"Lieutenant Nova, you are exactly 4.17 minutes late for your call time." Commander Spock said, greeting me at the office door. That's actually the earliest late I've ever been. Another week has passed at the Enterprise, I am kinda getting along with the Commander, I've heard him laugh three times and I've managed to annoy him maybe about a hundred times already, I lost count.
"Ugh, I don't even keep track of time anymore." I groaned. "Then you will not be able to effectively do your job." He said, turning to his back and walking. "I do my job effectively, Commander Spock. What job? Paper works. Don't I have anything else to do?" I asked, complaining. I ran up a bit to catch up to him, walking beside him. "Where are we going anyway? Our — I mean, your office is over there."
"To med bay." He said.
"Are we chatting with Bones again?"
"No."
"Then what?" "Experiment. Did you try dissecting before?" He asked, his hands were clasped together behind him. "We did actually, a lot of times." I answered. "A tribble has died and I will show you how to dissect them."
We got to med bay and went straight to the laboratory only to be greeted by Bones with two other nurses. "You're early, I thought you were coming in at 9." Bones said in his normal grumpy face. "I did, but considering the fact that I will be working with this Lieutenant right here, it is wise to be early because she takes up a lot of time in doing things." He said, motioning to me. "Hey!" I yelped, glaring at the Commander, "If you're gonna be around saying bad things about me, do it when I'm not around, deepshit." I sassed, rolling my eyes, "I mean, I never talk bad about you in front of you." I muttered, making Bones laugh. Commander Spock sent me a look, making me squint my eyes at him. "You are unbelievable." He looked around the laboratory, eyeing every corner. "I know." I proudly said, crossing my arms against my chest. "Okay, I'm gonna leave you two in here, don't get physical with your fights, we can't afford to have more broken flasks." Bones said walking near the door, "I hope I have the patience." I said. "Would you be needing nurses?" Bones asked, "Yes —"
"No. The lieutenant should be enough assistance." Commander Spock said, cutting me off. "Can we at least have one so it wouldn't be just us in here?" I asked, "No. You will just be spending your time talking to them, again, decreasing your productivity."
"Okay, okay. Well, we're leaving now. I'm outside if you need anything." Bones said to which Commander Spock answered with a nod.
***
"Shit." I cursed under my breath. Commander Spock was looking at the shelves, god knows what he's thinking. I thought I was gonna be his assistant, why am I working on this my own? "Your cursing suggests something has gone wrong." He says, not bothering to turn his back to look. "I can't grab the right vessel, it keeps slipping." I said, almost complaining.
He walked to me and told me to do it again so he could see. At my hundredth attempt to grab the vessel with my forceps, the vessel slipped again, making me groan from frustration. I heard him snort from behind, immediately making me turn my head to him, "Seriously? You're enjoying seeing me frustrated over this?"
"Try keeping your hands still."
"They are still, Commander Spock." I whined. He moved closer, grabbing the forceps from my hand and started to try to get the vessel. I just stood there, watching him try to do it. My gaze diverted to his pointed ears and then to his focused expression. "Commander?" I called, "Yes, lieutenant?" He asked, still focused at what he was doing.
"Can I touch your ear?" I asked, he turned his head to me, staring for a few seconds then back to his work, "I believe that, Lieutenant, is inappropriate."
"No, it's not, it's just an ear." I said, "Am I permitted to touch your ear?" He asked back, "No!"
"You've proved your point." He sarcastically said. "You know, lately... You've been different."
"How so?"
"I don't know, just different." I said. I had a lot in mind but when I over think it, there was nothing to actually tell him. But he did seem like he changed, he laughs or at least I think he does, and he doesn't put up a cold facade than he usually does. I mentally gasped, looking at him, Have we become friends? Oh god.
"That would be from your personal outlook, Lieutenant, I believe I am the same as I always have been." He said, putting the forceps down. He sighed, removing his gloves, and then turning to me. "Oh are we done?" I asked, taking my gloves off. "I believe we are." He said, washing his hands before walking out the door.
Bones walked in on me not long after, asking me how things went, I told him everything and how much it frustrated me and he just laughed at me, "It's okay, tribbles are different from the usual animals or lab rats that we have on Earth, so it does require extra work during the first few tries." He explained. I washed my hands and gave him a nod, "I'll get the hang of it at the next hopefully."
"You will." He said. "I'll get going now." I smiled, giving him a tiny wave.
I walked out the laboratory to see Commander Spock standing by the med bay's exit. "Lunch, Lieutenant?" He invited making me stop on my tracks. I looked at him with squinted eyes, "This is suspicious, do you have a trap for me or something?" I asked, "I am simply taking the Captain's advice of considering you at least as a workmate to increase both our productivity." He replied, "So you never considered me a workmate? What was I the past month?" I asked, confused.
"A trainee."
I scoffed, as I watched him go. "You're rude. I don't like you at all." I whispered before following him.
"Later, I will be helping you with some of the paper works so that we can move on and stay focused on the bridge to help the captain navi —"
"Hi, lieutenant Nova." An engineering staff, greeted me with a smile, taking my attention off what the Commander was saying. "Hi." I smiled back without stopping on my tracks.
I turned my attention back to Commander Spock, "As I was saying..."
"Hi, Lieutenant Nova, Commander Spock." Another staff said, cutting the Commander off. "Hello."
I once again, turned my attention back to the Commander, waiting for him to continue. "Again, before being interrupted for the second time, we are going to work on —"
"Good day, Lieutenant." Another staff greeted me. I was going to say something but I heard the Commander clear his throat. I turned my attention back to him, only to notice that he wasn't next to me anymore.
I turned around and saw that he stopped walking. "Sorry." I said, walking closer to him. "You do not need to greet back all the men who greets you on our way." He said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Why is there a specific gender?"
"Because the three people who greeted you were all men, Lieutenant."
"But they were saying hi to me, I can't just ignore them." I answered.
"But it is alright to ignore me?" He shot back. I shrugged, mumbling a few words, "Yeah, well at least they smile at me.
"So who are we eating lunch with today?" I asked, copying his posture. "Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura might join us later." He said. We stood in line, holding a tray. "They seem pretty close, are you jealous?" I asked, looking up at him. "There is nothing to be jealous about, Lieutenant, I am aware of their relationship as good friends, and another point, we are not together so there is no point of being jealous — even if we are still on a romantic relationship, I never have that much interference from emotions." He blabbered, I fake-yawned, putting my tray down and stretching a bit, "That was just a yes or no question." I said, holding my tray again, sliding to my right.
"Oh, then it is a no." He said. I rolled my eyes and smiled at the lady in front of me, "What would you want for lunch, lieutenant Lany?"
"I'm not really good at deciding, you can give me anything, I'll just eat it, they're probably just solid foods anyway." I said, handing my tray out.
We walked around the seats before we could find somewhere to settle on. "So what are we going to do later?" I asked, the moment we got seated. "The Captain has informed me that we were surveying a planet."
"Oh great, what are the citizens like?"
"Very human like."
"Human like how exactly human?"
"Same physical appearances but they are stronger and they have a longer life expectancy." He explained. I felt excited, how come I've never researched about this planet before?
"How about their cultures?" I asked, interested to know about the way they live and everything else they do. "That will be what we are finding out today." He said. I gasped, "Can I come down? It has always been my dream to directly learn cultures from people themselves." I excitedly asked. "Everyone aboard is going down, so yes." He said.
"Oh my god, I'm excited!" I squealed, "Let's hurry up and eat."