Up The Down Turbolift

Posted on Thu Jan 6th, 2011 @ 12:11am by Lieutenant Kiyraesyn Valdor & Captain Nathan Cowell MD

Mission: Hippocratic Hijacking
Location: Various
Timeline: Concurrent and shortly following "Feelings of Unease"

[Starfleet Medical Headquarters]

Kiyraesyn strode along the main corridor of the Starfleet Medical Headquarters complex, making her way to a transporter pad. As she plucked away at a PADD containing information which pertained to her next assignment, a familiar face stepped out of a nearby turbolift and nearly missed plowing her over. Smiling, Kiyraesyn greeted her old friend, Ayren Nichols, cordially.

"Ayren!" She exclaimed, placing a friendly hand on the older gentleman's shoulder as they sorted themselves out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry !" Ayren apologized profusely.

"No, no, my fault...I should watch where I'm going--really!" Valdor beamed brightly, collecting herself.

"Here, let me just grab that PADD off the floor for you." With that, he swooped down and snatched up the device. As he offered it to Kiyraesyn, he very quickly skimmed over the contents. "What's this then? You're not leaving us, are you?" His posh British accent resonated throughout the corridor. Kiyraesyn accepted the PADD and nodded.

"I'm afraid so, Ayren." She replied. "I've been assigned to the USS Arizona. Apparently, they are in need of a Chief Medical Officer. I tried to get Ciaran to take it instead, but she was quite content with her post on the Columbia, and there's just no one else as qualified for such a, shall we say, 'high profile', assignment."

"Ah yes, Starfleet and its lofty deep-space missions..." Ayren countered somewhat disdainfully.

"Don't tell me you're not happy for me. I'm quite lucky, you know." Kiyraesyn said, weaving a skillful touch of guilt into her genteel voice.

"Ha! I should be so lucky!" Nichols joked. "But honestly, I am glad it's you and not a certain other individual. I must say, old girl, things won't be the same without you."

"That's true enough." Valdor replied.

"You just let me know if they've got a need of a washed-up old xenobiologist up on that fancy new starship, and I'm there!"

They shared a laugh as they reached the central transporter alcove. Around them, the hustle and bustle of various medical and security personnel teemed madly. The familiar twang of the transporters sounded off every so often, reminding Kiyraesyn that she would soon be next. She regarded her longtime colleague and friend of more than fifty years, with his snowy white hair and light grey eyes now reflecting the passage of time, and realised how fond of him she had come to be.

"I promise, if I have any say whatsoever in choosing my medical staff, you'll be the first person I call." Kiyraesyn said reassuringly.

"Good girl!" Ayren tossed a wink at Valdor and then took his leave.

Kiyraesyn turned and eyed the transporter pad with a feeling of zest and excitement.


"Where to, Ma'am?" inquired the bright-eyed young transporter officer, a Trill female of no more than thirty years.

"I've got the coordinates right here." Kiyraesyn handed off the PADD to her.

"USS Arizona, I've heard it's a fine ship. What I've heard about its CO, though..." The Trill commented.

"Never mind the rumor-mongering, Ensign, just do your job, and don't bother beaming me to the station, I need to report directly to the Captain."

"Of course, Ma'am. Main Transporter Room aboard the Arizona then." After inputting the appropriate coordinates, she gestured for the Arizona's incoming CMO to take any one of the eight pads on the platform. Kiyraesyn stepped up onto its glassy surface and spun slowly about to face the transporter officer, who waited patiently for her signal.

"Energise."


[Moments Later]
[Main Transporter Room, USS Arizona]

Kiyraesyn materialized and stepped down quickly from the pad. She had already familiarized herself with the schematics of the Prometheus class vessel, so finding her way from the transporter room to the Bridge seemed to bring her very little distress. She understood that she was now running a little late, which was unlike her, but after all, it had been a last minute assignment-very last minute. She had only been informed of the transfer less than an hour ago, in fact.

She ducked into the nearest turbolift.


"Deck One, Bridge." And away she was swept, up and up and up toward the higher decks.

The doors glided open to reveal a surprisingly empty command center. The emptiness was accompanied by an eerie silence, which made Kiyraesyn slightly uneasy. Nothing she had heard about Captain Cowell could have prepared her for this moment. What few officers there were milling about the Bridge appeared to be in some sort of robotic state, as if they were mindless androids or something. To Kiyraesyn, who was unaccustomed to working on starships (aside from actually designing and constructing them), this was quite a shock. Even on a quiet day at Starfleet Medical, there were no less than several dozen personnel bustling about at any given point during the day, conversing about some such research project or another.


Kiyraesyn inhaled deeply and made her way in haste to greet Captain Cowell, pressing the button firmly to request entry to the Ready Room.

"Come," a voice beckoned from inside the room. The doors responded to his implied order and revealed the compartment behind. When Lt. Valdor entered, she caught sight of the Captain sitting behind the large desk in the corner. He looked up at the woman for a moment then pointed to the chair in front of his desk.

"Sit down, kid," Doc Cowell said as he sat back in his chair, "And do tell me which department you represent."

"Medical, sir." Kiyraesyn set her eyes to the task of sizing up the man who sat before her. Immediately, she sensed an old familiarity about him. In her mind's eye, she flashed back to the memory of being aboard the USS Enterprise with a handful of other survivors and seeing this particular individual amongst them, though she was certain she had never known him up to now.

"Right..." Cowell said, taking a mental inventory of her face and comparing it to all the others he'd seen in his lifetime. His brow sank into a frown when he remembered where he'd seen her last, and when.

"So, you're part of the Tuesday tragedy team..." Cowell remarked bluntly, "Nice to see someone else made it in this man's military. Your name was Kiyr... something or other. I remember treating that broken wrist of yours. Heal up nice?"

"Kiyraesyn, sir, Kee-rah-sin," Valdor stated curtly. Oh, the joys of senility, she quipped silently to herself and then continued, "and yes, it's perfectly fine. Broken limbs are my forte."

"Right..." Nathan said, shrugging off the exchange, "I would hope you can mend a bone or two, you're going to be running my old department. I'll make you a promise and warn you right now. I won't come down and do your job for you, but don't let me catch you babying anyone on this ship. No extended bed rest or days off or any of that crap unless they need it. We don't have enough damn people right now to be nice. After we get the full compliment aboard, you can play nice and give out lollipops for all I give a damn... but that's a ways off. Sound good?"

"Don't worry, Captain, I'm the last person you'd expect to be handing out days off." The CMO replied. "Where do we stand on the staff count for my department? That information wasn't included on the PADD they sent me." Kiyraesyn shifted, still standing erect and tall. Now that she knew the type of personality she would be dealing with, she wasn't quite as nervous. He was El-Aurian, no doubt, but had spent a great deal of time among humans, and appeared to have adopted some of their more sarcastic and abrupt interpersonal traits. Still, it was nice to know that she wasn't the only one her kind onboard the ship. "Also not included in the report would be your current annual physical profile, which is now six months overdue."

"And it will likely stay overdue. I am still a practicing physician and I administer my own examinations if and when I care to. As for your department," Doc Cowell said in response to her commentary, "Your department is just above minimum manned. You might have one or two redundancies in the department but that might be stretching things. We all have our work cut out for us Miss Valdor. Best you get to your department to figure out what you have to work with. If you need anything, you have less than two hours to go get it. Any questions?"

"Just one other, sir." Kiyraesyn said. "Are you always this difficult?" She braced herself for a sharp retort.

"I'm six hundred years old," the Captain informed her, "When you get to be may age you'll have earned the right to be any damn thing you want to be, difficult or otherwise. Now if you're quite finished being a smart ass..."

Nathan gave her an even sort of glare that said two things; he was not amused and she was nearing the end of her welcome for this particular visit. While it was in no way an overly hostile look, it wasn't to be confused with an invitation to stay a while and shoot the breeze.


"I'll just be on my way then." Kiyraesyn nodded curtly, turned on her heel and took her leave without another word.