It was quiet in sickbay, a little too quiet.

PO Rebecca Thorne stood in the doorway leading to the CMO’s office with a mug of coffee, the steam raising from the liquid. She watched the empty biobed readouts glow a steady blue. There was a faint vibration in the deckplates, she could feel it slightly in her boots, the gentle hum of the Mente at warp but sickbay itself had never felt so quiet. A little like a waiting room before a storm she thought to herself.

She took a sip from the mug but immediately pulled a face, it wasn’t like the coffee at home. She definitely needed to pay more attention to the blend that she selects on the replicator.

She turned into the office and placed the mug down on the desk next to three PADDs stacked up. They were stacked perfectly, Dr. Paldor definitely liked things in order. She nudged them out of alignment with a faint smile. Then smoothed them back, there was no sense winding the Doc up before noon.

The Sickbay doors slid open and Reyna Paldor stepped through. Her braid tucked neatly and a medical tricorder already in her hand as if she was born with it there. She glanced around the room and then looked at Rebecca.

“You’re early” Paldor said.

“I was bored so I thought I’d get in a grab a coffee” she replied, giving an evil look to the still steaming mug on the desk beside her.

“hmmm,” Paldor set the tricorder down on the desk and opened up the morning status on the screen in front of her. “Nothing to report from the night shift it seems, all has stabilised.”

Rebecca leaned against the desk, “we pulled 2 long days at that last relay and handed off two hybrid mechanical life-form things to a Research vessel. The crew says they’re find because that’s what Starfleet trains us to say. They’re not fine, they’re exhausted.”

Paldor didn’t respond, and continued to study the screen in front of her.

“Want to make a bet?” Rebecca continued, “I’ll bet you a real cup of coffee that we see three ‘headaches’ before we hit lunch.”

The sickbay doors slid open again revealing a young Bolian ensign rubbing the bridge of his nose, he opened his mouth to speak but Rebecca held up a finger.

“Headache?” she asked.

He blinked and nodded.

“Of course”, she patted the biobed “come on, sit”

She opened a drawer and picked out a small container. Inside there were individually wrapped lozenges, their wrappers colourful. She passed one to the ensign, “suck, don’t chew, and breath slowly.”

Paldor scanned him, “Dehydrated, low grade muscle tension.”

She stepped to his front, “rest, fluids and sleep. No caffeine after 1800”

“I don’t drink…..” he began.

Rebecca tilted her head “now, come on, there’s no such thing as a caffeine free Bolian in engineering.”

The young Bolian laughed and lay down. Rebecca dimmed the overhead light above him and engaged a sound dampening field around it. Not enough to be obvious, but enough to make him comfortable.

“one.” Rebecca whispered when the Doctor stepped back.

“Beginners luck,” Paldor replied.

By 1000 hours, Rebecca had won that bet. It wasn’t just headaches though. It was little things, sprains from people misjudging a step, a few cases of mild heartburn and a general feeling of fatigue.

Rebecca started a list on a PADD, not an official Medical Log. Nothing like the logs Paldor kept, tidy and devoid of feeling. This one she titled, Sickbay Secrets (Moral).

• Bridge Crew lingering after the end of shift
• Engineering replicators running hot, Brunak won’t admit it, Korren has defences up.
• Counsellor Venn slept two hours less than normal (confirm?)
• Kree’s Bravado up by 34% (estimate, probably more)
• Zoral won’t make eye contact, use open spaces

She added one more, Captains chair leather creaking, heard through the ship. She underlined this twice. She knew Traven would never admit it but she could always tell when he leaned back and thought to hard about something.

She wanted to warm up sickbay, not physically of course. The refit left the ship feeling a little to new, almost clinical. Great for sickbay itself but not for the people. She dropped the white lights slightly and shifted the colour temp to something a tiny bit warmer. Enough to make the next person who walks in a little more comfortable.

At 1100 hours, Kree walked in with his jacked open, he had that look when he wanted to boast about something.

“what is it this time,” Rebecca said.

He leant on the counter grinning, “just routine” he replied “Sh’rol had us running through drills in the holodeck, he turned off the safeties for ‘realism’, the shuttle took its anger out on me”

“you have a sore shoulder then”

“no, I have a badge of honour for saving the shuttle from inevitable doom in an asteroid field” he laughed

Rebecca led him to the biobed, “come on, remove your jacket.”

He sat on the bed and took of his jacket with the usual theatrics. Rebecca scanned the shoulder, there was no permanent damage.

“you know, you don’t need to fling yourself around so much when fliying” she smiled.

“Without adding a little flair I’ll fall asleep” he winched

Paldor walked past the pair, busying herself, she didn’t even look toward then but couldn’t help with a drive by comment, “Boredom is much preferable to injury.”

Before Kree could respond to the Doctor she changed the subject, “how is life on the bridge, without strange glowing creatures?”

Kree turned to her, “The Captain pretends quiet is fine. T’Lenar loves the quietness. Sh’rol uses anything for an excuse for a drill but that’s not really anything unusual. Me? I’m a delight of course”

“How are you sleeping?” she replied nodding

He rolled his eyes “better since we got rid of the guest, Sora been doing that thing where she tricks you into admitting you’re anxious.”

“That’s called counselling” Rebecca said

“I know, I didn’t mean anything bad, she’s good but don’t tell her I said that” he admitted

Rebecca finished her review of the shoulder, “well there’s no structural damage to your ego, ice your shoulder after each duty shift and stretch…. Properly, if it gets worse, come back”

Kree slid off the bed. Putting his jacket back on he headed toward the door, turning just before he reached it. “hey, thanks”

“for what?”

“For making sickbay feel like it’s not a place where things go wring” he continued and disappeared down the corridor.

She picked up her PADD and scrolled to the note about Kree, she added: ‘Kree: Bravado at normal levels.’

At 1300, the sickbay doors slid open again. Rynka Korren walked in, she definitely didn’t look like she wanted to be coming through those doors. She had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

“you look like you cleaned the jerries tubes with your face” Rebecca said walking toward her.

Korren blinked at her, she looked like she attempted a smile but definitely failed. “I closed the wrong grill with my head”

Rebecca handed her a bandage, to small for any real injury. Korren examined it for a second and then held it against her temple.

“How’s Engineering?” Rebecca asked her.

“Loud, but the right kind of loud” Korren said. “Brunak is pretending he doesn’t like how I calibrated the industrial replicators with the ships systems. He’s lying, he loves it, it means he can complain about something else.”

“what is it this time?”

“Paperwork mostly,” Korren said with a look of distain. “Also, he’s gotten personally offended by the creaking of the captain’s chair.”

“ah yes, THE chair”

Korrens eyes flicked to her, “you know the noise?”

“I know it,” Rebecca leaned toward her whispering with a smile.

Rebecca moved the bandage away from Korren’s head for a second and used the dermal regenerator to heal the wound. “you were out there with the object, you did well, you brought everyone back home” she said softly.

Korren looked away, “it doesn’t sit right that we handed off the problem we found.”

“That’s because you’re a problem solver, but you did your part” Rebecca said “now it’s time to let someone else do theirs.”

Korren huffed, “you’re good at this, thankyou”

She left a few minutes later and Rebecca once again picked up her PADD. She scrolled to her entry about engineering and added a new line. ‘Korren: pretends to be steel but isn’t as hard as she seems, accepted bandage, symbolic victory.’