A Morning of Life

From TFC Galactopedia

Krystal Elizabeth McLoude gave a soft, feminine groan as she rolled over, her elegant arm reaching over to the other side of the bed. When it met nothing but the sheets and covers she blinked her eyes open. The room was still dark, the only noise the gentle rumble from the life-support system, shades drawn over the viewports.

“Computer? What is the time?” She asked, rubbing her eyes in the dark as she sat up in the dark.

“The time is Oh Four Fifteen Hours,” the computer responded in its matronly tone of voice.

Krystal simply sighed and shook her head to clear the cobwebs of sleep slowly fading from her conscious mind. She looked over to her right side, seeing the empty spot on the bed. Where was he she thought worriedly?

“Computer, what day is it?”

“May 15th.”

The merle-headed white collie sighed gently and nodded. That was it, that was why he wasn’t there, she thought as she slowly swung her legs out of the bed. She knew she would not be able to return to sleep now. She was not one of those beings that could easily slip into that blissful state. The collie was in actuality a horribly light sleeper, something barely jostling her tended to wake her, and when she was up, she had a very hard time returning to sleep. It frustrated her at times really, especially when her puppy-hood sweetheart and husband opted to sleep on the couch when he was having a bit too much energy and moved about a bit too much on the bed.

The collie shook those thoughts out of her head as she brushed back some of the strands of brown-streaked bluish/black hair that had fallen away from the loose braid she kept her long hair in for sleep. “Computer, lights, slow initiation, morning program.”

The computer chirped an acknowledgement and the lights slowly came to ‘daylight’ (something rather relative in deep space, but, a concept most sentients never could do without). The program was designed to allow the canine’s eyes to adjust to the light, that, if snapped on to full luminance would be temporarily blinding and uncomfortable. As it did Krystal stood, stretched and suppressed a small yawn before going across the bedroom to the shower.

There the collie took full advantage of the fact that fusion power, and advanced reclamation and reprocessing systems available to the United Federation of Planets brought about the luxury of being able to take as long a shower as anyone wished even aboard a starship. For Krystal this was something she simply did not want to live without she thought as she opened the shower stall and turned on the stream, letting out a soft sigh as the warm water washed over her fur. Maybe it was her profession, maybe it was simple vanity over her fur and hair, and its appearance and upkeep (something she would be very embarrassed about if that was the only case) but Krystal enjoyed, and relished the ability to take a long warm shower.

After working the sleep from her mind fully with the shower and making sure she had dried completely, the collie sighed and began preparations for her day. The first of which was her exercises, for which she smiled when she realized a dark, navy blue leotard was already sitting, in a chair, ready to be donned, placed there by her husband, most likely before he had left. Also sitting next to the chair was a small bag. She slipped into the garment, pulled a pair of loosely fitting warm-up pants and what in centuries past would have been known as a ‘wind-breaker,’ picking up the small bag and began her travel down the darkened corridors of the ship, the lights dimmed to ‘nighttime’ settings to give the crew the illusion of a day-cycle. While the ship she lived and worked aboard, USS Oriskany, was considered one of the state of the art, and revolutionary ship in Starfleet, she lacked something that had been considered commonplace in crew comfort equipment for nearly a generation, a holodeck. Oriskany had one, small deck that was not used by the majority of the crew, it was expressly serving as simulator training tools for the Starwing. While the ship did not have the luxury of a public holodeck, it did have a multitude of gyms and other workout areas and even a small arboretum for those that wanted to get their paws, wings, claws, what have you, dirty.

For Krystal, she simply walked down the dimmed corridor to the turbolift, taking it two decks below her quarters and into a compartment that seemed rather bare. It possessed a mat in the center, and a mirror lining one wall with a rail, but that was it, no other adornments were seen. Krystal smiled happily and slipped out of the windbreaker and pants, sitting down on the mat and pulling on a pair of thick, padded socks and a pair of dark-blue slipper-like shoes. After that she stood, went to the bar and started to stretch out.

Soon she had finished a fifteen-minute routine she had performed since she was five years old. When she was satisfied she was properly limber she turned and walked to the middle of the matt. “Computer, music routine program McLoude Four.”

The computer chirped an affirmative as Krystal set herself to a stance, raising her arms over her head, closing her eyes. As the music started, Krystal began a routine that she had been working on recently, one that followed some of Setar of Vulcan’s music. The collie found Vulcan music particularly suited to terran ballet dance styles, and, since she had found early on in life that although medicine was her life-long interest when it came to a career, ballet was her recreational passion. It probably helped that her husband and puppyhood sweetheart always seemed to be in awe of her whenever he watched, and, for her it was wonderful exercise. It was a secret hope of hers that when they did start a family, that she would have at least one little girl to teach the joys of dance to.

The collie spent an hour with her dances, when she was done she collected her things and again headed down the corridors, just now starting to brighten as the ‘day’ began. The collie got to her quarters and as soon as the door closed began to take off her workout clothes to take another shower. That done she sat at the antique wood kitchen table and picked up a PADD as she finished slipping on her uniform and pail blue doctor’s coat waiting for the replicator to finish her breakfast, she knew she had rounds with Doctor Rikes this morning, then she would take her yearly physical and finally ‘second’ Dr. Rikes in two procedures. Not exactly the longest of days for an internist, but, one that would be educational for her.

It was then, as she got up to get her tea (she was British after all, she still couldn’t figure out how her husband could stand to drink coffee, awful stuff) and breakfast that she noticed a blinking ‘play’ command at the edge of her PADD. She blinked, sat her plate down on the table, sipped her tea and pressed the blinking section of the screen.

An image resolved of a tall, broad shouldered canine with mix/matched eyes, one blue, one brown smiling at her from somewhere else in the ship. The time-stamp on the playback said it had been recorded while she had still been asleep, nearly an hour ago, so no conversation, which was a little disappointing that it would not be real time and she could talk to him, but, not very, at least he left her a message, well she thought, he always left her a message. “Hello Kryssie, you should get this when you’re doing you dances…”

“Well, I got up a little early…” the collie muttered to the screen with a small smile.

“…I wanted to say goodbye before the day started, but, the prep for the launch started too early, and I didn’t want to wake you. So, I slipped out, I hope you found the clothes I laid out for you.”

Krystal smiled gently at the screen, she admitted, she was happy that he had been thoughtful of her, even as he was sure to have been just barely awake (she knew her husband, she knew ‘early morning’ was not something he normally did). That was, till she saw he was not in his normal uniform, but a flight-suit by the looks of how bulky it was about his shoulders. The collie tried very hard not to sigh at that, even though it was just a recording. She had never been fully happy with her husband’s choice in professions within Starfleet. However, he loved flying, and that had settled that, in her mind, if not totally in her heart. That was why she had been so uneasy that night, knowing he was going out today.

“It’s a short flight today, but it’s the first full wing exercises so it took us a while to get all the briefings and prep done. I should be home before you get back from you’re procedures. I just wanted to tell you I love you before you went to work,” the image of her husband gave the lazy, shy smile she had come to love more than anything. “Have a good day Kryssie.”

With that the image froze on the PADD with her husband’s sheepishly handsome smile plastered across her muzzle. And with that, the collie sighed and put down the device after having glanced over it, the procedures were minor ones, really, things that in the 24th century took no more than ten minutes to a half-hour to complete, however they were still important, just as the physical she would be taking was. Being a medical professional she did not have the aversion to the required check-ups that most, even her husband, her training having instilled in her a need for personal health and upkeep. The collie smiled as she finished putting away the dishes from her breakfast, well she thought, if a Doctor can’t take care of themselves, then how would they take care of others? With that thought Krystal took one last sip of her tea and headed out for Sickbay for the rounds.

“All Hands, All Hands prepare for Flight Operations,” the voice of Captain Jinra’s voice called out of the ship-wide com-system as Krystal was finishing making some notes on her PADD as she, another internist doctor, a Vulcan bat P’donn. Krystal almost automatically frowned and tensed a little as she heard that announcement, more a courtesy since they were fairly well separated from the flight deck, unlike times past on earth’s blue-waters or so her husband had told her.

“You are upset,” P’donn said in a matter-of-fact voice as she looked at the collie through her protective eyeware.

“Hmm?” Krystal looked up, trying to fudge the fact that her co-worker had caught her off guard.

“You mannerisms, body language as you Terrans call it, it changed as the Captain made that announcement,” P’donn gave a slitght tilt of her head, and Krystal suddenly felt as if she were under a microscope. “You look as if you were in a state of what you call ‘unhappiness.’ It seemed you especially were distasteful of the words ‘flight operations.”

“Its, its nothing P’donn.”

The Vulcan refused to give up. “It has to do with you’re husband, correct? You do not find his chosen profession acceptable do you?”

Krystal didn’t feel like arguing with P’donn. No, she didn’t like Chaser being a pilot, no, she didn’t want him being flung off the deck into combat, but she didn’t like people trying to pry it out of her. She supported her husband even though she didn’t exactly like what was going on. Not because she was some fluffy ‘I obey my husband’ canine, but because she knew how Chaser enjoyed flying. Asking him to stop would be like her imposing her will on him, much as some thight he was imposing his on hers. That was not the way their relationship worked, and she became frustrated when people took that idea about it.

“I just want to talk about it P’Donn,” she tried to keep annoyance from her voice.

Her salvation from further inquiry was Doctor Rikes as the elder Irish Setter walked up to two of her interns. The slim, elegant and mature beauty was still structuring her department a bit, with some of the newer doctors, not only on Oriskany, but throughout the battlegroup. She knew P’donn was not the best of bedside manners, and she grated a bit on some of the other interns especially Krystal who she seemed to be in a constant state of interrogation. “Krystal, we’re finished with rounds, so lets get you’re physical over with before we have to start prepping all right?”

Krystal nodded to the Irish setter and sat down her PADD at her desk, she had no true ‘office’ just a small desk and terminal off to the side out of the way of the main area of Sickbay. With that she walked to the changing room, put on her exam gown which was completely sensor-transparent, making the scans more detailed and dutifully hoisted herself upon the bio-bed for the scans.

“All right Krystal…” Dr. Rikes soothed in her warm, oxford-english voice, her shining ice blue eyes radiating the caring Krystal had come to know of her husband’s god-mother. “lets see here, just let me pull up you’re last physical… and I promise we’ll get this done quickly. I know how everyone hates them…”

“I’ve never understood that,” Krystal confessed as she lie as still as she could. “After all, we are not exactly poking, or prodding as was done all those years ago.”

Dr. Rikes smiled as she set the bio-bed to scan as she reviewed the collie’s previous medical records, rather detailed actually Mariah knew because the young lady was one of those that always made sure she was in the best of physical conditions. Mariah had learned that was often a trait of girls that had training as dancers as Krystal had. “It is hundreds of years of engrained distastes of that poking and prodding.”

Krystal smiled and chuckled as the exam routines quickly collected data and gave a soft ‘beep’ when they collected all the information and downloading it into Dr. Rikes’ PADD for her comparison to Krystal’s previous records. The collie simply sat up and slid off the bed, punching in the correct commands to clear off her data almost out of habit more than anything else as a physician.

“All right Krystal, go ahead and get changed back into uniform, let me go over this and we’ll see if we need to make any changes…”

Krystal nodded and quickly got changed back in her uniform. When she returned, she found Dr. Rikes looking over her PADD with a strange combination of bemusement, and amusement set on her muzzle. Krystal walked up, collecting her own pad from her desk to review the procedures to come. “Dr. Rikes? Is there something wrong?”

Dr. Rikes ‘hmmmed’ gently as she examined the PADD for a few seconds before looking up. “Krystal? How have you been feeling the last few days?”

The young collie blinked looking at her superior. “Doctor?”

“Queasy stomach, tightness, anything?”

Krystal blinked. “No, not really, just having trouble sleeping a few nights, but, that’s normal for my tendency to be an extremely light sleeper. Why? Is there something wrong?”

Dr. Rikes smiled shook her head, and handed over her PADD. “No, but, you might want to look at this.”

Krystal frowned gently as she took the PADD and scanned it slowly; on one side was her previous exam, the other the exam she had just competed. Most the changes were well within normal range till she reached one section of her physiology. At that, if it was possible for a canine that had snow-white fur to go pail, it happened. The canine’s eyes went wide and, even though she was a doctor, and knew that the sensors were correctly calibrated, yet still, she looked up. “Is this correct?”

Dr, Rikes smiled a warm, motherly smile that she had developed over her years as a doctor, and matriarch of a family. “Yes it is quite correct Krystal. You’re going to be a mother.”