Fancy Meeting You. Again.

Posted on Sat Jul 18th, 2026 @ 5:26am by Kaelen & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Beya & Evelyn Reynolds

Mission: Veils
Location: Mary Rose, Medbay
Timeline: day after the procession
3751 words - 7.5 OF Standard Post Measure

"Here we are," Burnie flashed a grin at his friends, Gunnar in particular. "I know what you'll want to see."

"You know him too well," T'Ango laughed, and tipped a brow up at her companion. "Just remember, we're on R&R here - no working."

Gunnar rolled his eyes, but smiled good-naturedly. "You just remember the same when he gets around to showing you the armory..." then nearly did a double take, spotting Beya as they entered.

"Is that what you meant by what he'd want to see?" T'Ango laughed, throwing a teasing smile at both him and the engineer. "Orion and a medic - that dude we ran into last night would collapse from the impossibility of the coincidence."

Beya looked up, confused, but offered a tentative smile. "I think I'm missing something."

"Bit of an inside joke - this might be the easiest way to explain," Gunnar said, tapping his wristpadd to bring up a small holographic image of an Orion woman in Starfleet medical blue. "This is Divash. The person whose name made the connection for Nollel. We're ...close friends."

Beya's eyes went wide. The woman was stunning, but that wasn't why. Nor was an Orion understanding of 'close friends', though it certainly explained T'Ango's joke. "She's a doctor! ...I mean, that's my goal. It's just... my mom doesn't approve and I didn't have a formal education..." she glanced down, then back up with determined optimism, "but Dr. Reynolds is helping me get remote learning credits so I can qualify to apply."

"With Burnie on board, I'm sure you've gotten a lot of hands on treating burns," Gunnar said, casting a (half) joking look at the explosion-loving engineer. "Credentials are important, but more medical schools are starting to give greater weight to patient contect experience."

"With both, I'm sure you'll get there," T'Ango said, albeit making a mental note to ask Divash if she'd mind being offered for mentoring advice. It felt like seeing someone like her who was a doctor had really meant something. "And Dr. Reynolds sounds like a good person."

"She is," Beya said, realizing Burnie was showing around so they should meet everyone. "She had a drop in, but it's been awhile. He's a bit of a talker," she added sotto voce, as she lead them back, "so she might be happy for an interruption."

-------

"There is absolutely nothing of concern in these toxicology reports."

Evelyn was slowly losing her mind.

It had been a process arguably consistent over the last few months but recent events were certainly hell-bent on exacerbating her symptoms. As far as refuges went, the medbay wasn't the most luxurious and her current work didn't align all that satisfactorily with her previous aspirations, but Evie had carved out a little chunk of breathing room that felt safe enough and now that was being single-handedly challenged by perhaps the most annoying diplomat she'd ever met. And that was saying something.

With the exception of one engineer with borderline hypochondria, the notion that any of Rosie's crew would willingly seek medical opinions as a precautionary measure amounted to nothing more than wishful thinking. Evelyn had come to accept that proactivity was going to fall on her and her staff and there was certainly no hardship in demonstrating her capacity for stubborn insistence. Evelyn had never shied away from being bossy; it seemed perfectly justified when it was in the crew's best interests. This particular patient, however, was well and truly testing hers and as she stood facing him, scanner held aloft between them as a purposeful distancing tool, Evie wondered if Kaelan had spent any time on this tale he was trying to spin or if he genuinely thought this poorly of her intelligence.

"No sign of sedative-hypnotics, barbiturates, benzodiazepines... Once again, I will point out that it seems highly unlikely that you've been exposed to a compliance protocol if you're not suffering any symptoms." Her tone was clipped, taut with the tension of one well on the way to taking deep offense to yet another veiled attempt to take a pot-shot across her bow.

Kaelen offered her a highly apologetic grin, though his eyes remained intensely focused on the PADD in her hands. He held up both palms in a placating gesture, consciously trying to project the image of a harmless, slightly eccentric academic rather than a raving lunatic.

"A clean bill of health! Truly, there are few phrases in the Federation standard lexicon that bring such immediate warmth to the chest. And please, Doctor, do not think for a single moment that my... persistence is a critique of your formidable diagnostic prowess. If I believed anyone capable of dragging a stubborn truth out of a silent bloodstream, it would be you. It is not your competence I doubt, far from it, but rather the integrity of the instruments you used."

He leaned forward slightly on the edge of the bio-bed, his face scrunched in a look of mild, self-deprecating amusement.

"I am entirely aware of how I must sound right now. A weary, over-the-hill diplomat seeing phantoms in every shadow, jumping at the rustle of a festival cloak. I assure you, if there were a vaccine for an overactive imagination, I would be the first in line to roll up my sleeve. But..."

His smile faded slightly, replaced by a quiet concern as he gestured vaguely to the bio-scanners arranged neatly on a tray besides them.

"Purely as a matter of routine system security... are we absolutely certain the diagnostic equipment hasn't experienced any uncharacteristic or unregistered calibration changes today? No routine software updates pushed through the central database while we were docked? And on a related note," Kaelen's eyes flicked toward the sliding doors of the sickbay before returning to Evelyn's guarded expression, "while you and Mr. Oliver were enjoying the local festivities, did your logs indicate any... unusual visitors to the medical bay? Perhaps a technician claiming to service the backup bio-filters, or an off-world courier delivering unsolicited pharmaceutical samples? Anyone, perhaps, with very distinct nasal ridges and an uncanny knack for looking like they belong exactly where they shouldn't be?"

Beya had paused as they neared the treatment area. A filter obscured sound enough to ensure some degree of patient confidentiality, but with the open layout she knew to signal rather than walking in. Burnie's friends seemed pretty familiar with medbay protocol - maybe because of their Orion doctor friend! - and had hung back already. "Doctor, when you're available, there are some people here who'd like to meet you."

If asked in isolation, on a normal day without any particularly irritating interruptions, Evelyn would have been perfectly willing to say that she liked Beya. More to the point, not an inconsiderable compliment coming from the normally-reserved doctor, she respected the other woman. Stereotypes were a hell of an obstacle to conquer at the best of times and Evelyn was not so ignorant as to have missed how prevelant they were in the case of Orions. As awkward as it might have been, she may even have confessed to being somewhat swayed by them herself in the past, which was why working alongside Beya had been such an important reality-check. The woman was charismatic, yes, but she was also compassionate, competent and more than ready, in Evie's esteem, to be out from under the yoke of a supervisor's interventions and running her own operation. On a normal, problem-free day, Evie really enjoyed Beya's company.

Right now, she positively adored the woman. Improved ignorance aside, it still seemed prudent not to express this by throwing her arms around her mentee's neck.

"We just finished," she assured the newcomer without making eye contact with the Denobulan who might interpret the situation differently. It spoke volumes to Kaelan's capacity to rattle the doctor that Evie didn't spare a thought, initially, for what it actually meant to have visitors specifically intent on meeting her.

No sooner had they stepped into view, smiles ready to greet the CMO on Burnie's ship, than they spotted a Denobulan. One they recognized. Gunnar's brows rose. T'Ango's ears went straight up, then her head tipped to the side. "Huh. Another 1 in 10^18 coincidence." She glanced over at Burnie, a slight twitch of her tail accompanying a teasing flick of whiskers. "Of course, with you here, spontaneous combustion is probably still on the table, but I almost wonder if that Meghan character Nollel mentioned is messing with us."

"Wait." Burnie looked from them to Kaelan and back again. "He's the guy you were telling me about? The Denobulan more paranoid than any Romulan you've ever met?"

Kaelen’s ears twitched at the sound of the familiar, yet unexpected voices behind him and stood to meet the new arrivals.

"Ah, the persistent whispers of fate!" Kaelen declared, his baritone voice easily cutting through the remaining tension in the room. "Though I must gently correct your calculations, Lieutenant T'Ango. A 1 in 10^18 chance is indeed the baseline for four completely blind encounters across the cold vastness of the cosmos. However, those odds improve quite dramatically—narrowing to something far more intimate, say, 1 in 50—once we find ourselves caught in the very same planetary gravity well, sharing a mutual acquaintance."

He turned a playful, highly amused gaze toward Burnie. "And in the presence of our esteemed Chief Engineer, I have the absolute utmost confidence that the Mary Rose’s automated firefighting systems are primed to operate at their absolute peak, should any of us indeed choose to spontaneously combust to celebrate the occasion."

Stepping gracefully away from the bio-bed, Kaelen offered Gunnar and T'Ango a shallow, perfectly executed bow of his head. "Please, allow me to introduce myself properly this time. I am Kaelen, the ship's newly appointed liaison for civilian affairs. I must sincerely apologize for the... rather guarded nature of our initial meeting near the market earlier." He flashed a puckish, conspiratorial wink. "My new colleagues very sternly cautioned me against handing out my credentials to strangers one encounters in damp, shady alleys. It is apparently considered a operational safety, even for a diplomat. But here, in the sterile refuge of Doctor Reynolds' domain, I believe we can safely dispense with the espionage protocols."

T'Ango, as an operator, well understood OpSec, though why that level was applied for a civilian vessel had felinoid curiosity peaked. Still, while she might keep her eyes and ears open, this was Burnie's ship so she wouldn't press. She had a fundamental trust of the crazy engineer, especially as some of his 'toys' had saved her hide a few times in the past. "Then well-met this time," she said, returning a wide smile, then letting the glow that smile rest briefly on Beya, she continued to Reynolds. "And a pleasure to meet you as well, Doctor. It shows a nature of high honor to help those who need extra support and guidance to achieve their dreams." She cast a grin at Burnie. "And to stick with ship with pyro engineer."

Burnie just laughed, but then realizing that introductions should be made at least to Evelyn, he gestured to his friends. "Doc, these are old friends from my last posting in Starfleet. Lt. T'Ango of the Dosadi Imperial Marines, who was an exchange officer at the time," he cast a grin at the petite felinoid, "and just as crazy as I am, though her crazy tends to crawling through ductwork."

T'Ango laughed and gave an exaggerated sweeping bow, that if she had been in her chevalier-like Dosadi dress uniform, might have given an impression of Puss-in-Boots. Gunnar laughed too, shaking his head slightly at the antics.

"And this is Lt. Gunnar Arnason," Burnie continued, indicating the tall Nordic man beside him. "He's a medical officer, and has patched me up more than you've ever had to." Left unsaid, though expressed in his smile was the fact the Gunnar had been part of the team that kept the end of his career in Starfleet from being KIA.

Despite Kaelan's math not quite mathing in his opinion, Gunnar wasn't one to question an out from an awkward misunderstanding. "No harm done," he assured the Denobulian. "I was stationed at the embassy on Dosad for a bit, so I understand even diplomats need operational security." Then turning to Evelyn he offered a genial smile, a touch humor in his eyes as he offered a hand. "A pleasure, Doctor, though I suspect Burnie's last sentence should be appended by a 'yet'."

There was a moment of absolute hesitation that lingered just long enough to be impossible to disguise. Evelyn, who had long prided herself on keeping a cool head under pressure and who relied, at least in a professional sense, on being able to switch tracks seamlessly without losing concentration, found herself confronted by the discomforting sensation of being the odd man out in her own medbay. Under any ordinary circumstance, that might have provoked a ruffled feather or two, but the emergent familiarity between the group now assembled between her and the nearest exit was...

...unexpected.

The doctor's demeanor shifted, very slightly, as if stepping back behind the veil of a curtain she'd been happily peering through a moment before. A faint smile became merely an enigmatic decoy, though her response held the same practicality those used to dealing with her had come to recognise as Evie's bedside manner. "As colourful as his records are, our senior engineer has yet to test our burn unit's efficacy on my watch." A glance leveled at Burnie echoed his friend's sentiments. "He is very much responsible for us having a burns unit, however."

Shrewd eyes, carefully devoid of obvious signs of mistrust whilst being utterly directed by it, scanned the rest of the assembled crowd before settling on the diminutive guest who was arguably the least predictable. Evelyn didn't profess to know a great deal, if anything, about the Dosadi and certainly would have been at a loss to anticipate if T'Ango's presence heralded any additional threat. They're just Burnie's friends. Convincing her nervous system of the simplicity of that statement would have been vastly preferrable to honing her performance skills yet again. Evelyn dipped her head to acknowledge the woman's previous sentiment.

"She would tell you otherwise but Beya has been running this medbay for considerably longer than my tenure. With that it mind, it doesn't make a lot of sense that she has to keep deferring to a parade of doctors who waltz in and make a mess before leaving again." An eyebrow hitched at the Orion conveyed a mutual combination of amusement and frustration to the state of medical affairs prior to Evelyn's arrival.

Kaelan clapped his hands together with a sharp, joyful crack that drew the room's attention back to him. “Well said Doctor. Truly, a splendid statement befitting of this wonderful confluence of fates.”

"Is it not the most beautiful alchemy in the cosmos? The way a gathering of absolute strangers can, through the sheer force of a singular binding thread, turn so rapidly into a tapestry of compatriots? You see, on Denobula, we believe that such an unexpected event is a gift from the universe that is worthy of celebration. And how does one celebrate such a gift? Well, certainly not in sickbay, surrounded by the scent of matured cheese and freshly disinfected bio-scanners!"

He offered Evelyn a beaming, entirely guileless smile, though his wide eyes held a spark of deliberate mischief. He knew exactly how heavily she had fortified her defenses, and he was more than happy to leverage the natural momentum of Burnie's old friends to gently bump her out of her comfort zone.

"I propose an immediate detour to the ship's lounge. A beverage or two—perhaps some of that Antarean cider I've heard rumored to exist in a backroom—so that this delightful acquaintance may fully blossom into a robust friendship. Come, Doctor, surely the medical department can delegate its duties for a while? As you so reliably informed me earlier today, we are on shore leave after all. And wouldn’t it be a tragedy of the highest order to let such prime opportunity go to waste?"

Evelyn's initial reaction, for all that she tried to keep a professional mask on was hard to miss, particularly as she'd left Gunnar with an offered hand hanging untouched. Even someone as normally socially unaware as the engineer couldn't help but pick it up and wasn't sure what to make of it or how respond himself. He only knew that was zero chance that his friends, who for different reasons were trained observers, had missed it. Honestly, even if body language hadn't been so clear, T'Ango picked a lot up by scent and they way her ears had oriented on the doctor spoke surprise, then a mix of puzzlement and concern for the woman.

The pair had exchanged a quick glance as if confirming their impressions in a I'm-not-imagining-this sort of check. That though was more for Gunnar, who having experienced exactly such reactions when forced to face his previous captors again, recognized the visceral response, but with all the past ghosts stirred by the festival had a moment of doubt as to whether he was projecting. That was compounded perhaps by the incongruity of being on the receiving end of such a reaction. Yes, he'd dealt with kids (and a few adults) afraid of medical visits, but he had never had anyone react to him like he was a threat. (Indeed the fact that he generally projected that he was safe and approachable was a continual source of frustration to Kali's family, who had otherwise all but adopted him).

The confusion was further compounded by Kaelan's sudden exuberance and call for celebration, leaving Gunnar feeling an almost physical need to crack his neck, so strong was the sense of social/emotional whiplash. But it did afford a distraction that let him quietly drop his out stretched hand and tuck it behind his back in case it was somehow a hand reaching toward that had been the trigger.

Beya loved Evelyn, for reasons her statement once she recovered herself only reinforced and made all too clear, and she felt fiercely protective of her, which meant she'd instantly rescanned the two she had initially taken such a liking to. But she read the surprise, puzzlement, and worry at having given some sort of offense or caused distress coming from both of them. What was going on? Though she might increasingly feel like a thrid wheel in medbay with how much closer Oliver was, she thought she knew Evelyn fairly well. But there was clearly something she was missing. Did Evelyn have a fear aversion to felinoids? Had she been assaulted by some tall gorgeous blonde in the past?

But before she could think of how to step in, the loquacious Denobulean had jumped in. She wasn't sure how much it helped, and was sure it only added to Evelyn's discomfort, though perhaps shifting it toward annnoyance, which might be better. "I'm always up for a drink, and I'd certainly like to get to know you guys better," she favored the pair with an Orion smile, "but someone should be sober even if they're away from medbay and on call. So if you want to go," she said with an I-will-follow-whatever-you-want-here look toward Evelyn, "I can stay and watch things. Like you said, I've run this place alone before," she added with sincere gratitude for the compliment and confidence expressed.

The thing about stubborn tenacity, especially the kind you'd found a natural affinity for from a very young age, was that it was a hard habit to shake even when circumstance tried to dictate otherwise. There was absolutely no fooling herself; Evelyn had no desire whatsoever to socialise with these people, least of all the man who was making such bold and persistent overtures that it seemed increasingly justified to accuse Kaelan of ulterior motives. Any further reluctance was a lot less personal and owed its origins to the insidiousness of paranoid doubt. Their prior connection to Burnie was reasonable enough and Evelyn had spent more years harboring the kind of mentality that would have shrugged it off as a coincidence with viable explanation than she had entertaining the far less comforting suspicion that every shadow concealed an intended interference. As had been the more recent struggle, it was the frustration of the first impulse clashing with the fresh imposition of hyper-vigilance that furrowed the doctor's brow as she considered Beya's offer.

At what point did it become easier to just stare the problem in the face and tell it to go fuck itself?

More than that, it wasn't exactly a more comforting solution to send them off alone to conspire, if that was the intent. It also occurred to Evelyn that if she was being ridiculous, and a very large part of her was trying to insist she was, then leaving the Denobulan diplomat to spin his version of events unchecked was in direct opposition to the tolerance levels of Evie's pride. That was the point in the rapid acceleration of her thought patterns where the doctor's shoulders squared suddenly and Beya was reassured, as the human turned to smile at her, that whatever the problem was, Evelyn Reynolds was in the midst of making sure it got sorted.

"Oliver's shift starts soon, you can always catch us up." A look shared between the two women communicated a level of understanding, though there was the underlying impression that Evelyn was also laying down provisions for a rescue at some point. The human rarely asked for help, certainly not of a personal nature, so that in itself was about as unusual as her accepting an invitation to leave work early. From there, she turned towards the visitors, her expression reassembled into something more determined to extend an olive branch. "My workplace morale officer will probably report me to the mental health unit if I don't take a break soon." A sideways wink at Beya solidified Evelyn's return to form. "The lounge, it is."

"A magnificent, peerless choice, Doctor!" Kaelen beamed, instantly stepping backward to clear a pathway, his arm sweeping outward in a theatrical gesture of welcome that practically propelled the entire gathered party toward the exit before any further workplace obligations—or second thoughts—could intercept them.