[USS Charon, Holodeck One]
It was all going so well. So well! The kids legitimately seemed to like the farm. Brent had brought the program from when he had gotten the info from back home. Obviously the gravity wasn't the same but the good sized farm house, the animals it really was like when Brent was back home. He had set it up with regular animals instead of the natives to Gilgamesh 9, chickens, ducks, cows, pigs, horses. Brent could have sworn that he saw Ael stare at the horses for almost an hour in silence. Apparently even half human girls liked them.
Brent had planned to take the two children towards the nearby river. Maybe let them dip their toes in if they behaved. Eventually though the period of silence had left. While Ael was looking at the horses, apparently Nnoil had managed to get out. Brent had only caught the tail end of his escape as the arch had shimmer back into place. Ael had protested mightily as Brent had picked her up from the horses and began to leap off after the wayward child.
Studying the PADD in her hand, Sakarra made her way down the corridor when the sound of light footsteps approaching at considerable speed reached her ears.
The very second she looked up, a small boy came barreling around the corner, a most satisfied and quite merry expression on his features.
Well, this had a distinctly familiar feel to it.
Relying on his momentum, the child attempted to rush past the young woman who had so unexpectedly appeared in his path and let out a surprised but delighted shriek when he was scooped up in one arm with a firm but gentle grip.
"I should think that is enough, so-kan."
"Hlaefv!"
"Indeed."
That certainly cleared up the question of the little one's identity. It did not explain where his escape had originated. Still laughing, the child made no attempt to struggle but instead reached his arms up in the universal gesture of 'you caught me, now you get to carry me'.
Quirking a brow, the young Vulcan hoisted the little one up to settle against her hip and was rewarded with an inquisitive hand tugging at her ear.
Brent was leaping down the corridor. Ael had started frowning when she was dragged away from the horses that she had seen. However leaping along in the air was simply too much. She began to laugh and almost cry out in joy as her captor leaped down the corridor. He maintained the steady leaps down the corridor until he heard the faint sound of a Romulan cry out. Brent's pace quickened as he leaped around the corner his eyes scanning for something that might be a threat.
"ALRIGHT WHAT THE SH--" Brent called out in his best drill Sergeant voice but stopped himself and immediately lightened his tone as he saw what was happening. "Commander!" he said before clearing his throat. "Ah. Forgive me there. I wasn't sure just what was going on with him there," Brent placed Ael down unceremoniously onto the ground while still holding her hand. "He got away from me before I could stop him." He gave Nnoil 'the look' as he sighed. "Thank you for catching him for me."
Sakarra gave the young Marine a courteous nod of greeting and then found herself faced with an interesting problem. With the child still on her left arm and the PADD in her right hand, the little one had been free to continue his exploration of the new funny person that had arrived to entertain him. Subsequently, several hairpins now decorated the floor while tiny hands attempted to bend two more of the strange things into a loop.
"There is no need to apologize, Mr Warren."
At last, the young Vulcan settled for stuffing the PADD quite unceremoniously into her uniform jacket and managed to quickly catch the child's hand before he could undo the last braid.
"You had no way of knowing the little one was unharmed. As for the latter, I am quite accustomed to the speed with which Vulcanoid children are able to carry out escapes once they have decided to entertain themselves in this manner."
Apparently satisfied with the shape of the bent hairpins, the boy presented his creation to the Marine with a grin, wriggling the little fingers of his other hand in the funny woman's warm grip.
"Yes, so-kan, it is quite proper to offer an apology. However, I am not certain what this is meant to resemble."
"Apparently he's trying to be an artist," Brent said taking the hair-pin creation before smiling at the little boy. After examining it for a few moments he chuckled softly. "Either that or a hair dresser I suppose," Brent offered the bent hairpins back to Sakarra there in the corridor. "Here let me take him from you. We should be getting back to the holodeck. With a locked door this time," Brent said as he gave Nnoil a look.
Brent reached down, picking the little girl up into his arm before reaching out his arm to grab the other from Sakarra. "Congratulations on your promotion by the way," he said.
The young Vulcan inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement before handing the mildly reluctant child over to the young human.
"You were attempting to provide physical exercise for the children? A logical approach, however it would seem the little one found it not sufficiently entertaining."
Said child merely giggled while his sister practiced an interesting scowl, quite possibly directed at the boring adults who preferred to talk rather than get on with more interesting matters.
Oh, familiar indeed.
"Would you object to me joining you for a brief time, Mr Warren? I might be able to provide a few helpful suggestions."
It certainly was the least she could do to show her gratitude for his assistance, let alone discretion, in the matter of her escape from sickbay.
"The Captain has me guarding/babysitting her children when she is on duty. I was kind of trying to get them some exercise. We were about to go and play in the river a little bit?" he said as the little boys attention seemed to get fixed on Brent at that time. "That's right, maybe we can find something small and slimy for you to play with hm?" Brent had hoped that he had remembered to program in the frogs and newts.
"I was just about to ask you if you would care to join us in the holodeck. Of course, join us commander," Brent said with a warm and genuine smile. "I could use a bit more adult conversation and any suggestions that you might have."
"Small and slimy? How interesting."
Sakarra gave a friendly nod and followed the Marine back towards the holodeck.
As the doors hummed open, she was mildly surprised by the abundance of animals in the scenery, but by and large it looked rather pleasant.
A flock of ducks scattered as the four of them walked towards a glittering blue river, but the girl's attention seemed occupied by something under a nearby tree. A horse of the rather tall variety had obviously succeeded in picking some fruit off the lower branches and was munching with an air of utter contentment.
Naturally, the children disagreed on what activity would prove most interesting, and while the girl confidently steered towards the horse, her brother seemed intent on pulling Mr Warren into the water.
"Am I correct in assuming this is not a semblance of Terra?"
The girl had managed to wrestle herself loose from the Marine's hand and made a dash for the open space of the meadow, but an arm extended at lightning speed aborted the escape before it had a chance to succeed. "No, ko-kan, I believe it would be in your best interest to not test Mr Warren's patience any further. However, if he agrees I might be persuaded to demonstrate the practice of riding such an animal to you at a later time."
"Yes. The large trees and animals would never really survive on my home planet. Everything was squat and low to the ground, no real massive forests. That was one of the first things I did when I had leave after basic was go visit the Old Forests that survive on Earth," Brent said before he saw Sakarra catch Ael in the act of running to the horses. "Actually go ahead and let her go. Everything is set to be as safe as possible. We can take the horse and let her ride it to the river where Nnoil here can get wet and look for newts," he said as the little boy seemed to brighten even more at the idea.
"That is actually the house style that I grew up in, one obviously made out of reinforced duracreet instead of wood or other building materials," Brent said as he hefted a saddle up onto the horse and tightened it down, bringing the small girl up onto it before he took the reins into his hand and got the horse to follow him. "I trust that you are feeling better now?... So what do you want me to refer to you as here when we are off duty? You seem to like to call me Mr Warren, should I call you Ms Tyrax? Or can I convince you to call me Brent, since Mr. Warren has always been my father."
"It is quite agreeable." The young Vulcan cast another long look over the landscape while next to them the horse rumbled and chewed on its bit.
"As for my name," she looked up at the tall young human and found his blue eyes resting on her "I would be correctly referred to as Miss Sakarra, or Sakarra Tyrax, since by human standard both are my 'last names' if you will. I should however be pleased if you would address me simply as Sakarra."
They had reached the soft grass of the riverbanks and Nnoil was already busy throwing his shoes into a shrub, while little Ael seemed to ponder the merit of new discoveries weighed against the most interesting and dignified position in the horse's saddle.
After pouting thoughtfully for only a few seconds, she decided the former might prove more exciting and held out her arms to the raven haired woman who swiftly put her to the ground.
Leaving the boring adults in her wake, the child raced to find what the 'small and slimy' was all about.
[To be continued...]
Brevet 1st Lieutenant Brent Warren
Marine Commander
Lt Cmdr Sakarra Tyrax
Chief Helm Officer
USS-Charon
