The Priest & The Whore

Posted on 03 Mar 2015 @ 10:42pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson & Lieutenant JG Ethan Walker M.D., Ph.D

1,772 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Quarters 04-1007 EN
Timeline: MD44: 1550 hrs

[ ON ]

Ellsworth was still basking in the afterglow of his time with the recently departed Cadet Wintrow Paragon when his PADD beeped. He rolled his eyes at the interruption and ran his hands around in the bed sheet, wondering where he'd placed the device. It beeped two more times before he finally located it and brought up the notifications, a duplicate notice sent to both his personal and quartermaster's accounts. Someone had taken it upon themselves to circumnavigate him and reassign his roommate; evidently, Melinda was being transferred elsewhere at the last moment and someone with a lot of audacity in the personnel management office had seen fit to assign him a new roommate.

Quarters assignment were supposed to be his job so having someone go behind his back about it was shocking; seeing who'd been assigned to the room was more shocking still. In fact, he sat bolt upright in bed and nearly dropped the PADD on the floor when he opened the personnel file. A chaplain!? Was this supposed to be some kind of joke? Given his lifestyle, that seemed about the last sort of person in the universe he'd ever need to room with. Was this entire mission going to be one long seemingly endless lecture about the sins of the flesh?

Ethan wasn't sure what to expect as he pressed the chime on his new quarters to politely announce himself before entering a few seconds later. He'd never had to share quarters before, certainly not since the Academy, but he wasn't opposed to it. On a ship as small as the Galileo it was undoubtedly impossible not to run into everyone at least once every so often - there just wasn't much place to hide. It almost felt as if they were pioneers again; crewman of an NX class vessel so small and cramped that everyone knew everyone.

"Anyone home?" Ethan asked politely, looking to the right at the empty bedroom suite and heading that way. He stuck his head in curiously, just to be sure it truly was empty and then went inside all the way, dumping his duffel on the bed before taking a look around to take it all in.

Ellsworth lowered the bedsheet back down over his head but kept it tightly wrapped around his chin and neck. He hadn't yet bothered to put his clothes back on after his little dalliance with the flight cadet, and it seemed quite improper to be in the nude in front of a chaplain. He was probably a priest or something - it seemed like most of them were - so gone were the days of having Melinda Clare as a roommate where he could saunter around in whatever he pleased.

"Uh, hello," Ellsworth murmured. "You must be the new chaplain. I'm, uh... Ellsworth Hudson, quartermaster. I just got the notification a moment ago. Sorry I'm not up and about. I was...taking a nap. Welcome to the ship."

Ethan smiled back, taking in his roommate. "I'm Ethan." he replied, waving politely rather than offer a hand and ruin his well held modesty. "Nice to meet you." he added now with a knowing smirk, "Should I step into the other room so your guest can leave, or are we on the backside of that?" he asked.

Ellsworth blanched and scooted a bit into the corner of his bed, away from the chaplain and up against the bulkhead. He kept the bed sheets pulled high around his neck as he sat up into a more comfortable position for speaking to someone. His mouth worked for a few moments without making a sound, though he eventually managed to croak, "He's gone already."

Walker smiled, "I'm a Priest, not a recluse." he chuckled.

The young Betazoid wasn't sure if he understood the difference; weren't all priests super uptight and reclusive and sat around being celibate in high towers handing down religious pronouncements against the sinful? That's how it worked in the movies, so he figured that's how it worked in real life, too.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Ethan. Er, father? Pastor? Your Eminence? I dunno what to call you... I've never really met a priest before. I just...." He wanted to say he absolutely could not believe he'd been given a religious figure for a roommate, that he was astounded and blown away and bewildered as to how this was actually going to work out. It wasn't like there was a steady stream of people flowing in and out of his room, but it was definitely a sort of trickle. What if he belonged to one of those super conservative sects? Surely they didn't allow those people to serve in the fleet.

"You can call me Ethan." Walker smirked in reply, "Again, I'm a Priest not a china doll." he chuckled, "You don't need to walk on eggshells around me. I won't be damning you to hell anytime soon - even if I wanted to, I'm afraid that's out of my arena."

Ellsworth wondered, briefly, if this wasn't some sort of trap. Lull the unsuspecting Betazoid into a false sense and security and then reveal that he was going to hell for his sinful ways. Cautiously, he adjusted himself in the bed and eyed the priest.

"Ethan, then. It's not your arena? But... I mean... What sort of priest are you? I've only known two priests. And that was definitely their arena."

"It's not my place to judge you. 'Judge not, lest ye be judged'." he shrugged, "It's my job as a Priest to counsel and coach, not deride and judge." he smiled, "I'll tell you if something you do or say offends me and I would like you to stop, just as I hope you would."

"Ooookay," Ellsworth said, gathering the bedsheet around himself as he slid out of bed. He pressed himself up against the bed and then the wall, trying to maximize the distance between them in the small, enclosed space while keeping his body completely covered by the sheet. "I'm just going to step into the bathroom and put my clothes back on."

He paused briefly, looking around on the floor below him, then hooked a foot under his crumpled uniform and gave it a kick so that it landed in the bathroom. Following it into the room, he had to remind himself to shut the door - Melinda had never minded a little nudity - but shouted so that he could be heard through the door. "So, are you in the fleet? Like, enlisted? Or are you on a civilian contract?"

"Starfleet technically considers me an Officer; I did attend that Academy as well as Starfleet Medical. But ranks and positions aren't really useful in my line of work. Priests, Counselors and Doctors, in my opinion, don't need pips or chevrons to do their jobs as healers." he smiled, speaking up to be heard through the bulkhead.

Ellsworth snorted derisively, his own personal commentary on the rank system. So far it just seemed like something people used to lord over for no real purpose. He understood some people needed to be in charge, but why did it have to come with so much formality? He couldn't even look at a lieutenant without worrying about how it was going to affect his own career. Slowly but surely Pieter Van Zyl had begun to drill the chain of command into his head; unfortunately, it had only made him feel like there was an artificial distance between himself and his fellow crew mates where none had existed before.

"I think that's a great way of looking at it," Ellsworth said while applying some gel to his hair. Maybe we'll get along after all. "But I bet it doesn't make you popular with some of the muckity mucks. Some of these people seem to live and die by their ranks, you know? Like it's all there is to life. Clearly they've never been to a pleasure planet like Risa; it'll change your whole way of thinking."

"That's what I hear." Ethan smirked back, stepping towards the viewport to see what, if any, kind of view they had. "But yes. In my experience there are two kinds of Officers in regards to my position. Those who accept that I have chosen a different path than most, and respect my choice. And those who believe themselves superior to me simply because they believe my beliefs are archaic and somehow make me ignorant, or less intelligent." he explained, "When ninety-percent of the time, I'm the more educated and scientifically experienced of the two." He smiled, "But... not everyone let's logic get in the way."

For all his faults - and they were numerous - Ellsworth could be help up as a find example of the Federation's belief in the strength of unity in diversity. He was sure that if he investigated them with any real effort he'd probably find Ethan's beliefs archaic, too, but the suggestion that people found him ignorant for it struck a chord with him. He'd been an outsider on two different worlds, and it was an unpleasant feeling to be excluded by your fellow citizens. When even your friends held you at a distance, it could wound.

"That's not right," Ellsworth said firmly, stiffening a bit. In his usual in-eloquent, unsophisticated style, he proclaimed, "You shouldn't do that to people, you shouldn't make people feel that way. It's not right for someone to do that to you. You shouldn't try to put yourself before other people just because you think they're dumb or something. If somebody's different, it doesn't mean they're dumb. And even if they are dumb, so what?" His brow scrunched together and his lower lip poked out the slightest bit, making him look every bit his 20 years. "I don't like that."

Ethan shrugged, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." he repeated with the same friendly smile. "It's not in my nature to be concerned with other people's perception, that's simply my observation on how I'm received. It's not right, and it certainly isn't normal, but that's the way it is." he explained, "Maybe, one day, it'll be a thing of the past."

Ellsworth actually laughed at that as he slid the sonic shower open and made adjustments to the control panel. An optimistic priest for a roommate? That was certainly going to be a change of pace...

[ OFF ]

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

Father Ethan Walker
Ship's Chaplain
USS Galileo

RSS Feed