I want to be the very best / Like no one ever was

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:07am by Lieutenant John Sandoval & Veronica Kiley
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:44pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Diplomatic Office; Holodeck Two
Timeline: The day after "Trying Something New"

ON:

It was just after noon, and John Sandoval was planning to eat a quiet meal in his office. Most of his staff had left to eat together, aside from Crewman Liane Marcoux, his administrative assistant, who needed to finish assembling a comprehensive duty roster and calendar for him.

It was Liane who, from her desk, saw the door to the diplomatic office slide open and, much to her surprise and delight, saw a small child enter. “Hello!” she said with a smile to their guest.

Veronica was a little shy, and quite nervous as she slowly walked in. She wasn't sure if she'd find that certain Mr. Sandoval here, or if the man would talk to her at all. Maybe he'll scare her away and tell her to mind her own business elsewhere or something. Her mom said Mr. Sandoval is a pleasant, good-hearted fellow, and she usually trusted her mother's judgement, but still, grownups can be deceiving sometimes. Neverthless, she took a few steps through the door, when she suddenly got addressed by someone. It was a female voice, so, apparently not the Sandoval person. She felt more nervous now.

"Hello! Excuse me, lady... I'm looking for... a Mister Sandoval..."

Liane couldn’t help but giggle at the adorable child looking for her boss. She was reminded of her niece back on Earth. “Mister Sandoval is in his office. Give me a second please?” She tapped her commbadge. “Marcoux to Sandoval. I have that roster you asked for.”

John’s voice came seemingly out of nowhere. “Thank you, Liane. Can you bring it in here? Then go have lunch.”

“Aye, sir.” Liane closed the channel, stood up, and walked around her desk with a PADD in her hand. “Why don’t you bring this to him? He’ll be so happy to get it, and then you’ll be able to talk to him.”

Veronica looked at the woman suspiciously, but she accepted the offer. "Alright." she mumbled, as she took a PADD and headed towards the door indicated. She quietly tapped on the door, and then walked in, unsure if this was a good idea or not. "Hello... Mr. Sandoval?"

John originally looked up to where Liane's eyes would be, but saw only the empty space of the open door. His peripheral vision drew his eye down, where he saw the wild mane of curly black hair, which he immediately recognized. This little girl was related to Alexandra. Probably her daughter.

"Hello there!" he said with a warm smile. "Is that PADD for me? Let me guess: you're my new Assistant Department Head."

"Assistant Department Head?" the girl looked at the man with a puzzled face. She had to make a meaning of those words. Searching her mind for any information, she recalled that her mom might've used that term when she served on the Benecia. She was an Assistant Department Head. So, that was a good thing. "Yes, I am." finally she spoke up, and gave the PADD to Sandoval with a proud smile on her face.

"Glad to hear it," John said, taking the PADD from her. He glanced at it, set it down, and stood from his chair. Cane in hand, he walked to the replicator and typed something into the console above it. The replicator produced a small pin, two silver wedges shaped like a V, with some gold between them. "You're Alexandra's daughter, right? Veronica Alves?"

The girl tilted her head, as she heard some familiar names. The man was right about her mom, and half her name. "Maaaybeeee." she said slowly. "My mom said you're a cool person." she then added quickly. "And her colleague, Doctor Aeryn, said you are cute."

John couldn’t help but grin. “Did they now? See, that’s the kind of useful information I need my Assistant Department Head to tell me.” He held up the pin he’d replicated. “Now, you need to be an officer to be Assistant Chief. One hundred years ago, this pin would mark someone as an Ensign. So for all of your help today, I’m making you an Honorary Ensign in the Diplomatic Department.” He passed the pin to Veronica. “Now, Ensign Alves, what brings you to my office today?” He stayed standing, but leaned against his desk.

Veronica looked at the pin the man handed to her. It looked quite pretty. The 'ceremony' reminded her of the event when her mom got promoted to full Lieutenant, and the captain of the Benecia pinned a new pip on her collar. She felt it was important. "Thank you, sir!" she shouted in a serious voice, proud of the fact that now that she was a honorary Ensign. She even forgot to tell his new-found superior officer her real surname. "My mission is... to ask you about holodeck programs, sir." she explained. "My mom... I mean, Doctor Alves told me that you know some truly awesome ones... sir."

John nodded. "A very important mission. Well, it is lunch break, so why don't we find an available holodeck." He picked up his cane and stood up straight. "Come along, Ensign." He started heading towards the door. "Just don't run on ahead. I can't keep up."

By that point, the girl already ran ahead, so she had to stop and walk back, so Mr. Sandoval could keep the pace. "Sorry... sorry, sir." she apologized, now careful to stay in tempo with the man. "I... I love football on the holodeck..."

“Your mother has told me,” John said. “She recently showed me the 1970 World Cup Final. I’m told you’re a big Italy fan?” He smiled widely as he teased her.

"That's my favorite!" the girl said enthusiastically. However, she quickly realized the deception in the man's question. "They're okay." she shrugged. "Mario... Doctor Moretti was a truly big Italy fan."

“Doctor Moretti?” John asked, curiously. He wasn’t sure who the name was to her.

"He was mom's boyfriend. After they separated with dad." Veronica explained. She knew her mom almost never mentioned the guy.

John nodded as they reached the holodeck. "Quick question. Do you prefer red or blue?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow. Grownups often asked silly questions like 'What's your favorite color?' or 'Did you eat all the chocolate?'. Neverthless, this was now in the line of duty. "Blue, sir." she said, curious what Mr. Sandoval had in hold for her.

"Computer," John said, "load program Sandoval Games One-Three, Version Blue. New game."

"Program complete, enter when ready."

The door opened and revealed a sunny day in a small town. One building was larger than the rest. A few people milled about, some of whom had strange looking creatures walking next to them.

"Computer, access the last time I played this game," John said. "Produce unit Friend One." Suddenly, on the ground appeared a red and white ball that could easily fit in one's hand. There was a small button on the ball's surface, where the two colours met. John picked it up and gently tossed it on the ground.

The ball cracked open, and from within materialized a one-foot-tall brown fennec fox with long ears and a bushy tail. "Ee-voi?" it said, a friendly smile on its face.

The girl was really curious as she stepped inside the holodeck. She couldn't hide her excitement, however, when she realized it was just a quiet small town inside, she felt quite disappointed, and looked at Mr. Sandoval, curious of what was this all about. Then, something truly interesting happened. The man grabbed a tiny red and white ball, and tossed it to the ground, making a weird little creature to appear. She was surprised to the point that she couldn't even speak up for a minute, gazing at the fox-like animal, taking a few steps cautious closer to it.

"What is it?" she looked at Mr. Sandoval with an utterly curious face. She knew about lots of different creatures and animals from various worlds, thanks to her mom's interest in exobiology, but it didn't resemble anything she's seen yet.

“This is my personal favourite,” John explained. “It’s an Eevee. In this game, you catch and train fictional animals called Pokémon. You train them up and use them to battle others so you can be a trainer champion. Don’t worry, they’re okay with it. Once you catch them, fighting for you is something they want to do.”

He knelt down beside his Eevee and stroked under its chin. The fox made a purring sound as he did. “But here’s the trick. You can’t actually catch all 151 of them in this game. You need to have a friend playing the other version. Luckily, Eevee and I have been playing the Red version. Every time you see me, we can discuss what we’ve caught, and make arrangements to trade.” He gestured for the girl to step closer to Eevee. “She’s friendly. You can pet her.”

“Eevoi?” the little brown creature added.

Veronica had to take a few minutes to comprehend all this. Fictional animals? 151 of them? Catch them and train them? She didn't exactly see the point in all that, but the concept seemed intriguing to her. She gazed at the fox-like creature with curious eyes. It seemed friendly enough, just as Mr. Sandoval said. So, she took a few steps closer and knelt down, so she could touch it.

"Hello, Eevee." she said quietly, as she gently stroked the creature's fur, then turned around to look at Mr. Sandoval. "Sooo... What does he do exactly?"

"Well, in the game, I trained him and similar creatures to fight. It's fun once you try it. As you play, they get stronger, and eventually change into other creatures. It's like a team sport. You train your best players, in this case these little guys, and pit them against others. They don't really get hurt in the fights; it's all very safe. Eventually your goal is to the best trainer in the land." John pointed to the large building. "The Professor can explain it better than I can. Why don't I introduce you to him?"

"Ah-hum." Veronica folded her arms, digesting all the information suddenly given to her. Described like this, it seemed like the job of a football coach, but with little fighting creatures. "So... there are other kinds of these creatures?" she then asked the next logical question. "Professor?" she looked up in the direction Mr. Sandoval indicated. "Okay."

John walked Veronica into the lab, where he knew the game would explain itself, giving her the necessary exposition to know how to play, and why it might be fun. He hoped she'd enjoy it as much as he did, and he hoped that a little extra joy in her life would help her stay aboard Pandora, and make Alexandra happier too.

OFF