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

This was going about as badly as it could. Bren had gamed out this conversation more than once over the week it had taken him to travel from Earth to the Atlantis. Every night he’d found himself staring at the cold gray of the bunk above him playing both side of this conversation in his head. What would he say if Aurra greeted him warmly? With calculated coldness? Anger? Disdain? Now that they were face to face, he realized how pointless it had been to predict her words and his own ability to coolly control his reaction. No one could hurt you like family and for a while Aurra had been his chosen family.

“I know what I did,” he paused, collecting his words. “I know I crossed the line with us. I couldn’t say it then. I can now. I won’t apologize for my work over the last years. Whatever you think of it, it was my assignment and I felt it was the right thing to do. What happened between us…I just didn’t want to lose you.”

She didn’t move, just stared at a vision from her past she’d never thought to see again. “Is that supposed to make me feel better somehow? You thought you were ‘doing the right thing’ when you used your Betazoid mind control to influence me to steal pharmaceuticals at the Academy? I could have been expelled, Bren, and had a permanent criminal record if I hadn’t been able to overcome your influence.” Aurra began pacing the small space now around the desk. “You said you just didn’t want to lose me…
Well how can that be? Did you think I’d be grateful for your attempt to control me and my decisions? You need help…”

It wasn’t an excuse, or really that much of an explanation. The monologue of apology and justification he’d rehearsed wouldn’t come. It would require a level of vulnerability he wasn’t ready to give, not in the face of Aurra’s anger and judgment.

An what did it matter if he did supplicate himself to Aurra’s anger and accusations. She’d had going on six or seven years to frame the end of their friendship exactly how she wanted. He wasn’t going to change her version of history in one conversation.

“If you think this needs to be brought to the Captain’s attention, that’s on you. You can tell her yourself. Until then, I’d like to get to work.”

Satis, MO

Standing behind the desk chair, Aurra set both her hands on its back with her fingers squeezing the upholstery. “No! This is my sickbay and you are not cleared for duty. Before I let you near a patient you have to get clearance from Captain Bordeaux and then I will talk to her. I’m not taking any chances with you again. If something goes wrong, I want her to know the background you come from and what you did to me. That’s an order, Lt. Understand?” She was almost livid and needed to get him out of her office and sickbay before she did something stupid.

—Talisse

The anger he felt radiating from Aurra should have been enough for him simply to obey and exit her office, but the thing about sensing others feelings was that it didn’t negate one’s own and he had his own anger building at the base of his gut. He had orders. He had a career. He was in perfect standing with Starfleet and people far above Aurra’s rank had assigned him to the Atlantis. If she was truly in charge of her Sickbay, she would have known of his arrival. The fact that his presence here was a surprise to her was completely on her.

“I’ll present my credentials to the Captain, Dr. Talisse,” he replied, emphasizing the his formal address of her. “Everything is perfectly in order and my record is exemplary. I imagine the Captain will have questions as to why a junior officer is jumping the chain of command and intruding on her space and time, but I’m sure you can explain that.”

With that Bren turned to exit her office and Sickbay.

Satis, MO

“STOP!” she shouted before the doors of her office could open. With anger and determination she walked to where he stood and looked up into his face, her body humming with anger and resentment. “You know why I don’t want you here, Bren, and you know that I’m right about it. If you aren’t honest with the Captain, and trust me when I say I will check with her, then you will find your time here much less than satisfactory. Ask for a transfer…no, demand one and be convincing. You need to get off this ship.” She could feel the heat from her anger blushing her face and could hear the beat of her heart in her ears. But even as she stood toe to toe with her former best friend, warning him away, some of the good memories from their past kept trying to come to the surface. Aurra pushed them down, squashing any chances of leniency they might encourage.

—Talisse