A Helping Hand

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 3:45am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant Machwen Adaestron
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 6:54am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Captain's Ready Room

ON:

Nyx had managed to put the final items on the shelving unit in his office, carefully placing a framed picture of his grandparents on the top shelf. He moved it slightly to the right and then to the left, trying to capture just the right position for it to sit. He stood back and looked at his collection of knickknacks and personal items that now adorned the display, satisfied that it was the perfect array of memorabilia to remind him of home. Of course, just as he decided the shelf was perfect, he turned around to find another full crate of belongings still to be unpacked.

"Lort!" He cursed in Danish.

Just then his door chimed and Temple was grateful for the reprieve. "Come in!"

The automatic door slid open, and Ensign Machwen Adaestron walked in. In front of him he saw the Commander of the ship, who lived up to the expectations that he had of him. From what he had heard, Commander Temple was a tall and broad Scandinavian man. In front of him was exactly all of this. Thanks to his Betazoid abilities, Max sensed that the Commander was slightly annoyed. Max quickly glanced around the room, and could see that not everything was unpacked yet. However, Max decided that he should probably introduce himself before asking about the Commander's preparedness.

"Ensign Machwen Adaestron, reporting for duty," he said, standing up straight.

Nyx jumped over the remaining crate and stretched out his hand to shake with the Ensign, "Welcome Mr. Adaestron. I saw you last night at the welcome drinks but didn't get a chance to speak with you one on one."

Max took the outstretched hand and shook it firmly. It was important to make a good first impression, and Max wanted to make sure that this was a serious one, "Sorry about that, Captain, but I needed to go and unpack more."

"Have you settled into your quarters and met Doctor Kolbeck yet?" Nycolas enquired.

"I've finally managed to unpack everything and put everything in its place, but I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting Dr Kolbeck yet. Hopefully I'll have be able to soon."

Looking around some more, it appeared that the room was in a bit more mess than Max originally thought. "You seem annoyed, is the unpacking troubling you?" he asked.

Nyx raised an eyebrow, as a distant thought popped into his mind from the crew manifest. He smiled, "Ah, of course, our Assistant CMO is from Betazed. You know, my grandmother was Betazoid too, she tried to teach me some abilities but I guess it didn't stick."

"That's quite a shame," Max told Nyx, "It's quite a handy skill,"

Nyx nodded, "Just be careful about reading people without their permission, okay? Some folks don't like having empaths walking around in their minds."

Max chuckled, "I'll try, Captain, but it's not exactly something that you can turn off."

Max walked over to the box that hadn't been unpacked, "Would you like any help?" he asked.

Nycolas gave a smile to the young officer - so eager and helpful. He had been like that once himself, and there was still a part of him that just wanted to please others.

He walked over to the crate, giving his beard a nonchalant scratch. "I don't think I have room for it here. Mind giving me a hand?"

Nyx leaned down and grabbed the crate by one handle, indicating to Max to do the same.

Max walked over to the crate that Nyx had grabbed, and took hold of the other one. Once they were standing up, Max asked Nyx, "Are we taking this to your quarters?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," Nyx asked, probably a few moments too late as the pair were already heading to the door.

As the two men left the ready room, Max asked, "Are you interested at all in training your psionic abilities, Captain?"

Nyx laughed, "Well maybe if we could invent some kind of time travel device so I can be in too places at once. I mean, it's there and I've had some experiences but it's just not a priority at the moment."

"That's a shame, Commander," Max told Nyx, "It's nice to have people to practise with. I'm sure I'll be able to find someone else, though."

The two made it to the turbolift and Nycolas ordered the computer to take them down to the next deck, resting the heavy crate on the floor during the journey.

"Have you spoken to Doctor Oakley?" Nyx asked, "She's from Betazed too, and incredibly strong with her own abilities. I'd recommend speaking to her."

"Is she really?" Max asked, smiling at the thought of being able to have some telepathic communications again, "I'll have to have a chat with her.

The turbolift made its quick journey down to the Senior Crew Quarters and the two soon reached Temple's room. After lugging the crate those last few metres inside, Temple indicated to the Ensign to place it on the floor.

"Well thank you very much, Ensign," Temple smiled, giving the young officer a slap on the shoulder, "I appreciate your help."

"Not to worry, Captain," Max replied, "It's better than wandering around the ship."

The lights sprang to life as the two officers arrived in the room. Nyx hadn't spent much time in his quarters as yet, so there was still more to unpack. The crate went along with a few others Temple had tactically ignored. Being a senior quarters, his apartment had the full living and dining areas, a small office, and separate bedroom with bathroom.

Nyx moved over to the small bar within his dining area, "Are you on duty, Max? I owe you a drink after that."

"Only if you're certain, Captain," Max said, turning around to see the Captain at the bar, "but no, I'm not on duty."

"Excellent!" Temple replied with a jovial shrug. He quickly fixed the Ensign and himself a simple gin and tonic with a kick of raspberry. Something light for the young officer.

He held out the drink to Adaestron and smiled, "So what brought you to the Pandora, Machwen?"

"Thank you, Captain," Machwen smiled and took the drink from the Captain, and had a sip of it, not wanting to drink it too quickly. "I love exploring, and discovering new things. I reckon there could be a lot of medical discoveries to be made, and I'd like to be a part of that."

The drink that the captain had given Machwen was quite nice. He found that he liked Earth's raspberries, and also gin, which he understood came from juniper berries, another Earth fruit. Machwen decided that he would see if the captain retained any of his psionic abilities, even if he didn't seem interested in training them. "This drink is quite nice, thank you Captain," he said telepathically, not knowing if the captain would even hear it, and if so, if he would be able to reply telepathically.

Nyx laughed, "Well you've come to the right ship if you like to explore. I can only imagine all the discoveries to be made out there. I just hope we haven't bitten off more than we can chew with the Inconnu Expanse, it's going to be a dangerous trip."

"I'm sure we'll be okay," Machwen replied, "we've got a brilliant ship and a brilliant crew, led by a very experienced captain."

"I appreciate your confidence," Nyx smiled, finishing off his drink. "Did you enjoy that? I can make another if you're keen. Just not too many, I can't have it be said that the Captain likes getting people drunk now."

Machwen didn't know whether or not to have another drink. On the one hand, he had enjoyed the last one with the captain, whilst on the other, he didn't want to be intoxicated for when he went on duty. He decided to leave it to the captain. "I'll have one if you're having one," he told Nyx, still having a serious tone to his voice, worried about being too casual around the captain, "although I'll make sure not to scuff your reputation."

The captain laughed, "I'll make it a weak one then, how does that sound?" Nyx began shuffling around with bottles and glasses again, making sure to measure a little more tonic and less gin this time. "Here you go."

Machwen took the drink from captain, thanking him. "Thank you, I'll make sure to make this for myself when I'm off duty. It's quite nice."

Nyx reseated himself again on the lounge, "There will likely be a lot of away missions to unknown planets and stations. I know coming from a hospital background you have a lot of experience with emergency situations. But, should something go wrong, we will need back to basics, frontier medical support. Field training will be essential. If you need to, try to get as much training in field work in the Holodeck that you can."

"Indeed," Machwen replied, "I'll attempt to get as much training as possible. I'm quite used to holodecks, they can be quite useful." Machwen sat down on the lounge at the other end to the captain, "I've got a lot of experience with them, mainly with velocity. Do you play at all?" he asked the captain.

"Heck yeah I do," Nyx answered with a broad smile, "Next time we've got some time free we can hit up the Holodeck. Once you've done your training, of course." He added, always the Captain.

"That sounds good captain," Machwen said, a small smile forming on his face, "perhaps the time will allow me to practice."

Nyx looked at the never-dwindling pile of things to do and sighed. He would have to get this sorted before they reached the Expanse, there would be simply not time once the mission began. He considered asking the young Ensign for help but decided he'd burdened Max enough already. He looked back to the Medical Officer and sighed.

"Well I'd hate to cut this short there, Ensign, but Captain duties call." Nyx began with a shrug. "But we can definitely schedule in some Holodeck time in the next few days if you'd like?"

"Are you sure there's nothing else you'd like me to help you with?" Machwen asked, standing up from the settee, "I'll make sure to leave some time free for our game."

"I've troubled you enough, Ensign," Nyx replied, giving him another pat on the shoulder as he stood too, "And I'm sure Doctor Kolbeck is eager to meet you."

"I know I'm eager to meet him," Max told the Captain, "Permission to be dismissed?" he asked.

"Dismissed, Ensign. I'll see you on the holodeck," Nyx smiled to the young officer as he exited the room, giving him a wave as he departed.

As the door closed again, Temple turned and looked at his pile of personal belongings... then promptly decided to do something else.

OFF