Well Met

Posted on Fri Oct 11th, 2019 @ 9:39am by Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Lieutenant Misaki Nakanabi

3,261 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Canary
Location: Outisde Haumea Colony
Timeline: MD -01

Arnason glided between the trees in an easy slalom, enjoying a crisp sunny day, though he was also keeping an eye out for daucin, especially any that looked weak or sickly. They had caught and treated most of the little animals sickened by snacking on the colony's corrosion-resistant metals while getting deterrents in place, but there was always a chance some had disappeared into the hinterlands and he wouldn't let any animal to suffer if he could help it.

However, what caught his eye was a glimpse of red in the distance ahead - a lone hiker coming in from some distance out based on the tracks leaving a a trail behind them in the snow. It wasn't anyone he immediately recognized - and after the recent cold snap he'd at least seen most people's winter gear even if he hadn't met them personally - but that wasn't so strange given that new people were arriving all the time. What was strange was trekking out here alone; most of the time someone walking in like that meant a vehicle had broken down. While the temperatures were no longer so far negative range that that was dangerous, he still turned and headed toward the figure, putting on some speed once he cleared the trees.

Banking slightly to slow as he skied closer, Gunnar called out to the woman. "Hello, do you need any help?"

The woman slowed down for an instant as she observed the man approaching and cupped a hand over her eyes to protect them from the sun. “Not unless you wish to rescue me from hours of enjoyment.” She smiled brightly at him, eyeing his mode of transportation. “Although I wouldn’t mind a confirmation that that is the colony I see in the distance and not some illusion my eyes have concocted.” Her smile turned to a smirk.

"That it is," he confirmed, pulling up alongside her. He smiled, both in friendly greeting and with relief that she wasn't walking because of a vehicle broken down due to an insufficient coating of daucin-repellent. "Since I assume by that question that you're new here, welcome." He extended a hand. "I'm LT Arnason."

The woman accepted his hand and shook it vigorously. “Misaki Nakanabi. I just got here. Figured walking in would be a good way to experience the place for the first time.” Taking a deep breath she exhaled slowly and smiled as she watched her breath solidify. “Plus, I hadn’t had the chance to enjoy snow in a very very long time.”

With that Misaki started up again towards the colony. “You’re welcome to join me for the rest of the way, unless you had other pressing matters.” She glanced forward, than back to him. She was offering him both an option to socialize or a way out of it, depending on his preference. It was rather obvious by her demeanor she was at ease with both answers.

"It is a good day for enjoying the outdoors. It's just that we're still discovering the wildlife out here, so most people don't go trekking so far out; at least not alone," Gunnar explained. "Anyway, I'm the last person who'd interrupt anyone's enjoyment of snow, but if you don't mind company, I'll be happy to join you."

So saying, he stepped out of his boot clips. At a touch, the skis and poles contracted into a size that could fit in his shoulder pack. Stuffing them in, while using long legs to catch up to her, he had a moment to think of where he'd heard her name before. "Are you Dr. Nakanabi then?"

The woman nodded, slipping her beanie off. “That would be me.” She glanced at him and smirked, her free hand casually stroking her bald head. “Is there so little to do around here that my arrival has people talking?” She tucked the beanie in her pocket and looked ahead. “Anything about the wildlife I should know about? I haven’t seen much on my way here so far. I guess the cold snap is mostly to blame.”

"Oh no, there's plenty to do," Gunnar laughed. "That's why I know about you - you're my replacement. I've been filling in as acting CMO." He dipped his head a little, giving a wry half-smile, "...And occasionally as ski patrol, search and rescue, as well as doing a bit of veterinary medicine and wildlife survey. In fact, while this counts as a break, I've been using the time to look around for signs of some of the native animals we've identified so far."

Misaki nodded with interest as he talked. “That’s Starfleet for you. Always making sure its officers wear as many hats as possible.” She gave their surroundings a good look. “I once read that experts think it’s one of the main reasons we survived the Dominion war.” She raised her eyebrows questioningly at him. “Thoughts?”

"My brother's the historian, Doctor." Gunnar shook his head. "I was barely 7 when the Dominion War ended, so I certainly couldn't speak from experience, but I've always thought that surviving that had more to do with the diversity of our forces than with Starfleet's philosophy on cross-training."

Nodding understandingly, Misaki continued onward silently or a few moments. It was rather pleasant having a traveling partner. She gave him a frank look over and smiled warmly. “Anything I should know about my future patients?” If he’d been her interim she’d best take care and listen up. There was also something about him that made her want to have him keep talking.

Gunnar paused a moment, wondering if the change of topic was because he had admitted to a lack of historical expertise or simply because he hadn't offered an interesting enough counterpoint to continue with the discussion. However, he was certainly willing to answer what was, after all, a more pertinent question. "A number of the Starfleet personnel are still experiencing after effects from the Io's crash, but while a few are still going through physical therapy, that's mostly psychological at this point. Rev. Nikadoros has been the primary for handling that. She's a chaplain, but also our counselor," he added, lest a habit of using 'Reverend' for her title be mistaken. "She's also been serving as hospital administrator - mostly to let me focus on the medical issues rather than politics."

Adjusting his pack, he considered how much more to say. "You see, not everyone on the colony is thrilled to have Starfleet here. I think we've made some progress there, but ...I'm not an MD, so it hasn't always been easy to get buy in from the civilian doctors."

“This woman sounds like an interesting person.” She shifted her weight a little and looked down at her feet. Was her right foot loosening or was that just her imagination? “Seems like I’ll need to play catch up with her.” She turned her attention back to Gunnar and smiled knowingly. “I know a few things about balancing Starfleet presence on a colony site. It’s not an easy thing for everyone involved. Thing is Starfleet is just trying to be helpful, but colonists are an independent lot. They like to do things on their own. We can be a stubborn people. Sometimes too much for our own good. But that’s also why we succeed where others fail. That’s how worlds are made.”

Misaki stopped in her tracks and started laughing. “My apologies Lieutenant. I seem to have gotten carried away there.” She smiled warmly at him and started walking again and almost immediately looked back down at her right foot, slight annoyance transpiring through her good mood.

Gunnar laughed as well, though not perhaps for the reason she imagined. "No need for apologies. I'm familiar with the mindset. My homeland is a volcanic island near earth's arctic circle and it started as a colony. That was over a thousand years ago now, but the attitude persists." He flashed a brief grin.

"I take it from your comment that you're from a more recently established colony?" he asked, noticing the small change in her gait, but deciding to say nothing yet. In his experience, most doctors were not good about slowing down when they should, but most also didn't take well to inquiries, since they felt they could diagnose the issue well enough themselves. Given her previous comment, that was likely compounded by a stubborn self-reliance (something he knew well enough since he'd been accused of the same any number of times) and he didn't want to play overly solicitous Starfleet to her independent colonist.

The woman gave him a pensive look. “North Star is… complicated. One half of my ancestors actually kidnapped the other half as labor to establish their colony.” She grimaced and looked to the skies. “Which makes our situation a little… unconventional.” Misaki slowed down and turned towards a large rock not too far from them. “I just need to check my boot if you don’t mind.” She sat on the rock and proceeded to slowly take off her right boot. “So yeah, we started off as a Skagaran colony with human slaves. Then the humans revolted.” She peered into her boot and frowned. Sticking a few fingers in, she pressed hard into it and frowned some more. “Then by some measure of luck we were found by a pre-Federation Captain and Earth sent some people our way to give a hand and … modernize us. It was quite an undertaking, but one my people quite enjoyed.”

Looking back up at the Icelander, Misaki waved her boot around. “Problem was of course that while we appreciated all the help, there came a time where we felt we needed to walk on our own two feet. Prove to ourselves and the rest of the galaxy we could do it. But Starfleet in it’s brotherly ways had difficulty letting go.” She set the boot back down in the snowy ground and slipped her foot back in. “Funny how no one complained when we had a string of really bad luck and they stepped in to help once more. Everyone was glad to see them again.”

Gunnar waited as she cleared her boot, and listened to her description of her homeworld. He vaguely recalled the history, which was indeed complicated and more so than what she mentioned in her short narrative, but he was hardly going to press her on it. After all, he hadn't exactly gone into the somewhat violent history surrounding his own distant ancestors. Though thinking on it, there were commonalities. "Your world's experience was unconventional in several ways, though raids that brought captives back as slaves probably accounts for a good portion of my heritage too. Of course, both groups were human, and intermarriage occurred very early on so there were never hard distinctions drawn along racial lines. But I know there have been cases more like yours, especially in Orion history." He smiled to himself, thinking of Divash joking about how being taken as a slave was practically a business model for certain Orions. He wasn't about to share that with someone he'd just met though.

"As to hot-and-cold running gratitude, we saw that in the posting where I first met Reverend Nikadoros," he continued. "The locals frequently - and sometimes loudly - resented even a fairly small Starfleet outpost in their midst. But when hostiles tried to move in on them, they were all for having us fight to keep them independent."

Carefully lacing her boot back on, Misaki nodded. “Well I’ll have to do my best and play the bridge as best as I can. I’ve been on both sides of that situation on several occasions both in my youth and adult life.” Slowly getting up she tested footing. “I’m afraid I’ll need to slow my pace down a bit. I didn’t do as good a job with these boots as I thought and my ankle has been moving around a lot more than it should have been.” Offering Gunnar a smile she started back towards the town at a slightly slower pace.

Staring forward the doctor lost herself in thought for a moment. This was a side effect of her posting she had not considered when she offered her candidature. She’d pondered the opportunities of learning about a new planet, getting to know new people, maybe making Lieutenant-Commander before she retired. Then she’d thought about retiring on the planet itself if it turned out to be what she hoped it would be. But nowhere in there had she taken into account her experience dealing with Starfleet on the receiving end. “So what’s your plan now that I’m here? Are you sticking around to help once you’ve handed me the reigns?”

"Hold up," Gunnar said, slipping the pack off his shoulder and fished out a roll of nanofiber-laced athletic tape. "I have something to wrap that. I never go out skiing alone without supplies in case of accidents."

"As to my status... it's complicated. Rev. Nikadoros is a friend, so when she asked, I took leave to come help out until the colony got a CMO," he explained, as he retrieved bandage scissors from an inside pocket. "But the last one barely arrived before being called back for some emergency at home, so I talked to my CO and got this converted in a temporary duty assignment. Which at this point is somewhat open ended, since my ride back hasn't been in contact for a while." He looked down at her ankle, concealing a worried frown. T'Ango had only told him that her mission had been extended too, but by now he knew that more often than not that meant she was going deep into hostile territory.

The Skagaran stared at her counterpart for a moment. She wasn’t sure the bandage was really required. She really just needed to be careful. Then again, she was pretty sure she would be insisting on it if she was in his place, and it was a professional courtesy that he wasn’t. With a slight sigh she sat back down a proceeded to unlace her boot again.

“Well a colony being what it is, and despite what people say…” She slipped the boot off and set it down in the snow. “...there’s always a need for medical personnel.” Looking at him she waited for him to either hand her the tape or start working on her. “And it’s not like I’d turn away someone who already has experience with the locals.”

Gunnar was actually somewhat surprised when she acquiesced - in his experience most doctors were terrible patients, and even worse at admitting to needing treatment. Of course, according to several of his friends, he wasn't much better...

"I can tape it for you, if you'd like, but I understand if you'd prefer to do it yourself," he said, holding the tape out for her. "After all, you're the one who knows exactly where it feels weak."

He smiled at her last remark. In a lot of ways it was tempting. He liked Captain Mahone, and had become friends with a number of the staff. There was certainly more challenge here than at the embassy, which was something he had missed, even if he was still struggling with nightmares from the last serious challenges he'd faced. But the Dosadi Empire was fascinating - a new world with a unique people and culture. That was a big part of why he'd originally joined Starfleet, although if he was honest, there was one particular person that was his biggest reason for wanting to return. "And thank you for the offer. I'm sure I'll be around at least long enough for you to get whatever experience you need with the locals here."

Misaki accepted the tape with a smile and nodded. “Good. It's always nice to have an edge when you can.” She started looping the medical supply around her foot and ankle with practiced ease. “Anything I should know about the Captain?” She glanced at him with a half grin, knowing full well her question would put many people ill at ease.

Gunnar shrugged, neither surprised nor put off by the question. In other circumstances he might struggle to find ways to not say too much too directly, but in this case there wasn't any need for circumlocution. "You probably already know he's a doctor who went from medical to command. He still keeps his hand in a bit, helping in the hospital whenever necessary and he really cares about people, which can lead him to work too hard, but in my experience that's breed standard for Starfleet COs, and doctors," he added with a slight smile - since he'd be here for awhile yet, might as well let her know that someone on the medical staff would keep an eye on her in that regard.

He paused. There was more he could say, but it would be general observation that she'd see soon enough, rather than the sort of 'should know' that was the point of her question. Only one other thing occurred to him to mention, just in case the new CMO had any discomfort with dogs. "Beyond that, I guess the only thing is that he loves animals - in fact, he just got a Malamute puppy a couple weeks ago and the little guy follows him nearly everywhere." Gunnar smiled warmly thinking about the happy pup. "Lugh is a really cute friendly pup. He's completely charmed most of the hospital staff."

Finishing up with her bandaging she looked up for a moment. “Mala-mute? I’m not familiar with that breed. I didn’t get many occasions to get acquainted with dogs back home, or offworld for that matter. I’m pretty good with horses though.” Glancing down, she cut the wrapping and deftly tucked it in and secured it with a pin she had palmed from her bag while they talked. She tested the result with her hands and nodded to herself before handing the scissors back to her colleague.

“Should be interesting working for a captain who’s been in my field. Should make for a different outlook on things.” Slipping into her boot for the third time that day, Misaki took care to lace it up properly, eschewing talk as she did. She slowly stood a few moments later and offered the man a warm smile. “Well… I guess I’ll have to make a habit of listening to your advice.” Her tone seemed to indicate it was something she would have done anyways. She picked up her pack once more and set it on her back, straightening herself. She tested her foot and nodded appreciatively. “All set to keep going!”

"Good." Gunnar nodded, letting the single word respond to both her improved condition for walking and willingness to take advice. "If you like animals, you'll probably like Lugh. Malamutes are mushers - dogs originally bred to pull sleds in snow and ice - so they're strong and like most working breeds, smart and eager to please. Though they can be trouble if they don't have training or enough to do. Not so different from horses, really." He readjusted his shoulder pack and smiled. "I'm pretty good with horses too. My grandparents own a horse farm, and I used to help out there after school as a kid..."

Post TBC...

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