PLOT

[riley j. rand]

So Jim was Kirk. As she sat with her hands folded on her lap she realized what Uhura was saying. "I wish someone had told me that before I took the job," she mumbled lightly as the doctor took a defensive side. Her head was only sent thinking once again as he mentioned that Jim knew there was a line let alone where it was. In her book treating two newly assigned members of his crew like.. like strippers was crossing such a line. Granted he seemed more interested in the lieutenant, but it was clear as day what Kestrel had thought of the entire situation. She couldn't have been in the wrong to see it as offensive sexual harassment.

"I'm sorry doctor but I can't really agree with you there, she said. With her long blonde hair washing over her shoulder as she turned her head to face him, she almost looked afraid to comment on why. "I mean... pausing to find the right words to say she looked down at her hands. Uhura seemed to know of the captain's ways so perhaps it wasn't a shock to the crew that already knew him like it was to her. "Putting on some cheesy music while meeting two new crew members, and then proceeding to tell his new navigations officer to plot a course to his lap seems a bit over the line."

She could see where they were both coming from, though, and the more she thought about it the more she started to form a summery of Kirk's personality. He was a bit of a rebel, not one to go straight by the book like, well like the emotionless Vulcan the doctor had mentioned, Spock? It would be easy to pick him out from the others on the bridge when that day came, but Kirk gambled. He was good at it. It sounded more like Kirk was lucky rather than truly talented and hadn't even grown up from being a teenager. For Kirk to be in a position of power and enjoy the women he held the power over seemed, if anything, demeaning. Starfleet was really letting a playboy make a mansion out of the Enterprise? Hero status or not, it wasn't quite right.

Stopping there she glanced down at her leg, finally comprehending what else the good doctor had said. The faint pink line that ran across her right shin and into her boot hadn't been necessarily prominent over the last few years, despite how much self conscious grief it gave her in grade school. She didn't really see any problem with it, or with letting McCoy try out the newer technology. "If you want to give it a try you can," was her answer. Unzipping the boot she pulled her leg out of it, extending it outward so she could look at the old scar more easily. She almost forgot about the hyposprays that had brought her down here in the first place, more interested in seeing the new technology and hearing a good story or two about the captain that would make her feel more secure in her decision to leave.

[james t. kirk]

Jim was irked. He wasn’t sure who he was irked at but what he knew was that he had a raging headache that the good doctor could cure. Or at least send him to sleep long enough so that he forgot his troubles. The intercom had briefly lit up with that old familiar voice he was accustomed to since the Academy, notifying all officers to get their shots. All officers? In one sickbay. At the same time. Bones surely wasn’t tempting fate this close to launch date? Still, it was unlikely everyone would bother; the crew was way too busy fixing the support systems to worry about inoculations. But, as much as Kirk despised the shots McCoy seemingly relished giving him, nothing short of Bones’ medical expertise was going to dislodge the nagging headache. Plus, the walk was giving him something to do instead of fretting over the condition of his yeoman. It wasn’t everyday he forced resignation on an officer. And then there was his navigator, who verbally berated him in the very same instance; a great way to start off a professional relationship.

His feet ambled across the polished black surface, eyes locked on the distinct shapes of passing crewmen that the floor was reflecting. He wasn’t in the mood to engage in eye contact. He was already getting quite a few stares from the new fresh faced graduates. Unlike the first time he stepped aboard during the refit, no one spoke to him. No gushing admiration, no acknowledgements and certainly no autographs; the scowl on his face was deterring all forms of communication.

He had softened slightly when he entered sickbay, knowing that it was friendly territory; home to Bones and hot nurses. Well, friendly in as much as ‘I’m going to stick this hypospray in your neck’ could be. Besides, at least he didn’t have to deal with his troublesome officers…

“Morning, Bones. Do you have anything for a head–” Jim finally retrieved his eyes from the floor to see why he shouldn’t have marched in so blindly. There was Yeoman Riley Rand, in deep conversation with McCoy and Uhura. No doubt she’d told them all what sort of captain he was (which admittedly, they should have already known), so Kirk prepared himself for the steely glares. One thing he noticed was Rand’s naked leg practically in McCoy’s lap, with the doctor’s attention quite focused in a, Jim would consider, drooly manner. Despite the shock and terror of spotting the last woman he’d want to see for the next week or so, a tiny smirk curled one corner of his lips up. It looked like even Bones was trying his luck. But the smirk was fleeting as he connected eyes with the other occupants of the room. If only he’d looked before he leapt, maybe he would have spotted Rand and made a quick detour out of sickbay and as far away from her as possible. The unofficial rebuttal from his two officers was still raw in his mind, merely thirty minutes ago. No, the time for apologies wasn’t upon them. “Uh, sorry…it looks like you’re busy.” Jim faltered weakly, turning sharply around attempting to part the group before he’d even joined it.

[nyota j. uhura]

Uhura couldn't help but agree with McCoy on the matter of Kirk. Sure, he had done his fair share of screw-ups and screw-ings, but he did manage to get the ship out of trouble when needed. Still, no one could deny that Kirk was suave, something Uhura had tried to avoid as much as possible. She watched as the doctor helped the new crew member out, remaining against the doorway

"You're right about that. Kirk's a good captain...he's just...Kirk."

She was about to take her leave when Riley began to tell of her last encounter with the infamous captain. At this point, Uhura had felt that nothing would ever surprise her in regards to James Kirk and women, but her mouth dropped open, sending her laughing at what Rand was sharing.

"Oh, that is a whole new level, McCoy...'plot a course to my lap,' that's clever...even for Kirk."

Nyota could barely get the words out in between deep laughs, but when the devil himself entered through the doorway she realized that it had all been a misunderstanding. The usual confident captain seemed a bit tired, as though something had not gone his way. Obviously there had been some sort of misunderstanding.

"Uh, no you don't," Uhura said as she put her hands on the back of Kirk's shoulders and led him further into the room. Keeping her palms placed firmly on his shoulders she turned him to face Rand and McCoy.

"The yeoman was just telling us about an unfortunate encounter in a certain office near moments ago. Leaning in to whisper in his ear she said, "Perhaps you should 'plot a course' that clears up the misunderstanding.

Although he couldn't see her she was smirking. It was all too enjoyable and he'd never hear the end of it.

[leonard h. mccoy]

Had this been one of those steamy holo-novels that his ex-wife was so involved in, the kind with the picture of the big beefy man on the front cover reaching down to kiss the woman dressed like an 14th century duchess or something, McCoy would have said something about how smooth Yeoman Rand's skin was, or how flawless it was or... Instead he simply ran his finger over the faded scar and then picked up the regenerator. Positioning it about three inches above where her boot had been, he activated it and gave her the order, "Hold still for a moment. This'll tickle a bit."

These regenerators were new technology and this was actually the first time he had used one outside of training. There was apparently not much that could go wrong, but he did not want to be the first doctor who had accidentally regenerated a nose onto someone's lower leg. When Kirk entered the room he had to ignore the Captain, not even turning as he focused on his work. He did however heard the phrase 'plot a course for my lap' and had to agree with Uhura that it seemed a little too clever for Kirk's usual pickup line. What had he done, thought he was dealing with strippers? Hiding his grin in his work he stayed almost motionless until the scar had seemingly faded from sight, after about thirty seconds of being bathed in a blue light from the regenerator. Smiling at Rand as he rolled back he nodded, "Good as new."

Turning to Kirk he added, "Ah you're here too. Great two sets of shots at once."

Standing up he went over to collect the hypo-sprays from the cabinet, and set out two identical trays of needles. Since Rand had arrived first he started with her walking up and pressing the first needle against her arm. There was the familiar hiss as the contents were released into her blood stream. Preparing the next shot he nodded at Kirk, "Kirk's a lot of things, but he's not a dirty old man yet. He'd never use his rank to get a woman, his ego's too big for that. He actually believes that they'll like him for who he is."

He pressed the second shot to Rand's arm and injected it.

[riley j. rand]

One other advantage about being aboard a prized starship was just what kind of technology it possessed. The regenerator for one was exactly the type of device she was talking about. As soon as the doctor had pulled it out she had leaned forward, curiosity taking her over as she wondered how it worked. She knew she'd never fully be able to comprehend the relationship physics held with biology these days, but if possible she'd love to hear it in layman's terms. Perhaps, she though, she would be able to look it up on one of the ship's computers before she left.

Leaning closer as he held the device over her leg, she couldn't help but work hard to resist the urge to twitch her leg away. It wasn't painful, exactly, more as if a light feather was continuously brushing up against her leg and she couldn't reach over and usher it away. Instead, her leg muscles simply contracted, flexing her calf and clenching her toes in an effort to keep herself from moving. It was only when she heard the captain's words that her attention was drawn away from the modern miracle.

If anyone could ever sum up awkward in one moment, it would be now.

Rand had never had any intention of outing the captain's gaffe, at least she certainly hadn't planned on doing it right in front of him. Turning from what the doctor was doing all she could do was watch in secluded horror. While her face was somewhat blank and unresponsive with seeing the captain, Uhura had started mocking him in jest at the information she had disclosed. She was; however, proud to say that over the course of a few seconds she was able to turn away. Thing was, he had tried to leave and avoid the situation first. Did he realize then that he had done something socially unacceptable and, quite possibly was in the wrong?

Even as Rand was mulling this over, she had only half heard what the doctor had been going on about. Then, without preparing herself she was injected with the first hypospray. Jumping slightly from the surprise of the act, she didn't even quite have time to wince as the tingling sensation began to spread from the injection site. Looking up at the doctor she almost apologized for moving, but stopped herself. Just because she was little nervous now didn't mean she should go all girl-next-door on them.

"Kirk's a lot of things, but he's not a dirty old man yet. He'd never use his rank to get a woman, his ego's too big for that. He actually believes that they'll like him for who he is."

Looking down before glancing over at the captain she didn't really have anything to say. Was there even anything to say? Surely he could be boisterous enough for the two of them if there was. "Captain," was the only thing she said in way of greeting. Not only because of the social predicament, but also because the doctor had injected her with another shot. Involuntarily scrunching her face up with a wince, she wondered despite how much she was coming to like McCoy why he couldn't give at least a little bit of a warning.

[james t. kirk]

Of course, now Kirk was the centre of attention. He’d obviously entered at the worst possible moment and his escapade with two senior officers was now common knowledge. He wondered how long it would take for the rest of the crew to find out. If they didn’t already know. Not thirty minutes later and Ms. Rand had already spilled it to his doctor and chief communications operator, the latter of whom would be impossible to contain her silence, even with a direct order. He tried to give his new yeoman a steely glare for divulging this sensitive information but all that featured was a wide-eyed panicked stare. Oh but he could give Uhura daggers. There was always room for that, especially now her hands were upon him, keeping him from fleeing the scene and so obviously relishing Kirk’s discomfort. Sure, Jim would love to have Nyota’s hands all over him in any given situation, but this was different. She was taunting him; she knew he was in no position to get his flirt on and she was milking it for all its worth.

He beamed proudly toward his friend though. Bones was backing him up. A little unlike him, but he’d take as much support as he could. But predictably, the compliment had its sour edge, causing Jim’s face to slowly fall at the mention of his ego. “Great, thanks.” He muttered snarkily. He was still thankful for their attention, keeping him busy and eyes away from the soon-to-be-resigning ensign. Her strained greeting however forced him to lock eyes with her. With just as much polite social awkwardness, he grunted acknowledgement with a slight nod. He really had no idea what he could possibly say to her. He hadn’t rehearsed any apology speeches; there was no time for that. Plus, there was company present and far be it from Kirk to admit mistakes to an audience. Especially one as mocking as Uhura. Eyes quickly dislodged from the blonde, in case he was instigating any further hostility. Just like with pack animals, it was often necessary to back down, break off a glance first to suggest power play. Kirk was the captain; he had the professional authority down fine, but at that moment the social power belonged to her. He was in the wrong. Even if he wasn’t prepared to admit it yet.

Standing there was boundless torture, the seconds acting as though they were minutes as he stared, waiting less than patiently at McCoy administering those shots. Jim wished he’d hurry up. The squeal-inducing pain of Bones jabbing those devices in him was almost worth it if it gave him the chance to keep his focus on something more material and allow him escape sickbay as fast as possible. Screw the headache, he just wanted out.

[nyota j. uhura]

Uhura was simply soaking in all of the awkward fun that was occurring in sickbay, plus it helped to know that Kirk was squirming underneath her hands, wanting to make a run for it to avoid facing Rand. Enough was enough, though. She removed her hands from the Captain and placed them at the ready behind her back.

In terms of time management she had spent entirely too much of it in sickbay, especially when considering the fact that she despised anything medical. It appeared as though the doctor had his hands full, both with Kirk and Rand, and just...Rand, or her leg at least. Men. They were simple when one really looked at them in a logical way. They enjoyed very basic things, happy when those things were fulfilled. It was quite boring actually. ::And I'm sounding like Spock now:: she thought to herself. Shaking her head to her silent thoughts she patted Kirk on the back of the shoulder, probably a little harder than need be.

She smiled at the whole room as she walked towards the open door, her boots echoing against the stillness of the room. One may have wondered why Uhura was in information on her leave, but work never rested for her. Instead, she owned the tiny regulation skirts that Starfleet had implemented, wondering just how long it was until Kirk had that changed to the no shirt rule that McCoy had previously mentioned.

"Thank you for the injections, doctor...and a pleasure Rand. Enjoy the rest of your check-up. You're in capable hands" she said with a smile Then teasingly she turned to Kirk and raised her eyebrow. "Captain."

With that she nodded once more to the room and headed through the doorway, laughing to herself quietly as she went.

[leonard h. mccoy]

McCoy was almost sad to see Uhura go. Her being there kept the male to female ratio even, which if what had been said about the captain's first meeting with Rand was true, probably made the junior officer feel far more comfortable. Now she was outnumbered by the Captain Sexual Harrasment Kirk and his right hand stooge. McCoy was really looking forward to jabbing Kirk was a few well placed hypo-sprays. Maybe he'd give him a few extra, something that would innoculate him from the new extinct Jamerian Jumping Flea but yet leave him itching for six hours. Yes indeed, there was every chance that on these brave new worlds the Jamerian Jumping Flea would have survived, maybe even thrived.

"Last one," he said, pressing the final hypo-spray against the Yeoman's neck. There was the familiar hiss as the medicine was released into the woman's body. Placing the hypo-spray back on the silver tray he took the tray over to the side of the room and began recycling the hypo-sprays. With Kirk in the room, and the current uneven relationship between the Captain and his assistant, he did not really want to put her through a full medical scan with Kirk here.

"Well Rand, you're done. We'll do a full scan later, but for now you're as fully prepared for alien diseases we might discover as can be," he declared.

[riley j. rand]

"Thank you, Doctor," for more reasons than one. Pulling on her boot once again as the doctor finished up the shots, zipping it closed around her newly unblemished leg, Rand had been sad to see Uhura go. The newly uneven ratio in the Kirk vs Curves battle making her the minority. She appreciated the doctor giving her the chance to run, come back and do her scans later, but was running really the best course of action to take? Certainly it would be easier now, but the next time she'd be faced with the captain it may not be with such an audience as McCoy.

Standing from her chair slowly, she came to the conclusion that things should have been fixed before the awkwardness followed them to their first actual professional encounter. So, with a deep breath she moved to face the captain directly, holding her hands behind her back as she attempted to ignore McCoy for the time being. "Captain," she started, finding it hard to keep eye contact despite her intentions to. "As to make the next couple of months less awkward for the both of us, perhaps I should properly introduce myself."

Holding out her hand she looked down at it before back to his face, her voice losing its formal tone as she went on. "My name is Riley Rand, but if that name confuses you I can go by Janice or simply Yeoman Rand, and, well, I'll see you on the bridge." She wouldn't make him apologize, or even try to get him to. It would be appreciated, yes, but as she started to formulate his personality from listening to Uhura, McCoy and even interacting with Kirk herself, his ego seemed as if it would prevent such an occurrence. So, as her job would be to help him out, to assist, she decided to start there with the white flags, higher road, olive branch or whatever else you could call it.

[james t. kirk]

Jim was slightly uncertain when the yeoman addressed him; he found some determination in those eyes, but determination for what? Resolution? Insult? She proceeded to offer her hand, and like her, Kirk spent a moment just staring at it in disbelief. If only all chicks were this forgiving. He finally took it gently, giving a slow drawn out shake as she reintroduced herself to a perhaps more sombred and savvy captain. The handshake wasn’t the usual firm hearty squeeze, but a very delicate hold as though her hand was as fragile as their working relationship. All he could do was nod in silence before finally finding his tongue, “Right.” He garbled, “I’m…the captain.” He spoke weakly. Of course he was the captain. She knew that. Everyone knew that. He did feel the need to apologize but that uncompromising ego was blocking the way. And their audience, Bones, would never let the moment go unpunished if he did show a moment of weakness. “Nice to meet you.” He added the pleasantries, filling up the awkward silence brewing and hastily withdrawing his hand. He knew it wasn’t over though. She was still resigning in two months because of him. Something he’d have to amend somehow. He was fine to the notion of resigning personnel, just not when he was the reason for it. Ensign Rand’s entire career was set to suffer by turning down such a prestigious posting. On her return trip in five years time, she could see herself fast tracked into the command department if she so wished. There’s be promotions to be had all over the ship. They’d be famous. To think Kirk was spoiling her opportunity at all that, not to mention the wonders they’d see out on the fringes of known space.

Her introduction was all fine and dandy, but he’d initially invited the two officers to his ready room in order to develop a sense of who they were. What their past experience held for them, how they reacted to a crisis; little things to get a better feel of their character and personality. Obviously, given tenuous relationships as they stood, he was disinclined to engage in another bout of awkward contact; especially when one of his questions was what was their relationship status. He could have asked Becker for two new officers, there’d be no shortage of willing recruits, but that seemed a little heartless. Kirk was the one who was in the wrong and he wasn’t going to make Rand and Lucas suffer for his mistakes just to make his life that little bit easier to live. He was resourceful enough to find a solution to the whole mess all by himself. This was what he did for a living.

With the girls leaving, Jim could finally relax. No more Uhura in his ear, no more strained pleasantries with Riley/Janice Rand. Just one person left. Someone who had heard it all, and before the doctor could comment, Jim shot him a pre-emptive glare. He was not particularly looking forward to those shots anymore. Not with the look on McCoy’s face.

[kestrel a. lucas]

It had been a medical order, to report to sickbay for shots, and Kestrel had some personal experience with the fact that arguing or going against what medical professional ordered was stupid. Of course, that experience meant her situation was different from most members of the crew when it came to where her own medical care was and she figured that she would go ahead and take care of explaining quickly. Cheerfully trying to mostly forget about some prior events that had occurred, she ambled through the halls with a folder in one hand. She greeted others with a smile and put to mind the way the ship was organized. It made for a nice walk and cleared her head. She let her frustration and irritation go, letting the thrill of being aboard the one and only U.S.S. Enterprise come back. This was all going to be worth it. This was going to be an amazing, fabulous five years.

Then she walked into medical bay. In an instant, the frustration and irritation was back, prickling in her mind in an annoying manner. There was Kirk, the one and only Captain Kirk who she'd threatened to cause physical harm to for being an idiot and mistaking her for a stripper. She stopped just inside the door and closed her eyes, half wishing that would make him disappear and half just trying to sooth her nerves. Her smile had mysteriously faded away. Today had not been a good first day. "Awkward, annoying situations involving commanding officers - two. New lieutenant commander's sanity - zero;" she muttered. Though it hadn't been her intention, it came out as a rather loud mutter. It didn't really matter that much. She'd already said far worse things to Kirk's face, and she had a feeling that the other man in the room, who had to be McCoy, heard about them.

Gathering herself up, she moved across the room, attempting to avoid stalking to much in a huffy manner well still going forward with purpose. She gave Kirk a wide berth on purpose, making it plainly obvious by giving it a good, safe three feet which meant she had a take an entirely unnecessary course through the room in order to get over to the doctor. In her past, she'd been called been stubborn. She'd made her choice about the captain, and she wasn't going to change her opinion of him quickly, not now that he'd shown himself to be a fool. She was also going to make him pay just a little bit when she could, in return for putting up with him when she had to on duty. Thus pretending to ignore him once she was around him, she offered the folder that she had in her hand to McCoy, smiling cheerfully enough once again. If she forgot about Kirk, it was easy to be perfectly happy.

"This is hard copy of my vaccination records, which shows that I'm up to date on anything that should be necessary. If you check your own files, you should find that they match. If you feel that you'd prefer to redo some personally for whatever reason, I understand;" she explained clearly to the doctor. "I just thought I'd see if I could get out of having some shots, though they don't bother me that much. Whenever I'm in need of one, my mother, Lieutenant and Dr. Lucas, starts telling me gruesome stories about spaceborne diseases. Anyway, I've been stationed on the border for three years. They inoculate you for everything there;" she chattered away with a grin. She still spoke in a way that was easy to hear, not to fast and not that slow, and she stopped when she was done. She wasn't just chattering for the sake of it or out of nerves.

[leonard h. mccoy]

"Plot a course to my lap," McCoy chuckled after Rand had exited. He shook his head, it would only happen to Kirk. He certainly could not have seen their previous commanding officers Captain Pike and Captain Spock being caught in a similar situation. Granted he had himself been caught hitting on a Vulcan, but that was clearly less humorous (and so far more secret) than Kirk's situation. Gesturing to the now vacated seat he could not keep the grin from his face as he directed Kirk to sit down, "Jim if you keep that up you'll be the first Starfleet Captain demoted back to ensign before even leaving spacedock. We were in Starfleet for just a few days, and now you're running the ship and I'm the Chief Medical Officer. The rest of the crew probably already feel like we don't deserve to be where we are, and your running around like a Denobulan cadet on spring break, is only making us look out of place than we already are."

He shook his head, knowing that lecturing Kirk was like lecturing a horse that kept bucking its rider. Logic, reasoning or even simple common sense just did not work to an animal that followed its instincts above all else.

"Anyway we have an engineer we should talk about. The Trill woman, with spots. She has a three hundred year old insect in her stomach that tells her what to do," he said, not quite sure how to explain the conversation that he had with Lieutenant Junior Grade Donrav the day before. Before he could figure out a better way to explain her situation, and what little that he had been able to discover from Starfleet Medical, another crew member arrived. This one was yet another young female officer, though this one had managed to earn a rank of Lieutenant Commander which was the same rank that McCoy himself had been given upon becoming the ship's Chief Medical Officer.

The new arrival quickly and efficiently informed McCoy that she had all of her shots, and that her mother had warned her about space diseases. Already McCoy liked the officer's mother, but since she was not there to befriend he instead turned his attention to the officer herself. "I'll still need to do a quick scan, to make sure you haven't picked up anything while on Earth. I've just got to inoculate the Captain, so if you'd like to wait a few minutes I'll be right with you."

Turning back to Kirk he added, "Anyway she wanted it kept quiet, but I told her you needed to know. As far as she explained it's not uncommon there."

Not wanting to discuss the Trill's situation in front of anyone other than Kirk, and perhaps Spock as the ship's XO, he ended it there. However the entire idea of having a worm in your belly that controlled your thoughts seemed so disconcerting to him. If he had not known about it, and Starfleet Medical seemed reluctant to confirm or deny that they knew about it, he wondered if anyone did. Since Kestrel had said that she was on the border he figured maybe she might know.

"Ever met a Trill Ms. Kestrel?" he asked as he jabbed the first hypo-spray into Kirk's neck.

[james t. kirk]

GAAHH!

Kirk squealed, as usual, as the first shot was administered. McCoy was being reckless again, and Jim would have appreciated some concentration on the doctor’s behalf as he was idly chatting to another crewman behind him. Surely Bones could offer Kirk some attention as he was the patient in the seat. But reality returned, and with it the realization that he’d managed to bump into not one but both of the officers he was avoiding. This was typical. Kestrel for the most part ignored him, speaking directly to the doctor but there was a cold edge to her voice that plainly rang in reference to Jim.

But Kirk had more pressing matters on his mind. For starters, there was an alien aboard with one hell of a tapeworm. One with mind controlling powers. He wondered how much Starfleet knew of this, and how much of a threat this posed to the ship. His brow was deep set in a stern frown. McCoy seemed nonchalant about the whole affair, but that didn’t calm Kirk at all. He’d need more information before he could settle himself down. Awkward situations with the crewlady would have to be put on the backburner. Of course, she would turn up precisely at the wrong time; when McCoy dropped that bombshell. Doctor/patient confidentiality was sure to be in effect with this Trill, so Kestrel picking up the conversation with listening ears was not something Jim intended. But the ship could be in danger. Was that not worth the feelings of some alien crewman? His neck was starting to numb around the point the hypospray touched flesh. Perhaps the serum was affecting him, but Kirk began feeling a little compassion for the potential ship usurping alien; there’d be no breach of confidentiality. As long as it wasn’t much of a threat. “Bones. We’ll talk about this problem later, okay?” he spoke quietly, not enough to entirely exclude the navigator from the conversation but enough to suggest it wasn’t information for her ears. McCoy couldn’t just let slip something as medically baffling and potentially dangerous and not expect Kirk to do nothing. He was expecting full scan results, intimate details of her physiology, how the creature controlled her, and, ultimately, how to remove it, if it was indeed possible. “Meet me in my ready room when you’re finished here.”

When he’d finished sticking more unnecessary torture devices in his neck.

[kestrel a. lucas]

Kestrel gave a curt nod in response to the doctor saying that she'd have to have a scan still. It would just a take a bit of her time and would be much simpler than getting multiple shots. Though she would bet money that it would probably turn out perfectly fine. At twenty-five, her body was at it's physical prime and perfectly capable of neutralizing any common disease that she might catch on Earth. She'd spent her time planetside in rural Australia, where the main threat to one's health was all the venomous snakes and deadly insects. Multiple snake bites and plenty of snake beating with heavy objects as a child proved that point. Ignoring McCoy and Kirk's conversation, which didn't involve her and to which it was made plain to her that she wasn't to hear to much of, she considered work, and mainly work. She had to try to meet everyone in navigation on as much of a personal and individual level as she could. She had to get down to setting up courses for the specific area they were supposed to be going, even they didn't use them, and consult others on that to assure good relations of the bat. Thinking about work and more work was easy because she had plenty to do. Why did anyone want to get promoted?

Trying to pretend that she didn't even notice when Kirk got the pleasure of having a hypospray stuck into his neck, and trying not to take to much pleasure in his pain, she focused on her surrounding. She also tried not to feel to much sympathy, because she was trying to remain somewhat neutral towards him. It took her a moment to realize when the doctor asked her a question. She turned her head to facing, blinking her eyes once as she registered the words. "Hmm, um;" she said softly, brain churning as she thought. Her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed slightly. Had she ever met a Trill? She'd met many alien species during her three years of service already. It was good experience and talent that had gotten here. But had she ever met a Trill? It wasn't something that seemed to have stuck in her memory, but she didn't often remember some people that she met. She remembered places, and locations, and coordinates. She was good with numbers, even if she didn't like them, and maps and topography.

"Oh, yes, I have! He was a consultant and provided infe'mation fo' me on an a'ea of space. He was an inte'esting fellow, and very nice;" she said when she finally recalled it. She spoke fast, though not so fast that it would be garbled to someone used to how she spoke, and that brought out her accent, which normally only barely underlined her speak, and cut out many of her 'r's as it was easily identifiable as Australian. Realizing that she was talking like she was crazy, she took a deep, controlled breath, sighed, and then smiled. "So, yes, I have met a Trill, and, Dr. McCoy, simply Lucas would probably work best. I don't think titles are necessary, but I generally don't go by Kestrel at work;" she stated, to clarify what she'd said before and address the matter that had come to her mind.