Lay of the Land (Judy/Sovaan)

[Judith Eastman]

[Judy's Office, J.E.W. Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC - after S4M2]

Judy sat behind her large, antique wooden desk. Behind her was a viewport gazing out into space, while the view in front of her included a doorway and several landscape paintings, painted by her husband Max on their land. On her desk itself was a modest stack of paperwork, as well as assorted framed photos of her family (most prominently a wedding photo of herself and Max, from that past February, as well as photos of her sons and grandson). The room was also occupied by Judy's two corgis, Bridge and Tunnel.

Judy herself was dressed in a sky-blue dress, black blazer, and horn-rimmed black bifocals, with her blonde hair down. She momentarily occupied herself with the sports section of the day's New York Times, having read most of the paper in the morning, but left this one for now. She lamented the poor fortunes of her hometown Football teams (both the Giants and the Jets disappointed her), as she waited for her appointment, Ensign Sovaan, to come in. She had asked him to meet her here for his welcoming tour, and hoped he wouldn't miss the lavishly-decorated compound.

[Sovaan]

[Judy's Office, J.E.W. Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC - after S4M2]

Judy say behind her large, antique wooden desk. Behind her was a viewport gazing out into space, while the view in front of her included a doorway and several landscape paintings, painted by her husband Max on their land. On her desk itself was a modest stack of paperwork, as well as assorted framed photos of her family (most prominently a wedding photo of herself and Max, from that past February, as well as photos of her sons and grandson). The room was also occupied by Judy's two corgis, Bridge and Tunnel.

Judy herself was dressed in a sky-blue dress, black blazer, and horn-rimmed black bifocals, with her blonde hair down. She momentarily occupied herself with the sports section of the day's New York Times, having read most of the paper in the morning, but left this one for now. She lamented the poor fortunes of her hometown Football teams (both the Giants and the Jets disappointed her), as she waited for her appointment, Ensign Sovaan, to come in. She had asked him to meet her here for his welcoming tour, and hoped he wouldn't miss the lavishly-decorated compound.

[Ensign Sovaan - Judy's Office, Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC - after S4M2]

Sovaan was pretty sure he'd found the right place, now. Starbase Columbus was a massive place, and navigating each deck was still something to get used to. Perhaps he'd never even see half of them, and he'd be lucky for it; trying to remember even more than he was already attempting would be overwhelming. What he needed was time, but perhaps this welcoming tour would help.

He'd already had a good first impression of the Professor - even if she wasn't Starfleet anymore (he had looked her up, to satisfy his curiosity) she was still responsible for so much on the starbase. She had handled the attack on the Starbase with grace and a cool head; qualities he hoped he would one day also display. Time was also going to be needed for that, it seemed.

Sovaan made his way through the Consulting Offices, finally reaching the door of Dr. Eastman. He checked his uniform to make sure it looked presentable, and pulled down on it to straighten it out. After clearing his throat, the Ensign finally chimed the door.

[Judith Eastman]

[Judy's Office, J.E.W. Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC]

Upon hearing the chimes, the two dogs stood up and began barking, as usual.

"Down, you two!" Judy shouted at them as she set down the paper. "Just a sec! Down! Down!"

As the dogs began to obey their mommy, she stood up and walked over to open the door.

"Good morning, Ensign," she greeted. "I'm so sorry about the dogs, they're a little too excitable for their own good. Can I get you something to drink before we get going?"

Also in the room was assorted coffee paraphernalia, suitable for the unapologetic (decaf) coffee chugger that used it.

[Sovaan]

[Judy's Office, J.E.W. Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC - after S4M2]

Sovaan was a bit surprised when he heard dogs barking from inside the office; he hadn't expected to hear pets when he came to a Starbase. He supposed such things were only natural - people enjoyed having companionship in some form.

The Ensign nodded politely as Judy opened the door. "Good morning, Professor. The dogs aren't any trouble." He glanced past her to see the two corgis sitting obediently, where they were. They were quite small and odd-looking things, he thought.

"I'm fine, thank you. If you think you'll need a drink, I can wait. I am still very new, so this might take a while." Sovaan kept his hands behind his back, trying to maintain as straight-backed and proper a position as possible.

[Judith Eastman]

[Judy's Office, J.E.W. Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC]

Judy smiled.
"We'll skip the drinks, then. My husband prefers it if I don't overdo the coffee, even if it is decaf," she said. "God knows I give him enough to worry about as it is."
Judy loved Max, and he loved her, through all her health struggles in their year or so together. That was evident in the way Judy talked about her man.
"In any case, you can relax. I don't care much for formality," she then stated, noting the Orion's rigid posture. "Call me Judy."
Judy headed over to the back of the room, where there were two leashes. She took them and leashed the dogs.

[Sovaan]

[Judy's Office, J.E.W. Consulting Offices, Deck 226, SBC - after S4M2]

Sovaan cleared his throat as the professor pointed out his rather straight posture, without explicitly saying so. He supposed he must have seemed quite uptight, acting like that all of the time. He tried to relax himself a bit and not stand so rigidly, even if it did take some effort to do it.

"Still getting used to not being in the Academy, I suppose." Even if he'd graduated the standard officer's training a number of years ago, Starfleet Medical was just as expectant and strict for him to adhere to regulations. At least, his instructors had been. Things seemed a bit less restricted on Columbus, from what he could tell so far.

A small smile grew on Sovaan's face for a moment as he saw the dogs being leashed. There was something endearing, perhaps even charming about them. He'd always found animals a bit easier to understand, after all. "Judy, then. How long have you been on the Starbase?" Sovaan took a step back once the dogs were leashed, so Judy had space to move them out of the room with her.

[Judith Eastman]

[Deck 226]

Judy began to walk out of her offices, and then the whole compound.

"I've been on the station for about a year now," she recalled. "I came on near the very end of November of '96. The 29th, to be precise. I remember because the day after is the day I met my husband, Max."
She moved both leashes to one hands, and adjusted her glasses with the other.
"In any case, this compound we're leaving now belongs to me. I have my therapy sessions, Starfleet consulting gigs, and my personal enterprises all in this area. You might end up coming to meetings here sometimes, since I have fancy-shmancy projectors that are out of Starfleet's price range."
She cracked another smile as she stepped out of the offices, into the promenade.
"In case you were wondering, the J.E.W. label comes from my initials - Judy Eastman-Williams - and from my religion - Jew. That's a funny little coincidence."
Judy was a practicing, but secular, Jew, which she was very proud of.

[Sovaan]

[Deck 226]

Sovaan listened curiously as Judy spoke of meeting her husband. It seemed that they had a strong relationship, the way she spoke of him. "Does your husband also work in this area, or elsewhere?"

Although small talk had never really been something Sovaan had truly mastered, he thought he was getting a better hang of keeping a conversation going, these days. His fellow cadets had forcibly dragged him into such a skill, as he remembered it from back then. "You must do very well, if you have technology outside of Starfleet's budget." There was a hint of admiration in his voice - he had a certain respect for those who had made their own way in the world, though he wasn't sure why he always had.

"Ah, Judaism. I learned somewhat about it during my studies as a child; I think my father had mentioned that some of his own ancestors may have practiced it, as well. Do you carry out chaplaincy duties then, as well?" He was somewhat curious about the beliefs of the Earth - even if many did not follow them as they once had, he was always interested. In his study of alien cultures and societies, a divine or otherwise spiritual belief tended to contribute to the development of the species; yet humans had so many.

Sovaan took the time to dart his eyes around the Promenade, curiously eyeing all that he could. He hadn't had as much chance for leisure time, so he wasn't as familiar with the shops and businesses.

[Judith Eastman]

[Promenade]

"Max works at Puzzles, a gastropub on Deck 230," Judy answered. "He's a chef, a brilliant one, and the love of my life as you can tell."

On the wealth point, her response wasn't quite as warm.
"My family is very comfortable," she said, implying that her wealth wasn't her own. "I'm pleased to say that I've worked to maintain and grow the family fortune, rather than be another dumb blonde heiress, but it's a lot easier to turn 11 into 12 than 0 into 1, if you get my meaning."
The immense Eastman fortune had been printed before Judy was even born, but she was usually a cautious steward of it. She hoped to get across that she wasn't getting a free ride off her inherited wealth.

"As for religion, I don't perform any official duties, but I am a sort of organizer for the local community, a Team Mom of sorts," she then divulged. "The Jewish community of the station only numbers about 30 people, and 6 of those are me and my relatives."

The dogs now slowly realized they were on a walk, and began to tug a little harder.

"Now, I think we can stop chatting about me, and maybe stop at Secondary Sickbay right here as our first stop," Judy offered, tugging back firmly at the leashes.

[Sovaan]

[Promenade]

There was a nice feeling, hearing someone talk about a relationship like that in their life. He hadn't understood the concept until he'd met his mother and father on Earth - a relationship that was real, that had a foundation of genuine love and attachment. He'd noticed that humans in particular tended to seek after them, and it was another admirable quality of theirs.

Sovaan couldn't help but feel he'd caused slight offense when he made that comment about her wealth. It seemed like it was a sensitive subject for her, in a way. No doubt she thought people would assume her wealthy just from her family. "I understand what you mean. You've done very well for yourself through your own work though, regardless."

The Ensign adjusted to the side slightly to allow Judy's dogs to keep space to move; they were so small, he was worried he might step on one of them if he didn't keep himself aware of where he was walking. "I haven't had a chance to see it yet, actually. All of my work so far's been in the Sickbay on Deck 41."

[Judith Eastman]

[Promenade -> Secondary Sickbay]

"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't think Chief Lunn has seen much of Secondary either," Judy replied, spilling just a little bit of dirt about the Acting CMO. "I don't know if you've had a chance to notice, but he's content spending his time in his office."

Judy's criticism of her probable successor was thinly-veiled. Her tone gave away the fact that she disapproved of his office-dwelling ways.
Indeed, when she had the job, she did things very differently. She was ubiquitous across the three sickbays, often with a smile and a plate of cookies.

"Tell me, Sovaan, what's your specialty?" she then asked, changing the subject somewhat. "Which of my ailments can I expect to see you for?"

[Sovaan]

[Promenade -> Secondary Sickbay]

Sovaan gave a glance over to Judy when she brought up Dr. Lunn, wondering if he should say anything about it. It was true that he'd seen the Lieutenant maybe once in his time being here thus far, but he wasn't sure if that was standard for a Chief Medical Officer. From the way the professor spoke, it didn't seem like that was the case.

"Perhaps he has work to handle there. I'll try and attend to as much work out here as I can to make up for it." It was possible that the administrative requirements of a Starbase were what kept him stuck in his office so long, but Sovaan wasn't going to assume one way or the other.

The orion seemed to mull over the question when he was asked his specialty. "You can see me for anything; I'm a fully trained physician. Though, I'm trained more extensively in exobiology, so obscure species or those that are relatively unknown, I can help where others couldn't. I've received extra training in surgery to prepare for that."

He'd read over so many reports of obscure and almost entirely unknown species popping into Starbases or being encountered by starships, and in some cases, a lack of knowledge had caused death. His training, and appointment, would hopefully counteract that.

[Judith Eastman]

[Secondary Sickbay]

"It sounds like Primary will be more your speed, then," Judy answered, standing at the wide doorway and letting Sovaan in. "The work at secondary splits between family medicine by day, and drunks by night, nothing too out of the ordinary."

She took a pause, a heavy one, before deciding not to say what she thought about Kece Lunn. She believed he was a manager, sometimes even an adequate one, but no leader at all, but she would be wrong to burden a junior officer with this. She could talk about such matters with Max.

"If you reach, no, when you reach positions of leadership, I believe your attitude will serve you well," she simply said, leaving much unsaid.

"Now, let's go to Deck 230, which I recommend you get to know well. On duty, you'll find a handful of victims of bar fights come in from here, and off duty, you'll find the best food, at least on days when Max is working."

As usual, when Judy had some topic she wanted to push back from her mind, she pushed it away with thoughts of her one true love - and that bubbled out.

[Sovaan]

[Secondary Sickbay]

Sovaan stepped in to examine the sickbay, which seemed quite a bit smaller than the Primary one on Deck 41 from where he was standing. Still, it was functional enough. At the mention of drunks, he thought to the fact he'd seen an 'alcohol recovery centre' mentioned somewhere before, as well. Seemed like it was something he'd have to get used to dealing with, then.

At the long pause, the Ensign looked back towards Judy, a curious look on his face. It gave him something to mull over as she mentioned him reaching leadership. He wasn't sure such a thing was a matter of 'when', but it was a compliment, and he'd learned to take those where he could. "Thank you, Judy. I'll do my best to keep it."

It seemed that Max's reputation preceded him. Sovaan stepped out from the sickbay to continue walking with Judy and the dogs, now just wanting to try the man's food out of curiosity, with how much she was talking it up. "There are a lot of bar fights around there, then?" At least it would give him a chance to get to know security officers when he headed down there.

Sovaan thought more over it, continuing to walk as he spoke. "What kind of food do they serve? I'm curious." He felt like he was asking so many questions, but he was often encouraged to do so when he had the chance, and this seemed like his best one.

[Judith Eastman]

[Secondary Sickbay -> Deck 230]

"There's one or two bar fights a night on the Main Promenade, more on the Lower Promenade, which we'll get to later," Judy explained. "For now, I'll just say there aren't as many pearl-wearing former Ivy League Professors down there as up here."

As she entered a turbolift, motioning for Sovaan to join, and ordered it to, "Deck 230," Judy continued.
"Puzzles serves a fairly wide variety of food. A lot of Terran offerings, various regions, but really a broad offering. Max and I did develop a tribble-based offering back in September, but that's not being served; you can guess why."

The little mischievous glint in Judy's eye (or was it light reflecting off her glasses?) hinted that there was a story hiding there.