Ensign Solkon- 'Interesting Introductions'
Scottish Jedi
((Sickbay, Deck 7, USS Gorkon))
It had been a rather…interesting introduction to service aboard a Federation Starship for Solkon. Vulcans did not place bets, but if they did, Solkon wagered the odds of experiencing a temporal event of this magnitude during one’s first posting were exceptionally long. It also had meant very little time to truly settle into his new surroundings, or meet his new colleagues.
The entire ship was on edge. Solkon did not blame them. He had studied the Borg whilst in the academy. They were an affront to life; a macabre combination of flesh and machine, forced to join a collective hive mind and be a slave to a single purpose. And they had nearly crippled the Federation before. Solkon’s own mother had been one of the few survivors of the Battle of Wolf 359. Whatever she had experienced there caused her to resign her commission and return to practice medicine on Vulcan. When Solkon had pressed her on her experience shortly before leaving to join Starfleet, she had snapped at him in a very uncharacteristic show of raw emotion.
And that is what made Solkon, privately, fear the Borg. Because his mother had been the most logical and rational Vulcan he had known.
But fear was an emotional response, one that, as a Vulcan, he had to overcome. This was a test. And he could not allow himself to be overcome. Not when the crew of this ship would be relying on himself and his fellow medical officers to keep them alive and in shape to fight the Borg. And so, Solkon had refused to let the situation alter his approach to his work. There would likely be little that he, as a Medical Ensign, could do to defeat the Borg or find a way to restore the timeline to normality. And so, he entered Sickbay along with Ensign Nera, a Bajoran and fellow new Medical officer. Solkon was…surprised to see a Romulan working in the sickbay, though he noted he was not wearing a Starfleet uniform.
Taeval: Ah, Ensigns Solkon and Nera, I presume? Our new doctors. ::His welcome smile was threadbare, dimmed by circumstance.:: I’m Taeval, I’m a physician’s assistant here.
Seeing a Romulan smile, even as thin as Taeval’s was, made Solkon pause for a moment. Despite some minor differences, they looked so… Vulcan. And Vulcans never smiled.
Solkon: Greetings, Taeval. I am certain we shall work well with one another.
This was…optimistic at best. Romulans and Vulcans, despite sharing a common ancestry, could not be more different. Solkon had only met a few Romulan refugees on Vulcan, and those Romulans had dedicated themselves to embracing the teachings of Surak and rejoining their Vulcan kin. He had never met a ‘normal’ Romulan. To work alongside one was an intriguing proposition.
Nera: Response
Taeval: Our acting chief is Lieutenant Tali Namura. ::There was a knowing look in his green eyes, as if there was an inside joke the pair would soon be in on.:: She’s in a meeting with the senior staff, but that should finish soon.
Something in the look of Taeval’s green eyes gave Solkon pause, it was as if Taeval was preparing to make some sort of humorous remark but chose not to utter it aloud.
Solkon: That is good. I am certain there is much to do, especially given the current situation. I am certain she shall be able to direct us on the best course of action.
Nera: Response
Taeval did not speak right away. Instead he looked at the two Ensigns, almost as if he were appraising them in some way. Solkon did not like that look, though he did not show it.
Taeval: How are you holding up? Our current situation is a lot for anyone to take in.
Solkon did not speak right away. The truth was that he had not truly processed what all this meant. Vulcan…gone. Consumed by the Borg. His Mother and Father, if they even existed in this timeline, would be mindless drones. His sister, if Starfleet had ever existed, was either killed in action or had been similarly assimilated by the borg.
And then there was his older brother, Sakar, who he had exchanged harsh words with before leaving Vulcan, who was now likely also dead, or assimilated. He would never get the opportunity to heal the wound that had opened between them. And then there was T’Pava- no. He pushed her out of his mind. To think that he would never see her face again was too much. He walked over towards a storage closet that was lying open and picked up a medical tricorder, calibrating it and examining the readings it gave off.
Solkon: It has been a…difficult adjustment, I will admit that. But we must not let it dictate our actions, nor let it overwhelm us. We must think and act rationally. I trust that the senior staff will see it the same way. Whatever caused this new timeline to form can be undone. All we have to do :: he put the tricorder back in the closet and closed it before turning back to face Taeval :: is to keep the crew well enough to make that happen. Do either of you have any pre-existing experience with the Borg?
Nera/Taeval: Response