A Patient En Route Home

Posted on Sunday, 2 May 2021 - 1:09pm by Lieutenant Scarlet Rogers & Ensign Oriana Skye Sety

Mission: Operation: Peace or P'Jem
Location: Starbase 21 | Medical Bay
Timeline: 2394

ON:

Scarlet was done for the day, she only had one more OR to update and then she'd be off on leave until the Standing Bear got there. Gawd she was excited. Humming to herself in a non-committal way, she walked down the corridor from the OR and through to recovery.

She paused a moment and walked backwards, double taking who was in recovery. Scarlet washed her hands properly at a nearby station, getting off the majority of oil on them, though her uniform and toolkit were still mucky. "Hi, what are you doing here?" Rogers asked quietly, stepping in.

Oriana opened her eyes at the visitor's voice. "Scarlet! How are you? They said a heart defect...apparently I had it as a child and it got worse."

"I wonder if they used OR 3, that's got the new upgrades in there. Would make cardiac surgery amazing. I'll have to ask," Scarlet thought out loud before returning to conversation, "at least they caught it though and they've fixed it, right? Groggy today but awesome tomorrow. Or next week."

She smiled, "Yes doctor said everything went fine. I'm feeling a lot better. Two days and then I can go home."

"In that case, I'll see you tomorrow too. I'm just finishing off in OR 6," Scarlet smiled, "I'll pop my head round and make sure you're OK. If I don't get engrossed, I'll grab lunch and eat with you too." Scarlet took a seat next to the bed.

Oriana smiled. "That will be nice. I have to heal fast, they found a place for me. My ship will be here soon."

"That's awesome," Scarlet replied, "what ship are you abandoning here for?"

"USS Standing Bear. Sounds regal."

Scarlet squealed a little, "well, that means you may be abandoning here, but you're not abandoning me!"

Oriana's eyes brightened. "Really? You are heading there too? To be with your handsome prince?"

Scarlet nodded, "I got the PhD, so I start as soon as I'm on a ship. I said to Ryan that I could choose the ship and I didn't even have to give options, he just went 'the Standing Bear'." Scarlet blushed a little, "he's the CMO on board, so I guess he'll be stuck with me, in person for at least a year or four."

Oriana smiled, "The hand of fate pulls you two closers. That's wonderful."

Scarlet smiled, blushing even more, "who knows, he may actually love me. You should have seen him. He didn't hesitate at all. He practically interrupted me." She looked to Oriana, "it'll be nice to have a friendly face there too. I'm so glad that fate even brought us together."

She smiled, "Me too." She truly was looking forward to this new assignment. "I hear that it's an amazing little ship."

"Ryan has been on it for a few years, I think. I'd imagine he wouldn't stay if it wasn't great," Scarlet offered, "I know it's quite small, but it does some interesting voyages, or at least they do voyages that are perfect for my study."

She smiled, “Then we're off on a new adventure."

"That we are," Scarlet agreed, "I've only been on a handful of ships, and they were all docked. I've always kept my feet on Earth. Then mini promotion, I was put on bases for the past few months, but now a ship. I'm so nervous. Those things are safe, right? They must be."

She smiled, “They are safe. I promise. I'm so excited that we'll be on the same ship."

"Any words of wisdom for being on a ship for this planet lover?" Scarlet asked somewhat playfully. This said, she was deadly serious. She'd heard Ryan's advice, but she wanted to know if it was the same advice she'd get from others.

"Just enjoy ever minute. This will be the first time on a starship too," Oriana confessed.

Scarlet nodded, "Ryan said that I should take every opportunity I can to use the holo and to go planet side. Apparently, it stops you getting cabin fever."

"Oh...I don't know. Sometimes the world below holds nothing for you. Just think how special it is to fly within the blanket of the stars."

Scarlet considered Oriana's words. It wasn't something she'd considered before. "I guess most people join Starfleet for the adventure and to see the jewels from the darkness," she agreed, "well, if you see me running around the ship like a headless chicken, it's either because I've had a break through in research, or I've gone stir crazy. Either way, don't throw me out of an airlock -- oh and I promise I won't install elevator music in the turbo lifts, but I can't promise I won't hum the tunes."

Oriana laughed. "Yeah...I really don't do well being in lifts. That's part of the reason I wound up here."

Scarlet chuckled, "got stuck in one or just freaked out in one?"

She grinned, “Both. If it wasn't for Hamura I wouldn't have completely freaked out. We were stuck for a good half hour and in that half hour I had the mother of all panic attacks."

"Oh gawd," Scarlet was horrified. Whilst she didn't mind lifts, being stuck in one sounded like her worst nightmare. She then paused, "wait... Hamura... Tall blonde and intensely flirty?"

"Yup. He came on a deck after me and the lift just stopped! He really helped me through it and stayed with me after...he noticed how unwell I looked and brought me in."

Scarlet chuckled and teased, "being that he's in engineering, I hope he wasn't the cause of the stop. That would be an intense chat up line-- you the damsel in distress, him, your superman."

She laughed. "Actually...I did that already. I pulled the plug, sort of, in the Arboretum last week and ensured he kind of was sent to fix it...by bribing he chief engineer with whisky."

Scarlet looked to Oriana as if to say 'seriously?!' but it was not malicious, it was entertained," sounds like a cheesy romcom. It work out?"

She smiled, “We had lunch. It was nice."

"Oh, come on," Scarlet grinned, "you cannot tell me you did something like that and just say 'oh it was nice'. Come on!"

She laughed. "I learned a lot about him, but he is still a mystery to me. It was really nice. I didn't feel so lonely." She confessed.

"Will he be shipping out too, do you know?" Scarlet asked.

"Not that I know. He's been assigned to the station. To be honest I haven't seen him since I woke up from the surgery. The doctor says he was here the whole time."

Scarlet nodded, "never know, he may be back and if he's not, I can always reconfigure the air vent about you."

She smiled. "So, you are now a doctor?"

Scarlet shook her head, "no, after four years of solid research and writing a huge thesis, I'll be a doctor."

"Well if you need any help. I used to love writing essays."

Scarlet waived her off, "Don't worry. I got it. Either way, I won't torture you with all the jargon. Unless you find yourself struggling to sleep."

Oriana laughed. "I should be alright with sleeping." She sighed. "Ugh, I can't believe Hamura stayed here during the surgery. I made an ass of myself in the lift crying and carrying on."

"It's sweet," Scarlet replied looking over, "you should call him after all this. I still think he'll come back to check on you."

"I hope so. It's stupid but I feel...like I know Hamura. I don't mean now we just met but it's like I knew him in another life. Weird huh?"

"I don't know," Scarlet replied, "there are many species with these stories and even Earth mythology that claims that all couples were forged from the same stone, then separated-- destined to find each other."

She smiled, "You, my friend, are a hopeless romantic like me."

"I grew up on superhero movies," Scarlet shrugged, "with the exception of always wanting to be Wonder Woman, I had dreams of being the damsel in distress. Just the woman the superhero falls for. I just want to be swept off my feet and kept safe. If I get a few romantic dinners, maybe a dance under the moonlight, surprise gifts or a sunset stroll on the beach, as a compromise, I won't complain." Scarlet's cheeks went very much a semblance of her name.

Oriana smiled reaching out to take her friend's hand. "I'm the same way. Nothing to feel embarrassed about."

Scarlet smiled at the contact, "thanks. It does mean that all relationships we have never seem to be as good as the fantasy, with a few exceptions of course. Ryan sent me surprise flowers. Even on my birthday he sent me a gift and then the dates in person that we had during those two weeks, all were so romantic and our first kiss was - - the stuff from movies." She sighed happily.

Oriana grinned. "Well, I can't wait to meet him. I'm really happy for you."

"I'm sure you'll meet him quite quickly since he's the CMO," she replied, "I'm looking forward to meeting the EMH. I hear he's fascinating."

She smiled. "Well hopefully the ship will be here soon."

Scarlet nodded, chuckling, "hopefully not too soon, I need to finish the OR's upgrades." She then stood up, "anyway, I'll let you rest. I'll pop my head round tomorrow if you're awake."

She smiled. "Alright. I'll see you later then."

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