Who Gets the Bottom Bunk?

Posted on Tue May 4th, 2010 @ 10:19am by Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D. & Lieutenant JG Callaigh Roland

Mission: Commissioned
Location: Daniels/Roland Quarters
Timeline: Current

Melissa entered the quarters and began to look at the bunks. Natually there would be some contest over the bunks, but she wanted the top one. With how skilled she was in martial arts, it would be nothing for her to flip into the bunk. She put her pack, and her clothes, away and then, with little effort, slid herself into the bunk she flipped around and began to watch the doorway from the bunk while reading Mansfield Park.

Cal hauled her bags into the room and dropped them with a relieved sigh. She glanced up to see the doctor with her nose stuck in a book. A good one at that. "Austen fan huh?" Cal smiled and pulled her bags along the floor until they were close enough that she could flop onto her bunk with her hand still on the straps.

She put the book down a moment. "Hello there. How's it going Counselor?"

"Slow," Cal groaned to the bottom of the bunk above her. "The past ... what ... month?? ... has just seemed like one big whirlwind. I'm glad to finally be in a semi-stable spot; though I was confused by the transfer myself. How are you liking the Jackal?"

Melissa spoke, "It's kinda stuffy on this Defiant, but they need a Doctor. I don't mind where they send me, just as long as I am able to help people when they get hurt."

"That's a very noble thing to say," Cal smiled, thinking to herself that it was just one more commonality the two women shared.

She spoke, "Yes, I guess we don't know too much about each other." She stated. "I was born out in the outer world Colonies. Most of them were not in the Federation, but life was good out on the frontier."

Callaigh had been very blessed in the path she'd traveled in life, and became more thankful with every opportunity she was given to realize it. Her understanding of life on the frontier before the war was that it was likened to the 'Old West' immortalized in Earth's archaic movie era. "I'll have to take your word for it," Cal's exhausted tone was giving way to a more jovial one. People learning was always a lot of fun for her. "I've never been, myself."

"When the Cardassian's made their alliance with the Dominion. My home was the first hit. I joined up for revenge, plain and simple. I've taken a lot of terrible things out of this quadrant Counselor, and have seen things that have haunted me since the day I threw away my rifle after the final battle." Melissa noted. "Being a Doctor is the purest redemption possible after all the death that's been in my life, but still the past lies within me. I have sworn never to kill again." Melissa noted.

Redemption was always an interesting topic. For every officer who felt they needed to achieve it because of some barely applicable slight, there was one who lusted after it as though the future could ever really make up for the past. Privately, Callaigh preferred the latter. Their stories were always the most intriguing. "I can't really picture you as a soldier though maybe that's an unfair statement to make since we've only barely and briefly met." She pulled her legs up under her 'indian style' as she sat up. "Why not be a doctor in the private sector?" The question was more to keep Daniels talking -- Cal was almost sure she could answer that herself.

Melissa spoke, "Because I wanted to help people, and Starfleet offers me that opportunity. Private practice dose not always allow that opportunity." Melissa continued, "I killed myself, bit by bit, with every life I took." Inside, Melissa hoped she'd never have to reveal the whole truth. It was easy to say that she was another soldier, and not the angel of death itself.

"I guess I hadn't realized that about the private side of medicine," Cal conceded. "But, there's a difference between taking a life for the sake of taking it, and taking a life because it's either theirs or yours."

Melissa spoke, "Killing is wrong Counselor, no matter how many times you justify it. I left a trail of death behind me. My ability to kill was unmatched Counselor. I am the master of two professions, both saving lives, and taking them."

"And so which becomes the stronger urge then Doctor, when the situation is one where in order to save a life, you must also take one?"

"When someone kills for profit, they are a Mercenary. When someone kills for a cause, they are a Revolutionary. When one kills for the nation, they are soldiers. There are many killers Counselor, all of which face the magnitude of what they've done eventually." Melissa stated. "I need some rest, we'll talk later."

Rest sounded wonderful to Cal and she stretched back out along the bed. "Agreed, Lieutenant." She crossed her legs at the ankles and folded her hands on her stomach, allowing her eyes to close. "You still need to see me officially for your own exam," Cal reminded her roommate gently before working to regulate her breathing and giving in to the silence and the sleep that crept along the edges of it.

This was Melissa's chance to be unseen. She crept down from her bunk, retrieved the teddy bear from his hiding place, and then hopped back into bed.