Soccer Mom

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 5:27am by Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Alexandra Alves MD & Veronica Kiley
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:31pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

ON

Mindo uttered a stream of swear words as he exited the turbolift and turned the corner into Sickbay. His arm was dead red and part of his uniform was slightly burned.

As he entered the room, he noticed everything was pretty quiet, and he began looking for someone, anyone, who could help him.

"Hello?" he called.

"Hello.", Veronica stepped out from behind a desk, where she was waiting for her mom to show up. The girl looked at the newcomer with a truly curious glance. She couldn't exactly place him anywhere, as he was wearing a uniform, which only grown-ups do, yet, he was almost a foot shorter than her. Truly intriguing, she thought.

Mindo was now very confused. "Are you the doctor?" he asked the eight-year-old, aware the question sounded very stupid.

"Errr.... no.", the girl shook her head, still curious about who the strange newcomer might be, "My mom is a doctor. She told me she'll be here soon."

"Oh," said Mindo. "I guess I'll wait for her." Mindo winced at the burning pain and wondered what kind of doctor leaves a small child alone in a sickbay with potentially sick or injured people. He pondered this during the awkward silence that followed their exchange.

Alexandra arrived back to sickbay just in this moment, to find the newcomer with apparent burn injuries. She was away for a few minutes to get a report, leaving sickbay in the capable hands of Nurse Renora, who apparently disappeared somewhere - probably finding some work to do in the examination room in the back. Also present, was her daughter, who visited her mom after school was out for the afternoon. She looked at Alex wide-eyed, indicating their strange guest.

"Oh, hello...", the doctor quickly snapped, "I'm sorry. I was just picking up some reports...", she said quickly, "I don't think we've met. I'm Doctor Alves.", she introduced herself, while she ran to get a tricorder and examine the patient, "Please, step over here, sir.", she indicated a diagnostic bed, "What happened?"

"A power conduit disagreed with me," said Mindo, approaching the bed. He always hated this part of visiting sickbay. Activating his LEGs apparatus, Mindo hovered up to the bed. He turned them off then and sat down. "I'm Mindo," he said. "Chief Engineer of this flying deathtrap... er, forget I said that last part," he added, glancing at the little girl. "The Pandora is a perfectly safe ship and nothing bad ever happens here. Ow!" he said, reacting to the light touch of the doctor.

"You see! I told you, it's an awful place.", Veronica said, folding her arms, with the face of someone who has just won a heavy argument. Meanwhile, she found it intriguing how the strange man hovered up to the bed.

"Don't be silly.", the doctor told her daughter, while she hovered over Mindo's injuries with the tricorder, "Believe it or not, this is your lucky day, Mr. Mindo.", she said, "Despite its appearance, and the apparent pain, it's nothing I couldn't fix quick and easy.", she explained, "Just promise me, you keep away from exploding conduits in the near future."

"I only make promises I can keep, Doctor," Mindo replied, examining his arm.

Alex walked to a desk and picked up a dermal regenerator. Getting back to Mindo, she started to heal his arm. "It won't take long.", she explained, then glanced at Veronica, "So, I suppose you've met my daughter."

"Er, yes," said Mindo, looking down at the precocious child. "We briefly met. I didn't catch her name though..."

"Come on, introduce yourself.", the doctor turned to her daughter, while healing the engineer's arm.

"I'm Veronica.", the girl looked at the weird man, then, got an idea, "If you're the chief engineer, can you make this ship blow up?", she asked, "So, we can go back to the Benecia with my mom. That's a much better ship."

Mindo cocked a smile. "You clearly haven't been to the arcade yet. Did the Benecia have any pinball tables?"

"Don't be silly.", Alexandra looked at her daughter and shook her head.

"Pinball tables?", Veronica said with a curious look, "What is that?"

Mindo's eyes lit up. "It's a game, where a metal ball rolls around on a table with lights and bumpers. You have to keep the ball from rolling down the center of the table. You use flippers to keep the ball alive. The longer the ball stays alive, the more points you get! It's great fun, and it's not the only game we have in the arcade!"

"I... I never ever played such.", the girl said, now even more curious, "Mooom! Can I try pinball?"

"If you'd like to.", the doctor shrugged with a gentle smile, "Maybe Mr. Mindo can serve as your teacher.", she then added, glancing at her patient, "Definately a better way for him to use his talents than blowing things up."

"And despite popular belief in this room," Mindo added, "my job mainly consists of making things not blow up."

"That's what all engineers say.", Alex said, firmly tongue-in-cheek.

"Pinball sounds fun.", Veronica claimed, "Do you know anything about soccer?", she then asked from the chief engineer.

"Is that the Earth sport that's usually called 'Football?'" Mindo asked. He'd heard the word soccer and knew it was some kind of sport, but he didn't know if it was that one Earth sport with the two names.

"Yes! Yes!", the girl shouted enthusiastically, "It's actually called football.", she explained, "Soccer is another name for it."

"Oh!" said Mindo. "Then in that case, yes I know a few things about soccer. Our security chief, Lieutenant Griffin, showed me the sport and I've been sort of following it. Do you like to play?"

"She likes to play?", the doctor said with a smile, "That's possibly the greatest understatement in the universe."

Veronica hesistated for a moment, before she could reply, then, like if she was stating the absolute obvious, said, "Yes. I like to play."

"Very cool," said Mindo.

"I'm gonna be the greatest player in the galaxy.", the girl claimed with utmost certainty, then, added, "Even better than my mom."

Mindo looked up at the good doctor and grinned. "Even better than your mom?" he said with great amusement.

"Oh, well... I played when I was... younger.", Alex shook her head with a shyish, embarassed smile, "My dear daughter often tends to exaggerate my football talents, however."

"Don't listen to her.", Veronica whispered to the engineer, "She's the best player ever."

Mindo nodded. "So, doctor, did you play professionally?"

"I played in the high school team, then the Academy squad.", she explained, not really eager on this topic.

"She played left winger. I play the same position.", the girl quickly added, "And she was team captain."

"A doctor and a captain!" said Mindo. "You must be Supermom!"

"No, no!", the doctor quickly snapped, "I'm quite ordinary.", she shook her head.

Mindo examined his newly-healed arm. "No one's 'quite ordinary' on the Pandora, Doctor," he said. "That's what makes this such an exciting ship!"

"Maybe you should try to convince Ms. I Wanna Go Back to the Benecia Because the Pandora Sucks about that.", she smiled and glanced at her daughter, while she finished 'stitching up' Mindo's arm.

"She'll come round," said Mindo, giving a small wink to Veronica. "See you at the pinball table!" he added before hopping off the bed.

Hearing those words, the girl quickly rushed to her mom, shouting "Can I? Can I? Can I play pinball?"

"Of course.", Alex nodded with a smile, "But only after you're done with your homework."

OFF