Sticks, Stones, and Bureaucracy

Posted on Thu Dec 28th, 2023 @ 6:19pm by Major Arjut'Pelan sh'Kohlaka & Major Erin Ishikawa

1,692 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: First Deployment
Location: SS Unicorn: Cargo Airlock
Timeline: 2156

Erin shifted her ruck uncomfortably, rifle in hand she and the rest of the MACOs had been waiting to disembark for the last forty minutes. From what she'd been able to gather the Docana's troop airlock was incompatible with San Francisco's docking hatches. There had been a long debate between the Andorian crew and the Stardock staff over connecting to their standard airlock and unloading hundreds of MACOs one by one, including the still large amount of serious casualties. No one seemed happy with this idea, which was the first thing the two crews had agreed on since arriving in Earth space. So now they had to wait while Docana circled the yards to link up with the Unicorn's cargo airlock.

Pel stood by on the Unicorn awaiting to receive the new transfers. The incompatibility issue was more of an exaggeration than a reality, one she had put forward in order to get the rest of the soldiers onboard without giving them the chance to carouse the pubs. Such a lack of discipline among the MACOs required someone to take the initiative and hold the line. Pel had no problem being that someone.

"Prepare bioscan," Pel ordered the med-techs. "Andorian vessels are not equipped for cross-species interactions. Full decon for all personnel."

"Unicorn this is Docana, prepare for docking. Maglocks engaged...." A voice over airlock comms announced, Andorian by the sounds of it.

The process went relatively quickly, quicker than most Earth ships actually. MACO ships were a bit more advanced than Starfleet in that regard, but mostly they didn't have as many safety features that made the process as long. Erin was the first one through, she needed to check in and get this transfer organized.

"Permission to come aboard..." She said stepping through and raising an eyebrow as she saw an Andorian woman in a MACO uniform. If she hadn't just spent the last hour awake, her ribs throbbing from all the standing and holding gear; Erin would have sworn she'd stepped through a portal into an alternate universe. "...Major?"

"They said I needed it to serve aboard this ship," Pel said with a flat smirk. "Now you need you to step into the decon chamber and prepare for bioscan. Full protocol."

"Ma'am, You do realize that your own doctors have cleared us for any contagions from their ship and Berengaria, not to mention that we've been in each other's close company for nearly two weeks?" Even as Erin asked she dropped her gear, she may not like it. She might think it was stupid, but someone evoking a medical necessity was hard to argue with.

"If you want to break protocol on the first day of your new assignment, be my guest," Pel said with an even mix of indifference and audacity . "Otherwise get in the tank and spray down."

"Full decon isn't protocol and you know it, ma'am." Erin said with a roll of her eyes, wouldn't be the first time a senior officer added some unnecessary bureaucracy. She wouldn't have expected it from what she guessed was the first Andorian MACO... but life was full of annoying surprises. "We were cleared by your own Doctors ya know?" Of course even with a dumb order you followed it. Erin had already started dropping her gear, the faster she got this over with the faster she could get her people transferred over.

"It is when transferring between alien vessels from combat zones," Pel said. "I didn't write the protocol. As much as I trust the service standards of the Imperial Fleet, this ship' is UES, not Imperial Guard." While she gave Erin the dignity of turning around, she did so with a smirk on her face.

"Right, I don't suppose you mean..." Erin was half way to quipping about the woman just wanting a show, but stopped, more than a little surprised as she turned. Blinking away her surprise, she undressed, wincing as she tried to get her top off finally nearly ripping the strap of her tank to get it over her throbbing shoulder before stepping into the decon shower unit.

"Don't flatter yourself," Pel said demurely. There was a faint, almost musical lilt to her voice but she kept it checked. "If you require medical attention, however, I can have a med team notified."

"It's just healing." Erin said through gritted teeth as the tingling gel interacted with the spray against her ribs. "Your Doctors did good work, but the painkillers are obviously wearing... OFF. Fuck!" Erin dropped the gel applicator, trying to twist and keep her back to the Major. "I need your help."

That took the smirk off Pel's face. Her back was still turned though so she didn't let it affect her tone. "I'll notify Sickbay and get a med team down..."

"No." Erin said with a grimace as she tried unsuccessfully to grab the applicator again. "I can't... I don't want to... stand here waiting. Will you just do my back?"

"Very well." Of course Pel was within her rights to refuse, but how would it look if a med team came down here with her standing vigil over a detained MACO officer who was undergoing a potentially unnecessary decontamination process? The regs were admittedly gray, at least in the way Pel had invoked them. If she wanted to see this compliance test through, then she had to sell it as necessary. And that meant dropping her gear as well.

"Face the wall." Not that Pel was body shy. It was just part of the power play she had already initiated. Orders were orders or they weren't. Simple as that. She stepped into the decon chamber, nude and blue as Bellatrix the third brightest star in the Orion constellation. The thought made her smirk. Humans and their constellations were perhaps one shared trait they held in common with Andorians.

Picking up the applicator, Pel stood right behind Erin and extended her bare arm forward so that the applicator would be visible for Erin. "Here you are. Do you need anything else?"

"I don't think I can get the rest, if I couldn't get my back." Looking over her shoulder she could tell the Andorian had some hesitancy. This wasn't exactly a normal ask to another woman you just met. "Look." Erin turned fully around. "I've got over a hundred MACOs aboard that ship, most of them wounded who need to get transferred through and then onto Earth. Now you can help me do my back, we can can call a medical team and get this moving. Or you can continue to hang onto that rule book and you're going to call a Medical team stating with me to finish this decon and we'll be here for hours."

Erin's hands rested on her hips as she looked the Andorian up and down. "So you going to get my back or get me a towel?"

Standing eye to eye, Pel bit back a faint smirk. "I'm in here, aren't I?" She pointed her finger down and drew a circle to gesture for Erin to turn around.

"MACOs are an interesting breed," Pel said once Erin had turned around. She began spreading the gel around Erin's bad shoulder with the applicator, taking care not to apply too much pressure. "Your caste is relatively new, even by Earth standards. First you make demands against an order, but once accepted, you push forward as if it had been your original objective all along. Is that standard procedure or have you never been this close to an Andorian before?"

"I'm not going to disobey an order but I'll still to call it out for being stupid." Erin looked over her shoulder. "And if the stubborn person is going to go ahead, make sure they're at least going to do it right." The Major was right, this was the first time Erin was sharing a decon chamber with an Andorian and certainly the first time she'd been naked with one.

"I think the Earth term for that is passive-aggressive," Pel noted while she worked down Erin's spine toward her hips. "In Andorii we call it bouf," Literally translated, it meant "pink," but culturally it could refer to a nonfunctional object or excuse-making.

A shiver ran up Erin's spine as the Andorian's hands reached the base of her spine. "I could get actually aggressive if you'd prefer." She quipped with a chuckle. "MACOs are known for that after all."

"I'm sure you could," Pel said with a hint of condescension and a pat on her good shoulder. "That's the first step toward failure. The second step is failing. But fear not. You MACOs have allies now to watch your back—" Pel paused to scrub the applicator against the base of Erin's tailbone where biological cultures were known to populate. "—and pick you up when you fall."

Satisfied with herself in more ways than one, Pel smirked as she said, "That should do it. I'm going to step out now while you finish."

"Thank you," Erin replied with a nod, as the Andorian started to slip away. "Appreciate you getting my back, and Earth's." Erin was a bit loathe to admit it to Pel, but they'd be in far worse shape without the Andorian assistance.

"Oh and you might want to call in one of those Medical teams to help..." She called after Pel. "I doubt you want to help scrub down a hundred MACOs all on your own."

"One was enough," Pel said while she rinsed her hands and assumed a new uniform. "Get dressed. I'll take you to Sickbay and get that shoulder looked at."

"I can manage on my own." Erin called from inside the chamber, having gotten her pants back on and attempting to shrug on her coat. "I wouldn't want to take you away from your important duties."

Pel passed along the request for two med teams. Best to expedite the process. "My duties are keeping your MACO contingent alive. Clearly you need the help." The wink she tossed Erin's way softened the jab a bit. "Come on. Sickbay is waiting."

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