Areiana sat alone at one of the corner tables in the mess hall, a data pad glowing softly in front of her as lines of medical notes, nutritional breakdowns, and test results scrolled across the screen. The room around her buzzed with the usual low hum of conversation, silverware clinking against trays and crew members laughing somewhere across the room, but she barely noticed any of it.

She brushed a few strands of red hair behind her ear and sighed softly, leaning back in her chair for a moment. Her eyes burned slightly from staring at the screen for so long. Reaching for her coffee absentmindedly, she took a sip only to immediately grimace. Cold.

Her gaze drifted toward the chrono on the wall and she blinked in surprise. “How long have I been sitting here?” she muttered quietly to herself.

She rubbed at her tired eyes before setting the mug down beside the pad and standing from the table. The replicator hummed softly as she approached it.

“Coffee. One sugar and a splash of milk.”

A moment later a fresh steaming mug materialized in front of her. She wrapped her hands around it gratefully, enjoying the warmth against her fingers before taking a careful sip. The heat and caffeine helped a little, enough to clear the fog from her head as she walked back to her seat.

Sliding back into the chair, she stared down at the data pad again. She wanted this to be perfect. Not good enough. Not acceptable. Perfect.

Because this wasn’t just another medical project or another experiment to hand over to Starfleet Research. This was theirs.

She and Wyatt had been working on the idea since they were children. Back then it had started as little more than a dream between siblings sitting on the floor of their tiny bedroom with notebooks scattered around them. They had talked for hours about ways to help people during emergencies. Ways to keep people alive when supplies ran low. Ways to make sure no one had to suffer simply because help arrived too late.

Over the years the dream had grown with them. What started as childish sketches and impossible ideas slowly turned into real formulas, real science, and eventually an actual prototype.

Now that dream sat in front of her in the form of a small powdered supplement packet. Simple. Lightweight. Easy to store. Easy to carry. Just add water and it could provide the essential nutrients a person needed to survive until rescue arrived or food sources could be found.

It could help stranded crew members trapped on hostile planets after a shuttle crash. It could help colonies during supply shortages. Villages suffering crop failures. Refugees displaced by disaster. Emergency responders working for days without proper resources.

Such a tiny thing. Such a simple idea. Yet it had the potential to save lives.

Neither of them had ever truly believed it would come this far.

Her lips twitched into a faint smile as she thought about the message Wyatt had sent her an hour earlier. Apparently, her brother had somehow managed to convince the captain of the USS Ark Angel to approve live training tests for the supplement during their next field exercise.

A real test. Under real conditions.

The thought alone made her stomach twist with nervous excitement.

She could practically hear Wyatt’s voice in her head, trying to sound calm and professional while secretly panicking underneath it all. He always tried so hard to act composed, even when she knew he was stressed beyond belief.

Then there was the message about the Ark Angel’s medical team wanting to contact her personally before testing began. They wanted to verify every nutritional value, every ingredient ratio, every possible side effect. Understandable, of course. No responsible medical officer would approve something like this without being absolutely certain it was safe.

Still, the pressure weighed heavily on her shoulders.

Areiana scrolled through her notes again, double-checking calculations she had already reviewed at least five times. Caloric density. Hydration absorption. Long-term vitamin stability. Allergic reaction possibilities. Metabolic impact under physical stress.

Everything had to be right.

Not just because Starfleet was watching now.

But because of Wyatt.

Her expression softened as she stared at the screen. Her brother had fought through more hardships than most people realized. Even now he carried doubts about himself that he rarely voiced out loud. She knew how much this project meant to him. How badly he wanted to prove that he could create something worthwhile. Something that mattered.

And honestly? He already had.

No matter what happened during testing, Wyatt had already accomplished more than he gave himself credit for.

Still, she wanted this to succeed. She wanted him to finally see himself the way she did. Intelligent. Compassionate. Capable of changing lives for the better.

Taking another sip of her coffee, Areiana straightened in her chair and pulled the data pad a little closer.

If the Ark Angel’s medical team was going to review their work, then she was going to make sure there wasn’t a single flaw for them to find.

Areiana Blackford

Lieutenant Junior Grade Chief Medical Officer USS Chimera