Lt. Ryden Sylvax: A case of Chief Medical Officer-induced anxiety.
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Ryden Kel
Aug 11, 2026, 1:21:34 PM (5 days ago) Aug 11
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((Sickbay – USS Aurora-A))
As they started their inspection of the Aurora-A's medical facilities, Ryden found himself dividing his attention between two equally puzzling things: the unfamiliar Sickbay and the counselor accompanying him through it. The first he understood. New ship, new systems, new routines. The second was proving harder to diagnose. Somewhere between Drakos Prime and today, Ivalyan Keros seemed to have developed an acute case of "Chief Medical Officer-induced anxiety." He didn't even need his half-Betazoid senses to notice it. Ryden couldn't imagine why. As far as he was concerned, they'd had a perfectly amicable time working together during the last mission. Yet she'd nearly weaponized a PADD when he walked through the door and had addressed him as sir enough times since that he was beginning to feel approximately seventy years older than he actually was. He made a mental note to tread carefully. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally make whatever this was worse.
Sylvax: Shall we see what Starfleet gave us to work with?
Ivalyan: ::smiling:: Yes sir!
There it was again.
"Sir."
Ryden's smile lingered as he turned toward the medical storage cabinets, though his attention remained briefly on the counselor beside him. He hadn't thought much of the PADD she'd launched across Sickbay when he'd entered. He'd startled her. It happened.
But since then there had been an awful lot of "sir."
He tried to remember if she'd been this nervous around him on Drakos Prime. Certainly the circumstances hadn't exactly been conducive to relaxed conversation, but he'd thought they'd gotten along rather well. They'd worked together, survived together, and Ryden had come away from the experience with a positive impression of her.
Now she seemed to regard him as though he might administer a performance review at any moment.
Sylvax: oO Did I do something? Oo
He couldn't think of anything. Perhaps it was simply the difference between then and now. On Drakos Prime, they'd been members of the same team trying to get to the bottom of what was going on. Here, he was the head of the medical department.
Ryden wasn't entirely sure he liked that explanation either.
He was twenty-seven, not an ancient medical professor stalking the halls waiting to interrogate ensigns about obscure diagnostic procedures.
Sylvax: oO Maybe stop counting the "sirs." That's probably not helping. Oo
He turned his attention back to the room.
Nodding she opened some cabinets, and looked at the contained equipment.
Ivalyan: And sir, just a rem-m-minder? Umm. I do have some m-medical training. I’m no surgeon, b-but i have a pair of hands and know which end of a hypospray goes w-where.
Ryden looked over at her, eyebrows rising slightly.
Sylvax: That's good to know. ::A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.:: And knowing which end of the hypospray goes where already puts you ahead of some patients I've met.
He wasn't about to turn down an extra pair of trained hands. Particularly aboard a ship this size. The medical staff wouldn't have the seemingly endless personnel resources available to them on the station. If something went wrong, everyone might find themselves working outside the neat boundaries of their usual duties.
Sylvax: Seriously, though, I appreciate it. Hopefully I won't need to take you up on the offer, but out here, I'd rather know what everyone can do before we find ourselves needing them to do it.
Ivalyan: Sir, um, doctor? How many m-missions have you b-been on? And… Do you ever get sc-... nervous?
That caught him off guard.
Ryden stopped what he was doing and turned toward her. For a moment, he wondered what exactly she thought she'd seen on Drakos Prime?
Bravery wasn't the word Ryden would have chosen. He remembered the uncertainty. The calculations. The constant awareness that people were looking to him for decisions while he was privately hoping he was making the right ones. He remembered accepting responsibility because someone had to, not because he'd somehow misplaced the ability to be afraid.
Ivalyan: ?
He leaned back slightly against the edge of the biobed.
Sylvax: Being nervous doesn't mean you aren't prepared. And it definitely doesn't mean you can't do what needs to be done. ::He offered her a small smile.:: Most of the time, I think it just means you understand that what you're doing matters.
Ivalyan: ?
A thought occurred to him. Maybe that was what this was about. The PADD. The "sirs." The nervousness.
Ryden regarded her for another moment, his expression softening.
Sylvax: And for what it's worth, Counselor, you don't need to be nervous around me.
Ivalyan: ?
A beat passed.
Then Ryden immediately wondered whether telling someone not to be nervous around him was perhaps the most effective possible way of making them nervous around him.
oO Excellent work, Doctor. Oo
Perhaps reassurance would work better if he actually gave her something to be reassured about.
Sylvax: What about you? How do you think you did on Drakos Prime? ::He gave her a small, encouraging smile.:: Because from where I was standing, you were a valuable part of our team.
Ivalyan: ?
As they started their inspection of the Aurora-A's medical facilities, Ryden found himself dividing his attention between two equally puzzling things: the unfamiliar Sickbay and the counselor accompanying him through it. The first he understood. New ship, new systems, new routines. The second was proving harder to diagnose. Somewhere between Drakos Prime and today, Ivalyan Keros seemed to have developed an acute case of "Chief Medical Officer-induced anxiety." He didn't even need his half-Betazoid senses to notice it. Ryden couldn't imagine why. As far as he was concerned, they'd had a perfectly amicable time working together during the last mission. Yet she'd nearly weaponized a PADD when he walked through the door and had addressed him as sir enough times since that he was beginning to feel approximately seventy years older than he actually was. He made a mental note to tread carefully. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally make whatever this was worse.
Sylvax: Shall we see what Starfleet gave us to work with?
Ivalyan: ::smiling:: Yes sir!
There it was again.
"Sir."
Ryden's smile lingered as he turned toward the medical storage cabinets, though his attention remained briefly on the counselor beside him. He hadn't thought much of the PADD she'd launched across Sickbay when he'd entered. He'd startled her. It happened.
But since then there had been an awful lot of "sir."
He tried to remember if she'd been this nervous around him on Drakos Prime. Certainly the circumstances hadn't exactly been conducive to relaxed conversation, but he'd thought they'd gotten along rather well. They'd worked together, survived together, and Ryden had come away from the experience with a positive impression of her.
Now she seemed to regard him as though he might administer a performance review at any moment.
Sylvax: oO Did I do something? Oo
He couldn't think of anything. Perhaps it was simply the difference between then and now. On Drakos Prime, they'd been members of the same team trying to get to the bottom of what was going on. Here, he was the head of the medical department.
Ryden wasn't entirely sure he liked that explanation either.
He was twenty-seven, not an ancient medical professor stalking the halls waiting to interrogate ensigns about obscure diagnostic procedures.
Sylvax: oO Maybe stop counting the "sirs." That's probably not helping. Oo
He turned his attention back to the room.
Nodding she opened some cabinets, and looked at the contained equipment.
Ivalyan: And sir, just a rem-m-minder? Umm. I do have some m-medical training. I’m no surgeon, b-but i have a pair of hands and know which end of a hypospray goes w-where.
Ryden looked over at her, eyebrows rising slightly.
Sylvax: That's good to know. ::A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.:: And knowing which end of the hypospray goes where already puts you ahead of some patients I've met.
He wasn't about to turn down an extra pair of trained hands. Particularly aboard a ship this size. The medical staff wouldn't have the seemingly endless personnel resources available to them on the station. If something went wrong, everyone might find themselves working outside the neat boundaries of their usual duties.
Sylvax: Seriously, though, I appreciate it. Hopefully I won't need to take you up on the offer, but out here, I'd rather know what everyone can do before we find ourselves needing them to do it.
Ivalyan: Sir, um, doctor? How many m-missions have you b-been on? And… Do you ever get sc-... nervous?
That caught him off guard.
Ryden stopped what he was doing and turned toward her. For a moment, he wondered what exactly she thought she'd seen on Drakos Prime?
Bravery wasn't the word Ryden would have chosen. He remembered the uncertainty. The calculations. The constant awareness that people were looking to him for decisions while he was privately hoping he was making the right ones. He remembered accepting responsibility because someone had to, not because he'd somehow misplaced the ability to be afraid.
And that certainly hadn't been the first time.
There had been Raskor II and the whale... terrifying, certainly, but breathtakingly beautiful all the same. There had been the chaos of the station-wide memory loss, including an exceptionally long turbolift ride trapped between S'zurak and Nagazi while, thanks to said memory loss, the two were quite convinced they wanted to kill each other. The emergency joining had fundamentally altered the course of his life. He'd been shot with a Romulan disruptor, held hostage in a holodeck by the sociopathic artificial intelligence known as Lemoncable, and forced to defend himself against a gelatinous alien lifeform.
And then there were the things that were frightening for entirely different reasons. Like sitting across from Tori on their first date. Or realizing sometime during the shore leave that dating had quietly become a relationship. There were no disruptors, hostile aliens, or murderous turbolift companions involved in that particular adventure, but Ryden wasn't entirely convinced that made it any less nerve-racking.
Yes. Fear had been present for plenty of it.
Sylvax: Missions? I have served on 6 missions since being posted to StarBase 118 ::He considered the second question for another moment.:: But nervous? Absolutely.Ivalyan: ?
He leaned back slightly against the edge of the biobed.
Sylvax: Being nervous doesn't mean you aren't prepared. And it definitely doesn't mean you can't do what needs to be done. ::He offered her a small smile.:: Most of the time, I think it just means you understand that what you're doing matters.
Ivalyan: ?
A thought occurred to him. Maybe that was what this was about. The PADD. The "sirs." The nervousness.
Ryden regarded her for another moment, his expression softening.
Sylvax: And for what it's worth, Counselor, you don't need to be nervous around me.
Ivalyan: ?
A beat passed.
Then Ryden immediately wondered whether telling someone not to be nervous around him was perhaps the most effective possible way of making them nervous around him.
oO Excellent work, Doctor. Oo
Perhaps reassurance would work better if he actually gave her something to be reassured about.
Sylvax: What about you? How do you think you did on Drakos Prime? ::He gave her a small, encouraging smile.:: Because from where I was standing, you were a valuable part of our team.
Ivalyan: ?
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