JP Cmdr. Addison MacKenzie & Lt. Cmdr. Yogan Yalu — The horga’hns of command, Part 1
jkpbem
(( Harmadu’s Paint-Your-Own Horga’hns, Maklau Beach, Risa ))
With the focus of someone far more skilled in the visual arts than he, Yogan dipped a chisel-edge brush into a dollop of orange paint. Well, it looked orange. The name on the tube was “Tawny Day Lily.” Moving the brush slowly and intently, he applied the color to a plain off-white statue, the mysterious horga’hn, which appeared to be the shop’s number one seller. There were a thousand of them on offer, ranging from the size of a communicator to a meter or more in height. Yogan considered painting a coffee mug or a gravy boat, but the proprietor, a gentle elderly Risian male called Harmadu, offered two-for-one horga’hns, so he ended up with a pair of them.
Yogan washed his brush and was about to pick up a new color, “Purplicious,” when he saw Commander MacKenzie enter the shop. He stopped what he was doing and stood to greet her.
Yalu: Thanks for accepting my calendar invite. Have a seat. Pick up a brush.
Addison offered a friendly nod and sat down behind her own statue. According to the label, it was something called a horga’hn… to her, she thought it resembled something like a Klingon heart if it had been turned upside down. Cocking her head, she picked up a brush and dipped it in a shade called “Blueberry Burst,” then started to paint. Acutely aware that the invitation was not strictly about leisure, she dug in.
MacKenzie: You’ve been oddly withdrawn lately. It’s nice to see you among the living again.
Yalu: I spent the first two days on this planet alone in my hotel room. oO Sulking Oo The last thing I want to do now is sit somewhere and contemplate my existence. ::gestures to the array of paints and brushes:: This is, at least nominally, an activity.
Addison’s lip curled in contempt for her work thus far, and she briefly considered ripping the statue from its base and rotating it so it was, what she considered to be, rightside up. For fear of displeasing the merchant, she decided against the act of possible vandalism and instead rinsed her brush, opting now for a shade of red-orange labeled “Flame.” The irony only briefly escaped her.
MacKenzie: I suppose you’re using this as an opportunity to ease back into social interaction? No doubt you’ve received your inquiry request by now...
Yalu: I’ve received my summons from– ::beat:: some admiral I’ve never heard of. I can’t remember their name.
MacKenzie: ::without taking her eye off the statue:: Reynolds.
Yalu: That’s it. Reynolds. I am to be there first thing tomorrow. ::beat:: That’s kind of why I was so keen to meet with you today.
MacKenzie: Oh?
As he moved on from “Purplicious” to a greenish-brown color appropriately named “Mocha Minty,” Yogan was grateful that he’d chosen this activity as a scaffold for the conversation with MacKenzie. It kept his hands busy and gave him something to focus on, both of which calmed him and made it easier to say what he wanted to say. He would have been a ball of nerves had he been sitting across a desk from the Commander, with nowhere to look except into her legendary stare.
Yalu: When we left 224 without you, and Genkos asked me to fill in as his XO, I was– ::beat:: excited. I’ve had a hell of an example in you to follow.
Addison cocked her head slightly without taking her eyes off her statue.
MacKenzie: Well, I don’t know about that, but I’ll take the compliment just the same…
With a mish-mash of color, haphazardly applied wherever it was convenient and no real plan or design, the lower third of Yogan’s horga’hn looked like it belonged in some kind of Bolian acid trip. “Mocha Minty” gave way to a color inexplicably called “Lauren’s Surprise.” Whoever and wherever she was, Yogan hoped Lauren was having a better time than he.
Yalu: But things didn’t really go according to plan. I don’t know what I expected might happen on this mission, but if I had a thousand guesses, losing the ship and 13 crew members would never have been one of them.
Addison found her eyes looking beyond the statue, momentarily detaching from the physical task.
MacKenzie: I’ve found that Starfleet is a lot like medicine… Even if you know exactly what you’re getting into, you don’t. There’s no such thing as a “normal day” on the job. You just… have to roll with it.
Yalu: I noted from your service record that you were acting XO on a ship called Diligent. Was that your first experience in command?
Addison smiled and let out a guffaw. She could picture the ship just as she’d left it… a Sickbay without a ceiling; very little medical equipment; engineers delivering babies - it was a medical officer’s dream working environment.
MacKenzie: The Diligent! That’s a name I haven’t heard for a long time.
Yalu: What was it like? ::beat:: This is a bit of a vulgar question, but did you do a good job?
It’s not as though Yogan would have been happier to hear that Addison’s first taste of the big chair would have ended in some kind of colossal failure. Well, maybe secretly, it might have been a bit of a balm for him. But by the time Yogan had met her, Commander MacKenzie appeared to have accumulated the experience and leadership qualities necessary to succeed in the role. He was curious what she was like before, when the job might have come as an unexpected tap on the shoulder.
TBC
Commander Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
First Officer
USS Resolution
V239601AM0
Lt. Commander Yogan Yalu
Helm Officer
USS Resolution NCC-78145
Justin D238804DS0