The New Utility Player

Posted on Wed Mar 25th, 2026 @ 2:18am by Tessa di'Orion & Lieutenant Kally Kellerman

Mission: Die Hard: Chimera Edition
Location: Kally's Office

Kally walked into Sickbay a few minutes early, left a note on Erika's desk and went to her office. She'd talked Cally, Katie and Jadizon's ears off about trying to come up with a schedule for Tessa, and all three had offered suggestions. Now, it was time to give Tessa the news. She pulled up her notes and waited for her to arrive for her shift.

Tessa bounced into sickbay happily as she usually did, still in that feeling of wonder that still came with being off world and in safe hands. Today was supposed to be the start of something new, not that she hadn't been exposed to new things nearly every day she was on duty, because she learned very quickly and had nearly mastered everything that had been thrown at her. Henry was still in their quarters, but that was just because he was starting his shift an hour later than her.

She stepped through the doors and waved to Erika as the young Asian woman looked up from the PADDs she was sorting through, before looking around for Kally, not seeing her, nor the PADD that was usually sitting at the rearmost biobed for when the doctor wasn't present prior to her own arrival. Which meant... The Tialan settled herself down and knocked on the door to Kally's office, "Good morning, Kally!" She said cheerfully.

Kally looked up and grinned. "Hey there," she said. "Take a seat. We have a lot to go over."

Tessa’s eyes brightens at he thought of what Kally had planned for her and rubbed her hands together as she took her usual seat across the desk from her mentor.

"Well," Kally said, picking up a padd and tapping it dramatically, "if you recall, we discussed having you apprentice with some of the other departments and I--" she stopped as Tessa snatched the padd from her hand.

The move was fast, the word ‘apprentice’ saying it all and Tessa just couldn’t wait any longer. The PADD all but materialized in her hand out of Kally’s and she keyed the display to show… Nothing. Her eyebrows furrowed as she gave Kally a betrayed look. “But, this...this is...”

"Yeah, there was nothing on that padd, it was just for dramatic effect," Kally said, reaching over to snatch it back and putting it down. She accessed her notes on her terminal, pulling up Tessa's new duty roster and swinging the screen around so Tessa could see. "You are now scheduled to be cross-trained in every major department on board." She smiled at the younger girl. "Congratulations."

The smile that was on Tessa’s face was threatening to split her face in two, but that was because she was already leaning over the desk as if proximity to the schedule made it even more real to her. “Three days away from here?” She said with a question in her voice, “I mean, I know that there’s a lot to learn everywhere else, and I’d still be here here if and when we go to red alert, or at least if there were casualties, but there’s still so much about Federation and other local species I need to learn about to.. What if we get some umm… Tellarite casualties and they need a nerve graft? And they’re one of the first members of the Federation if I remember right?”

"Your cross-training shifts will not be the whole shift," Kally said, highlighting the inter-departmental times. "One hour at the start and one hour at the end of your shift, you're either here or studying. The other departments need time to get their shifts in order before you jump in, so this gives everyone some breathing room, and you time to work on your medical studies, or study for other subjects as you need. Remember we talked about specialties? You can't learn everything Tessa, at least not all at once. You have time to learn, and somehow we will muddle through with those Tellarites." She smiled again and stood up, extending a hand. "Good luck, Crewman. You're going to need it."

Tessa popped up to accept the handshake, mind flitting through all the possibilities that the last sentence went over her head until she replayed it in her mind. Crewman. That was one of the titles they gave one of the lower ranked enlisted personnel on board the ship. Her eyes went back to Kally’s own, her own opening a bit wider, “Do you… Do you mean I’m going to be officially a part of the crew now, My Lady?” The words came out hesitantly.

Kally grinned. "Hey, as far as I'm concerned, you have been a member of the crew and part of my team since the day you signed on to live here," she said. "However, officially you are still a guest on board, who just happens to be in a relationship with a member of the crew. I, however, consider you part of my medical staff, and will continue to treat you as such. But, regardless of your official status, you're making this ship your home; you have the right and responsibility to know how it runs, and how to live here."

"Especially since everything on Tialan ships is pretty much manual?" Tessa asked in agreement, "To open the outer hatch, the inner hatch must be closed and there is no override. Here, I could possibly hit some buttons that I don't know what they do and cause a major problem. For example, I could accidentally set the replicator to mass produce vanilla ice cream and not know how to stop it!" She smiled sheepishly, "But I do wish to be safe on board and be as useful as I possibly can."

"Well, here's your chance," Kally said. "You start next week. Until then, Sickbay as usual. Now..." she said, "Ensign B'tal has been complaining of joint pain. Want to take the lead and see how your Boilian physiology is coming along?"

"Excellent!" Tessa said excitedly, shooting to her feet and looking happily towards the door, "Well, not excellent for the Ensign, but good for me to practice! Would you be my observer, Doctor Kellerman?" She asked in a formal manner, getting a nod in return, "Then let's go!"