Making Amends

Posted on 19 Nov 2014 @ 9:00pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson & Lieutenant Elijah Williams IV, M.Sc.

1,603 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Corridor
Timeline: MD-10, 1000 Hrs

[ ON ]

Elijah saw the man, a brief glimpse and his eyes narrowed. He started down the corridor, his footsteps heavy as he stalked toward the other man. "Petty Officer Hudson" he called out. "Could you hold up a moment please?"

Ellsworth jumped at the sound of his name. He'd been yelled at plenty by Dr. Van Zyl lately. Or, sort of. That VOICE thing he used didn't really allow for yelling but between the voice it produced and the emotions he sensed from the man, it had the same effect as yelling. But this voice was different, and vaguely familiar... When he turned around, he was shocked to see Elijah Williams, the ship's geologist, at the other end of the corridor. He hadn't spoken to him since before the beginning of the mission during their somewhat terse initial encounter when Ellsworth imagined he'd scared the poor guy off completely; who knew what kind of supplies he'd been needing and never filed a requisition request for?

"Hi, Elijah!" Ellsworth said, giving a little nervous wave.

Elijah caught up to the man and just stared for a moment as he held out a PaDD to the shorter man. "On this PaDD was a requisition sent to you before we left for Lyshan and it never got filled." Okay so he knew that when the two first met, he was totally intimidated by the quartermaster. Ellsworth Hudson just came on too strong, it was an official meeting - somewhat - not a first date. But after the meeting and once onboard, he had filed a request for supplies and that request went unfulfilled. He huffed and calmed himself totally down.

Ellsworth shrank a little bit, taking the PADD from Elijah. He'd only recently come to appreciate the difference in his station and that of an officer. They'd impressed it upon him in training, of course, but half that stuff had gone in one ear and out the other. It hadn't really seemed important at the time. But now he had Pieter Van Zyl breathing down his neck, seemingly day and night, so a lot of things were starting to sink in.

"Uh," the Betazoid stammered, looking from the PADD to the geologist. He feels way different, he thought to himself while looking over the information he'd been handed. He remembered the requisition and blushed. "Oh. I remember this... I couldn't fulfill the requisition because of the tribble quarantine. We had all the cargo on lock down so they wouldn't get into things, and then when the quarantine was lifted it turns out we didn't have any of these..." Ellsworth looked down at the PADD again, frowned at the long scientific name, and then looked back up at Elijah. "...things, but I'm not allowed to bring anything else on board until we arrive at starbase and the ship goes through decontamination. I, uh, just forgot to send all that along to you. Sir."

He gave a sheepish little grin, accessed the central inventory system, entered into his own files and clicked off a few commands. The PADD beeped as it received the notification Ellsworth had just released, and the young quartermaster handed it back over to the lieutenant.

Elijah nodded at the explanation, though he was unsure if that should have happened. It seemed to him like a quartermaster would have been more on top of it but he was too intimidated by Petty Officer Hudson to question. "Alright, thank you I understand." He took a hold of the PaDD and tucked it under his arm.

Ellsworth felt the uncertainty and an attending feeling of guilt in his own mind; he was a pretty poor excuse for a quartermaster, he knew, but he was trying. Usually. Shifting from foot to foot, he suddenly felt anxious that Elijah might leave so he took a stumbling half-step toward him. "Wait! Uh... Look. I know I'm a little... Um, well." He cleared his throat, figuring he should have determined what he was going to say before he actually opened his mouth. "I just mean, we didn't exactly get off on the right foot when you came aboard the ship - you know - and I didn't really mean for that to happen." He frowned at his word choice, feeling like he was making up half-baked excuses for himself. "Anyway, you seem really nice, Lieutenant Williams, and everyone else says you're really nice so... I just didn't want there to be some bad thing around us, over that...or over this...."

He had been surprised by the admission and Elijah found himself at a loss for words in the current moment. After a moment, he said, "Thank you, I appreciate that. But, I should apologize as well. I mean I'm not used to people, guys, coming on so... strong."

Ellsworth smirked. "I don't think you have anything to apologize for. I was the one who overstepped, but thank you for being gracious about it. You probably could have had me written up or something. I'm still not very good at this Starfleet thing... Um, anyway, I was wondering if you had some time to help me with a project? I know it's probably not the best time to be asking for favors - right after I forgot to process your cargo and all - but it's not for me! It's for the ship."

"Alright," Elijah said slowly. He was reluctant to agree but if it was for the ship... "So what kind of project are you thinking about?"

"Well, so the tribbles pretty much ate everything in the arboretum, right? Even some of the rocks! I don't know why, maybe they had something organic in them. I don't know anything about rocks," Ellsworth said, gushing in excitement but stumbling a little bit over his words like he'd been unprepared for Elijah to agree to help him. "Um, right, so, like I said... I don't know anything about rocks! But I have to redesign the arboretum, and I thought maybe if you're not busy you could help me a little bit? I don't know what sort of rocks go where... Or soil. You know about soil, right? It's all just dirt to me..."

Elijah stood there a moment, first in surprise that he would be asked to work on such a project. Second, because he was surprised Ellsworth Hudson was going to take on such a project. He had wondered if it was going to be half-assed. But, he had to admit that at least Ellsworth was taking the initiative, there was something in that. He found himself nodding and nodded. "Oh believe me, it's not just dirt," he replied. "Sure, I will help."

"Great!" Ellsworth said, reaching out and squeezing Elijah's upper arm in excitement. His hand shot back quickly, like the other man had been on fire, and he cleared his throat. Inappropriate, Mr. Hudson, he thought to himself. "So, Dr. Van Zyl is helping me, too, cuz he's the botanist and he knows about plants. I just know how to order stuff. And use the industrial replicators, too. But all that should come later, right? Cuz we need to design the underlying rocks and soils and stuff before we can plant anything." He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and mumbled. "I guess that's kinda obvious, though."

"Yeah, but that is okay," Elijah said. "Do you have the schematics? I can also get you soil samples and and rock samples as well." Honestly, he was getting excited about doing this. It wasn't everyday he got to help design an arboretum. "Most soil can support most plants and grasses. So, we will be good to go when Doctor Van Zyl is ready to give suggestions for plants."

Ellsworth cleared his throat, embarrassed enough that his cheeks were starting to turn red. "Uh, schematics? Like...engineering schematics? ...tree schematics?"

Elijah nodded, he somehow knew just by looking at Ellsworth that there were no schematics. "Yes, like schematics of the arboretum, the water system, the environmental system, the lighting system..."

"Um," Ellsworth stammered. Hadn't they covered something about schematics in one of his engineering courses? It was the one with that really cute red-headed Ardanan boy that had the line of freckles running from cheekbone to cheekbone and those crystal blue eyes... "Well, I, uh... I can probably get those things from the computer, right? Okay, yes. The computer. I'll get the schematics together and send them to you so you can think about samples, and I'll forward those samples to Dr. Van Zyl and we'll work together on soil and plants and stuff."

"Sure, that would be fine," Elijah said. "I look forward to it, to working with you, Mister Hudson." He offered the slightly shorter man a smile.

Ellsworth smiled back. They weren't exactly skipping down the corridor, scheduling sleepovers and signing up for group sports together, but it was a good start. Or, rather, a good restart.

"D'you wanna grab lunch, Eee...uh...er, Lieutenant Williams?" the young Betazoid asked, trying not to let the embarrassment of his slip in decorum show. It would just be a lot easier on the ship if everyone used first names, he thought. "I'm still trying to get the taste of those rations out of my mouth, and I hate to eat alone. The silence and the sound of my own chewing gets on my nerves."

Elijah thought for a moment and then smiled. He nodded, "Sure, why not."

OFF:

Lieutenant Elijah Williams, IV
Geologist
USS Galileo

&

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

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