Tortoise & The Hare

Posted on Mon Jun 12th, 2023 @ 11:58am by St. John Talbot & Cadet Freshman Grade Stella Golightly & Cadet Freshman Grade Poppy Koppelman

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Deck 5: St. John Talbot's Quarters

Poppy had never read the story of the tortoise and the hare; she dawdled on the way back to the Representatives Office and by the time she walked in, Stella wasn't too far behind her. Still, she got to present her report straight to Talbot and stand smartly to attention.

"Sir, the report you requested Sir!" she said efficiently before adding more cattily "I'm not sure where cadet Golightly is, she seemed to be rather taking her own sweet time about things."

The man cocked an eyebrow as he set down the old copy of Politics Among Nations onto the desk. The Cadet had returned quickly, a tad too quickly for his liking. He picked up the dossier and read the first page and smirked. He was about to speak but then the door chimed. "That must be your competitor," he said as the door opened confirming his assessment.

The young woman gave a smile and a nod and presented her report.

Talbot nodded, "Thank you Cadet," he said. Before reading the first page of Stella's report and nodded. A satisfied look came across his face. "Well cadets, this was quick work and in some cases detailed work," he said before standing up. He turned around, his back facing them. "However there exists a fundamental flaw in one of your reports," he said before turning around, "I had asked for reports for Commander T'Cael Kilyle and... Commander Chang."

Even though cadet Koppelman's ears were big and stuck out either side of her acne covered face like a pair of jug handles, they still didn't pick out that in Talbot's languid accent, he was saying Chang not Shang. In fact, she could hardly contain her mirth: it sounded like Stella had researched the wrong flippin' Romulan. Ha! This should knock her down off her high and mighty perch. Wait until she told everybody!

"Good work, Cadet Golightly," Talbot continued, "You gave me exactly what I wanted... Cadet Koppelman... Unfortunately, you have submitted a dossier on the wrong officer..." He paused to let the sting sink in.

"Uh?!" grunted Poppy dumbly, then frowned "Are you sure, Sir? Maybe you've gotten mixed up, not me. I mean, there's probably more than one Commander Shang!" she suggested helpfully, but she was getting a terrible sinking feeling in her stomach.

An annoyed look spread across Talbot's face, "I am not mixed up," he responded, "I take it you did not bother to look at the outline generated for the summit... The delegate names are printed in black and white." He glared at her, "I will give you one more chance... Complete a dossier on Commander Chang and report back pronto. Further failures will not be tolerated."

"I'm sorry!" the girl stuttered "I just assumed you were pronouncing it right: I should've remembered your funny accent! I'll go and do it properly.... don't worry, you can depend on me!!" she promised as she ran out of the door.

 

RSS Feed