Crazy Cat Ladies

Posted on Tue Aug 18th, 2026 @ 11:43am by Petty Officer 1st Class Moana Thomas & Lieutenant Noxe (Cogenitor 125) Tome

2,049 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: The Fissure
Location: Main Operations
Timeline: In-transit to Orellia IV

If asked to name one of the biggest drawbacks to serving on a starship compared to her hospital-based appointments, Mo would have squinted in thought for a moment before admitting that there was a lot less movement on a ship. What she would have meant by that was, if things were going well and you usually hoped they were because emergencies were a whole different kettle of fish, you spent most of your duty shifts in the same space, with the same people, staring at the same walls... Hospitals at least had wards, and sometimes if you were nuts enough to upskill yourself, you got shunted around them like a pinball. It kept things interesting, even if that interest never seemed to last long before you realised you were just dealing with the same shit you'd just left behind. Mo wasn't really built for staying in the one place for too long.

In her next breath, she would have very swiftly pointed out that it wasn't a very big problem, certainly not one that an ounce of creativity couldn't tackle. After all, if things were going well and you were blessed with an absence of emergencies, there were still numerous opportunities for a diligent medical staff to prioritise crew health and well-being outside of Sickbay itself. Impromptu karaoke nights were hard to sell as professional imperatives but restocking first aid lockers tended not to provoke too many questions and, this way, she got to tour the ship with a perfectly legitimate excuse for turning up places she was otherwise least expected to appear. Main Engineering had been a blast. Now, as a fresh set of doors opened, the nurse was already deeply in-sync with the tune she was humming.

The Main ops office was quiet, as Noxe both expected and liked. For now, she had a tiny staff, just three people. There wasn't much for a larger staff to do, however, so it made sense. Right now, she was working on duty rotations, and also had her computer running twice-hourly system checks.She glanced up as the doors opened. She had dismantled the ringer as it hurt her ears.

"Hi," she said, cheerfully. "You're the nurse, right?? Can I help?" she asked.

An easy, crooked grin embraced the notion of being the nurse without complaint. Mo held up one of the two remaining kits in her hands and then turned a little to indicate the pack on her back. "Just here to take a peek at the first aid locker, make sure it wasn't left in the same state as my supply cupboard. And to check if you have any staff-specific requirements you'd like added to your stock." Mo had been systematically trying to work through the crew manifest to identify non-standard supplies but, honestly, it was hard to find a better substitute to just asking directly.

Noxe smiled. "I see, feel free to do whatever you need to. No, I don't think that there's anything special we need. Just regular first-aide stuff, I suppose." It hadn't ever occurred to her that they would need anything extra. Ops wasn't a front facing track; they just fixed computers and made them go. It made sense that Engineering might need more because they worked with tools and such. There wasn't much injury you could get behind a computer, right?

"Maybe just some extra female supplies, too. My department is heavily female," Noxe said. Three of five. "Are you sure you don't need an extra hand?"

"Could do with three or four if you're got a stash of spares," Mo quipped in return and then, with an easy grin, eased the pack from her shoulder and hefted it at the Operations Chief. As bulky as it was, it didn't weigh nearly as much as expected, being primarily stuffed full of the lightweight supplies that could withstand being slung onto the floor at a moment's notice. "Sanitary supplies are in the back compartment, underneath the obnoxious rolls of gauze that will at least come in handy around Halloween."

Noxe caught the bag with an "oof" but actually, it wasn't heavy. "Well, thank you," she said. "I'll stick in the locker soon," she said. "Feel free to access whatever you need," she said, returning her eyes to her computer.

"Pretty quiet in here."

It was an observation that came after only a minute or so of silence, which not only served to suggest how long Mo typically tolerated vacant spaces between conversation when in the company of others but also became instantly inaccurate as a result of her intervention.

"Pretty quiet everywhere actually," Mo continued, having accessed the locker and started the process of checking its current contents. "The messhall had two people in it, I'm starting to wonder if we didn't dip out before everyone turned in their boarding passes." It took a second or two for the nurse to remember where she was and, since this was the department, and indeed the senior officer in charge of making sure the right amount of crew did, in fact, embark on time, she added as a tease, "Though it's probably like herding cats, rights?"

At that, Noxe smiled. "Oh, speaking of cats. If you want to come by my quarters, you can meet my cat. His name is Zhuk," she said. "He's actually a hologram, but someday, I am going to have a real one."

"And yes, maybe. I only have three people in my department currently. Think Captain Jaro would turn around so we can look?"

As she paused to consider the possibility, Mo was confronted by the image of their Commanding Officer in full regalia trying to learn the intricacies of air hockey. It had been an interesting first encounter but one that had left the nurse decently inspired, or at the very least reassured that this mission was going to be about as eccentric as frolicking in the Delta Quadrant sounded. She grinned into the emergency supply locker and, in a rare act of diplomacy, decided against sharing details of the Captain's extra-curricular habits and instead focused on the other woman's first offer.

"Holographic cat? That," she pointed a rolled bandage at Noxe in approval, "is genius. A pet you can turn off when they won't shut up." Mo had a complicated relationship with cats, finding herself naturally more drawn to...well, anything that wasn't a cat, really. The last pet she'd had was the laziest bearded dragon ever to exist.

Noxe nodded. "Yes, from Starfleet Medical. The counselor there thought it would be good to help me to calm down. Apparently, I am "neurotic" and since I have only been around...regular people for about four years, he also helps me to break the ice around people. You know, a conversation starter. He's so cute. He's orange. He even has holographic fur that is soft and sometimes sheds," she said, and giggled at the memory of Zhuk leaving some shed on the Captain's chair in his office. She didn't share that part, though.

"Anyway. Think about it," she said.

A thoughtful squint bought Moana time to consider the unspoken subtext of the other officer's invitation. Neurotic, huh? That was a loaded term, bandied around too often with limited actual clinical context as far as the nurse could tell. Still, if Medical had been involved, there was clearly something going on and psychiatric nursing was top of Mo's list of training opportunities to sink her teeth into one day.

"Well, I don't know if you could consider me regular people," the human joked, "but I've never met a conversation I couldn't wrangle. If you're up for it, we could probably find a holo-program to suit. There's a place in Vietnam I visited last year, full of cats. Most of them were probably holographic too, didn't stop them from being little bastards. Cat cafe culture is a bit niche but I'm willing to bet someone's made a base program for it."

Noxe perked up. "That would be fun!" she said. "An island full of cats sounds like a dream. On Vissia, we don't keep animals as pets. In fact, we don't have much fauna to speak of," she said. "It is lovely, though, in the forests. Quiet, kind of misty and gossamer. The rivers are the bluest blue I've ever seen," she said. Vissia was a type M planet, but not as big as Earth, and with less life on it.

There would be time later to break it to the other woman that, far from an entire island, it had been one coffee shop with mismatched couches. For now, as she packed in supplies systematically to allow easy access, Mo followed the trail of conversation and embraced the change in topic once more. "Does that mean no bugs? Sounds like paradise." Of course, as far as healthy ecosystems went, it seemed unlikely that a planet could sustain larger lifeforms if it didn't harbour infestations of the tiniest pests but a woman could dream.

Noxe chuckled. "No bugs," she said. "We have a cat like creature that lives in the forest, and some birds," she said. "Ocean creatures that we use as food; I suppose some of those could be counted as bugs. They are similar to Earth's shrimps."

It wasn't anything like what she'd come here to do but, in typical fashion, Mo relegated the menial task to pure muscle memory and focused the bulk of her thoughtful grimace on trying to puzzle out yet another alien environment the blew her Terran expectations out of the water. "How do you even have forests without bugs?," she wondered. "Plants need pollinators, don't they?" It had been a long time since her experience with biological sciences had required her to focus on ecosystems and, almost immediately, Mo corrected herself. "Except I guess, ferns and moss don't technically and they were around on Earth before most of our flowering plants. Huh."

Noxe shrugged. "We have bugs," she said. "The Vissian beetle is important to trade. We crush it and use it for dyeing textiles. There's a plant that grows that you can process and weave. Similar to Earth's bamboo."

The presence of pure contradiction only served to provoke resigned disappointment. "See, there's always bugs."

For the next few minutes, the distraction of finishing the task she'd actually set out to perform kept Thomas quiet. In Mo-terms, this meant humming under her breath but it was a jovial habit not intended to annoy. In any case, the human could hold a tune, which was more than could be said of the last Chief of Staff she'd been forced to report to. With an enthusastic thud, the locker closed and, finishing up her notes, the nurse swung what remained of her roving supply cache up onto her shoulder and approached Noxe with padd extended for signature.

"That should see you through to next restock at least, let me know if you get low on anything before then. And hit me up for cats and coffee on the holodeck some time," she added, a gesture meant to confirm that she was actually keen and hadn't just been making conversation.

Noxe smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I would enjoy that. Maybe this evening, even, unless you already have plans," she said, hastily. She swiped her finger over the PADD, entering her name with the soft flourish of fingers. She'd learned how to write with her left hand, but she was still getting use to actually WRITING instead of just typing everything on the computer or PADD.

"None that can't be shifted." Mo grinned, gathered the last of her stuff and took the first steps towards the exit. "Feel free to invite anyone else crazy enough to hang out with a bunch of cats," she called back. "Around eight work for you?"

Noxe nodded. "That would work," she said. That gave her time to finish her tasks, and take a walk before that. She hated exercise in the regular sense-the gym was loud, and too many people could SEE her. So she often walked the entirety of the ship. "I'll see you there."

---

Lieutenant Noxe Tome
Chief Operations Officer

and

Petty Officer 1st Class Mo Thomas
Head Nurse

 

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