“Completely understandable, ensign,” Pike replied. “I think we can sacrifice a salute for putting out a potential fire.
He could feel unease radiating from the ensign as she spoke of first impressions. Not wanting her to feel thrown into the spotlight and robbed of a chance to meet his approval, he offered a casual smile.
“Well, I never did fully believe in the whole “one chance to make a first impression” thing. If you can get that internal bio-scanner circuit board working again, you’ll make me and the staff in Sickbay happy.”
Alright, so … apparently pretty cool. Thera shot another sideways look, this one more assessing. “That’s a relief, sir.” Added just a little bit quickly, one hand rubbing across the back of her neck as another side of ‘first impressions’ jumped to mind.
Pike would know, right? Maybe right then he didn’t connect it to her, but he would have read her file, seen that as far as Starfleet was concerned this was her second chance rather than her first. But then … she exhaled in a huff, that was just another reason to make good on it while she could.
“Frankly, Captain,” As if it was her nature to speak any other way, “the whole board needs to be replaced. If I requisition one, can I stamp a priority on it with your name?”
Pike’s brow furrowed as he thought aloud. “The whole board? We just launched from drydock a week ago! How the hell could we have a whole circuit board fail?” He let out a sigh and ran his hand over his face.
He met Thera’s eyes and said, “Yes; put in a requisition for it and let them know you have priority authorization from me. I’ll make sure Engineering is aware of it so Hemmer doesn’t give you a hard time.”
Pike smiled as he added, “He still might grumble about it, but that’s how he usually is.”
“Good. See you there.” With that, Pike left Pardalis to her task.
Over the next 18 hours, the captain was pleased to hear that Thera had deftly handled the circuit panel issue and had even managed to impress Chief Engineer Hemmer, which was no small feat.
By 1830 hours after he last saw Ensign Pardalis, his executive officers and the others he’d invited had arrived in his quarters for dinner. Pike had a playlist of his favorite music playing, and everyone was pitching in to either prepare food or drinks, or set places at the table.
When Pike heard the chime, he came to the door and was pleased to see Thera waiting.
“Ensign Pardalis! Welcome! Come on in and grab a drink.”
Well, this was new. Ish. It wasn’t that Thera had never been invited to some soirée with senior officers, especially back in the day, but it had been rare, and not since she’d been back at the Academy. And she could safely say she hadn’t been to one featuring her CO wearing an apron before.
Sheknew she blinked, suspected the surprise was clear on her face if only for a second or two before turning into a smile. “Thank you, sir.” As far as she was concerned she was still ‘new’ herself, still feeling out the boundaries, and until she knew them better she’d err on the side of caution. Likewise her dress; ‘casual’ was just her off-duty uniform, tunic replaced with a light jacket, and as she glanced around the room she thought that seemed about right.
It also, as she stepped through into Pike’s quarters, gave her a hint of something else, and she turned to look at him again.
“Everyone seems to be helping out, sir, is there anything I can do?”
The captain was simultaneously sauteing seasoned beef and pollo asado in sizzling pans when he heard Thera’s offer of help.
“Yes! If you could, uh, move those bowls of fixings to the bar over there, I’d appreciate it.” Chris pointed to several large bowls of taco fixings.
“It’s Taco Tuesday!” he announced. “At least, I think it’s Tuesday.” He let out a chuckle and shrugged a shoulder. “Even if it isn’t, any day’s good for tacos.”
“Damn, that chicken smells amazing,” Una sighed happily as she grabbed the tortilla steamer.
“Yeah, until you douse it with habanero sauce,” Chris remarked.
“I have refined tastes!” Una stated in her defense.
“I’m surprised you have ANY taste, with that stuff.” He looked up again and saw Thera returning to the kitchen area.
“Make sure you grab a drink or a snack and relax, Ensign,” Pike said, smiling kindly. “I didn’t invite you just to put food out, after all.”
Pike’s brow furrowed as he thought aloud. “The whole board? We just launched from drydock a week ago! How the hell could we have a whole circuit board fail?” He let out a sigh and ran his hand over his face.
He met Thera’s eyes and said, “Yes; put in a requisition for it and let them know you have priority authorization from me. I’ll make sure Engineering is aware of it so Hemmer doesn’t give you a hard time.”
Pike smiled as he added, “He still might grumble about it, but that’s how he usually is.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” The nod Thera gave back was brisk, reminiscent of the the parade-ground, but her thoughts were too busy to notice. Pulling out her comm she sent off the request - sooner done, sooner fulfilled - before coming back to the matter at hand.
“It’s not actually the whole board that’s gone, sir,” She corrected, peering into the panel again. “It’ll just be quicker for Sickbay to replace it, then we can take our time figuring what went wrong with this one.” The burnt wires were cooling now, and she went back in with screwdriver in hand.
“Also,” A hint of a return smile as she worked, “engineers are required to take Grumbling at the Academy … it’s a minor in our third and fourth years …”
Captain Pike let out a quiet laugh. “That explains a lot, Ensign.” He watched Thera work for another few seconds. He appreciated her dedication as well as her attitude; she was one of many who comprised what he considered the finest crew in Starfleet.
“Submit a report on your findings to me and Dr. M’Benga so you can get this done. Anything you need, you’ll get, and if you get any pushback, let me know personally, Ensign.”
Pike began to walk away so he could leave the young officer to her work, but paused after a few steps, turning to look at her again. “Oh, and Miss Pardalis,” he called out, “I’d like you to join me and my senior staff for our next dinner, tomorrow night; 1900 hours. And, no matter what anyone tells you, it’s casual.” He smirked as he remembered his last dinner, with Cadet Uhura showing up in her dress uniform. Leave it to Ortegas to prank the new blood.
“I tend to.” Shaking her head she had to concede that there was certainly more to her friend than met the eye. “If you don’t want the man then pass on a good word for me,” she said it all in jest.
There was a smile as Adam came running to her the pup turning to quickly be prancing at their heels. She managed to coax the ribbon out of it’s mouth and back to Adam. Signing to him that they could keep playing for a bit longer.
“You are too kind to me.” With a half hearted gesture to the rest of the city, she continued. “It is a bigger pond here at the least. I will take a step out into it again one day.”
“Mm …” A contemplative sort of sound, accompanied by a casual wrinkle of her nose. “He seems quite sweet, but … I’m older, and on paper at least I’m further up the ladder at the Museum. It wouldn’t be a fair match.” Not to mention she didn’t want responsibility of diverting a naive young man to a dalliance she already knew wouldn’t last.
But on the other hand … her eyebrow twitched, and she gave Claire a thoughtful sideways look, “If you’re serious, I could … arrange an introduction. Maybe take Adam off to a new exhibition while you two talk?”
An almost scandalous suggestion if you asked the correct people, but those cofrrect people weren’t friends on a bench with the spring breeze in their hair. “He really does seem like a good fellow. He’s just … not for me.”
Her ears burned at the suggestion. A shy laugh coming out as she looked back from the city. The more she gave thought to the idea the more she didn’t want to swat it down.
“One simple conversation and a walk around the fossils couldn’t do any harm..,” she trailed off. “And if anything I could ease the good man off of the desire to trail after you.”
She kept one eye on the boy and his pup. Weary of the shallow lake and any dips in the grass that could trip him up. For now he was bouncing along using a new ribbon to play tug-of-war with the friend.
“Oh it has been a challenge. Trying to explain to him that he can not have all the sweets that the bakeries have been making up, at least the jewelry is on higher shelves,” she answered. A laugh in her words. “Charlie certainly loves the ribbons though.”
There was a shake of her head at the next. “Not too many admirers choose to chase after a woman already caring for a child. Maybe in a few years once the household no longer needs me.”
“I’ve seen that blonde man that handles the dinosaur fossils giving you sweet looks… think he could be one of the secret letter writers?”
“Young Mr Buxton?” Thera turned to look at Claire with a grin, “Emphasis on the ‘young’? Well …” She wrinkled her nose, “He’s in his 20s, I think, but the phrase ‘age is just a number’ sometimes applies both ways.” The palaeontology intern wasn’t a child, but as far as she could gather he had come from a rich family, and straight from Eton to working in the museum, without much life experience in between.
Whichcould mean … oh dear. Thera’s eyebrows raised, and she had to concede, “You may just have a point.”
She turned her attention briefly back to the field, where Charlie had won the tug of war and was galloping off with the ribbon and Adam in pursuit, then back to Claire, slightly offended on her friend’s behalf. “I might suggest that any man who’s put off by a lady with steady employment and a sharp mind isn’t worth troubling about in the first place.”
“I tend too.” Shaking her head she had to concede that there was certainley more to her friend than met the eye. “If you don’t want the man then pass on a good word for me,” she said it all in jest.
There was a smile as Adam came running to her the pup turning to quickly be prancing at their heels. She managed to coax the ribbon out of it’s mouth and back to Adam. Signing to him that they could keep playing for a bit longer.
“You are too kind to me.” With a half hearted gesture to the rest of the city, she continued. “It is a bigger pond here at the least. I will take a step out into it again one day.”
