It had been a long journey in more ways than one but the Denobulan side of Elowen Adair didn’t need as much sleep as the human side so her body did what it always did and compromised with a short nap which did all she needed it to.

Settling at last into her new quarters, she got up from her nap and unpacked all her clothes and effects, organising her uniform for the morning and trying to process all the events that had led up to this moment.

Apart from her personal journey to get here, Ellie had come aboard the USS Aquarius at a time when it was just coming to the end of a mission and about to start a new one, so that was a stroke of luck and it meant that she wouldn’t be on the back foot so to speak. It wasn’t quite such a big deal for the Medical Department as their particular focus was more on healing and taking care of the crew mainly plus a few other possibilities that might roll out now and then. However, it was still quite comfortable not to feel that everyone else knew so much more about what was happening, because you were too new to have all the pieces yet.

Ellie had been shown around Sickbay on arrival and she was due to see the CO after a meeting he was holding today regarding the new mission. If she didn’t get to talk with him today, she always had tomorrow. Now that she knew how good the medical facilities were on board, she was very much more relaxed about the new chapter that was opening up for her. She was excited and as she didn’t need to sleep any more today, she went over to the replicator and had a snack of Denobulan Sausage which was delicious and which reminded her she hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

Enjoying her favourite snack, together with a Terran English Breakfast Tea, Ellie had to smile at the apparent contradictions that she displayed.

The Denobulan traits in her seemed to stretch-out the human traits although nothing like as much as her father, and actually a little less than even her own brothers seemed to tend towards.

Ellie didn’t fit any text book patterns or expectations as the two “halves” of her genetics seemed to be as opposite as chalk and cheese as the Terran saying went.

She knew she would have a life expectancy that would far exceed her mother’s but she didn’t really have a way to measure what proportion it would be likely to offer. Her brothers seemed to have more Denobulan genes than she did……… or was it that she had fewer than they did? As a student of genetics (the interest in specialising brought on initially by her own family’s puzzling dynamics) Ellie was more frustrated by not having a template than her brothers showed, but then again, it was also nice to be so unique. She shrugged mentally and moved on for now.

Taking a much appreciated sonic shower, Ellie programmed some music and did some of her mother’s favourite exercise, Pilates. Ellie had her own version that differed from her Mum’s because Willow’s had been adapted to combine with some Tai Chi where the two could be compatible.

Ellie was proud of her mum for combining two types of routines and self-improvement even though Willow Adair hadn’t done the combining herself but had joined a class with a two teachers working with one another and putting together their own “best of both” interpretations which had then taken off and developed a strong following on Earth. For her own self though, Ellie was naturally structurally different to her mother Willow, of course. This meant Ellie was less comfortable with the combination as taught to Willow and her classmates. Ellie found the Pilates as a single practice was more suitable for her own needs.

After she was relaxed, stretched out, fed and rested, all that remained on Elowen’s “tick list” was an attempt to calm her racing thoughts. So much had been happening. So much needed to be thought out and plans needed to be made.

In an attempt to start from a good, level, steady platform in her mind, the Chief Medical Officer spent a while meditating to quieten her chaos and settle the last part of her that still rushed about in the excitement and fuss that had surrounded her journey here and her arrival too. Detaching and pushing the thoughts gently to one side, letting them come but also letting them go softly, just as quickly as they appeared, Ellie felt ready to face anything, once she heard the comm badge on her uniform crackle into life with an invitation to the CO’s Ready Room.

Getting up slowly, making sure she didn’t trash the calm she had just instilled, Ellie noted that it had been many hours since she had first arrived and already, here she was, finding her way to the Bridge, glad that she’d studied the deck plans on the journey.