Cadere a' gratia Part One.

Posted on Wed Sep 8th, 2021 @ 11:32am by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Oswald Avery. Officer's Quarters.
Timeline: 2371
1257 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Thumbing the ensign pip on her grey collar, Doctor P'rel removed the black uniform tunic topped with her departmental teal shoulder bar and placed over the back of one of two dining chairs at the small table in her quarters aboard the ageing Excelsior Class vessel. Due for retirement soon, the crew of the Oswald Avery were soon to be redeployed; some were taking early retirement like her line officer, Doctor Naal Kethun, a particularly attractive Betazoid man who had spent the past year encouraging her to see the Federation for what it really was; an open, non-prejudicial, welcome place. Something important, something righteous, an intrinsically vital force for good in a chaotic galaxy.

She would miss Naal very much; she hadn't yet been given her own reassignment but she had calculated the odds of being assigned to the Betazed Sector and they were not favourable. Naal had awoken in her a latent sense of joy and wonder at the possibilities the galaxy had to offer, and how the Federation was one of the only truly virtuous organisations able to facilitate one's realisation of those things. Though her and Naal had never progressed things romantically, she had often considered the possibility of such a thing, they were roughly the same age although one wouldn't know it to stand them side by side. By Betazoid standards, the Vulcan looked barely in her mid twenties whilst Naal's real age of mid fifties were hidden by the horrific years of the Cardassian Border Wars, which added a decade to his face at least.

Paths were diverging, and she had never really been comfortable with change; least of all change imposed by another, and these new paths could scarcely be more divergent. Naal, though retiring from Starfleet, would be taking up a teaching post at one of the universities on Betazed, whereas P'rel was going to be assigned to a Junior Lieutenant's post, wherever that may be. Reaching behind her neck to unzip the grey duty tunic, she was interrupted by the door chime; it would be Naal she assumed, and she wasn't averse to sexually enticing the man by removing her duty tunic to display her athletic body whilst she 'innocently' got changed. "Come" she said, as the zipper started to move; freezing as she saw who had actually stepped through the door.

Perhaps also in his mid fifties, another not unattractive man stepped into her quarters; missing the telltale black iris' of a Betazoid, this man was definitely human. The teal departmental shoulder bar matching her own told her he was in the sciences, but the four pips on his collar ensured her surprise was too sudden to hide. "Captain, sir..." she exclaimed a little nervously. "I'm sorry, I thought..."

Chuckling, the slightly greying man held his hands up in a mock surrender "- that I was someone else?" His chuckle settled into a beaming smile. "Please, these are your quarters, I apologise for the intrusion". He turned slightly to allow her to retain some modesty whilst she hurriedly donned her full uniform tunic.

"How can I help you, Captain...?" she asked, trailing her voice to acknowledge that she didn't know his name.

"Bennet. Captain Tim Bennet" he replied, extending a hand in a typical human greeting. "Please. Tim." he added, surprising the Vulcan ensign that such a senior officer would engage her in such an informal manner.

"Tim..." she tried out, uncertainly. "How can I help you?" she gestured to the seat opposite her at the table, as she sat down; Bennet joined her.

"Doctor...you've not yet received your reassignment...I'm here to offer you one." The human man smiled in a manner which seemed sincere, though she studied his face for something which might suggest otherwise; her instincts were warning her that something wasn't quite right, though for all she knew it could simply be the uncertainty at the new future ahead of her. "I understand you've done some work in addiction sciences?" the Captain stated more than asked.

Nodding, the Vulcan ensign crossed her knees and placed her hands, clasped, in her lap; "Yes. During my time with the Vulcan Security Ministry I spent around a year investigating piracy in the Cestus system surrounding addiction to a lucrative narcotic ring" came the reply. Bennet looked at her as if to continue. "And more recently here on board - as you know I'm on field assignment from the University of Andor - I have been looking at addiction in the context of a treatable illness".

"Elaborate" replied Bennet, mirroring P'rel's body language.

"Well" she began, hoping only a brief synopsis would suffice, "common to both assignments was the approach that addiction could be nullified at the neuro-cellular level. At Cestus, my analysis was used to create a drug which acted similar to a vaccine, and negated the addictive effects of the narcotic though without altering the euphoric effects. Over a short period of time, the demand gradually dwindled and the perpetrators, growing increasingly desperate, were forced into revealing themselves. They were apprehended and the narcotic disappeared from the market".

Bennet chuckled slightly, saying "Fascinating" through a wide smile. "And aboard Oswald Avery?"

"Very similar" P'rel replied with growing enthusiasm. "We haven't been tackling any drug cartels here, but I've continued the principal research to address the underlying neurological factors of addiction, working on ways to effectively switch off the addiction centres in brains without affecting the substance of addiction itself." She rose with the enthusiasm around her work, and began to emphasise her words with her hands, something distinctly out of character normally. "There are many applications to this, for example taking away the addiction to painkillers without removing the pain reduction. The standard approach has always been to remove medication to avoid addiction, leaving a patient at risk of harm or pain - this could be a new approach which gives the best of all elements."

Bennett rose as well, his demeanour becoming marginally more formal. "Ensign it sounds like you're exactly who I need."

"If you don't me asking sir, for what?" she enquired.

"There's a Starbase in the Bajoran Sector, and their expeditions have led to the discovery of a fascinating race in the Gamma Quadrant on the other side of the Bajoran wormhole. We don't know all that much about them, but we do know that they're highly addicted to a drug and cannot survive without it."

"That's terrible" replied P'rel, genuinely concerned for the poor souls. An entire race of addicts, unable to survive without a drug. "A lethal addiction..." she shook her head in dismay. "And you're working on a project to cure them of this addiction?"

Bennett stared at her a moment, as if weighing her up, though he'd likely already done that to be offering her a job in the first place. He smiled, a reassuring smile, though she was unsure what he had to be reassuring her about; "Once I return to Earth I won't be leaving the system again for at least a few months. Complete the decommissioning process, take some leave, then report to my office at Starfleet Medical as Junior Lieutenant, attached to my command. I'll complete the necessary paper work and expect you oh...a month, or so?" he enquired.

With a smile she nodded enthusiastically. "Yes Captain - Tim - of course. I look forward to working with you."

Returning the smile, Captain Bennett left her quarters. Leaving the newly promoted Vulcan to consider the excitement and mystery of her new job.