2013 Silver Merit Award The Doctor is In

[Dacia Sandero 0]

 

Two Weeks Ago...

 

Starfleet Academy, San Francisco

 

So far in her young life, this was a moment that she'll always remember most fondly. After four years of busting her butt in Academy, it culminated to this moment, stepping up to the stage and accepting her diploma with honours as her friends and family proudly watched on. After the diplomas were handed out, Dr. Dacia Sandero joined the rest of her class in the traditional tossing of the graduation caps. "Congratulations, Class of 2387!" said the Academy Dean as the graduation party officially began, at a nearby pub overlooking the water.

 

Due to its proximity to the Academy campus, the pub was always filled with young cadets. Tonight however, the pub was filled with graduates. With several of her friends and now former classmates, they toasted to their graduations. Many drinks were had as the jubilant graduates drank to their health and futures. Dacia sat with several of her classmates in the medical program at a table in the outside patio overlooking the Pacific. "Can't believe it's finally over,” said one of Dacia's friends. "I never thought those four years would ever end"

 

Dacia nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. There were times I'd never thought I'd never graduate, and if it wasn't for Boothby, I most likely wouldn't have” A loud voice boomed from across the bar. "To Boothby!" said a Caitian, who obviously overheard. Dacia raised her glass with the rest of the pub. "So, what next? Any of you have postings yet?" She asked. Most of her friends said they did, on various ships, stations and outposts scattered about the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. That was the nice thing about Starfleet; there never seemed to be a shortage on available posts, especially in the medical field. The remaining few were holding out for particular ships they were hoping would accept their applications.

 

"Where are you assigned to, Dacia" asked Melissa, her best friend and roommate for their four years in Academy. "I'm posted on the Aegis. I'm looking forward to it. That's where Leilani is posted,” she said happily. Melissa smiled. "Nice! Don't forget about me over there!" "I won't!" Dacia replied and hugged her friend. "Good luck on the Lincoln, Melissa! I'm kind of envious of you. Being posted on a brand-new ship, but I know you'll do well over there"

 

Melissa smiled. "Thanks, Dacia I know you will too. It must be awesome serving with a friend. At least Leilani will help you along and provide sage like advice for you. Like which shops on the Aegis have the best dresses. That's what I like about space stations,” she said. "I don't know what the shopping is like on the Aegis, but it'll be good to actually know somebody on my first assignment" Dacia said.

 

One week later...

 

Kensington, W8, London

 

"Chester! Come here, boy" Dacia watched as Chester, her 6-month old pug ran towards her with the boundless energy puppies possess. Dacia picked up the small puppy and gave him a hug, as he licked at Dacia's face. The puppy was a graduation present from her parents, given to her about two months ago. In that short time, Dacia already considered Chester to be her little baby and treated him as such.

 

She gently placed him in his crate, and finished packing the rest of her clothes and other small possessions she was bringing along. With Chester out the way, Dacia busied herself around her flat and packed in her clothes and other possessions she planned to take with her.

 

In the old world economy, the Kensington & Chelsea district of London, was one, if not the, most upscale and wealthy areas of London. Back in the early 21st century, her flat, built in 1891, was at one point, worth about £4 million, according to some old historical files she read. Dacia loved the history of her two-bedroom flat. Some of London's wealthiest people lived here for almost five centuries, and it survived three world wars relatively intact.

 

Placing her bags and Chester's crate near the front door, she took one last look, knowing it'll most likely be a very long time before she returns. In the meantime, she made arrangements with her friends and family to look after the place in her absence.

 

At 1:20 in the afternoon, the chime rang. Dacia grabbed her bags and headed out of the doors, to the shuttle which will take her to Earth Spacedock, where she will catch her connection flight to her new posting on the Aegis. Exiting past the doors, she locked up and got into the shuttle.

 

The pilot, helping Dacia with her bags and dog, soon took off giving Dacia one last look of London before it quickly disappeared from view, replaced by the dark black void of outer space, the large mushroom shaped Spacedock quickly came into view, looking positively gigantic compared to the small short-range shuttlecraft, she was riding in. The massive doors opened and the shuttle entered, and headed to the shuttle bay. It was quite the imposing sight, and something Dacia still wasn’t used to.

 

After docking, Dacia had a nice dinner at the restaurant overlooking the station’s internal docking bay waiting for her connecting flight to Aegis, which arrived about two hours later. During that time, she managed to see her friend Melissa off, as she boarded the newly commissioned USS Lincoln, before being informed that her ship was ready to depart not long after that.

 

 

Present day

 

Dacia’s connecting flight to Aegis turned out to be the USS Yosemite, an old Oberth class ship, which had clearly seen better days. The Yosemitewas heading there to pick up supplies and agreed to drop her off before beginning a new mission to catalogue some gaseous anomalies some light years away. Due to the Oberth’s limited warp capabilities, and age, the journey took about a week, at warp 6.

 

 

For Dacia, the bulk of her journey was spent in her quarters, which by comparison to other ships, was small and cramped. She didn’t seem to mind too much, but Chester wasn’t as happy, having to spend much of his time either in his crate and later free to roam around the quarters they shared. Dacia could feel the dog’s apprehension to run around in a larger environment.

 

Once they arrived on Aegis, she promised Chester they’d go for a long walk in the station’s arbouretum and/or in the holodeck, recreating Kensington Gardens; one of their favourite places to go for walks together. On occasion, Dacia would venture out to the ship’s messhall where she would mingle with the crew, who offered plenty of advice and tips on surviving in Starfleet to the young graduate.

 

On rarer occasions, she was given tours of the ship’s medical and engineering bays. For the most part though, the weeklong journey was uneventful. On the final day of the voyage, the captain invited Dacia up to the bridge for the approach to Aegis. “I figured you’d like a good look at your new posting before assignment” said the captain.

Appreciative of the captain’s gesture, Dacia leant on a railing behind the captain since there wasn’t any other place to sit or stand in the bridge. “This is the USS Yosemite NCC-19002 to Sky Harbour Aegis, requesting docking clearance” said the operations officer who transmitted theYosemite’s ID codes at the same time. Once Aegis responded and gave them their docking clearance, Dacia watched on as the helmsman navigated to their docking port.

 

After being given their docking clearance by the Aegis, Dacia watched on as the helmsman navigated to their docking port.

 

The Yosemite docked next to two Akira class cruisers, the Calgary and the Toronto. Docking next to the Toronto, the Yosemite was dwarfed by the two larger ships. After docking was completed, Dacia was eager to board Aegis. Thanking the captain for the tour on the bridge, Dacia returned to her quarters to transfer her belongings to her new quarters on the Aegis.

 

She was looking forward to hooking up with Leilani. Dacia informed her of her assignment to Aegis not long after her graduation, both looking forward to serving together at the time. However, once she left Yosemiteand walked through the airlock to Aegis, she was met by Leilani, who seemed to be hiding something.

 

“Dacia! It’s so good to see you again!” Leilani said, and gave Dacia a big hug. “Thanks, Leilani. I’ve missed you so much!” Leilani put an arm around Dacia’s shoulder and smiled nervously. “You too, Dacia. It’s been far too long. So this is Chester, eh? Aww, he looks so much cuter than the holo-pics you sent me”

 

Leilani poked a finger through the crate at Chester’s nose. Chester licked at Leilani’s fingers. The two walked in silence as Dacia pushed the hover cart with her bags and Chester in tow in his crate. Dacia could tell something bothered Leilani, but she didn’t really want to pry. They arrived at her new quarters a few minutes later.

 

Standard size for an ensign’s quarters, Dacia, helped by Leilani unpacked her things. Once they finished unpacking, Dacia opened Chester’s crate and replicated him some food and water. The dog eagerly lapped up both. While he did, Dacia and Leilani sat down on Dacia’s small chesterfield. Leilani signed. “Yeah, I’m sure you can tell something’s up, Dacia. Well, I have some news for you, which you might not like”

 

“Uh oh. At least I’m sitting down. So, what happened?” Dacia asked. “Nothing bad” Leilani reassured, “it’s just that I’ve been reassigned. I was offered the role of Chief Science Officer of the Toronto. I accepted the position, and am due to report for duty there tomorrow” Dacia was taken aback. She was very much looking forward to serving together, and now she found out that wasn’t going to happen.

 

“Oh... well… Congratulations, Leilani!” Dacia offered. “But I am bummed we won’t be able to be on the same station together. She said, with a frown. “You always have to go away, be it from high school to the Academy, or whatnot. I am happy for you, really. But, I just wish we could’ve had more time to spend together” Dacia said with a frown.

 

Leilani leant on Dacia’s shoulder. “Thanks, and I know. I wish that were the case too. We’ve always been moving around, and our age difference made it difficult to be the same school together. But, it won’t be so bad” Leilani said. “I’ll never be too far away. The Toronto is part of the patrol fleet for this area, so I’ll still be relatively close by most of the time. I’ll also visit whenever we ‘re docked here too”

 

“Yeah, I know,” replied Dacia. “It’s not the same” Leilani smiled. “Yeah, but we can always keep in touch via subspace. I know it’s not the same as face to face. But I’ll still be here and help you along. Don’t worry. Aegis was my first assignment too, and I can tell you, everybody’s nice here, even the Romulans. You’ll get used to it pretty quickly and everybody will help you along as well. You’ll quickly adjust. I know it”

 

“You’re probably right. I just have to get used to it, I suppose” Dacia responded. “I’ll miss having you around, but it’ll be fine” Both women got up. “If you need any assistance, then feel free to contact the quartermaster for help, or the operations officer in the control tower” Leilani suggested. “Welcome aboard, Dacia. And you too, Chester” she said as the dog milled about Leilani’s feet.

 

“I gotta head to the science lab, and take some of my things over to theToronto. There’s a few experiments that I’d like to continue over there. In the meantime, how’s about dinner tonight before I transfer over?” Leilani asked. “Sounds good to me, sure” Dacia answered. Leilani headed towards the door. “Great. See you then. Wish I can tell you more about Dr. Pavillion, but I’m afraid I don’t really know her too well outside of a professional environment. But she is pretty nice and easygoing. You and her should have no trouble getting along. The same could be said with the rest of the medical staff in my limited interactions with them as well”

 

“Thanks, Leilani. Good luck on the Toronto. I’ll see you later for dinner” replied Dacia and she bade Leilani goodbye. Once she left, Dacia re-entered her quarters, thankful Chester didn’t dash out and made a note to set up a forcefield to prevent such an occurrence in the future, or to have the operations chap do it.

 

“So how do you like it, Chester?” she said to the dog and she rearranged some of her items. The dog so far seemed to be happy with his new surroundings. For a pug, the new quarters were pretty large, with plenty of space to sniff and move around. Chester wagged his tail in contentment and jumped onto the chesterfield next to Dacia. Dacia stroked his head. “Shame not being able to serve with Leilani, but never mind. Hopefully, I’ll manage on my own eh?”