From: MFielding@aol.com
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 15:27:14 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Meanwhile, on the Bridge...
SD 90607.1824
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Biological Sciences Lab, Deck 5
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MD 7.1445
"All right, all right, *all right*!" cried Derek
Fielding, taking the extremely annoyed Karen Decker by the
shoulders and shaking her a bit. "Will you please be quiet
so I can explain this to you?"
"And how *dare* she call it *red*?" spluttered Decker,
her blue hair standing up on end. "It's *chili crimson*!"
"Karen," said Fielding quietly, "if you don't shut up
within the next two seconds, I am going to send you up to her
office, and you two can go hysterical *together*... how's
*that* for fun times?"
There was deadly silence in the room. Not even a
squeak from the biologists, and certainly no hint of noise
from Decker. Fielding sighed with relief.
"Resume your work, please," he said to the biologists,
then turned to Decker. "We're going to go take a look at the
Bridge, and we're going to have a nice little talk."
"Isn't Suvok supposed to be at Science Station Two?"
asked Decker. "I work *under* him, remember?"
"He -- uh -- claimed that he doesn't want to be a part
of the chain of command because it's not -- um -- logical for
his field of study. Go figure."
"Oh. Well, I'm not complaining," said Decker, and
followed Fielding out the door.
***** ***** *****
------
Bridge
------
MD 7.1500
"You know," said Decker, typing in some more commands
at her station, "you *could* have found a more... *private*
place to talk about this."
"It's just a bowl of soup," replied Fielding. "And,
besides, now that She is back, I have to make sure *everything*
is running at advertized efficiency levels, and *then* some."
"*I* still say She has some nerve," grumbled Decker,
typing in another series of commands. "I mean, excuuuuuse me,
but I *like* to have my soup near my computer. I do my best
work when I'm not hungry."
"True, but maybe you shouldn't have left the bowl on
the keypads?" suggested Fielding gently. "I don't think Mr.
Sereh is going to be too understanding of that, either."
"Hmph." Decker decided to download some of the results
onto a PADD, just in case She should ask for the results.
"Anyway," she continued, "I don't see why she has to be so darn
upset about my poor bunny. And I thought she *approved* of
having students on board?"
"Chances are," said Fielding, nodding with approval
(ostensibly at the figures on the PADD, though his gaze was
a bit off), "she never expected to have to deal with so many
*incidents* in one week."
"Anyway, about my bunny," continued Decker stubbornly,
"it's not *my* fault some Ensign or other decided to cuddle
him in the first place, and the *second* time, well, that was
a *total* accident, you know? Craig just wanted to give it
a blue carrot to see if rabbits would fall for it, and the
bunny decided to take a walk. Good grief, you'd think we set
the whole place on *fire*, the way She was overreacting..."
Fielding was eloquently silent.
"Well, okay. *SO* the bio kids *did* torch the ether
container. But that was an accident! Sheesh, hasn't She
ever been a student? Didn't *She* make any mistakes?!?"
"Probably not," mumbled Fielding. "Not in a science
lab, anyway." He began to configure the station to begin
searches for various elements. "Her command style is, shall
we say, a bit... *dramatic*... no, she's not an officer."
He punched in some data with unnecessary force. "Her problem
is that if we don't do *everything* to text -- HER text -- the
sparks begin to fly. Some of us can hack it most of the time.
I think I survived because my cousin is sort of like that, too.
"No," he added, seeing Decker's pained expression, "not
*anything* as bad as La Donna... but certainly good at the
Search for Perfection. I guess competitive artistic gymnastics
did it to her."
"Hey, you think maybe Our Problem was involved with
that kind of thing?" Decker sounded hopeful.
"No," said Fielding; then, in a lower voice, "start
typing in stuff and look busy. Bridge traffic going up."
Decker nodded and began to type diligently.
"I don't think she was," Fielding continued his
exposition. "She doesn't have the physique, and she doesn't
quite have the personality. No... She is just *weird*.
That's all there is to it."
"I can't believe she *sulked* at you, Derek."
"I can," said Fielding. "Some people never get to
be kids until they grow up, like 'Lisa; and others leaad
sheltered lives, and the minute they get out into the real
world, they find out that they don't know how to be adults.
Melissa was like that for a while... again, nothing
like La Prima, but certainly went for The Temper whenever she
could. And you know what the problem is?"
"What? She sulked you into getting her expensive
presents or something?"
"No, nothing like that. Problem is, it's easy to
respond at *their* level. If she started acting like
a little kid, I'd start *treating* her like a little kid.
'Course, it was a lot easier to do that with 'Lisa... she's
shorter than all the ten-year-olds I know."
"You're not making this up just to bore me with one
of your long, convoluted stories, are you?" asked Decker
suspiciously, entering more parameters into her console.
"No, of course I'm not making it up," said Fielding.
"Congenital health problems. She's still quite short. Anyway,
as I was saying, it was easy to treat her like a little kid.
And Anne? She's not even a little kid... it's more like
dealing with an over-emotional dysfunctional computer."
"Speak of the..." muttered Decker.
"What? Is She here?" asked Fielding nervously.
"No, the system just locked."
"Great." Fielding looked at the console. "Hmmmm...
Fielding to Comp Sci."
[Dominick here, Sir,] gulped a voice.
"Uh... Mr. Dominick... are you all right?"
[Just fine, Sir.] He sounded normal now. He must have
quickly swallowed a piece of gum or something. [What can we
do for you today?]
Wallace Dominick sounded much more relaxed today.
Derek bet that most of it had to do with Anne's (supposed, he
thought gloomily) absence.
"Karen Decker is having a problem with Science Station
Two here on the Bridge... care to give us some advice here?"
[Station Two? Let's see.] Dominick disappeared for a
few seconds, and his voice was a lot smaller and a bit
frightened when he returned. [We're -- uh -- running some
system integrity checks on that connection, Sir. It's been
taken off-line. We didn't expect anyone there...]
"It's all right, Mr. Dominick," assured Fielding. "No
problem. We normally wouldn't be here, so you were right to
run the check now. Now we won't have to worry about getting
a new Station installed."
[Thank you, Sir... I'm very sorry, Sir... and...]
there was a bit of a question in his voice.
"Sure, we can just keep this between the three of us,"
said Fielding. "After all, She's not technically on duty
right now, anyway, and you weren't breaching protocol."
Dominick's voice sounded quite cheerful as he
signed off. Fielding sighed with relief. If Anne had been
handling this, he thought, Dominick would probably have been
burnt toast by now.
"Derek," said Decker, sitting down at her Station,
"there's something wrong with our Prima Donna, isn't there?
She wasn't this wacko when we met her. I mean, yeah, she was
*weird*, but not *this* WEIRD, y'know?"
"I was thinking the same thing," said Fielding. He
made sure that his own station was on-line before completing
the final commands for his program. "Sure, she was a bit...
odd, but nothing like what she is now. I kind of hope she
*doesn't* put on a good show for... the Counselor. The rest
of the ship must think we're totally a flop by now, given her
ability to do such *wonderful* PR for us."
"Beautiful, isn't she?" teased Decker.
"Don't even think about it!" said Fielding with some
alarm. "I have no plans to marry now, and if I *do* get
married, it *certainly* will *not* be to that curly-haired
Prima Donna from Loony Tunes."
"I didn't mean Anne, you goof! I meant the Counselor!
Didn't you notice everyone staring at her? Well, all the
*men*, anyway," said Decker.
"Sure, I noticed," mumbled Fielding. "And yes, she
*is* beautiful." He turned away from Decker and busily typed
in some commands. "I sure feel sorry for her, though..."
"Why? Afraid that Anne might drive her crazy?"
"You got it on the first try," was the response.
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
LTjg Fielding/LTjg Decker
aCSciO/ RM
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
<<NRPG>>
Okay, okay, so it didn't advance the plot any... but while the
MLD and Physical Sciences are working their (non-existent)
tails off with regard to the mission, I thought Decker and
Fielding's views should be heard. <EG>
Amy, Takako: No, the off-line-ness of Station Two is *not* a
regularly occurring thing; it won't happen again
for a long time. :)
Chris: Ummm, I need your help here (NRP-wise)... my PC is
writing her own posts... and it's driving everybody
up the wall! :( (including Yours Truly)
James: Thought that might give you some perspective on how
the department sees her... and yes, Fielding *might*
turn out to have some ideas where Stavay might look
for background information... *he's* a good scientist
*and* a friendly sort. ;)
Naomi: Nice post! I liked the names you gave the platoons! :)
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