Complications ...

[T'aral 0]

The mission is proceeding without incident. Medical department remains at ready status.

 

It was a simple report, and one that T'Aral filed regularly. She didn't approve of providing needless detail that the Captain and the rest of Starfleet hierarchy wouldn't bother reading anyway. As she finished the general details - name, rank, date - a chime from her monitor indicated an incoming message.

 

From: Starfleet Communications Network

To: T'Aral, Lieutenant, USS Comanche Creek

Subject: Message delivery termination, Steln, Lieutenant, Starfleet Science Division

 

Message could not be delivered as requested: recipient account has been deactivated. See incident report #SFDS-IR-2259.357-1047-d.

 

T'Aral stared at the screen for several seconds, completely motionless. a '-d' classification on an incident report meant only one thing ... 'deceased'. A follow-up inquiry through the medical database soon replied with the only information required: Steln was dead. The details of what happened were not available from this database, but they were irrelevant to T'Aral. She had the information she required.

 

Closing her eyes, T'Aral focused her thoughts to steady them. Sadness would be of no value - it could not change circumstances. Regret, remorse, and all other emotions which inflict other races were illogical. She had no involvement in what had happened, and no depth of feeling could change what had happened. Steln was gone, and a simple acceptance of that fact was all there was for her.

 

She focused on clarity, clearing her mind of all errant thoughts. She had to let go of what could have been, but now would never be. She had to focus only on the present, for only the present mattered. The ship was the present. The Captain, the crew, and the needs of those in her care were the present. These matters were what required her attention. Steln required no further thought, for no further thought would matter to Steln.

 

She rose from her terminal - there was a change in the ship's alert status. Something was happening around the vessel ... things that T'Aral would not know about unless she investigated in person, as the Captain and bridge crew would be far too occupied to explain the situation to her over the communications network. Rising from her chair, she left her office to make her way to the bridge.

 

What was happening on the bridge was what mattered in the present. She would have to make a habit of spending more time there; the medical staff would be far better directed if she increased her awareness of events that impacted the ship directly instead of allowing her attention to be drawn elsewhere.