Posted by Lieutenant Aurra Talisse (Chief Medical Officer) in Alt Timeline - Sickbay

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brenner “Bren” Satis (Doctor/specialty in neuroscience) in Alt Timeline - Sickbay
Bren took a deep breath. In through his nose and out through his mouth. He felt a tickle in his nose as the dry air moved through his pulmonary system. He had spent the last week travelling on starships and shuttles to reach the Atlantis. Each mode of transportation had the same self-contained, life-supporting, artificial environment as the Atlantis, but they had been temporary. Now he had arrived at his destination, and the moisture-laden ocean breezes he had grown accustom to, first in San Francisco at Starfleet Medical and then on Okinawa at the Daystrom Institute, were officially part of his past.

He ran the back of his index finger against the underside of his nose, preventing a sneeze and locked his dark eyes on the door in front of him. It was the main entrance to Sickbay. He could sense the hum of activity on the other side of the door. Tendrils of anxiety seeped through the door as patients waited for treatments or diagnoses. Calmer notes of competent efficiency emanated from the professionals who tended to their care. He tentatively searched for a familiar mind, but was unable to find it.

Had time changed them so much that she was truly a stranger? Only one way to find out. She may not have requested his assignment to the Atlantis, but he imagined she must have approved it. If she hadn’t, this would be more difficult than he was anticipating.

Dr. Bren Satis willed his face to relax and his mouth to curl up into a friendly smile as he pressed the button that opened the doors to Sickbay. With white teeth visible behind his open mouthed grin and a mop of curly dark hair flopping down over his forehead, the Betazoid physician presented himself with a practiced boyish charm.

He was greeted as he entered by a medical assistant who couldn’t have been a day over twenty-two.

“Good morning. I’m Doctor Brenner Satis. I believe I’m scheduled to report to Dr. Talisse. Is she available?”

Satis, MO

A nurse manning the desk looked up. “I’m sorry, Dr Talisse is seeing a patient in their quarters, she should be back any minute. You can take a seat over there to wait for her.” Here she pointed to the small waiting area filled with chairs.

Five minutes later, Aurra returned to sickbay with a gentle smile on her face. “It looks like Mrs Barber is going to be fine.” She announced to the few staff members present. There was a general happy consensus before the nurse at the desk motioned for her attention.

Bren felt himself smiling despite himself as Aurra entered Sickbay. The sound of her voice, the familiarity of her gait, and the buzz of her mind tickling the edge of his sensory perception flooded his mind with memories. For a moment he could almost smell the stale beer and cheap vodka that permeated the Pope’s Head, a hole in the wall bar a few blocks north of Mission Dolores Park where they’d spent more than a few weekend nights while at Starfleet Medical.

He enjoyed the fleeting moment before she knew he was there. By the time she turned he was standing, hands clasped behind his back.

“There’s a new crew member waiting to report in to you…a Doctor Brenner Satis.” She pointed to the uniformed body in the waiting room.

“Wha…?” Aurra’s head snapped around to look and a face from her past met her gaze.

—Talisse

“Hi there,” he cleared his throat. “Dr. Satis reporting in, sir. I hope I was expected.”

Satis, MO