Posted by Lieutenant Obiah Torrirs (Chief Medical Officer) in Sickbay - Alex Winters reporting for duty

<snip>

“Ah, Miss Winters, is it?” When they spoke, as they identified with both sets of pronouns, their voice was accented with the faint twinge of a clearly alien non-binary woman. “I apologize for the clutter,” They motioned to the PADDs littering their desk, “I was not expecting you until later.”

Alex took the offered seat, then nodded. “I came aboard just ten minutes ago,” she said. “I suppose I could have taken a little bit more time to get situated in my quarters, but I’m just not the idle type,” she said. “I’d rather start getting into the watch rotation as soon as I can, if you don’t mind.”

“Please, have a seat.” They rose to their feet, making their way to the replicator. “Can I get you anything?”

Dr. Torrirs
CMO

Alex smiled a little smile. “Coffee would be good,” she said. “Black, no sweetener.”

Niol had had no coffee. Or synthehol. Or sweetened drinks. Or sweetened … well, anything, except for unprocessed fruits. In fact, Niol didn’t have much that could tempt people to think of life as anything other than a beautiful but demanding proving ground, where God would judge whether one was worthy of getting into Paradise. Plus, they could only eat whatever they managed to produce on their own. Which wasn’t much, by the standards of replicator-equipped Earthlings. The result of this was that Alex’ preferred diet had been … well, rather bland and monotonous, compared to that of her classmates, when she’d first gotten to the Academy. She still had few vices. No candy of any kind. Nothing intoxicating. No artificial sweeteners. Certainly no elaborate three-course meals for her. But coffee … well, coffee had been a revelation to her, when she’d first discovered it. Coffee had become something she wasn’t really willing to go without, anymore.

• Cadet Alex Winters, Doctor