The Science Department

Posted on Thu Jul 7th, 2011 @ 6:50am by Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper

1,205 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Taylforth
Location: The Science Department
Timeline: Backpost before Departure

Wondering what to expect, Jimmy entered the Science department. As it was still shoreleave, not much was happening. A young cadet was doing an experiment, possibly homework, while the right side of the room was occupied with Engineers which were doing maintenance work.

Though there was no sign of the Ranger's downtime abetting, Birsi wasn't satisfied with waiting until the ship was reactivated to dabble in her prospective venues. She'd suffered some uncomfortable ignorance moments with Captain Halliwell and Sisqua, and while unreasonable to think she wouldn't have any more, she knew that she could mitigate some of the possibilities. Just because she would pass most of her time on-duty alone in Astrometrics didn't mean she wouldn't ever see or work with anyone else in Sciences. So while the odds sided against finding anyone in the main lab, she popped in after Sisqua left for her shift just to see. . .

"Good afternoon everyone." While Jimmy's forte wasn't in raising his voice, he did get the attention. "I am Lieutenant Cooper, and I will be your Chief Science Officer. I look forward to working with you all."

Someone immediately replied, denying Birsi the chance to fully process her new department head's introduction.

"You might plan to do that a time or two more, Lieutenant. Because at the moment, our manifest looks a lot like this room; more empty space than space." The response resonated from the somewhat obscure far right corner, and struck a familiar chord with Birsi that was strummed all the more determinedly when its bearer cut the distance between himself and Cooper to within an arm's length.

"Ensign Cameron Monroe. I'm your new Gamma Shift Science Officer." The slender, dark-skinned ensign was the second of the pair that came into Sisqua and she's earlier spat. Despite his limited role and having since resolved that situation, Birsi wasn't terribly keen of meeting him fresh off of it. Hurriedly, she backpedaled out. Or at least that'd been the plan.

Instead, her third and most impacting incident of the day commenced. Having barely stepped into the room, a technician with a grav cart entering at the same time she moved to exit dealt her handball-honed athleticism the tandem of momentum and lack of presence. The handler sounded, "No, no, no!" much too late; when Birsi registered an obstruction at the back of her legs, she was already raining backwards with a sharp, breathy yelp metal-to-metal clamor quickly swallowed.

"Hello En. . ." Jimmy began when the crash occured. He immediately spun on his heels, with most of the science department looking startled at the door. Jimmy immediately realised what was happening, and, hair up in spikes, he ran towards the door, where a startled technician was wondering whether he should be more upset with the utter destruction of the equipment or the fact that a Bajoran woman was now on top of it. Undecidedly, he just stared open-mouthed.

Presently, Jimmy kneeled at the crewman, with Ensign Monroe close behind. "Crewman, are you all right?"

The end of her fall was punctuated by her head smacking something unforgiving. As much as it hurt, Birsi remained down more out of volition than pain.

"Yeah," she quipped in faint laughter, wiping her hands over her face. "My pride's already in intensive care for the day. . ."

Jimmy offered her his hand, not entirely sure what her pride had to do with it. "Can you stand? I could escort you to the infirmary. . ."

Birsi didn't feel overly rattled despite the moderate intensity with which her head throbbed. Far from the first time she'd taken a hard hit, Jimmy nonetheless provided a means by which to depart without having to address Monroe. Even if she didn't think herself terribly banged up, she needed to look into getting a physical anyway.

"Alright," she acknowledged before taking his hand. "Not sure the doctor will find any loose wires, though," she added, grinning and indicating herself with a upward roll of her eyes, "I think they're all off."

"I could offer a technician instead. . ." Jimmy nodded as he helped the crewman up.

In turn, Birsi laughed heartily enough that she dabbed a pang in her brow with her free palm. "Awful, Lieutenant," she offered in mocking reproach along with head-shaking she could perpetuate for only a moment. "But cute."

"Come on then, careful." Jimmy said as the crewman steadied herself. He then turned to Ensign Monroe, who seemed to be dying to say something, but had enough sense not to interrupt a senior officer. "Ensign Monroe, you have Science until I come back."

Monroe rose to the order with little more than an "Okay" that resided in no particular place on the emotional spectrum. Surprise? Frustration? Excitement? One could make a case for any or none whatsoever, a contextual bind his quiet retreat back into the lab didn't help. Meanwhile, the technician unfroze and muttered something about clumsy crewmen. As the panel he had been transporting had been bent beyond recognition, he just turned around with the grav cart towards one of the turbo lifts without really acknowledging either.

Birsi missed the rant since she'd already started down the corridor. Her head balked slightly more at her moving, yet remained manageable.

"Oh, miss?" Jimmy caught her up, "This way, please." He kindly directed her to the other side of the corridor, as she had been moving in the wrong direction

"And here I thought I was kidding about not being all here," the Bajoran darkly chuckled as she otherwise yielded to Jimmy's guidance.

Jimmy clumsily walked behind her, wondering whether to support her physically or just make sure she didn't hurt herself any more. "So, um, anyway. . ." he began, as they reached a branch in the corridors - fortunately (and perhaps, deliberately) sickbay wasn't too far from science. "I don't think I caught your name, miss. . .?"

"Sessan. Sessan Birsi." Tempting as it was to use her fall as a excuse to draw out answering, she'd already asserted that her pride was in the gutter for the day. She also didn't want another misunderstanding since as her department lead, Leutenant Cooper was much closer to home. Nothing about him up to this point suggested that she need worry about him holding something so trivial against her, but she wasn't going to tread those waters if she didn't have to.

"Jimmy Cooper, as you probably got from earlier." Jimmy said redundantly. "Well, here we are," he said as the sickbay door slid open. "You think you can manage from here?"

"I hope so," Birsi mused as she turned to face Jimmy. "But if it happens I can't walk a handful of steps without natural selection striking again, there's not a better place for it to happen, right?"

Jimmy couldn't suppress a grin. "Don't make me call in an emergency medical teleport!" He straightened his face, then continued, "Very well, crewman. Report to me when you are checked up."

"Yes, sir," she answered through a faint smile, relieved that at least one of her key interactions managed to go without a hitch.

OFF:

A post by
Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper
Chief Science Officer
USS Ranger

and

Crewman First Class Sessan Birsi
Stellar Cartographer
USS Ranger

 

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