Posted by Lieutenant Commander Rebecca “Becca” Ngata (Executive Officer) in Pre-sim - Sickbay: A surprise in the ‘Knight’

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Pre-sim - Sickbay: A surprise in the ‘Knight’

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Rebecca “Becca” Ngata (Executive Officer) in Pre-sim - Sickbay: A surprise in the ‘Knight’
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Buoyed by her meeting with the Captain, Becca had one more mission to accomplish this night.

=^= Computer, what is the location of Doctor Knight? =^=

=^= Doctor Knight is in Main Sickbay =^=

Even better. Time to kill two birds with one stone, get her boarding physical out of the way, and give the good Doctor a little surprise into the bargain!

—————————————————————-

Becca strolled into the Main Sickbay, the lights were low and the place deserted whilst they were docked, Dr Knight was no doubt trying to catch up on some paperwork or some such working at this hour.

“I say, is there a Doctor in the house??” She called out.

Becca Ngata - XO

“Becca,” Natasha said looking up from her PaDD. “Come here,” she moved around the desk to embrace her friend. “Dante said you were coming. How have you been?” The happiness es evident in the woman’s face as she spoke.

Lt Nat Knight

“Hi ‘Auntie Tashie’ I’m doing great thank you, how are you?” Becca managed to keep the surprise off her face that Dante had managed to foil her little plan, had he really had a band laid on for her arrival maybe?

“Still living on what I get in a cup. With the Oscar that is cold soup or cold coffee but I have been good,” she teased her long time friend.

Becca returned the embrace. Between having nearly a foot in height on Nat and with her broad shouldered boxers build, she almost engulfed the smaller woman in a hug.

The ‘Auntie Tashie’ joke back went back to a dinner party they had all attended one shore leave, in truth Becca could barely remember the origins of the nickname, probably due to the red wine, but it had stuck. In truth there were only a few years between the two women and their relationship was more of a big/little sister dynamic, although in this case the ‘little’ sister was almost comically bigger than the ‘big’.

Becca smilies down at her friend, wondering when she’d notice the shiny new rank pip decorating her uniform.

Becca Ngata - XO

“So,” Nat let go of the embrace and could not hide the grin on her face. “Dante told me we would be having a familiar face around the place soon.” Pausing a second she could not hold back. “Okay, that was a lie. He damn neared skipped through the door like a kid on Christmas day when he found out you were available to take the position as his second in command. If I am going to be fair I was pretty ecstatic too. I mean the gang is back but this time I need to salute you,” Nat pointed to the pips on the woman’s neck. “The rank looks good on you and frankly I am happy to have the company again. Shore leaves will never be the same.”

The history between the three of them was long and filled with fun, laughter, an great memories. Having Becca on board was only going to make the crew stronger and life more interesting. “So how about I give you the once over and then we settle back with a bottle of vodka and catch up,” she suggested. “Dante can take daddy duty for the day. Say that three times fast,” she teased indicating a bed for Becca to sit on.

Natasha Knight

“I’ll try it later once we’ve gotten stuck into your vodka supply! And don’t worry, you only have to salute and call me Sir when we’re in company.” Becca said with a wink.

“That is going to be so weird,” Natasha said in a bemused but contemplating tone. “It took me forever to remember to not use Dante in public during office hours and well…I only call him sir in two situations. One when I am pissed at him and then other,” she rolled her eyes with a smirk. The trio had been drunk together way too many times not to have the human side of their personalities come out. There was a reason Dante nicknamed her wild cat back in the academy. With all the rank and file of Starfleet life, one had to find some humor and balance or they would go crazy.

She sat down on to the biobed and swung her long legs up on to couch, making herself as comfortable as possible.

Nat scanned Becca getting all the reading right where they needed to be. The check-in was simply a formality. For all the fun and crazy that was Becca Ngata, she was also the consummate officer which is why she rose to the position of executive officer so quickly. Part of Natasha was so relieved to have her on the ship in this position. The executive officer was a position that held almost as much rank and authority as the captain. Nat would sleep safer at night knowing Becca was at the helm. “You my dear are as fit as a fiddle,” Nat proclaimed signing off on the PaDD.

“I’m all good to go Doc, fully charged, zero defects.”

The new XO did indeed look to be in the prime of health, with the kind of body/fat percentage usually reserved for Olympic swimmers, the powerful shoulders to match, and muscle tone that spoke of hours spent in the gym and on the track. Her Polynesian ancestry showed clearly in her dark skin, sculpted cheek bones and dark brown hair, pulled back in it’s usual no-nonsense pony tail.

Becca Ngata - XO

“Is defective even in your vocabulary,” Natasha looked at her friend inquisitively. The question was met as a compliment. To Nat’s knowledge, there wasn’t much Becca hadn’t been able to meet head-on and defeat, win, or succeed with since Nat had known her. “I heard that someone recently completed against old Herman Hornsby at the academy field days and almost won. I mean it’s against Hornsby and I think that man is just a cyborg and not really human buuuuut,” she let her voice have a sing-song quality, “they did say a certain officer gave him a run for his money.” Herman Hornsby was the bane of cadets at the academy. There were rumors the man was El-Aurian because he never seemed to age and had been head of the program for more years than any could ever remember. His prowess and agility on the PT fields and in self-defense were legendary backed up by man taking any cadet to task that doubted they could best him.

Nat Knight CMO

“I can’t possibly think where you might have heard that story from… I can neither confirm nor deny that I’ll definitely get him next time.”

Her tone was lighthearted but in truth Becca still felt a bit of a twinge in her gut at the mention of her failure. She wasn’t a good loser. She swung her legs round so that she was seated on the edge of the bed facing Nat.

“Guess I’ll just have to train harder while we’re away eh? Gotta keep my edge after all.”

“Personally I don’t know who could ever take that man down but if they did the academy would have to replace him. It’s not like a cadet or officer should be able to take down the dean of the security and tactical school,” Natasha laughed. “That man hated me so much. I mean I did only take the class to spend time with Dante but I remember one time he said to me ‘cadet daye you had better pray if you are ever caught and held hostage it’s a debate you have to participate in and not combat. You tongue is the only weapon you got and you will lose.”

She hopped down from the bed and went through a series of stretches to work the kinks out. In truth she was already feeling a bit antsy about whether she was going to be able to keep up her training schedule in her new post, already the lists of meetings, audits, and briefings seemed without end.

“So, as part of my orientation tour, I hereby order you to direct us to the nearest recreation facility so that we can perform an inspection of the beverages and snacks.”

Becca Ngata - XO

“I have the perfect place and it’s not a holodeck.” Nat gestured for Becca to follow her out of sick bay.

============
One hour later
============

Natasha sat in the small sandy ledge looking out at the fake sunlight horizon as she sipped her drink. She loved the feeling of the sand in her toes. The holodeck could give this but it was not real like this place.

“This is the newest edition to the biological masterpiece that is Kane’s climatology program. Dante thought she was crazy when she asked to start the program,” Natasha took a swig of her beer. “She just wore him down. She came from the Ark Angel with literally like five tanks. Those have grown from a terrarium to a vivarium to a fully functioning ecosystem in the next room. I don’t care so much about the animals in them. They are mostly rodents and insects but this place,” she gestured,” I could so get into this place. I like to come here to think even though it is nowhere close to being done.”

The room was just a large supply closet with bright panels giving the room all the illumination of a sunlit beach. The walls were holographic showing the perfect beach vista but the small one-meter zero-entry water and sand were real. The room held the thick scent of the sea due to the high salt content of the water. As the fans and humidity kicked in it varied the scent much like someone at the beach. The waves were not real waves. They were ripples but it would come.

“Computer turn off walls and set to night mode,” Natasha ordered. The room darkened completely with just a million pinpricks of stars filling the ceiling. “It’s not perfect but who the hell wants perfect. I mean perfect is back home never leaving your known space and having all the answers. This room is wild and unpredictable. It will never be the same place twice and not because some computer threw up an algorithm but because life took hold and grew…in a metal space ship…light years from where it started. Kinda profound or I am kinda drunk,” Nat laughed.

“So how is your family,” Nat shoulder bumped her friend. “What’s up with you and I have to say you look terrific....happy.”

Natasha Knight