One conversation with a simeltaneously composed and frazzled CSO, and a quarters-run later, T’Aria found herself referring back to her check list. She tilted her chin and regarded the PaDD perched against her forearm. In nagging bold font, Physical, Check-in w/CMO, pranced across the screen. T’Aria knit her eyebrows together. Tapping her finger idly against the screen, she clicked the PaDD off and tucked it under her arm. “All right,” she muttered to herself, a faint hint of reservation in her tone. “All right.”

–

T’Aria wove through Chernov’s labyrinthine halls, her feet set on sickbay but her heart demanding she venture elsewhere. ‘Anywhere but here,’ it begged, but she was either too stupid or too bold to listen. It was impossible to determine which.

T’Aria walked up to Sickbay’s foreboding entryway and paused. ‘Last chance-’ her heart cooed, cut short by the gentle sss! of parting doors. A disgruntled Ensign trudged past, an arm cradled against their chest, but she didn’t offer more than subtle acknowledgement. A tiny, insignificant fragment ached to follow suit. She refrained. With a soft breath, T’Aria listened as their footsteps reverberated until they were a distant pitter-patter against the clamour of her subconscious. When her breath released, T’Aria exerted every ounce of force against her emotions. It burned like hellfire. Every fibre of her being throbbed in protest, but it granted her some semblance of composure. That was enough.

She knew better than to grant emotion power over critical thought, but this wasn’t the kind of problem she was used to. It wasn’t logical. She desperately wanted to rationalise it - break it down into managable little pieces like she’d done for the past year - but it was futile. The only way to progress was to move forward. She had to face this head on. She had to face him. He deserved that much.

T’Aria clung to her composure and pushed herself through those sickbay doors. The hubbub of medical personnel intermixed with all breeds of officers was nothing new, but it was strangely surreal. She didn’t cling to the fleeting thought. “Excuse me,” T’Aria pursued the closest officer she could find. She wouldn’t waste time with formalities - she knew they had work to tend to - so she spoke plainly. “Where is Dr. Kane?”

She refused to prepare herself for a simple answer. ‘In his office’ or ‘performing a physical’, though perfectly viable, didn’t sound entirely probable. There was always some grand mess to attend to, or some foolish engineer to patch up from a date with the warp core.. gone wrong. Never a dull day, as the saying went.

– T’Aria, incoming XO.