Onboarding

Posted on Fri Mar 8th, 2024 @ 3:44pm by Lieutenant Commander Victoria Aries & Lieutenant Aaron Byrne

1,922 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Ethics, Morals & The Prime Directive.
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Shortly After Victoria Gets On Board

Things were piling up on her already, even as Victoria exited the turbolift and stopped outside and just off to the side as she paused a moment to think. The Captain had basically asked she give Dreadnought an entire look-over in the next what was it? Six hours roughly? But she wasn't here because she coasted along, she was always willing to put in the effort and now she had more people than she knew what to do with and had absolutely zero problems with delegating.

"Aries, to Zh'dan, I need a team on engine sweep, let's make sure that they're in top shape, reports on my desk when they're done. Point Defense as well, get Harmon in on that one. I need to make one more stop and I'll be back to engineering as soon as I'm done." She turned as she spoke and headed to the nearest console and punched in her desired destination.

=/= "Roger that, Commander, I'll get it started."=/=

"Thanks, Aries clear." Victoria looked at the map on the wall console and nodded, making a mental note of the path, then was off again. It took her ten minutes of walking, knowing it was rather 'close' given the size of the ship. Sickbay. Rather than have whatever doctor was going to call her about the onboarding exam, better to go there instead and get it out of the way. The door slid open in front of her as she approached and a medical bay far larger than the Akira's opened out in front of her and she stopped as soon as she got through the doors just in wonder.

Sickbay was the typical bustle that a ship of this size could produce. No-one seemed overly upset or harried and there was quite a jubilant nature to many of the staff that were present. Smiles on all the faces that were out in the main bay.

A nurse approached Victoria, with a PADD. "Can I help you Commander?"

Happiness in a medical facility wasn’t something she’d ever been used to, so the question threw Victoria for a loop as her eyes traced over… At least ten individual rooms for patients, none of that ‘one big floor area for use with bio beds’ crap of smaller ships, “It’s nothing urg-“ Her mouth had gone on autopilot and she had to blink hard to gather herself for the nurse and focused her eyes on them, “I’m sorry, I just got transferred aboard and I decided to get as much of the on-boarding process done as soon as possible.” She added a smile that softened her looks a fair bit.

"I'll go see what doctor is available to do that for you. If you wouldn't mind taking yourself into room 10. I will send someone to you presently."

“Sounds good to me, thank you kindly.” Victoria said, nothing numbers above the doors to the rooms, taking the logical leap that when they went up, they’d continue to. She spun around once as she walked, making sure she wasn’t going to run into someone first. On her last ship, this would have been the size of one of the shuttle bays, it was just that big! She found the room without a problem, but rather than sit on the bed to wait, decided to look around it, better to keep herself occupied.

It took a few minutes for the doctor to come in, but when he did it was a tall chestnut haired man with silvering at his temples. "Good morning Commander, Dr Byrne, but please call me Aaron.".

Victoria's head turned sharply, as she'd been looking over one of the consoles connected to a screen that no doubt would show the entire body and anything the scanners found in detail. She smiled softly at him, "Good morning Aaron, but if you want me to call you that, you'd better be willing to call me Victoria." She extended her hand to him, "Victoria Aries, the new Chief Engineer aboard." She pronounced it 'Uh-Rye-ess', rather than like the Greek god of war, "It's a pleasure to meet you... This place quite frankly amazing!"

"It sure is Victoria. Most advanced medical bay I've ever had the pleasure working in. I'm glad that Chief Thomas brought me along for the ride." He grinned at her, with a cheerfulness that was almost infectious.

"So, having gotten on board oh.... About three hours ago, dropping everything off in my luxury suite that they call quarters; Meeting my SEVEN, count 'em seven senior officers who head subdepartments in my section, greeting the Captain... What do I need to do here?" Victoria chuckled at just how things had been thrown at her, "I'm guessing there's some brand new scanner that'll tell me what the weather was like when I was born and what the astronomical sign of my next date will be?"

"If you tell us your preferences I have a nurse who could probably set you up with anyone."

She laughed, wagging a finger at him, "All right, I like you!" Victoria shook her head slowly, "But I may have to keep that in mind, just in case." She winked at him.

He laughed as well, turning back to her with a scanner in his hand. "Why don't you hop up on the bed so I can get the basics out of the way."

With a hop and a shuffle backwards, Victoria landed on bed and unzipped her uniform jacket just in case it would be in the way. Given Engineering's potential for danger, it was rather reinforced for fire and reduced penetration. She'd honestly never tried to scan it before to see if it would somewhat block things and now she actually wondered. "I'm sure you've seen my medical history, nothing too major since I joined the Fleet, always been patched up just right. But let me warn you, Tzenkethi particle beams do sting."

"I've never had the pleasure so I will have to take your word for it. I have not reviewed your file. Dr. Thomas likes to review the senior officers and I am sure she'll read yours as soon as she is able. "

"I don't recommend it." She hiked up her right leg and rolled down the stocking until she came on a blemish about four inches above the knee, "Through and through, made a neat little hole all the way through the leg, didn't even realize it for a few minutes, twas a busy time that was."

"Impressive" he murmerred, nodding his head sagely "I can't say that I would enjoy such a thing, so I shall indeed try to avoid it."

"I didn't enjoy it myself." Victoria agreed, rolling the stocking back up and smoothing it down, "But you were about to scan me, no?"

"I was. Then you had to go an distract me with your stockings and the tale of war." his eyes twinkled at her as he teased her lightly. The scanner in his hand flipped between his fingers and a blue light began to pulsate.

She giggled, "Sorry about that, it's been so much of my past four years and this injury was only a few months ago. I've spent most of the last two months just putting Aspirant back together enough to ensure getting back to Earth for an absolutely massive overhaul. Kept her in the fight, though, and that was a task. But I'll shuddup and let you do your thing!"

Aaron chuckled again, and ran the scanner expertly over her body. He wagered that it wouldn't be long before she noticed something else and was no longer shutting up.

And he was right because she stayed quiet for about half a minute, "So, you're probably wondering about some of the extra calcification on my bones? That's probably from when I used to play hockey professionally, well that and as an amateur. Kinda get hit hard at times and it really does force your bones to get stronger."

He had to exert an iron control of his face as he fought back a smirk at his assessment of her being spot on. "They're not so far out of spec that I was really wondering about them, but I appreciate the explanation. What team did you play for?"

"Hartford Wolfpack, undrafted but technically in the New York Islanders pipeline." She smiled widely, "I didn't want to play with the other girls, so I went and played with the boys and did a fair job overall. if I dare say so. At least that first full season I did, second season everything really sucked and I was all but benched.. Told I'd never make it and I would find it hard to be signed after the season was over. So I went and joined the Fleet, enlisted after I failed the Academy entrance exam."

"Well, their loss is our gain." He commented quietly the ghost of a smile returning to his lips. "Now do you still follow the professional leagues?

"Sharks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals this year." Victoria grinned, despite it being early in the season back on Earth, "They've got a killer three line attack and their defense is solid, especially with one of my brothers playing for them." Her eyes lit with excitement, "It'll be a tough year, the Stars are going to meet 'em in the Conference Finals, but the Sharks'll go. Eastern Conference is weak this year."

"I'll enjoy seeing if that prediction is true " he chuckled at her enthusiasm and looked to her scan results. "You get much sun or full spectrum light?"

"Let's see... I'm an engineer, so I'd be far more likely to have mushrooms growing on me than be getting enough light." Victoria laughed, "But no mushrooms as of yet either. Definitely not enough natural sunlight for sure, weren't been enough away missions in general on Aspirant, much less enough that required someone like me to be on them. As for full spectrum? Highly doubt it, if I'm being honest."

"Alright. You either need to start doing so, or add a vitamin D supplement to your diet. Light is better honestly as you metabolize that better, but your vitamin D level is quite low."

"Hmm..." Victoria mused, "I can try to get some more of that, might have to adjust some of the engineering lighting to do it properly. But I'll add a supplement as well, just to make sure... You can't overdose on vitamin D, can you?"

"It's water soluble, so no...technically not." He chuckled softly and shook his head.

"Good, then I can just slate myself to take it with every meal and if I forget it here and there, it won't hurt me and if I DO remember it every time, it won't kill me!" Victoria said cheerfully, "Well, when I actually sit down for meals and not just munch on things here and there."

"I do the same sometimes. Come back in, lets say 2 weeks and we'll scan your levels again. See if it was effective."

"I think I can do that." She wiggled off the bed, then smoothed the skirt down as she landed on her feet, "Assuming of course that I've survived another two weeks in this job, but I've gotten good at dodging falling pieces of machinery and armor plating, so I think I'll make it."

"Clever that. Try to maintain that track record, and I'll see you in two weeks".

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