Sneaky Duck

Posted on Sun Mar 17th, 2019 @ 12:53am by Commander Liselle Qwyyn

Mission: Season 2: Episode 3: Determination is not always a good thing
Location: Bridge
Timeline: return trip - night shift
1259 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

During the night shift, Estelle walked onto the bridge and approached Liselle. "Hi", she said. "We haven't had a chance to meet yet, except in passing. I'm Estelle, from medical." She was dressed in her uniform, and had her medical bag with her, which she rarely went without. "I was hoping you could quickly let me into the ready room?"

Liselle's brow furrowed at the request. She turned about in the command chair to Estelle. "Are you doing a rotation in Engineering?"

"Oh, trust me, you would not want that", Estelle chuckled. "If it's not alive, I'll be likely to break it even without meaning to. This is my medical bag, it's just a bit bigger than usual because I've expanded upon its contents. I hate being without any of what's in here."

As much as she could manage, the Trill woman's brow furrowed even further. She wasn't sure if she should be asking about the contents of the bag. She had to assume that it was something Phoenix was expecting. And if she did ask, perhaps Estelle would feel compelled to answer -- here on the bridge before several pairs of bent ears. "Is the Captain expecting this delivery?"

Estelle shook her head. "No. But it's nothing weird. Well, I guess that would depend on your definition of weird." She sat down in the chair usually reserved for the XO and pulled the small wooden figurine out of her bag to show Liselle, explaining in a low voice. "I placed another one on Commander Taylor's desk. Same shape, a simple wooden body. Only I painted his up as a male mallard, and this is the female one. They're Earth animals, ducks."

"I -- I'm not sure I understand..." Liselle said dumbly. "Is this related to an Earth custom of some sort? You do know the captain is Erisian?"

"I do", Estelle smirked. "It's hard to explain. But it's just a harmless piece of wood that I turned into art. I just want to surprise her, that's all. She'll find it on her desk first thing in the morning, and will have to figure out who left it there. She'll first ask you, since you're the one who unlocked the room. But of course, you can honestly say you didn't put the duck in there. And maybe she'll mention it to the XO, who can then show her the one he received... you see, it's all in good fun."

Liselle suspected that whatever it was that Estelle was trying to do was probably generally accepted as funny. More often than not the Trill woman struggled to see the humor in these sorts of situations when others so easily found it; a side effect of too many past hosts living among Vulcans she assumed. Understanding or not, she hardly considered herself above the good nature that Estelle was suggesting. But there was a problem. "I don't know," she said uneasily. "I've just recently been given the Second Officer position, and command of the watch..."

"Oh, this is totally benign", Estelle smiled. "I guarantee you, there won't be any repercussions. This thing isn't a hidden microphone or some such."

Pulling in an uncertain breath, Liselle's eyes darted off to one side. Command at this level was so very new to her, and she found her next words almost impossible to speak out loud. "I'm sorry, Commander."

"You're seriously going to prevent me from leaving the skipper an anonymous gift?" Estelle wondered. "Did I just hear that right?"

Every eye on the bridge was on her. Studying her. Judging. Wondering what she was going to do next.

No. That wasn't what was happening. She was imaging it. No one was watching her. Estelle wasn't even being that loud.

Swallowing uneasily, Liselle gripped the arms of the Captain's chair. She smiled weakly. "I'm sorry. I think I misunderstood your intentions. I didn't realize you were trying to give the Captain a gift. I thought -- never mind. Yes. Okay. Leave it with me and I'll make sure she gets it."

"I just don't want her to know who it's from straight away", Estelle said. "If she cares enough, she'll need to do some research."

With an embarrassed half-smile, Qwyyn leaned into the other woman. Her tone belied her guilt as she spoke softly. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was accusing you of something. This is all new to me, and I've probably been going a little overboard trying to avoid making any mistakes. You'd be surprised how much protocol there is to memorize for a bridge watch."

"No, I'm not at all surprised", Estelle smirked. "There's a reason I chose to go into medical, after all. I don't have time for protocol and other meaningless rituals." There was no need to guess what her opinion of some of the military traditions were which had bled over into Starfleet from ages past. "So, place this on the desk, between the monitor and where she puts her coffee?" Estelle was assuming she drank coffee, most people did. And those who didn't were weird.

Liselle took the offered earth animal carving. She frowned down at it. "You're certain she'll be able to grasp the sentiment behind this?"

"I'm certain it's not against any regulations", Estelle said. "And there is nothing hidden that might cause problems. As to what she'll think... I'm not a telepath. But then, you might walk up to a person and offer a handshake, and if that person's in a bad mood at that point, you might cause irritation. Especially in the mornings, pre-coffee. There are no guarantees."

"Now that is a sentiment I can understand. Here," she said, and handed the carving back to her. "Let's drop off your gift." She rose from the command chair and crossed the bridge to the ready room.

Estelle was right, she realized. What exactly had Liselle been worrying about? That one of the Elysium's surgeons - - a Lieutenant Commander at that - - was going to end both of their careers with a simple animal carving? There was protocol and then there was paranoid. She knew the doctor's heart was in a good place. It was not uncommon for the medical staff to feel a sense of profound intimacy with their crew, particularly with the captain. And besides, Qwyyn would ensure that the harmless carving was simply placed on the desk. Nothing more.

Palming the door panel, Qwyyn stood at the threshold of the ready room as the doors parted open. She gestured Estelle inside.

Estelle walked in, looked about briefly and then placed the duck exactly where she said she would, facing the now empty chair. She made an exaggerated gesture of tip-toeing out of the room again and winked at Liselle as she passed her. "Just remember, you're completely ignorant as to where this came from, right?"

Qwyyn raised both of her hands in profound innocence. "Captain, I haven't set foot in your ready room in nearly two days," she professed.

Estelle snickered. "Very good. Thank you." She waved as she headed back towards the lift. "Now, I believe there's someone waiting for me in my quarters. Let's hope you'll have an uneventful watch."

"Good night, Doctor."

As Qwyyn settled back into the command chair she realized that for the first time in a long while the amused smile she was now sharing with the other members of the night crew felt truly genuine.



Commander Liselle Qwyyn
Chief Flight Control / Second Officer
USS Elysium

Estelle Hertz
Chief Duck