Doctor Charrin was sitting at the desk of the sickbay in the SS Bounty. He was tired and started to quickly dose off and remember his shuttle arrival on Supply Base 901.
[Attention approaching shuttle craft: This is Federation Supply Base 901. Please identify yourself,] Spoke a voice over the communications channel aboard the small craft. On board were two people, one lifted a hand and tapped a button on the communications panel to voice a response.
"This is the Federation Shuttle Craft Elisa requesting permission to dock and come aboard."
[Permission Granted,] Replied another older sounding male voice.
[Proceed to Shuttle Pad Two, where you will exchange places with a Dr. Kira Markos. Dr. Kira is scheduled to leave SB901 for Starfleet Command shortly after your arrival. Petty Officer Murphy will meet you along with Dr. Kira Markos. Murphy will escort you to the command deck. Any questions?] Replied the first voice.
"None sir," replied the two men in unison.
[I look forward to meeting both of you, SB901 out,] replied the second voice. As the craft moved to a shuttle pad docking bay on one of the large projecting arms of the station, the one of the men programmed the system for an automatic landing.
"Well, Michael, are you ready for this?" spoke one of the men from behind a console. His name was Dr. Alistair Scott Cherrin, and this was to be his first deep space assignment.
"Just a little nervous, but I'll be fine." replied Ensign Michael Kalvin. Kalvin had been pretty quiet throughout the long trip to SB901. Alistair had tried to talk to the young ensign, but had not got very far in terms of deep conversation. He sensed that Kalvin didn't really want to talk, so he tried to respect his unspoken wishes regarding conversation. Actually, this was going to be Kalvin's first assignment as well.
"Well, here goes everything." Said Cherrin as he finished programming the landing coordinates into the shuttlecraft. Both men moved about the little craft gathering together their belongings in preparation to move into their new home, SB901. As the shuttle finished its landing cycle, the doors in the rear of the craft opened to reveal two people waiting to meet him. One was a rather tall and wore a light blue science/medical uniform, the other one was shorter and wore the gold colored uniform indicative of a securitiy or Engineering position. As Alistair and Michael exited the shuttle they both cracked nervous smiles, and much to their relief the two men returned their smiles.
The younger one extended his hand out to Alistair and said, "Welcome aboard Dr. Cherrin and Ensign Kalvin. I'm Yeoman Patrick Harper, and this is Dr. Kira Markos. Dr. Kira will be taking your shuttlecraft back to Starfleet Headquarters. The Commander has asked that I escort both of you to the command deck to meet with him."
"Thank you, Yeoman," replied Alistair as he hoisted one of his duffel bags higher on his shoulder.
"Do you need any help, gentlemen?" asked Harper.
"Yes, it would be greatly appreciated, Yeoman," replied Alistair.
"No thanks," said Kalvin as he tightly clutched his belongings closer to his frame.
At that moment, the hum of a transporter was heard and a group ofmetallic containers and old earth style electrical lamps materialized near where Dr. Kira was standing. "Looks like the Chief finally transported my stuff," said Kira to Harper with a slight smile.
"Do you need assistance as well, Dr. Kira?" asked Murphy with a slightly raised brow.
"No thanks, I'll be fine. Just help Dr. Cherrin and Ensign Kalvin get settled in here, would you?"
"Yes sir," replied Murphy as he picked up one of Dr. Cherrin's duffels.
"Good luck, Doctor, and to you as well Ensign." Said Dr. Kira to the two young men as he firmly grasped Kira's hand and simultaneously turned Alistair in the direction of the quick-moving Yeoman exiting the shuttle pad toward an open corridor.
"Good luck to you as well, Doctor." Said Alistair over his shoulder as he realized that he would have to walk rather quickly to catch up with the young Yeoman.
"Hurry up Michael, our guide seems to be in a bit of a rush."
The two men quickly hoisted their belongings further up on their shoulders and tried to keep pace with the young, energetic Yeoman. As the two men followed behind Harper through the maze of corridors and turbolifts, each of them began to feel a bit of nervous excitement. Finally the three men found themselves aboard the turbolift that serviced the main bridge.
As the turbolift doors opened to the main bridge, Cherrin, Kalvin, and Murphy were greeted by a partial view of the Command Center that included what seemed like the Communications station directly in front of them, followed by the Command Platform and partial view of Operations. The Science Station was beyond that and to the immediate right of that the Engineering station. It was quite a sight to behold.
"You're on your own from here, gentlemen," said Murphy as he returned Cherrin's duffel, and motioned the two men to continue on without him.
Alistair and Michael exited the turbolift and proceeded to the Command Center where a lone figure was standing facing forward looking at the information on the main viewer above the Science, Security and Engineering stations. Hearing the sound of their approach, the figure turned to face the two new arrivals to his domain. As the two men exited the turbolift with their belongings, Commander Wallace took notice of the pair and looked over to Lieutenant Commander Vince Kelly and barked an order. "Kelly, show the two crewmen to my office, highest ranking one first." said Wallace as he turned to walk in to his office.
"That would be me," said Cherrin to Commander Kelly as he turned to follow Wallace into his office leaving Kalvin and Kelly standing together on the bridge. Following the lead of his new Commander, Alistair tried to quell his nervousness as he entered the office of Commander Richard Wallace. Alistair was greeted by a warm, sparsely decorated office space with a large couch located against a wall on the left and a rather imposing desk with some chairs seated around it off to his right. Wallace moved to sit behind this desk and patiently waited for the young doctor to produce a PADD with his orders from Starfleet.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Alistair Scott Cherrin, your new chief Medical officer." Stated Alistair as he rummaged in his bags and finally found the elusive PADD containing his orders from Starfleet Command. I didn't know I was getting a new CMO.
Alistair tried to ignore Wallace's thoughts. It was always a strange feeling to be in the presence of non-telepaths, they always seemed to say one thing and mean something entirely different.
"Take a seat Doctor and let me read your orders," said Wallace in a curt manner. Cherrin handed Wallace the PADD he found, and waited for Wallace to read its contents. In the PADD it stated that Doctor Carter was to be reassigned back to Earth for another assignment, as well as stated that Doctor Cherrin was to be her replacement aboard the station.
Finally, after a few brief moments Wallace spoke. "I see this is your first deep space assignment, Lieutenant. Your schooling is rather impressive." Wallace again paused momentarily to browse through Alistair's remaining credentials.
"Well, good to have you on board Doctor. You'll find that Doctor Carter has been assigned on an away mission. Commander Kelly will tell you how to find your way around. You're dismissed, Doctor. Have Commander Kelly send in the second crewman."
Exiting Wallace's office, Alistair makes his way back over to where Kalvin and Kelly were standing on the bridge. "He's ready for you, Michael." Said Alistair with a slight smile, at the same time wondering what the two men had been doing during his brief meeting with the Commander. In response to Alistair's comments the quiet young man picked up his duffels from around him and headed in the direction where Alistair had just returned. As the doors of Wallace's office closed behind Kalvin, Alistair turned to face Kelly and said, "Commander Kelly, Commander Wallace asked that you show me how to
'find my way around.' I would very much appreciate it if you would show me to my quarters so that I can unpack."
"Not a problem, Doctor. Follow me please," responded Kelly as he spun around and turned toward the turbolift doors that exited the bridge. Moments later, after walking around another set of maze-like passages and hallways, Commander Kelly finally stopped in front of a rather plain looking door and punched a few keys on the panel next to it. "Here you are Doctor, Medical Officer's quarters, Section 1, Level 2, Room 19," said Kelly as he motioned Alistair to enter the room before him.
"Thank you, sir. I don't think that I could have found my way here on my own." Replied Alistair as he entered the quarters that would be called "home" for the duration of his assignment aboard SB901. "Computer, Lights," stated Kelly in a commanding tone. In response to the order, the lights in Alistair's new quarters powered on and shed some light on the shape and design of the quarters.
"As you can see doctor, your quarters include a bedroom, a private office, and private living area quarters. They also come equipped with a private restroom/sonic shower and a replicator."
Not too bad, actually, thought Alistair to himself as he made a face of approval and moved toward the center of the room. Slowly putting down his belongings he spun around in a slow circle looking to see what he could do with the space in order to make it more personal, more like home.
"We can return to these quarters momentarily, doctor, however I also want you to see the medical bay," stated Kelly to the doctor while he was in mid spin.
"Of course, Sir. Please lead on."
As the two left Alistair's quarters, Kelly paused momentarily to show the Doctor how to operate the door, and showed him how to program his own pass-code. Then, after the brief tutorial, the two men quickly proceeded to the nearest turbolift on their way to see the medical bay. This should be interesting, thought Alistair as he followed Commander Kelly along the passageways and corridors of SB901 trying to keep his bearings as he moved behind the operations officer.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.