I don't own Star Trek, any of the characters, nor do I make any profit from my writings. Can you dig it?
Digging
Discovery's Chief Science Officer, Commander Tjiena did not really care for civilian scientists being forced on her by Starfleet Command. In her experience, they were more trouble than they were worth, even those who were supposedly experts in their fields. At twenty years of age, how much of an expert could this Betazed girl be? Tjiena was quite willing to assign a junior science officer to Dr. Sanasa, to train her on Starfleet equipment and give her every assistance possible. There was no better choice for the task than Lt. J.G. Spock, who was not only intimately acquainted with all of the latest technology, but had actually made improvements to some of it. Spock would be thorough, and more importantly, he would keep Sanasa out of his superior's hair.
Sirin checked his messages after finishing his last knee replacement of the day. There were three from Rachel, just telling him that she loved him and hoping his day had gone well. Esther had also left him a recording of Jason blowing raspberries. This was quite entertaining, so he played it several times, including once for his office staff.
The final message was from Jack Wyatt, wanting to get together for a lunch sometime soon. Sirin had heard that Jack was back at SF General, having taken a job as a thoracic surgeon. Sirin returned Jack's call and they agreed to have a late lunch in the cafeteria in an hour.
"I hope you don't mind, Sirin, but I'll be bringing someone rather special with me. I'd really like you two to meet."
"I have no objections, Jack. I look forward to seeing you."
Sirin spent the next forty-five minutes catching up on various tasks needing his attention, then checked out with his receptionist and made his way to the cafeteria.
Lois Chang was an excellent receptionist and appointment setter. She kept Sirin's office running smoothly and helped him make the most of his valuable time. Dr. Sirin was never too busy to speak with a patient, but drug company reps and other solicitors were quite another matter. The doctor had scheduled hours for dealing with these folks, and then only by appointment.
The doctor had finally gotten away for lunch, so Lois used the time to send patients reminder messages for upcoming appointments. She was so engrossed in her work that she almost didn't notice the well-dressed gentleman standing in front of her desk or the flowers in his hand. Another sales rep! They were always bringing bribes, trying to get in to see the boss.
"I'm sorry, sir, but Dr. Sirin only sees sales reps on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4. I can schedule you an appointment if you'd like."
"I'm not a salesman, dear lady. I'm Dr. Seymour Burke, new to SF General. I'm an orthopedic surgeon and I was hoping to meet with Dr. Sirin, just to say hi and maybe get to know him."
"The doctor is not in right now, however I can take a message, let him know you called."
"Oh, that would be fine. Since I'm here, maybe I could ask you a few questions. What is Dr. Sirin like? Isn't hard working for a logical, non-emotional Vulcan?"
Lois looked at Burke with narrowed eyes. The man was fishing for something. Well, she wasn't biting.
"Dr. Sirin is a consummate professional and a pleasure to work with and for. Now, if you'd like to leave that message...."
"Perhaps I'll come back another time."
As Burke left the office, Lois muttered under her breath.
"Do let the door hit you in the butt on the way out."
She threw the flowers in the trash.
Sirin met Jack at the cafeteria and was introduced to Lewis. Sirin was amazed to learn that the two had been a couple for nearly nine months. This was a record for Jack, whose relationships usually lasted no more that a few months. When he and Jack were in med school together, their class-mates had given him the nickname "Six-week Wyatt", for the average duration of Jack's romances.
Jack had definitely turned over a new leaf, even buying a condo with Lewis. They had planted a backyard garden, built a greenhouse, and adopted a dog.
Sirin told his old friend about Rachel, Jason, and Esther. He shared the stories of reconnecting with his cousin and of the purchase and renovation of Mr. Q's house.
Jack couldn't help but wonder what had become of Ivan.
"Hey, do you still have that Rigelian parrot I gave you?"
"Yes, I still have Ivan. His manners have not improved. Sometimes he can be quite disagreeable."
"Oh, that reminds me, speaking of disagreeable things. Have you met Dr. Seymour Burke yet?"
"I have not. Is there something unpleasant about him?"
"Sirin, old buddy, you have no idea! Lewis knows more about him than I do. Lewis, tell Sirin about Burke and his nasty habits."
Lewis took a big swallow of his coffee and began.
"The first time I ran into Seymour Burke was eight years ago in Houston. He was a candidate for the Chief of Surgery position at Sam Houston University Hospital. The man is a fair hand surgeon, but not the best. He is also incredibly full of himself, thinks he's God's gift to the OR. He got the job he wanted by finding enough dirt on all his competitors to make them withdraw themselves from consideration. Six months later, he botched a hand surgery on the hospital administrator's son. His insurance company payed out a huge malpractice settlement and Burke was in the market for another job."
"I also ran into him at Alameda East. I was doing a rotation in the ER, covering Psych admissions. Burke wanted the Chief of Emergency Medicine job, so he had the guy who held the position followed. He never dug up any dirt on him, but the poor fellow became quite paranoid. He ran his hovercar into a building trying to get away from the tail. It seems he had been given political asylum from an oppressive regime on some colony world. Burke took over his job while the man recovered from his injuries, but left soon after."
"And then there was Boston General Hospital Medical School, where Jack and I both had the dubious distinction of working with Dr. Burke. A long time instructor in the Orthopedics Department was retiring and Burke wanted the position. However, there was a much better qualified candidate. Burke hired a detective to look into the man's past. All they could find was the fact that the man's wife had suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of their child."
"Burke's tactics backfired and he didn't get the job. However, he put the other guy's family through Hell."
Jack took over the conversation.
"So now he's here at SF General, most likely coveting somebody's job. I thought of Dr. Kroger, who's got to be due to retire soon."
Sirin nodded.
"He will retire at the end of the year."
"Are you going to apply for the job?"
"That was my plan."
"Then you'd better be on the offensive. Burke fights dirty."
When Sirin returned to his office, he stopped at Lois' desk to check for messages. She only ever paged him for emergencies. There were just a few calls from nurses on the Ortho wing, mostly medication questions. Sirin picked up the PADD and started for his office.
"Oh, Doctor. You did have a visitor, a Dr. Seymour Burke. He's a real sleaze, that one. He was trying to pump me for information. He even brought flowers."
Lois lifted up the wastebasket to show her boss.
"Thank you for your diligence, Mrs. Chang. That is my second warning today about Dr. Burke. Please inform me if he should return."
"Oh, you'd better believe I will."
Discovery would finally arrive at Losia in two days. Captain Pike and Commander Tjiena summoned the away team to the Conference Room for a pre-misssion briefing. The Commander instructed them to make themselves comfortable while she imparted what little knowledge she had about Losia.
"Losia is a class M planet, recently settled by a group of agricultural colonists. They intend to grow organic produce for export. Recent seismic activity near the main settlement has unearthed ruins that the Losians feel might be of great significance. One of the settlers is a former archeology student and she believes that the ruins may have been left by the Sanasans, a now extinct civilization that once dominated this area of the Alpha Quadrant."
"We are to scan and collect images of these ruins, as well as any small artifacts we find. Great care must be exercised at all times because of the region's geological instability."
"Are there any questions?"
As usual, Lt. J.G. Spock was good for at least one.
"I am struck by the similarity of the name "Sanasan" and Dr. Sanasa's surname? Is this a coincidence?"
Mera smiled at him.
"If I may, Commander Tjiena?"
"Please, by all means."
"The Senasan culture was discovered by my father thirty years ago. There was no record of what those ancients called themselves, so my father's colleagues named the people after him. I spent four summers assisting him with his work."
Suddenly Commander Tjiena had a new respect for the young archeologist. Dr. Sanasa was asked to fill in the gaps on Sanasan culture as the briefing continued.
In the two weeks since Discovery departed Terra, Spock had spent much time with Mera Sanasa. He had thoroughly schooled her in the proper use of each and every piece of equipment an archeologist was likely to need.
In turn, Mera educated Spock in the accepted methods for collecting and cataloging artifacts and soil samples for dating. When the pair were not engaged in such training, they found other reasons to be together. They usually took meals together or scheduled their gym workouts for the same time.
The crew of USS Discovery was a small one. People were starting to notice and some even began to gossip, though not maliciously. Mostly the comments were along the lines of "Oh, aren't they cute?" or "She'll have to stand on a box to kiss him!"
Even Spock's roommate Fred, whose phaser banks were not always fully charged, noticed the change in Spock's behavior and commented on it to his girlfriend Petra.
"It's been over a week since I've found him staring at that fire pot of his. He can do that for hours on end, you know. I think he likes this girl."
The biggest surprise was when Spock and Mera attended the weekly Movie Night together. Spock had always avoided such gatherings in the past. However, the selected feature was an animated version of "The Tale Of Eroyne And Ardana," a fairy tale from Beta Zed. Spock had heard the story in his youth and Mera said it was one of her favorites. After the presentation, the two were observed having a late-night snack in the Rec Room.
Captain Pike and Dr. Ames were also a bit peckish and came in for sandwiches. When they observed the two youngsters over in the corner by themselves, the two men gave each other a silent "high five."
Sirin and Rachel invited Jack and Lewis for dinner the following Tuesday night. Esther cooked a marvelous dinner, but realized that she had forgotten a few things. She borrowed Sirin's car for a quick trip to the market, arriving at the same time as the guests. Esther seemed a little rattled by something.
Sirin asked her what was wrong as he carried in the bags.
"You'll probably think I'm crazy, but I felt like someone was following me."
