Hey, I heard we are working together

Posted on Tue Sep 11th, 2018 @ 12:01am by Ensign Raymond McBain & Lieutenant Asa Dael

Mission: Holographic Horrors
Location: at the door of his quarters
Timeline: 72677.85

McBain had returned to his quarters to change out of his uniform. He had checked with medical and counseling only to find both areas were busy. So he was on his way to spend the a few hours on the base and see for himself what he had heard about. As he approached his door he saw a slightly awkward person going to the door left of his. LtCommander Paris had asked him to meet and work with his neighbor to get them ready for away missions. McBain walked over "excuse me? Lieutenant Asa Dael?" He smiled easily "I am Ensign McBain, I was told you were to be the away team medic. I am under orders to help get you up to speed." He offered his hand to shake "do you have sometime to talk?"

Asa jumped slightly. They had been so focused musing on the information the Captain had given in their first meeting, they hadn’t seen anyone in the hall. They took the proffered hand and responded, “Yes, absolutely,” in what they hoped was a serene calm response.

Opening the door to their quarters, they gestured Ensign McBain inside and asked “Can I get you anything? I picked up a great recipe for Horchata in the academy.”

McBain followed them inside, he was about to say 'no, he was fine'. That was until she mentioned the sweet milk and rice drink with cinnamon. He nodded "Sure, thank you. I honestly love cinnamon. I don't eat much Mexican food because I am not into 'hot and spicey' foods." He smiled easily "Don't be horrified but I put cinnamon and brown sugar on my mild chili." He was inside the door maintaining a polite distance as he always tried to achieve. He knew his size could be seen as intimidating and tried to avoid making other people uncomfortable. "I have not been briefed on our next mission as yet but could you tell me something about your experience in the field? I just would like to know how much you know so I know where to begin helping you prepare." They outranked him so he was trying to be respectful of their rank. Somehow saying he was 'to train them' seemed out of place?

Asa motioned at a seat for McBain while preparing Horchata. "Hey, if it pleases you to put cinnamon on chili, go for it. People always thought I was nuts for putting bacon in oatmeal. And my field experience? That's easy, none. Fresh out Starfleet Medical, me. So take it from square one, sound good?"

Asa brought the drinks over, sat down in the other chair, and grabbed a PaDD to take notes on, preparing for the other to speak. They smiled up at him with the promise of learning in their eyes.

"None. Well I guess we start with a simple list of plus and minus? So I will ask you about a trait and just say yes for a plus, that would be something you are good at. The flip side would be a no, for a minus, as something you need to work on."

McBain got out a PaDD of his own. "Remember this is not a pass/fail sort of thing. I really need you to be honest as well. Now than, how is your stamina? Can you run far, or fast. Fast would be under five seconds in a forty yard dash. Far would be say two miles in like twelve minutes."

"Far- plus. Fast- neutral?" Asa replied, a bit unsure. They knew they could run for long distances, that had been part and parcel of life on Bajor. As for fast- they considered themself average, but had honestly never tested it over much.

McBain showed no opinion but he marked down her reply and asked his next question. "Now than how is your ability to sort of hide? Do you think you could blend into a crowd to avoid pursuit?"

"Minus," they replied, thinking of their awkward giraffe gait and too-androgynous-for-most-societies appearance.

McBain nodded, "no worries we can work on that. How fast are you on a computer search? Let me explain please. If we say must slip into a hospital, get into a computer and find the antidote for some obscure poison. Are you skilled at getting straight to the objective. Pulling the information and say learning where the antidote is kept." It was a sort of hypothetical question but the way he asked suggested he had been in just that sort of circumstance.

"You don't graduate Starfleet medical without learning how to function under a time crunch," Asa replied with a grin. "Plus."

"Excellent point." McBain had sipped his drink while he listened. "Okay how is your marksmenship and basic combat skills? Are you better with a pistol, rifle, thrown knife, or just close in combat?" McBain made eye contact "maybe more important will you be able to enter into lethal combat if it comes down to that." He smiled sadly, his eyes showing compassion. "It happens Lieutenant, I need to know your skills for sure but I also need to know you can handle the situation. If you would be a liability I need to know for the safety of everyone."

"I'm more comfortable with ranged weapons. My strengths are not physical. I actually flunked hand to hand my first time through. I became a doctor to save lives. That said, I've seen what happens when the wrong people hold power, and I know one life saved can cost more down the road."

Asa sipped their drink slowly, gathering their nerves and glancing at the two photos on their desk, sadness evident in their face.

"If it comes to it, I'm ready." There was a hint of Steele in the doctors voice this time.

"Well, lets hope we are good enough to avoid those situations just the same." He spoke lightly trying to recover the lighter mood. "So pistol?" McBain asked curiously.

“Phaser really. I can shoot traditional Earth firearms in a pinch, but I had more experience with a phaser-like weapon growing up shooting vermin,” Asa replied.

McBain finished his drink "Okay Lieutenant I think we have a place to begin. I would like you to spend a half hour a day in the holodeck with me working on various scenarios to speed up your reflexes. Work on your weapons skills and maybe even torture you a bit with some hand to hand stuff." McBain laughed, lightly but with real humor. "No worries nothing heavy, just a few tricks that might help you escape a bad situation." He stood offering them his cup. "I do have one question for you though. Since we will be working together and in the field using rank is not a good idea. What do you prefer to be called?"

“Asa works for me. If we are in a situation where formalities are required, either Myx Dael or Doctor work, but overall, Asa is just great. Thanks for asking. And you?”

"Me? Oh McBain, Raymond, my pilot call-sign was 'Frosty'? I will answer to whatever you call me, I am mostly used to just McBain," He laughed "but hey jackass was not uncommon back in the day." McBain was smiling as he looked to the door, "I guess medical is fairly backed up as I could not get an appointment for my baseline. I guess I should wait till after that to begin our training?" He revealed a slight anxiousness about getting his report-in steps complete.

“Oh, I can do that. Are you available tomorrow at 0900 hours? Shouldn’t take more than a half hour,” Asa replied. “And then you can train me until I beg you to stop.”

McBain nodded smiling "tomorrow at 0900hrs is great. I don't think we need to train till you say 'uncle' but a couple hours should suffice. Maybe run through a hologram mission to see what you might be in for." McBain stopped at her door, "after training if you would like we can discuss the training over lunch?"

Asa smiled, "Only if you make me some of your chili."