Sickbay

Posted on Sat Oct 4th, 2025 @ 8:22pm by Doctor Kim Standish & Lieutenant Lioren Daeval

2,099 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Prelude: The Gathering
Location: Sickbay - Standish's Office
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 0000

The lights in Sickbay were cooler than the rest of the ship. Not dim, but neutral, clinical. The air carried the faint tang of sterilization fields and warmed instrument panels, undercut by a sharp botanical note, like antiseptic with a sense of purpose. It was quiet, for now. A few biobeds stood in standby, their monitors idly blinking, as if waiting for someone to matter.

Lieutenant Daeval stepped through the doors with a calm, practiced pace. He wore his uniform jacket fastened, the sharp lines settled over his frame with a kind of ceremonial grace. A small case in his one hand.

He took in the space like someone reading a room rather than surveying a facility. Not for protocols or hazard signs, but for feel. Sickbay always carried the ghosts of recent tension. Even quiet, it was never emotionally clean.

He looked around the space for a moment before spotting the ginger facade of who he could only assume was Doctor Standish. He cleared his throat loudly, announcing his arrival.

"Don't tell me we've got injured already." Dr. Standish, back to the door, hadn't bothered to look up when it opened. Her voice held an edge of incredulity. "We're still docked you know?"

When the assumed patient didn't immediately respond with the expected patient-like complaints of last minute engineering work or a boot slipping on a rung in one of the jeffries, she twisted, looking up and raising her eyebrows as she did.

"Well you're not injured," she said with pleasant appreciation. "Or if you are you're awfully calm about it."

She set down the blocky PADD she'd been reviewing and turned to face the unknown new arrival. "Dr. Standish," she said extending a hand. "What can I do for you?"

“Doctor,” The Betazoid began warmly, offering a polite nod paired with an easy smile. “Lieutenant Lioren Daeval. Though please, feel free to call me Lio.” His voice carried a calm, conversational cadence, already suggesting a sense of familiarity that put most people at ease.

He stepped forward with relaxed confidence, extending a hand in greeting. It wasn't stiff or formal, but casual, as if they were already colleagues in stride rather than strangers meeting for the first time. There was a subtle glint of curiosity in his dark eyes, the kind that hinted at a counselor’s ever-present readiness to listen.

Looking the newcomer up and down, Kim's expression shifted from a matter of fact curiosity, to a half-grin evoking amusement and curiosity all at once. "Ah," she said with a self deprecating chuckle. "'Suppose that would have been a more reasonable first guess." She gripped Lio's hand firmly in her own and shook before releasing him. "You can call me Kim, then," she said. "Or Doc. Or Standish. Or whatever you land on that feels like it fits. I'm not really one for ceremony unless there's cause to pull rank." She pulled a face. "And even then I'm not a fan."

"Can I get you anything? Coffee?" she asked, turning toward the opposing end of the room where her office lay and indicating with a tilt of her head that Lio should follow.

"Coffee would be great, thanks." Lioren offered a warm, appreciative smile as he fell into step beside her. The atmosphere of Sickbay, while still professional, already felt less rigid than other postings he’d passed through. It was a quiet relief to hear she made a point to keep rank from interfering in Medical. That kind of approachability was rare and refreshing.

As they made their way toward her office, the Betazoid’s voice softened with genuine curiosity. "How long have you been aboard?" he asked, the question carrying with it an easy sincerity. There was a trace of his native cadence in the way the words lilted. A soft, coastal Betazoid accent that rounded his vowels and gave his speech a melodic warmth.

He glanced at her sidelong, genuinely interested, the slight relaxation in his shoulders betraying the fact that, for the first time since boarding, he was beginning to feel a little more at ease.

"They were practically still tying on the nacelles when I got here," Kim commented wryly. It hadn't been nearly so extreme as that, but as she had been warned, she was one of the first aboard. She glanced at the counselor, gauging his reaction before moving behind her desk and offering him a chair. "Ok, not actually, but by some fluke I was one of the first to arrive. Even got a surprise escort from our XO. Although that's a whole different story."

She shifted in her chair, half bending at the waist and came back up with two mugs and a carafe from which she promptly poured a stream of steaming brown liquid. "How do you take it?" she asked.

“Black, thank you.” He reached out as she poured, fingers curling easily around the offered mug. It was curious. Lio couldn’t quite see where she’d produced the carafe from, as though it had materialized purely by her will. The steam rose in slow, lazy curls, and his face twisted into a mixture of confusion and contentment as the aroma reached him.

There was nothing quite like coffee. The sharp, earthy scent grounded him instantly, pulling him back to late nights at the Academy, eyes bleary, brain overloaded, and that blessed first sip making it all seem just manageable enough. He’d gotten a taste for it then, no, a reliance on it, and he was certain it was the only thing that had carried him through his senior year finals without collapsing under the weight of information and expectation.

He lifted the mug slightly in thanks before taking that first, cautious sip, letting the warmth unfurl through him like an old friend’s embrace. To his surprise this was not the standard Fleet brew he’d grown used to. “Wow.” Was all he could muster.

Raising her own coffee to her lips, the doctor raised her eyebrows in response and watched Lio over the rim of the mug. Her corner of her mouth curled into a slight, satisfied smile, before she swallowed. "Some things you can't expect the Mess or the replicator to get right," she said cryptically, offering no explanation for the coffee's unexpected taste or its sudden appearance. Instead she collected the carafe and lowered it behind her desk, replacing it in whatever mysterious receptacle it had appeared.

"I think you can learn a lot about a person by how they take their coffee. Why do you prefer it black?" She asked, clearly genuinely curious.

Lio grasped the mug with both hands, letting the radiant heat seep into his chilled fingers. “Growing up on Betazed, I was fed every manner of sweet, delectable, rich treat imaginable. As is our way,” he said with a smirk that hinted at fond nostalgia. “But when I found my adolescent freedom on Earth, I discovered there was much more. Bitter and savoury, that’s where my tastes truly lie.”

He lifted the cup again, inhaling the dark, comforting aroma before taking another sip, the faint curl of satisfaction playing at the corners of his mouth.

Kim nodded, sipping her own cup and sighing appreciatively. "So how are you feeling about this assignment?" she asked, changing the subject abruptly. If the change felt abrupt to her she didn't show it--almost as if she were simply following an unseen stream of consciousness that Lio had joined upon entering Sickbay.

“Honestly?” Lioren leaned back slightly, crossing one leg over the other with a casual ease. “I’m excited about the opportunity.” His voice carried both sincerity and a restrained eagerness. He took a quick sip of coffee, then rested the cup carefully on his knee, steady as if it were an extension of himself.

“It’s definitely an experience everyone in the fleet dreams about, serving on a Connie. Speaking as an Empath, that excitement has been palpable since I came on board.”

The faint gleam in his dark eyes betrayed just how much the assignment meant to him, though he tried to keep his tone measured, professional.

Standish's eyebrows rose at the mention of the Betazoid's empathic abilities. Not that she was surprised by them, so much as she found that most of the Betazoids she'd been around kept their abilities close to their chests. Or maybe it was just her? Either way she was pleased at this minor admission and after taking one more sip of her coffee set the nearly already emptied cup on her desk.

"Anything you'd like from me as the head Physician aboard or ways you like working with others?" she asked, continuing her earlier train of thought rather than poking at her own curiosity around the counselor's psychic abilities.

Lioren considered the question with deliberate care, a quiet pause stretching between them as he straightened slightly in his chair. His posture carried a kind of innate dignity. It was measured, composed, almost regal in its bearing. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, low, but edged with a sincerity that invited trust.

"My previous Chief Medical Officer found it helpful to flag crewmembers he believed might benefit from my services, cases that extended beyond the scope of routine check-ins or scheduled evaluations," he explained, folding his hands loosely in his lap. "If you were comfortable with such an arrangement, I would be grateful for that assistance." He let the words settle for a moment, his dark Betazoid eyes steady upon the doctor. There was no expectation there, only an open invitation. It was more than procedure, it was partnership.

In truth, he found it quietly reassuring that Standish seemed to approach their roles not as two distinct silos of responsibility, but as interconnected parts of a greater whole. The thought of being regarded as teammates rather than parallel officers warmed him, easing some of the subtle weight that came with new assignments. For Lioren, that small alignment of thought was a promising beginning.

Standish listened, hands wrapped around her mug where it sat on the desk in front of her, and then nodded a swift almost business-like agreement. "I can do that," she said simply. "Assuming you can do the same for me. In my experience those particular situations that call for a counselor's intervention by way of my recommendation often have a biological component attached to them. If you're comfortable with it I'd like to make sure, in those cases only, we share the appropriate notes with each other to enable faster treatment and diagnoses."

She studied the man across from her mentally acknowledging the bearing she'd come to expect from Betazoids when she encountered them. Something that was both open and calming while being almost elegant in bearing. It was an interesting mix--one that the redheaded doctor was well aware included some things that simply weren't her strong suit. She couldn't remember if anyone had ever gone so far as to call her elegant. And calming... it probably came down to personal taste.
Lioren nodded thoughtfully, lifting his cup of coffee once more. He took a slow, steady sip, savoring both the warmth against his hands and the rich, bitter flavor that lingered on his tongue. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“I must say,” he began, his tone carrying an easy confidence, “this feels very much like the beginning of a beautiful partnership.” His dark eyes gleamed with a mixture of sincerity and quiet amusement as he tilted the mug slightly, considering the brew as though it were a confidant in their conversation.

He let the silence hang just long enough to be comfortable before continuing. “And as long as you have this,” he lifted the coffee cup with a playful little flourish, “I think we’ll get along famously, perhaps even as friends.”

There was warmth in the statement, but also the unspoken Betazoid truth that he meant every word. Lio knew that for Human's coffee was more than just a drink; it was a symbol of connection, of shared ritual, of grounding. And here, with Doctor Standish, it was the first stone laid in what might prove to be a strong foundation.

Kim chuckled. "Well, since having good coffee on hand is a prerequisite for my bedside manner, I think you're in luck." She sipped her cup once more, tipping it back to empty the contents before she held up the empty cup in a half toast to the counselor.

"Here's to beautiful partnerships fueled by a well brewed cup."

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