Posted by Lieutenant Dana Anu (Chief Medical Officer) in Galley Deck 4

The door to swished back and a Denobulan woman strode in with big strides, which wasn’t very impressive since she wasn’t very tall. Her eyes were glued to a pad, her fingers flying over it, typing something. Nevertheless she weaved her way past the assorted tables, chairs and other crewmembers as if she was looking up.
A strand of her long auburn hair even fell into her face as she steered herself by some unseen force to the table right next to Selene and sat down.
So close now, Selene would hear that she was mumbling something as she kept flicking back the strand of her hair which promptly fell back down. This happened a couple of times until she set the pad down on the table with a bang, grabbed the affronting strand of hair and glared at it.

Dr Dana Anu, CMO

” I believe this Hair belongs to you Doctor and I do hope that your interrupting my work and meal for a reason.” She replied looking at the CMO with a raised eyebrow.

Ooc: Thank you it was a blast to write as for this one I just woke up.

Selene Kross, Ph.D., M.D.
Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences Division // USS Sentinel
Advanced Cryogenic & Environmental Systems

OOC: You must be a morning person :-) IC:

Dana looked up into a set of icy blue eyes, just as piercingly blue as hers were green. She tried to stay serious, but the opening was just too good and if she remembered the crew roster correctly, this was her first meeting with a fellow department head, the CSO, a truly impressive lady with a lot of medical training under her belt. Her file and the way she looked at her now did not suggest a great sense of humor… well, this was a chance to put that assumption to the test.

Dana kept her features even as she took back the strand of hair that had come loose, as if it was an appalling alien artefact found on a first contact planet.

“My apologies Lt. Kross. I am now twice as annoyed by this hair.” she looked at the hair angrily. “First for interrupting not only my, but also your work. I’ve often wondered why most humanoid species have hair. It serves little purpose, is inefficient and needlessly time consuming! Second for putting me into a truly awkward position while making the acquaintance of a fellow department head and indeed colleague…” she looked up again, the anger gone, her piercingly green eyes meeting Selene’s again and one of her eyebrows climbed up slowly, together with one corner of her lips in the hint of a smirk.

“It’s a truly hairy situation.” she said and then she waited. Waited to see with what kind of person she would have to share a deck with and hoped fervently that not all about the Chief of Science was made of ice.

Dr Dana Anu, CMO

Selene stared at Dana for several seconds.

Dana held her steely gaze, and silently praised herself for achieving that.

Her expression remained perfectly composed, although the faintest movement at the corner of her mouth suggested that the Chief Medical Officer had managed to accomplish something relatively few people had during Selene’s meal: she had genuinely caught her off guard.

“A truly hairy situation,” Selene repeated, glancing briefly at the offending strand of auburn hair before looking back at Dana.

She took another sip of her tea.

Dana saw hope, but didn’t dare yet to drop the control over her facial features.

“I suppose I should be grateful you have already identified the primary threat before reporting for duty.”

There was a subtle dryness to her voice, but no genuine irritation behind it. If anything, there was the beginning of amusement in her blue eyes.

That did it. Dana smiled, loosened up and decided right then and there that she liked the woman.

Selene set her cup down and regarded the Denobulan woman across from her with renewed interest. She had read Dana Anu’s personnel file, of course. As Chief Science Officer, Selene made a point of knowing who served alongside her, particularly the senior officers responsible for other major departments. Medical expertise, multiple areas of specialization, and a reputation that suggested competence had preceded the woman herself.

But personnel files rarely told the whole story.

“I believe congratulations are in order, Doctor. Welcome aboard the Sentinel.”

She gestured toward the empty chair across from her.

“Please, sit. You have already interrupted my lunch, so we may as well make the interruption productive.”

Dana nodded and sat across from Selene, right when the waiter placed a large mug of coffee in front of her. “Thank you.” she said.

Her eyes flicked briefly toward Dana’s padd before returning to her.

“And for the record, I disagree with your assessment of hair. It serves several biological and environmental functions across humanoid species. Insulation, sensory protection, ultraviolet shielding, social signaling, even species identification in some cultures.”

A small pause followed.

Dana sensed that more was coming and didn’t comment, only nodded slightly, although she agreed of course. Selene was a true scientist, something she appreciated very much.

“Whether those advantages justify spending twenty minutes attempting to convince one particular strand that it belongs on the correct side of your face is another question entirely.”

This time the faint smile was unmistakable.

Dana’s left eyebrow climbed up again, and her smile broadened, though she still kept it within human parameters. She didn’t want to alienate the CSO in this fragile new relationship. For all she knew, she was the first Denobulan she had met.

Selene leaned back slightly in her chair.

“Lieutenant Selene Kross. Chief Science Officer. Apparently your new neighbor.”

She extended a hand across the table.

“And I promise not to file a formal complaint against your hair with Starfleet Medical.”

Selene Kross, Ph.D., M.D.
Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences Division // USS Sentinel
Advanced Cryogenic & Environmental Systems

Good intentions went down the drain upon hearing that and Dana’s smile broadened again, breaching the confines of what was possible for human facial features for a split second.
She eyed the hand for a second too long though before she took and shook it, because she really wanted to get along well with Selene. She had gotten used to the human tendency to touch each other even outside an intimate relationship and the CSO did smell really good. Kind of minty and fresh. It was a lot easier for her to be touched by humans who had a pleasant scent. Also, the texture of the skin of their palms, the temperature and flesh-bone ratio of a hand told Dana quite a lot about the owner of said hand. Her skin would feel thicker to Selene she knew, and the joint ridges alien.

“Pleased to meet you Lt. Kross. Feel free to keep eating. In my culture we have the best conversations during meals, which is good because otherwise we would hardly talk… we eat a lot.” she said and winked.
Then her smile deflated somewhat.
“There is something I wanted to talk with you about. You see, I have been on a ship along the Klingon border before and I just know that I need to be able to run a much more efficient triage on a regular basis.” at that she her eyelids flickered and she looked down for a second, before looking up again.
What I have is three rooms with eight biobeds, only two of them surgical. I have to use main sickbay for triage as it is now, making the two beds in there triage beds with wounded just passing through. The four beds in the recovery room in the back are not outfitted for procedures. That leaves me with two surgical beds and that is way not enough. What I need is a close-by room, refitted for ad-hoc triage and fast access to sickbay.”
she eyed Selene, wondering how the next bit would land.
“I have two ideas that I want to bring to the XO and I wanted to get your opinion on them, seeing as we share a floor. First, use the largest quarters for non-commissioned officers on deck 8 below us. There is one right below sickbay. I could ask to have a humanoid-sized lift built in, that would have the advantage that I don’t loose all the time of the wounded being transported from the emergency transporter room to sickbay. I’ve checked, those quarters are never in use and we need a triage much more often. Or second…” and here she hesitated. Suddenly she had the feeling it was too soon to ask the CSO just how much she needed the bio lab to be on deck 9. True, both their departments used it, but it belonged to Science.
She exhaled and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Actually I was wondering if you had a better idea.” she said.

Dr Anu, CMO

Selene listened without interrupting, her attention shifting briefly from Dana to the padd and then back again. The amusement that had been present a moment earlier remained in her expression, but the Chief Science Officer had clearly transitioned from casual conversation into professional assessment. This was no longer simply two department heads getting acquainted over lunch. Dana had identified a legitimate operational deficiency, and Selene had enough experience aboard starships to understand exactly how quickly a shortage of triage capacity could become a serious problem.

“I don’t think you’re wrong,” Selene said at last. “In fact, I think you’ve identified something that deserves to be addressed before we actually need it.”

She picked up her tea, taking a measured sip before continuing. “Your first proposal has merit, particularly because of the proximity to Sickbay and the fact that the space is currently underutilized. But I would be cautious about permanently modifying crew quarters. Once you start converting habitable space into medical facilities, command will quite reasonably ask whether that space can be justified during normal operations, not merely during a crisis.”

Selene reached for her padd and brought up the Sentinel’s deck plans. Her fingers moved across the display as she expanded the relevant sections of the ship’s internal layout.

“There may be another option. Rather than creating a second Sickbay, we could establish a dedicated emergency triage module with a dual-purpose configuration. Something that remains available for Medical during emergencies but can be converted back to its secondary function when we’re not treating casualties.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the schematic.

“And before you ask, no, I am not suggesting we surrender the primary bio-laboratory. Science would riot, and frankly, I’d be leading them.”

There was the faintest hint of a smile.

“But there are adjacent support spaces that aren’t being utilized to their full capacity. If Engineering can provide the necessary environmental controls, power routing and medical interfaces, we could potentially configure one of those areas with retractable biobeds, emergency surgical equipment, diagnostic interfaces and dedicated transporter access. It would give you a proper triage capability without permanently taking a functional laboratory or crew quarters out of service.”

Selene rotated the padd slightly so Dana could see the schematic.

“The other advantage is redundancy. If Sickbay itself becomes compromised during an incident, you wouldn’t have all your medical capability concentrated in one location. A secondary triage point gives you somewhere to move patients, establish stabilization, and continue treatment while the main facility is being repaired or cleared.”

She paused, considering the proposal from a command perspective rather than simply a scientific one.

“I’d also recommend we make the request jointly. Medical can establish the operational requirement, Science can provide the technical justification, and Engineering can determine what is actually feasible. That makes this less of a request for additional space and more of a shipboard casualty-response improvement.”

Selene closed the deck schematic and looked across the table at Dana.

“But before we take anything to the XO, I’d like to see the spaces you’re considering. You know what Medical needs. I know what the ship can reasonably support. Between the two of us, we should be able to determine whether your first proposal is actually the best solution or whether there is something we’ve overlooked.”

She picked up her coffee, then glanced toward the offending strand of auburn hair that had started the entire conversation.

“And if we’re going to start redesigning the ship together, Doctor, I think we’ve established that we’re going to need considerably stronger arguments than hair.”

The corner of Selene’s mouth lifted into a restrained smile.

“Finish your coffee. Then show me your proposed triage location.”

Selene Kross, Ph.D., M.D.
Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant, Sciences Division // USS Sentinel
Advanced Cryogenic & Environmental Systems