Lab Partnerz 4 Life, Yo

Posted on 17 Jan 2023 @ 12:59am by Lieutenant JG Lisald Vaat & Lieutenant Albert Spangler

1,565 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Lisald's Palatial Quarters

Lisald tapped his commbadge. "Lisald to Spangler. He buddy, can I have you come over?"

Spangler stopped mid-step; being addressed from a disembodied voice always unnerved him, regardless of how used to the comm badge he should have been. He tapped, "Yea, sure.. on my way." He thought about the request, and his nerves only worsened. A call from a friend was nothing unusual, but it just didn't feel right.

"Thank you," Lisald said, his voice his, but strangely, not his. Several minutes passed by before the chime to his door alarmed him. Even though Vaat was expecting it, it was like the console blowing up in his face again. He jumped, hard, every nerve ending in his body on edge. He could barely hold a thought in his head, and could barely sit still. "Uh, come in," he said, his voice wavering, and hating it with a passion that it had done so. He stood, with the intention of being standing there when the doors opened, but instead, his legs took him off on an adventure, pacing as the doors opened.

The doors opened, and Spangler wasn't any less concerned. He almost asked Vaat if he was okay, but realized that was a fairly dumb question given the circumstances. "Uh.. whoa there, fella..." Albert searched for words as the doors closed behind him. "You uh.. look like you lost your keys." His forehead crumpled as he spoke, cringing at that being the best he could come up with.

Lisald, rounding around the chair, stopped in his tracks for a solid second, his face contorted in confusion, before his legs decided to take him on the grand tour of the living room. "Albert, I need to get off this ship. I need out of Starfleet. I need to go back to Bajor." The words came out in a rush. Truth be told, the words were a surprise to Vaat as the words vomited out of his mouth.

"Tell you what," Albert began, smiling gently while scanning the room for sharp objects, "how about I talk to the Doctor, maybe adjust your meds. I think we should tone that down a bit, yea?"

Vaat stopped in his tracks again, which placed him behind the couch, it sitting between him and Albert. Vaat's eyes showed fear. No, that wasn't quite right. They showed that he was scared, deeply scared, right down to his very soul. "No," the Bajoran exclaimed, holding his hand out, pleading. "Please, don't go anywhere!"

Spangler hesitated. He wasn't sure how he got to this point, but here it was. The levity dropped from Al's voice as he found a spot on the couch, "Have a seat, Vaat." He waited for his friend to join him before continuing, "Deep breath, relax.. let's focus and maybe tell me what the hell is going on?"

Vaat looked to the spot that Albert was pointing at and dutifully sat down at it, only to stand right back up and start pacing again. He had forgotten about the directive to breathe and relax. "What if I get hurt again? What if my actions cause me more harm, or harm to others? I don't think I can do this, Al," he said, stopping and pleading with his friend. "I almost died. For what? To destroy another lifeform?"

"Well, what if your actions could prevent harm to others?" Albert's shoulders raised with his eyebrows. "What if your presence saves some other lifeform?" Al's eyes narrowed as he leaned back in the seat, "Besides, a lot of people almost died. They didn't though. Not so that the crystal thing could die, but so that they could continue to do whatever this ship does."

The question, and the subsequent statement, stopped Lisald in his tracks again. It was something he had not thought of. What had he done to help save the lives of other people during the event? What could he do in the future to save lives, to atone for what happened several months ago. And Albert was right. Several people really did almost die. His friend (and crush, if he had to admit it to himself) Winters had told him as much. So did Dr. Elodin, when Lisald asked if he had been the only one. Turned out, he had not, not by a long shot. "I..." he began, and stopped. He tried again. "I..." he repeated, and gave up. Not because he was defeated, but because he didn't know what to say, or how to say it.

Albert sighed, before looking back to Vaat. "Besides, I think you're stuck with me, fella. You resign, so am I." His eyebrows raised at the Bajoran's reaction. "Do you really want to inflict me on all the fine people of Bajor?"

For the first time since before he was wounded, Lisald Vaat laughed. It started as a muffled 'harumph,' then evolved into a chuckle. Lisald looked up to his friend, then lost it. He doubled over, laughing, literally holding his stomach as he laughed. He laughed so long that his cheeks actually started to hurt, and it felt like his abs had just finished the physical fitness final exam test at Starfleet Academy. Coming up from the fit of laughter, he said, genuinely, "Thank you for that. I needed that. And no, Bajor would do fine without you ever stepping foot on it, thank you very much," he teased back. It felt a bit hollow, the bantering, but at least he felt it. It was something he had been missing since he woke up, the ability to -feel.-

Albert waited patiently, watching the abrupt transition from one form of manic to another take course. When the hysteria subsided he moved on, "I'm glad you see it my way then. Now that we've settled on your future being right here on this ship, what does that look like for you?" Albert sat up adding, "And maybe sit the hell down before you hurt yourself."

Lisald sat down opposite Albert, then pondered the question. What would he do? He could no longer be Chief Operations Officer; that role was filled by Lieutenant Bast now. And thank goodness, too. Bast, it seemed, was far better suited to the position that Vaat was. He couldn't be Chief Science Officer now either. Spangler had settled into the role and was doing amazing and wonderful things with the department. Plus, Vaat would never derail his friends career that way. So what would he do? He loved being in the sciences though. "I honestly don't know," he said finally. "I do love the sciences though," he said, parroting his thoughts. "What do you recommend?"

Spangler looked up at the ceiling, the answer clear. He sighed, considering what he was about to say. Albert wasn't sure he wouldn't regret it, but affection for his friend beat out Al's selfish side. "Then it looks like your only choice is to come back to Science. You were wasted in Operations anyway."

Lisald did a double-take. A little more than a year ago, the two were at odds, much to the confusion and dismay of Lisald, but they were. Over that span of time, they had won each other over, it seems. Lisald was a scientist, for sure, and Spangler was right; he had been wasting away in Operations. He did the best he could, but he was a scientist first, and Starfleet Officer second. "If you have room, then I think I would like that a lot. I guess I would need to clear it with Commander Larsen, first," he said. The anger he was feeling, and the sense of loss and being lost was still there, under the surface, but Spangler had helped Lisald out a great deal.

"Yea, I suppose i can find a spare closet to toss you in. Besides, what lab couldn't use an extra test subject? Those damn monkeys keep dying anyway." Albert said with a straight face, knowing his friend would miss the joke.

Lisald blinked blankly at his friend for several moments. He knew of no Terran primates onboard, and certainly nothing of them dying in experiments. Surely Commander Larsen or Captain Bane would have put a stop to it, or at least briefed the rest of the Senior Staff on the goings on aboard the ship. Vaat thought about asking, but could feel himself deflating, sinking back into the funk he had been in before Spangler offered him a spot on his staff. He needed to talk to the Executive Officer about this before he sank too low and decided to end his career, voluntarily or otherwise. "I suppose I could work in a small office. It would certainly offer privacy and a place to concentrate on my work that you assign me. I'll call the boss," he said, referring to both of theirs immediate superior officer, "And have it all arranged. Thank you, Albert. Really."

"I'm sure it's probably not a terrible idea." Spangler said as he stood, thinking about what he just did. "Now what am I going to do with the damn monkeys.."

"That is the second time you've mentioned monkeys. What the hell has been going on in the Science Labs since I left the department?"


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A JP by

An Egg-head and a psychopath.

We will leave the readers to decide who is which....

 

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