Do You Have a Minute?

Posted on 28 Aug 2014 @ 7:44pm by Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Nesh Saalm

1,037 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 5, Hallway
Timeline: MD 08 :: 2301 Hrs

ON

The question had been posed to Asahi as he found himself hanging out of a jeffries tube, fending off another wave of tribbles that threatened to trample him to death while he was working. Having lost count of the buggers after the initial wave had scampered through his now-cramped office, the engineer had decided to divide most of his time between every other place on the ship and Main Engineering. He may have left most of his supervising, 'chief' duties to his newly-appointed assistant, but he was afraid of what some of the more... adamant members of his staff would do.

Poking his head out of the jeffries tube, Asahi narrowed his eyes at the blue-uniformed speaker. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the tidal wave of tribbles spewed out after him, tumbling onto the floor and dispersing in various directions. Now frazzled, the engineer sat upright, fully out of the tube, glaring at the remains of the wave as they disappeared around the corner again.

He grunted before finally answering the question. "Why would I be angry at you, Nesh?"

Squeaking, the young Orion looked down, unable to look up at the shorter man. The whole experience had been, predictably, stressful for her, and even with all the help she had been giving, she could feel pressure on her back to redeem herself in some manner. "... For letting Pup out..." She paused, before hastily adding, "Sir."

For a long moment, Asahi was silent, seemingly ignoring the Orion's words and fishing for a tool in his faded kit box. He rose his brow after another moment, sighing deeply and sliding the toolkit over and wiggling himself into the jeffries tube again. "From what I understand, it was an accident-hand me the interphasic coil spanner?" He wiggled his hand out of the tube for the implement.

"It... it was, sir." Nesh paused, staring dumbly at the toolkit. "... Which one is that?"

"It looks like a hungry hippo."

"What's a hippo?"

Asahi was silent for a moment. "It's an Earth animal with a large mouth." As soon as he felt the handle of the tool, his hand was gone again, tool with it. "This is it, yes."

"... Hippos are weird if they look like that."

"Well they don't look... exactly like that... but we aren't hear to talk about hippos."

Nesh squeaked. "No sir!"

"Stop that. I'm not gonna eat you. That's gross. I'm not angry at you either."

"But, Sir..."

Asahi popped his head out of the tube, scrutinizing her fearful look. "Nesh, it was an accident, right?"

"But, but sir, he was my responsibility-"

Asahi's tutting stopped Nesh dead in her tracks. "Too hard on yourself. Nesh, it was an accident. Yes, it was your fault, but you're taking responsibility for it. Besides, it was four days ago. I think we're all a little more focused on the infestation right now." The engineer was back in the tube, focused on his work, before Nesh could protest. "Besides, you're young. If you didn't make a mistake at some point or another, you'd be living a very sheltered existence, and that could come back and bite you in the butt. Not everyone is scot free from mistakes. If you asked my pre-Academy teachers, I was a little monster."

"... Really sir?"

"Yeah. If we ever get a moment, I can tell you some time-Hey, hand me the tricorder and that roll of tape."

"Tape?"

"The thing with the little kittens on it."

Nesh huffed, plucking the pair of objects out of the toolbox and handing them both over. "I know what tape is, I just don't understand why you're using it."

"Because tape fixes everything, and cat print tape gets me in and out of mischief faster."

"What does a cat have to do with anything?"

Asahi chuckled, waiting for the tricorder to pick up the problem. "Nesh, do you know what a familiar is?"

"... I... I'm not sure... I've heard the word before." Nesh tilted her head to one side, clearly perplexed. "Do you mean you... are close with cats?"

"Something like that." Nodding along, Asahi's nose scrunched in mild frustration. "In some belief systems and religions, there is a concept called a familiar... sometimes it has other names, but essentially a familiar is a creature you identify with to some degree, one that guides you through your life in some manner or another. A friend of mine was Wiccan, and she'd always adamantly insist that my familiar was a cat."

Nesh frowned. "Humans are weird."

"I know a lot of humans who would call Orions weird-Hah! There it is!" Nesh jumped as she heard a loud clunk echo through the jeffries tubes. "And there's the problem, you little shitball-oh shit."

"Sir?" The pause that followed was nearly unbearably uncomfortable. "Sir, is everything okay?"

"... Nesh, how're you with blood and stuff?"

"I've dissected creatures before, if that counts?"

"... Promise not to scream?" Asahi didn't give Nesh much time to respond, as he came crawling out of the jeffries tube, holding what appeared to be a small, fuzzy, damp green mess, shivering and squeaking at them both. "... I think it's bleeding?"

"Ohmigosh." Nesh's hands started to frantically wave as the panic set in. "Ohmigosh where was it? Oh this poor thing, it'll die if we don't do something!"

Asahi looked up, confused. "... So it's bleeding?"

"Sir, you're not helping! It's hurt and needs medical attention!"

Blinking furiously, the engineer stared down at the tribble in his hands. How did Nesh know what a scared and hurt tribble looked like? He could feel his stomach churn, and he frowned at the mess of tribble. "... Where would you take him?"

"... Back to science. Or medical. Someone has to know what to do." Nesh soon found herself in possession of the bleeding tribble, and frowned. "S-sir?"

"... Hell if I know what to do with it. You know more than I do. If you want to take responsibility, take responsibility." Asahi waited half a beat before waving his hand at her. "Go, Nesh. Go!"

OFF

Lt. Asahi Kita
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Cadet FG Nesh Saalm
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC Kita]

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