Star Trek: Theurgy

CH 2: S [ Day 01 | 2255 hrs ] Turbolift Meet and Greet

March 13, 2024, 10:07:51 AM

[ Lt. Cmdr. Cross | Turbolift | D. 6 | V. 2 | “Ranger” of USS Theurgy] Attn: @Galaxymind

Shortly after the heart-to-heart with Ensign Murphy in his temporary quarters, Cross received a call from security with a few concerns that needed addressing. Not wanting to try to figure things out via comm alone, Cross opted to go to security directly and discuss things in person since that typically seemed to work out better anyway. Thankfully, it hadn’t taken long, and the concerns, while merited, had been worked out and smoothed over enough for Cross to return to his quarters to catch a few hours of sleep before returning to the bridge.

Eyes closed with his flesh hand pinching fingers at the bride of his nose, careful of the sensitive ridges, he didn’t see who entered the turbolift during a brief stop. He wasn’t feeling particularly friendly at this hour of the night, not with all that had already happened that day on both a personal and professional level and with all that had yet to happen for the mission to be successful. Cross had enough emotional intelligence to recognize that the polite thing would be to open his eyes and greet the newcomer, but at this point, he just didn’t have it in him.

Until the turbolift stopped so abruptly that Cross was shifted off balance and fell against a decidedly feminine form, quickly crowding her against the side of the turbolift before he managed to get his bearings again. Looking down at the brassy-colored head, he caught the blue-eyed gaze of the Trill woman for a heartbeat in close quarters before he pushed off the wall and her form and set a more respectable distance between them again.

“Sorry about that.”

Cross mumbled before tapping his combadge and requesting insight from engineering. They reported back some residual kinks in the various systems thanks to the major breakdown earlier, eliciting a sigh from Cross. This wasn’t his first time stuck in a turbolift with a woman in not so many days. Lips quirked back in an amused smile as he recalled his forced bonding with the eccentric pilot. Cross couldn’t help but glance at the woman he now shared the temporary prison with and sigh. She seemed much less amped and liable to impulse reactions than Via but he knew better than most how looks could be deceiving.

[ The lift should resume its course in about ten minutes. Sorry about the inconvenience, sir. ] Cross again caught the blue-eyed gaze of the Trill as they both listened to the report. [ If there’s an emergency, we can beam you out. ]

He let his eyes track up and down the woman a moment before he responded, “No emergency beam out needed. Carry on.” Cross then leaned against the far side of the turbolift from the woman and offered her a somewhat hesitant smile. “Unless you are in a hurry, of course.” He gestured to the combadge nestled on her chest then grimaced and looked away, belatedly realizing he'd been pointing to her breasts.

After a steadying breath, Cross added, “You’re one of the recent stasis wake-ups, aren’t you?” Cross looked back to her face and frowned, realizing how crass that may have sounded. “I mean, I read through a series of files earlier today detailing recent transfers and stasis revivals. I recognize your face as being one of them.” He pressed his prosthetic against his temple in thought before snapping his flesh fingers together. “Pax, Lieutenant.” Holding out his flesh hand in a Terran gesture of greeting, Cross' smile was lopsided, “Cross, lieutenant commander. Sorry this had to be our first meet and greet.”

Re: CH 2: S [ Day 01 | 2255 hrs ] Turbolift Meet and Greet

Reply #1 – March 13, 2024, 07:27:30 PM

[ Lt. Verena Pax | Turbolift | D. 6 | V. 2 | “Ranger” of USS Theurgy] Attn:


Verena had been lost in thought, after spending hours consulting with V-Nine over some more complicated surgical cases her mind was racing even as her body begged for sleep. She wasn’t in the habit of burning the candle at both ends but once she returned to her quarters she was going to be making notes and plans, instead of crawling into bed like her body wanted. Then suddenly her fellow officer was almost on top of her, pressing her against the wall of the turbolift as it came to such an abrupt stop she was nearly rocked off her feet. She let out a startled sound as she was both jostled then bumped. Her blue eyes went wide with sudden confusion and curiosity, as her pale cheeks coloured a little at the closeness.

“Don’t worry about it, I'm sturdier than I look,” She said, once the report had been given. She glanced down as he gestured to her chest, after a beat she realized he was gesturing to her own badge. “No hurry, I’m just wrapping up some consults. We’ve still got lots of people in stasis and I’m hoping to work with V-Nine to bring who we can out, and get them recovering,”

She nodded at his question regarding her recent awakening. “Yes, very recently. V-Nine administered an ENMP treatment to get me back on my feet. It's why so many of us have been able to bounce back so quickly. The mechanics are fascinating really-but I don’t want to ramble at you. So It's good to meet you Commander,” She gave him a warm smile in return, his smile was infectious. So far he seemed quite nice, there were definitely worse people to be stuck in a turbolift with.

“There are most definitely worse places to meet someone, I tend to meet a lot of people on the operating table. This is an improvement, so what do you do around here?” She grimaced a little. “Apologies, that was a little blunt. Small talk has never been my forte and I'm far too curious for my own good. I swear that’s a requirement for joining,” She said, shaking her head. If he had read her file he knew about her symbiont, and probably about some of her past hosts if they had been mentioned.

Re: CH 2: S [ Day 01 | 2255 hrs ] Turbolift Meet and Greet

Reply #2 – March 14, 2024, 07:31:00 AM

[ Lt. Cmdr. Cross | Turbolift | D. 6 | V. 2 | “Ranger” of USS Theurgy] Attn: @Galaxymind

Cross was thankful when she didn’t continue with the medical lingo. While he could appreciate department members getting giddy about their work and seeking to share their love with him, Cross couldn’t help but feel like a fluffy cloud descended on his brain anytime someone waxed eloquently on their department-based jargon for too long.

At her comment about worse places to meet and where she usually met folks, Cross snorted, reaching up to tug on his earlobe with his prosthetic. “Well, I was in sickbay earlier today with a ferocious headache thanks to the Savi fuc…’fixing’ my hybrid nature into full-fledged Vulcan DNA. Though I’m not surprised we didn’t see each other, considering it felt like fat trolls from the seventh circle of Klingon hell were dancing in my head. Damn, near ripped a hole in the reception desk while waiting, it hurt so much. But the pain specialist, V’Lana, got me sorted well enough.”

The generic and expected question of what he did onboard made Cross snort again. Crossing his arms over his chest, the Vulcan leaned more heavily against the side of the turbolift before answering.

“Small talk has never been my favorite either, lieutenant. Much prefer speaking directly, and that’s not always been met with appreciation in certain circles. I wouldn’t say curiosity has been the thing to get me into trouble so much as a tendency to be too direct. But you’re probably right, a good number of Starfleet joined out of driving curiosity.” He shrugged. “But, to answer the question, presently, I’m the XO of this mission. Captain Ives and Commander Stark are leading their own missions and all things going according to plan, we’ll return to normal command hierarchy in a number of days. At which time, I’ll resume overseeing personnel duties and shifts, working in conjunction with Commander Stark likewise to administer discipline where necessary and look after morale and the welfare of the ship. Given my background, my strengths are organizing training for potential conflict and keeping everyone current on their ranking and tech training requisites.”

Angling his head to the side, Cross briefly gestured towards her, “What of you? Why medical?”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden return of propulsion to the turbolift along with another sheepish apology from engineering for the inconvenience. Cross got the feeling the earlier estimate had been exaggerated to cover in case they really couldn't get things back underway faster. Giving Pax a half smile, Cross pushed away from the wall when his floor arrived.

"Perhaps we can continue this meet and greet at another time at a place more conducive for such things. The arboretum cafe is a great place, if you've not been yet. I'll see you around." He tipped his head toward her in acknowledgment before exiting the turbolift. As much as he'd like to stick around and get to know her, if only for the sake of knowing how to better support her in the coming days, he had a shit ton to do.

~FIN~