[Infirmary - SB Columbus]
"How old are you, sweetheart?" Stafford asked by way of greeting.
For weeks now, he had been pitching in when it came to medical at the Columbus. Dr. McConnell's staff was large, but they were far outnumbered by the amount of bumps, bruises, and scrapes that they encountered every day.
50,000 people can hurt themselves a lot of ways.This little girl had been trying to visit her father, who was a civilian working on one of the many loading docks on the Columbus. As the transporters were still down after last month's zombie incident, they'd had to move everything with micro-tractor beams. And one of them had malfunctioned, causing some maintenance parts to fall onto the little girl's arm and break it.
She was still in shock. Stafford took advantage of her not knowing about her injury.
"I'm 7." She was human, mostly, but due to the slight tinge of green in her skin, a forehead that protruded just a bit, and ears that tapered to a gentle point, Stafford was willing to bet she had a touch of Romulan or Vulcan in her.
"And what's your name?" He was busy waving a medical tricorder over the arm in question.
Good. One fracture, not compound. Have you fixed up in a second, sweetie."It's Xhanara."
"That's a pretty name, sweetie," Stafford said. It was difficult, but he had always been good with children. He heard the voice of the father he had been when he spoke to her.
As he swapped out instruments and some flickers of healing light began to mend the bone, unseen, his thoughts went to his own children.
Child. It had been years since he had seen either of them, and one had been taken from him permanently. But old habits die hard.
"Thank you, doctor. My daddy works on the loading dock." The little girl said.
"I know, and he's on his way now." Stafford said. He smiled at her, genuinely and warmly. "No one has called me 'doctor' in a long time, especially someone as pretty as you. You're all better. Why don't you wait for your father here? Nurse Haddad, can you--"
"=/\=Commander Stafford, this is Ensign Prince in Ops. Please report to the diplomatic assembly room immediately.
"
"=/\=Acknowledged.
" Stafford smiled at the little girl. "The nurse will see to you until your dad comes."
[Diplomatic Assemblies & Facilities Area]
When he arrived, the commander was just a bit taken aback by the choice of setting. This wasn't the diplomatic conference room, but the secret meeting place for Federation diplomats. It was a war room, of sorts, to hammer out eleventh hour strategies. Or to dispose or bribe another official. It didn't sit well with him.
But when he found who was waiting for him, he couldn't have been more surprised.