Star Trek Asalooq Episode One: Arrival With Fanfares

Chapter 5 - Back to Business, pt 2

Dr Eniyan was glad she had, for once, done things in time. Her inventory was at least cursorily updated, and she had thoroughly checked the important things like emergency medication stocks. Having served on an outpost before, she wasn't too happy with the capabilities of this sickbay, but at least she knew there would be a proper hospital at ASF (at least one, she thought) and it was only a week to go. She smiled nonchalantly at the Chief Engineer. "Well, unless one of you has any new medical problems to report, we're fine on that front," she replied. The CONN officer definitely had one sickness, though, a complete funny-bone atrophy, but there was no cure for that. At least, cute Counselor al-Qamari smiled, and Eniyan went on. "As far as my tools go, they all seem to work. Consoles go beep, scanners go wewewewe, lights are on, assistants are happy and my supplies are as good as they're going to get on a Defiant." It was her first posting as a CMO, and only her second posting, but really, she had nothing to worry about. At OP40, she had conclusively proven her ability to treat patients, and that was really all there was to her job. "We're good to go from my side, Captain." Peña (he seemed nice, Eniyan thought) nodded and went on. "Thank you, Doctor. We have sort of a guest on board, Counselor Jamila al-Qamari, who isn't permanently assigned to us because there's no spot for a Counselor on a Defiant, but she will be mainly there for us and this ship's crew. Oh, and while we're on health - please spare Dr Eniyan and me the rigmarole of dodging your checkups. It's become something of a fashion to do that, but I don't like it. Let's all be adults and good examples for the NCO's, people. Lieutenant Kristiansen - how are the tactical systems? And will we have to stock up on personal weapons when we get to Asalooq?" Eniyan eyed Kristiansen. She was clearly a physically strong woman, tall, muscular and with the watchful gaze of those who have seen a little of the universe's darker, or to put it optimistically, more exciting side. But there was some insecurity to her. No one (except maybe Klingons) projected so much toughness and really meant it. Eniyan wondered about Kristiansen's story as she ignored the Security Officer's answer (the doctor was on the other end of the weapons' business, after all).

Lillian had expected to be asked to deliver her report together with the other heads of department, so she wasn't surprised. However, she still felt a certain amount of tension. It annoyed her because she had done it before, dozens, possibly hundreds of times, and hadn't felt nervous or insecure about it for years. But this was the first time since... well, she was out of practice, and too many things had happened that had made her doubt herself and those around her, and now, in the worst possible moment, she found out it affected her more than she had thought.

Besides, she was nothing if not under-prepared. Thanks to whoever had botched her travel schedule, she had had no time to familiarise herself with the ship, its systems or her team before going to the meeting. Therefore, she had not been able to get any proper status reports. Anticipating just this situation, she had done whatever she could remotely – thankfully, her computer credentials for that sort of thing had been set up much more quickly than she herself had arrived – but that only got you so far. 'Well, it's not as if it's going to make much difference. Nobody is going to expect anything good of me, anyway,' she thought.

Resigning herself to the situation, she began: "Well, the on-board security systems are, for the most part, working nominally. The phaser banks and torpedo launchers have passed all the usual tests successfully and we have got a full stock of photon torpedoes on board - no quantum torpedoes, so far, although the necessary systems are in place and seem to be in working order. The computer systems are online as well, although I have to say pretty much the same as Lieutenant Commander Roosevelt: both our internal security systems and our targeting sensors are working with default calibrations and are bound to be less efficient than they could be. My team and I will be working on it during our voyage to Asalooq, but if any of you has helpful feedback or suggestions, we'll be very grateful."