Cuckoo in the Nest

Posted on Sat Mar 25th, 2023 @ 5:50pm by Lieutenant Thraxina & Cadet Freshman Grade Poppy Koppelman & Cadet Freshman Grade Stella Golightly

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Records

For a second, Poppy thought she had entered some horrible alternate universe; there , sitting at her workspace, was a young woman in ops red, short dark hair, Freshman insignia: it was like looking at some weird, pretty and acne-free version of herself!

"Hello?!" she heard herself say, quite sharply "Who are you... and what are you doing sitting in my place?" she demanded. It was her space: she had made it her own by her middling performance in Lt Zon's Department, where, despite a number of mistakes (usually caused by daydreaming about The Captain) and tellings-off by the strict Andorian, she though she had been getting along just fine.

"Good morning," the young woman responded, "Sorry, it was the only desk free and there's not a name tag or anything on it."

"Oh well, I don't suppose they really belong to anybody, it's just that I've always sat there." Poppy responded, somewhat lamely. Now she turned, Poppy recognised the lovely young woman from her year-group at the academy.

"She stood up and looked at the young woman, "Stella Golightly," she said, introducing herself with a smirk.

"Yes, I know who you are." Poppy said, somewhat defensively: most of the plebs in the Admin course were he-weeds and she-dweebs, Stella was the nearest thing they had to a popular girl, in a Boho, edgy, arty sort of way.

"I'm Poppelman, we're in Computer Diagnostics together." she reminded her. She frowned and then corrected herself "... Koppelman".

"Oh that's right, weren't you the one that dumped her tea all over the computer terminal?" Stella responded, "Talk about hands on diagnosis."

"It wasn't my tea, actually, it was Gary of Izar's. I was just the one who spilt it." corrected poppy sniffily.

"Oh, alright," Stella responded. Not as though that made things better. She picked up her clipboard wedge. "Well I will vacate I suppose," she responded with a sigh.

The door to the office swished open and Lt. Thraxina entered, she who had ferried the fresh, young talented cadet to the Midway by shuttle a day ago from another ship. They had enjoyed a long chat about art on the journey.

Thraxina headed straight to Golightly and ignored Poppy.

“Hello again, Stella!” The pretty helmswoman beamed “I hoped I’d find you here. I was looking at some of your stuff on the portfolio you presented to the New School, it’s fantastic. I’ve got to say, their loss, your gain. Everybody knows that the New School is Old now, ‘Outsider Art” is the thing: Darger, Banksy, Danksy...” she reeled off some historical examples “...and now Golightly!”

Poppy was extremely underwhelmed by how nice the normally snooty Andaran was being to her new rival.

The young woman chuckled, "Well thank you Lieutenant," she responded, "I've been putting in a lot of effort on some newer pieces. Maybe by the time we're back from deep space I can shove them down their throat and get out of pushing paper for the rest of my life."

Thraxina laughed "Now, now, Stella, don't knock pushing paper. It can be a good way to get on in the Fleet. I've already got my application in to become Admiral Nogura's Aide when this tour of duty is through. In fact, that reminds me: a splendid opportunity has arisen which I think would be ideal for a girl like you and do you a lot of good career-wise. It turns out that Representative Talbot will be needing a junior officer to act as his P.A. on the voyage to Nimbus III."

"B... but I already volunteered myself for that!" squeaked Poppy from the corner.

Thraxina looked around and feigned surprise at seeing her there.

"Oh, well I just unvolunteered you, Koppelman. And don't pull that face or start crying again. You mustn't be selfish: for the prestige of the Federation, Mister Talbot's aide must be as beautiful and intelligent as possible. Now tell me, Koppelman, do you think that you are as pretty or as intelligent as Cadet Golightly here?"

"My grades are OK" whimpered Poppy.

"Well, I checked and they're not as good as Stella's" Thraxina snapped "Oh, and that reminds me: because you don't have the factor of seniority by length of service as cadets, it has to go by grades." she smiled benignly at 'Saint Stella' "Yours are by far the better Cadet Golightly, so you are in charge here when Lt. Xon is absent. If Koppelman disobeys any of your orders or is tardy in executing them, report her to me. Punishment will be swift."

She gave Stella a last approving smile and then looked at Poppy as if trying to remember something.

"Oh yes, one last thing, Koppelman, get you overalls on and get down to maintenance at the end of this shift. There has been a blockage in the ship's sewage system and they need someone thin and scrawny to get in the flues to clean them out. Those two Tellytubbies you share a room with are too fat to get in. Who knows, if you do a good job, I might be able to get you assigned to latrine duty permanently!"

"Bye!"

And she was gone.

Poppy gave a quiet "Ohhh no!" but it was unclear which of these disasters she was commenting on.

"I can help you if you want," Stella offered. She wasn't sure why she was Thraxina's favorite. She didn't understand the Andaran officer at all, but no one on the ship did either.

"What? Clean the poop?" asked an amazed Poppy.

Stella nodded with a sigh, "Yes... For better or worse," she responded.

Poppy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you, Stella Golightly?! I get given a special assignment and you try and muscle in and steal all the attention. Well nice try, sister, but this pile of poop is mine all mine!” She gave a curt nod, as if to say: So there!

"Alrighty, then it's your funeral," Stella responded before picking up her electronic clipboard, "I have a few status reports to bring up to the bridge." She stood up, "I guess I'll see you later..."

 

RSS Feed