Lost Muse

Posted on Wed Sep 30th, 2026 @ 3:50pm by Lieutenant Kally Kellerman & Commander Alexander Espersen & Crewman Erika Yang

1,292 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Interim 3: Subspace Drift
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: A day before DS16 arrival

The Chimera was not far from its destination, and departments were working to ready the ship for arrival. It wasn’t hard in the physical sense; a lot of the heavy lifting had been done in preparation for the baryon sweep not long before. A lot of material was still in crates in the cargo bay, easy to remove for the ship’s impending refit; packing up the last few odds and ends would trivial. It was just a matter of catching up with details.

In sickbay, Erika spent her working time going through the paperwork, ensuring every patient file was perfect, all while managing the calendar and admitting unscheduled patients. The paperwork was the killer, but it was an area where Erika excelled, and where Kally could trust her implicitly.

The main sickbay door opened, and in walked the First Officer.

“Good morning, Commander,” Erika said, looking up from her workstation. “What can we do for you, sir?”

“Good morning, Crewman,” he said. “I need to see Doctor Kellerman.”

Better get out my notes program, Erika thought. And some popcorn. “Of course, one moment.” She checked the schedule.

“She’s just finishing with a patient, sir, but I’ll let her know you’re here.” She activated her comm line. “Doctor Kellerman, Commander Espersen to see you.”

"I'll be there in a moment," Kally's voice came over the comm after a moment's hesitation. Two minutes later, Kally walked out with Ensign Hale who was holding his wrist protectively. "Tell Katie I said light duty for the rest of the day," she said. Hale nodded and gave a respectful nod to the XO before leaving Sickbay.

Kally cleared her throat and smiled. "Commander," she said. "How can I help you today?"

“Doctor,” he said with a courteous nod. “Two things. I need a status update on your department’s readiness for the refit, and my shoulder feels worse today than it had the past few days. I was hoping you could take a look.”

Kally gave a happy smile. "Well, thanks to my staff working overtime for the past week, our t's are crossed, and our i's are dotted. We should be finished by this evening, actually. A bit last-minute but with everything else going on, it's a wonder we got it done at all."

What’s going on here? Erika thought, watching the two of them. This isn’t normal.

"As for your shoulder," Kally said, touching it tenderly with a look of concern. "We should definitely get it looked at. Why don't we head over to Exam Room One." She looked over at Erika. "Erika? Log the Commander in for a follow-up exam, please."

“Yes, Doctor,” Erika replied.

As doctor and patient walked away, the sickbay clerk squinted in their direction. Something’s amiss here. She did her job, entering the visit into the Commander’s chart. She took her time being thorough, also giving the appointment time to progress.

No, this feels weird. I gotta see. She put the finishing touches on the log, closed the file, and barged into Exam Room One…

…only to find Doctor Kellerman examining Commander Espersen’s injured shoulder. His shirt was off, but probably to let her better tend the injury, and hence the desire for the privacy of the exam room.

“Crewman,” Alex said sharply.

Kally looked up and frowned. "Erika? What's wrong."

“Oh, um,” Erika stammered. “Um, yeah, I was just… I needed… I needed to know…if…the Commander needed anything from the pharmaceutical replicator.” She’s being nice to him. Where’s the tension? Where’s the annoyance? He should be cross with her, which would make him yell at me just now.

"I think we're set here," Kally said, looking at the girl like she had three heads. "Just some residual muscle strain. Nothing a basic hypo won't cure," she said for both their benefits. She patted Alex on the shoulder and walked over to grab a hypospray, loading it with a slight muscle relaxant and painkiller, then pressing it to his neck. "How's that?" she said, helping him move his shoulder and caressing it gently.

He worked his shoulder under her touch and sighed. “Yes, that does feel better,” he said. “I might ask for another of those before we all start disembarking, but hopefully I won’t need to bother you.”

"Not a bother," Kally said, sweetly. "No one wants a long ride home with a sore muscle."

Erika left the strange scene to return to her desk when she stopped suddenly in her tracks. This doesn’t make sense. That’s not what they’re like. It’s like they’ve been replaced by Vendorian infiltrators or really bad changelings or—

“Goddamnit!”

“I beg your pardon, Ms. Yang?” Alex said, stepping out of the exam room and standing next to Kally as he was putting his shirt back on.

"Erika, what is wrong with you?" Kally said, coming around from behind Alex and folding her arms.

Erika looked back at both of them and pointed accusatorially.

"Oh," Kally said, understanding dawning on her face. "She knows," she said, looking at Alex.

"She knows?" Alex asked. Then he looked to Erika and his expression fell. "Oh. She knows. How can you tell?"

"Katie pointed at me with the same look on her face the day we arrived when she realized I'd had sex with Cally," Kally said. "It's a pretty distinct facial expression."

"So many months..." Erika said in despair. "So many story ideas... dependent on you two being at odds. Enemies to lovers only works when you're enemies. Whyyyyy?" she asked, whining.

"Our good doctor takes care with her house calls," Alex noted.

"I'm sorry do you think that's helping the situation?" Kally said, tersely.

“You’d have me lie?” Alex asked, matching her tone. “Oh I’m sure this whole department runs on incomplete truths, doesn’t it?”

"Thank you, Commander Honesty," she sassed, throwing up her hands. "Khristos, I told you this wouldn't work!"

Erika watched the two of them… fighting again?

"'What's the harm, Doctor, in just making people think we kissed and made up? It would benefit crew morale,'" she said, in a mock version of his voice. "Yeah, did a great job on my clerk!"

“Crew should trust that their senior officers can at least be civil together!” Alex retorted.

Kally snorted. "Just implying we did something broke Erika. You think I'd actually let you touch me now? Half the effing crew might have a stroke!" She folded her arms. "Speaking of, you should probably go ask the captain or someone to handle things for you before you actually get it in your head that you have a shot with me."

“At least the Captain knows what she’s doing,” he said bitterly.

Erika’s eyes darted between the two of them, a smile growing ever wider.

"I'm sorry, don't you have a calendar to verify?" she glared at Erika. "And you? Get out. And have a lovely fucking day," she said, the ending getting syrupy sweet.

”Um, yes, of course Doctor,” Erika said, put in her place. “Right away Doctor. Commander.” She nodded to Alex and scurried back to her desk, eager to resume her writing.

As Erika's back turned, Kally looked back at Alex and her angry face cracked into the smallest of smiles, and she blew him a kiss.

Alex caught the kiss in mid air and put it in his pocket. For later, he mouthed silently. He gave her a wink, but scowled as he walked past Erika out of sickbay.

 

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