271: Remedial

By Blakeslee, Reece and Grace
80430.17
Concurrent with At the Top of the Tracks, Looking Down

-=Quarters of the Blakeslee Family: USS Serendipity=-


"I don't know why they want me to work in Science." Zander lamented, as he read the Captain's most recent orders once again. "I mean, I know next to nothing about science stuff. The height of my scientific achievement was learning how to make those cheesy volcanoes in primary school." He continued as he worked to dislodge one of his sons, who was hanging from the arm of his chair.

Samthia smiled at him from across the room as she was setting the table for dinner. She knew he was exaggerating mightily. All Starfleet officers had to have a good working knowledge of at least the specific scientific rules of law which governed the operations of a starship. But she played along. "That is why the Captain is asking you to do this. So you will know something."

He set his son down before he looked back to his wife. "Your right of course, like always." He smiled. "Hey, no, no. Put that down!"

He jumped up from the chair and retrieved a glass ornament from the hands of Thomas. "Is this yours?" He asked, faking an irritated voice as he held up the glassware.

Thomas shook his head in a negative fashion.

Zander nodded his approval of the answer. "Do we touch things that do not belong to us?"

Once again the boy shook his head and also added softly. "No play."

Zander placed the ornament back onto the coffee table and tussled the boys short hair. "Very good, now go and play with you brother." Happy to have not gotten into to much trouble Thomas took off after Johannes, who, seeing him coming fled into their room.


"No jumping on that bed!" Zander called after them. He walked over and sat down at the table. "For the life of me I do not know how you handled them by yourself."

Samthia walked over and plopped into her husband's lap. "You forget how large my family is. Help was not in short supply."

He kissed her. "I prefer to believe that you are superwoman." He got a far off look. "Now if a can get you to wear a cape."

She laughed. "Go to work."


=^=


Zander walked into the main science laboratory. He looked around for Commander Reece and found him in his office in the back of the lab.

He knocked on the door frame. "Morning, Commander, I'm here for the cross-training."

"Hmm?" Reece looked up to see who it was.

"The cross-department training? That the Captain ordered?"

Reece's mind was immersed in his current task, so much so that he was having a difficult time even processing the words Zander was speaking to him. That, and the fact this was his first full day back on the job didn't help either.

"Captain..." He said slowly, as if the universal translator were broken.

"Zanh Liis?" Blakeslee said incredulously.

"Liis... Liisy! Right! The training thing! Come on in, dude." Reece looked back at his computer. "Computer save current project."

"What are you working on there, Commander?" Blakeslee looked at the screen, which seemed to contain the instructions and necessary tool list for the installation of a sliding glass window.

"Uh..." Reece stammered, not wanting to give Zander any information that may find its way back to Lair Kellyn. "Something for the arboretum."

"Of course. So where can we begin?"

Reece accessed the current short range and long range sensor scans on his computer, and turned the screen towards Blakeslee. "Science, Chapter one. Sensors are your friends!"

"Sensors? Like the Gateway system I designed? You know, the one that integrates the Serendipity and Alchemy's arrays?" Blakeslee asked.

"Ah, yes of course. But the ship has just entered a class four nebula, the ship can't make a stable warp field, and you are dead in the water. NOW what do you do? The Captain is screaming in your ear for a solution and all you've got is a pile of data. The most important part of my job is interpreting all that data that comes in. I want to go over the basics of astronomical phenomenon you may run into in your travels, so you are ready to deal with a problem when you do not have a Science guru, such as yours truly, around. . ."

Just as Zander had resigned himself to a boring morning spent pouring over dry sensor data, he was saved.

His combadge chirped.

[Operations to Blakeslee.]

"Blakeslee."

[I need your help with a little project. Can you meet me in cargo bay three?] TC Blane inquired.

"Sure, Commander, on my way." Zander grinned, then he mocked an expression of disappointment, thinking, *Sorry, Reece, we'll have to build that volcano another day.*

"Duty calls," he shrugged, as if there was nothing he could do about it no matter how much he wished there were.

"Okey dokey. You just stop back by before I have to turn in my paperwork, so I can convince Crinkles that you know the difference between a White Dwarf and a Yellow Giant! And here's a clue for you Chief, the first has nothing to do with Snow White and the second has nothing to do with the Brute Squad!" Reece admonished, wagging his index finger at Zander in a way that made him seem like a rumpled old schoolmarm. "Mind you, don't forget!"

Zander didn't realize this resemblance was due to the fact that one of Reece's previous hosts had been just that. A rumpled, spotted old schoolmarm.

"Yes Sir!" Zander saluted, making his escape.

As he headed into the lift on his way to seek out Blane, he realized that he didn't know what he'd been thinking- he had a much more attractive, if distracting, tutor available to him on the subject of Science than the Trill. Perhaps he could ask the Captain if there was some sort of proficiency test he could take instead of returning to Reece, and then he could ask Samthia to help him cover the necessary materials to pass it. *Yes,* Zander thought, *My day is looking up.*

"Cargo bay three."

=^=

The doors to Reece's lab slid open once more just after he had re-opened the schematic of his planned window into Lair's world- and he was so engrossed in completing the design so he could get to cutting the hole through the wall that it took him a moment to hear the voice in his head.

*Hey, I'm talkin' to you!* February thought again, but it was the sound of her laughter that got his attention. "Yeah, you." She added aloud. "You're up to something."

Reece switched off the display, out of habit, forgetting again just for a split second that he could have no secrets from her. "Me? No. Whatever do you mean?"

"Dabin Tristran Linas Reece!" She exclaimed, reaching out to tickle him. "You're so bad! Poor Kellyn. She's going to wish her office was adjacent to waste reclamation instead of your cave if you go through with this."

"Yeah well I'm only looking out for the safety of the ship. You have no idea what the madwoman is capable of. I've seen it!" He insisted. He reached out to grab her hand as she walked past. He continued speaking aloud- they were trying to work on remembering to do that in public and especially while on duty, having realized recently that when they just stood there silently having conversations that no one else could hear, it tended to put people off. "What are you up to today?"

"Psych eval." Bru frowned.

She didn't really want to get into much with the new Ship's Counselor- she had hashed and rehashed so much of her past with Jariel in recent times- and with the medical staff where needed, she felt there was nothing more to be gained from introspection at this particular moment. She was just finding her footing again- she did not want to allow the past a chance to creep back in and risk upsetting the applecart.

"This Ensign Tryst is a very interesting man. He didn't want to conduct the evaluation in his office. He asked where I feel most comfortable, and suggested we go there. I wanted to take him to the Magic Kingdom but the holodecks are all in use for training exercises." She continued. "So, I'm going to give him a crochet lesson instead."

"Arboretum?"

"No." Bru shuffled her feet. That was a space a little too dear to her heart- a little too personally sacred- for her to allow herself to be psychoanalyzed in it by a complete stranger.

Reece had not yet had his evaluation either, and was not particularly interested in getting to it in a hurry, either. "Well have a good time. Then you can think to me what you think of our new shrink tonight." He winked at her and squeezed her hand before releasing it.

"I may be home a little late," she advised. "In addition to finishing up the Defensive flight courses after my evaluation, I am supposed to get re-certified in self-defense and then introduce our new CONN officer Hok to the Alchemy via simulation. Too much to do, not enough hours in the day."

"Don't worry, I'm swamped too." Reece sighed. "I'll come find you at some point. To say goodnight, at the very least."

*See that you do, Dabin Reece.* She thought to him. *And behave yourself!*

"Oh I will," Reece mumbled softly after she'd gone. He turned back to the schematics of the window, and put on the finishing touches on. "In my fashion."

---------------------
Lt. Zander Blakeslee
Chief Tactical Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

Commander Dabin Reece
Chief Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

Lt. February Grace
Senior Flight Controller
USS Serendipity/Alchemy