Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brenner “Bren” Satis (Doctor/specialty in neuroscience) in Alt Timeline - Sickbay

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
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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

Although it only took a second or two, memories of Star Fleet Academy zipped through her mind upon seeing the face of the officer speaking. “Bren…? What are you doing here?” Voice louder than she’d intended, causing the nurse to look up sharply from her work, Aurra took half a second to compose herself and take a deep breath.

“Dr Satis, would you come with me please?” Talisse turned and headed for her office. While walking, Aurra tried to make sense of Bren being on the Atlantis. Things had not ended well between them back at the Academy.

It didn’t take a Betazoid to recognize the surprise Aurra felt on his arrival. By the time her surprise had been pushed aside by other emotions she had regained her composure. Only Bren could sense the fiery cauldron his former friend was controlling within her mind.

The trip to her office was brief. It had been several years since he’d last seen her. Her hair was shorter. Or was it simply curled? The shape that had drawn more attention than most back in their Academy days was still as alluring as ever, even beneath the less than flattering outline of a Starfleet doctor’s de rigueur uniform. For a moment he felt himself struggling with the warmth of nostalgia and the coldness of his greeting.

Once inside, she whirled on him. “You don’t belong here, Bren.”

—Talisse

Bren winced, Aurra’s words hitting like a slap across the face. Any illusion that his posting to the Atlantis had been at her approval disappeared. Instead he was left with the realization that the random machinations of Starfleet had thrown them together.

Even after all the years that had passed since the last time the two shared the same space, Aurra still picked up on how her words hurt him. She had time to think he had been foolish to expect any other reaction from her.

“Starfleet begs to differ,” even Bren could hear the defensiveness in his voice and he looked away for a quick moment to regain his composure. “Here are my orders…sir. I had hoped you’d been made aware of transfer to the Atlantis.”

Like hell! If she’d had any idea he was being considered for a position in her department, she would have fought him getting the assignment. They’d been close—very close, but his dealings with the Daystrom Institute had pushed a wedge between them that she wasn’t willing to let go of.

Up to this point Bren had stood straight, legs hip distance apart and hands clasped behind his back. After handing his orders to Aurra he crossed his arms over his chest.

“It’s what you wanted for me back in the day isn’t it? A respectable posting on a starship? I’ve left the Daystrom Institute. That project,” despite himself he broke eye contact, “it’s over. I’m moving on.”

Satis, MO

“I wanted a lot of things for you back then, Bren. But you weren’t willing to sacrifice your precious training and experiments into areas that crossed ethical lines. You even tried using your new found skills on me. On me! You betrayed me!” The doctor jabbed a finger in the air in his direction to emphasize her point.

Aurra took a few deep breaths, trying to slow her heart rate. “I don’t want you here because you can’t be trusted not to influence people in your favor. I suggest you report to Captain Bordeaux and tell her there’s been a mistake. Tell her you need to be transferred somewhere else.”

She wouldn’t look away, it would show weakness and there was no way she’d let Bren see her like that again.

—Talisse