Her face strained as she tried to comprehend his meaning and her nose wrinkled like a little girl's. Then her eyes, still drunk on diplohyozone, flashed lazily about the room looking for answers that were nowhere to be found. Rutter was stupid enough to sit, shaking his head.
"And what are you smirking at!" she barked, stepping forward, reeling unsteadily on her feet.
"I'm sorry ma'am—"
"And I'm not your blessed mother!" she spat. "Don't call me ma'am!"
I had never seen an ill-tempered side to T'Roc before, but as she took Rutter's head off, I was amazed at just how 'Human' she was—not Klingon or Vulcan; just Human—like a drunken Human.
"Sorry sir," Rutter corrected. "But in this instance, the only person who can give you a full report is Jenny."
The look that T'Roc threw me was well and truly Klingon though. I melted under it into a deflated cadet, my shoulders drooping and my head held low.
"Okay," interjected Jarrod. She stood up, rubbing her sore head. "I think we're all a bit the worst for wear and recommend that everyone should visit Rosie for a check-up. The after-effects of whatever it was they gave us—"
"Diplohyozone."
"Diplohyozone! Thank you Cadet Johnson ... has left most of us the worst for wear—myself included, so shall we go first, Rocky?"
Rocky? Just how far back did Jarrod and T'Roc go?
"And who made you captain?" barked T'Roc at her old friend.
"No one—"
"Right then!" T'Roc swung about a little too fast, tripped clumsily over her own feet and ended up on her knees leaning awkwardly against Rutter's chair.
"That's enough," said Jarrod firmly as she helped T'Roc to her feet. "We're off to sickbay."
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't!"
"Yes, I can. Slave for life, remember? "
"Oh, for god's sake!" exclaimed T'Roc. "We were eight years old at the time! Are you never going to let that go!"
"No," grinned Jarrod. "And your sense of Klingon honour means that you won't either."
"Yes, but after all these years ..." argued T'Roc as Jarrod led her gently by the elbow towards the turbolift.
"Forever is forever and you said that if I did your calculus homework for the rest of the term, you'd be my slave forever."
"But—"
"No buts. Forever is forever, so let's go see Rosie."
T'Roc screwed her face up like a disgruntled child and growled under her breath as the turbolift doors opened. As they got in, Jarrod threw a reassuring wink at me.
"Captain Terran, you have the bridge," she said.
T'Roc's high-pitched protestations could be heard as the doors sealed.
"So what are you orders, Captain? " asked Al.
"Er ... I dunno. Just ... er ... do whatever it is you normally do," and turned to the command seats. For a moment, my eyes rested upon the captain's chair but I decided against it. My chair is quite big enough, thank you.
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