Who Morales the Morale Officer?

Posted on 23 Jun 2020 @ 11:40pm by Captain Mallory Thorne & Lieutenant JG Grarl

713 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Ab Intra
Timeline: MD 01 - 1220 hours

LTJG Grarl shuffled towards the Captain's office. He was nervous, more nervous than usual. Nervous was more or less his baseline. Presently he had to go meet face to face with the Captain of this ship, so perhaps what he was feeling was more akin to a blood-sweating panic for the more even tempered folks of the universe.

Grarl had started out his tenure aboard the Odin as an engineer, and he was quite bad at it. He worked diligently, motivated by a distressing need to please his superiors and his coworkers. He didn't want to let anyone down ever. Eventually someone must have noticed his noticed his real talents and decided to move him into a new career - Morale Officer. That, or they noticed his distinct lack of talents in engineering. Either way it amounted to the same thing, and he was on his way to meet his death. Captain. On his way to meet his Captain.

He was focusing very hard on utilizing all the coping skills he had learned in order to control himself when he was experiencing fear type responses. As a californiflaxian he had peculiar symptoms when he was afraid, nervous, anxious, or panicked.

Grarl's death march was over. He was at the door. He pressed the door chime button.

As it so happened, it was not Grarl's lucky day...

The captain was seated behind her desk, elbows on the desktop and fingers rubbing at her temples. The chime made her wince. She had a terrible headache. Something said she should go see the doctor about it, but something else said to...not... For some reason, she was listening to the latter rather than the former and this was the mood that she was in when she called a half-strangled, "Enter!"

Somehow Grarl mustered the courage to obey and enter. He stepped inside and started to mutter. "Cap...I...," and then it happened. Grarl's face and neck inflated to cartoonish proportions. This was the primary symptom of a cumgobblerlin's fear response. He gawped blankly at the Captain through his puffy eyes.

Mal lifted her head wearily, but then her eyes went wide and she sat up straight. "What in the hell is going on?!" It had been a while since she'd served with a Denobulan--THAT'S THE NAME--and so she had forgotten this one particular species idiosyncrasy.

"I'm nervous," Grarl muttered with his puffed up mouth. "Face puffs when nervous. Denobulan." he said, though with his face and mouth so effected it sounded more like he had said "Glomgobulen"

The captain's head started throbbing again and she clutched slightly at her temple. "Am I supposed to know you?"

Grarl's face felt as though it swelled a bit more. This was not going well. "Morale officer," he said. He looked at the Captain's blank stare and decided to try on a big smile. He hoped it wasn't terrifying. "I am good at making people happy."

"Aha..." Mal drawled, then squinted one eye as a thought tried to piece the increasing haze around her brain. Oh, right, she had signed an order about this. The CEO put in for a transfer, was it? "Oh. Right. Now I remember. Ah, well, welcome to the job. I can't imagine it'll be an easy one with this ship."

"With a face like this how can I fail to amuse?" Grarl asked.

That... That actually did make her laugh. It was a small laugh and somewhat pained, but it was sincere. "I certainly hope you don't intend to spend all your time that way or you might struggle to fit through doors," she countered with a wincing smile.

"Oh, but I hear there are crewmen with bigger heads than mine! No it's rather temporary, I will manage. Thank you, Captain," Grarl said.

"Indeed," Mal said feebly. She paused for a moment, thinking she heard a different voice and looking around to see if there was anyone else here...but no, there wasn't. She blinked, winced again, and turned back to Grarl. "Well, from here on, you'll report in to Lieutenant Rahl, the chief counselor. But do you, ah, have any questions for me now?"

"Just one, ma'am. Know anyone in need of cheering up?" he asked.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Captain Mallory Thorne & Junior Lieutenant Grarl

 

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