Indisposed

Posted on 08 Jan 2013 @ 12:48pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk

4,060 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2, Science Office
Timeline: MD14 1000

[ON]

Even on reduced duty Kiri found it almost impossible to relax. Though she had only arrived in the office now she had been working on things from her bed since seven in the morning. Eating a quick breakfast in the messhall even she head the news that had spread across the ship over the last day. Which prompted a rather hard matter of thought. The apex of which ended with her pressing her combadge, "Lieutenant Cho to Chief Kiwosk." She waited for a reply not sure what his answer would be but knowing what her own would be in her place. Having someone to work with would make her time easier and maybe might help her make a friend.

Cyrus was sitting in his room. His stress ball in hand. His mind and hand were both still reeling from the actions held moments ago. He squeezed the ball tentatively doing the exercises to keep his hand from losing it's mobility. Sudenly his badge chirped.

Cho? He thought to himself. Wonder what she wants... Shoulders sagging with depression and exhaustion he made his way to the badge sitting on his dresser. "This is Kiwosk, go ahead Lieutenant."

=^= This is Kiwosk, go ahead Lieutenant. =^=

What was a polite way to say this, that she knew that he didn't have a job right now, for whatever reason. It was better to just say it, nervously she answered, "Um, would you be interested in doing some work for me?"

Cyrus hesitated before responding. Work for her? She must have caught wind of his removal from the Security department. busu work popped into his head. It couldn't hurt, and it would certainly save more trees from a sudden rupture. =^= not a problem Miss Cho...where would you like me to meet you? =^= All he needed now was something to wear...that ressembled a uniform.

Kiri was glad that he wanted to join her, she'd heard some worrying things. Speaking softly she sounded more confident, "I am in my office right now, I can meet you somewhere else if you want." A inventory was due in the next few days and it wasn't that complex. It was something she thought the two of them could to together, so she could avoid any heavy lifting.

=^= Not a problem. I'll make my way as soon as I can. =^= Kiwosk spotted his old marine uniform and sighed. It was almost insult to injury having to put on the dark green of a marine, but it sighed and choked down his pride. His hand was still tender from the sudden sugery late last night. He donned the marine drab before leaving his quarters. Bee-lining for the ACSO's office.

Kiri checked her hair in the reflection of her monitor and locked her station. Taking an extra large pad she stood up and for a moment rubbed her calves, trying to pick the mood she should use when with Cyrus. Giving herself a few more seconds she moved to wait outside to wait for him. It didn't take long before she saw him walking from the turbo lift. Smiling she moved out into the corridor, "Thank you for coming."

Kiwosk smiled sadly and shrugged. "I appreciate the busy work Miss Cho." He sighed. "I assumed you heard...about Stone..." He asked. He knew she was a superior, and he definitely didn't want to get her in trouble. Realizing the possible situation he put her in he added. "Him removing my clearance until stated otherwise. "

"That is okay, you won't need it," She smiled at him, "There is some inventory we can do but I can't do any heavy lifting yet but there won't be too much," She added.

"Good to know." He unconsciously flexed his damaged hand, testing its power. "Lucky for you I happen to be an expert at lifting heavy things." He chuckled, but he couldn't help but hear the yet . "Yet? Did something happen?" He asked honestly. He moved forward and rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen them up a bit.

Kiri smiled and started to lead him towards the the first of the storage rooms, "I had an accident a few days ago," She assumed that everyone knew. Or did no one else know? None of them seemed to talk about it when she was around.

"Well don't you fret Kiri. I hope you're feeling better." He replied. He clenched his hands and winced slightly. " So what's the plan today then, I mean besides the lifiting things everywhere. " He smiled.

She wasn't fretting she was fine, much better. Pausing at the door she turned to him and forced a smile, "I have a few things to do but we can always find something else to do afterwards."

"Well, no sense waiting around I suppose, the sooner we start the sooner I don't have to think about not having a job." He chuckled bitterly. "You seem to be in a better mood. You're smiling more." He commented off offhandedly. "It's nice to see." He looked around before looking back at the ASCO. "Where do I start?"

That implied that she didn't smile enough before, ho hum. Kiri knew she had been sick but she would have to try harder, smile more. "Don't worry, I'm sure it will all work out," It would have been hard for her to make those words sound less stilted. She was far from sure, it was unlikely that his commanding officer would change his mind so easily. He hadn't been demoted, he hadn't been reprimanded he had been entirely removed from duty. Wearing a green under-shirted uniform, she didn't want more people to leave her. While she wasn't sure he was a friend she was starting to like him and so many others had disappeared. "I'm sure I could find a place for you in Science if you wanted." That she might be able to do, there was all sorts of little things he could do until he could be trained for something else.

Snapping her eyes up and looking at him properly she answered, "Um, this is all stationary and safe equipment so if you just start scanning the labels and checking the contents." Taking a pad off the wall she handed it to him, "If that is okay."

Silently relieved that he wasn't lifting anything yet he gladly took the PADD and nodded. "Scanning seems easy enough." He chuckled. "I may very well have to take you up on that offer depending on how the complaint goes." He didn't know how much he should tell her concerning the goings on. "I'm hoping to get this all sorted out in the next few days. I'm sure that there was a misunderstading or twenty, somewhere between the point I joined the ship and the point Stone removed me. We'll see." and if not I know a have a spare hand to break.

As he began scanning the codes and labels he glanced over to the ASCO. "So, what's it like working under Lieutenant Panne."

"Good," She shouldn't say it but Maenad was rapidly becoming her best friend and was already her best friend on the ship. "She is smart, nice to work with, kind and supporting," Kiri had already been through two Department heads and been on herself so far, "I don't think we could ask for anyone better."

Are we talking about the same woman? Cyrus asked himself, but didn't want to direct the question to Kiri. Instead he nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. It's not everyday that a woman of the lieutenant's...talents comes around. She's a very...interesting woman. " He chose his words carefully. In all honesty he didn't mind the lieutenant as much as he pretended. It was just funny to watch her turn that colour of scarlet when she was trying not to yell.

"Did you hear about Kohl? I was talking to Pola the other day, said he had pressing matters to attend to or something..." He paused to scan another label. "It's a shame, I thought he was a decent chap."

"Yes," Kiri paused and dropped her eyes for a moment. There was a reason why Maenad was now her best friend, not just that they had been spending more time together. Yet another person she trusted and wanted to be closer to was gone without even a goodbye. He had found out her birthday and replicated her a cake while no one else looked or bothered. Kind, attractive, fun and exciting Kiri had really liked him. Far more than she would admit, yet he didn't think that much of her if he didn't say goodbye, "I liked him too." She was very forlorn for a moment before she forced a hard smile and went back to scanning.

He noticed the sad tone in her voice and instantly regretted mentionning Kohl. Obviously the two individuals had been friends or closer. Either way, he couldn't help but feel that he had overstepped a boundary of some sort. "He's not the only one, Lieutenant Parker up and left in the same fashion. Kind of bizarre when you think of it." He looked over and smiled. "But as they always say, new people, new friends." He continued to scan the labels and sighed.

"You know, when I was back at the academy, Lieutenant Panne was my biology professor." He didn't repress his chuckle this time as he continued his story. "Her and I have quite the history. Something about me being the only student she deliberately wanted to fail." He shook his head.

"Oh dear," This wasn't the Maenad Kiri felt she knew, was it true or even an exaggeration? Her biology lecturers had all been much older than her, other than a young Vulcan prodigy. More than anything right now she was rather concerned, "What happened?"

Kiwosk could hear the curiosity and shock in her voice. "Back then, I was... an interesting individual and it turned out that I required a extra science course in order to graduate from the academy." Every time he told this story it seemed funnier and funnier. "Classes had filled up and I was without a course, so I sat down with the Lieutenant and asked to take the course, explaining that her work was interesting and I had read all her books." He shook his head and continued to scan the various objects. He was almost done by the seems of it.

"Suffice it to say I flattered Professor Panne so she would let me into the course..." He sighed. "And that's where our story begins. You see, her and I, when I was in class, set the battle ground for world war three. I would question everything, and I can only imagine you have seen what happens when someone questions Lieutenant Panne when she knows she's right." He let the last few words hang. Based on what Athlen had told him earlier Panne hadn't changed much.

Kiri had never really questioned Maenad and she had never acted as if telling her something would be a problem. This entire conversation was starting to make her rather uncomfortable, people saying negative things about her friends wasn't nice.

"I wouldn't say I ruined her lectures, but I certainly knew what buttons to push and when to push them, and her me." He turned to face Kiri trying not to laugh. "There was one time in a lecture where I asked a question...I think it was stupid...hard to remember, but she told me to stand up, repeat my question and sat back while the rest of the class proceeded to answer it because they had all done their homework. " He chuckled. "I was so embarrassed, the next class before she arrived, I snuck a video recording of a Klingon opera and replaced her slide button with it. Every time...she went to change the slide we would hear the opera come through the recorder..." He started to laugh remembering the look of scarlet on Maenad's face. "She got me back too, numerous hours of chastising in her office." He added with a grin.

"That sounds terrible," Kiri never wanted to be in a situation anything like that nor did she like the idea of anyone else doing so. Swallowing a lump in her throat she asked, "Why did you do things like that?" Where both of them very different people than she expected?

"Why? I can't answer for her, but honestly, I think she enjoyed the competition a little more than she let on." He noted her unease and sighed. "The lieutenant is a very determined woman, and she is very kind and generous or she would never have given me the spot in her already full class. You have nothing to fear, I hear she speaks very highly of you." He sighed.

"It went on the entire year, even after I finished my class, I think it's gotten to the point now that it's almost like a game. The competition is healthy, and in all reality, when you take it out of context kind of funny. It's not as terrible as it all sounds..." He stopped. "Well, okay maybe it's as terrible, but it's sort of just how we communicate." He leaned in closer to put his elbows on the table. "I guess the best way to explain my association with the Liieutenant-professor is that it's a love/hate relationship. I don't hate as in remove her from my life, though she might feel that way towards me times, but our personalities are so different, we conflict with the others ideas on a constant basis."

"You're department drives me up the wall, she is maddening, and I wouldn't have it any other way." He paused and smiled. "And it's not that I think she is a bad person, quite the opposite, anyone that can put up with me for that long without killing deserves a medal." He laughed loudly. " She reminds me of my mother, so having her around is like having a little bit of home on board the ship and it's nice to have her around." He chuckled.
"Don't ever tell her I said that, the more she thinks I hate her the better." He looked up off offhandedly before smiling. " I never did get her back for punching me in the gut, I wonder how long she was wanting to do that..."

Rather than helping her understand Kiri found it all the more monstrous. This time she couldn't even muster an answer to all of that. Even if it was a balance between the two of them it wasn't any less horrible. That he took it so jovially didn't help her understand it either. In silence she went back to scanning, first of all trying to work out why he was telling her all this. Was she wrong about both of them, how could they be nice people if they would even hit each other?

Cyrus looked over and stopped grinning as he saw Kiri get quiet yet again. "Well, I guess it's not as funny as I thought..." He said softly. "Kiri...what's the matter...did I say something?" He asked honestly. Can she really be this oversensitive? He asked himself.

Kiri remained silent for a moment more as she tried to put the words together, "If I was treated like that I would hate them." It hung in the air as she kept working before she added, "Did you enjoy doing those things to her?" He might be a different person than that now but, it was so petty. Maybe he had been stupid, maybe Maenad had been strict, but if it was true then both of them were mean.

It seemed like an odd question, and he gave it more thought than he normally would have. "If you were treated like that Kiri, then you would have every reason to hate that person." He said finally. "What I did then, was an 18 year old thinking that he was cool by picking on his professor." He finished. "I'm not proud that I did those things, but I look back at them because they are things I've done in the past and I try not to regret them." He sighed. "So to answer your question, back then, I had every intent and prupose to prank my professor, she wasn't the only one, just the most memorable. Would I do something like that now? Of course not, not to that degree, and certainly not while working." It was an honest reply. The more he thought about it, it didn't surprise him that Kiri reacted the way she did. "You don't make friends easily do you?" He concluded.

"...and here I was telling you how the Maenad and I nitpick at each other...and... Lieutenant Panne is your friend." He instantly felt guilty once again.

Kiri knew what people could be like but she tried to think the best of them. Her past didn't have things like that in them and neither did her friends. Turning she looked to him rather hurt when he reminded her that she didn't make friends very easily. She didn't like being reminded of that and it seemed hostile as well until his tone changed.

"Kiri, I'm sorry, I was just making conversation, I wasn't trying to give you the wrong impression. Lieutenant Panne had done nothing wrong, I was a jerk for most of my academy training, there were reasons I acted out that I didn't really realize were reasons at all."

Suddenly ashamed that he had upset the young officer he sighed. "Look, maybe I should go...it seems all I do is upset you whenever I open my mouth...I was only trying to get you to laugh." He attempted in vain to explain.

"No," Meekly answering it was almost a cry, "People do things." She didn't know how to answer any better than that. There were bad things people did, mistakes people made and not all of them were black and white. Given how things were going she couldn't be so very picky about her associates. He hadn't done those things to her, or where she could see them. There was also the claim that he was trying to make her laugh, "I don't really have a very good sense of humour."

"Neither do I really. As I have so obviously pointed out." He sighed and set the scanner down. "There's no need to get upset Kiri, I didn't mean to upset you..."

She hadn't been upset, her idea of the world she lived in and the people that shared it with her had been shaken to its core. Doing her best to ignore that and keep working she answered, "It's okay, I'm fine." Her voice still carried her subdued emotions it would take a her a little while to suppress them.

Sighing he picked up the scanner and continued. Not knowing what else to say that would offend his new friend.

Silence held for several minutes, Kiri was half way through the room before she finally spoke again, "What have you been doing lately?" He had been off duty, what had he been doing? At least it might distract her from worrying about things now.

He looked up and shrugged. "Well, not much really. I've been mainly doing exercise and report filing." He replied. "I really don't have much jurisdiction on board anymore so I really didn't have much to do until you called me down. You saved me from going nuts up there." He chuckled softly

That promoted a smile, "I know what that is like, I've been bored too." Having been removed from official duty hadn't stopped her so far from taking every chance she got to do something.

"And it's funny, there's all sorts of things to do, but you..just... can't " He shook his head. " I'm glad I'm not the only one who was feeling like that. "

"What are you doing tomorrow?" She was trying hard to make conversation but it wasn't coming easily.

"Nothing to my knowledge, but I'm hoping to get reinstated before we go back out. I'd hate to be considered extra baggage you know?" He gestured to where Kiri was standing. "You at least, if you weren't placed on active duty, would still be able to contribute without special permissions. I don't get that luxury." He sighed. "Such is life I suppose, it just doesn't make sense to me."

"I'm not," Kiri answered rather nervously, "I don't have any duties at the moment, but I can still find things." She was sure that wasn't true what he said though, there was always work to be done. "There are always things, even if you just started to study something."

Cyrus did conceed the point Kiri was right there was always something to do, but was there something that he wanted to do? Instead he continued the conversation. " Studying...there's a thought. What do you end up doing on your off time? Every time I see you it seems that your always doing something."

"Normally I'm working," Kiri worked on things for the ship or her department even in her off time more often than not. The rest of the time, "I'm learning to pilot the ship, some martial arts with Mor'an," She thought she had told him about that, "And maybe cooking some new things." The different topic was helping but she was still rather tense.

"Cooking is definitely something interesting. My parents taught me how to cook since I was young. I've always enjoyed food, as you probably have noticed. " He picked another label to scan. " piloting the ship? How is that going? I don't think I ever learned how to pilot anything."

"I had one lesson with the Commander, I didn't crash," Though she did damage the holographic ship during the battle she did manage to defeat the enemy with his help, "Cooking is the same for me, my mother taught me."

"That's pretty neat. Props to you for not crashing, I doubt "I can say the same." He smiled. "I've always enjoyed cooking, I feel like it's something where you can never really limit your creativity, you know. " He sighed. "Not to mention that with all the different races, and all the different kinds of foods available now a days, it's always fun to exeperiment."

"I haven't really tried that yet, I will though," Mor'an had been the one to suggest it, "There are a few cake recipes it might try from Vega."

"Do it! " He smiled. "you never know just how good you are unless you push yourself. I'll even try them if you want. " Cyrus had a weakness for cake..

"Oh, I'll remember that," Kiri smiled and thought about the notes she had made. Finding the things to make cakes might be a little hard but not too much, maybe the Grassmeal cake?

Finally, maybe if I just don't talk about anything serious I shouldn't upset her. he thought to himself. As he finished scanning the last article in his area he smiled. "What else is on the list there boss?"

Kiri finished up on her side as well, "Next is spare parts and equipment, then storage containment checks in the cargo bays," Pausing she thought hard, "Then there is isolation storage for dangerous items, I don't think you can help me there." She shouldn't do it alone though, maybe she should ask someone else to do it.

"Dangerous items? Dare I ask?" He wondered. "I take this is the heavy lifting part?" He added, chuckling.

"Yes," His laughter made her relax a little more, another small smile, "Thank you for helping so far." It had made this part much quicker and despite some rocky points it had been nice talking to him.

"Hey, it's me who should be thanking you for 'getting me out of the house' so to speak. It's a nice change from throwing my bouncing ball off my wall." He chuckled. "Let's get this started!" He added enthusiastically.

[OFF]

CWO Kiwosk
Formerly Security/ Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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