You Can't Be Truly Rude Until You Understand Good Manners

Posted on 28 Jul 2014 @ 6:59pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Petty Officer 1st Class Threxa Shroll

1,432 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Arboretum
Timeline: MD 06 - 0611 hours

[ON]

Beneath the feigned sunrise of the holographic sky, Andreus Kohl could be seen kneeling in the grass of the arboretum. The Argelian had an air of contradiction about him. On one hand, Kohl was willfully oblivious to the green stains he was grinding into his uniform trousers. On the other, there was a tea service waiting behind him, spread out on an anti-grav cart. Kohl had his hands dug in the dirt, tending to the amethyst gladiolus, but his eyes had wandered skyward. He wasn't drawn to the sky itself, exactly, but his gaze followed a sha'vok that was flapping its wings overhead.

"Come back little sha'vok! Tribbles aren't scary, honest!"

Oblivious to the other inhabitant of the arboretum, Shroll trotted through, pair of tiny, green fluffballs in hand. She seemed less interested in the presences she could have been feeling and more interested in attempting to care for the flying creature that was absolutely frightened by... something. Shroll assumed it to be the tribbles, but it was likely to be some other being in the room entirely.

"It's okay! I just want to feed you!" She paused, eyestalks swiveling down toward the tribbles. "But I'm not feeding you to him. That'd be impolite."

From where he was kneeling, not all that far away, Kohl asked, "Ah, but would it be impolite to the tribble or to the sha'vok?"

Shroll gave a small squeak, nearly dropping the green lump of fuzz in her hands. She turned toward the sound of the voice, smiling wide. "I think it'd be impolite to the tribble the most. The sha'vok might need to be fed, but feeding him something that doesn't mean anyone any harm is just rude. I don't think sha'voks like tribble meat much anyway. There's just too much fuzz in the way."

"I see what you mean. And we certainly wouldn't want to be rude," Kohl playfully affirmed. He set down his trowel and clapped his hands together to brush away some of the soil. "Do you know," Kohl said, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. It's entirely my fault. Terribly rude of me. I'm called Andreus."

The Aenar tilted her head to one side, setting the tribble on her shoulder with a firm, yet gentle order to 'stay put.' Her eyestalks twitched in curiosity as she attempted to determine if she did in fact know the person behind the voice. "I don't believe we have, though I do remember you from the survey... sort of." She smiled sheepishly, shaking her head. "No no, things like this happen all the time. Too busy with work, yes? It's nice to meet you Andreus, I'm Threxa Shroll. Most people tend to call me Shroll, or find some nickname to go along with it."

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Shroll," Kohl said. He made his way to his feet --in a somewhat awkward and shambling manner-- and brushed some of the dirt off the knees of his trousers. Pleasantries behind them, he couldn't help himself from diving to his first question. "What has your experience of Galileo been like as a place to work?" he asked.

It was quite an odd question, but one Shroll didn't seem bothered by. Her smile remained, and one of her stalks curled inward as she continued her peppy tone. "Very interesting. I've only been on Nova vessels most of my career, so it's definitely not different to me. The science staff on this vessel, though, is actually quieter than most I've been around... and they all seem very disgruntled around tribbles."

"Thank you, Shroll," Kohl said, and he was entirely genuine in his thanks. He narrowed his eyes for a moment and then smiled in Shroll's direction, even if she couldn't see it for herself. "That is valuable feedback. Do you mind if I ask: did the science staff seem quiet even before the tribbles started clogging up the works?"

"... Feedback?" Head tilting to one side, the Aenar frowned. She hadn't missed something in part of Andreus' introduction, did she? "Ah... yes. It might be because I'm more commonly working Gamma shift though. It's difficult to socialize with people who are up when you're resting, I suppose."

Eventually, Kohl picked up on Shroll's mounting confusion. "I'm the Assistant Chief of the Science department. (Didn't I say?) I reckon it's my job to make sure you're getting the most out of your work here."

The Aenar's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, though that was difficult to determine, as her cheeks only tinted themselves with a light blue. "Oh! I'm sorry, Sir! How embarrassing! I should have guessed! See, this is what Gamma does to me!"

"No, please; there was no harm done," said Kohl. In fact, he insisted. "I don't stand on ceremony overly much. I don't expect you to either." --As if that was enough said on that matter, he enthusiastically went on-- "What have you been getting up to on Gamma shift?"

Shroll's curt nod nearly turned her into a slow-moving bobblehead for a long second, stopping when she realized she had to respond to him. Superior officer or not, it wouldn't have been polite to almost ignore the question. "Currently? Studying the tribbles and making absolutely certain they don't get out too far, or get eaten by a wary predator.... though I'm not sure what the plan is after we gather them all. There'll be an awful lot of tribbles."

As he considered Shroll's words, Kohl echoed, "An awful lot..." He folded his arms over his abdomen and narrowed his eyes at the resting Tribbles. Returning his gaze to Shroll's face, Kohl asked, "Are you familiar with any forms of Tribble contraception?"

"Tribble contraception? Oh boy, am I ever." Smiling, the Aenar hugged the tiny tribble close to her, ignoring it's tiny squeak of contentment. "Tribbles are like Earth rabbits. If you leave them alone for too long with the right type of food, or the wrong type of food depending on your opinion of the matter, you'll end up wondering exactly when one turned into fifty by the end of the day. The best form of 'contraception' with tribbles is to feed them the right foods and keep a good eye on them. Nothing sweet or candy-like, or they'll end up spouting out more before you're realizing what's going on. It's difficult to completely halt a tribble's reproductive cycle without harming the tribble itself. There are fascinating articles about it in the database, but most of the test subjects end up dead or very aggressive."

Kohl pulled a face, like he was physically struggling to even imagine something Shroll had just described. "How..." he started to say, "What would an aggressive Tribble even look like? How do they behave?"

Shroll's head tilted to the other side as she thought on the matter. "You know, sir. I have no idea. I imagine there'd have to be some sort of aggressive-appendage or some teeth involved, though I suppose a tribble could aggressively headbutt someone... Maybe it looks just like a normal tribble, but... shakes more."

Peering at Shroll's Tribble again --this time with far more suspicion behind his eyes-- Kohl said, "Yes... Yes, I suppose that would be very unsettling. Yes, let's try to avoid that."

"It'd take more than a little startling and jarring to get a tribble to turn aggressive. They're used to Klingon culture, after all. If anything can stay this cute and cuddly after many years of dealing with the Klingons, I think the rest of the world is safe in assuming that that race isn't going to turn aggressive anytime soon." She gave the tiny tribble in her arms a pat.

Kohl crouched back down on his knees beside the flower bed, and he breathed out a tensely held breath. "That's a relief," he quipped.

Shroll's smile returned, but not for long, as the tribble wriggled and squeaked at her, as if alarming her of something. "Oh, really little one?" She pouted. "I'm sorry, sir, but I have to go run through the Jeffries tubes. Apparently, the little one detects a large concentration of tribbles not far from here..."

"You'd better check it out," Kohl said, with some humour in his tone. He found his trowel, and he waved it at Shroll's little tribble. "If we're not careful, that little one might end up our new Captain!"


[OFF]


Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

PO 1rst Threxa Shroll
Zoologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Kita]

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