Shine So Bright

Posted on 20 Feb 2015 @ 4:58am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Zane Neptune

1,279 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Astrometrics Laboratory
Timeline: MD 35 - 1000 hours

[ON]

At one of a half-dozen work stations on the port side of the Astrometrics lab, Andreus Kohl perched on the edge of a stool. Clad in his uniform --after weeks in his civvies-- made for an unfamiliar feeling. Kohl enjoyed the Starfleet uniform, but the layers felt oddly constraining this morning, especially over the motor-assist bands on his legs and lower back. Leaning forward with one elbow on the control surface and his chin in his hand, Kohl's attentions were drowning in his reading for a correspondence class. He made no notice of the massive form approaching behind him.

"Commander Kohl?" Zane's voice was a little gravely sounding but not so much as to be aggressive in tone.

Kohl had been so focused on the display that he forgot all about the environment around him. Despite the lack of menace in Zane's voice, its very presence was enough to startle Kohl back to his senses. That jolt of surprise sent Kohl sitting up straighter, and sucking in a gasp of air. Feeling foolish then, Kohl cleared his throat and composed himself. He spun 'round on his stool to face Zane with a gentle smile. "Well, hello," Kohl said in a sing-song.

"I'm Lieutenant Neptune." Zane liked the Astrometrics Lab but this was his first time on Galileo. He was surprised how easily he felt comfortable without having ever stepped foot into the room before. "I know I'm a little early but I figured I'd come around early to get a feel for getting around. Things aren't as confusing as I thought. There's only so many places to go on a ship, I suppose."

"Especially a tough, little ship like this one," Kohl remarked with the certainty that came from experience. Spreading his arms wide, Kohl indicated the astrometrics laboratory around them. "Still, that's part of why I wanted to meet you here. How's it feeling so far?"

Zane thought about that for a moment. Anything new was always accompanied by a learning curve but he couldn't say that this curve was especially steep.

"I think I've been coming along nicely. I'm on a duty shift that is accommodating to my workout habits and everyone has been welcoming thus far," he said. Zane then allowed a smirk to creep across his face. "That may also be due to the size of my arms." Zane bent his arm slightly to cause the uniform to tighten significantly.

Kohl's gaze landed squarely on Zane's massive arms. There was a dryly sardonic edge to his voice, when Kohl said, "Don't tell me: it's all genetics. You work out once a week." But he could hardly get through the sentence without a mischievous smirk.

"If only," said Zane. "This takes an enormous amount of dedication and work. I can help you with it, if you'd like." Zane had to try really hard not to wink after that.

Kohl's lips pursed in a tight expression, and his sapphire gaze flicked around the room. He crossed one arm across his chest and he squeezed at his biceps defensively. "Do you..." Kohl started to say, but he trailed off before he started. Diffidently, he asked, "Is there something wrong with my arms?"

Zane examined them for a moment, of course not really being able to see a tremendous amount. "Everybody is different. Some people can gain mass without effort and others have to spend months to accomplish the same thing. Some thing genetics has a lot to do with things but I attribute my own success to hard work."

Raising to his feet, Kohl began to lead Zane on an impromptu tour of the laboratory, starting with the work stations along the perimeter of the compartment. As he did so, he asked, "When did you start weight training as hard as you do?"

"Twelve," Zane said. "We'd just gotten to Earth. I didn't start seeing serious results until about two years later. As with anything else, you have to start young if you want the full benefit of whatever it is you're doing. Like I'm pretty decent at chess but I could have been better if I'd have concentrated on that early instead of weightlifting."

"In that case," Kohl remarked dryly, "I'm probably a lost cause. I didn't start lifting weights until Starfleet Academy. I think someone had to hold a phaser to my head."

"It's never too late," Zane said. "The benefits are always attainable. You just won't get as big as me."

Kohl stepped up onto raised platform at the base of the holographic viewscreen. The holographic housing was massive and concave-curved. Currently, it showed a starscape that Kohl didn't recognize. "And when did you know you wanted to be a science officer?"

"When I saw the stars." He tried not to sound "wispy" when he said that but he wasn't sure he pulled that off. "I'm a bit of a star searcher. Actual stars. Astronomy."

If he pulled it off or if he didn't, Kohl wasn't one to be put off by a scientist getting wispy with him. If anything, Kohl was all the more convinced of Zane's motivations, which caused Kohl a bit of puzzlement from what he remembered of Zane's service jacket. "Were you terribly dissatisfied then," Kohl asked, "with your assignment as an Academy Instructor?" There was no judgement in Kohl's tone -- only concern. He certainly hadn't agreed with all of Command's assignments for himself.

"Not especially. I was more interested in seeing the stars in person rather than talking about them to others. As with anything worth doing, like bodybuilding, I think that you should do what is necessary. I just felt it necessary to be out here among what I love."

Grinning at Zane's sentiment, Kohl crossed the platform to the opposite side of the viewscreen. He stopped halfway, and looked up at the holographic display. "Do you," Kohl asked, and he pointed, "have a favourite star?"

"Betelgeuse. I'd be interested in seeing that one up close. Do you think I'm weird? Being huge and wanting to watch stars?" Zane wasn't entirely sure that what he asked would be understood as mere interest rather than an accusation of any sort. "Not that I'm suggesting you've stereotyped anything. Just curious."

Standing there, beneath the wall of stars, Kohl frowned at Zane. It was an expression of puzzlement, though, rather than displeasure. "Is that a human assumption? That star-watchers must be scrawny?" Kohl asked, in naked uncertainty. Kohl placed a hand over his solar plexus, and he said, "On Argelius, everyone is empowered to do whatever they chose with their lives. It's a defining characteristic of our common culture. Agency is revered above all else. In fact, it's more offensive to pass judgement another person's choices than it is to make a horrible choice for yourself."

"Humans aren't the only ones, but yes." Zane was impressed. He'd received a warm welcome and no one assumed anything since he'd gotten to the Galileo. With such a lopsided reception, statistics veering so heavily towards something he wasn't used to, wasn't very... scientific.

As Kohl wasn't privy to Zane's thoughts and perspective, he shrugged to express how obvious it seemed to him. "If you find pleasure in looking at stars, then you should continue to do so," Kohl said. Continuing the tour of the lab, Kohl stepped down from the raised platform. "Besides, you're always an officer too," remarked Kohl. "If we end up surveying another haunted mine, I want you on my away team."


[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Zane Neptune
Science Officer
USS Galileo

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