Posted by Lieutenant Benjamin Grey (Chief Medical Officer) in 17 Forward - Thoughts on the Past

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in 17 Forward - Thoughts on the Past

Posted by Lieutenant Benjamin Grey (Chief Medical Officer) in 17 Forward - Thoughts on the Past
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was just after 1900 hours, 17 forward was mostly full with the dinner crowd chatting away, having finished their morning and afternoon shifts. Most had already finished eating. Benjamin sat at a table close to the observation window and was looking out at the stars. His meal of Andorian Spice peppers, a fish that tasted like halibut, and Tellarite Rice, sat half finished on its plate next to a glass of water. There wer two other glassess on his table, a glass filled with his personal favorite Isley Single Malt, a gorgeous golden brown. Next to the refined Whiskey was a clear glass with an ugly yellowish brown tint, Ferengi Snail juice. He’d grown accustomed to the taste over the years but there was never going to be a day where it would be his prefered drink.

He finally sighed, grabbed the drink and raised it to the stars “Cheers to you old man” He said with a sad smile then downed the drink, he’d learned that he prefered the extra shells as they made the drink slightly less bitter. He coughed once and put the drink down after spitting out the snail then finished the entire glass of water. Today was the 13th anneversary of the Death of Lieutenant Grimp Omag, his second Department head within Starfleet. The man had tested the patience of a young Ben Grey more than any other person, they had not been a good match, not with Ben’s temper and the Ferengi’s complete lack of social grace. Ben had been struck, vomited upon, thrust into situations far beyond his experience, and promoted well before his time all because of Grimp. He’d only known the man for a year and yet he was one of the most influentioan people in his life.

Benjamin hadn’t really lasted as Chief on the Polaris, the pressure was too much after only a few years so he’d requested a demotion and a transfer just before his first ship was decommissioned. The next five years had been a haze, transfering from the Polaris to Betazed, to the Genesis, then finally to Earth. Then seven years on the Genesis. He recalled sitting in the office of Fleet Captain Koraia and arrogantly stating his intentions to go far. Then for seven years he just did his job. A single bump to full Lieutenant, a handful of commendations, doing triage surgery in an empty pool in only swimming trunks and a garish shirt. An alternate universe version of himself that was in a relationship with someone he considered a dear friend which gave him an interesting look into how the universe worked and an alternate timeline version of himself that he saw die. Fifteen years in Starfleet and weird didn’t begin to cover it. He rememberd when he’d turned thirty, working as a junior officer after failing as a department chief, feeling as if his career was over, that he’d failed. Now a decade later, and if not wiser he did feel more confident. He no longer thought of his career success in terms of pips and status but in lives improved and saved. He didn’t lament relationships that failed or never were. The Athena was a good place to be, a senior staff he’d served with for years, qualified doctors in his team, and old friends gone on with their lives. And it all came back to a tempermantal, unstable, bad drinker, of a Ferengi Medical Chief.

Ben shuddered feeling the aftertaste of the snail juice and quickly sipped on his Single Malt “Stubborn bastard” He muttered and smiled.

Doctor Grey
CMO

OOC: Beautiful post! Hope it’s okay I ump in here.
IC:
Speaking of dear friends, a glass with a dark liquid and a couple ice cubes slid onto the table and Janna pulled out a chair and sat, pulling the glass towards herself. “Heya Ben. You look 100 light years away.” It was an invitation but a soft one. No pressure, just her being her usual self. Though he also knew better exactly how she ticked now, since quite a bit of that had changed.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Ben turned around and smiled. Of course he’d noticed her scent on approach, as he did with everyone on the ship, he couldn’t really locate people but he could tell about how far they were from his current location if he focused so he wasn’t surprised to see his friend sit down “Hey Janna, just thinking” He said and looked outside again.

“Nothing wrong with that,” she said with a soft smile.

He clinked his glass against the mostly empty one next to him, the one still with bits of snails and shells in it “Toast to the fallen, I guess you could call it, my second Department Head during my first tour, the USS Polaris. Mad Ferengi bastard, spent most of his time unconscious, either through some strange illness, hungover, or just knocked himself out in ways I literally can’t explain. Can’t count the number of complex operations I had to perform with no practical guidance, hell, I delivered the first baby of my career with him lying on the ground”

“Really?” she said, seeming amused. “Talk about trial by fire.”

He smiled somberly at the memories “Anyway, didn’t have much of a personal relationship with the man, but still he decides to up and quit, writes a letter of recommendation for me to take over the Department. Then on his way to who knows where his shuttle explodes, some major malfunction” He raised the glass again and took a small sip “So every year I sit here and look at the stars and drink that vile stuff that made him regurgitate all over his poor plant, I still have that by the way” He chuckled “My longest lasting relationship” He chortled at that “Might have been a better Starfleet officer without him but I don’t think I’d be half the Doctor I am today”

Ben Grey

“Isn’t that always the way? The things we hope for don’t make us as good as we become through the things that are tossed at us. I always think I would have made a competent science officer, but in the end I am better off being in mental health. I thin i’ve been able to serve better then I could have ever imagined back in my cadet dys.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“It’s funny to think about what we thought would be our career path compared to what it turned out like. I always wanted to get an assignment on one of those Nightingale Class medical cruisers like the Fleming, or the Ogawa, or maybe get assigned to a flagship” Ben said as he swirled his glass “Now I don’t think I want to leave the Athena, at least out here It’s never dull”

Ben Grey

Janna laughed. “Ahh, that is very true. And when I first got transferred here, it was after Dr. Reese was killed. I was supposed to be on one of those medical ships. You know, safe and quiet as far as potential danger goes. But I ended up here and I was honestly terrified, Ben. I knew the Athena’s history and I thought ‘This ship is going to be the death of me,’ but I actually think perhaps it was the thing that saved me in some way. I mean, I don’t think I’d recommend some of the stuff weve bene through, or my whole Nexus experience, but it’s made me less afraid, more willing to take risks. Not mindlessly, of course, but I think you can hold onto life as the prescious thing it is and still allow yourself to be in a position to lose it all and be okay,” she mused. She actually had been rather thoughtful lately herself, especially after that convo with Serena.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“Aye” Benjamin looked out with a sombre smile “When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you… Then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you” He chuckled “Always thought Hemingway was pretentious, then you almost die for the first time, and for whom the bell tolls is suddenly the peak of literature” He chuckled “Then Starfleet happens and suddenly a man nearly five centuries dead becomes profound.”

Ben Grey

Janna smiled and waived over one of the servers. “I think there’s nothing wrong with finding relevance in our problems of today in the past. After all, despite some of the specific problems our century has because of where our tech has led us, in our core, Humans still have a lot of the same internal struggles. Even if we’re much better about dealing with mental health, people still struggle and they always have. Sometimes when I read old books I feel a little less alone because I can see that yes, this author understands, even if there is centuries between our lives.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS