Bubbles and Briefings

Posted on Tue Mar 1st, 2011 @ 12:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Mantell & Captain Nathan Cowell MD

Mission: Shore Leave 1: Pacifica
Location: XO's Quarters
Timeline: A few hours after "Resolution"

Like the air-filled beads of ancient packaging materials, the suds quickly coalesced to a honeycomb of bubbles as it met the plunging stream of water. Radiating out from the raging waterfall at the front of the tub, the bubbles happily bobbed along, milling about and joining with thousands of their cousins to form a foggy blanket of soap bubbles floating above the surface of the water. It was peaceful kind of scene.

Two trunks quickly penetrated the water, destroying hundreds of bubbles in silent, watery, crushing deaths. The disruption took the form of a young boy, who quickly intruded himself upon the bath water, giggling at the sensation of the soap bubbles lapping against his stomach. Besides the boy, an army of objects soon joined the battle on the bubble bath prairie. Old fashioned aeroplane models flew with miniature versions of shuttlecraft, all with the help of two light-skinned arms.

"Psew, psew!" Came the imitated sounds of modern phasers, augmented by the, "Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh," of antique machine guns. "Plshhhew" was the sound that came after the derisive splash signifying a dropped bomb.

"Oh no!" Jack cried, turning about the aeroplane model, "Starfleet's betrayed us. We have to shoot them down." He shook it to imitate a conversation, deepening his voice to add another character, "But how will we ever combat them? Our ancient weapons are no match for their shields and phasers and-whoa!"

The blond-haired Miran rocked the plane model in response to a harrowing dive from the shuttlecraft. Pitching his voice toward the other end of the scale, he laughed in a falsetto voice, "Ha, ha, ha. So you've discovered my real plan! You'll never see the light of another day! Ha, ha, ha!"

Chaos ensued as the two winged craft circled each other, taking imitated potshots but missing or dealing minimal damage. The boy continued this pirouetting dance of the two toy models, oblivious to the rest of the world or, even, to the rest of the room. He barely even noticed as the doors opened to admit someone into his bathroom.

"So this is what is more important than answering my calls... I have to say I didn't expect to find you playing with your toys in the tub, though I guess being ten at heart, you can't be blamed for being childish. And please, don't get up... I really don't want to see your birthday suit," Nathan said, standing in the doorway to the bathroom, "Mind if I sit down?"

The Captain was, of course, indicating the commode sitting on the opposite side of the small compartment.

Jack nodded, dumbstruck by the older man's sudden arrival as well as his direct manner, something he was still getting used to. The Miran had forgotten all about his combadge still affixed to his uniform jacket, left forlorn in the bedroom, which would explain the missed calls and the Captain's uninvited entrance. "I-I'm sorry," he started, trailing off when he could find no more words to express his apologies. He had done that enough just hours earlier in the Ready Room, and the boy had little intent to start that over again.

Nathan shrugged, "It happens..."

The elder officer walked over to the toilet and set the seat down, sinking down onto the lid to get comfortable... at least as comfortable as one could get sitting on top of a toilet when it wasn't being used for the proper use.

"Anyway, had a conversation with our upper crust. Looks like we're heading to Pacifica for re-supply and some good old fashioned mandatory fun. Gives us a chance to do some house keeping, paperwork, tanning, and you can even dunk your head in the ocean and play with some beach balls. Pretty standard stuff for any ship," Nathan began.

"Pacifica?" the centuries-old youth asked, his head rising with his spirits. Beaches, sand castles, and swimming activities came to mind.

"Yes, big ball of water, under-sea cities, sun, surf... that Pacifica..." Nathan explained to the boy who sounded as if he was confused, "But before we get there, we need to get business taken care of. We have people that need to get some cross-training accomplished, we have repairs to attend to, supply inventories to square away so we get everything we need from the local base. Can't have our fun until the chores are done... well... you can't at any rate, I've been in Starfleet eighty years... I have more leave than you've had duty days. I think I'll take some starting... now... Now sounds good."

The boy still wasn't entirely sure where he stood with the El-Aurian, but he'd have to be ten for real to miss the older man's sarcastic poke. "You've been in Starfleet for eighty years? Do you even know what 'Leave' is?" Jack giggled to himself, "You wouldn't know fun if it hit you with a beach ball."

"And you wouldn't know how to take a bath if someone came over there and scrubbed that sorry ass of yours their damn selves..." Nathan shot back, making an obvious slight about his playing with toys in the tub, "Anyway, that's what we've got going on, so when you're entirely finished pruning up while you play make believe dog fights, start working toward the objectives I've laid out of you."

Nathan rose and headed for the door before looking back, "Oh, and don't forget to wash behind your ears, they're filthy..."

With that, Nathan disappeared back out into the adjacent room, and soon out of Jack's quarters entirely, off to points unknown to the Miran.

Jack merely made a point to stick his tongue out at the retreating figure of Captain Cowell before resuming his bathtime play. Work would come later, and then would come Shore Leave!