USS PATRIOT: EARTH: Various * USS PATRIOT: Various (“Catching Up”)

From: V. Rahul Chandra (vrccan_at_gmail.com)
Date: Wed Mar 28 2007 - 02:38:01 PDT


 

 

============

“Catching Up”

Con’t from Bethany’s “Caught in the Middle”

============

Location: EARTH (St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America)

Stardate: 2422 [2.7] 0328.0428

Scene: Banquet Hall

 

Time Index: During the first scene of Naomi’s post “Cats and Dogs”

 

Daniel sat down heavily at the table, looking at the bottle of champagne in
front of him with a longing expression on his face.  He’d shaken hands with
so many people that his hand was hurting from the continual repetitive
action.  He was frankly sick and tired of the reception and was a bit put
off at the size of it but in order to make his mom happy he’d put on a smile
and interacted with all of the different guests that had been invited.

 

“Daniel!” the marine heard the voice of his mother calling him from the
other side of the room.  Sighing to himself he got up and traversed the room
until he was beside her and then looked at her expectantly.

 

“I want you to meet my uncle; your great uncle,” Nancy said, pointing at a
man that didn’t look like he was much older than she was.

 

“Pleased to meet you son,” the man said, shaking hands with Daniel.  He had
a firm grip that portrayed confidence.  “The name’s Harris Williamson.”

 

“Nice to meet you sir,” Daniel replied respectfully.  “Is that a Texan
accent I detect?”

 

Harris threw his head back and laughed; a loud booming sound that
immediately confirmed Daniel’s suspicions.  “I don’t think you have to
detect ‘em,” he drawled.  “They’re usually damn obvious.”

 

Daniel chuckled.  “Well said,” he replied.  “So what do you do?”

 

“I work in alternative fuels,” Harris answered.  “Yer mom there told me that
your brother’s becoming quite the engineer; I might give him a summer
internship with my company and see how he takes to that kind o’ research.”

 

“He might like it,” Daniel agreed.  “Although personally I think he’d prefer
a job where he got to design starships.  Being an engineer at Utopia
Planitia would probably be his dream job.”

 

Harris chuckled.  “That’s every young engineer’s dream job,” he answered and
inclined his head when he noticed Catherine walk up to the pair.

 

“I was wondering where you were,” she said to the marine before turning and
smiling politely in the direction of the man.  “Hi, I’m Catherine,” she
said, extending a hand.

 

Instead of shaking it Harris drew it to his lips briefly.  “Howdy ma’am,” he
said, letting her hand go.  “Ya done good Daniel; she’s real pretty.”  The
three chatted for a few moments before Harris excused himself to go talk to
someone else.

 

“He’s very flamboyant,” Catherine observed rather bemusedly as they watched
the man walk up to somebody else and startle him with a friendly slap on the
back.

 

“That is he is,” Daniel agreed.  “Remind me to explain people from Texas to
you sometime.”

 

They stood in silence for a few moments, observing the activity around them.
“Say,” Daniel said suddenly.  “I’m sorry about this Cath; I had no idea
there were going to be this many people here.”

 

“It’s okay,” she answered truthfully.

 

“I know you hate crowds though.”

 

“I do,” she agreed.  “But it’s only once and they’re your family; so I can
handle it.”

 

The fast music that had been playing was suddenly replaced by a slow song
and many of the couples that had attended walked out into the middle of the
floor and began to dance.  Daniel looked over at Catherine and smiled,
holding his hand out.

 

“Care to dance, my darling wife?” he asked.

 

Catherine laughed.  “You won’t blame me if I break one of your toes?” she
asked.

 

“Never.”

 

“Then you’re on!”

 

 

=============

Time Index: The next morning

Scene: Williamson Residence Kitchen

 

Daniel awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and good.  The nightmare
hadn’t returned and for that he was immensely thankful.  He plodded his way
out into the Kitchen and was surprised to find everyone else awake.

 

“What’s so important that it gets you out of bed this early?” Daniel asked
his brother curiously as he made a cup of coffee.

 

“Baseball tournament later on today,” Marty replied with a grunt.  “Although
we’re short a player so the team might have to forfeit.”

 

“What position?” Daniel asked, taking a sip of his coffee and sitting down
at the table.

 

“Pitcher,” Marty said, looking over the PADD he was reading at Daniel.  “I
wonder…”

 

Daniel looked up at him and after realizing what his brother was thinking
shook his head.  “No way,” he said with a laugh.  “I am so out of practice
it’s disgusting.”

 

“Who cares, it’s just for fun,” Marty declared.  “I’ll take you out for
practice early and you can warm up and work on some of your stuff.”

 

“You are a persistent little runt,” Daniel replied teasingly.

 

“Is that a yes?”

 

Daniel sighed.  “I have to do some work over at the PATRIOT first,” he said.
“If I can finish that with enough time to practice then it’s a yes.”

 

 

==========

Time Index: in line with Bethany’s post “Caught in the Middle”

Location: USS PATRIOT

Scene: Deck 6 corridor -> Turbolift -> Deck 6 corridor -> Counseling 

 

Daniel was still in his street clothes as he barreled down the corridor in
an attempt to get his report dropped off and because of his fast pace he
nearly collided with a woman as she was exiting the lift.  After muttering a
brief apology he turned to get into the turbolift and noticed that Catherine
was already in it.

 

“You just almost ran over our new counselor,” she said, an amused expression
on her face.

 

“I did?” he asked, looking back at the woman’s receding form.  “Actually
I’ve been meaning to talk to her…”

 

“No time like the present,” his wife observed.  With a brief smile in her
direction he turned around and ran back through the lift doors before they
closed; taking off down the corridor after the other woman.

 

After raising his voice slightly to get her attention, Daniel came up next
to the counselor breathlessly.  “Sorry about back there,” he said.

 

“It’s alright,” she said agreeably.  “I’m Ensign Tam Niala,” she said,
proffering a hand.

 

“Major Daniel Clarkson,” the marine replied as they shook hands.  “I’ve
actually been meaning to talk to you…”

 

“Well, let’s step into my office,” she said.  The two walked down the rest
of the corridor in silence and it wasn’t until they were seated in the
Counselor’s office that she spoke again.

 

“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked curiously.

 

“Some of the psychological examinations for the enlisted marines are out of
date according to regulations,” Daniel explained.  “I was wondering if you
could fit them into your schedule at some point.”

 

“I can certainly try,” Tam stated.  “But I’ve only just managed to get the
files released for my perusal.  I’m actually supposed to do evaluations of
all the senior staff as soon as I get acquainted so I’ll make you a deal;
you let me examine you right now and I’ll try and get some early spots in
for your marines.”

 

Daniel smiled.  “How can I say no to that?” he asked rhetorically.  “Fire
away!”

 

“Well, let’s just start with your particulars.  Your birthday is June 5th?”

 

“Yep,” the marine replied.  “I turn 30 this year.”

 

“Okay,” Tam said, smiling over at him.  “And how long have you been
married?”

 

“About four and a half months or so.  Catherine and I got married on
November 7th last year.”

 

“Wow, so you really haven’t been married that long then.”

 

“Nope, not at all.  We weren’t really engaged that long either; just a few
months.  We went out for over a year before that though.”

 

“And how did you two meet?”

 

“We were both stationed on the same ship; I was in the exact same position I
am now and she was the assistant to the Chief of Security.”

 

“I see,” she said, looking over the information contained in his personnel
file.  “Mother, Nancy Williamson…Father, Joshua Clarkson…but there’s no
information here on what his profession is.”

 

“I don’t know what his profession is,” Daniel replied.  “Neither myself nor
anyone else in my family has seen him in over a decade.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Tam said, looking over her terminal at him.

 

Daniel shrugged and smiled slightly.  “It’s not like it’s a state secret,”
he said.  “He was abusive not only to my mother but to myself and my younger
brother as well.  Our lives improved dramatically after he left.”

 

They continued talking for about fifteen minutes but it quickly became clear
to Tam that there wasn’t anything to learn about Daniel’s psychology that
wasn’t already contained in the report.  She asked him about his time in
Starfleet, about how he’d decided to get into the fleet, about his joint
medical and marine training and anything else she could think of, but no new
information surfaced.  She eventually concluded that his profile was
completely detailed and up to date.

 

“Well,” she said once she’d run out of questions.  “I guess that’s
everything.  If you can just send me a list of the marines that need their
records updated I’ll fit them in where I can.”

 

“Sure, no problem,” Daniel said and then after a moment added, “So what’s
your story?”

 

“Excuse me?” Tam asked, surprised at the question.

 

“Well I figure we’re going to be working together a lot,” Daniel explained.
“And I figure as long as you know all about me I should take the time to
learn about you.  How’d you get into Starfleet?  And what made you decide on
counseling?”

 

“That’s a rather long story,” Tam answered.

 

“I’ve got time,” Daniel said, leaning back in his chair and looking at her
expectantly.

 

 

===========

NRPG: I hope I got the e-mail string right.  If I accidentally sent this to
anyone that didn't want to receive it I apologize in advance; just let me
know about the mistake and I'll make sure you get no further e-mails from
me.

 

Bethany -> Tag!  Hope I did Tam justice

===========

 

 
==========
V. Rahul Chandra <vrccan_at_gmail.com>
 
Playing...
 
Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, MD
Chief Medical Officer/2nd Officer
GATEWAY STATION, GS-2
 
&
 
Major Daniel Clarkson, MD
Executive Officer - Marine Contingent
USS PATRIOT, NCC 5781-A
 
&
 
Lieutenant Sevlock
Junior ACT Instructor
Starfleet Academy, EARTH
 
 

 

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