SD 241403.13 DL / "Visits To Engineering And Day Nursery" / AOO Ltjg Reiki Greyhead

Posted on Thu Mar 13th, 2014 @ 12:36pm by Lieutenant JG Reiki Greyhead

1,100 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

„Lieutenant Garcia, I need you to look on this evacuation plan and check if it’s feasible from engineering’s point of view.“
Ltjg Greyhead was standing in engineering, talking to a pair of feet which were sticking out of a dismantled console.
Out of there rang Andrew Garcia’s muffled voice:
“Lieutenant, this is a very bad moment for that. I am busy.” He uttered between strained breaths.

“So am I.” The ops officer quickly made some adjustments to the scheme on the PADD and continued:
“Please give me your assessment on how many people we will be able to beam to or from the planet per minute in case of an emergency.”
“Without any losses?” it wheezed from inside the console.
“With a losses within the recommended parameters.” Greyhead stated matter-of-factly.
“What?!” Lt Garcia started fighting his way out of the ship’s intestines. Clearly he was not willing to sacrifice ANYONE while beaming.

Groaning he pulled himself up from the floor, gave Reiki an indignant look and wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve:
“I can’t tell you without running simulations first.”
“Then please do so. We can’t turn to guessing if quick decisions have to be made.”
“Lieutenant Greyhead.” He raised his voice. This had to be the last time that he had to explain the situation to this ignorant pedant:
“I do not have time for that. You must leave and let me do my work!”

Several engineers were throwing them nervous glances and there were whispers in the background.
Again the neutral voice of the general translator did the speaking, but the low growl in the Hirumarians throat sounded like rocks crashing and grinding against each other. Several people jumped up and took some steps aside, their hands hovering over their communicator badges.
“Cooperating with operations is your duty. Are you telling me that you are refusing to do that?” he thundered.

The half circle around them broke up as one of the senior officers came jogging towards them.
“Reiki!” The Irish man gave the huge cat of prey a pat on the back and grinned widely. “LtJg Greyhead you are definitely one of the taller officers aboard and still I never see you coming when you check up on us.” He held his hand out for the PADD: “What can I do for you?”
With a short wave of his hand he sent the others back to work, indicating that he would handle this situation. “I have entrusted Lt Andrew Garcia with very urgent repairs. But I could spare a cadet to do preliminary simulations so that you have some numbers to work with. We can repeat the simulations in a couple of days to obtain more accurate results. Would that be sufficient?”
Reiki whose posture and voice and already gone back to normal nodded: “Yes, it would. Thank you Sir.” He turned and left.

Lt Garcia returned preoccupation and anger showing in his face. “Sir, I must apologize but I have already enough on my hands. He can’t expect me to…”
The older man gave him a comforting smile : “Garcia. You aren’t going to win any diplomatic rewards, but there also won’t be a complaint in your file either. This chap isn’t of the vengeful kind. – But you should look upon Reiki Greyhead as a device which is working very efficiently for its intended purpose but does tolerate careless handling. Next time there is a problem try a by-pass instead of the big wooden hammer.”

At the day nursery there was the usual happy hubbub going on. While Ltjg Greyhead was talking to Ens Clara Meyers, Ms Middletons assistant teacher, he was a rock in a colourful flock of young children of different species. He did not mind that in the least, knowing that his sensitive whiskers were out of their reach.

“Ens Meyers I regret to tell you that I have to cancel all your holosuite reservations for at least two weeks. We need them all for officer training, simulations and various other purposes.” A Betazoid toddler was for his long tail. It was so typical of humanoid children to think that anything covered in soft fur would not be dangerous.
“But I could offer you to adjust one of the nursery room’s environmental conditions in a way that they resemble the weather down on the planet. We can also replicate some moderate amounts of snow.”

The Betazoid was after his tail again. When he absent-mindly twitched it out of her reach, the little girl gave a delighted squeak and persued it all the harder. When she finally managed to get hold of it, Greyhead resigned and let her have it.
Trying to concentrate on his conversation he went on: “In addition to that I think it should be possible to mark off a larger area in one of the cargo bays to create a playground were they can vent their energy while the holosuites are blocked.”

Ens Meyes smiled happily back at him: “This is a very good idea, Ltjg Greyhead. I think this will be an adventure of them and keep them busy for at least two weeks. Thank you for your effort!” Being a nursery school teacher she was very good at reading body language and also had a large knowledge about what was tolerable for which species. She knew when she could let the children play and when she needed to intervene. She saw that the Hirumarian was totally relaxed about children playing around him and with him.
“Ltjg Greyhead, you should really come and visit us more often.”

Reiki watched the little girl who was still fondly cuddling his tail. “Children onboard of starships see so many species on a daily basis that they are not nervous around me. I really like the feeling of this. They also remind me of a time when I was new to this universe and needed my parents’ and other people’s affection and guidance. I’m grateful that I was looked after so well and like to give something back by following their example.”

Clara Meyers picked the toddler up giving her some other toy to play with. “Yes. Isn’t it nice to think back to a time when we were all so innocent?”
Reiki tilted his head: “Innocence depends to a great extent on who is judging. -- Problem is, Ensign, by your standards there was never a time when my mind was innocent.”

When he left the little girl waved after him from Meyers’ arms: “Good-bye Fluffy!”

 

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