Nervous Introductions

Posted on Thu Apr 9th, 2026 @ 10:08pm by Lieutenant JG T'Chiara MD

1,107 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Prologue: Joy is in the journey
Location: Sickbay - USS Oberth

ON

The office was very barren, unlike how she preferred it to be. While she likes things tidy and ordered, she also preferred to have something colourful and fragrant in the office. A flowering plant or two would do. She stuck her head around the door frame and scanned the area. "Nurse!" She called out, not remembering the young man's name.

"Yes Doctor... er... Doctor T'Shara?" he asked lacking any confidence in the name. It had only been announced a few hours ago that a Chief Medical Officer had been assigned and his own duties had prevented him from checking up on who that individual would have been beyond a cursory glance at the initial assignment reports.

"T Khee-ah-rah," the young Vulcan woman corrected mildly, "you have my name, may I have yours?' she beckoned him into the office as she waited for him to introduce himself.

"Oh yes, of course. Thomas Grey, I'll be acting as your Nurse and assistant" he beamed at her extending a hand to shake hers before realising she was Vulcan and they were less than enthusiastic about physical contact. He wavered, wiped his open palm against his trouser leg instead before redirecting the conversation. "How was your journey?"

"It was without incident," she answered, "my mate signing on to serve here was a welcome surprise. Do you know if this vessel has an arboretum? I desire a flowering plant to give some colour to this office. I have no objection to it having a pleasant fragrance." Anything to break the sterile appearance and smell of a medical facility.

"We don't have an arboretum as such. We do have a botanical lab which doubles as a garden on its main level. Its in the secondary hull, deck ten for the garden, deck nine for the upper level which is the main part of the lab... I'm babbling!"
He smiled nervously.

"Indeed you are," Kya confirmed, "do you have any recommendations for my suggestion? Or perhaps you can show me? Obviously you have been on this vessel longer than I have been."

"Lieutenant Gillon should be able to provide something from the Arbolab" he kept his reply short and simple, more than aware that he had been babbling for most of the interaction thus far.
"Do you need anything from me Doctor?"

"Directions," Kya deadpanned, "perhaps you could show me this lab, and I did ask you for suggestions did I not? What kind of flowers would you entertain?"

"Of course" he fidgeted nervously realising he had complete missed that part of her statement. "If you'll follow me I can show you there sir, ma'am... Doctor!"

"Doctor will do Ensign," the CMO answered kindly, "and you again failed to answer my question." She couldn't understand why the young man felt so flustered and seemed so... nervous.

"I wouldn't know sir... I mean Doctor. I don't know flowers other than my mother always saying I was a nervous wall flower but I'm pretty sure you don't want me sitting on your desk all hours of the day and I'm babbling again so I will be quiet now!"
He started to lead his superior officer from sickbay and out into the halls, making a beeline for the nearest turbolift access. Perhaps if he was lucky the car wouldn't be there and he would plunge to his death... It would be preferable to the mess of an introduction and first impression he was making. He gripped the hand held controls for the lift and ordered it to deck nine.

"You do seem nervous," the doctor noted, "though I do not understand why. Sickbay is a very safe environment and if other staff are singling you out because of who you are, I want to know about it immediately. I will not tolerate bullying among my staff."

"Oh, sir, no, nothing like that" He paused, wiping the sweat from his palms on his trousers. "I've always been like this. My parents thought some time in starfleet would help toughen me up... So far I seem just the same as I was though!"

"Service does not change one's nature," she observed, "but it can help in developing lacking social skills. I do not see, however, how you require toughening up. In my experience, nurses possess a natural toughness as they are required to deal with a wide variety of patients." She offered a wry smile of sorts. "Not to mention doctors," she added. "Why did you choose to become a Starfleet nurse?"

"You try telling my parents that" he laughed nervously as the turbo lift came to rest having travelled through the saucer section, down one of the support struts and into the secondary hull. He stepped from the turbo lift and followed a long corridor to the end with a single door.
"The Botany lab is just through there Doctor. It takes up the rear of decks nine and ten so these decks are a little easier to navigate the the primary hull".

"You have an uncanny habit of avoiding to answer a question," Kia said as she followed him, "why is that?"

"I..." he faltered before he even started his reply. How do you tell someone that you and your family were the only survivors of a Gorn attack and this affected your parents to the point that it left you traumatised. Not necessarily a conversation starter so instead he opted to brush it off. "I don't like to be noticed and when I am it makes me nervous".

Gently, the hybrid doctor reached out to touch his arm, sensing something. "You are a nurse, something must have driven you to pursue this line of career. And you are noticed because you are my first line between myself and the rest of the medical staff. You have no reason to be nervous." She offered the faintest of smiles in the hope of being reassuring. "You are in no danger of my Orion genetics."

"Oh... thats good to know" he said equally as nervous. How could he make her understand that his nervous nature was nothing to do with anyone other than how he was raised. He decided not to correct her. "Well if you will excuse me Doctor, I have a rather sizeable inventory to stow away for you in Sickbay... I won't keep you from your flowers".

He nodded at her with a smile which didn't quite reach his eyes before turning and almost running from the room.

The Vulcan woman sighed softly as she watched him go. She had quite a way to go yet to mold him into a more secure officer.

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