Juggling

Posted on 20 Jun 2025 @ 7:18pm by Ensign Unknown 'Weirdo' & Captain Brynhild Kleim

1,484 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Miranda

So, back to the Odin it was, back into space after their more than strange, more than unsettling encounters on that world. He had settled back easily enough, still wearing the yellow of a security officer, since apparently nobody had seen it fit to revoke it. He'd made himself more than useful in that role during the situation where the natives had suddenly attacked them and they had been forced to fight for their lives. Such an unpleasant situation, he thought with an expression of distaste that sat ill upon his usually cheerful face.

He waved both the thought and the expression away with one hand. Changes, at least a change in command. He wondered what the new CO would be like, or if they'd have any interaction at all. After all, the paths of a CO and a not even officially assigned crewman rarely, if ever, crossed, at least under normal circumstances. Then again, this was the Odin, and what were 'normal circumstances' according to the Starfleet course materials was rarely normal here.

As it happened, this was the Odin...and the strange aura of the Odin did what it do. The new captain was walking the ship's corridors, making a point to take some time and learn the vessel that was her new command. It was her first command, after all, and so she wanted to make the most of these initial days. Soon, work would overcome all, and she was sure some strange happening or odd mission would come upon her, robbing her of free time like this...

And there it was, just around the corner. A man in a Starfleet uniform but with no pips or other symbols of rank, a mass of curls which looked like it could escape the hairtie which kept it back any moment now and sea-coloured eyes. He was literally juggling a bunch of PADDs, four or five of them, with a stylus in one hand. Occasionally he jotted down a quick note, tossing another PADD extra high to buy him a fraction of a second longer to do so. He was walking slowly and humming some undefined tune under his breath.

Brynhild maintained a very good sense of environmental awareness, despite not being an active fighter pilot for a while now--having turned to command. Still, even if her sense of such awareness was bad, it would've taken being downright deaf, dumb, and blind to miss the spectacle coming around the corner. She paused as she did, catching stick of the PADDs and the hair and the...

Did he just...throw...a PADD?

"Hello..." Brynna began, a little thrown off her usual stoicism for a moment.

The man looked up without breaking his rhythm, but when he saw who had spoken he quickly caught them and put them in a neat stack. He recognised her immediately, of course – two of the PADDs contained staff changes and personnel files to keep him up to date. He smiled at her, idly tucking the stylus he held in his other hand in the mass of curls. It stuck there like a strange hairpin.

"You must be the new captain!" he said with unfeigned enthusiasm. He always loved meeting new people, and trivia like rank or colour uniform were completely irrelevant in that. "Welcome to the USS Odin, Starfleet's least boring ship." Actually it was somewhere in the top three, as far as he could determine – he had been comparing fleet statistics of ships involved in incidents in the past year (PADD 3) and was determining the severity of those incidents by various criteria so he could make a definite ranking (PADD 4).

"I must be, indeed," she agreed with a faint laugh. "I believe I can identify you as well, though from what I've read... You don't have a proper name as yet?" This was a rather memorable note in the ship's records she had read, and that was saying something considering many memorable notes in those records...

"That's right. Well, of course the ship's systems required putting in a name because otherwise it prohibits trivia like assigned quarters, getting food and drinks from replicators and other such matters so they had to settle for one, but provided I had a name to begin with, that's lost along with everything else before I came here." It seems that with him now standing still he had taken to juggling words instead of PADDs.

"Quite," Brynna replied carefully. "And I believe you have been working with security of late?"

"Yes. Still unofficial as I haven't had the chance to do the official final exam of the Academy in a Starfleet facility, but I've completed all the available courses." Which included the advanced ones. It was a good thing that he discovered the open courses available from the Vulcan Science Academy or he'd get really bored. "Security department was a little shorthanded awhile ago, I'm sure you've read that in the reports."

The ship's new commander nodded. "I have, yes," she said. After all, she'd spent almost every moment of her life (or so it felt) since learning of her transfer just...reading and reading...and reading... "How are you liking the work? Will you want to continue with it after you've completed the final exam?"

He smiled again, that bright and eager grin. "Oh, the work is interesting, especially with the rather hectic times we've had recently. So yes, if at all possible I'd like to continue working here, it's a nice challenge. I kind of like challenges." And the universe was full of them.

That was a trait they shared, actually. "Then, you're free to continue where you're at. I'll see what I can do about speeding up getting your exam settled so you can fully integrate." She paused. "I imagine that you'll find plenty of challenges ahead as well, given that we'll be working with a system and species entirely new to us and trying to integrate Starfleet with Sal'kiir."

"Oh, yes. Merging cultures is always fun." The sea-coloured eyes, light blue and green like the shallows near the shore, sparkled. "Even though Starfleet has plenty of experience with integration, Sal'kiir has a very interesting structure which means that it'll have to happen on several different levels, each with their own set of challenges. I imagine it has the diplomats in a tizzy, too. As well as generating a nice little hill of PADDs on your desk as well, I warrant."

"It has, at that," Brynhild agreed with a wry chuckle. It was difficult to argue with the truth, of course. Mind, she'd already had those mountains just from being new to the ship... "It sounds like you've been researching the Sal'kiirans?"

"Insofar as possible, since little is actually on file. So my 'research' mainly consisted of talking with the Sal'kiirian representative on board. Very fascinating. I like talking with people, you probably noticed. Not just to them – lots of people make that mistake. I mean, most people seem to fall into two groups, people who like to talk and people who like to listen. Some don't like either, and some," he gave a little wave, "like to do both." The sea-coloured eyes fixed on her as if he wondered in which category she would fall.

Brynna had to chuckle again, just a little. "I imagine I fall into the category of preferring to listen than to talk, although that is not always something allowed for commanders and captains to get away with."

The weird man nodded. "Ah, yes, the masks and burdens of command." There was a hint of something in his gaze, in his voice – and then it was gone again and the usual smile returned.

What a curious person... the captain thought. Outwardly, she nodded. "Indeed." She glanced off down the hallway a moment later. "Well, it has been an interesting conversation, but I fear I should be moving on. Much to do, being so new aboard and all."

"Of course, by all means!" He gave her a bow, a greeting which seemed to be from the past or from a different culture altogether. "I will leave you to your work and will continue with mine. If you ever want to have a tour of the ship to visit the more out of the way spots, let me know, I'll gladly show you around." During the hours when most people slept he had explored the ship from stem to stern and found quite some interesting things. Maybe, he suddenly thinks, he should make the same offer to Harva, though it might be hard for him to access some places.

"I appreciate that," she said, still with that curious half-smile. "I'll keep it in mind, thank you."

"Any time!" The man waves and strolls away, pulling the stylus from his hair. A few moments later the first PADDs start flying through the air again.

 

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