06-18-2024, 06:40 PM
== Several days later ==
"Robin! How are you, sweety?!?'
Aunt Katerina barely waited for Robin to rematerialize before sweeping the tiny young woman up in a massive hug. Several others who had appeared at the same time laughed at her surprised look, but before the purple-haired young woman could say anything the transporter technician called out "Clear the pad, please." Evidently this sort of thing was common enough that the man said it with a rather bored tone of voice. Katy released Robin and they both stepped down. The nurse put her Artemis-logo duffel bag down. She was still in uniform and hadn't wanted to change until she got to Earth proper.
The transporter 'facility' wasn't much. The room reminded Robin of an old airport, decorated in earth tones with a lot of wood. There was an obvious intent to make the small round room look countrified, with a painting of an oak forest (complete with deer) along the wall behind the pad. The consoles and control panels were all done in wood. The equipment was clearly old, but kept in working condition. The nurse wondered if the pad was old Starfleet equipment. It looked like something out of a Constitution-class ship, and she wouldn't have been a bit surprised to find out it was. It only made sense, after all, to reuse 'obsolete' equipment, and such things were common on her colony world.
"I'm good, Aunt Katy. It's great to see you." Katy was as different from Robin's mother as night and day. Sonja Donovan was a small woman... Katy was not. She was over six feet tall, fit and muscular. If anything Robin was reminded of Mara back on the Artemis, though the Security officer was larger (and likely much stronger) than Katerina.
"Have you eaten, Robin?" It was a traditional greeting among the people of Iota Tau, and though Katy had been away for decades she hadn't lost that touch of home.
"Not for a while," she said with a slight smile. Robin wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't seen her aunt since she was a child, and didn't have any memory of this woman at all, not even a feeling of familiarity. She felt awkward. But she was hungry... but that was nothing new. She'd had some breakfast on Spacedock, but that was hours ago.
"All right, first things first then." She motioned Robin towards the large set of doors leading out of the transporter facility. It was clear to the medic as she exited that the personnel transporter was only part of it. There was a much larger building to the north, much more spartan. That was likely the industrial transporter building. A small town like this might need three or four pads for people, but it would have facilities for moving cargo. This was still very much a farming community, nestled in a valley in the West Virginia mountains, and a lot of people preferred non-replicated food.
"There's a great Tex-Mex place about a block away. The food is amazing, but the salsa and chips are flat-out the best in the whole region." Katy was definitely a relative. Robin's obsession with food didn't come solely from her engineered genes... her entire family loved nothing more than to talk about eating.
"Sounds great. We mostly have replicated food in Starfleet, and it's OK, but I can taste the difference."
'Tijuana Tony's' turned out to be a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with only six tables and a small bar. The lunch crowd was just arriving and the two women secured a high-top before the rest filled up. The tortilla chips were fresh, and Katy wasn't lying about the salsa. It was literally the best Robin had ever had. She practically inhaled what was brought even before the server appeared.
"So look, Robin, what can you talk about?" Katy clearly didn't want to beat around the bush, and she wanted to get the difficult conversations out of the way first. "Like your mother said you've definitely been going through the wringer. She told me all about what you do. Chief Medical Officer of the Artemis. That's... well, it's amazing, especially at your age. But is it too much stress? Age brings not just wisdom, but experience... and emotional armor."
Robin swallowed the chip she'd been munching on. "No, it's not the job. Honestly I think I'm pretty good at it. It's mostly organizational and leadership. Make sure the department is running smoothly, make sure we're ready for a crisis, and keep a bunch of egotistical doctors from killing each other. And since my department is mostly filled with newbies, I mean even newer than me, I've mostly been able to keep the medics under control."
Except that we haven't really been tested in an actual crisis. Everyone can do their job when the ship's cruising at warp 5. The question is how it'll go when there are multiple holes punched in the hull and we've got enemy boarding parties... and the medics will still have to keep patching up the wounded. I hope we're ready, because that day will come.
Katy nodded. "So what is it?"
"It's the away missions I've been on. Each one, well, I feel like I'm leaving a part of my soul behind. I'm 27 and I've seen more death in the last couple years than most people see in their entire lifetimes. And Starfleet just keeps sending us on missions we're not trained for. I just feel sometimes that I'm turning into the cynical medic I've always despised."
Katy fixed her with a look. "So stop complaining and quit."
Robin felt a flash of anger. This woman may be her aunt, but she didn't know her, and... and she felt the anger fade away. She was right. This was the job Robin had signed up for. Had fought for. Had earned. Of course it was stressful. Of course it was sometimes ugly and dangerous. Of course Starfleet didn't know what it was doing half the time. How could it? The whole point of Starfleet was that it was there to solve whatever was thrown at it. Unknown worlds, weird anomalies, enemies of the Federation. It all had to be figured out. The brass screwed up a lot, but was there a field where that wasn't true?
You improvised, and you adapted, and you fixed the goddamned problem. And there were going to be times you took the 'L.' In the last mission the team had performed very well, despite being at each other's' throats half the time. The biggest loss had been the death of D'Mar and Chief Elias' inexplicable decision to confess to the cloaking device. But the team had handled the Callisto debacle professionally. Starfleet may have been looking to hang Tyra Crawford up by her pips, but they were idiots. They'd given her an impossible mission, and somehow she survived it.
I mean Jenny Braggins engaged in mutiny and they let her keep her fourth pip and even gave her a new ship. Starfleet should have just done what they're so good at, covered the incident up, told Elias and Crawford to never speak of it again, and walked away.
Robin realized he hadn't said anything. Katy had let her think without saying anything further. "You're right. Maybe I'm too young for this job, enhancements or no. Maybe I'm too naive. But I fought to get into the Academy, and I did so well on the Artemis that they made me Head Nurse and then CMO. I think I told myself that they were just giving me the jobs because no one else would take them, but truth is they're premium postings. I mean, it's the frikkin' Artemis. My Captain and former chief gave the CMO position to an Augment."
And they did so despite the carnage by the previous Augment CMO.
She wasn't sure if she felt better, but Katy was at least helping her sort through things. Truth was she loved her life. She loved the Artemis, her friends, her sometimes stressful job, and she could deal with the rest.
"All right, Robin, just think on it. For now you're on vacation. I've arranged for a showing of the house tomorrow."
The food had arrived. The young woman had ordered a burrito stuffed with enough fillings it should have imploded into a black hole. For now all thoughts of ugly away missions and death were banished. There was just good food and good company, and a lot of catching up to do.
"Robin! How are you, sweety?!?'
Aunt Katerina barely waited for Robin to rematerialize before sweeping the tiny young woman up in a massive hug. Several others who had appeared at the same time laughed at her surprised look, but before the purple-haired young woman could say anything the transporter technician called out "Clear the pad, please." Evidently this sort of thing was common enough that the man said it with a rather bored tone of voice. Katy released Robin and they both stepped down. The nurse put her Artemis-logo duffel bag down. She was still in uniform and hadn't wanted to change until she got to Earth proper.
The transporter 'facility' wasn't much. The room reminded Robin of an old airport, decorated in earth tones with a lot of wood. There was an obvious intent to make the small round room look countrified, with a painting of an oak forest (complete with deer) along the wall behind the pad. The consoles and control panels were all done in wood. The equipment was clearly old, but kept in working condition. The nurse wondered if the pad was old Starfleet equipment. It looked like something out of a Constitution-class ship, and she wouldn't have been a bit surprised to find out it was. It only made sense, after all, to reuse 'obsolete' equipment, and such things were common on her colony world.
"I'm good, Aunt Katy. It's great to see you." Katy was as different from Robin's mother as night and day. Sonja Donovan was a small woman... Katy was not. She was over six feet tall, fit and muscular. If anything Robin was reminded of Mara back on the Artemis, though the Security officer was larger (and likely much stronger) than Katerina.
"Have you eaten, Robin?" It was a traditional greeting among the people of Iota Tau, and though Katy had been away for decades she hadn't lost that touch of home.
"Not for a while," she said with a slight smile. Robin wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't seen her aunt since she was a child, and didn't have any memory of this woman at all, not even a feeling of familiarity. She felt awkward. But she was hungry... but that was nothing new. She'd had some breakfast on Spacedock, but that was hours ago.
"All right, first things first then." She motioned Robin towards the large set of doors leading out of the transporter facility. It was clear to the medic as she exited that the personnel transporter was only part of it. There was a much larger building to the north, much more spartan. That was likely the industrial transporter building. A small town like this might need three or four pads for people, but it would have facilities for moving cargo. This was still very much a farming community, nestled in a valley in the West Virginia mountains, and a lot of people preferred non-replicated food.
"There's a great Tex-Mex place about a block away. The food is amazing, but the salsa and chips are flat-out the best in the whole region." Katy was definitely a relative. Robin's obsession with food didn't come solely from her engineered genes... her entire family loved nothing more than to talk about eating.
"Sounds great. We mostly have replicated food in Starfleet, and it's OK, but I can taste the difference."
'Tijuana Tony's' turned out to be a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with only six tables and a small bar. The lunch crowd was just arriving and the two women secured a high-top before the rest filled up. The tortilla chips were fresh, and Katy wasn't lying about the salsa. It was literally the best Robin had ever had. She practically inhaled what was brought even before the server appeared.
"So look, Robin, what can you talk about?" Katy clearly didn't want to beat around the bush, and she wanted to get the difficult conversations out of the way first. "Like your mother said you've definitely been going through the wringer. She told me all about what you do. Chief Medical Officer of the Artemis. That's... well, it's amazing, especially at your age. But is it too much stress? Age brings not just wisdom, but experience... and emotional armor."
Robin swallowed the chip she'd been munching on. "No, it's not the job. Honestly I think I'm pretty good at it. It's mostly organizational and leadership. Make sure the department is running smoothly, make sure we're ready for a crisis, and keep a bunch of egotistical doctors from killing each other. And since my department is mostly filled with newbies, I mean even newer than me, I've mostly been able to keep the medics under control."
Except that we haven't really been tested in an actual crisis. Everyone can do their job when the ship's cruising at warp 5. The question is how it'll go when there are multiple holes punched in the hull and we've got enemy boarding parties... and the medics will still have to keep patching up the wounded. I hope we're ready, because that day will come.
Katy nodded. "So what is it?"
"It's the away missions I've been on. Each one, well, I feel like I'm leaving a part of my soul behind. I'm 27 and I've seen more death in the last couple years than most people see in their entire lifetimes. And Starfleet just keeps sending us on missions we're not trained for. I just feel sometimes that I'm turning into the cynical medic I've always despised."
Katy fixed her with a look. "So stop complaining and quit."
Robin felt a flash of anger. This woman may be her aunt, but she didn't know her, and... and she felt the anger fade away. She was right. This was the job Robin had signed up for. Had fought for. Had earned. Of course it was stressful. Of course it was sometimes ugly and dangerous. Of course Starfleet didn't know what it was doing half the time. How could it? The whole point of Starfleet was that it was there to solve whatever was thrown at it. Unknown worlds, weird anomalies, enemies of the Federation. It all had to be figured out. The brass screwed up a lot, but was there a field where that wasn't true?
You improvised, and you adapted, and you fixed the goddamned problem. And there were going to be times you took the 'L.' In the last mission the team had performed very well, despite being at each other's' throats half the time. The biggest loss had been the death of D'Mar and Chief Elias' inexplicable decision to confess to the cloaking device. But the team had handled the Callisto debacle professionally. Starfleet may have been looking to hang Tyra Crawford up by her pips, but they were idiots. They'd given her an impossible mission, and somehow she survived it.
I mean Jenny Braggins engaged in mutiny and they let her keep her fourth pip and even gave her a new ship. Starfleet should have just done what they're so good at, covered the incident up, told Elias and Crawford to never speak of it again, and walked away.
Robin realized he hadn't said anything. Katy had let her think without saying anything further. "You're right. Maybe I'm too young for this job, enhancements or no. Maybe I'm too naive. But I fought to get into the Academy, and I did so well on the Artemis that they made me Head Nurse and then CMO. I think I told myself that they were just giving me the jobs because no one else would take them, but truth is they're premium postings. I mean, it's the frikkin' Artemis. My Captain and former chief gave the CMO position to an Augment."
And they did so despite the carnage by the previous Augment CMO.
She wasn't sure if she felt better, but Katy was at least helping her sort through things. Truth was she loved her life. She loved the Artemis, her friends, her sometimes stressful job, and she could deal with the rest.
"All right, Robin, just think on it. For now you're on vacation. I've arranged for a showing of the house tomorrow."
The food had arrived. The young woman had ordered a burrito stuffed with enough fillings it should have imploded into a black hole. For now all thoughts of ugly away missions and death were banished. There was just good food and good company, and a lot of catching up to do.