A Step Down the Ladder

Posted on 28 Jul 2026 @ 2:29am by Captain Sabrina Corbin & Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD

2,163 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Doldrums
Location: Arawyn

// Captain's Ready Room //

Dr Amberlyn chewed on her lip as the turbolift stopped at Bridge level. She straightened her posture as the doors opened. She greeted the Science officer leaving on the turbolift and proceeded to the door to Captain Corbin's Ready Room. Her hands were steady as she called for access. Her stomach churned beneath her uniform.

“Come,” Corbin called, only half looking up from the report open on her desk.

Her attention shifted to the appointment displayed beside it, and some of the tension left her shoulders. A conversation with Riah was a welcome break in a day crowded with reports and operational decisions. Sabrina closed the file without reluctance and set the PADD aside.

The door opened. The Doctor inhaled and stepped inside. "Good morning, Ma'am. Thank you for seeing me."

“Of course.” Corbin rose from behind her desk, greeting her with an easy smile. “I was rather pleased to see your name on my schedule. I could use a conversation that doesn’t involve convoy formations or departmental reports.”

She moved toward the replicator. “Would you like something to drink? I’m parched.”

Sabrina ordered herself a glass of iced tea with a squeeze of lemon.

"Ice water, if I may," Riah replied. "Ooo, with lemon."

“Certainly.”

Sabrina retrieved the water and handed it to Riah before indicating the seating area across from her desk.

“Let’s sit over there. It isn’t utilized nearly enough, and I’ve had quite enough of conducting conversations from behind that desk today.”

They moved to the arrangement of more comfortable furniture and Riah sat back, then moved back to the edge of the seat and accepted the glass of water, tinkling with ice. "Thank you." She almost caught herself chewing her lip again, but took a sip instead.

Sabrina settled into the chair opposite her, one leg crossing comfortably over the other. The doctor seemed less at ease than Corbin had expected, but she resisted the instinct to turn a friendly visit into an interrogation.

Instead, she lifted her glass slightly and offered Riah an encouraging smile.

“So, Doctor, what can I do for you?”

"Sabrina, I am here for perhaps an insane reason, but I wanted to ask for your thoughts, maybe your blessing, or your reprimand if it's called for.

She paused, reconsidering the idea for the thousandth time. " I might want to step down from CMO. I love my job and the people, but it's not where I want to spend the rest of my life." She stopped. She could not find the words to say next. Hearing herself speak them to someone who mattered, made the whole idea sound all the more bizarre.

Sabrina’s easy expression stilled as she absorbed the words.

“Step down,” she repeated quietly, not quite making it a question.

She placed her glass on the table, giving the admission the consideration it deserved rather than rushing to fill the silence.

“That does not sound insane, Riah. Unexpected, certainly.” Her gaze remained steady on her friend. “But I imagine you did not arrive at my door without some idea of what you would rather be doing.”

She leaned forward slightly, her hands resting loosely together.

“So tell me what has brought you here.”

"As you know, I'm sort of the resident veterinarian around here anyway, and that's where my heart lies, with those animals, with any animal. I'm thinking I'd like to apply to be the ship's Xeno-Veterinary Medicine Doctor. I have all the qualifications for that ..."

Riah stopped again - let down the formal guard and shrugged. "You don't have to tell me I'm crazy. I already know, but I needed to talk to someone about it other than my personal log. Now I've said it aloud, it sounds even crazier. Is this a mid-life crisis, a little early?" she chuckled nervously.

For a moment, Sabrina said nothing.

The relaxed warmth she had carried into the seating area did not disappear, but it altered. Her fingers tightened slightly around the chilled glass before she placed it carefully on the table between them.

She had expected gossip, perhaps a personal concern, or even a complaint about something aboard the ship. She had not expected to lose her Chief Medical Officer.

Corbin studied Riah’s face, looking past the nervousness for any sign that this was an impulsive decision. What she found instead was apprehension wrapped around something far more certain.

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” Sabrina said at last, her voice quieter than before. “Though I will admit that wasn’t where I expected this conversation to go.”

"I know. I'm sorry."

Corbin leaned back slightly, giving herself enough distance to consider the request as both captain and friend.

“You have built an excellent department, Riah. The crew trusts you, your people clearly respect you, and I trust you. So my first reaction is not reprimand. It is the very selfish thought that I would rather not lose you from that position.”

Her expression softened and Riah nodded.

“But that cannot be the only consideration. Not if you are telling me that this is where your heart is.”

Sabrina glanced briefly toward the desk she had been so relieved to leave behind, then returned her attention fully to Riah.

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

"Actually, since I got that first letter from my daughter," Riah replied, speaking more slowly, more reflectively. "It flashed through my head that I should be stationed somewhere semi-permanent, not aboard an exploratory vessel. I might have some responsibility to be there for her. I've since decided no. I did all the right things in giving her up. I can't change my life now, if I wasn't willing to do that when she was born. But I thought about it. I could work with the medical crew on 369. But nah. I can't stand the Attending in the hospital there, which is where I'd have to start. I thought offhand, I'd rather work with the vet staff."

Riah sighed headily. "It just sort of hung there in limbo and I'd consider it every so often. The Arawyn Animal League, or whatever they call themselves now, that look after each other's pets - I'm their advisor. Then came the surgery with little Baylee, and she just thrived afterward and that felt so good. I don't know. I just think about it more than I should, if that makes sense."

Sabrina’s mouth curved into a small, dry smile. “There is something to be said for patients who cannot argue with your diagnosis.”

The humour faded into something gentler.

“But no, Riah. It does not sound crazy. It sounds as though you have finally given yourself permission to admit what you really want.” She paused, studying her friend carefully. “That does not make the practicalities disappear, and I will need time to consider what this means for Medical. But I’m not going to ask you to remain CMO simply because losing you from the position would be inconvenient.”

"Well, I'm still so conflicted. Don't take my name off the door yet, but I needed to let someone know this was going on in my head, and since you are maybe my one friend, and the one who would be most immediately affected, I decided to come to you, instead of Claire or the Counselor, or whatever. If we look at the logistics and it's just not practical, then my life's dream can wait a while. But I needed to know what the plan might look like, to be sure of what I was losing and what I'd be gaining. Again, does that make sense?" Riah finally sat back in the chair, temporarily exhausted and yet able to finally breathe. It was no longer a big secret she carried alone.

Sabrina watched Riah finally settle back and allowed a small breath of amusement through her nose. The entire confession had arrived in pieces, tumbling out faster than the doctor seemed able to organise them.

“It makes sense,” she said. “Though, for the record, you have presented it rather like a medical emergency and then informed me the patient is merely considering elective surgery.”

Her expression grew more serious.

“I am not taking your name off anything. You have not resigned, and I am not accepting a hypothetical resignation on the strength of one conversation. What you have done is tell me that you are considering a change. That gives us time to work out whether the position is practical, where it belongs administratively, and what a responsible transition would look like.”

Sabrina rested her forearms lightly against her knees.

“We would need to involve Science, Medical, and likely Personnel. You would also need to decide whether this is a full transfer of duties or something you begin in a limited capacity while remaining CMO. I would much rather test the reality of the role than have you romanticise it from across Sickbay.”

She paused, studying Riah more carefully.

“And there is another practical matter.”

Her mouth curved faintly, though her eyes remained direct.

“If this post falls under Science, you may find yourself reporting to Commander Remington.”

Sabrina let the silence sit for a beat.

“I do not know precisely what is going on between the two of you, and I have made a concerted effort not to ask. Unfortunately, the Arawyn’s rumour mill has now reached this office.”

She tilted her head.

“So before we build a career plan around this, I need to know whether working beneath him would be professionally workable, personally disastrous, or merely extremely awkward.”

"Ah shit. Oh... sorry. I tend to downplay that to myself. There is not a big thing between the Commander and I. I know he would be happy if there were, and I'm interested, but as you can see, I've got my mind on other stuff. I like him and am very attracted, but I'm not head over heels in love with him. Definitely not ready for a thing. To be honest, we don't talk about it, except for me to say no to dates and .... overtures of affection. We did okay on the away mission. I was worried about him, yeah, but not in desperation. We honestly haven't talked much since getting back."

She paused and shifted in her seat. "I do see where you are going with that though, and it is a big consideration. Mmmm. Do I wanna deal with that everyday?" Another pause. Sabrina waited. "I've talked myself out of this every time so far, but it just keeps coming back, so I had to talk to someone else. Maybe now it will go away and leave me alone." She shook her head and chuffed a little laugh, took a longer draw on the ice water.

Sabrina paused to take a drink of her own, giving herself a moment to consider her friend’s dilemma. Whatever existed between Riah and Remington did not sound like the immediate obstacle she had feared.

“If you keep coming back to it, then what makes it the wrong move?” she asked. “Because it is unusual? So what?”

She tilted her glass slightly toward Riah.

“Have you made a proper list? Advantages, disadvantages, practical concerns, what you would lose, and what you would gain? Not reasons to dismiss it. Actual considerations.”

Riah’s mouth opened, but Sabrina continued before she could retreat into another apology.

“You have talked yourself out of it repeatedly, and it has continued to return. That does not automatically mean it is the correct decision, but it does suggest the question deserves more than being ignored until it becomes inconvenient.”

Riah's eyes grew wider as Sabrina spoke, brows lifted, then knit together in consternation, then she shook her head in disbelief or resignation, one.

Sabrina's expression softened.

“And I doubt telling me will make it disappear. Unfortunately, I think we may have to examine it properly.”

Riah took a breath and signed it out. "Why didn't I think of that ... making lists. Of course. Good ol' fashioned handwritten lists. Jeeez. Am I that tired? And you're right; ignoring it is not the answer either. I guess that's what I'll be doing tonight: making comprehensive lists. Sabrina Corbin, you may yet be the voice that silences one or the other of the horns of dilemma."

Sabrina lifted her glass in a small salute. “I should like that noted in my official record.”

Her smile softened.

“Make the lists. Sleep before you decide what they mean, then bring them back to me. We can look at the practicalities without either of us pretending the answer has to be immediate.”

She settled back into her chair.

“And Riah? The purpose is not to silence one side of the dilemma. It is to work out which one deserves to be heard.”

LtCmdr Riah Amberlyn, XMD
Chief Medical Office

Captain Sabrina Corbin
Commanding Officer

 

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