No rest for the XO....

Posted on 21 Aug 2012 @ 3:46am by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Captain Jonathan Holliday
Edited on on 21 Aug 2012 @ 5:04am

1,478 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - XO's Quarters
Timeline: MD09 0410hrs

Against her better judgement, Pola stopped outside of the quarters of the Executive Officer. This would be the second time tonight she would have to disturb him but after all her thinking and weighting up of her encounter with Amril, she realised that she had no choice.oving her hand through her hair, she tugged out the annoying hair bobbin which had been the easiest thing to grab. Noone was going to disapline over appearance right now, there was far too much else happening. Anyway...she'd destroyed her third...or was it fourth, uniform in about 36 hours after her fall on the bridge. Hitting the chime with frustration, she balanced her shoulder against the doorframe to wait.

Having only left the Bridge a short while ago, John had just about managed to drift off to sleep, having shut his brain down from the rigors of command and focused on recharging his ever-depleting batteries. A few hours had seemed like an age, but it seemed that he was not going to get the joy of any further rest as the chime from his door woke him from his slumber.
Rolling from one side to the other in his bed, Holliday eventually decided that nobody would have been stupid enough to disturb him unless it was urgent, however seeing as there was no red alert siren, and the ship didn't seem to be falling apart around him, the XO deemed it interesting that someone would be at his door.

Lifting himself up from his bed and grabbing his dressing gown from the hook in his sleeping area, Holliday made his way across his quarters, looking at the discarded uniform on the floor near his bed that he had so hastily thrown off in preference for his usual sleeping attire only a short while ago.
Leaning against the wall next to his door, he flipped his finger against the release button, and watched as the doors slid open to reveal the face of his Irish CMO on the other side.

"What have you done this time?" Holliday mentioned in a low voice, half asleep and half joking as he ushered for the Doctor to follow him inside, as he headed back towards his sofa and collapsed onto it, waiting to hear the news, whatever it was.

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Pola pushed herself away from the doorframe as she following Jonathan into the room. Smiling slightly she took in his half awake appearance. "Well you're still alive and you've a deck under your feet so surely it isn't all that bad." As she watched him collapse onto the couch, she leaned back against the bulkhead, taking some of the weight off of her feet. "I've just come from sickbay where our unexpected guest has just awoken."

"Ahh....so the explosion of his ship and being stuck in a stasis pod hasn't had too much of an effect on him? Shame....the Vorta were always a slimy bunch at the best of times...well in that case Number One....report."

Pola couldn't stop a smile from forming, she still couldn't get used to the title. As she gathered her thoughts, her sight was drawn to the scar on Jonathan's face which she suddenly remembered had been given to him by a Jem'Hadar. She hadn't thought before about the effect having a Vorta onboard might be having, figuring she could deal with that later, she pushed herself away from the wall.

"Well he's fully conscious. We'd some issues getting him back to consciousness as there was a loss of blood and his physiology is so different to what we are used to. We managed to work with what we have and are in the process of stabilising him completely."

Starting to pace back and forth, Pola ran her hand through her hair. He was concious enough to maintain a conversation. He was requested asylum on the grounds that he has defected from the Dominion, it also seems that he has been in stasis for 14 years, so he wasn't aware that the war had even finished."

"A Vorta wanting asylum?" Holliday couldn't help but look a little shocked at the request - after all, it was not the sort of thing that a species that up until recently was the sworn enemy of the Federation would have asked for. That said, there was a certain logic in seeking protection from your own people in the arms of their most hated enemy.

"Did he say why?"

Coming to a stop, Pola let out a breath. "Ack. can I sit down?" Without waiting for an answer she sat on the couch beside Jonathan and pulled her uninjured leg under her.

"No...I kept pushing and pushing but all he'd state was that he was asking for asylum as he'd defected and that should be enough for us to know. I had to clear the room at one point as one of the security officers took offense at my pushing nature and unwillingness to take him at his word."

"The one thing about the Dominion is that no member specise can be trusted as far as they can be thrown...there's a reason we went to war with them...you did the right thing."

Sighing John sat back in his seat and put his hand over his eyes, rubbing them as if that would somehow help him wake up a little further.

"I didn't think our first mission out of spacedock would be so....complicated...that's the price you pay for a new ship I suppose...so...where's the Vorta now? Still in Sickbay?"

Watching Jonathan, Pola couldn't hide the smile, "Be honest, you'd be bored if the mission was any less complicated." Straining her neck, she checked the time on the console in the corner, "Security are under orders to transport him to the brig once he's stabilised. According to the condition before I left, I estimated it should be no longer than an hour."

"In which case there's enough time for me to pay the sonic shower a visit and get a new uniform on....I suppose it's only polite that I go and introduce myself...."

Watching Jonathan, Pola blushed at the image that his words caused. Really tiredness and frustration were creeping in she cleared her throat. "Jonathan..a word of warning. I know a lot of people still hold hostile feelings against the Dominan, yourself included possible, but I already witnessed frustration from younger people who didn't serve during the war. They were frustrated that our initial reaction is distrust."

The words of his CMO were, as always, crystal clear, and struck a chord within the XO's mind. There was no point going to war, at the end of the day he had a duty to perform, and orders to follow, none of which included starting a whole new war over one Vorta.
Picking himself up from the sofa, he paused in thought for a moment, before smiling and getting ready to head off.

"Well Doc...I'll do my best not to throw him out an airlock if that's what you meant...now unless you want to stay and do my physical whilst I'm in the shower, I'd appreciate a little privacy?"

He smirked, gesturing towards the door as he himself began to make his way towards the bathroom.

"After the frustration and aggregation he just caused me in sickbay, I won't mind if you wanna punch him...I'd strongly discourage throwing him out an air lock...as pleasurable as that'd be."

Lost in her own thoughts as she'd been about to ask his advise on one more item, it took a moment for his next words to sink in. Getting to her feet, as she tried not to stumble on her injured foot she started backing towards the door. "Um....I could do with a shower if you're offering." realising that's not the reply he might have been expecting, she made a quicker retreat in case he did have a phaser under his dressing gown, grinning as she walked backwards.

"Dismissed Doctor!" The XO called back as he himself smirked and headed back towards the bathroom, leaning on the control panel beside his bed to trigger the doors to his quarters to open behind the CMO, before disappearing from view.

Grinning, Pola spun on her good heel as the doors closed back over, suddenly whistling a tune as she laughed. Heading back to the bridge to finish out her shift she could only figure that at least that had woken her up. As severe as their current situation was, she also realised that noone could do their job unless they found some reason to smile in the day, at least she'd found hers.

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Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

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