The Sharp Part

Posted on Thu Apr 9th, 2026 @ 5:26pm by Lieutenant JG Olivia Voight & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

2,399 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Sunfire - Sickbay
Timeline: Enroute to Earth

The day had the kind of quiet rhythm Bonnie trusted, the steady hum of systems behaving exactly as they promised they would, and that alone should have been her first warning. She stood half inside the open housing of the trans-sectional transporter, sleeves pushed up, hair loosely gathered and already slipping free as she traced the edge of a warped coupling with careful fingers.

The last activation had left its signature everywhere, heat scoring along the internal lattice, a faint crystalline brittleness where flexible pathways once carried energy like breath. Her tricorder rested nearby, chirping soft confirmations as she mapped the damage, though she hardly needed it. She could feel it. The system held tension like a pulled thread waiting for one wrong tug.

She shifted her attention to the adjacent workbench where a partially assembled transwarp coil sat in elegant, dangerous silence, its geometry clean and patient in a way the transporter no longer managed. Two projects, two very different moods. One wanted to move forward. The other remembered exactly how it had failed.

Bonnie reached for a microspanner, intending to ease the damaged coupling free, her thoughts already drifting ahead to how she might re-route the phase alignment through a redundant channel. The tool slipped once in her grip, a small, ordinary thing, the kind of misstep she usually absorbed without consequence. The coupling sheared.

It happened fast enough that her mind caught up a fraction too late, metal giving way with a sharp, brittle snap that sent a shard skittering across the housing. Her hand followed the motion instinctively, trying to catch, to correct, to fix the moment before it finished happening. The edge found her palm instead. A clean line at first, almost delicate in its precision, then deeper as momentum carried through. The pain arrived a beat later, bright and immediate, her breath catching as she pulled back on reflex.

“Shit,” she murmured to no one, voice small but steady, as if naming it might shrink it. Blood welled quickly, more than she expected, threading between her fingers in thin, determined lines that suggested she had gone a little further than intended. The transporter gave a soft, offended whine behind her, systems registering the abrupt interruption, while the coil on the bench sat in quiet judgment, untouched and pristine.

Bonnie pressed her other hand over the cut, instinct taking over where thought hesitated. Pressure first. Contain it. Assess later. Her mind tried to split in two directions at once, one half cataloging the injury with clinical detachment, the other already circling back to the coupling, to the failure, to what she had missed. Bad luck, she thought dimly, familiar and almost comforting in its predictability. Of course it would happen here. Of course it would be today.

She reached for a nearby cloth with her elbow, awkward but effective, wrapping it around her hand with uneven tension that tightened as the fabric darkened. The bleeding slowed under pressure, though it pulsed with her heartbeat in a way that suggested a dermal regen might be part of her near future. Bonnie glanced back at the transporter, eyes lingering on the exposed housing, on the broken edge that had started it all. “Stay,” she told it quietly, as if the machine might decide to unravel further in her absence. “Just... stay like that.”

The walk to Sickbay felt longer than usual, her focus narrowing to the rhythm of her steps and the steady pressure in her hand. Crew passed her in the corridor, some offering brief looks of concern that she answered with small, reassuring nods that did not quite reach her eyes. She kept moving. That part she understood. Movement meant forward. Forward meant manageable. She was light headed, pale, cursing herself for staying up too late and skipping breakfast.

By the time the doors to the infirmary parted, the sharp edge of the moment had softened into something quieter, more distant, though the ache remained, insistent and real. Bonnie stepped inside, cradling her hand a little closer now, the cloth already telling its story in deepening color. Her gaze lifted, searching for... someone on the medical staff.

“Hi,” she offered, voice gentle, a little breathless around the edges, as if she had arrived halfway between apology and explanation. “I think I, um... found the sharp part.”

It had been rather calm duty shift so far for Olivia when the doors to Sickbay opened and Bonnie walked in with one of her hands wrapped up in what appeared to be a now blood soaked cloth. "It would appear that you found more than just the sharp part," Olivia replied as she got up and walked over to her patient. "Lets get that tended to shall we."

Olivia guided Bonnie over to one of the bio-beds and carefully started unwrapping her hand so that she could check it over and tend to the wound. "So just what were you doing to cause this sort of injury?"

Bonnie let out a small, sheepish breath as she perched on the edge of the biobed, her uninjured hand hovering like it wanted to help and already knowing better. “Um... technically, I was trying to un-cause a different problem,” she admitted, eyes dipping as the cloth peeled back. “The, uh, trans-sectional transporter core doesn’t like being told it failed. There was residual phase feedback trapped in the housing, oscillating along the seam where the containment field collapsed.”

She shifted slightly, watching Olivia work with careful attention. “I thought I could bleed it off manually, stabilize the variance before it cascaded into something louder. I had the harmonics almost balanced, just needed to realign a micro-coupling, and then the field snapped back early. Phase variance under stress develops a sense of humor.” A faint, crooked breath of a laugh escaped her. “And... I might have dropped a spanner at exactly the wrong moment, which probably didn't help it's attitude.”

Olivia smiled a little as she finished unwrapping Bonnie's hand. "Sounds like it may be in need of an attitude adjustment of sorts," Olivia quipped. "Lucky for you, this will be a bit easier to fix." She started to slowly and carefully clean the wound.

Bonnie let out a small, breathy laugh, her shoulders easing a fraction as she watched Olivia work. “Yeah… I’ve always been easier to fix than most of my projects,” she said, a faint smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. “Low bar, admittedly. I do appreciate what you do though. You’re dealing with organic systems that bleed, and occasionally argue back. That’s… a whole different level of maintenance.” She rolled her eyes and swung her feet slightly.

She hesitated for a beat, then glanced up, curiosity nudging past the nerves. “So… you just came on board recently, right?”

"Yes, I just recently came on board," Olivia replied. She worked on cleaning around the cut on Bonnie's hand. Then worked on lightly pressing the cut together with one hand while using a scanner to seal it. "One thing is for sure, it hasn't been boring so far."

"Yeah, there is no shortage of excitement and adventure here. It's not what I expected, what with the dinosaurs and getting lost in another galaxy thing." Bonnie gave a small, crooked smile, eyes flicking down for a second. "Though statistically speaking, the odds of either of those things occurring again are astronomical at best. I think, probably."

Bonnie smiled awkwardly and started to extend her injured hand before changing her mind mid-way, waving instead. "Names' Bonnie. Computer Systems Specialist. Welcome aboard," she added, a touch softer. “It’s… really nice to meet you.”

Olivia softly laughed a little at the dinosaurs comment. "It's nice to meet you as well, Bonnie," Olivia replied. "My name is Olivia and if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a doctor. Though I could of gone a totally different route years ago, but had to do something that was completely different from any of my brothers."

Bonnie’s smile softened a little at that, “Oooh… brothers,” she echoed, a quiet note of curiosity there. “Never had one myself, but I can imagine… a lot of elbows and competition, maybe?” She gave a small, lopsided grin. “Like everything turns into a contest whether you want it to or not.”

Her fingers curled lightly into the edge of the sheet, grounding herself as she went on, voice gentler. “I think… doing something different takes a lot more guts than people give it credit for. It’s easy to follow a pattern when it’s already there.” A tiny shrug. “Breaking away from it… that’s kind of its own version of brave.”

"There is always competition when it comes to having three older brothers," Olivia said. "If it wasn't one thing it was another with the fights. I ended up having to be the one patching them up whenever they got into the fights. They ended up going Security, Marine, and Intel. Each of them ensured I knew how to handle myself in a fight."

Olivia finished up with Bonnie's wound and cleaned off the blood. She titled her head slightly as she thought for a brief moment. "The last couple years have been a bit of a challenge in my dealings with my brothers."

Bonnie watched Olivia’s hands as they worked, steady and practiced, the kind of calm she always admired from a safe distance. When Olivia mentioned the last couple years, something in Bonnie’s expression softened, the humor easing into something quieter. “Yeah… family fights hit different,” she said gently. “I don’t have siblings, so I’m kind of… guessing from the outside, but it sounds like a lot to carry. Being the one who patches everyone up and still ends up in the middle of it.”

She shifted slightly, flexing her bandaged hand as if testing both the repair and the moment. “For what it’s worth… you seem like you’re holding it together really well. At least from this side of the biobed.” A small, sympathetic smile followed. “And if they taught you how to fight, I’m guessing you also learned when not to. That part’s… harder, well both are for me, but...

"If you ever decide you want a brother, just let me know and just maybe I'd let you have one of mine for awhile. It would be a matter of figuring out which one I should let you have to see how you like it."

Bonnie let out a small, surprised giggle, shoulders lifting as the idea painted itself a little too vividly in her head. “Oh, I... um… I think I’ll pass on the brother trial program,” she said, smile warm but cautious, like she could already see a chain reaction waiting to happen. “I have a feeling I’d… accidentally break one. Or they’d break me.”

She tucked her hands in closer, a softer note slipping in as her expression eased. “But… a sister?” she added, a little brighter. “I think I could do a sister. That feels… less competitive sport and more like… having someone in your corner. At least I'd think so.”

Olivia laughed a little at the comment about the brother trial program. "Well if you change your mind on the brother part, just let me know. I'm sure I could figure something out there. In the meantime though, having a sister would be nice. It would definitely be a change of pace for me."

"I bet." Bonnie agreed as she raised her repaired hand and flexed it. "Besides Commander House is sorta like that, a brother I mean. You probably got to see his shenanigans the other night at the club party. You were there... right?" She looked at Olivia closely as if trying to recall. "Although now that I think about it, calling him a brother makes things weird. Forget I said anything." She quickly retracted nervously.

Olivia laughed a little as she thought back to the other night. "Yes, I was there and saw the Commander's shenanigans. Though I get the feeling that he likes to do stuff like that every chance he can."

Bonnie’s mouth pulled to one side, a soft frown settling in as she let out a quiet, resigned breath. “Yeah... pretty much,” she admitted, a hint of reluctant fondness threading through the frustration. “He’s... a lot. I know he means well. But somehow it’s always chaos, and somehow it usually works out, which feels irresponsible on a whole other level. I think that’s the part that gets me.”

Her eyes dropped briefly to her repaired hand, thumb brushing along the edges where the cut once was. “I swear, one day it’s all going to go spectacularly wrong and I’ll be standing right next to him holding the metaphorical wrench.”

She shifted on the biobed, glancing back up with a small, hopeful tilt of her head. “Um... are we good here? I can, uh... try not to injure myself for at least a few hours?” A faint smile followed as she slid off the bed, already easing toward the exit. “Oh, and don’t forget to have Sarah punch my frequent flyer injury card.”

Olivia softly laughed a bit. "Just make sure you are a bit more careful in the future. I'm sure Sarah will find out in due course about your visit."

Bonnie gave a small, sheepish lift of her hand. “It was really nice meeting you. Good luck with the whole brother trial program. I hope it works out in your favor.”

"If you change your mind on the brother thing, just let me know and I will make the arrangements."

The doors swished open, "I will... I mean let you know if my mind changes, that is." Bonnie gave an awkward smile. "Thanks again." Then she stepped through the doors and was gone, leaving Olivia to her own thoughts, and her work.

Olivia let out a little bit of a laugh as she watched Bonnie leave Sickbay. She wasn't sure if anything would ever happen in relation to starting the business of renting out her one of her brothers, but it was fun to think about and consider at some point down the road. Now to get back to working on a few other tasks at hand.

 

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