To Boldly Go...

The medical bay doors opened, the sounds of monitors and nurses calling out to each other filled Callia's ears. This is where she was comfortable. She slowly made my way around, hoping to find her senior officer. Most of the doctors and nurses were wearing their white uniforms. They all stared as she walked by before going back to the work. There were crew members getting their physicals done before they warped, a few who were getting sea sick, and one who seemed to have crushed their fingers in a doorway. Well, those sliding doors are rather tricky. She noticed a tall man in a blue shirt, tending to a tribble. She could hear he was mumbling to himself before typing a few things on his PADD. She walked closer and tapped his shoulder. He turned his head, eyebrow raised at her.

“Can I help you?” He asked, Callia noticing a hint of an attitude in his voice. She cleared her throat nervously, clasping her hands behind her back.

“I believe your my senior medical officer. I'm Callia Allen.” She said, introducing herself. He grunted in response, typing on his PADD again before completely turning to her.

“Well first, congratulations, you're promoted.” he said, gesturing for her to follow him. She was a little taken aback at this. He hadn't even seen her work and he was already telling her that she was being placed a rank higher.

“Promoted, sir?” She asked, obviously confused.

“Lieutenant Callia Allen, welcome to the medical bay of the U.S.S Enterprise. The name's Dr. Leonard McCoy. Starfleet sent you to be under my wing. Great and all, but I'm not responsible for you, kid. You'll help out around here, follow me when I need you, but I'm not here to babysit.” he ranted, checking out crew member vitals on a large com screen.

“Understood, Doctor. I won't be getting in your way.” She said, quickly trying to process all that he said to her in the matter of a minute.

“Great. Now, I'm gonna need you to monitor this little fuzzball while I go find the Captain.” he said, ushering her over to the cage of the tribble. She sat on the desk's edge and watched him walk out, sighing as she looked over at the ball of fur.

“You don't look like you're too much to handle, right?” She spoke softly, stroking its fur softly. The creature cooed and purred at her, wiggling closer to her hand. All at once, the screens in the room popped up with a picture of a young kid in a yellow shirt, speaking in a heavy Russian accent. He was telling about what the mission was and when they would be arriving at the planet. Three days at minimum warp speed.

Great, she thought, what the hell am I going to be doing for three days? Just as she was getting ready to fall asleep out of boredom, the doors opened again. Dr. McCoy walked in, following behind the one person she actually recognized on this whole ship. She quickly jumped off the desk, standing at attention and saluting as he walked right over to her.

“Captain Kirk, Lt. Callia Allen.” She said, watching him smile at her.

“Put your arm down, Lieutenant, no need to be so formal.” He said with a grin. “I just wanted to come and personally meet my newest crew member.” Callia noticed the huge eye roll that Dr. McCoy produced.

“Its an honor to meet you, Sir.” She said, slowly putting her arms behind her back. The Captain chuckled at her, his smile growing.

“Just call me Jim.” he said, causing the Doctor to roll his eyes again.

“Careful, Callia. His head is gonna explode from that ego of his.” McCoy grumbled. Kirk laughed and shook his head at the Doctor.

“I'm just making nice, Bones. Lighten up.” Kirk said, slapping McCoy on the arm.

“Nice my ass.” McCoy grumbled again before stalking off.

“I'm stealing her time!” Kirk called after him. McCoy waved him off as mumbled some choice words at the Captain. “Walk with me, Lieutenant.”

She quickly followed him, watching McCoy roll his eyes more at the sight. She had to resist the urge to laugh out loud at how the two of them interacted with each other. The Captain walked with her quietly down the hallways, not saying anything but occasionally asking crew members how the ship was running. She guessed it was maybe an unofficial tour once they got down to Engineering where a loud Scottish man shouted at a strange, short, amphibian like creature that was sitting up on some pipes. The Scott, called Scotty by the Captain, said that the ship's warp core was “purring like a kitten on the first day of spring.” After leaving Scotty, that was when the Captain began to speak to Callia freely.

“So Lieutenant, where are you from?” He asked, slowly his pace down and looking over at her.

“Boston, Sir.....I mean, Jim.” She said, looking back at him.

“Nice, very nice. So, word has it that you're pretty smart. 22 and already got a PhD? That's pretty impressive. Shouldn't we be calling you Doctor Allen?” he asked, raising his eyebrows a little. She blushed slightly and laughed out of embarrassment.

“That's very flattering, Jim, but I'm not that great. I'd rather earn the Doctor title through work, rather than through a piece of paper.” She said. He nodded and looked ahead of them, seeing to be off in thought.

“Don't doubt yourself there, Lieutenant. I'm sure you're just as great as Doctor McCoy.” he said.

“Maybe. I doubt anyone will notice with such a short mission...and you can call me Callia, if you would like.” She said, looking down at her shoes and scuffing them across the floor a little.

“Ah, there you go with that self doubt. We're gonna work on that.” he said, a smile in his voice. “You're not getting rid of me so easy, Callia. We're a family on this ship.”

“I figured as much.” She said with a chuckle. “I should probably be getting back to work.”

“Of course. I'll be seeing you.” he said, smiling at her one last time before going back to the bridge.