Of Science and Half Vulcans

Posted on 27 Sep 2016 @ 3:27am by Lieutenant JG Braxton MacKenzie & Lieutenant JG K’yerak Nikolaev
Edited on on 28 Sep 2016 @ 6:19am

1,756 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo: Chief Science Officer's Office
Timeline: MD -01 1230 hours

[ON]

After that disgusting staff meeting and his run in with Jonas and Wiggins Braxton had a headache. He was glad his new Science Officer had not been at the meeting. At least there would be one officer that wouldn't think him a butt.

He walked over to the replicator ordered a mint tea and then sat down. He pulled up the file for K'yerak Nikolaev but had to re-read the first sentence fie times and then gave up and closed it. He'd just meet the man.

K'yerak pressed the door chime and walked in when the door opened.
"Lieutenant MacKenzie?" He asked smiling as he extended his right hand.

Braxton stood and shook the man's hand. "Yes. And you must be K'yerak. Welcome. Please have a seat."

"Most kind, thank you." K'yerak said looking around, then back to Braxton. "I must say, it's great being aboard a starship again."

He gave a nod. "Can I get you something to drink?" He noted that his new officer was Vulcan but he seemed to be smiling so Braxton guessed that he wasn't a very traditional Vulcan.

K'yerak shook his head. "Thank you, Lieutenant, but I am fine." His smile didn't fade. "Is there anything I can assist you with? Or answer any questions you may have?" His tone was sincere and calm.

Braxton smiled. "Well to be honest this is just a meet and greet at this point. Tell me a bit about yourself and your area of study." He sipped his mint tea his headache was threatening to split his skull but he'd deal with that later.

K'yerak nodded "Well, I have a PhD in astrophysics as well as mathematics. I am obviously not a typical Vulcan as I follow my human side. I have 3 children and I am a widower, I also am quite fond of my turtles." He said, his smile still on his face.

"Interesting. Turtles. Why turtles? What are their names?" Braxton asked.

"Turtles generally live a long and happy life. I call one Pythagoras and the other Surak. With how they seem to calculate things the names were adequate." K'terak's eyes looked deep into Braxton.

Braxton laughed. "Wonderful!" He set his tea down. "Well now you missed the big department meeting but the take away was I'm asking everyone to submit some rules they like to see in department and some fun things we can do. Also we talked about a project for the department but I will have to speak with the admiral and commander on that. So basic rule I don't stand on formality. Call me Braxton, Brax, or Mac."

"Well, Braxton, I will alternate with the names so that I become more familiar with them. You can call me K'yer I think you will find in my record that I don't stand on any formality either, which speaking of, do you have any concerns regarding my record?" K'yerak asked.

"Honestly I haven't read it yet. It's been an eventful day. Tell me about what you think I should have concerns over." He trusted his staff to tell him the truth.

K'yerak looked around thinking "Honestly, I have been known to correct people when they are wrong, scientifically. Also some Vulcans do not appreciate me rejecting a pure logical way of life. It usually doesn't cause too many problems but unfortunately it has caused a...disagreement here and there."

"Well you should always feel comfortable correcting mistakes. It's vital. As for pure logic it has its time and place but sometimes the gut and feeling works best." He said smiling.

"There must be an emotional passion about one's work and exploration." K'yerak said. "If there is anything you need me to do, I am at your disposal." He said sounding the mix of Vulcan and Human that he was.

Braxton smiled. "Wonderful. So have you had a chance to see the counselor and the doctor yet" He asked.

"Not presently, however they are my next two stops. I had to brush up on the regulations when coming aboard a starship." K'yerak gave a slight chuckle. "After that I will have to locate my quarters again."

Braxton smiled. "Frankly I could use the walk so if you don't mind the company I can give you a brief tour of the science and drop you off at medical."

"That sounds quite lovely." K'yerak said sincerely as he stood up.

"Great!" Braxton stood up and the two walked out of the office. "So science basically owns deck four. If you'll follow me down the hall." They walked a bit and entered the first set of doors to the right of the turbolift. "This is the Botany lab. We don't have a botanist yet but I have many plants there and have added many." As they entered the were hit by a bit of humidity and a lot of multi-coloured flowers and plans.

K'yerak looked around in awe. "For not having a botanist I see that hasn't stopped someone from taking care of the beautiful specimens." He leaned towards a few flowers and inhaling the scent.

Braxton smiled. "I love herbs and plants so I sneak in here every chance I get." He walked over to a plant. "Vulcan mint. As you know it's stronger then the earth kind and it's good for not only stomach trouble but for burns when soaked in water." He picked up a small tea pot and handed it to K'yerak. "A welcome gift for when you make your tea."

K'yerak was shocked as he held the intricate reliefs on the tea pot. "Thank you immensely." He said letting the emotion show. "If there is one thing that I take from my Vulcan heritage it's the love of tea. I must make us a batch, I brought several Vulcan blends."

He smiled. "Help yourself to the tea blends here as well." Let's continue. They exited the lab and pointed to the door across. "That's the Chief Research Officer's office. You will meet him at some point but not today. Not after what happened at the meeting." The walked a bit ways down. "This is the geology lab. No geologist but lots of samples in there." The entered the lab which was filled with wall to wall rock samples and crystal samples. "Beautiful isn't it?"

"Very much so." K'yerak looked at the exotic samples and looked at Braxton sensing the stress he was feeling from the 'meeting' that was mentioned a few times. "Do..." He stopped himself from finishing that question. "They are extremely lovely." He said instead.

Braxton smiled. "Always feel free to ask what you wish my friend." he said.

K'yerak looked Braxton in the eyes. "What happened at the meeting? Do you want to talk about it?" He said his voice in a low tone.

Braxton shrugged. "It is a long story and I'm sure that the whole ship will know by morning. But right now I must speak with the XO about it first. For now let's just finish the tour." Braxton pointed out the multi-purpose labs, the planetary science labs, and the meeting room. They then got on the turbo lift and headed to deck seven.

"I must say I love this ship, thank you for giving me the in depth tour that you did, it was grand." K'yerak said.

Braxton smiled. "There are a few more places to see." They stepped off the lift. "So this is deck seven and here you have he arboretum and the astrometrics lab as well as the observation lounge. They stopped in front of the astrometrics lab and entered. They walked over to the centre console and Braxton brought up the star charts and maps. "From here we can integrate long range sensors and communications for research and observation purposes."

"Extraordinary, I figured the Astrometrics would be smaller on this vessel." K'yerak's eyes almost glowed as he scanned every piece of data on the screen and sensor readings, this one room changed and made K'yerak's smile even larger.

Braxton smiled as he pulled up the night sky over Vulcan. "Beautiful isn't it?" He asked. "Home."

K'yerak smiled. "A home." He trailed off as he took the controls and enhanced the Aurora Borealis that changed color. "Oddly enough I miss the one on Earth, especially in my home town."

Braxton smiled. "Take us there then." He pointed to the controls and watched as K'yerak changed the scene before their eyes.

K'yerak changed a few settings temporarily to enhance and bolden the Aurora. "There we go, this is from a few years ago, when it was extremely intense." The view split showing what it looked like from Russia.

Braxton smiled as he looked on. "This is...wonderful." He truly was in awe. "You and I are a lot alike K'yerak. Both Vulcan in so many ways yet both pulled to our emotional sides, you Human and me Betazoid.

"Betazoid and Vulcan?" K'yerak's eyes widened "What an interesting combination. Any conflict between the two sides?" He asked curiously.

He smiled. "All the time. The Vulcan side is logical, matter of fact. The Betazoid side is free and more emotional. How about you. Do you every have trouble with your two sides?" He asked.

"Only when I went to the Vulcan Science Academy and served on a Vulcan crewed starship. It's always interesting, specifically because of my Vulcan side, for a while Vulcan's were incredibly jealous of humans." K'yerak said.

"Yeah never a dull moment." He laughed and clasped the man on the shoulder. "So tell me what brought you here? To the Galileo."

"I was bored with retirement, to be honest. As a scientist I realized research couldn't be done on Earth, it also helps when your children grow up and start their careers." K'yerak said "Plus teaching just wasn't what my passion was for."

"Good reason. Whatever brought you here I am glad that it did." He sighed. "Well my friend. I'll leave you at sickbay and then I've got a few things to do. Once again, welcome to the department."

"Thank you, you are most kind." K'yerak walked towards the sickbay doors "I suppose I get to be poked and prodded now, all this to study the stars." He said jokingly.

Braxton smiled. "One doesn't study the starts my friend. One soaks them into ones very soul. Good luck in sickbay." Braxton walked away leaving K'yerak to the doctors."

[OFF]

*******

Lt. JG Braxton MacKenzie
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG. K'yerak Nikolaev
Astrophysicist
USS Galileo.

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