A new arrival

Posted on Sun Aug 16th, 2026 @ 11:40pm by Enterprise Officer NPC & Lieutenant Rio Kholin MD & Lieutenant (J.G.) Calista Devon MD & Chief Petty Officer Kiera Targaryen
Edited on on Thu Aug 27th, 2026 @ 10:53pm

2,718 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Sickbay, U.S.S. Enterprise
Timeline: 2439-10-10, 08:00

The clinical overhead lights of Enterprise Sickbay hummed with an unfeeling precision, casting long shadows across the dark blue deckplates.

Stefaniya paused at the threshold, her fingers resting lightly on the frame of the sliding doors. In her hand, she held a single padd—her formal request for reassignment, already processed through Starfleet Medical. She wasn’t wearing her duty jacket, just a simple off-duty tunic, looking less like an officer and more like a ghost moving through the spaces she used to anchor.

Her eyes drifted across the room, taking in the familiar floor plan. To her right, the arced bay of recovery bio-beds sat neatly alcoved against the curved outer bulkhead, their diagnostic arches dark. She looked past the central diagnostic table toward the consultation office partitioned nearby, and then further left to the isolated intensive care alcove. That circular chamber, wrapped in its vertical light panels and glass partitioning, was where they had brought Xurbam. It was where they had desperately tried to untangle the harmonic signatures of his mind, and where Petty Officer Selou’s life had ended in a flash of sudden violence.

Every corner held a memory. She remembered leaning over the consultation desk in the center partition, sharing a rare moment of levity with the nursing staff over a batch of muffins she’d smuggled in to break the monotony of deep-space patrols. She remembered the quiet comfort of the potted greenery standing by the low wall, a small touch of home meant to ease anxious patients. Now, the room smelled faintly of ozone, scrub-agents, and the lingering, intangible ghost of Chamra spores and blood.

At the low desk near the center partition, Chief Medical Officer Rio Kholin was bent over a console, reviewing post-incident telemetry. The silence between them felt fragile, heavy with the moral weight of a rescue mission that had ended in tragedy.

Stefaniya took a quiet breath, stepping fully into the room. The soft hiss of the doors closing behind her drew Rio’s attention.

"Rio," Stefaniya said softly, her voice missing its usual buoyant warmth, though a small, sad attempt at a smile touched her lips. "Got a minute?"

Rio looked up from the contents of the screen she had been studying and at the sight of Stefaniya, her face opened into a sympathetic empathy as she stood up and came over to her former colleague. "Stef" she said, her voice heavy with emotion. "Of course, I have as many minutes as you would like......" She opened her arms for a hug. "How are you doing, my friend?" she began but then realized it was an awkward question, no matter how well intended and quickly went on: "...stupid question, sorry."

The warmth of the hug was a sharp contrast to the cold memory of the ICU, and for a fleeting second, Stefaniya leaned into it, letting her eyelids flutter shut as the tension in her shoulders threatened to break. When they finally pulled back, Stefaniya looked down at the PADD in her hands, her thumbs tracing its smooth casing.

"Don't be sorry," Stefaniya said softly, offering a faint, melancholic smile as she handed the PADD across the space between them. "I'm... holding together, but I came to give you this, and to say goodbye, Rio."

"What is it?" Rio asked almost rhetorically as she went straight on to add "Perhaps we may see one another again one day, but if we don't - or even 'until then' - I want you to know that in the circumstances of Xurbam having already absorbed those other souls a long time - perhaps years - before we even encountered him, there was no way you could have known what we would be facing in the end and although I understand and respect with your decision to step away, I also empathize with your impossible dilemma. Don't forget that I was the one who broke her Hippocratic Oath, so I feel your pain at having been between a rock and a hard place over what happened."

"Don't say that, Rio... please," Stefaniya insisted, her voice trembling slightly with emotion, but firm in its conviction as her fingers gently brushed Rio’s arm in a quiet gesture of fierce solidarity. "You didn't break your oath. You were trying to protect this ship and save lives under conditions none of us were prepared for. You set that Phaser to stun. You didn't intend to harm anyone, let alone kill... you were trying to stop a catastrophe before it consumed us all." She swallowed past the lump in her throat, her eyes shining as she met Rio's gaze. "None of what went wrong lies at your feet. If anyone failed, it was the situation itself, not your heart."

"That's kind of you to say, my friend but I do feel sure that a very similar reasoning could be said about you and your intentions and actions." Rio replied, hoping to help Stef to feel that way too, but also feeling a grateful warmth from the reassurance that her friend was offering her.

"Please don't be too hard on yourself, and please keep in touch as well, if you can?" Rio went on.

Stefaniya looked down at her hands, the weight of the PADD now transferred, though the invisible weight on her chest remained. She let out a long, quiet breath that hitched slightly at the end, her eyes drifting back toward the dark, glass-walled ICU alcove before settling back on Rio's face.

"I will," Stefaniya promised softly, her voice carrying a fragile sincerity. "I don't think I could completely cut ties with this place, or with you, even if I tried. You were the anchor I needed when everything started pulling apart." She reached out, giving Rio's hand one last, gentle squeeze. "Take care of yourself, Rio. Don't let the administrative reviews or the guilt turn this bay into a tomb for you, too. This ship still needs its heart..."

The soft hiss of the sliding doors shattered the fragile quiet, cutting Stefaniya off mid-sentence.

Both women turned as a newly arrived officer stepped into the bay, carrying a duffel and a PADD bearing transfer orders—the fresh replacement assigned to take over Losenko’s berth on the medical staff. The heavy silence dissolved, replaced by the inevitable onward pull of starship routine.

Stefaniya offered Rio one final, silent nod, slipping past the incoming doctor and out into the corridor.

Kiera Targaryen was as her surname suggested, related to her new CO. It’d been a while since she’d last seen her Uncle and she was looking forward to serving aboard ship with him. She paused to put down her carry on bag in order to introduce herself to the head of her department. “Kiera Targaryen reporting for duty Lieutenant.” She smiled warmly at Rio.

Switching mentally across from her previous conversation, Rio took a second to watch Stefaniya go but then instantly returned her gaze and attention to the new doctor who had just arrived. She smiled back. Welcome Chief" Rio replied gathering the new recruit's rank from her uniform attachments and insignia. "Targaryen? That's not a common name, Kiera, any relation to the Commodore?" she asked conversationally. It didn't actually make any difference as all staff were treated the same no matter who they were related to and Rio wondered if she shouldn't have started with that instead of the query she had just uttered but then again, she thought it might have come over a little harsh and over the top to begin with that particular defensive sounding declaration.

Maintaining her friendly, genuine smile, Rio opened an arm towards the door of her office, silently inviting the new doctor inside. She would offer refreshment in a short while and then talk about visiting the Quartermaster for her rooms allocation and so on, but for now there was no rush other than that Kiera must have had a long journey and might be tired, so better not to keep her too long before she could settle in and rest.

Kiera smiled warmly as she moved towards Rio’s office. “Actually, yes. The Commodore is my Uncle. I haven’t seen him in a while, I have no idea if he’s expecting me or not.” She walked into the office taking a seat grateful not to be rushing around anymore, at her age she was used to moving around but it never got any easier.

"I expect he may be, he doesn't miss much, our CO" Rio smiled. "Can I offer you something to drink? Have you eaten lately? Perhaps you might prefer to get to your quarters to rest - if so we can talk in the morning?" she went on, offering up options.

“I’m happy to sit and talk, I’ve moved around a lot in my career so I’m used to it.” Kiera grinned. “A cold lemonade would be lovely thank you, as for food I plan on getting some dinner once I’m settled.”

"Perfect!" Rio enthused and approaching the replicator added. "I think a cold lemonade sounds great, I'm going to join you." She fetched two glasses of it back with her and offering one to Keira before sitting back down with her own in her hand. She took a sip and let Kiera begin with whatever subject or queries she should choose.

“Thank you” Kiera sipped her lemonade before placing it down on the edge of the desk. “Before I forget here’s a PaDD with my medical records, I always bring one along as records can take a while to catch up sometimes.” She placed the PaDD down on the desk. “Tell me about my uncle.”

Rio took up the PaDD and placed it onto her 'in tray' for dealing with later. "I don't know what I can tell you that you wouldn't already know" Rio said, her thoughts wondering suddenly how much the Commodore would want her to say - or not!

"Did you want to hear anything in particular? I mean professionally? He's a very distinguished, talented and highly respected CO." she began tentatively.

“Like I said I haven’t seen him in some time, I guess what I’m asking is how he’s doing on a more personal level.” Kiera offered a caring glance. “He’s always been a man who shoulders the burden, no matter the personal cost, I just want to know if he’s okay. I promise I won’t tell him that I asked you.”

"I think you have that right, Kiera, that's exactly the way he works, always bearing the brunt, the responsibility and the blame if there is any, without any concern for himself. That hasn't changed but he doesn't seem to want it any other way. Or if he does, he would never let on." Rio agreed, expanding just a little but not too much.

"He's a very respected leader and everyone is staunchly loyal to him because he treats them all with fairness, consideration and never asks anything of anyone that he wouldn't or couldn't do himself. People respond to that kind of man, we all want to live up to his standards and return the favour of the way he devotes himself to everyone else first."

“Of course he does” Kiera nodded. “I just want to know that he’s looking after himself. He always was my favourite uncle, I care. To which he’d tell me not to worry and to take care of myself.” She smiled before picking up her glass and sipping her drink again.

Rio smiled warmly. "Sounds right" she agreed. "A little frustrating though, when you genuinely wanted him to tell you how he really felt?" Triggered by Kiera's taking a sip of her drink, Rio was nudged to drink some of her own too. "Well, you won't envy me my job of having responsibility to break through all the walls of denial, bravery and modesty to make sure he actually is okay no matter what he'd have everyone believe. Sometimes I feel like my only option to get an accurate picture is to strap him to a bio-bed and scan the heck out of him before he can break free!" Rio grinned, clearly joking about the obscurity they both faced when trying to get information out of the Commodore about his state of health.

“That’s him all over! I can remember my mum arguing him out a few times.” Kiera grinned. “We’re a close family, just in the recent past that we lost contact really. I guess I was so busy making my own mark on Starfleet to get what I wanted.”

"I don't think there's any fault in having a career that you can devote yourself to or to have ambition to succeed either but I would have to recommend at least keeping in touch if you possibly can. None of us can predict what might befall any of us or when it might happen. Carpe Deum, as the Terrans used to say. Seize the Day." Rio advised.

"Listen to me, going all grandma on you. Sorry! On the subject of your career.....what would you like to concentrate on while you're with us here? We have a state of the art medical facility here, not only for actual medicine but also for research and development as well. Where do you see your next achievements to be happening?" Rio asked, more seriously this time.

“State of the art, now I like the sound of that” Kiera smiled. “Actually I haven’t given it much thought, with my life span I’ve never really had to rush into anything. I’ve been a nurse, medic, field medic, have specialised in paediatrics mainly because I like children, and have had my turn in surgical as a surgical nurse. I do find trauma medicine appealing, mainly for the challenge more than anything else but there’s always that risk of losing someone.” She paused. “I’d like to try R&D, plus be on hand for field medicine when it’s needed. I don’t mind filling gaps in sickbay when you need either, going back to my roots as a nurse. As you can tell I love my job!”

"You sound like a gift without the paper and bows on. It's not always easy to get doctors who have done as much first hand medicine as you have by the sound of it and I'm very happy you're here, to be perfectly honest. I have a lovely staff and they're all good at their fields and reliable when called upon but I could really use someone with your experience and versatility. for example, right at this moment there's an away team out there without a medical team incorporated amongst their ranks. I'd love to go out more and take a team with me if possible but I would need to leave enough of my stalwarts behind to hold the fort, so to speak. I just don't have enough flexible, experienced 'field doctors' and now you are here, I'm overjoyed with the possibilities you bring us both." Rio enthused. "I can tell that you love your job and I need that kind of energy and strong support to rely on regularly but also to fill gaps at a moment's notice as well. I think you're going to do an excellent job here and I'm looking forward to working with you, Kiera, very much indeed. Welcome!" Rio smiled widely, feeling excited by this newcomer and her apparent wealth of promise.

"When you're rested and unpacked I'll get my ACMO, Cally to give you a tour of the ship. You'll like her and I know she'll love you!" Rio continued to smile warmly at Kiera and finishing her drink, began to rise to let the newcomer go and get settled in.

“I’ll look forward to it thank you Rio.” Kiera smiled warmly as she rose from her seat. “I’ll see you again soon.”

"...and I will look forward to that too!" Rio replied and watched the new and very interesting member of her department leave. "Anytime you need anything, I'm here all week!" she called after her, grinning.

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