Interesting first impressions

Posted on Mon Jan 18th, 2010 @ 6:32am by Commander Dhindara Vrel & Commander Krang Darkmoon

1,667 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: FORGING AHEAD
Location: Various
Timeline: Current

[Security Office]

As part of her rounds Dhindara walked into the security chief's office, after having rang the doorbell three times and not received an answer. "Hey, looks like your doorbell is broken", she said, smiling at the gorilla in front of her. She wasn't surprised by his appearance since she had seen his file. She held out her hand. "I'm Dhindara Vrel, the new Counsellor."

Krang looked up a bit startled. A dark look crossed his face for just a moment, but then he recovered quickly and attempted to smile. He had just sat down at his desk from retrieving yet another cup of coffee from the replicator. With a shrug, Krang said, "Guess it is. Nice to meet your counsellor. What brings you by?"

"The desire to say hello", she said, "I just arrived aboard. Plus, I'd like to get that phaser certification out of the way quickly. I want people to know I can shoot so they'll be careful around me in my office." She winked at him.

"Well then, "Hello" and I will be happy to run you through a phaser certification." He tapped a set of commands into his desk terminal and pulled up her record. "Hmm..." he grunted, "Not exactly a trained shooter, but passable." he said thoughtfully. He took a long sip from his coffee mug. "Would you like a cup of coffee before we begin?"

"Hot chocolate, if you have?" Dhindara asked. "And I might not be up to the security standards, but I can hit things when I can see them."

Krang made a disgusted face and snorted. "If that's what you like." he said making his way over to the replicator and retrieving her mug. "Here you go." as he handed her the cup. "Your numbers are good, especially for someone in the medical field. It is refreshing to meet a blue shirt who doesn't whine when asked to use a weapon."

"It's necessary sometimes", Dhindara replied. "And I don't think pacifists have a place in Starfleet."

"That's a switch." Krang said simply, rising and recycling his mug. "The shooting range is a few doors down. Shall we head that way?"

She took her mug with her, walking to where he had directed her to. She took a sip on her way. "One of the most important aspects of my profession is to keep a realistic view of things. Patients often have their own ways of seeing things. Which is good, in general. Sometimes, it develops into a condition that requires treatment. For that, a firm anchor in reality is needed for the psychologist."

A few moments later they arrived at the target range. Krang looked over the counsellor's most recent stats and set the system a few levels below her last end stage. He handed her the specially modified test range phaser and said, "Aim for the red disks, if you hit the gold discs you lose two points."

Dhindara nodded. She emptied her cup, handing it to him. "Hold that for me, please." She aimed the phaser. "Begin", she instructed the computer. She started shooting. She was not exactly a sniper but she could beat Imperial Storm Troopers from that holodeck programme of hers any time of the day.

After every 25 targets the program would advance to the next level of difficulty. After 100 targets Krang noticed that she had more than qualified, but was now interested in just how far she would be able to progress. He set the simulator to the next highest difficulty and the system began to display multiple targets at the same time.

"Hey, I need some fire support here!" Dhindara said. "Computer, call in artillery in grid F-1."

"Unable to comply", the computer replied.

"Darn", Dhindara commented.

Krang shook his head. He still had yet to get a good handle on 'humor' and still found the practice a bit useless. "If you would pick up the other phaser on the table in front of you, the artillery would not be needed." he said gruffly.

"I can't target two things at the same time", Dhindara replied. She picked up the other phaser, and surely the accuracy dropped by more than half. "See?"

Watching her try to target two at the time was interesting. "You actually did much better than I anticipated." he said and then deactivated the program. "You just posted the highest score of any medical officer I have ever tested. Quite impressive."

"I guess I got lucky you've never tested an Andorian", Dhindara chuckled, handing the phasers back to him and getting her mug back. She put a hand to his fur, taking the chance to get a feel for it. She liked pets, and the big gorilla was probably very comfortable.

Krang flinched and pulled away from her. "I don't appreciate unrequested physical contact." he said bluntly.

"Sorry", Dhindara replied. "You just look... comfortable. Like the kind of person everyone would want to snuggle up close to if we get stranded on some cold planet."

Krang didn't know how to respond, so he merely gave a grunt and a shrug as he moved away from Dhindara. He tapped some information into a PADD and handed it to her. "You are cleared for away team duty for the next six months. Good work."

"Thanks", Dhindara replied. "I think I can clear you as well, you make a mostly sane impression. Though, between us, you probably should work on your sense of humour."

Krang just nodded. "If you say so." he said with a non-committal tone. "Have a good day counsellor." he added, letting her know she could leave.

"Krang?" she said, to get his attention. "You might not think humour is essential. But trust me. People find out you don't have a sense of humour, they'll go out of your way to play jokes on you. If you don't want that, smile occasionally, or crack a joke."

"People don't play jokes on me more than once." he replied. "I don't have time for silliness."

"Tell me", Dhindara asked, "What do you do to relax, to enjoy yourself?"

"If I have my quarters set up properly, which I haven't had time to do yet here, I would spend time in my nest listening to music or reading. I also spend time in the holodeck in a re-creation of the N'gagi home world. I have an area of forest that I always find relaxing." he answered and then wondered, "Why do you ask?"

"Professional habit, I'm afraid", Dhindara responded. "Think of it that way, if I ask you a few questions now, you won't have to come to your psych eval."

Krang made an unhappy face, but said "Go ahead I guess. Anything to get this over with."

"I think I know what I need to know", Dhindara smiled. "I don't want to prod into your mind too much, I was just meaning to give you some food for thought. So, you passed." She winked at him. "So, care to meet me after your shift, maybe for some delicious banana split in the lounge?"

"I find your assumption that I would like bananas not only racist, but ill-informed. If you had taken a look at my records, it would be obvious that I have a severe allergy to bananas." he answered, holding out the 'epi-pen' that he always kept in his pocket.

"I don't have access to your medical records", Dhindara replied. "And what makes you say it's racist. I like bananas, I know many people who like bananas. What's wrong with that?"

"Yes, you may, but to assume that the simian would want bananas is insulting. I get so tired of people assuming that I would or would not like something just because of the way I look."

"I.. wasn't thinking of that", Dhindara said. "I meant no disrespect. I just... had a craving for that particular food item, so that's what popped into my mind."

"I guess I could be over reacting. You would not believe the level of stereotyping that I have been subjected to. Even since my arrival on Typhon I have heard several banana jokes. I even had one crewman offer to hang a tire swing in my office."

Dhindara had to suppress a chuckle. "See, that's what I mean by a sense of humour. If you laugh about them, show them it doesn't bother you, they'll stop... with the intentional ones, anyway. Got an idea how many comments about headshrinkers and mind readers I'm getting? And not just those vocally uttered."

"I can see your point I guess. And the more I think about it, the tire swing actually might be fun." Krang added with the huffing, grunting noise that passed for a laugh from him. If you still want to go to the mess, I could go for some chocolate ice cream. I discovered it when I was in the academy, and I can't seem to get enough of it."

Dhindara struck her tongue out about him. "Talk about racist. Betazoids have a known weakness for chocolate", she laughed. "When do you have time?"

If he could have blushed, Krang would have done so in response to Dhindara's teasing. He looked at the time. "My official shift ends in about 3 hours. I could meet you then." he offered.

"Meet me at my office?" Dhindara asked. "I don't think I'll be able to find the lounge on my own."

"I can do that." Krang said. "I'll even make an effort to be in a good mood."

"That would be appreciated", Dhindara replied. "I'll see you then, Mister Monkey." She paused for his reaction. "Remember, a sense of humour."

Krang's only reaction was a huff and a dismissive hand gesture. He knew she meant well, but she was picking a sore subject to use to make her point.

Chuckling, Dhindara left the office

=/\\= End of Transmission =/\\=

Lieutenant Commander Krang Darkmoon
Chief Security / Tactical [SRT Leader]
Starbase Typhon

and

Lieutenant Commander Dhindara Vrel
Chief Counsellor
Starbase Typhon

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