Dr. Holt looked at Tara and then to Aspen, quickly noting the SRT’s reddened face and change in body language and smirked, “Aspen, is this a friend of yours?”

 

Aspen nodded a little too quickly, “Y-yes, we uh, actually had a date last night.”

 

Dr. Holt raised an eyebrow at this information and then turned to Tara, checking her chart, “Well Corporal Pantazis, knowing that, I feel obligated to ask if you would like my technician to swap places with David in the waiting room there.”

 

Tara shook her head and gave Aspen a shit eating grin, “And miss out on teasing Aspen? I couldn’t.”

“I would ask that you not do it too much,” Dr. Holt frowned slightly and then turned his attention back to his terminal, “Whenever you are ready, Aspen.”

 

Aspen nodded and turned to Tara, “Down to your skivvies please,” her face growing hotter by the second.

 

Tara laughed and gave her a wink, “Oh I’m going to enjoy this way too much.” 

 

Stripping her shirt and boots, Tara folded them as neatly as the second lieutenant had and set them aside, then moved to the exam table and sat on its edge. Aspen looked at her and had to quickly avert her gaze, “I’ll be checking your vitals and drawing blood samples.”

 

Tara gave Aspen a shit eating grin and nodded, “All yours,” She flexed her muscles slightly, and snorted as Aspen somehow became a shade darker. 

 

Aspen quickly went to work, placing the electrodes for Tara’s ECG and wrapping the blood pressure cuff around her arm. Trying her hardest to keep her attention on her task at hand was a failing endeavor as Tara was obviously enjoying making her squirm, her abdominal muscles quaking as she tried to suppress her giggles. 

 

Aspen quickly drew Tara’s blood, the vasculature in the other woman’s arms popping due to her physique, then walked the samples to Dr. Holt, and began to read off the Marine’s vitals. Just as Dr. Holt had hypothesized earlier, the ECG also showed left ventricular hypertrophy. She watched as Dr. Holt did his physical exam, the muscular woman answering questions as she was asked. 

 

Dr. Holt finished his exam, “Ms. Pantazis, you are in exemplary physical health, as far as I can see. We’ll get you the results of your blood work soon,” he moved to his terminal and began to type, “Aspen, if you would like to step out with the Corporal here for a moment, I’m going to chart for a minute.”

 

Tara got dressed quickly, not wanting to waste a second of her time with Aspen, then stepped into the waiting room then the hallway with her, “Gotta say, not what I expected for your first time seeing me in my underwear,” she teased, waggling her eyebrows.

Aspen blushed again and laughed, “When Dr. Holt told me I’d be assisting him the thought of you coming in honestly didn't even cross my mind,” Aspen leaned against the wall, “What are you gonna do now?”

 

Tara shrugged and crossed her arms, “Not sure, whatever the second lieutenant digs up for us. I imagine it’ll entail cleaning, exercise, or exercising while we clean. They didn’t really give us an assignment for this deployment, we are basically just passengers.”

 

Aspen tilted her head to the side, “They still didn’t tell you why you are here?”

 

Tara shook her head, “Nope, they gave us a full kit for the trip, too. Live ammo, combat armor, the whole shebang for a cruise around the fringe space.”

 

Aspen’s eyebrows drew together, “Weird,” she pulled her tab from her pocket and checked the time, “I better get back, got more of your squad to check.”

 

Tara nodded, “Don’t expect to find much, there’s a high standard for Marines. I’ll see you later,” she turned to move away, then stopped and looked back to Aspen, “You look cute in scrubs, by the way.”

The heat in her face that had been finally starting to fade quickly reappeared and squeaked a thank you and ducked back into the sick bay waiting room, a handful of Marines chatting idly in the chairs as David played on his tab in the corner.

 

David turned his attention from his tab to Aspen as she walked by, “You ready?”

 

Aspen nodded, “Send ‘em in!”

 

Aspen and Dr. Holt quickly finished the squad of Marines’ physicals, and just as Tara had predicted, none of them had any outstanding medical issues that would inhibit them from service aboard the Meili. The information was mostly to be used as a baseline for their medical records should any problems arise in the future, but the discovery of something like a swollen lymph node wouldn’t be uncommon during a physical. 

 

Wrapping up the results of the blood work, Dr. Holt turned to Aspen, “Alright Aspen, your turn for the physical. I can do this by myself since I’m sure David is already in the common room doing who knows what.”

 

Aspen nodded and stripped to her underclothes and sat on the edge of the exam table, shivering slightly in the cool room. Dr. Holt quickly and methodically placed the ECG electrodes and checked her vital signs. Nodding to himself he began to her physical exam, palpating her spine, auscultating her lung sounds, inspecting her ears, and so on. He drew her blood samples expertly, barely causing any pain as he pierced her skin with the needle. 

 

“You do that fast, doc,” Aspen remarked, as the man finished his exam and motioned for her to get dressed.

 

Dr. Holt nodded, “When you have an assistant as lazy as David for as long as I have you tend to get things done quickly on your own, or else they won’t get done at all,” he moved to his terminal and began to read off the screen, “You are also healthy, though I would suggest eating a tad bit more. You are about a kilo and a half under average weight for your sex and height.”

 

Aspen nodded her understanding, “The end of A-school kinda killed my appetite and urge to exercise outside of required training. I’ll ask Ericka for a bit extra for a while.”

 

Dr. Holt laughed, “Oh don’t worry about asking Ericka for extra, they have been a pain in my side with their cooking. Keeping the crew from getting fat has been a challenge since they came aboard.”

Aspen smiled, “That’s good to hear since all I’ve had from them was a couple packaged meals and a chocolate croissant.”

 

“Oh, you wait until dinner time. You’ll see what I mean,” Dr. Holt checked the time on his tab, “Looks like we are done for the scheduled stuff for the day. Let's clean up in here and then you are free, barring any emergencies.”

 

“Gotcha, I’ll keep my tab on me and listen for the overhead.”

Aspen and Dr. Holt made quick work of cleaning the patient area, wiping the exam table monitors, and refreshing the phlebotomy supplies from a storage locker. Eyeing the floor, Aspen activated a floor scrubbing robot and watched as it scooted across the floor, bouncing off of the legs of chairs and bottoms of counters, whirring as it went. 

 

\\\

 

Aspen pulled her tab from her pocket and shot Tara a message letting her know she was free, then went back to her room and changed out of her scrubs, opting for her BDU pants and a plain Navy gray t-shirt. She let her hair drop loose and brushed the bunch of hair out left over from her tight ponytail. 

 

Aspen’s tab chirped, grabbing it quickly, she was surprised to see that she hadn’t gotten a message from Tara, but from Captain Marcus:

• Cpt. Marcus: Please join me on the bridge when you have a moment.
• Aspen: Wilco

 

Aspen frowned, wondering what Captain Marcus could want with her on the bridge. It obviously wouldn’t be a medical emergency, or he would not have messaged her tab and would have instead activated the ship’s emergency system. She hadn’t been up to the bridge yet, and given that she had just been talking to Dr. Holt about it, she couldn’t say she was terribly excited to go up there, either. 

 

Aspen pocketed her tab after sending Tara another message, telling her to disregard her last message and that she would be tied up with  something for an undetermined amount of time and exited her room, then made her way across the ship. 

Ericka called to her as she passed asking when she would come try their cooking, and she waved back, giving a noncommittal response to the chef as they leaned over the counter, watching as Aspen walked past. 

 

Aspen moved into the area below the bridge where a bored looking crewman sat at a desk, he was idly poking at his tab and put it face down and turning his attention to Aspen as she approached, “Heading up?”

 

Aspen nodded, pulling her tab out and showed the crewman her messages with Captain Marcus, “Captain wanted me up, yeah.”

 

The crewman nodded and activated an intercom on his desktop, “Captain Marcus, were you expecting anyone?”

 

The captain's voice crackled through the speaker, “Yeah send Aspen up, please.”

Aspen flattened her lips at the crewman behind the desk and he shrugged at her, “Op-sec past this point, trust but verify and so on.”

 

“Ah. Well, yeah that makes sense, thanks,” Aspen stepped into a small lift as the crewman activated a switch on his side of the desk.

The lift closed and hummed quietly as it lifted her to the bridge area of the ship. Chiming, the doors slid open to show a darkened room, lit by the glow of terminal screens. The far wall of the bridge was dominated by large screens from floor to ceiling, which showed a live feed of the outside view of the ship - currently inky black spotted by stars, the forward external lights on the ship blinking lazily. 

 

Aspen moved off the lift quietly and nodded at the closest crewmember who had turned her head toward the sound of the lift. She, and several others sat huddled at their terminals, speaking in hushed voices, with an occasional callout given in a louder voice, “Hyper-helicals nominal.”

 

Moving towards the center of the bridge, Aspen found Captain Marcus standing at a desk on a swivel mount, currently at a standing height for the bearded man, an unused chair pushed to the side. Peeking at the screen on his terminal, she could see live camera feeds from the interior of the ship, and several windows showing live feed information scrolling down faster than she could read. 

 

“Aspen, thanks for joining me,” Captain Marcus turned from his terminal and gave her a smile, which widened as Aspen suppressed a giggle upon seeing his current shirt, a short sleeve button-up with flamingoes printed on it. 

 

“Of course, Captain, did you need anything specific,” Aspen asked, quickly gaining control of her giggles. 

 

Captain Marcus shook his head, “Just checking in on my newest SRT, how’re things down in sick bay? I hope Dr. Holt isn’t giving you too much work.”

 

Aspen shook her head, “Nope, we just did the physicals for the Marines and myself today, and now I’m free unless there’s an emergency.”

 

“The Marines, huh,” Captain Marcus scratched at his beard, “I hear you are getting pretty friendly with some of them.”

 

Aspen blushed slightly and nodded, “I, uh, have been speaking with Tara, their corporal… Regularly.”

 

Captain Marcus laughed, “Well, I’m not one to get in the way of anyone else’s relationships, but,” he turned to face Aspen, the laughter gone from his face, “You should remember that this is a Navy ship. The Marines are to be held at arm’s distance when it comes to matters of OpSec,” he leaned forward, making direct eye contact with Aspen, the tone of his voice becoming frosty, “Am I clear?”

 

Aspen suppressed the urge to both squirm and salute, shocked by his sudden change in demeanor, then nodded, “Yes, sir! But,” she tilted her head to the side slightly, “Aren’t we all Federation in the end?”

 

Captain Marcus frowned, “The goals of the Marine commanders and that of the Navy commanders do not align. Since we are a Navy vessel we answer to Navy leadership,” he sighed, turning back to his terminal and pressed a couple of buttons, “The Council heads at the Federation overrode Navy command by placing the Marine squad on our ship. We will tolerate their presence on this mission, but should the command come down - I will expect you to stop any social contact with your corporal friend - barring a medical emergency of course.”

 

This time, it was Aspen’s turn to frown, her eyebrows knit together. Why would Navy and Marine leadership not be cooperating in what was obviously a cooperative mission? Why would the Council controlling the Federation of Sol override the wills of both branches of their own military to place a single squad of Marines on a border patrol ship?

 

Aspen’s mind spun as she considered the implications behind the conversation she was having with Captain Marcus, and only when he turned back towards her from his terminal did she realize that he was expecting a response from his statement. 

 

Cooling her expression, she nodded, “I understand, Captain.”

 

Captain Marcus nodded again, a smile returning to his face, turning back to his terminal once more, “I knew you would, Aspen. You may go.”

 

Aspen turned and made her way back to the lift, looking back at the captain before activating the door. His back was turned to her, silhouetted by the glow from his terminal screen. Aspen shook her head, thinking back on the conversation she’d just had, what in the hell had she gotten herself into?