Getting settled in didn’t really take that long, not when you had all of your belongings fit inside a single bag. Apart from a spare duty uniform and a formal dress uniform, everything else was her personal civilian stuff which made a lot of sense. Since she could always replicate anything as she needed it, work clothes weren’t really a big deal. But her personal stuff? Some of those were sentimental, her last remaining connection with her distant homeland, so they weren’t exactly replaceable.
But with everything stowed away, and her new bed in order, Serena decided not to waste any time checking in with her immediate supervisor. A quick check with the computer revealed the man’s location, and after a quick check of her reflection and touching up her appearance a bit, she stepped out of her quarters and made a beeline for the HazMed section of the ship.
Not many ships had HazMed departments, which meant they’d been crammed in between medical and some engineering systems that he wouldn’t know what they did even if they bit him on the arse. It also meant that he was having to build compartments and unload equipment and get it set up. Each HazMed team member needed a locker and a staging station for their equipment, and it all needed to be set up for rapid reaction. So the flow of the room needed to be right, or he’d have eight people trying to get through the door at the same time.
Standing in the middle of the chaos, he folded his arms over his chest and looked around him, trying to vizualise it all in his mind’s eye.
The quick journey to the HazMed section was indeed quick, practically just down the way from the crew berthing section of the ship, which made sense since in an emergency, they had to be able to muster quickly. But at least there was enough time for her to check her transfer file and actually look at her new boss’ bio. She wasn’t about to make the same mistake she made earlier with the CMO.
By the time she stepped through the blast doors made unique from the neighboring compartments with all of the high visibility markings on it, she at least had a face to go with the name. Though when she got there, the photo really didn’t do much for her right away since what she immediately saw was the back of someone’s head as he stood there, studying the half finished space like a man assessing a disaster zone.
“Excuse me,” she called out to him. “Lieutenant Keegan, sir?”
”That would be me,” Mal said, half turning. “Who’s asking?”
“Chief Serena Veren, reporting for duty, sir,” she replied as she came closer, keeping the smile on her face even if he couldn’t see it with his back turned. “I was assigned to your team from the USS Alkahest.”
”Ahh, yes!” He turned as she came level. “I was going to try and catch the transport with you or Kent, but then things blew up and I ended up taking an earlier one to catch a situation out on Trevenas-four with my old team. They dropped me off here. Anyway, welcome to HazMed…” he motioned around them. “Such as it is, anyway.”
To her credit, she was able to resist reacting to seeing his face in person for the first time, which probably spared her some embarrassment, Damn. What was it with the people on this ship? She knew the guy was good looking in his file, but the effect hit harder in person, and while she wasn’t new to meeting attractive people, she wasn’t so jaded that she was unaffected either.
“Thank you,” she said as she looked around the place. “I guess our unit is still pretty new, huh?”
He chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “So new it’s still got the wrapping on it,” he admitted. “We have four members who are HazTeam qualified, and four who came from the Medical side. You and I are the only two HazMed qualified, and the CMO, but he’s only going to be joining us if the shit’s hit the fan.”
He looked at the room and groaned. “Man, I forgot he’ll need a station as well.”
The man’s demeanor was very nice, and immediately helped Serena relax, thankful her new boss wasn’t an uptight despot. She’d worked in medical long enough to know the egos of doctors after all, and no one knew it better than nurses.
“Well it’s a good thing I like opening presents,” she said with a grin. “Anything I can help with?”
He slid her a sideways glance. “What are you like building units?” He motioned toward the part built lockers and staging units. Then he frowned. “Actually, we need another one. Can you go track down Rennox, the captain’s yeoman? He’s acting as QM at the moment. Tell him we need another one of these.”
She chuckled. “Well I’m not an engineer but in my previous assignments, I’ve had to get creative and improvise a lot when we didn’t have exactly what we needed out in the field.”
When he mentioned the name Rennox, she made a mental note while taking out her PADD and writing it down just to be sure she didn’t miss anything. Then she took a picture of the modular lockers for reference. “I’ll take care of it,” she replied. “Do you need me to get anything else while I’m out there? Maybe a sandwich or something? We might be busy for a while.”
”Coffee please,” he said, already muscling one of the completed units into place. “And yes, anything that’s edible, I’m not fussy. Avoid the replicator in the main corridor on deck three. It’s got… issues,” he advised. “Covered Smith in gravy and sprinkles this morning.”
Reena made a face. “Eww, thanks for the warning. I’ll be back as soon as I can!”
With that, she turned and left as quickly as she came in, consulting her PADD and where she could find “Rennox” the acting Quartermaster. Maybe he could recommend which replicator was the best one aboard too.
