Reporting for Duty

Posted on 06 Jan 2015 @ 6:42am by Commander Jayla Kij & Commodore Harvey Geisler

1,135 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Boarded
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: March 1, 2388 || 1045 hours

Chipper as always, Jalya grinned at everyone in the corridors as she made her way from Sick Bay to the Captain's ready room. She was greeted with smiles in return, sometimes with surprised glances. No matter. They'd learn to deal with her soon enough.

Or else they'd all want to smother her with a pillow.

She had stowed her personal effects in her quarters, and then decided to see how Sick Bay looked. She'd introduced herself to the nurses and gotten many surprised looks from them.

She had that effect on people.

But, she hadn't yet officially reported in, so she was on her way to do that- after asking the Computer where to find the Captain, that is.

She arrived on the bridge and grinned at the bridge crew before heading over to the ready room door and pressing the chime.

Harvey hadn't been in the ready room long. The inspection had gone on longer than he'd anticipated, and he'd even missed the arrival of the transport. He did however drop by the launch bay to see some of the fighters take off for a final time. He was going through a couple messages when the chime sounded. "Come," he said, still reading from the monitor.

Walking through the doors, Jayla held out the PADD carrying her orders to the man behind the desk. "Doctor Jayla Kij reporting for duty," she said cheerfully.

Harvey shut off the monitor and turned to see the new arrival, only to pause for a brief second when he saw her face. He read her personnel file only last night, and the face he saw now surprised him. Not that he was expecting any different. The last couple of doctors the Black Hawk had seen were a couple of unusual characters, and the last of them being far more cynical than Harvey himself. Doctor Kij's face seemed to wipe those memories away.

He rose from his seat and accepted the PADD. "Welcome aboard," Harvey replied with a smile that surprisingly felt natural. "I'm Captain Harvey Geisler." He gestured for her to take a seat, and he sat back down.

"Welcome to the Gamma Quadrant," he told her, glancing at her orders on the PADD for anything out of the ordinary before setting it in front of him on the desk.

"Thank you, sir," replied Jayla, grinning as per her usual. "Though it's not the first time I've been here. I spent some time on the Impala as a teenager," she added by way of explanation.

"Oh?" Harvey asked, though rhetorically. Her statement struck him as quite curious. He was a man of nearly forty-four, and he hated to ask the doctor's age. Harvey would have remembered it from her personnel file, but he made it a point not to read date of birth or even any listed ages. His own career had been stunted years ago and was finally on track once again. He didn't want to make similar judgments with the crew he served with. "I trust your first visit did not sour your taste for the frontier."

Jayla shrugged and grinned, eyes twinkling. "I didn't get to see any of the really cool stuff," she said. "Though, I do seem to recall several shoot-outs and the ship being adrift more than once."

"Hopefully, that won't happen here." Harvey paused, knowing that in all three missions under his command, each one had come to weapons fire, now matter how much he'd tried to avoid it. The ship and crew had performed admirably so far and no damage had been sustained.

In response, Jayla grinned yet again and crossed her fingers. "Is there anything specifically pertaining to Medical or Sick Bay about which I should know?" she asked.

"Only that the last CMO both extremely cynical and good," he replied. "Our first few months here have been slow but eventful enough. Your stores should be good, but another check won't hurt."

Harvey then leaned forward in his chair and folded his hands on the desk. "I will also warn you. I've a history in medicinal research. It's been a while since I practiced, but I've been meaning to take up a seat in a lab. So, don't be surprised if you happen to find me one day near sickbay unannounced."

Jayla grinned- again- and stifled a giggle. "That's totally fine," she said. "I welcome any help that comes my way. So long as you follow my orders while there, you understand," she added with a wink.

"Is that so?" Harvey playfully responded. A hint of uneasiness creeped into his expression. A subtle hint from his mind, perhaps, that questioned what he was doing here. Normally, someone so cheery would be his polar opposite. "We'll see." After a beat, he added, "I'm not sure how up to date Doctor Quint kept the medical records of the crew, but I do know with the squadrons we held leaving and quite a bit of crew coming over from the transport, I can imagine there will be a lot to do between now and our departure."

"Just the way I like it," answered Jayla, still grinning. "I hate being bored. Well! Being bored means nobody's hurt, which is good, but you know what I mean. I hate having nothing to do. I always end up running triage drills and first aid reviews. And that just annoys people."

Harvey knew exactly what she meant. The Black Hawk had been in the doldrums long enough for all to know that the ship needed something to do rather than cruise along in space. Their latest mission would do just that. "Personally, I hope it stays quiet. But, where we're going, I'm sure your services will be more than required. They'll be a necessity."

"Good!" said Jayla, brightening (if that was even possible). "And bad," she added with a slight frown, though she still managed to grin. "Well, I suppose it's good I'm here, then," she laughed finally.

"Indeed." Harvey picked up a nearby PADD and entered a sequence of commands that was shared with the desktop terminal. "We're due to depart this afternoon, and I'll have more information during a briefing we'll have at that time. Until then," he handed Jayla the PADD, "this is a rough summary of what we have so far. If you don't get to it before then, don't worry about it."

Jayla glanced at the PADD, but didn't really take much of it in. "I'll do my best, sir," she replied. "Along with reviewing the crew's medical records, that gives me a lot to do this morning. If there's nothing else, I'll get to it."

Harvey nodded and rose from his chair. Extending a friendly hand, he reaffirmed, "Again, welcome aboard, Doctor."

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