"Meditation vs Sex"

Posted on 08 Sep 2025 @ 11:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD & Lieutenant Francis "Steven" Remington

906 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Fractured Accord
Location: CMO's Office
Timeline: Late at night after the nav buoy incident

// CMO's Office //

After most of the medical crew had completed their tasks and things were returning a little bit toward standard protocols. Riah sat down heavy in her chair. Like everyone, she had been running on coffee and adrenaline for hours since the explosion of the nav buoy. No definitive information had made its way to Sickbay yet. The patients from Newton were stable and resting comfortably. Scheduling was a nightmare. But the night shift had their orders and she was grateful to two paramedics from day shift who volunteered to stick around until midnight to be ready of any more medical transfers from Newton were necessary, but they seemed to be handling things in Newton's sickbay pretty well. Dr Kim was on call to make a trip over to Newton if necessary. He was a trauma specialist and more than a quick hand in an emergency.

Riah could conceivably go to her quarters and rest, maybe nap. She needed to stop the swirl of information and schedules and procedures that rattled around her, spinning like loose metal strapping, both restricting her and supporting her at the same time. This was common in an emergency. Coming down from the high was a challenge. Some people handled it with a glass of whiskey, some with a workout or a run, or sex. Riah used silence and isolation from people. As a blood born introvert, she had a lot of people fooled into thinking she was the opposite, extroverted and an engine of energy. But in truth the encounters with other people, with challenging situations depleted her reserves and to recharge, she needed that quiet, that absence of others.

She pulled out a cushion from under the desk and sat down upon it on the floor., and removed her boots. Crossed-legs, her hands resting gently in her lap, left resting in the palm of the right. The familiarity of it was comforting in and of itself. She consciously slowed her breath, gathering energy on the inhale, calming on the exhale.

"Breathing in, I'm aware of my in-breath. Breathing out, I'm aware of my out-breath."

She repeated the mantra softly until it became steady and natural. Then allowed her mind to wander a bit, only stopping the thoughts when they tried to go down some rabbit hole, looking for closure where none existed. She let them pass like leaves floating down a river, coming from upriver, passing and out of sight downriver. Her heartbeat slowed and blood pressure dropped. Her shoulders relaxed, the tenseness in her face softened. When the rabbit hole appeared, she returned to the mantra.

Slowly her mind stopped its incessant clamoring and she was able to bring to mind movements of joy, moments to surprise and even glee. The thoughts didn't disappear, they just passed in the background as her real attention concerned itself with the colors behind her eyes, and the murmur of the ship, or was that her heartbeat.

Things wouldn't stay this way. But having taught her body to relax and her mind to follow that softening, she was always in a better place to engage in those tense moments, those moments of personal questioning, requiring professional presence of mind. And twenty minutes of this meditation was worth a good two or three hour nap, without the groggy mind mud that followed too little sleep.

The chime on her timer gently alerted her to the passing of that twenty minutes, and she began to bring herself back from all the places she'd wandered. Aware of her hands, her feet, a deepening breath. She stretched her legs out in front of her, the tingle of returning blood a warm and cool surprise. A deep breath and she fluttered open her eyes.

At first she didn't notice the figure standing in the doorway, more of a shadow than something solid ... someone solid. "Hello!" she said, not bothering to get to her feet.

"You do that a lot, just disappear into thin air like that?" asked the zoologist, Steven Remington. "I came by to see if you wanted to go for a quick run. Figured things have been pretty tense here in Sickbay."

"Can't leave. On duty till 2100 or so," she said, slowly putting her boots back on. "What do y'all do in zoology during tactical emergencies?" she asked, rolling to her feet and standing up.

"Eat ham sandwiches," he replied without a pause. "Well, we hand them out to hungry people in administration too."

"That's so kind of you. Critical job, ham sandwiches." She smiled and he offered her a fist bump.

"Sure no run?" he persisted.

She shook her head. "Rain check."

"You talk a lot don't you?" he asked with a smirk.

"About as much as you do," she replied. Not a pause.

"What are you doing after 2100?" he dug a little bit.

"Sleeping."

"Don't suppose you need any help with that?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Can't blame a guy for tryin'."

"Yeah I can. Git out of here. Ask me tomorrow night ... for a run," she added.

"Well, you gotta start somewhere." He turned to leave, gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder. "Better luck tomorrow then. Ciao!"

"Ciao," she replied softly, moderately disappointed. It was almost time for a shift change and maybe a chance for a ham sandwich.
~~~
LtCmdr Riah Amberlyn, XMD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Arawyn
&
LtCmdr Steve Remington, PhD
Zoologist (npc apb Kate)
USS Arawyn

 

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