Word of the Day: Temptation

Posted on 19 Oct 2016 @ 10:40pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant JG Alexandra DuQuesne
Edited on on 19 Oct 2016 @ 10:42pm

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Captain's Ready Room, Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: MD -1: 0945 hours

Having just arrived, Alex left her duffel bag and other personal effects with the quartermaster staff, and decided to find the Captain to report in.

"Computer," she commanded, "Locate Captain Cowell."

The computer warbled as it always did when given a request. It took the Arizona's computer just a longer than normal to come up with an answer but nevertheless proffered the response, "Captain Cowell is on the Bridge."

"Then the Bridge is where I shall go." Alex muttered to herself as she made her way to the nearest turbolift. Once inside she commanded the lift to take her to the Bridge. It didn't take too long to get there, which is probably why they call them turbolifts she mused. She stepped off the lift and onto the Sovereign class bridge. She'd never been on a Sovereign class before, she was so tempted to look at every console, check out every nook and every cranny. So very tempted. But she figured that the current officers would probably not appreciate someone poking her head into their duties. Plus she needed to she the Captain.

She approached the Ready Room door and touched the Call button. She awaited the response.

"What?" was the only reply that came from the door.

One of the people manning a console rolled their eyes as if there was something going on that seemed to be almost routine, "Just walk in, he doesn't answer the door chime with anything but that... unless you ring it twice... then he just asks if you know how doors work..."

Alex raised an eyebrow, she was mighty tempted to push the call button again, but instead, pushed the open button and walked in.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Alexandra DuQuesne reporting for duty sir." she stood at attention in front of the captain's desk, pronouncing Lieutenant in the traditionally British fashion; 'Leftenant', and her notoriously difficult surname, as 'doo-kain'.

Captain Nathan Cowell looked up from the book he held in his hand, gave the woman an appraising once over, then stabbed his nearby bookmark into it before tossing it gruffly on the desk. He motioned for the woman to take a seat and watched her as she did so. When she looked decently settled, the Old Man leaned back in his chair and started to rock ever so slightly.

"You don't look like a physician, so I'm going to say you're a scientist," the Captain said after giving the matter a little thought.

"Aye, you'd be correct." Alex said, her Welsh accent coming through. "I'm your new Assistant Chief Scientist in fact."

"Well... given the reputation of our Chief Science Officer," Nathan grumbled, "You may see a lot more bridge duty and just action in general than Spots. Think you can handle that?"

"Excitedly so," she grinned, and added "Sir." She paused a moment, "but may I ask, why is that? What reputation? Something I need to be aware of?"

"Spots was my Science Chief before the last boat exploded... he's been... difficult to nail down since then. Probably something to do with the trauma of losing some damn fine people... damn good friends. I understand it, to a point, but sometimes it gets on my nerves that he likes to play ghost. At least if you're willing to pick up the slack for him when he's being moody, I don't need to hunt him down every time I need someone from the department to handle things," the Captain explained.

"Good to know. You can count on me Captain." Alex decided not to ask about the previous ship, or the circumstances under which it was destroyed. Despite her curiosity there were actually some things she was not tempted to know. "Is there anything else I should know? Our mission, any crew issues, particularly pertaining to the science department?"

"If you're in the mood, brush up on Delta Quadrant species and their technology. Make yourself a subject matter expert if you can, that way you'll have something to bring to the table when we need it. About the best way you can be ready for this trip, since you're in the theories business more than anything," Nathan explained.

"Understood." she paused, the temptation to ask was too great, "Captain, I have to ask, how does an El Aurian end up with a human name?"

"You live somewhere long enough, you find ways to blend in," the Old Man said rather vaguely, "Can't hide on Earth for 200 some odd years with a name that doesn't seem like it belongs. And the less questions people asked about you back then, the less hassles you had."

"But why Earth?" Alex asked, her curiosity overriding her politeness.

"You ever move somewhere as a kid you didn't want to go? Happens to everyone, even El-Aurians," the man said bluntly.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Alex replied.

"Well, there you go," Capt. Cowell said, as if it settled the question acceptably.

"Indeed." Alex agreed, cryptically.

"You done asking questions, Lieutenant?" the Old Man asked with a hint of impatience.

"For now," Alex said, with a hint of playfulness, "If there's nothing else I'll get to my duties."

Nathan reached back down and pulled his book off the desk, cracking it back open in the spot the bookmark had been placed in. A few seconds passed before the Captain waved the woman off silently, as if the fact that he had started doing something else wasn't hint enough.