Harbingers of Evil

Posted on Sat Nov 5th, 2022 @ 10:39pm by Lieutenant Jayla Kij MD & Lieutenant JG Fox Jasper

1,124 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Song Of Silver Wings
Location: USS Daedalus
Timeline: tbc

He felt stupid. Which was new. Usually Fox was quick to comment, easy on the jokes and strong on every front that mattered. But here, in the aftermath of The Disconnected Legs Incident? Yup, definitely feeling like a dumbass.

He'd walked past the entrance to sickbay several times now, grabbed a drink he didn't want from a replicator, been and washed his hands and now? Well now he was just lurking, honestly. Based on what he could see from out here in the staging area, the doc looked pretty young, easy on the smiles and generous on the slender curves, but was she any good. Was she discreet. And would she be able to actually do anything? He didn't know. And, as with all things, Fox knew the only way he'd find out would be to go ask the dumb question and lay his soul bare.

"Hey," he said, walking into the clinical sterility of the medical bay with a confident stride. "Do you have a moment?"

“Of course,” replied Jayla, who had been happily checking all the equipment and finding it up to code or better. “What can I do for you?”

"Can we talk in private?" Fox asked, casting his gaze about the room to see who else was occupying it. "It's... uh... a personal matter."

The other doctors and nurses were, of course, all trustworthy and discreet when it came to patients, but Jayla opted to humor him anyway. After all, the comfort of her patients was just as important as discretion. “I believe exam room thirteen is available,” she replied. “Right this way,” she added, motioning for him to follow.

Unaware of her internal dialogue, Fox dutifully followed the Doc and, on reaching the private room, remained standing, but leant against the bunk. He waited for a moment, composing himself before speaking, then met Jayla's dark eyes with his own.

"I'm afraid of cats," Fox said, simply, and he maintained that eye contact.

Jayla’s first reaction was to laugh- because surely this was a joke- but his serious expression forced her to resist that urge. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face, though. To be perfectly honest, there wasn’t much that could stop that. But, she managed to turn it into a sympathetic smile. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she replied. “Everybody’s afraid of something.”

He'd never really told anyone this before, exactly because of the reaction the doc seemed to have. A smile. Not painful as reactions went, but still a little difficult to work with moving forward. Fox sighed, shrugged his shoulders and offered up a slightly resigned tone.

"I'm not ashamed," Fox stated. Frustrated? Yes. Irritated? Yes."I just need you to fix it. It's not usually an issue on board ship, but... well... for some reason we have cat-bots on this one." He made involuntary puppy dog eyes at Jayla. "I didn't expect that."

She decided not to mention the size of her own cat-bot; it would only stress him out. “I’d noticed those, yeah,” she replied. “I didn’t expect it, either imagine my surprise when one walked into my office and started talking to me.” She grinned sheepishly. “I screamed,” she admitted. “But as for fixing you… we’ll, I’m afraid there’s no quick fix. I think the ship’s counselor might be better equipped to help, though.”

For a moment, Fox thought he had someone on his side - the scream was the clue - but then the doc shifted gear straight into 'nope, not today' on the support and followed through with a classic redirect. The pilot sighed, rolled his eyes and then, after a short moment of looking down at his shoes, met Jayla's gaze once more.

"Sure. Right. Yeah, okay... thanks," he managed, his tone wandering from polite frustration to bitter acceptance. Beneath that relatively cool exterior, Fox's heart beat faster. He hadn't wanted to talk about this with one person, and now he was getting instantly forwarded to another. But no counselor had been on the roster when he'd checked the crew list, and the Daedalus was definitely running light on crew. "Guess I wasted your time," Fox said and turned to leave.

Puppy dog eyes! Jayla was a sucker for puppy dog eyes; she could never say no to puppy dog eyes. “Wait!” she said, unable to resist. “If you really want my help, I can probably come up with something. Maybe… maybe watching cute cat videos will help? Or I could create a holodeck program to help you interact with them.”

Fox stopped on the threshold of a private room and medbay proper and turned back to regard the doc. He canted his head to the side and made a serious face before he spoke a word, his voice coloured now with uncertainty. Was she taking the piss? "Cat videos?" He threw back, expression and mood darkening deeply. "I'll pass th..." But the second idea wasn't the worst he'd ever heard and he needed to try something, didn't he? Also - drug-free option - which was a bonus. "What kinda holodeck program?" Fox queried, hanging there on the edge of stay/leave.

“Maybe something where they behave in a particular manner, like just laying there sleeping or even just ignoring you completely,” she suggested. “And we can eventually work up to playing kittens jumping around and chasing strings you dangle in front of them.”

He closed his eyes and bit down the first words that wanted to leave his mouth in response to that. She wasn't mocking him, she was trying to help. Right? She didn't look like she was joking. She looked pretty damn fine in fact. He could suck it up a little for some time in her company, and - hell - if it didn't work or he hated it, he could step away at any point, right?

"Sure," Fox agreed, forcing down the voice of dissension. "Why not. Worth a try. When do we start, Doc?"

“Hm… I haven’t got any appointments this afternoon,” mused Jayla. “Let me see what I can work up and I’ll let you know. Maybe there’s a program already in existence that I can modify. If so, we could get started later today.”

The pilot nodded, helplessly. Before him was a lot of work he didn't want to do, but it was worth a try.

"Okay, thanks. Hit me up when you know and I'll be there," he said, and ducked out the door before he had the chance to change his mind.

Jayla watched him go almost wistfully. Poor guy. She only hoped she could actually help him get over his fear.

 

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