A Hard Nut to Crack

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:18am by Lieutenant K'Laus
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:23pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: USS Pandora | Deck 5 | Turbolift

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Commander Janet Glyndar & Lieutenant K'Laus
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: USS Pandora | Deck 5 | Turbolift
Timeline:
Sun Jul 9th, 2017 @ 10:56am


One of the least favorite duties as the ship's Executive Officer was overseeing all the personnel aboard the starship Pandora. Personnel was her 'department' after all, though Captain Temple had been kind enough to let Janet ease into that aspect of her role of his First Officer on her own terms and at her own speed more or less. Though she had gotten more accustomed to it, the whole thing was still a strange new world for her. And perhaps arguably nothing aboard the USS Pandora was stranger than the crew. Whether it be herself, a purple eyed former clan Chieftan or the man child or child sized man in charge of the Engineering Department or perhaps the shape shifting creature she had come to know simply as Shae who headed the Scientific efforts of the starship? All of them were fairly peculiar. Though one face in particular had etched itself so sharply into Janet's mind.

When the USS Pandora's Chief Morale Officer, Francesca Merchant quickly transferred to another posting following a very brief stint on the Pandora, an empty void was left. Between Captain Temple, Dr. Oakley, and Janet herself, the trio had pulled their extra energy and efforts towards handling and evaluating crew morale. However, a starship like Pandora in the way Captain Temple wanted to run things really needed someone entirely dedicated to morale or seeing to the needs of the crew. It needed someone who could come to Janet and work closely with her to ensure everyone aboard had what they needed to be content or happy, able to perform their duties and do their jobs. When Lieutenant Merchant left, the USS Pandora got someone entirely different.

From the moment he was beamed aboard, the man was nothing if not a nightmare for Janet. He was uncivilized, dirty, sweaty, and blunt. Rude was accurate but did not quite do justice to the forcefulness of the man. He looked like a Klingon, smelt like a Klingon, smashed things like a Klingon, but had the eroticism of foreignness to him. Half Klingon. Half Talarian. Full on muscular stud, but she would be damned if she ever confessed to finding him even the least bit attractive. It sickened her to even think about the idea of the two of them ever....Oh hell no she thought at she got into the turbolift and tugged at the collar of her uniform. The hot flashes. She always blamed hot flashes when that feeling surged through her body. He's too.... she thought and struggled for a word. Savage the word came to her and made her feel guilty for even thinking it let alone ever using it in public to describe him. Those same words were used against her not that long ago. 'Savage' and 'Uncivilized' as though she were not able to be tamed or domesticated for Starfleet.

He was not Starfleet per se. However, he was aboard a Federation starship and given a commission. Lieutenant K'Laus came aboard to fill the vacancy left by Lieutenant Merchant albeit his title and the full extent of his duties differed greatly from hers. He was the Chief Supply Officer for the starship, but became de facto ship's Morale Officer. Janet could not say anything negative about the man's performance the past few weeks. He started getting more acquainted with the starship and how things ran. Though he made it loud and clear that he was not a fan of hers, preferring to cut her entirely out of the picture. On a few occasions she had caught him going to Lieutenant Commander Nash or Captain Temple rather than to her. His patriarchal ways made him nearly impossible to get along with. Let alone his taste in music.

That was the first thing aside from the fact he came aboard smelling like he had not bathed in weeks that people complained about. He was loud. Always loud in his quarters. He played his music way too high. It was always the same stuff too something absolutely dreadful from a Talarian composer or that god awful Klingon operatic music. How can he listen to that... she thought as the turbolift came to a halt and the doors opened. It was him. He was getting into the lift with her.

The tall half Klingon with long dark brown hair pulled back and tied into a loose ponytail, had the tail swept across his neck and dangling down his shoulder. He walked into the lift and stood with near perfect posture in cold silence. The two just awkwardly starred at her until he broke the silence “Kava nuts” he said in a gruff voice.

“Excuse me?” replied Janet looking up at the man perplexed by his random words.

He looked down at her and grunted. “Huyo has requested three shipments of Kava nuts” he said simply referring to Huyo the Pandora's Chef.

Janet snorted. Well, it is progress she thought. Usually he would have just gone to the Captain or Nash and told them she reasoned to herself. These were about the most words he had ever said to her unless you counted the agitated grunting and hissing noises he sometimes made. “I'll make a note of that. I'm sure we can just go to the Gamma Quadrant and find a lovely Vorta to sell us his Kava nuts” she said sarcastically.

“Highly unlikely” he replied.

She shook her head. “It was...I was being sarcastic, Lieutenant” she countered.

He starred at her blankly. “I've never met a Vorta with nuts” added the half Klingon.

She looked at him strangely. “What?” she said confused.

“They are cowards” he said with his own dry sense of humor.