Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vanessa Slade (CNS) in XO office Vanessa meets the second half of the M-Team

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Magnús Pétursson (First Officer) in XO office Vanessa meets the second half of the M-Team

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vanessa Slade (CNS) in XO office Vanessa meets the second half of the M-Team
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Vanessa Slade had spent the past two weeks on the Genesis and was still feeling as lost as when she stepped foot on the ship. She had convinced herself the ship was just a floating small town but forgot two important things about small towns: Everyone knew your business and everyone wanted you out of their business. It wasn’t that the crew was not nice. She had made plenty of friends so far on the ship. She had met Tony the bartender however it did not do much to instill trust if she spent most of her off-duty hours swilling back Sam Adams. There was Shelley Davidson the comms crewman who waffled between threatening to not put through another comm call from Vanessa’s family to spending hours flirting with Vanessa’s two brothers Dylan and Dane. Of course, there was Kesh, who Vanessa adored and was the first real friend she had made on the ship. The problem however was Vanessa had no idea what to do with her downtime. With her family, there was always something going on. With all the community programs going on it filled the rest of her hours. She would figure out the balance later but what was first and foremost was getting to know the command team better.

Her main role on the ship was crew health. She could do that in her sleep. Her secondary duty was helping out the command team in diplomatic settings where picking up the nuances of an individual’s behavior could provide the CO and XO more input on how they addressed situations. It was in this area of her job Vanessa needed some work. To be of any help she needed to first know how to read the nuances of the XO and CO’s behaviors. This was why she was standing outside the door to the XO. Asking him to come to her official felt too official. Asking the man to meet her for a beer in the lounge sounded way too personal. Since she hadn’t naturally run into the man in a public situation, coming to his office felt like the most casual way to get to know him. Reaching up, Vanessa palmed the door chime to announce she was at his office.

No sooner had her hand left the pad on the door, her phone trilled out the slightly older remake of the song Help by the Betazoid Band the Blister Beetles. “Oh my god, you have to be kidding me. Now,” Vanessa rolled her eyes pulling out her personal communicator. The name on the device was not a shock. It was why she categorized her ringtones. Too many people went by common names, so the lyrics Help me get my feet back on the ground, Won’t you please, please help me told Vanessa it was Angie Parker. Looking at the door, Vanessa quickly answered the call. It was not like she had any other choice. The woman only called when it was an actual emergency.

“Hey Angie,” Vanessa said already holding up a finger as if the woman on the other line could see the gesture indicating Vanessa needed to say something.

“Oh my god Vanessa you need to help me,” Angie spoke in a hurried, whisper. “I have no idea what to do.” Instead of the call staying only verbal, the screen instantly changed to visual mode.

The urgency of the woman’s tone and the fact she looked to be hiding in a corner of the room instantly took Vanessa’s attention off the impending door opening and squarely onto the woman on the other end of the call. “Angie, what’s going on?”

“So I am doing the home inspection for the Bobby Fisher foster case and these people are crazy. How did they even get past the interview,” Angie panned the camera around the room.

The site made Vanessa raise an eyebrow and her mouth drop open. “Angie....was that a…chicken,” her voice rose a few octaves clearly expressing Vanessa’s own shock.

Vanessa Slade Counselor

“Yes Angie, was that a Chicken?” The very amused voice of Magnus Karlson said suddenly” He was standing in the now open door to his office, leaning casually against the doorway arms crossed, a wry smile on his face. He wore his duty uniform unzipped revealing the grey and red undershirt, his blond hair, grey at the temples was combed in an immaculate fashion.

XO

Vanessa’s mouth opened to begin to explain yet the image on the screen would take a lot longer than that to understand how Point A got to Point B. In the math equation of life they were at Point C and now had to balance the equation. Again Vanessa raised a finger to indicate she needed a moment but Angie intervened. Seeing the uniform and pips on his neck, Angie blindly assumed the man next to Vanessa was her boss and someone higher up in psychological services. Panning the camera around the room, Angie began to talk. “Yes, yes it is sir and it is not the only one. I have been told that is Goldie the chicken lives in the basement but only comes up in the mornings for a stroll with the other ten chickens and a rooster who lives in the yard. Do we have a ruling about poultry as pets in foster home situations or,” Angie let her voice trail off?

Vanessa’s hand dropped and moved to her side reflexively grabbing the loose material of the XO’s unzipped uniform as if trying to find something to give her balance. Like a train wreck one could not tear their eyes from, the visual on the screen showed far more things just as concerning than a chicken. Along the top of the room, replacing the crown moulding were hooks holding an assortment of masks, hats, wigs, and other facial accouterments. Below them were shelves laden with objects ranging from clown horns to gas masks and all other costume things in between. The furniture lined against the walls held what appeared to be an array of coats, shirts, and trousers spanning the history of Earth. Civil war coats, Greek togas, British colonial uniforms, African masks, Nordic furs, and Japanese kimonos were just a smattering of the things one could catch a glimpse of as the camera panned the room following Goldie the chicken as she walked across the floor. If one had a few weeks of spare time, they would find all the major eras of Earth’s history enclosed in the room.

“Oh my god they looked so normal,” she said to the camera and then looked back up at the XO. “They looked so normal. We had coffee and danish three times for several hours talking about what they wanted to get out of foster care and what they could offer. He was a librarian and she a school teacher not renegade thespians living in a home that doubles as a costume department for OMAP’s Hollywood division.” While this was not a problem for Lieutenant Commander Magnús Pétursson, it was a problem for Lt. j.g Vanessa Slade. She looked up at the dashing officer now peering over her shoulder at the circus of the home visit for one Bobby Fisher and could see the bemused expression on his face.

Glancing down at her fist still clenching his uniform in terror, Vanessa let it go and symbolically smoothed out the fabric as she struggled not to smile. “This is not funny,” she looked at Pétursson. The posture and state of his uniform along with his expression showed the man was dealing with this situation in a relaxed, slightly humorous perplexed calm. “It’s not,” she let out a small chuckle unable to not find some humor in the situation herself. It was not that the room was dangerous to the child. It was just a hoarder actor’s paradise. “If we put Bobby in there not only will he get a new set of parents but weekly therapy to deal with his future clown phobia from living in that room.”

Vanessa Slade

Magnus didn’t move as the flabbergasted young counselor and her friend babbled. He did raise an eyebrow at her grabbing his uniform but didn’t comment “This” He said indicating Vanessa and the communicator “Is the textbook definition of funny” He pointed at the screen “I mean the chicken” His tone was thoroughly amused “I do hope that you didn’t knock on my door to get child-rearing advice lieutenant.” His smile widened a fraction.

XO