Something small and fluffy

Posted on Tue Dec 15th, 2020 @ 11:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Stoun

1,252 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Echoes Of An Empire
Location: Mess hall
Timeline: MD3 08:00

ON:

Mel was getting something to eat, trying to be sociable in the mess hall when she spotted the engineering chief.

"Chief Stoun, would you like to join me?" she asked. Just the person to bounce ideas off for her little "project".

Jon, who had been looking at a PADD was broken from his trance. "Ohh yeah, sure." He grabbed his plate of food and moved over to the table that the Doctor was sitting at. "Nice to see you again. Try the grey stuff, it is pretty good." He pointed at the mush that was on her plate. "How are you doing today?"

She felt better. Whatever was happening with Keiben now, that one intense kiss had kind of stabilized her somewhat. "I'm good," she settled on. "In fact I'm glad to see you. I had an idea for another hologramme in sickbay. A therapeutic one. I wondered if you might have some time to help me create it?

Also," she realized she had gone in all business. But she was actually excited about the idea of it if she was honest. "I'm sorry. How rude of me. More importantly. How are you settling in?"

"Oh I'm good. I finally got a chance to see my room last night, that was nice. Got in, grabbed a bite to eat then essentially fell asleep. Yesterday was the last of my long shifts for a while I hope." He smiled as he took another bite of the food on his plate. "What did you have in mind? I've got some experience with building and maintaining new holograms. Back in the Core of Engineers, we use them to send them into toxic conditions that we don't want to go into." He moved the peas on his plate around a bit. "Humanoid or other?"

"Thats good. Its really easy to get into the habit of working long shifts isn't it?

"Yeah it isn't but, gotta get the ship back together, with us getting into more of an operational posture I won't have to work as hard now and we've got a few more crew coming on board." He took another bite of his food. "So what do you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking canine," she said. "Something small, cute and fluffy. You know if we get any kids or nervous and scared folk in sickbay. All the studies say animal therapy helps keep people calm. Is that something you could do? Sorry I don't want to add to your workload. Its not something urgent.

"Holo dog?" Stoun stopped eating to look up at the doctor. "I don't know, like a Corgi or something? I was always more of a cat person myself." the engineer sat back and thought for a moment. "Probably wouldn't be too hard to do really, want it to do anything special or just be a dog? Scanning, intelligent, want it to talk?"

”Erm no just wag it's tail and let people pet it I guess. Act cute and adorable. I was thinking maybe a golden retriever but if a corgi is easier, ” she said. She watched him chewing round the grey stuff and made a command decision just to stick to her drink. That man was braver with the mess hall food than her.

"The matrix is the same regardless of the skin." The chief chewed thoughtfully on his breakfast and then grabbed the PADD he was typing on. "Male or female?" He pulled up the "specs" on a golden retriever. "I can take a preexisting template and modify it for what you want. Adorable, loving." He plugged in a few things into the PADD. "Big eyes or medium eyes? I think things are probably cuter with bigger eyes."

”Then let's go big, ” Mel smiled. She would have to remember that. Bigger eyes meant you were cuter.

”Ermm male please.”

”Do you want a refill?” she indicated his drink as she rose to top hers up.

"Sure, black coffee please." The chief handed the Doctor his cup, smiled and looked back down at the PADD. A few moments later a small holographic Golden Retriever appeared on the mess hall table. He manipulated the file, spinning the dog around adjusting the tail, and fur. He made the eyes comically large and chuckled a bit.

”awwww,” Mel said placing his mug back in front of him. ”Maybe the eyes are just a tad too big. He's gorgeous though.”

"I'm trying, I'm an engineer, not an artist." He smiled and grabbed the cup of coffee. Jon scaled the eyes back down a bit. "So tell me something interesting Doctor" He continued work on the dog. "Figure this is the second time I've gotten to talk to you but, haven't really talked to you, ya know?"

”What do you want to know?” she asked. ”Interesting okay.... ” she tried to think. ”I can't cook. There's been some disasters. But I can bake. What's that about?” she mused? ”surely it's the same science. And one of my hosts was a chef so you would really think I could master cooking. What about you?”

"I think cooking and baking are exclusive skill sets. One requires you to follow precise measurements, the other is a bit more guess work I suppose." A small yellow ball appeared on the the table. Jon took the ball and rolled it to the other side of the table. The holodog chased after it, brought it back, and dropped it at the engineers cup of coffee. He handed the ball over to the doctor.

"I like models, when I get a moment, I'm going to replicate one for the Copernicus here and put it together." He typed a bit on the PADD. "Do you want to name the dog?"

She laughed, ”I was going to call him fluffy but I'm not sure now. You're his creator. Why don't you take that honour?” she suggested?

”What sort of models? Just ships?” she asked.

"All types of ships, star ships, sailing ships, dioramas." he programmed in a few final touches. "It is something that passes the time. I put together a starbase once, but it got destroyed during the Dominion war, the ship I was on suffered a lot of damage and the model got destroyed, I never got around to building another one. How about Nick for the dog?"

”Fluffy nick, ” she said. ”It works.” she put her hand out and let the holographic dog come to her. Ruffling it's ears, she told the chief, ”I know your probably up against a space issue here but you should definitely get round to building another.”

"Yeah maybe." He closed the program he was working on and the miniature dog disappeared from the table. "Alright, all that you'll need to do is call "Here Boy!" in sickbay and the dog program should begin. Alternatively you could just engage the program Fluffy One from the panel and it will call the program up as well. He'll be a full size mutt." He turned and smiled at the Doctor. "Let me know if he doesn't work the way he is intending. Should be good to go.

"You are so kind chief," Mel smiled. "I had no idea something like this could be done so quickly. Thank you.

"It's no trouble Doctor, if this is the hardest thing I have to deal with today, it will be a pretty good day!"

I'll see you at tommorows staff meeting, ” she added finishing her drink and leaving him to his breakfast.

OFF:

 

RSS Feed