Dog and Girl

Posted on Mon Nov 4th, 2024 @ 1:17am by Gr'Thor & Lieutenant Nixie Wilde & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Lieutenant JG Kahlin

1,448 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 2 - Death is Only the Beginning
Location: Security Patrol

Gr'Thor was walking around the ship with a small Vulcanoid Child on his back. She was riding him like a horse. He was doing his explosives search. She was playing cowgirl.

T'lar noticed the duo just in time and moved out of the way with a raised brow. She wondered who the child's parents were and why they would allow the child to act in such a clearly illogical manor.

Nixie chuckled softly as she slid the other way past, half turning and lifting her hand to touch a hat she wasn't wearing. "You make a mighty fine rider, that's for sure..." she complimented lightly.

The girl looked up,"The White Klingon man said that Gr'Thor is doing his weekly explosive search. I'm playing cowgirl. Mom says that doing multiple things at once is efficient."

Gr'Thor dumped her off and she landed with an ooof. He nudged her around the corner. Then came back to a panel and sat. He was waiting for security to open it. There wasn't a bomb in there, but he smelled a damaged conduit, a blatant fire hazard.

Nixie reached down and helped the girl back to her feet with a soft chuckle. "Well it looks like your partner has other plans," she winked before moving to touch Gr'Thor's ear. "And what's up with you?" she asked, crouching to look all the same, carefully opening up the hatch.

Gr'Thor nudged the girl. Back around the corner. Inside the panel was a damaged conduit that was leaking and smoking. It definitely needed a tech to fix it, sooner than later. He was protecting the child from it. He did his job and found the danger.

"Hell in a handbasket..." Nixie muttered on a tight breath, pulling her tricorder out. "You stay back there, sweetheart!" she called to the girl before slapping her commbadge. "Wilde to Engineering, we have a conduit that needs fixing up...now."

Vakra arrived to find his dog and security staff.

It did not take many minutes before Kahlin appeared, her hair braided away from her face. Her eyes went to the albino Klingon, her lip twitching for a moment almost into a sneer. It was not because of his appearance, rather because it was habit for her to try and look more aggressive around Klingons. She schooled her features quickly though, carrying with her a toolkit. "Now who was been breaking my ship?" she asked, aloud, looking between the Klingon, the human, the child and the dog.

Gr'Thor was keeping himself between the child and the leaking conduit. Ariadne, daughter of T'Schuun, one of the Flight Deck Technicians.. He was very protective of children. This was the youngest person on the ship. Smelling a Leaking and Smoking Conduit wasn't exactly his job, but a least he didn't have to drag a tech here. Biting and dragging people meant his owner got in trouble.

Vakra was confused and trying to figure out why the Engineer was angry at him. His confusion led to anger. The Engineer outranked him on this ship. "I have only just arrived. I break skulls not ships."

T'lar inclined her head toward the child as she knelt down to her level. She held her hand up in a traditional Vulcan salute "greetings child. It is agreeable to make your acquaintance." She looked at the child for a few brief moments. And let out the briefest of smiles. Most non Vulcans would not notice the subtle differences between a full blooded and a half Vulcan; but to T'lar they were like a billboard. She knew what it was like to belong to both worlds but not fully fitting in to either. She looked into the child's eyes; her own eyes a non typical color for their species. She brushed the hair behind her ear, it too being somewhat less pronounced than that of other Vulcans. 'it would appear we share something in common you and I." She said

Ari pointed to T'Lar's ears and smiled. Then she stopped smiling and just nodded. "Half Vulcan." She was a little behind on her self control training, but she understood it. The dog was her only real friend on the ship. Not any other kids yet, that meant no other Vulcan kids.

Kahlin started working on the leaking conduit, getting the leak under control as she ignored what was happening around her to focus. If she let herself get distracted, this would take longer. And a leaking conduit was something you wished to get sorted quickly. Now and then she would curse, quiet words of Klingon, muttered under her breath.

Vakra raised an eye brow at the Vulcan curse words.

Finally finished, Kahlin sat back and ran a hand over her forehead. "Well, that won't be blowing up anytime soon," she said and looked at the others. "All clear."

T'lar could understand the emotional "outburst" as her father would have called it.she understood the confusion about emotions and the standards of Vulcan society. "Correct. What is you companions name? She asked. Her tone was even and measured her eyes however portrayed her elation to find an individual who would understand the line they walk to to fit the expectations of others.

Ari looked up, "That is Gr'Thor. He is Vakra's dog. In English, it is a Jackal Mastiff. He is bigger than most Earth Dogs. He is not as big as a Sehlet. He is big enough to ride though. He isn't named after the Earth God, Thor. He is named after a place in the Klingon Afterlife. When the ship was broke a while back, he ran through broken stuff to get me. Now I ride him when he does his job to sniff for things that shouldn't be on the ship. Is that what he found?"

T'lar held out her hand for the animal to sniff. "Your studies are coming along well from the little I have gleamed. Grethor is the Klingon concept of the Underworld. It seems an apt name given the story. You two seem well suited I once had a Sehlat. her name was Aysha. Like this one , she once saved me from a nest of K'karee. Fortunately your friend is still here to watch over you." The young woman said. As she patted the Mastiff.

Vakra clicked his heals. "Gr'Thor. Rank." He sniffed T'Lar and then sat in front of her like he was at attention.

Ari giggled. "He sits like that when the Captain walks by too."

T'lar raised a brow slightly. She regarded the beast with a mild fascination before raising her hand in a traditional Vulcan salute. And inclining her head at the 'dogs' action.

Vakra answered, "LT, he is trained to follow orders of anyone I tell him is rank. Unless you tell him to hurt Ari."

"The hound is quite obviously well trained in that regard." The half Vulcan replied.

Vakra nodded, "Drugs, Explosives, Firearms, and Cadavers. He is trained to find them and signal. He signalled in the conduit? Which Signal?"

"I've done a good job," Kahlin said, watching Vakra and then the dog. "The leak has been dealt with. The...trace smells will disappear within a few hours."

Vakra nodded, "Him being overly protective of children is why I get him assigned with me. More Starfleet. The training just helps convince a Commander."

She looked at him, studying him closely. She understood why she had been pushed into this life of Starfleet. And for Vakra, it would have been his appearance that had gotten him shunned. Bad luck. But the dog was a dog. "Seems cruel to take him from his homeworld, to this place of...vacuum."

Vakra nodded, "Bred by my family for generations. Be used on a Frozen Astroid to rein in inmates on a Klingon ship or here in the nicest place he has ever slept and been fed chow." He had wanted to Serve on a Bird of Prey, but it ended not being his life. "His nose is a living tricorder."

Kahlin looked at the dog before she shook her head. "Those things considered, and his temperament...well, perhaps Starfleet is better," she finally agreed. "Good luck to you both."

Vakra regarded her, "tlhIngan maH taHjaj." She was the closest thing to a Klingon he met in the ship.

She looked at him, before she touched her smooth forehead self-consciously. "jISovbe'," she replied, but with a rueful smile. "Take care of him," she told the dog, with a firm nod before she left.

Gr'Thor moved back to protect Ari. He viewed that as his job. He got down so she could get on his back. With that, she was a cowgirl again.

 

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