Ein Zufalliges Treffen

Posted on Dec 21, 2016 @ 2:06pm by Lieutenant Cantor Von
Edited on on Dec 21, 2016 @ 2:06pm

Mission: Aftermath

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"Ein zufälliges Treffen"
(cont'd from "Her First Visitor" written by the artist Tiffany)

- Translation from German: "A Chance Meeting"

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LOCATION: Somewhere on Deck 31, Secondary Hull, USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.16]1221.1054
SCENE: Hallway

"And I'm lost."

The new Chief of Operations for the PHOENIX. Lost.

Cantor Von walked down the cobalt blue corridor of Deck 31, looking back and forth to see if he could recognize *some* signage about where he was at. He paused, for the fourth time, and touched the shiny ebony strip of display on the bulkhead, attempting to bring up the computer assisted routing but, again, no avail. Either it wasn't working on this deck or it was broken.

"Uh, Ensign," the Betazoid signaled a female officer as she walked by. "Sorry, but could you point me the Computer Sub-Processor array? There should be an access juncture," Von looked around, "somewhere around here."

Ensign Lynnette Ryan unconsciously brushed a strand of ash brown hair out of her face as she took in the officer in front of her. Two rank pips. "I'll try my best, sir. I'm new aboard the PHOENIX."

Von smiled warmly. "Well, that makes two of us, Ensign...?"

"Ryan, sir. Lynnette Ryan."

The Betazoid extended a hand, which Ryan accepted after the briefest of hesitations. "Cantor Von. So, you wouldn't happen to know where that access juncture is?"

Ryan collected her thoughts. "I...might know where it is, sir."

Von nodded. "Please, lead the way. Either way, at least we'll both be lost together." Both officers chuckled at this as the young Ensign led them further down the hallway.

---

Time Index: Ten Minutes Later

"I...think this is it," Lynnette stated, cautiously. After reading the sign next to the door, she nodded. "Yes, 'Computer Sub-Processor Access Juncture 31-45,'" she said, reading it out loud. The door opened with the sound of a holodeck main door and the disquieting light of isolinear panels intermingled with bio-neural gelpacks cast an eerie glow into the hallway.

"My savior. Thank you, Ensign." She was about to turn away to leave, when Von continued the conversation. "Where are you assigned, Ensign Ryan?"

"Engineering, sir. I was just getting my belongings stored after meeting Captain Kane." An image of a Terran feline, a feeling of love, the touch of soft, warm fur, the sound of purring all flashed across Von's mind.

"I see. Well, I'm sorry to have gotten you off course, so to speak."

Ryan smiled. "It's no problem, sir. Just happy to help. Is there anything else I can do?"

"Actually....could you let the Chief Engineer that I'll be - slowly - making my way down to Main Engineering. I need to sync up with him later this afternoon."

The young Ensign nodded. "I'll relay the message, sir."

"Thanks," smiled Von, turning to the Sub-Processor dominating the multi-deck chamber before him.

Where to begin?

---

LOCATION: Main Sickbay, Deck 12, USS PHOENIX
Scene: aCMO's Office
Time Index: Later That Evening

The glow of the display played across Sofia Andersson's porcelain face as she thumbed through the myriad of medical reports in her "To-Do" inbox. Main Sickbay was running on a reduced shift this late into the ships night cycle, as much of the PHOENIX's crew hadn't reported yet, so a good portion of the medical facility was cast in dim shadows and unused. Her small office happened to be at the back of this darkened section and she had forgone turning any other lights on. Sofia worked better - at least she thought - with less distraction around her. Less things lit up, less distractions to catch her attention.

She picked up a recently replicated cup of Raktajino. The steaming Klingon blend of coffee and ra'taj liqueur was bitter but energizing, the beverage having a very different effect on human physiology than it did on Klingon physiology. Something caught her eye and she went back to the medical report she had just breezed by.

VON, CANTOR
BETAZOID MALE

She looked over the scan results and saw that mineral deficiency again. She ran the results of that test across several Betazoid medical databases and frowned at the results. The deficiency wasn't due to lack nutrition - she had been too quick to diagnose it (and to be fair, she wasn't exactly an expert at Betazoid physiology). But the mineral deficiency was linked to multiple bone fractures. She tabbed to the scan results and brought up Von's skeletal scan.

Clean.

She began to zoom in, hoping the quick scan she had performed had captured enough resolution.

Thankfully, it had.

She slowly put her cup down in horror and began going over each of the major sections of the Betazoid's skeleton. And then she began counting.

Seven.

Seven compound fractures. All healed very well, but the microscopic fracture lines still showed up regardless of how well the bone had been regenerated. The frightening thing was that this had all happened within the past five years as informed by the mineral deficiency, not across a lifetime (of which seven compound fractures would have been odd as it where). What had happened to Cantor Von in the Gamma Quadrant? She went to his service record to gather details about his assignment but immediately came across the glowing red letters.

CLASSIFIED

Here eyes drifted past the screen in thought. Another question was what should she do with her discovery. None of the previous injuries were interfering in any way and all had been healed via tissue regeneration - not naturally. Her discovery didn't preclude him from active duty. But still...seven compound bone fractures. Shouldn't she say something, notify someone, do something?

Ensign Sofia Andersson leaned back in her chair, thinking through her options. Should she just leave things as they were? Not address it? At an impulse, she clicked the display off, instantly feeling guilty about a decision she had not yet made. She would sleep on it. Maybe the morning would bring some clarity about what, if anything, she should do.

---

NRPG:

TIFFANY and PHILLIP: Sorry for definitely taking liberties with your characters, but I wanted to try writing other characters as well!

PHILLIP: This was after Ryan met with Kane.

Regarding the fractures, I'll catch up with that on a flashback, but for now Cantor will be reluctant to talk about it.

Oh, and for he who just searches for words in posts: KANE KANE KANE KANE

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Marko J. Sertic
aka
Lt. Cantor Von
Chief Operations Officer
USS PHOENIX