Old Friends

Posted on Sunday August 19th, 2018 @ 14:35 hours by Volok & Mayterial Droz

Mission: Smugglers Need Not Apply
Location: Captain's Quarters, Deck 1, S.S. Fawkes
Timeline: MD01 - 22:30 hours
1556 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The day had been long and tiresome and finally Mayterial found some time to sit down and look into the past half year of communications sent her way. She saw them dying down in the past month as the news about their arrest and trial started to get around more. There was one that stood out, a name she hadn't seen in a long, long, time. Volok. She wondered what the doctor from her Starfleet assignment wanted with her. Looking at the local time from his listed location she figured she could bother him at this moment, setting up a connection through the station. She waited for the communications people to allow the connection to be made, being one hundred percent certain that their conversation would be listened to.

[Vulcan, Volok's residence]

The past few days Volok had been sending out several requests to merchant ships, but so far none of them had responded to his communique. It was early in the evening when Volok's communication terminal chimed, noting him of an incoming transmission. He had a classic standalone model for his subspace communications, so he got up to answer the call. It identified as Mayterial Droz from the SS Fawkes. Volok quirked an eyebrow ever so slightly. That name... He suddenly remembered where he knew that name from when he sent the message out to the Fawkes. He tapped the screen to answer the call. "Petty officer Droz, or should I say Captain?" Volok said with a faint smile.

"The road less travelled." Mayterial remembered her time on the Gemini. Especially how it came to an abrupt end. It surprised her that the Vulcan physician would reach out to her after what went down all those years ago. "How have you been, Doctor?"

"Working mostly." Volok said. "I believe they used to say that one would be more busy after retirement than during one's working life. Since my resignation from Starfleet that old proverb proved very true." He added, looking away for a split second. "I could ask you the same question, but how you have been has been a part of the news lately. But for courtesy sake, how are you doing?"

It was starting to come back to Mayterial why Volok had been such a memorable member of the crew. He was able to hide is portion of human very well. "Oh, you know how it goes." She shook her head a bit, she wasn't quite sure where she was going with that. "I've been sitting still for half a year while the Federation twiddled its bureaucratic thumbs. For all the talk of rehabilitation and forgiveness they sure were very eager to dredge up all of my old life again." She shrugged, she knew her history wasn't clean and they had to question her part in the entire operation. "I should've known. As a Captain. As a hustler. As a Betazoid. I should've known." Another shrug. "Two and a half years of my life wasted."

Volok nodded a bit in understanding. "Time for a fresh start." He said. "That is the reason I contacted you." He looked down at the PADD he still held in his hand. It contained the last article he was reading for his research. He looked back at the terminal. "I would like to assist you in your endeavour in any way possible. Hopefully in return you might be able to help me."

"That's one way to look at it. I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of optimism just yet." Mayterial was not usually one to open up to people about her emotional state but the day had been very draining on her and this was a familiar face. "Well I'm in the market for some new personnel so your help would surely be appreciated." She leaned forward and felt that it would be coming down to what he would respond next whether or not she could accept him aboard. "So a mutual scratching of backs seems appropriate. What does your particular itch entail?"

"A follow up on leads in my research." Volok responded, tapping his PADD to gather his notes. "The procuration of materials and data." He added being vague about the specifics. "My quest concerns my parents, in particular my father. He has been diagnosed with a still mostly undocumented and aggressive form of Tuvan Syndrome. It is degenerative and ultimately fatal, and thought to be untreatable." Volok stated as if he was giving the status of any patient, but he slightly hesitated before he continued. He looked up at Mayterial on the screen again. "Most of the research done on this Syndrome's variant is done by me and my data indicates that treatment is possible, although all conventional means have been unsuccessful. So my logical conclusion was to follow up any lead to the unconventional." He said determined, but still vague. Some could be too unconventional for an unsecured line.

Mayterial was never big on medical jargon, she hadn't heard of the syndrome he was talking about and made a mental note to look into it after the conversation. "Well, a lot has been said about me in the past few weeks." She diverted her eyes from the screen as she looked around the chaos that was now her Captain's quarters. "Unconventional ranks up there as the nicest thing." She ran a hand through her hair and slid it down to under her chin. "In all seriousness though, I'm sorry to hear about your father's situation. I think I can help you get near the right people in regards to information and materials. As long as we keep our noses clean." She looked at him intently, she had no desire to risk her livelihood over some geriatric Vulcan she had never met.

"That is all I ask." Volok said with a slight nod. "I have no intention of making the Fawkes the center of attention once again." He added truthfully, but there could always be a possibility that his intentions wouldn't line up with reality. He tapped his PADD to close the files and put it aside. "So now we have an understanding, in what capacity can I contribute to your vessel?" Volok asked in his Vulcan way of 'how can I help?'

"Funny that you say that." Mayterial had given this quite a bit of thought. She could of course ask him to join as the Ship's physician but she felt that it might be a disservice to his extensive set of skills and experience. "Just to make sure I remember your career path correctly. You have had some command experience, right?" She didn't quite know how to approach him yet but that would come with more experience working together.

"That is correct." Volok said with a nod. "I have completed the bridge officer's test and commanded many graveyard shifts." He said thinking back to his stints aboard various Starfleet vessels. "My last commanding officer liked having his chief medical officer running the graveyard shift. He loved the irony he said, but I failed to see how metallurgy would have anything to do with it." He added quirking an eyebrow. "Will my command experience be useful?"

Mayterial shook her head a bit, Vulcans were always a weird bunch. "Well I have to build this crew back up. Currently the total crew count is one." She choose to not mention their stowaway just yet. "I could use a strong, reliable, person by my side. It would also give you more influence over the contracts we take and what direction we head in."

Volok pondered for a moment. Her proposal sounded like a great opportunity to him. The option of influencing contract choices might also help him in his own quest, but he also realised that his personal endeavours would be on the back-burner compared to the ship's main contracts. "I am willing to double your crew compliment." He said with a nod. "How do we proceed?"

Allowing a smile to catch her facial features Mayterial showed how happy she was that he wanted to join her crew. "Well, first things first. Get your affairs in order on Vulcan before joining me here on Starbase 72. We're docked at airlock 13." She looked at the chronometer on her wall. "When do you think you could be here?"

"I will start packing immediately and also arrange for transport as soon as possible." Volok said planning ahead. "But I have insufficient data to give you my exact time of arrival, in respect to the transport schedules from Vulcan and the location of Starbase 72." He added in his Vulcan manner. Guessing was just not in his nature.

"Let me know when you arrive, I'll come pick you up at the airlock. See you soon, doc." Mayterial leaned forward and disconnected from the conversation. She smirked a bit to herself. He had always been so proper and it seemed odd that he would set out on a wild goose chase. Then again it might just be his way of coping and getting away from it all. She wasn't one to judge, she hadn't seen her parents since they sat in court for her trial 12 years ago.


[OFF]

Mayterial Droz
Captain
S.S. Fawkes

&

Volok M.D.
First Mate
S.S. Fawkes

"Remember that the most valuable antiques are old friends"