Spit Spot Spat

Posted on Fri Jan 8, 2021 @ 4:37am by Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

1,585 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Archangel
Location: AJ's Quarters
Timeline: Two Hours After "Target Practice"

ON :

Nicole stalked down the corridor, stopping in front her target's door. She rang the chime and folded her arms, tapping her foot impatiently.

AJ was fresh out of the steam shower, rubbing his hair with a towel and pleasantly surprised that it was now back to it's regular brown instead of slightly blue. He was in the middle of pulling on a midnight blue Officer Candidate School t-shirt when he was interrupted by the soft indicator of the door chime. Pulling on the pair of sweatpants, he walked over to the door and tapped the wall console, causing it to slide open with a pneumatic hiss only to be greeted by Nicole, who looked none too happy.

"I don't recall requesting a house call, Nic." he said, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Well, I came to reset your broken jaw," Nicole said.

AJ narrowed his eyes and brought his hands up slightly in case Nicole decided to throw a punch in his direction. "Last I checked, I didn't have one." he said

"Yeah, well, you're about to," she growled. "I sent Maggie to learn to shoot a target, not be a target! What the hell were you thinking?"

AJ ducked his head into the corridor, noting the stares of the occasional passerby. He turned his gaze back to Nicole, who was practically vibrating with rage. "This is not the place to have this conversation. Come inside." he said, amazed at how calmly he had uttered the words.

Nicole walked into his quarters and folded her arms.

"Have a seat, Nic. Can I get you anything before I'm given the privilege of explaining myself?" he asked as he leaned on the back of his chair.

Nicole sighed and sat down on the couch, crossing her legs. "All right," she said. "Please explain."

AJ sighed and took a seat in the chair. "Combat is a messy thing, Nic. Our targets aren't just bullseyes on the range-" taking a breath, he felt the annoyance return before he could even . "-if I had told her what was coming, she would have backed out immediately. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of easing people into the rigors of war out here and in case you didn't notice, we got shoved directly into it just a few days ago. That whole "To seek out new lives and new civilizations thing" isn't much use when the phaser beams start flying and people start dropping like flies." he said "This ship needs people who won't run when the going gets even slightly difficult- we need warriors and if she isn't up to it, maybe she shouldn't be here." he said, matter-of-factly. He thought to his own set of scars along his back from engagements long past.

"AJ, not all of us are warriors," Nicole said, building up steam. "Some of us are support, or advisors, or scared little girls who are thrust into something with barely any guidance! You could have at least started her off with one shot and built up her confidence! They don't teach us to be surgeons by putting us in front of someone with their bodies inside out and say 'okay put him back together or he dies'!"

AJ's face was exasperated now. "That's not the point. Do you think she's going to have time to only shoot at one target in a crowded corridor or planetside when contacts are coming in all around her? Do you think she'll have the ability to blow the whistle and say 'Time Out!'? In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of the goddamn Delta Quadrant, so we're not exactly close to home. On top of that, I can't believe you're here because one of your nurses got scared. Honestly, the worst injury that happened today was some injured pride and some stinging skin. If you thought I'd let something serious happen to her, you'd be insulting me and the entire SRU!"

Nicole hung her head and ran her hands through her hair. "AJ, I don't believe for a moment you would deliberately let something happen to her," Nicole said. "To any of them, for that matter. If I did, I wouldn't have let literally everyone I care about be in that room together at the same time." She sat back and looked up at the ceiling, trying to choose her words with more care than her instincts wanted to. "I'm not disagreeing with your concerns, but we're not in a battle right now, and we're not fighting for our lives right now. And I'm not here because she got scared, I'm here because she was in over her head and humiliated, and I can't have my head nurse doubting her abilities while in my Sickbay. I assure you, I was the first one to tell her to suck it up and walk it off, but I can't do that every shift until she gets her confidence back. If you're going to put the rest of my staff through this, I need to know you're going to teach them before you toss them into the fire."

AJ shook his head. "I can't and won't promise that, Nic, and it's not even remotely fair of you to ask me to do that. It doesn't matter if we aren't fighting right now, one can come at any point. Literally every single mission we've undertaken has been an extremely sudden collision with people who want to kill us, or have you conveniently repressed those memories? These trials tell me who is going to fold under pressure and who I want at my side when things go to absolute shit all around us. It's also what she signed up for as a Starfleet officer. If she can't handle that, then I'd recommend that she seek life elsewhere!" he said, now sitting up with his shoulders tensed and his teeth clenched.

"And, what, the medical team I can assign on an away mission is dictated by who is the best shot?" Nicole said, her dander rising as well and her eyes turning red. "AJ, how do you--" she stopped and closed her mouth, which was hanging open. She ran her hands over her hair again, smoothing it out and then smoothed her uniform.

"This is what we do, isn't it? Every time," she said, her voice suddenly quiet. "We get upset, dig our heels in, and we wind up shouting at the mutual wind we're both blowing." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry, AJ, I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job--no, that's not true. I am. I shouldn't be, and I'm sorry. At the same time, I have to do mine, which is looking out for those under my command." She looked at him, imploringly. "There has to be a happy medium where you can get them to your real-world standards, and I don't have a staff of shell-shocked self-doubters."

AJ shook his head and stood up. "No offense but I can't afford that. And as a matter of fact- I do assign people based on their marksmanship qualifications- it's literally protocol. If they can't shoot, they don't go planetside."

"She can shoot, AJ! She's-- ," Nicole felt her dander coming back up. She almost physically grabbed herself and stuffed it back down. "She's just not perfect."

Nicole sighed and sat back. "All right. Could you give her another chance, maybe? I know those don't always happen in life, but join me in my fantasy world on this one. Give me one week to try and have that head-shrinker rewire her, and let me give her some pointers, and give her another chance to make a first impression. Could you do that?"

Narrowing his eyes, he thought for a moment. "I'll think about it. It won't change the fact that I think she's a liability though."

Nicole bristled. "She's not a liability, she's a life saver! You--" she stopped and got suddenly calm. "All right, AJ. How about a wager?"

AJ raised an eyebrow and fixed his gaze upon Nicole. He always became immediately suspicious when Nicole went from highly annoyed to calm as an undisturbed sea. "I'm always leery about bets that aren't a sure thing." he said.

"All right, an 'agreement' then," Nicole said, standing up, folding her arms and squaring off with him. "You go through a medical review as my nurse on the holodeck. You pass, we'll accept her failure and I'll have her transferred and replaced with someone who has better aim. You fail, you give her another chance and you never refer to her as a liability in front of me again. Deal?"

AJ smirked, his emergency medical training coming back to him. Each member of the Strategic Response Team was certified as a Paramedic at the least and extremely well-versed in trauma care- his senior Corpsman, Chief Petty Officer Ka'mak, was actually finishing a certification as a Physician's Assistant before seeking his commission.

"You have yourself a deal, Nic. Name your time." AJ said, standing to face her.

"Day after tomorrow, Holodeck two, 1400 hours," Nicole said, trying to maintain her smug superiority while looking into his amused blue eyes. "See you then."

She mustered up a smirk and sauntered out of his quarters, waiting until the doors closed before slamming her fist into her thigh repeatedly as punishment for being such a sodding idiot.

: OFF

 

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