Party Planning

Posted on Fri May 10th, 2024 @ 1:02am by Captain Mira Rodale & Commander Kevin Lance

Mission: Flux
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Current

On:
{Mess Hall, Deck 2}

Mira and Kevin sat with Kolar, alone in the ship’s mess hall. By some sort of unspoken agreement, the crew purposely made themselves absent for 30 minutes every evening to give their Captain some undisturbed family time. The two traded off feeding and interacting with Kolar while reading and writing reports. It was as Kolar was exploring the mysteries of mashed carrots, Kevin noticed the date on his PADD. With some quick mental calculations he came to a surprising realization.

“While we were in the past,” he stated, “Kolar turned one year old.”

Mira blinked "That can't be right." she looked over at Kolar "I am just getting used to the idea of having a baby and now he is 1. Are you sure?" He showed her the date. "Damn" was Mira's reply.

Kolar giggled "damn" Mira winced "jam mama said jam. It's yummy. " Mira lied.

Kolar just smiled "mama, dada no ork...." He slapped his carrots "bad, bad"

Mira frowned "no ork?" She looked up at Kevin "Work? Do you think he meant work"

"Bad ork, no go." Kolar told her.

Kevin set down his PADD and turned to Kolar with a wry smile. "I agree, cub," he replied, "Paperwork is bad but it needs to be done. Just like you need to eat your carrots." Kevin pick up the tiny spoon in his large hand and scooped up a generous portion of the orange slurry. Waving the spoon about in front of Kolar, Kevin made a sound like a shuttle flying in atmosphere waiting for Kolar's mouth to open before plopping it and its cargo in.

Kolar instinctively closed his lips around the spoon in a smile at how silly his dada was acting, not realizing that he had been tricked.

Kevin removed the spoon from Kolar's mouth and began repeating the exercise. "It is a human tradition to celebrate the passing of one's birth anniversary with a party," he told Mira, "Do the Trill have anything similar?"

"In a way but the biggest celebration is the joining of a symbiont. If my parents did have a party I was too young to remember. " she knew there hadn't been much to celebrate after she was seven. "I like the idea."

Kevin's first experience with the tradition was aboard the Dorcas James and he thought back to what had been done. "It involved a cake candles, only one in Kolar's case," he recalled, "presents, decorations and goofy hats." Parties hosted by Shen Th'rosk, his Andorian classmate at the Academy, usually involved prestigious amounts of alcohol but Kevin figured that it wouldn't be appropriate here.

Mira smiled, clearly warming to the idea. "We could invite the whole ship. They could use some fun and great food. "

Kevin was once again charmed by her enthusiasm as he spooned diced chicken into Kolar. "We should probably let most of the crew know that a gift is not required. Else our quarters will be awash with baby toys."

Mira laughed "Yes please no toys Zimia gets him too much as it is. I have been letting him play with them them putting them back into the replicator. All but the brown Teddy bear with blue eyes. He had a fit when I couldn't find it. Vaytoc found it."

Kolar grinned "my toc."

Mira gave him a playful frown "My Vaytoc"

Kolar shook his head fast and laughed. He was shaking it so hard his whole body tipped from side to side as he shook his head. "My toc"

Mira nodded with a smirk "Ok I see " she rested her hand on Kevin's arm. "my dada."

Kolar shook his head laughing "my dada.my dada."

"Hey little guy you can't have everything." Mira told him trying not to laugh.

"What about Kisses do I get them?" Mira asked.

Kolar made kiss sounds to her so she leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Well at least I get kisses."

"You always get kisses," Kevin said as he leaned across the table to softly kiss Mira as Kolar objected. But dark thoughts intruded on Kevin's blissful state. The thought of the five crewmembers that had died because of his command, the birthdays that they wouldn't get to celebrate, the kisses that would remain unclaimed, cut through his happiness like a knife.

As he sat back in his chair, Mira could see the change in his expression.

Mira looked down, thinking it was her, then looked back at Kolar. "Kevin, have you ever taken the Kobayashi Maru test? I didn't take it at the Academy because I wasn't planning on going into command. When I got to that rank, my captain made me take it. I hate tests. Kobayashi Maru scenario is basically a no-win situation. This whole......." She gave Kolar some more food.

"I took the test," Kevin admitted looking down, "Tried to fight my way out of the trap. Got the ship destroyed along with the entire crew. In record time, I was told." Had she known what he was thinking? Was she trying to take responsibility for his order on herself?

"It's all my fault. Not yours, not anyone's but mine and the Gorns. "I made mistakes, but ......hindsight is always 20/20. I am sorry. This mission will color how I deal with people on missions from now on. I told them it was too early for me to take command, but they disagreed." she bit her lip.

"My mama," Kolar made a kiss sound.

"You are doing a fine job as Captain," Kevin said, forcing a smile, "and I have had bad ones." He hesitated a moment and then continued, "I was considering if the Klingons would insist upon sending a delegation to Kolar's party. You are Lady Rasmehlier after all." He hope that the change is subject would divert her from his true thoughts.

She frowned at the change in subject "Then we make it a celebration of life. Only when the crew shows up they find out its Kolar's life we are celebrating. The people invited are from our ship. I don't want to deal with thier games. We have our family now."

Kevin's smile became genuine. "I like that idea," he said, "The fewer Klingons in our lives the happier I will be." He tried spooning more carrots into Kolar's mouth but the boy was on to him now and ejected the vile mush with a loud 'brrrrppp'.

The ejection land on Kevin's beard and his uniform. Mira gave a little laugh at Kevin's expression of resigned acceptance.

"At least I has sometime to change my uniform before going on duty," he stated.

:off

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Captain Mira Rodale
CO USS Chuck Norris