<snip>

“Good answer. Your bedside manner is exemplary. Usually, that is the hardest thing for docs to manage and learn. As a rule I tend to try and get to know everyone on a personal basis outside of sickbay. Depending on the ship you get that can be problematic. My friends Dr. Shan and Dr. Grecken are on a mythology class ship with close to a thousand people. The ship class is like a small floating city as compared with some of our other ships. Anyway,” she waved her hand dismissively as if to push away the extraneous story, “I have always found it easier to deal with patients in an emergency when they know you as Daphne and not as Dr. Frankenstein.” Taking a sip of her coffee she let out a chuckle. “Although with a name like Frankenstein I typically don’t have to distract them with a sleight of hand when the occasion calls for it. The name does that pretty well.”

“I can’t think why.” Said Alex, his expression carefully neutral.

“Really,” she said in an inquisitive tone. “Can’t think of one reason?” Daphne let out a laugh at the well honed neutral expression looking back at her. “You are good. You got that Ma’am don’t worry. It’s too early to tell so get some coffee and I will be back when we know something neutral expression but inside you have that I am going to be honest with you things are not going well and you are going to hate when I come back out next time vibe chattering in your head.” It was clear Alex was no novice in the medical field. His past experience was going to serve the man well.

Glancing over at his file, she skimmed it again looking at the portions she had highlighted.

“Your file shows you were an ER doc before joining up? What made you make the change if you don’t mind me asking?” In her experience, people signed up for Starfleet for two basic reasons. One they wanted out of their small one-horse planet and believed the recruitment posters about adventure and excitement serving the Federation. These people tended to be sorely disappointed because for all the Borg fights, ion storms, and clashes with hostile civilizations it was weeks to months in between of the mundane. The second type of person tended to join up because they were running from something. The something wasn’t always as mysterious as a secret past they were trying to escape. Usually, it too was more mundane such as a failed relationship, an overbearing family, or the events going on in their city or homeworld. The third other reason was a bender ending up at a local recruitment office but those people tended to be crewmen and not officers.

Alex was a mystery to her. He had a flourishing career in Scotland at a prestigious hospital Men like him didn’t usually up and leave for no reason. Whether he would share his reason or not was up to him.

Lt. Daphne Frankenstein CMO

“Oh, you know, I wanted to seek out new worlds…boldly go....etc ” Said Alex, maintaining his neutral expression as he trotted out the standard recruiting infomercial line.

In truth, he’d just needed to get away from the mess that was his old life and try to make a fresh start. His was hardly a unique story, in fact it was so cliché it was almost painful. Married too young after a whirlwind workplace romance, he’d either ruined his marriage by concentrating too much on his career, or, used his job as an excuse to hide from a joyless marriage. If Alex was honest with himself, even he could no longer decide which of those things was true… probably a bit of both. In time maybe he’d open up to someone about this stuff, but definitely not his boss on the first day… not sober anyway.

Cadet Alex McCall, MD

“My reason was far less noble,” Daphne admitted. “My family owns a ski resort in Vermont. It’s one of those big German, alpine-like-looking things. Fit completely with the Transylvanian motif my family has to go with my last name. Anyway, I got tired of driving the hover sled up the mountain and pulling off people with broken legs, blown ACLs, concussions from slamming into things. Word of advice,” she leaned in slightly. “Trees don’t really get out of the way when you are careening down a slope and those little diamond warnings we put up aren’t something I made in kindergarten and used for decoration.” She let out a half-laugh leaning back in her chair.

“Everyone thinks that because they ski on a holodeck,” she let her voice go up a few octaves and waved her hand’s jazz style about her face, “they are Shawn Wright or Chloe Tim on a snowboard. What they forget is there are no safety protocols in real life. You fall down a slope or decided to impress some chick on an unstable shelf and it is game over. No one outruns an avalanche metaphorically or actually. It looks so easy in an OMAP action movie but all you can do is tuck and roll when it takes you out at the knees and pray to god you survive.”

“Have you ever been to The Lecht Ski Centre? The owners are long-time family friends,” she asked. Like most doctors, one tended to work and work some more, sleep in the residency room even though your years as being a resident are now way pat the double digits, slap some new scrubs on, brush your teeth with a cup of coffee, rinse and repeat.

Lt. Daphne Frankenstein CMO

“I haven’t been skiing in years, I did a bit up in the Highlands as a kid when the snows came in but nothing particularly ‘Xtream, man’,” Alex said, the faux California surfer dude accent slipping out on the last two words almost by itself.

Alex leant back a little bit in the chair, surreptitiously checking it’s comfort, padding, and reclining capabilities. After all, he was probably going to have to catch a few naps here and there in the office, so figuring out which one was the ‘good chair’ (and there always was just one ‘good chair’) was essential, especially if his boss hadn’t already staked a claim on it.

Cadet Alex McCall, MD