In need of chocolate

Posted on Sat Apr 5th, 2025 @ 8:03pm by Lieutenant Ayryn Trynn M.D.

592 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: A Silence of Friends
Location: Counsellor’s Office
Timeline: MD001 - 1800

Life was often unpredictable.

For example, just a few months earlier her days had been consumed with lazy mornings, beautiful beaches and all the exotic foods and drinks anyone could wish for. The perfect place to unwind, heal and forget about your worries.

Fast forward to today and she was back aboard a starship, on a mission involving an archaeological site protected by an advanced AI coupled with a blossoming health crisis amongst the visiting archaeologists. Welcome to Starfleet.

True to her word, Ayryn Trynn had taken time to update a map of Guran III - noting the exact locations where she had found each member of Dr Rush’s team. At first glance there was no obvious correlation between the locations dotted around the site on the planet below but perhaps the scans by the scientists and engineers would show up something.

She hoped so, for otherwise there was a glaringly obvious and troubling alternative… then again who knew where else one or more of them may have wondered off to? Scientists could often venture into the unknown and let curiosity overcome common sense, occasionally to their own detriment.

Once she had been scanned she ensured the good doctor and his staff knew where she was working , just in case they needed another pair of hands. Her office was nearby and - most importantly - quiet. Which would allow her to focus on the other unexpected development on this mission, Striel.

Advanced AI technology designed, and apparently upgraded, for the purpose of protecting the colony below. Yet the fate of the colonists was unknown, with little information available to explain what had happened to them.

Clearly Striel was powerful, following clear directives with resources to repel any perceived threat. Could that potentially include those who had inhabited this world? While unlikely it was a possibility. Either by accident or design, a malfunction perhaps?

Calling up Starfleet records on any similar encounters she ordered herself a spice tea from the replicator, asked the computer to lower the temperature in the room by two degrees and settled in learn what she could to help them deal with Striel moving forward.

She soon lost track of time, scrawling notes as she worked with the tea almost untouched. Like many had already voiced, she found herself wanting more time to study Striel and to learn more about how it was programmed and the people who programmed it. And - ultimately- if it was indeed safe to trust it.

Unfortunately that was not an option right now and so she could only speculate. Smothering a yawn she got up and crossed to the window, staring out as she massaged the aching muscles in her neck. Unable to shake the feeling she was being next to useless here. In this moment.

The medical team had more than enough people at the moment to need her help, albeit she was qualified. However she had made a decision to specialise in psychiatric care so she understood why people may doubt her abilities to aid in a crisis in that way. And she was still a new comer - worse, she was the one they expected to be judging their every action and word for meaning.

Nobody said returning to life on a starship would be easy. And compared to how her last assignment on a ship ended, she would take feeling a littler useless over that any day of the week. And then she smiled, realising she had the perfect thing to improve her mood and outlook considerably.

Chocolate.

 

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