A Little Discussion

Posted on Fri Feb 23rd, 2024 @ 6:01am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Ensign Mika Petrova
Edited on on Fri Feb 23rd, 2024 @ 6:01am

Mission: S1 Episode 7: Prime Factors
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Date 2371-09-15 at 1630
1359 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Lyra had arrived in sickbay just a few minutes after she had left Andrei’s quarters. She knew Mika was technically on shift, but given the current downtime Lyra knew it wouldn’t be particularly busy. She had asked one of the nurses and been told Mika was with a patient, so she found somewhere to sit and wait for the young woman while trying not to brood too much over the situation with Andrei and how difficult he was being.

Mika was standing next to the main bio bed, speaking with a smile to a female patient in a dirty white skirt. Blood and dirt stains dotted the dress, but she had no visible injuries. After a few gentle words, the woman stood up, thanked her, and started toward the door.

Mika turned, placing the dermal regenerator back on the nearby table and looking up. Finally, she noticed Lyra sitting near the entrance to sickbay. She offered a small smile, but could tell the woman wasn’t amused.

“Commander.” She greeted warmly, walking over at a brisk and youthful pace. Her face lost some of its sunshine as she asked her next question. “Is everything alright?”

Lyra didn’t generally pry into the medical lives of most, but there were certain things that caught her eye, she was bound to ask. She stood as Mika approached, looking toward the door that the other woman had just left from and then down to the shorter Mika. “I’m hoping she just took a tumble.”

“Nothing more serious than that, I promise.” Mika said, watching as the doors closed behind the woman. Second shift was generally only populated with Mika and two nurses, but shoreleave on Sikaris had her down one. Besides the other nurse, a crewman who had just walked through the CMO’s office and into the medical lab beyond it, the two of them were alone.

Lyra accepted the explanation with a nod. If it were something more and Mika hadn’t disclosed it, there would be several problems abound, but Lyra doubted the girl could have still been all smiles and rainbows afterward had there been anything more. She crossed her arms under her chest and looked around. “Can we talk in an office or one of the private rooms?”

Mika’s eyes went slightly wide at the whisper of a serious situation. She nodded, even before she answered.

“Yes, we can.” She said, turning and stepping into Brasken’s office. As soon as Lyra was in, she pressed a button to activate privacy mode. The doors closed and the glass windows fogged, leaving them as no more than vague shadows to an outsider. “What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to come and talk with you and see if we might be able to find some way to get your brothers a few hours of respite in the holodeck. He mentioned you got him a break out of the agonizer on some medical grounds, I thought perhaps the same could be done here.” Lyra replied, sitting on the edge of Brasken’s desk with her arms still crossed.

“It’s true, I did, but he was being watched by a 19 year old crewman who flirts with me every time I see him. He was easy to talk into it with a bit of medical jargon. I got him a fifteen minute break, but that was it.” Mika responded with a quick shake of her head. Her pretty face scrunched up into one that communicated an expression containing doubt and sympathy simultaneously. “Is he having a hard time being cooped up?”

“If one never learned to sit still as a child, it is very difficult to as an adult.” Lyra replied, lowering her arms and sighing. “So, probably nothing you can do then?”

“Not for his health.” Mika said. “But maybe there’s a good reason for him to visit the Holodeck? Something work related there might be just as relaxing as a leisure visit..or at least, it would be something.”

She doubted what Andrei needed was recreation. He hated being stuck, especially the last few months. Paperwork in the holodeck would probably calm her brother down.

“I arranged for him to potentially help review some martial evaluations for the crew and those would be in the holodeck to give adequate room and options. He didn’t seem all that interested in it.” Lyra shook her head slightly and stood. “Thanks anyways, Mika. I knew it would be a long shot.”

Mika eyed Lyra with a quiet, compassionate smile. She could see that she was a bit beside herself dealing with her big brother, and she felt for her. But Mika had spent her entire life, this far, being a bit of a rescuer, and she specialized in Andrei first.

“You’re very sweet to try and help him, Lyra. I Can tell you care for him deeply.” She said in a soothing, youthful voice. “But sometimes you can’t make things better. Everyone has those times when they just need someone to be with them; to put up with them, even. It happens that Andrei probably needs that now.”

The young doctor’s eyes went to the clock on the wall quietly.

“If you need a break, I can go sit with him after my shift. I can sleep on his couch and baby him. It really doesn’t bother me; it’s actually refreshing to see him be vulnerable for once.”

Lyra allowed a small smile and shook her head slightly. “I know that is the case sometimes, but I do have to try and make things better first, it’s just how I am.”

Reaching out, she touched Mika’s shoulder. “I’m not going to run off and abandon him just because he’s in a foul mood and being an ass, but if you’d like to come by later maybe for dinner or bring him one of those cakes he likes so well, he would probably like that.”

Mika nodded, seeming genuinely eager to do exactly as she had been invited.

“I might need to move some things around, but I’ll be there.” She said, thinking of the plans she had made with Cedrik. She would have to see if they could be moved back an hour. “You’re a good person, Lyra.”

Lyra let her hand slide off from Mika’s shoulder, chuckling softly. “Well, I don’t know that I’d go quite that far, but thank you. Do you have any ideas for a dinner he might like? Otherwise I was considering trying to introduce him to something he maybe hasn’t had before.”

“Meat.” Mika said with a convincing confidence in her voice. “He likes meat when he’s upset. I’m not sure, but I think all men are like that. It’s like their chocolate.”

Mika raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“Maybe chocolate too.”

“Tell you what then, I’ll take care of the meat and you take care of the chocolate.” She offered another slightly warmer smile that even crept into her dark eyes slightly.

“That sounds amazing.” Mika said with a giggle, just as she saw a shadow move outside the glass. Knowing it was almost certainly a patient, she turned back to Lyra. Moving forward, she wrapped her arms around her for a few seconds, hugging her tightly and making that strained happy sound that so often went with it. “I’ll see you later.”

Lyra returned the hug; she’d become more at ease with it and thus it was done more naturally now than it had been in the past. She parted from Mika and gave the girl’s shoulder a light squeeze. “Looking forward to it.”

With that, she turned and left the office and sickbay. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to going back to be with Andrei when he was so sour, but who would? The fact was these times were just a part of life; she knew how to weather them, but it was new to Andrei. He would test the depths of her patience.


END