Once Around a Sun

Posted on Tue May 9th, 2023 @ 11:42am by Ensign Edg'rrr Anisu

2,372 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 116 - "A Bounty of Trust"
Location: Starbase 400, level 700
Timeline: MD1, 0328 hrs
Tags: Edg'rrr, Avery, Med Bay

Edg'rrr made his way to the med bay trying to keep his calm through clenched fists and tears. It had been a long week with his assignments ranging from down in some Jeffries tube fixing a random conduit to scrubbing a few air ducts near a purifier station. He was beginning to question if any of this mattered.
Then again, his upsetting might've also had something to do with the countless rejections over the year about entry into the Corp of Engineers, and it finally hit him. He arrived at the doors to the med bay straightening himself up and pulling his shirt down to fix any wrinkles. He knew the relatively new doctor was here but walking in he didn't see her immediately, nor much of anyone else. "Hello?" He called out.

Avery was at her station working on a new set of equipment when the door opened to the sound of an annoyed patient. "Yes come in, what can I do for you today?" She said as the door shuts behind the new patient. "I apologize for the emptiness of this place. I'm trying to get settled in as I'm used to the sickbay on my ship."

He looked around and saw the half Caitian woman sitting at the desk. He recalled the first time meeting her as she walked off the USS Sutherland. It wasn't the best first impression he could've given. It still made his stomach uneasy to this day in fact. "Just uh, would like to talk to, ugh, I don't know. Maybe I should go if you're busy." Said Edg'rrr as his ears drooped with his tail curled around a leg.

Avery puts the equipment down and grabs her medical tricorder. "I'd appreciate the company, have a seat on biobed one. What's bothering you?" She says as the walks to greet the new patient. "I recognize you from the Sutherland, Edg'rrr is it? I'm Avery Ivanova. Nice to meet you."

He complied sitting down on one of the beds as she checked him over. "What isn't bothering me you mean." He gave some thoughts on his next words. Still fighting the uneasiness near her. "I'm sorry, yeah I'm Edg'rrr Anisu, your local scrub ensign wasting away in the bowels of the station." He chuckled a little. "If the Borg attacked even they wouldn't notice me."

Avery looked puzzled even making confused noises. "What do you mean? Are you injured?" She asked.

He didn't quite know how to respond. "Not physically. Guessing it's more phycological." He said as some other thoughts entered his mind as his ears perked up a bit. "About a year ago I started to apply for the Corp of Engineers. I want to design starships one day. Maybe help make them safer in case they get lost on the other side of the universe or something." His expression faded slightly. "Hasn't worked out yet as you can see."

She looked more understanding. "Ah I see. Well what can i do for you? Do you want a mild sedative to ease your tension?" She said glancing at the newly installed medical replicator. "If you'd like I can contact your counselor and have them come in to see you."

He shook his head. "I feel what I need is just someone else to talk to. Like actually talk to." He thought back to a year ago beginning spout a few of the events leading here. "Never been good making friends and those I have met thus far I haven't really heard back from." He recounted a time he heard some criminal was running from deck to deck as Xalnath and others pursued them. "There was hacker or something, running from deck to deck, evading security, locking doors, everything. Whoever this guy was probably had more issues than me if a huge red lizard guy is chasing you. Anyway, I happen to have one of my experimental pistols on me. Designed to pretty much stun anyone it hit.
So knowing they were running towards an area I was working, installing a wall panel I think, the guy runs past me and I fired." He lowered his head. "I forgot I put the setting on maximum. The guy went flying into a wall at the far end of the corridor. Xalnath looked puzzled walking up next to me as his team helped the passed out crook. They hit the wall and took a week to wake back up. All I could do was remain in the pose I had while firing as every hair in my fur was poofed out in every direction. He thought I might've turned into a new species. That took a month to get to normal. Haven't heard from him since though."

"I see, well I can be your friend. It takes a lot for me to get angry as I'm an experimental species. I look human but I have cat ears and tail. And of course claws."

He smiled as more of that nervousness built up. "Thanks, and I noticed." He relaxed a little noticing her twitch somewhat playfully. A calming trick on Cait he recalled. "I know about another who at least spoke to me. Lieutenant junoir grade Deezell Vox, acting captain of the USS Cushing last I knew. I was supposed to work on it around the time the USS Tikhov departed. Higher ups said no and put me on other projects well away from any ships. Last time I saw her though she and some other senior officers were fighting off some sehlats that got loose. One of which wanted to chase me through half the station before she sedated it. Heard someone mentioned they never knew a Caitian could yell like that!" Edg'rrr laughed a bit thinking back. "Peek Starfleet material right here!"

Avery laughed so hard at that she nearly passed out. "Oh dear I haven't laughed like that since my academy years back in Japan. I absolutely needed that so much. Our counterparts yell like that as a sort of distress call to others." She regained her breath. "I'll tell you what, you swing by sickbay any time you feel down, bored or just need a chat I'm here most of the time. More than likely I'll be here at night as I'm nocturnal."

He smiled hopping off the bed. "Thank you. The only other person I've had to talk to is Courage. He usually tries to get me going and get out of the whole "introvert" rut." He looked at her as she appeared puzzled. "He's a friend who saved my life on the orbital station I grew up on. Long story short I wasn't popular with the other kids. Probably a reason why I'm the way I am now."
Said Edg'rrr looking at her as somethign else clicked into his mind. "Oh, and I need to ask if a particular Andorian captain and her human shipmate might be in the records. They visited about a year ago when the USS Tikhov departed. I tried looking them up myself even talking to Admiral Bremer." He shuffled a bit. "Where I don't know if you've met him or not yet but he's a bit intimidating. The only things he said to me were 'What is it ensign's and 'no'.
With that I feel the conversation went as well as one could get it." His mind raced for a moment trying to remember something else.

She looks confused. "Do you mean medical logs? I can't give those out without authorization from the Admiralty or myself."

He shook his head. "No, not medical, just something to prove they existed because no matter who I tried to ask or what I tried to look up I reach dead ends. It's like they visited me, got excited, used false names, then left. It's weirded me out as much as when I got in trouble at the academy. They didn't punish me but I never saw black colored badges before then." He tried thinking for a moment more. "I only vaguely recall the names they used though. Etheyya and Boroson I think."

Avery looked suprised. "Section 31? Starfleet intelligence? Those rat bastards. Speaking of rats I'm going to cook one later, want some?" She asked looking at her computer Console.

He chuckled. "Uh, no thank you I just ate awhile ago. I honestly don't believe they were the Section 31 boogeymen. I happen to know they faded out around the time of the Dominion War." He began to take his leave on that. Cheerier than when he arrived. "Probably just some instructors to intimidate me after I found a few things I probably shouldn't have. Anyway, I am feeling a lot better so, thank you and hope we chat like this again soon." Said Edg'rrr as he turned and left out the main doors.

Avery thanks Edg'rrr for coming in, then walks to the computer console.
"Computer, connect a secure data link to my last contact, authorization code Worf 3-7 Gamma Echo." Avery spends the next hour reading where she left off. As Edg'rrr walked down the door he recalled that day.

One year ago, before the departure of the USS Tikhov.

Edg'rrr looks closely at a model of a Crossfield class ship. The triangular design of the secondary hull always truck him as an odd choice for a ship. Even knowing about the other two ship designs like it. It was a long day though with much of what happened still processing. "We may get more done if you get up." Said Courage as Edg'rrr snapped out of his trance.

"Sorry. It was just a very long day." Said Edg'rrr setting the model down on a table. "Eh, crossfield class ships. Designed with the spore drive in mind but only the USS Glenn and USS Discovery had them. Poof from one corner of the galaxy to another via mushrooms. Unless the rumors of those 'Elachi' ships are true." He paused thinking more about the subject. "Wait, if they had it too, does that mean there are mushroom people in the mushroom dimension?!" Courage didn't respond but got some cooking equipment out.

"I'm not sure however what I am sure of is that you haven't eaten anything yet." Said Courage as Edg'rrr blinked before walking over to the replicator. He gathered ground meat, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bread, and a few sauces before returning to Courage. Tweaking the odd device he managed to get it working. Walking over to another drawer he took out a spatula before returning.

"Right. Time to finally get that cheeseburger ready then. Plus you that stuff you like so much." Said Edg'rrr as a chime came from his door. He paused walking over and opening it only to see a tall female andorian and a male human standing before him. "May I help you?"

"Oh, hello! We were in the area for the launch of the Tikhov." Said the Andorian as the human shook his head while Edg'rrr raised an eyebrow.

"We are on the station for the launch of the seed ship. Here to check if everything is going alright among the crew. Especially the new arrivals." Said the man looking past Edg'rrr at the DOT-7 moving among the room who glanced back.

"Right, that, shoot." Said the andorian looking overly excited about something.

"Fine as can be. It's just been a long first work day. If the higher ups need to find out what I did, I did file my report about an hour ago." Said Edg'rrr as the two looked somewhat confused.

"No, no, um, it's just a regular check up on someone who is still new here! We know first days can be hard, trust us on that one, but I suspect the work you did will help out with many things moving forward." Said the andorian as the man looked down at a device she was holding by her leg.

"I'm sorry, what are your," Edg'rrr was cut off before he could fully ask as the two looked at each other briefly.

"I'm Eth...eyya and this is, is," said Etheyya looking to her partner.

"Boroson." Said Boroson as Edg'rrr raised an eyebrow but he was too tired to focus right at the moment.

"Yeah, I'm fine, ship should depart later on as I've heard they got a lot of what they needed ready. Though you would probably see it better from the promenade instead of the crew quarters. Especially where us lower deckers reside hehe." Said Edg'rrr laughing as they did as well.

"Well we shall not bother you anymore. Just hoping you'll keep with it." Said Etheyya smiling before the two began to walk away. "Nice to meet you Ensign Anisu!" He waved and returned to his room. After cooking his hamburgers he sat at the desk just after turning off the equipment.

"Went from playing games to working on that comm array to eating hamburgers." Said Edg'rrr processing everything that happened.

"Anything else happen?" Asked Courage as Edg'rrr thought for a moment.

"Sent the design proposal and a resume to the Corp of Engineers so hopefully that goes well. Oh I also have that strange communication signal on a padd somewhere. It's a weird one though. Got it in the bowels of the system that I think is from the anomaly. It's strange too. Strange strange, okay okay, but listen. I heard things from a few ships. One from the battle of Wolf Three Five Nine even." He took a bite of his burger thinking things over before stopping. He realized he never told those two people his name. Later far away yet closer than you would think a figure gets out of bed as a male orion and female caitian still sleep in it. Getting washed and dressed he raised a hand as the orion and caitian woke up immediately fighting with each other. Before leaving the room the caitian stood over the legs of the other as the figure put on there helmet.

"You'll receive your new orders soon." Said the figure in a distorted voice as the caitian stood at attention. As the doors to the room closed the insignia of the Terran Empire was carved into it.

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