The Search for Roger

It was a precarious balance between caring for patients and working in the face of sudden, violent deaths of young people that initially turned Christine away from nursing and towards research.

Her fiancé, Roger Korby, was becoming a renowned medical archaeologist in his own right. He renewed the study of ancient medical techniques that could be used to create new immunizations. It was heady, fascinating stuff.

She met Roger when she was earning her nursing degree. He'd been the teaching assistant assigned to her bio lab. After the semester ended, he asked her out and they'd hit it off. He won her over with his enthusiasm, combined with a nerdy sense of humour. It wasn't long before the two were a couple.

A year later, he completed his doctorate. A year after that, she moved in with him. She'd decided to enroll in a graduate degree that would bolster both her nursing credentials and her growing interest in biology. They became engaged, she completed her degree, and much to her surprise, was accepted into a doctoral program at Tulane.

They planned a wedding upon his return from a six-month visit to Exo III and to move to New Orleans. Roger was excited to head a new dig on Exo. He had secured funds from several sources, including the Vulcan Science Academy and a company called ArcheoloMed, which hoped his work would lead to new to vaccines and medicines.

And then Roger was reported missing, along with the rest of the 10-person crew. A search and rescue mission found no sign of anyone from Roger's group; neither did a search and recovery effort a short time later.

Back on Terra, Christine had been frantic to find any information about what had happened on Exo III. Starfleet and ArcheoloMed were both cooperative and readily kept her informed on the search, but there was never enough solid data to satisfy the scientist in her.

News of the new deep-space exploration funding given to Starfleet caught her attention. She immediately contacted Starfleet's Science office to inquire about the potential for investigation in the Exo area. There, she was advised to emphasize her medical skills over her bio skills, as there were shortages of medical personnel on the deep space missions.

So she put her doctoratal program on hold, renewed her nursing credentials, entered Starfleet's Medical Officer Corps training program, and completed a four-month tour of duty on Orion. Six months later, she received a Lieutenant's commission, an acknowledgement to her master's and nursing degrees.

From there, it was relatively easy for her resume to float to the top of the pile of resumes sent to the Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer. The Enterprise was a highly coveted assignment among any staff looking to work in deep space, where, she reasoned, there could be a better chance to delve into the Exo III mystery.

Leonard McCoy had turned out to be a terrific boss and mentor. From the start, he made it clear that he'd be conferring with her about medical and staff issues, let her know about upcoming landing party opportunities she might be interested in joining, and generally let her manage the nursing side of Medical as she saw fit.

At the same time, he was open to suggestions from the other medical staff and didn't seem to have the overblown ego she'd observed among other doctors.

Of course, there was a great deal of emergency medicine practiced, too, as encounters with these new life forms brought occasional dangers, including some serious injuries to landing parties. The red-shirted Security crewmembers had alarmingly high fatalities, which she resolved to address with her superiors at Starfleet Medical.

She'd seen her share of fatal injuries before joining the Enterprise and never got used to it as other medical staff sometimes bragged they had. People like that shouldn't be in medicine, she thought. While she hardly fell apart with every death or injury she encountered, she certainly felt that turning off one's emotions damaged the human side of medicine. She strongly believed that healers should be empathic toward their patients.

Take the security crew. They suffered a high number of casualties. Christine made sure to personally check their files to ensure they had complete documentation. Some had neglected to make living wills, or name someone on the ship to make medical decisions on their behalf. She had also reviewed the science staffs' records and uncovered a shocking number who were missing immunizations.

During her first six months, the Enterprise used up its entire stock of vaccines, leading to additional expenditures McCoy hadn't anticipated in his budget request. Commander Spock came into Sick Bay to asked him about it.

"Talk to the nurse," McCoy had answered. "Blame Chapel. She's making sure that lot of you up in the labs are protected from god knows what you're tangling with." Spock had turned to Christine, raising an eyebrow and eliciting a laugh from her. It didn't escape McCoy. "Better yet, keep your green hands off of her. Don't think I haven't forgotten how much you wanted her, hobgoblin!"

Christine asked him later what that was about, and learned for the first time that the two men had fought over her résumé. "I found you first. The pointy-eared bastard was trying to use his authority over personnel assignments to steal my staff before they'd even come aboard!"

"So who settled it?"

"Scotty, in a way. The Captain was still new to the ship and suggested that you split your time between Medical and Science. Thank god Scotty spoke up and kept you away from the Hobgoblin Posse."

"I wonder if that's why he's so nice to me," Christine mused aloud. McCoy raised an eyebrow at her, just like Spock, she thought. "What do you mean, nice?" he demanded.

"Oh, you know, he brings me flowers and tea, all that romantic stuff, to woo me over to Science."

McCoy stared at her. "You'd better be joking. I wouldn't put it past him to do whatever it takes to get what he wants."

Christine burst out laughing. "Really, Len!" She sat down in a chair in the waiting area, tears leaking from her eyes. She started hiccupping. "Oh crap, now I won't be able to stop!"

Spock arrived that very moment, carrying a small box of slides with samples from a Breen moon sent to him through a secure contact. He saw Christine's flushed, teary face and shot an accusing look at McCoy.

"Doctor, Lieutenant, what is going on here?" he asked sternly.

Christine reached up to touch his arm. She didn't notice how he froze in response. "Relax, Mr. Spock," she hiccupped. "He's just making me laugh too hard!"

McCoy narrowed his eyes at both of them, taking in Spock's momentary freeze and Christine wiping away tears, still hiccupping. He shook his head. "Chris," he said, "I'm on a conference call til 1100. Could you review the labs on what's-his-name from Security, his t-cells?

"And you," he said, jerking his head toward Spock, "don't get her too interested in your green-blooded science-y schemes."