Genetic Rarity

Posted on Thu Dec 7th, 2023 @ 7:58pm by Crewman Vakra Kor & Lieutenant Kaelyn Carter

1,639 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Project Concord
Location: Science Labs
Timeline: Prior to launch

Vakra walked into the labs. "Greetings. Hello?" He wasn't sure who summoned him. He hoped it was for a Security purpose, but suspected it wasn't. Biologists and Xenobiologists tend to request him because he was an Albino Klingon with the Pre Genetic Manipulation Era throwback gene. He was kind of a novelty among his People. His family wouldn't give him a Starfleet Academy Recommendation Letter. He was deemed to appear in a manner that wasn't Tactical. Life Scientists at Starfleet found him fascinating though.

Hearing a voice calling out, Lieutenant Carter paused her work which had seen her practically climb inside one of the consoles to make adjustments to ensure the equipment was not just meeting the technical specifications but her own. Where they were going she needed to have absolute confidence in everything, from her staff to the raw data which would be the basis of her analysis…

Climbing to her feet she flashed an apologetic smile as she retrieved her uniform jacket and slipped it back on. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone,” she apologised before offering her hand, “Kaelyn Carter. Chief Science Officer and very new aboard. Was there something you needed Crewman…?”

He thought for a minute and then offered his hand in the human custom, "Vakra House of Kor." He was basically Klingon Royalty, but he was an albino and had the pre Soong features. He showed her his padd, "It was requested I come here."

A Scientist came in fast mumbling like the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, "Late. Late. I want your blood. You are fascinating."

Vakra snarled, "Excuse me."

As the doors had opened to admit another new face, Kaelyn raised an eyebrow at the figure hurrying towards them. His grey eyes, partially hidden behind the rim of the glasses perched somewhat precariously half way down his nose. It seemed their owner suspected they may take a tumble, since a small chain seemed to be attached so that the glasses would hang from his neck if they did. Or maybe he lost them a lot - it was too soon to tell.

The first word which came to her mind, however, was this: chaos. While he was in uniform, it was hidden beneath an old fashioned lab coat which seemed to have pockets everywhere , and every one of those seemed bursting at the seems. Add to that an unruly mass of white hair, a need for either a shave or a commitment to full on grow a beard and the fact he seemed oblivious to anyone or anything other than the crewman. A first impression was off someone fully embracing his eccentric golden years.

Except he was only thirty two.

Stepping in front of Vakra before her fellow scientist could do whatever the hell he was planning to do, Carter flashed him her most disarming smile, “Doctor Thompson, I presume?”

He came to an abrupt halt as the unfamiliar woman stepped into his path out of nowhere, frowning as he pushed his glasses up and studied the woman. “Yes, yes,” he confirmed impatiently, “now get out of my way I have important work to do.”

“So it would seem,” she agreed. “However, unless I missed a memo, this is my department and I don’t recall authorising any research which involved blood samples from the crew.”

“Not the crew! Just this one! For my personal research - blood is so rare -“

Vakra raised the padd, "I was requested for a Security matter. A blood draw is not a Security Matter. My understanding is readings can be done without needles. If you want my blood, you are welcome to try the Klingon way " He was grumpy about the false Security request

“Needles?! How barbaric!” the scientist scoffed, waving away the notion.

“Enough!” Kaelyn interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder and physically pushing him further away from his obsession. She shifted so she was in his line of sight and only her, “believe me when I say we are not done with this, Doctor. Now sit down, be quiet and do not dare move from that seat.”

Flustered he sat, his protests dying in his throughly at the steely glare from her and the crewman he so desperately needed to get to. Not quite trusting him she stayed close to him as she turned towards Vakra. “Crewman, I… I cannot apologise to you enough. To lure you into our department under false pretences is unethical at best and I assure you I will be dealing with this. If you wish to raise a formal complaint, you are well within your rights to do so.”

Her fellow scientist opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head, “believe me, you don’t want to annoy an already understandably unhappy Klingon. Unless you have some kind of death wish?”

As he fell silent she turned back to Vakra, “the choice is yours and you have time to consider it. Although if you are open to it, I do have something on my to do list that you may be able to help with.”

Vakra looked at Kaelyn, "If you run the genome, I don't mind. You appear to have honor. I don't trust him. I want to drop him on his head."

She couldn’t completely contain her laugh at the statement, having to clamp her hand over her mouth for a second until she regained her composure. “Thank you and while I am not unsympathetic, we generally don’t want the crew dropping each other on their heads,” she reminded him with a grin, “although if anyone could pull it of, my money would be on you…”

The white skinned Klingon grinned, "Check my Jacket. I've done it."

She turned towards the source of trouble, “go. We will discuss this later but until then you are off duty. Understood?”

With a nod her fellow scientist scrambled to his feet and all but ran, seeming to realise he had perhaps gone a little too far.


“Again, I apologise,” Carter offered as she turned to face Vakra. “And you do not have to give us anything, I assure you. I will take the sample if you want, but only if it is what you want. Not because someone wants you to help them write another research paper.”

Vakra looked at her, "It would be interesting to know why my colony has more throwbacks than other Klingon Colonies." Most People assumed he was from the Klingon Homeworld, but he has never been there. "Our Scientists are not as focused on that or as good as Federation Scientists."

“I wouldn’t say that to them,” Kaelyn advised with a grin as she pointed to a seat, “grab a seat while I get what I need…”

Vakra found a chair and sat down and waited.

Crossing the room she disappeared into one of the many storage facilities nestled away in the department. “While this may give you some answers,” she called over her shoulder as she gathered what she needed, “there could be more than your genetics at play. The environment, for example… if it is something you want to explore further, then perhaps it would be worthwhile making a proper research proposal.”

Emerging again she crossed the room, “any medical issues I should know of before I collect the blood sample? It will be a tiny amount and completely painless. Unless you wanted to do it the Klingon way, but I can’t in good conscience recommend it.”

Grinning, "He had to do it the Klingon way. You, I will play nice."

To demonstrate she held up her left hand, revealing a small and faded scar before lowering her hand. “Ready?”

Vakra grinned, "Go ahead."

“You asked for it,” she warned him with a grin of her own as she obtained a blood sample, the whole process entirely painless. Extracting the sealed vial she held it up, “wasn’t too bad I hope?”

"Respect and bedside manner go a long way."

“I will start analysing the gene sequencing right away,” she assured him, “it is relatively straightforward and shouldn’t take too long. But like I said, this alone is unlikely to give you the answers you are looking for. But I will do my best to help you find them.”

"Answers or not. I am still Klingon. I still have a job to be."

"By all means, I have all we need," Carter told him, "I will let you know if we find anything helpful.... oh! Yes. The other thing, while you are here... I'd like to arrange some additional security training for my team. Basic self defence. Who knows what we will encounter, I'd feel a lot better knowing they could at least fend for themselves if it came down to it. Do you think you could discuss it with your Chief? It doesn't have to be you personally, but some of the new kids seem a little afraid of their own shadows at times."

Vakra nodded, "It will be relayed. The shiny officers from the academy are not ready for me to teach them. Babies crawl before they walk."

She couldn’t help the laugh that burst out, “very true! I shouldn’t keep you any longer, but thank you for being so forgiving of the whole situation.”

Vakra stopped, "It is not forgiveness, but practicality. If I dropped him on his head and he didn't die, he would put in for a transfer or be left in Alpha Quadrant for medical recovery. If he was chosen for this Mission, despite his personality issues, he has value. If I remove him from the equation, it could damage the outcome of the Mission." He turned to leave.

Carter laughed as she watched him go, deciding she liked the Klingon.

 

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