A Welcome Arrival

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 4:12am by Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Machwen Adaestron
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 7:33am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Shortly after "Candle in the Wind"

ON

The scrape on Mindo's elbow hurt more than the bump on his head, for some reason. Having been a passenger on the runabout during the recent skirmish, Mindo was currently in sickbay on his new assignment, the USS Pandora, being checked for a concussion. He had gotten dizzy climbing up on the table, his leg apparatus which allowed him to hover above his usual three-foot-plus height were in his bag rather than on his legs. Mindo hadn't intended on putting them on until he was on duty. He sat on the table and smiled politely at a young nurse who was carrying gel packets to another patient. Most others were noticeably worse off than Mindo, but the young Feserian was having trouble with his vision, so perhaps taking a look at the damage could wait until he could see straight again.

Just then Mindo noticed a medical officer approaching.

"Lieutenant Mindo," Machwen Adaestron, the Chief Medical Officer, said as he walked up to the table that Mindo was sitting, "what have you managed to do?"

Mindo rubbed his head. "Just a little bump," he said. "Oh, and a scrape. By the looks of it I ended up the lucky one, though the room is spinning and I can see two of you."

Machwen tapped a few keys on his tricorder, before holding his finger out in front of Mindo, "Could you touch my finger and then your nose as fast as you can, and then say the months of the year in reverse order?"

Mindo had trouble finding the doctor's finger at first, but he got himself literally right on the nose. He then recited, "December, November..." he thought for a second, "October, September..."

"That's enough," Machwen told Mindo, "I don't think you have a concussion, but if you vomit, fall unconscious, or anything else like that happens, come straight back here. I'd like you to remain here until your vision returns to normal, though."

"Can I drink?" asked Mindo, reaching into his bag and pulling out a half-empty bottle of Saurian whiskey.

It was about that time that the doors to sickbay swished open and in walked one of their 'regulars', Shae Brennan. Recognizing what Shae came for, a nurse acknowledged her with a nod then went off to fetch a certain someone for her, a Nurse Davies who was currently in one of the Medical labs with Aoife. Shae paced near the door while she waited for Nurse Davies to appear with her daughter, and in that time she was able to take notice of a certain familiar face interacting with the doctor.

"Mindo?" Shae said with clear surprise, approaching the biobed where Mindo was being treated. "Stars above, what are you doing here?!" she continued, a smile growing on her face.

Mindo had to squint to make sure he was really seeing who he thought he was seeing. "Shae?" he said, still not sure if it was her.

"Aye," Shae replied with a bit of hesitation as she watched him trying to squint to see better. "Did you get a bit knocked around in the shuttle?" she asked, enveloping him in a welcoming hug.

"Doc says it's a concussion," said Mindo, returning the hug. "Doesn't hurt too bad. But what are *you* doing here?"

"Oh, just checking on the little one; Aoife's nurse has her in here for some physical therapy, but she has a bit of separation anxiety, and after the scuffle I thought it best to make sure she was doing alright," Shae explained softly, then cast an apologetic glance to Machwen when she realized he was still there. "Och, I'm so sorry! Here I am chatting away and you two were probably in the middle of an exam!"

"Not to worry, Dr Brennan, I had just finished up here. I'd like him to stay until his vision has returned to normal, however." Machwen told Brennan, "Would you like some privacy?"

"Oh no, I can't linger here too long, I just came to check in on- there she is!" Shae replied just as Aoife came out in the arms of her caretaker, eagerly thrusting her arms out towards her mother. "Oooh, I think I'm going to have to finish my shift in my office now," Shae added with a giggle as she took Aoife from Nurse Davies. "Mindo, do let me know once you're out of Sickbay, we can have dinner," she then offered with a warm smile while Aoife clung nervously to her duty jacket.

Mindo smiled. "I would like that." He turned back to the doctor. "I think my head is clearing up," he said. "I'd like to get to my station, if that's all right with you."

"That's fine, as long as you inform me if you experience any of those symptoms," Machwen replied, "Would you like me to..." he trailed off, not wanting to offend Mindo.

"To what, doc?" asked Mindo.

Machwen took a moment to reply, "I was wondering if you needed any assistance to, well, to get down,"

Shae giggled. "He's short, not an invalid, Doctor," Shae said with some amusement, extending her free hand to help Mindo down; either he would need the help and take her hand or he wouldn't, but best not to make a big deal of it. "I can walk him to Engineering to make sure he gets there safely. Although, perhaps we should make a quick stop to get his assistance device; since you're not wearing them, I'm going to guess you stowed your LEGs as Cargo for travel, so Cargo Bay first?" she continued, the last bit directed at Mindo.

Blushing, Mindo looked back and forth at the two of them. He then pushed himself off the bed and landed on his own feet. Still holding the whiskey, he took a drink and picked up his bag.

"Uh, better make it Cargo Bay first," he said. Then, to Machwen, "Thanks for the help, doc. I think I can take it from here." He glanced up at Shae. "Shall we?"

"Yes, let's go," Shae said with a smile. She then turned to Nurse Davies and handed Aoife to her. "Take her to my office, I'll be there shortly," she said. Aoife protested this action with an abundance of little whimpers, to which Shae responded by giving one of Aoife's furry ears a rub. "Don't worry, little one, I'll be back in a moment," she said, which appeased the child for a moment, long enough for Nurse Davies to depart.

"You know, you shouldn't be drinking if you're about to go on duty," Shae pointed out as she started walking along side Mindo, leading the way to the Cargo Bay.

"If I don't drink, I get sick," said Mindo. "It's a Feserian thing."

"Right, sorry, I forgot," Shae replied as they walked. "So... I take it things didn't work out so well with the new CO on Tornado?" she said, mindful of the people in the corridors that might overhear their conversation.

Mindo smiled slightly. "Not exactly. I think he was the reason I was reassigned. He didn't like me much. The feeling was definitely mutual."

"I get the feeling he didn't much like anyone," Shae remarked. "I never met him, I just got a glimpse of him and I immediately knew I wouldn't be safe, but I was still so afraid to leave that Cailus had to convince me to go. In fact, he's the one that got us this transfer; apparently, he has some surviving family and they were in a position to help us out. But it was well worth it! The Captain is very approachable if you need to discuss anything," she continued, again choosing her words carefully so as not to give anything away to complete strangers.

Mindo nodded, though he was lost in thought. The mention of Cailus struck a chord, but he didn't want to go into it at that moment.

As they approached the Cargo Bay doors, which were open as new crew filed in and out, Mindo smiled and turned to Shae and said, "Thanks for the help. It's good to know I have friends here."

"Indeed," Shae agreed with a smile; she had been so busy since arriving on the Pandora, she really hadn't had much time for socializing, so it was nice having a familiar face on board now. "Have you got it from here? I really don't mind walking with you to Engineering," she offered.

Mindo smiled at her offer. Finding his other bag, Mindo zipped it open and pulled out his leg apparatus. Putting it on, he said, "I wouldn't mind the company." He stood and activated his LEGs, hovering to eye level with Shae. "So," he said as they began to walk out of the bay, "does Cailus know I'm here?" He hoped she didn't detect the great level of caution in his question, and tried to put as friendly a tone in it as possible.

His tone was friendly, almost too friendly, trying hard to cover the strain of tension, and she could hear a momentary uptake in his heart rate; Shae was a good Listener, she knew what this meant, but she chose not to comment on it. "Well I didn't know until I saw you, so I doubt he's aware just yet!" Shae replied in a jovial tone. "You know, we should do dinner sometime. Tonight and tomorrow are pretty well booked for me, but I can save some time for the day after," she offered, leaving it opened ended as to whether or not Cailus would be there.

She didn't fool Mindo. The way she asked, he realized Cailus might be absent from only that sentence. But he played along anyway. "I'll have to see what Engineering is up to. If the damage is bad I may be busy for a while." Mindo thought that was a good enough answer, but he chose to leave the door open, saying, "I think I can make it happen, though. We do need to catch up." He smiled at Shae.

"Definitely," Shae affirmed with a smile, and she decided right then that she would leave Cailus out of these dinner plans until she could uncover why Mindo seemed so tense at the very mention of Cailus. "I'm really glad you're here, Mindo. I was worried about you, especially after what I discovered..." she said wistfully. "And I regretted not being able to return to say a proper goodbye to everyone."

"That was definitely unexpected," said Mindo. "What happened? If I'm not being too personal..."

"Well, we were on shore leave when Cailus called in a personal favor, and you know how transfers go, once they're approved you don't always have time to mill about," Shae replied with a shrug. "Oh, and Earth was lovely, by the way! I missed my family so much, it felt so good to see them again!" she added with excitement. "I just wish we could have stayed longer..."

"Earth is a beautiful planet," said Mindo. "As for family, mine are either dead or my sworn enemies. A few are both. Feseria is a great planet to look at, but the inhabitants, particularly Eloi-Feserians, are not always the kindest people. I think that's why I don't have a lot of friends. I left, but I'm still one of them."

"Well I like you just fine, so at the very least you've got me," Shae asserted cheerfully. "I was protecting my family; like you, I've got this darkness following me, like a shadow, and I loved my family too much to let that shadow hurt them. I hadn't seen them since the Dominion War, hadn't even talked to them until... well, until just recently I suppose you could easily guess, so going home was well overdue and really quite wonderful," she explained. "But had I known that Cailus was going to convince me to leave Tornado or that the transfer would come in so quickly, I certainly would have said a proper goodbye before I left."

Mindo shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter now. I'm here!"

"Indeed you are," Shae replied with her warm and gentle smile. "Anyway, we're almost to Engineering, right? I hope so, I really should be getting back to my department," she added. Though she had immensely enjoyed the chance to catch up with Mindo! She was definitely looking forward to dinner where she could hear more about what had been going on with him and all their other friends from the Tornado.

They stopped and Mindo said, "Yep, this is my stop. It was great to see you again. We'll get together soon." He gave her hand a little squeeze and smiled.

Shae leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll contact you later to set a date for that dinner," she said, giving his hand a squeeze in return. "Later!" she added, then pulled away to return to her department.

Mindo smiled and headed into Engineering.

OFF