Old Acquaintance

Posted on Tue Apr 9th, 2019 @ 11:39pm by Lieutenant Commander Sofia Nikedoros

823 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Snow Birds
Location: Haumea Colony Guest Quarters
Timeline: MD 03, early evening

Dr. Sorenson set out his ski gear and a change of dry clothes for tomorrow. The guest quarters were in no way the Ritz, but they were clean and comfortable. He guessed that they had probably been designed with visiting merchant crews in mind, though they might also be adequate for a limited time as temporary housing for new colonists while their homestead was being finished. They were certainly enough for his needs.

Truth be told, he could have just beamed down tomorrow for the ski trip, but when he was on the ship, no matter what his duty status said, he never felt completely off duty. Coming down the night before meant a chance to really relax. The only question was whether to do that in the solitude of the room or take a twilight walk through the winter-stilled colony. It was cold out there, but the view from his window was like an artist's depiction of a village in winter - soft light from windows on new fallen snow, stars gleaming in a clear night sky; all that was missing was 'Winter Wonderland' playing in the background...

The thought was interrupted by the door chime. Expecting it was one of crew looking for someone to join them in exploring the colony, he opened the door without leaving his window view. "Come."

"Dr. Sorenson?"

Martin turned at the unfamiliar voice ...or not recently familiar, since he did recall her face. And a long discussion, following probably more Romulan ale than he should have had, about Romulan honor, suicide, and the differing cultural views on the value of life. "Yes. Chaplain..?"

"Nikedoros," Sofia supplied, entering a bit hesitantly. "I hope you don't mind. Once I realized you were the Sorenson on the guest list, I wanted to drop by before you get caught up in the whirlwind of shoreleave activities my CO has planned."

"I don't mind at all. Please, come in, have a seat," he replied. "Your CO? Are you stationed here then?"

Sofia nodded, settling into one of the small grouping of chairs near the window. "Yes. Chaplain, Chief Counselor, and quasi head of medical."

Martin's brows lifted. "Medical?"

"Only the administrative side," she explained, holding a hand up to forestall him going into 'fix it' mode. "We lost our CMO with the Io, and while Commander Mahone is a doctor, running a colony and a hospital is a bit much. I've managed to persuade a medical officer I know to come and help out until we get a real CMO. The problem is, he's an NP, and while I know he can run a medbay, well..." she winked at him, "...you know how civilian doctors can be."

"Oh, you betcha..." Martin laughed. He'd been a civilian doctor when he'd met her - one of many joining the Romulan relief effort after Hobus, and quite a few of them had had ...difficulty... differentiating between 'nurse assigned to you' and 'officer in charge of you' when they'd first arrived in what was left of the RSE. "God forbid an MD listen to anyone just because of a uniform. I'm honestly surprised a few of us didn't wind up riding home in the brig."

"You have no idea..." Sofia rolled her eyes, then flashed a smile. "You were all just lucky Captain Levin decided I'd be a better choice for handling a 'come to Jesus' meeting."

Martin chuckled. "Yeah, I doubt anyone could beat you on that." He pursed his lips. "In fact, if a certain exam-dodging officer doesn't shape up soon, I might want to discuss bartering some medical service in exchange for an intervention."

"Now you know I would never step on another counselor's toes like that," she chided. "Besides, you're on leave. Or supposed to be." She cocked an eyebrow. "I doubt this officer is any worse about showing up for exams than you were about taking downtime. As I recall, Nurse Minn once threatened to use a tranq gun on you."

Martin almost started to object - there had been so many casualties, so much raw need, and it wasn't like he'd come out of private practice and wasn't used to working long hours. Sure, he'd skimped on few meals, but not many, and he knew himself well enough to know when to collapse before he got so tired he started making mistakes

....and then he remembered who he was talking to; the one person who had absolutely called him on staying so busy because it let him avoid facing the emotional toll that witnessing that much death and destruction and despair was taking. He lifted a hand in gesture somewhere between swearing an oath and surrender, "I've gotten a lot better about that. Really." Feeling a need to offer evidence, he added, "I'm here, eh?"

"Yes. And people say there's no such things as miracles." Sofia smiled warmly. "So tell me, what miracle convinced you to join Starfleet..?"

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