A Corrective Influence

Posted on 04 Jan 2015 @ 9:16pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson & Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D.

2,489 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Arboretum
Timeline: MD -20: 0500 hrs

[ON]

Ellsworth dragged down the corridor toward the arboretum. Since he was on Beta shift, he'd only gotten about 4 hours of sleep before having to get up again to meet Dr. Van Zyl. He was convinced this had much less to do with assisting the botanist and the training outcomes of the stupid mentorship he'd been placed in with the insufferable man and way more about those plants he'd killed days ago. What were they called? Azzama... Azzamatazz whatevers, it didn't matter. They were dead, and he must undergo penance for the grievous error he'd made. At 0500 hours. With bags under his puffy red eyes and tousled hair that just wouldn't cooperate. Leaving his quarters in such a state was almost as painful as having to assist Piet; what if someone actually saw him?

When he finally came within sensor range of the arboretum's door, he was struck by the devastation within. The tribbles had destroyed virtually everything, making it look like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic holodeck program.

On the far side of the Arboretum lay Ellsworth's final destination - the remains of the Horticultural lab. Overall it looked to be the place where much of the spare equipment for the refit of the Arboretum was being help, along with several large boxes with transparent lids, revealing a colourful assortment of plants inside.

In the middle of the boxed stood Pieter Van Zyl, looking more put together and awake than any normal person had a right to be at such an ungodly hour as 0500hrs.

I should have known Dr. Van Zyl would be a morning person, Ellsworth thought, frowning at the man's back as he stood over a bunch of boxes. He gave a little sigh and shuffled over.

As Ellsworth approached and before he could say anything, Pieter turned to face him, not looking at all surprised at the Betazoid being there.

"Good morning. You're late," was his greeting before going to type something out in a paDD.

Ellsworth cut his eyes to look at the chronometer on the wall: 0502 hours. He pursed his lips in irritation and scowled while the botanist was busy with his PADD. "I'm two minutes late. Is that even-... Ugh, nevermind. Yes, I'm late. But I'm here! And ready to work."

"And be cheeky," Pieter added, giving the Betazoid a thoroughly unimpressed look after tossing his paDD aside. He lifted one of the large crates and handed it to Ellsworth. "Follow me," he just said before picking up an equally large box easily and proceeding to leave the horticultural lab. He didn't bother looking back as he made his way down one of the dirt paths behind the nursery.

Ellsworth struggled with his box, naturally, as he trudged along behind Dr. Van Zyl. They used lifts and other anti-grav devices in cargo bays to keep from having to break their backs hauling stuff around; Pieter Van Zyl obviously didn't subscribe to that particular way of doing things. And he felt sure if he asked about it, he'd only be told hauling cargo builds character or some other asinine kind of thing. Who knew plants could be so heavy, anyway?

"What's in these boxes? They're heavy," Ellsworth said, trying to make it sound more like a statement than the complaint that it was.

Pieter didn't respond at first, carrying his own box until the duo reached a small clearing of freshly planted grass. With a soft grunt, Pieter finally lowered his crate carefully. "They're a mix of Terran tropical plants," he answered after cracking his back. "The Tribbles ate their way through this entire part of the Arboretum, so we're re-planting them before the refit," he added. Truth was, Pieter spent a lot of his time in the Arboretum (he preferred to do much of his less demanding research around actual plant life), and he wasn't about to let some stranger plant the garden he was supposed to look at for the entirety of his stay on the Galileo.

The heavy box and the walk had practically exhausted Ellsworth, who was already feeling somewhat weak from the early hour. So when he stopped next to Pieter, he pretty much just dropped the box on the ground. It hit the turf with a solid thud, thankfully without any sounds of shattering ceramic or snapped branches.

"I like the tropics," Ellsworth said, as if they were in the lounge enjoying a drink together. "Most of the plants are really pretty. Although I think some of them can kill you. Are we planting any of those?"

The young Betazoid opened up the container he'd been carrying and frowned down into it, seeing a few leaves snapped off a couple of plants. He reached in and quickly brushed them aside before looking at Pieter out of the corner of his eye, hoping he hadn't noticed the damage to the plants. After all, they were just plants; they grew new leaves.

But Pieter was looking straight at him, shaking his head. "Why would we plant dangerous plants in a communal area?" he asked instead of commenting and, although Ellsworth couldn't discern any kind of intonation, the air of 'That's the dumbest question I've been asked today' coming from Pieter was indisputable.

Ellsworth wrinkled up his nose a little bit, feeling hurt and offended, and turned away from Pieter to begin taking the plants out of the container. How should he know why they'd plant dangerous plants? He wasn't the botanist! Besides, weren't a lot of plants dangerous anyway? Like, dangerous to eat? He thought he remembered something from science class in secondary school about plants that tasted bitter being bad for you or something, but that was an eternity ago.

"Well if we're not planting dangerous plants then what kind of plants are we planting? Are they gonna be pretty and have flowers?"

"They will be decorative," Pieter confirmed, "Some Fire lilies, Azaleas, bluebells," he explained. It wasn't a terribly interesting assortment of flowers, but they were all very beautiful, if one had an eye for arranging color. As another crewman approached carrying another crate, Pieter waved him over. Setting the large container down, he watched the young man give Hudson a small wink and smile before realising he'd been caught. Pieter just shot them both a look, not saying anything for now as the newcomer left in a sudden hurry.

Ellsworth winked back and had been half a moment away from running a hand through his hair and opening his mouth when Pieter shot the look at them. He gave the backside of the retreating crewman an appraising look before turning to frown at Piet.

"Hey, you scared him off!" Ellsworth complained, in the same tone of voice he might use to accuse someone of jettisoning the ship's master cargo manifest out of an airlock. "Don't you socialize when you're on duty? Isn't that part of being friendly and accommodating and building strong bonds of loyalty among the crew?"

"I don't think those are the bonds you should be building," Pieter pointed out. "It's inappropriate, Hudson," he explained, trying to find a way to convey his meeting to the much younger man. "Friendly is one thing and it's a positive thing, but I'm not so sure you know the difference between being friendly with your fellow crewmembers and falling into bed with them."

"Inappropriate? It wasn't inappropriate! He just winked, that doesn't mean I'm just going to fall into bed with him. That's awfully presumptuous," Ellsworth huffed, trying to act offended. The crewman Was cute; he probably would have fallen right into bed with him. "Besides, what's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with being friendly and falling into bed with someone, right? Oh... Is there a regulation against that?"

"There are fraternization rules and regulations, yes," Pieter confirmed. "Not to mention it doesn't do wonders for your reputation, and if you actually want to do well in this career, your reputation means a lot."

Ellsworth scowled but kept his thoughts mostly to himself. Piet was probably just jealous. It didn't matter how handsome and rugged and muscular you were because with a personality like that no one was likely to be fraternizing with you, and some people just lived to make others as miserable as they were. Fraternization rules and regulations. Hmph.

"So you've got to live like a Vulcan monk to have a good reputation? What's my after-hours activities got to do with how I do my job anyway? That's dumb," Ellsworth scoffed. "It just sounds like people are being judgmental and not measuring me on my merits alone. Why can't I sleep with whoever I want? That's private stuff!"

Pieter agreed, but he didn't tell Ellsworth that.

"There's little difference between private and public on a ship this small, Hudson," he said first, leaning back against the crates.

"People are judgmental," Pieter continued, confirming Ellsworth's assumption. "All they care about is how they feel and they'll always think whatever they want to think, no matter what you say. They'll just look at what you do." He spoke this from experience. He'd stopped counting how many times he tried explaining something to people before giving up completely and just doing his job the way it was supposed to be done. As long as he followed protocol, there was very little people could say about his 'attitude'.

Ellsworth snorted in agreement. He couldn't imagine ever agreeing with anything Pieter had to say but he was certainly right on this account.

"You should keep your private stuff private, for off-duty hours or breaks, because no matter what you say, people will hold it against you. When you miss a shipment or make a mistake, they won't say 'Hudson missed it because he's busy', they'll say 'Hudson is probably too busy getting into someone's pants to bother' because that's the way you are perceived." Pieter knew his words might be a little harsh, but everyone was conscious of Hudson's reputation and while Pieter knew he shouldn't judge an alien by Human standards, it was an instinct he couldn't fight and he knew for certain that those who could were very few and far between.

The young Betazoid stayed quiet, reflecting on what his superior said. It was entirely possible that he might miss a shipment or make a mistake because he was trying to get into someone's pants. But not because he didn't want to bother. He thought his job was pretty hard, but he liked it. He just liked getting into other people's pants, too. Where did you find the balance if the only pants you ever met were in the workplace? Was he supposed to spend more time in the holodeck or the lounge? Never make eye contact with a lover or speak to him?

"Well it's not like I'm in a supply closet with my pants off," Ellsworth said in his own defense, frowning. "I don't do that stuff on duty. I know you think I'm unprofessional but I'm not that unprofessional. It's just unfair that people treat you that way. I don't want a...reputation...or whatever. I don't even deserve one! I do my job as best I can, and I like to have some fun when I'm not working. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not fair that people don't treat you that way. You shouldn't have to live by somebody else's dumb cultural standards." He recognized too late that he sounded like a petulant child, so he carried on. One plant after the other was produced from the box while he rambled. "Sometimes Starfleet is dumb. I should just move back to Risa. Nobody judged me back there. I didn't have to worry about killing anybody's plants or putting biohazard stuff in the wrong place or none of that."

"You don't really mean that," Pieter said, observing him. Despite the last few words out of Hudson's mouth, his reaction to the accusations put in front of him said otherwise. No one got that worked up if they didn't care. He knew that from experience too.

"The first assignment is always the worst," he supplied. It was difficult finding your footing after basic training. Pieter himself had the advantage of expecting a challenge from the moment he joined so it was easier for him to adapt.

Ellsworth looked down at the flower in front of him, wondering if his manhandling of it had released some sort of hallucinogenic agent. Sympathy and kindness were about the last things he'd expected from Dr. Pieter Van Zyl, especially over something like one's behavior aboard a starship. Ellsworth had half expected him to say he should wear a chastity belt, take a hormone suppressant, and just get over himself.

"No, I don't mean it. It has been difficult. I don't think they trained me well enough or something. There are a lot of confusing things that I don't understand, but the ship is too small for me to even have somebody else trained enough in logistics to ask." He decided to leave out the part about K'os disappearing. And Oren disappearing. Even his roommate, Ollie, had up and vanished on him. Then whatever he had going on with Grayson. But that was all undoubtedly nothing Pieter would want to hear about, or even areas he seemed likely to have anything useful to say about. "Anyway, thank you," Ellsworth said. "Sir."

Pieter nodded as he watched the quartermaster fiddle with the plants. "You can ask me if something is unclear," he offered with a determined nod. "If I don't know the answer, I at least know where to look for it." It would be a dark day in his life when Pieter admitted he didn't know something, but he was willing to face it if it meant Hudson could be seen as a model enlisted officer. Having some commission officer look down on him was out of the question.

Ellsworth looked skeptical. Asking Pieter questions seemed like it might just invite trouble by revealing the depth of his ignorance on matters Pieter thought he should know about, but if he didn't ask he wasn't likely to learn and then just end up doing something to make the other man even more upset. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

He shrugged and fell into a silent rhythm of removing plants and placing them where Pieter indicated, keeping his thoughts to himself. Occasionally, they drifted to the crewman who'd winked at him. How come he'd never seen him before? But when they did drift, he'd bring them back on task, making a list of the things he needed to ask. Starfleet, as it turned out, was kind of a lot of work...

[OFF]

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Idris]

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