Coffee, Dirt, and just a little bit of Chemistry

Posted on Mon Jun 9th, 2025 @ 7:30pm by Commander Cressida Vale MD & Petty Officer 1st Class Alina Tevaris

1,111 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Timeline: Very Early 2387

January 2387

It had been a very busy day in sickbay. The work of the Chief Medical Officer never seemed to end, even on days when the patient load was low. And today, Cressida mused, was not one of those days.

Heh. Chief Medical Officer. It had not been long since Dr. th'Chalov's tour of duty ended and the word 'Assistant' had been dropped from her title. It still seemed unreal. Well earned, she knew, but despite her ambitions she never really thought she would make it to CMO so quickly.

The increased workload that came with it was intense but welcome. And she had not been unprepared. Her predecessor (who himself had been ACMO before his own chief’s sudden death) had been prepared to take over the senior role and had coached her very well. She had developed a routine that was serving everyone's needs, but remained open to change. There was a standing order in the Medical Department that proposals to improve sickbay functionality be submitted without delay for evaluation and trial runs. It meant that in the past few months, their workflows had changed in ways that worked for them.

It also meant that routines were not always routine. They had not yet ironed out the wrinkles in the process, and sometimes late nights were unexpectedly followed by early mornings. Especially if some of her staff were off the ship. Like today, where Dr. al-Youssef was attending a conference and Dr. Siosifa was recovering from an injury.

So today, Cressida needed an extra break.

The mess hall was six decks up from sickbay. Far enough that a turbolift ride was justified, but Cressida had spent the past two hours sitting at her desk. She needed to move. So up the stairs she went.

It wasn't a long break. Six decks up. Mess hall. Order a coffee (iced, with a dash of honey). Six decks back down.

Collide.

---

Alina Tevaris's day had begun with quite the mystery.

It has started when the pH of the soil samples collected on Bak'u were testing low. At first she thought it might have been a fault in the sensor probe, or some local contaminant that would dissipate if the samples were stirred properly. But the reading persisted through multiple tests, including with old fashioned analog test strips.

Something was making the soil in that part of the forest more acidic, even if the environment the samples had been collected from should have been neutral.

It might represent some introduced element, one which might threaten the local ecosystem.

She reported her initial findings up the chain of command, and in return was instructed to bring some of the samples up to Science Lab Two for a detailed analysis. There she and one of the geoscience experts could identify every single individual compound in the soil to determine exactly what was acidifying it.

It wouldn’t take her long. Put the soil samples on a tray, field in place to prevent air contamination. To the stairs. Up three decks.

Collide.

---

It happened in the stairwell, just on the landing at the door to Deck 10. Two bodies crashing into each other.

A dropped tray, soil scattered everywhere.

A dropped cup, iced coffee spilled everywhere.

Two flustered, overlapping voices trying to apologize simultaneously.

Two women in blue-accented Starfleet uniforms crouching down together, on their knees, trying to scoop dirt and ice cubes into a pile.

A glancing touch of hands.

A spark?

A pause in the overlapping voices.

Two of the greenest eyes Cressida had ever seen, framed by gorgeous braided hair that featured the cutest Starfleet Regulation bow ever. “Hi.”

Amber eyes, almost red, above full pink lips and set in skin that reminded Alina of smooth alabaster. “Hi.”

“I’m sorry,” Cressida said, giggling. “I should’ve been more careful.”

“I wasn’t looking,” admitted Alina.

Something in their peripheries. Green. Bright.

A glow?

Was the soil glowing?

“Oh wow!” Alina said, her voice giddy. “I didn’t expect that!” She took out the tricorder that was usually part of her uniform and gave the radiant dirt a quick scan.

“What’s causing it?” Cressida asked, curiously, moving beside Alina to look over her shoulder at the tricorder screen.

“A microbe in the soil,” Alina answered. “Harmless. But it contains a gene that causes it to phosphoresce when exposed to caffeine. I’ve read about these. A three-party symbiosis between a plant, an insect, and the bacterium. The caffeine, or an analog of it, is produced as an insecticide. The microbe gets some nourishment from the plant, senses the caffeine, and gives a warning. The insect knows not to eat nearby.” She giggled excitedly. “Nature at its finest. What a find. I wonder if they’re causing my acidity problem.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Cressida said, the right side of her lips curled upward as she brought herself to her feet. There was a supply closet near the stairwell. The doctor quickly went to get from it a hand broom and dustpan, and together they cleaned their mess.

“I’ve got more samples in the lab,” Alina noted, “so this is no big loss. But you’ve got no coffee,” she said, her voice taking a sad tone.

Cressida smiled and raised her eyebrows. A twinkle inside amber eyes. “Make it up to me? We’ll deliver your other samples together and you can get me a replacement?”

A smile. A twinkle in those green eyes. “I’d like that.”

They both got to their feet, broom and dustpan in Cressida’s hands, tray of assorted containers and cups in Alina’s.

“Lead the way. I’m Cressida Vale.” She gestured toward the door back onto Deck 10.

“Alina Tevaris,” was the reply. “Nice to meet you, Cressida.”

“Nice to meet you, Alina.”

---

January 2389

“Chemistry from the start,” Alina said with a grin as she finished telling the story to a new friend in the mess hall.

“And two years later, here we are,” Cressida added as she brought a tray of iced coffees to the table. She gave Alina a kiss on the cheek before she took her seat, bringing them some colour.

“Still making each other glow,” Alina finished, taking Cressida’s left hand in both of hers, light refracting through the stones on their (complementary but not perfectly matching) wedding bands.


—————

Lieutenant Commander (later Commander) Cressida Vale, MD
Chief Medical Officer, USS Guinevere

Petty Officer 2nd Class (later Petty Officer 1st Class) Alina Tevaris
Botanist, USS Guinevere

 

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