his bag, slung it over his right shoulder and prepared to follow the first officer out. There was some mild frustration and irritation in his face and voice as his eyes followed the swishing tail.

K'Niras was from a people that in all honesty did very little speaking out loud. Instead, they spoke with their bodies, the tail, ears, whiskers, even the way they breathed was up for interpretation by anyone looking at you. "Is there a problem, Petty Officer?" he asked, stopping just outside the door, rather abruptly and turning to face the recruit. He could almost feel the man's irritation, as sensitive as he was to body language, it was as if the petty officer was yelling it at him.

"This is my first time serving with a member of your species and the constant swing of your tail is... gonna take some getting used to, Sir," Samuel replied. He apparently stopped to keep from running the officer over, a look of surprise on his face. Great start, been here less than ten minutes and already pissed off the XO. This gonna be a long deployment, he thought to himself.

K'Niras, however, chuckled. "Ah yes, I'm sure. It has a mind of its own, I'm afraid." He started down the hallway again, this time waiting for the petty officer to keep up. "You've never served with a Caitian? Well... I will tell you that I'm not typical of my species. Most are much bigger with larger manes. Not that I let that stop me from being me. Besides, very little of that means anything to Starfleet."

"Interesting facts, Sir. I've spent most of my time as a ground pounder, units and crews made up mostly of Human, Andorian, and some Vulcans. The Romulan had a cold logic and systematic efficiency to war that bred a whole host of new horrors and atrocities, and now it looks like we're in for more the same or worse with Klingons," Samuel said his voice cracked slightly and tears were starting to well up in his eyes as thought about all the people that died as he was doing his level best to save them. "As a great man and one personal hero once said: It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it,” Samuel added trying to regain his composure.

K'Niras fall into step with Samuel and gave him a sidelong look. He didn't want to call the man's emotional state out, so he just let it ride without saying anything. "You are correct... war is terrible," he said softly. "I don't believe there are any worlds that have not suffered its wrath in some way. Hopefully we can try and stop that from happening where we can." The Caitian directed them to the nearest turbolift and waited for Samuel to join him before speaking. "Deck Nine..."

"Indeed, it certainly would make my job much easier. I just wonder what the cost of peace will be. It is a price that must be paid in blood and it seems both sides are inventing ever more brutal and creative means of extracting that price," Samuel replied, as the tubrolift began to move and he began hum a song under his breath.

K'Niras nodded. "Well... hopefully we can manage to occupy ourselves with higher pursuits. Less bloodshed." When the turbolift stopped again, he waited for the doors to open and then stepped out into the hallway and led the way to the first right and then the end of the hallway. "So these are yours. We're a little understaffed currently, so you get these to yourself for now." He stepped out of the way of the keypad. "They just installed these as well... whatever four number sequence you put in first will be your code for the quarters. See me if you need to reset it, since I'm Engineering Chief as well..." He chuckled.

"Well, that's a whole new meaning of double duty," Samuel replied with a grin as dropped off his bag and entered the four-digit code. "Now, I believe it's to meet the good doctor and see where I'll be spending a great amount of my time," he said, his demeanor more cheerful and light, as he "sung" the words his heavy southern drawl.

K'Niras chuckled. "Yes, Doctor Selaya is next. Have you worked with Vulcans before?" He turned on his heels and headed back to the turbolift. He hoped the Petty Officer had worked with Vulcans at least. He could understand that Caitians were far and few between. He was one of only a handful that he was aware of, but Vulcans were everywhere in Starfleet, it seemed.

"Yes, Sir. I have," Samuel replied as turned to follow the Caitian. Joy, working with one of those green-blooded pointy-eared hobgoblins, logic this logic that I gonna have flashbacks to ethic class in the academy. Vulcans were, at best, mildly annoying. This is gonna be a very long assignment, he thought to himself.

"She is also relatively new to the ship. There is also a head nurse to meet and some interns. Deck five," he told the tubolift as soon as they had both stepped into it. "As far as Vulcans go, she's not bad," K'Niras volunteered, perhaps having opinions of his own on the subject. "She's... different in some ways."

"Good to know, Sir," Samuel replied still not expecting an easy tour of duty here. While most people considered Vulcans to be an advanced and most honorable race, he found to be damned annoying.

The turbolift stopped on deck five and the doors slid open. K'Niras stepped out and waited for Samuel to join him again. "Well, regardless... she's your superior. So there's that." He headed toward the sickbay doors, which were pretty obvious once they were off the turbolift. The doors slid open as they approached and K'Niras led the way into sickbay proper.

Lieutenant Kylian Linwood heard the doors slide open and stepped out of the lab he was working in to see who had come in. He smiled warmly at the Caitian and someone he'd never seen before. "Good morning, Gentlemen... what can I do for you?"

Samuel replied, "I'm Samuel Renfroe your new Corpsman, Lieutenant..."

Seleya had been reading an interesting new Vulcan study when she rounded the corner. She stopped and studied the new arrivals. Neither appeared to be ill. "Commander." It was not his rank but she had taken to calling him that. She studied the new arrival and went to stand rigidly still at Linwood's side.

K'Niras' ears lay back slowly, a sign of embarrassment. In other words, he was blushing. He made a soft ruffing sound. "Doctor Seleya, this is Petty Officer First Class Samuel Renfroe. He will be reporting to you for lack of a Chief of enlisted at the moment. I would like to leave him in your capable hands and return to my duties." He smiled a little.

Linwood chuckled. "Welcome. This is fast becoming the best cared for ship in the fleet," he joked. "I'm Kylian Linwood. I'm an intern here."

"And one of my assistant chief medical officers." She gave a nod. "Welcome. Accompany me and Doctor Linwood to our medical briefing room and we shall speak." She turned to K'Niras. "Thank you, Commander."

K'Niras ears lay back again, his tail stopping it's motions briefly. "You're welcome, Doctor. If you're no longer in need of my assistance, I will return to my duties," he replied with a small smile before turning away and dipping quickly out of sickbay.

Kylian watched him go and chuckled. He looked sidelong at Seleya. "How do you do it?" he asked with a little smirk.

She tilted her head. "Do what?"

Kylian laughed and turned to walk away from the group. He looked over his shoulder and winked at her. "You know... make all the boys blush." He stuck his tongue out briefly and slipped back into the lab and out of sight.

She stared after him and tilted her head to the side. "What an illogical statement." She shrugged and headed to talk to the new arrival. They entered the briefing room for medical. "Would you like something to drink Petty Officer Renfroe?"

"Sweet tea, if I remember right, it should be a dark brown card with a thin white stripe," he replied in a Southern drawl, as he followed her into the office.

She smiled. She brought the tea for him and a lemon water for herself. "Tell me about yourself."

"Youngest son of a doctor. Spent several years as a civilian paramedic before joining Starfleet. Seen more death for several lifetimes. Spent last several assignments hopping from ship to starbase to a few assignments I can't talk about, as the front lines of the war changed," he replied, taking a gulp of his tea.

"What are your goals on this ship?" It was something she asked all her staff.

"My goals are simple. To save as many lives as possible," he replied.

"There will be that, but this position requires much lab work as well. Tell me a little about what you have done thus far medically. What procedures are you versed in?"

"I'm well versed in both emergency and combat medicine, intubation, filed tracked, fluid resuscitation, ACLS, basic CPR, and medication admission. Most my lab skills are a little rusty. Not much call for that sorta thing in the heat of battle," he replied, as took another gulp of his tea.

"Alright. Linwood will work with you in the lab to see what your weaknesses are. I run a very disciplined sickbay. There will be rules to adapt to and everything is alphabetized and colour coded."

"Very well, Doctor," he replied as he thought to himself, Of course the whole place is redundantly organized. God, I hate Vulcans.

She gave a nod. "Also, we do not have an official counselor, but the Head Nurse is taking care of those duties."

"I feel for them. The scars you can't see are often the deepest and most fatal," Samuel replied.

"Alright. That being said take a day or two, work with Linwood, get to know the ship and I will start you on a duty roster shortly."

Samuel finished the rest of tea and said, "Thank you," and prepared to head out.

:OFF