PNPC Provisional Crewman Vhysa'lia - Can You Give Me The TL;DR?
Lich
(( First Officer’s Office - Deck 2, USS Artemis-A ))
There had been copious amounts of PADDwork for this request, all of which Vhysa’lia had submitted to Lt. Cmdr. Munro, accompanied by a very thorough and detailed explanation of their request. It would leave a bad first impression, she thought, if she didn’t provide all the necessary information to her XO while making such a request.
Vhysa’lia: Yes, I thought it would be best to join up as soon as possible. ::sigh, and then a light laugh:: Of course, now my situation is more complicated, as I'm sure you've seen in the PADDwork I've submitted to you… But it seemed prudent to just roll up my sleeves and help save lives at first, rather than waste time getting this officer exchange PADDwork sorted out.
And that had been exactly what they had done. Granted, it was a bit less obvious than sewing up wounds and performing surgery, but she liked to think that the work she did as a temporary counselor on the ship had helped save lives all the same. Working through the trauma of Frontier Day with some of the formerly assimilated enlisted and lower deckers had been enlightening.
Munro: Yes, you'll be leaving us without a counsellor - again - but we have recently replaced Lt Commander Jashkaa.
Vhysa'lia: I heard. That’s part of why I felt comfortable putting in the request for this movement in the first place.
If there hadn’t been a new (and more experienced, as far as she could tell) counselor ready in the wings on DS224 to fill in for her absence, Vhysa’lia probably would have postponed the request to move to medical. But thankfully that wasn’t the case. Starfleet had rebounded enough at least to ensure that the Artemis could have another professional counselor again.
Munro: :: reviews the PADD :: Starfleet Medical have approved of your medical licence :: nods :: and verified your qualifications with the relevant authorities :: Looks to Vhysa'lia briefly :: I can only imagine that wasn't easy :: returns to PADD :: You've passed all your conversion practice as overseen by the Artemis medical team.
The practice had been interesting, and the best part of this whole ordeal, by far. It was a bit odd to be watched so intently, but they’d prevailed in the end.
Vhysa'lia: ::nodding:: I’m glad to hear that, I had to study a bit of your Federation medical practices beforehand just to be sure I passed… It’s a bit different in the Delta Quadrant.
Both in terms of general practices and methods in some cases, as well as, to an extent, ethics. There was a reason she wasn’t broadcasting to everyone that she met that she had primarily been involved in genetic engineering with the Kobali. Especially since a good deal of the work had been on advancing and improving the pathogen that was used to reanimate and transform bodies into new Kobali.
Of course, Vhysa’lia wasn’t hiding this fact - it was all in the files that she had submitted - but it just wasn’t something that she liked to mention to others outright, in case it caused discomfort or distrust. Even if the Federation was more receptive of the Kobali now, they held no expectations that they would sway public opinion enough for genetic engineering and reanimation to become acceptable topics for polite dinner table conversations.
Munro: :: hesitant :: There's one note on your personnel file, from the Vulcan Science Academy? I imagine it's of a personal nature … given the origins of your :: winces:: birth? I'm sorry if that's not the term?
She’d seen that note, yes, and strongly avoided opening it. There was a risk, of course, with returning to the Federation, where she knew her kyn’steya had been, that she might find out more about her past life. But that didn’t mean that they were going to go and see out information when they had the choice to turn a blind eye and ignore it.
Vhysa'lia: ::grimacing, and holding herself tensely all of a sudden, hands worrying together:: Ah, my kyn’steya. Um… ::clearing her throat:: Whatever the note from them says, I would prefer not to know. Just… tell me if it’s going to cause any problems for my request? And then what I should do about it. ::pause:: Without the details.
Munro: Response
Perhaps it was just the slightest echo of their kyn’steya, but Vhysa’lia hated showing negative emotions so physically like this. Lt. Cdmr. Munro could certainly see the stress on her face, and in her body, and that wasn’t who she wanted to be at all. She was supposed to be calm, collected, a friendly face, a good representative for all Kobali - not someone wracked with worry like this over a small note.
Vhysa’lia: It’s just… ::taking a deep breath:: Whoever was in this body before it died, that’s not who I am. ::smiling uncomfortably:: Whatever she did, whoever she was… it’s in the past, and irrelevant. At least, to me.
Whatever that note held, it wasn’t going to run her life for her. That had been a completely different person, with likely different beliefs and different values and different everything, someone that they had no memory of, thankfully. Kobali that were plagued with the memories of their kyn’steya had been some of her most difficult patients, and she had no desire to fall into the same traps that they sometimes did, ruminating and mourning a life that was no longer theirs.
She preferred a radically different way of looking at her situation, one that her parents had engrained in her, where she dove into her new life with excitement and wonder at all the novel things she had to experience, making the most of the second shot at life the Kobali granted her. But there was always that nagging fear in the back of their mind, that it would just take one encounter with something far too familiar from their past to bring back all the memories and despair that they carried…
Munro: Response
Vhysa’lia: I’m glad to hear that I wasn’t some sort of hardened criminal wanted by the VSA in my kyn’steya, but given how much of a wild frontier the Delta Quadrant was for your Federation around the time I was reanimated… it wasn’t impossible! ::nervous laugh::
Perhaps it wasn’t totally appropriate to crack a joke like that in front of the XO, but Vhysa’lia was nervous with all this mention of the VSA and a note.
Munro: Response
Tags/TBC :)