Meeting a New Friend

Posted on Wed Aug 13th, 2014 @ 11:58am by Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Stanson & Lieutenant Christopher Cage M.D.

Mission: Something Amiss
Location: USS Hera - Officer's Mess Hall, Deck 9
Timeline: MD1 - 1230

Doctor Christopher Cage sat at a table in the Officer's Mess on Deck 9, and picked at a tangled mass of aromatic stringy pink noodles that sat in a porcelain bowl in front of him with a pair of Kriosian chopsticks. It promised to be a long and busy shift, and Cage now realized with some frustration that his late arrival to the USS Hera just a day before her launch had left little time to review the Sick's Bay's equipment stores and ensure that they had everything aboard that he needed. Deep down, he understood that with all of the resources available aboard a Nebula-class starship, his worries were likely unjustified. However, that understanding had not kept the 40 year-old Chief Medical Officer from envisioning a new worst-case scenario every hour since he awoke.

It was a given that a mass casualty incident was possible because of the potential military threats that Hera could face. However, injuries suffered during ship-to-ship combat were just the start of the list of medical emergencies that could pop up. Starfleet's missions were more often humanitarian than military in nature. What if Hera was dispatched to provide assistance a disaster-stricken colony? Or what if they were called upon to aid evacuees who had suddenly been stricken by some unknown plague? Or what if an unknown spatial anomaly exposed the crew and passengers to some unforeseen environmental hazard?

Or what if ... ?

Cage sighed as he pushed away the plate of fragrant pink noodles, and took a sip of a steaming hot dark-purple beverage from a small Kriosian-style porcelain teacup. So engrossed was the scruffy surgeon in his ruminations, that he did not see when the Ship's Chief Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Stanson, came in.

As Jennifer walked into the fairly large mess hall of the Nebula Class starship she looked around at the people in the room. She quickly examined each one as she walked over to the replicator. She ordered her lunch then walked over to the one person in the room who caught her eye. She walked over to Lieutenant Christopher Cage, the ship's Chief Medical Officer, and sat down. "Hello, Lieutenant." she said as she began to prepare her salad and sandwich to eat.

"Hello," answered Cage, grateful for the unexpected distraction of meeting someone new. "I'm sorry, love," smiled the handsome doctor, glancing at the grey accents on the blonde commander's uniform collar. "I know it's been a while since I've seen a Starfleet uniform ... but which branch of the service does the color grey represent, again?"

"Love...? Never call me love." Jennifer told the doctor sternly. "Grey represents Intelligence Operations." she said as she began to eat. She didn't really like this doctor so far and was beginning to regret her choice to sit next to him.

Cage arched his eyebrows, genuinely surprised. "Intelligence? Bloody hell," the doctor could help but give a gravelly chuckle. "What a difference 18 years makes. Alright then," said the doctor, leaning back in his chair and producing a pack of stimspice sticks from the breast pocket of his sky-blue hospital scrubs. "So what are the duties of a Chief Intelligence Officer, exactly?" Cage slipped a single white stick out of the pack and held it between two fingers like an old-fashioned cigarette, before placing the slim cylinder of powdered stimulants between his lips. "You a spy or something?"

Jennifer ignored all questions except for the last, "Or something." she said as she continued to eat. She took a sip of her drink which was far less whimsical than what the Medical Officer was drinking. She examined what the officer put between his lips, she wondered why he would want to or need to take stimulants.

Cage noticed the blonde intelligence officer's interest in his stimstick and held up the pack, rattling it for effect. "Would you like to try one?" he mumbled around the stem in his mouth.

"No, I do not need nor do I wish to use stimulants." Jennifer told the doctor. She took another sip of her drink. "So, Doctor, what was your last assignment?" she asked, "I mean before the court martial and your imprisonment in the Rehabilitative Penal Colony on Tantalus IV." she said smiling at the good Doctor.

Cage laughed and gave a roguish smile. "Well done," he conceded with a nod of his head. "Wouldn't be much of an intelligence officer if you didn't at least know that much about me, now would you?" Cage paused a moment for another sip of his purple tea. "My last Starfleet assignment was aboard the USS Mercy ... over 18 years ago." Cage leaned forward, his gaze locking onto Stanson's. "But then, I'm sure you already knew that. What else do you know about me, I wonder?"

Jennifer leaned in closer to Doctor Cage and whispered, "Everything." she had a smug smile on her face as she sat back to her previous position and continued to eat. "For example, I know that the Mercy was a hospital ship along the Cardassian DMZ where you met your wife Nair Rina. During the occupation your wife was exposed to atrocigenic gas. Your wife died on the operating table just before your baby girl, who did not survive past a couple of days. That's when your life all fell apart. You began providing cheap care to street people, which some may consider heroic. Skip forward a bit and you're tied up with the Orion syndicate. Need I go on?" she asked as she picked up her glass and took a sip.

"Someone's done their homework," teased the doctor, clearly enjoying this as well. "But that's stuff anyone with the right security clearance can read about." Cage slowly slid his chair around until he was sitting closer to the acerbic blonde. "But what about the really juicy stuff?" he asked, his deep gravelly voice now barely above a whisper. "You know ... the kinds of naughty things they don't put in official reports. The kinds of things that only an 'Or Something' has the guts to uncover?" He cast an appreciate gaze over Stanson's curvy figure before locking eyes with her again, his gaze challenging.

"Oh what, like you taking sexual favors for some of your treatments?" Jennifer said as she took another bite of her meal and almost finishing it. "Quite frankly, Mister Cage, I do not think you deserve to be back in Starfleet. It was much more than generous despite whatever skill you may have." she said as she took a sip of her drink.

"I know," grumbled Cage, with a feral grin. "I'm absolutely deplorable. Depraved, even." Cage shrugged and adopted a sad expression. "Unfortunately," he sighed, "you'll never know just how depraved. It's a pity, too. I have a feeling you could use a little more depravity in your life." Cage clapped his hands together and stood up. "Well," he said with a smile and a wink, "if you'll excuse me -- those illegal medical procedures aren't going to perform themselves, are they? I hope to see you around, Lieutenant Commander 'Or Something'."

Jennifer said nothing as the medical officer left. She simply finished off the last bits of her meal then stood up and placed her tray in the replicator. She then exited the mess hall thinking how strange of an assignment this will be.