Two Blue Shirts & A Pug (Part I)

Posted on 09/30/2020 @ 1:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Kiernan Gallagher VII & Lieutenant Oskar Ruseka MD
Edited on on 03/02/2021 @ 6:29pm

Mission: Sum of our Experiences
Location: USS Nightingale | Holodeck
Timeline: Day 0 at 0000

Kiernan Gallagher made a face.

The full-length mirror reflected back one of the many outfits he had been trying on. Behind him, sitting on his haunches, was Otis. Otis tilted his head left and then right as if the pug was having the same thoughts as his human. Kiernan tilted his own head to the left as he observed himself. “I look like a friggin’ Christmas present.” He had put on a pair of maroon colored trousers and an olive-green t-shirt. The combo did work, except for the Christmas present aspect. The outfit fit him perfectly – thank you replicator technology – so there was no complaint there either.

“I think this is too informal, I mean… is it?” Kiernan directed his question toward his pug, who then promptly laid down on the carpeted deck. The dog lifted one eyelid in a quizative gesture before settling. “Hmm, you are right, there has to be an in-between,” Kiernan said as he swung his attention back to the mirror. At first, he had considered wearing his uniform to the outing, but he had already been in the attire for over ten hours. He looked to his bed and had seen his uniform laid out. He had already plucked the combadge off and put it on the bedside table, the two rank pips sat next to the combadge.

“Why am I even worried so much about this?” Kiernan questioned. Otis didn’t even budge, not a care in the world at this point. The dog knew a walk was coming but wasn’t making any move toward the door just yet. Because you like him, he thought to himself. He pushed that thought out of his head, even though it still lingered in the back somewhere. He knew that he wanted to look good and to try to impress the older science officer. Any other time, he would have either changed into whatever or wear his uniform when walking Otis.

“I’m terrible at this fashion thing.”

Kiernan sighed and began to change for what felt like the hundredth time. He folded the current outfit and placed it back in the dresser drawers from which the clothing came from. He was fastidious about such things. From the drawer where he kept his trousers, he pulled out a pair of khaki colored trousers and pulled them on and then looped a belt through the loops. From his closet he withdrew a purple and white striped button down. He slipped it on and buttoned the shirt from top to bottom. He then rolled up the sleeves to his elbows and finally took a closer look in the mirror.

“Ah, much better,” Kiernan declared. The combo looked good, but he ended up reaching up and undoing the top two buttons of the shirt to give himself a more relaxed look. “Yeah, much better indeed.” He reached for his combadge and affixed it to the fabric and the moment he started walking toward the entrance to his bedroom, Otis lifted himself up and followed.

Once harnessed and leashed, Kiernan and Otis left their quarters and headed toward the agreed-upon spot, which was holodeck one. Once at the holodeck, Otis sat back on his haunches and Kiernan straightened his shirt and leaned against the bulkhead while the two waited for Oskar Ruseka.

Holodeck one was their agreed-upon rendezvous spot, one that Oskar had chosen specifically and strategically. He had something up his sleeve in this case. Oskar had been working on designing a small program for leisurely pleasure. It was simple in that it didn't have too many locations and that the holographic individuals in the program were basic with very straight forward personalities that required very little interaction.

As far as Oskar was concerned this was a casual gettogether with a colleague whom he hoped to one day be in consideration as Kiernan's friend. They had gotten on well enough in their initial encounter that it more than merited making plans outside of the workplace albeit when you serve on a starship such as the Nightingale, there really wasn't an outside of the workplace, just zones of casualness and leisurely activities in various parts of the starship, all interwoven with the hustle and bustle of officers and enlisted personnel on duty or waiting for the next shift change.

Even casual events caused Oskar to over slightly dress. The holograms weren't going to really say anything if he stuck out, and he did not really provide Kiernan with any clues as to what they would be doing or how dressy either of them needed to be. I wonder if he's bringing Otis? thought Oskar. He shrugged his shoulders. It was not exactly the place for a dog, but it was all a simulation anyway. If one of the holographic individuals said anything, Oskar could just have the computer silence them or delete them entirely. The thought of that made Oskar chuckle. It was almost as if the technology gave him God-like abilities like the great Gods of Ancient Earth mythology; Zeus, Odin, Apollo, Kronos, Ra, and hundreds of others. Like a snap of his fingers, he could delete everyone and everything except he and Kiernan. The room would just be a vacant grided room.

Oskar came dressed in a pair of blue denim jeans with a white button-up shirt, no tie, and a cream-colored blazer close to the color of Otis' fur. He saw that Kiernan was standing outside of the holodeck waiting for him. I hope he hasn't been waiting long thought Oskar. "Why hello there," he said to Kiernan with a warm smile. "Fancy meeting you here, Kiernan" he added teasingly. "I hope I'm not late. Have you been waiting long?" inquired the older man.

A broad, but shy smile spread across Kiernan's lips as he raised his hand chest level to wave at the other man in greeting. His gaze dropped down a moment, Otis - who was sitting on his haunches suddenly lifted up - was a focal point he could focus his thoughts real quick. His gaze turned back to the taller, older man. He felt a bit too casual compared to Oskar, but there was nothing he could do about that now. At the question, he shook his head slightly. "No, we haven't been waiting long," Kiernan replied. "You look nice... I mean handsome... I mean..." he blew out a breath and closed his eyes for a moment to calm the jitters down. He tightened his grip on Otis' leash until his knuckles turned white, and then he began to relax. He slowly opened his eyes and was glad to see Oskar still standing there, and not giving him a look of annoyance or pity.

There was something about the way Kiernan fumbled around with his words and seemingly backtracked in his word choices. Guess I am not the only one a little nervous tonight thought Oskar, blushing a bit as he gave Kiernan a once overlook. "You don't look bad yourself. Dashing even" said the older man warmly. He was amused at the white-knuckling of the leash. "Though I do not think I've seen anyone as nervous looking or pale since I dropped a pop quiz on one of my classes at the academy" added Oskar.

Kiernan's cheeks colored a soft crimson at the compliment. "I'm not normally anything but pale, except when I turn lobster red when on the beach, especially when the sun is beating down on me," he said, his rambling had slowed to a normal talkative pace. Otis looked at his human briefly and then back to Oskar. "I'll try to keep the nervousness at bay for the rest of the evening." He couldn't make any promises of course, but he would try. He just knew it would take a few minutes to calm himself, and then he would enjoy the time with Oskar. It always took him a bit to warm up and be comfortable, it had been something he struggled with his whole life. He was socially awkward, and yet always tried his best to push through.

Otis moved to the holodeck door and jumped up on his hind legs and placed his front paws against the cool duranium, heavy door. Kiernan's attention swung to where Otis was and he smiled before he turned his attention back to Oskar. "I think Otis is anxious to get going, shall we?"

"It has been a while since I've had a canine companion. My dogonese may be a bit rusty, but I think it is safe to say he's either anxious for us to get a move on or he really has to pee" replied Oskar with a bit of a chuckle at the potential of the later. "Better the holodeck than on the plants in the arboretum, Mister Otis" added the elder science officer gesturing for Kiernan to follow him.

The program was an easy find, already qued up for the evening, and activated at Oskar's command. He stepped forward towards the heavy duranium doorway. It parted ways revealing a bit the scenery generated inside the holodeck. The trio stood there in the threshold momentarily as Oskar took in the sights and sounds with an awestruck wanderlust. Old automobiles vroomed down roads as street lanterns glowed the sidewalks and pathways for pedestrians.

Oskar looked down at Otis "Plenty of fire hydrants for you in here, boy" he said to the pug. He looked at Kiernan and smiled. "I hope you like old Earth architecture, Kiernan" he added as he stepped on through the threshold. "The Big Apple, circa 1950s...and I believe not too far from Central Park."

The sound of old style internal combustion automobiles driving about had caused Kiernan to flinch. It was noisy, but then again even cities in the twenty-fourth century were still noisy. Cities in the present day were much more crowded, buildings were taller, and there far more traffic both on ground and air. Despite all that, the pollution was practically non-existent, which included clean air, water, and green spaces. 1950's New York, not so much of any of that. With all that said, the New York of yesteryear was far different than the current NYC. The NYC of the mid twentieth century contained old architecture, theaters, neon lights, and well dressed men, women, and children. It certainly was a bygone era. Everything of the twenty-fourth century was white and gray, geometric, and made of transparent aluminum, plastisteel, plastics, and duranium - nothing but clean edges and starkness.

Kiernan turned his attention to Oskar to address the question that was put before him. "Stepping back into history can certainly be fun thing," he said, his gaze turning back to the noise and chaos that was 1950's NYC. "I'm looking forward to it, especially since I know this an era long gone and that we will never have the privileged of seeing again." He looked down to Otis, who was itching to go. "Central Park will be a nice place to start."

"Oh absolutely gorgeous place to be in any decade or century" replied Oskar. "I'm old, but obviously not as old as this time and place, yet I still cannot help but feel a bit of nostalgia when I walk onto a holodeck with a program of old Earth, especially the mid-1900s. It was just simply a different time. It is fun being able to visit it even if it is just isomorphic projections" commented the older science officer.

He flashed a smile at Kiernan. "Where else can you say you spent the evening in a city full of vehicles with exhausts and the air full of pollution, where citizens walk around and dine in confined places inhaling and exhaling dangerous chemicals that they willfully use and abuse" he added teasingly. "Other than going to the Malon homeworld wherever that may be." Oskar took a few steps around and continued to take in the sights and sounds. "Best part of it is that it's all fine to enjoy without the harsh health effects" he commented further.

Kiernan smiled as well. "Well, when you put it like that, I can hardly resist," he said. "The holodeck certainly has its advantages." The other advantage was that he couldn't lose Otis in the melee. The real NYC would not be as forgiving in that regard. The worse Otis could do was run until he ran into a bulkhead. He never could truly get lose in a holodeck, or on a starship for that matter.

After the two humans and the pug stepped over the threshold, the heavy holodeck doors closed behind them with a loud, hydrolic hiss. They were now fully enclosed in the chaos and typically Kiernan would feel his anxiety go way up in such situations. He hated being in the middle of chaos, especially when things got loud. He thought back to all those big, Irish Sunday dinners at his grandparent's house. All the people, the loudness, the yelling, the swearing the body odor from those who got sweaty from too much commotion or too much eating. It was great to always be around family, but a lot of times he couldn't handle it for long periods of time. This somehow felt different, he wouldn't say it felt tranquil, but the usual anxiety inducing elements were not in play. Maybe it was because he knew it was a holodeck program and not the real thing.

He also admired one other thing, and that was the craftsmanship of the program itself. It felt so real, besides the noise and exhaust - that smelled but was not harmful - the attention to detail was amazing. He could see the dirt, the grime, and even oil slicks on the roads had added the realness that a program like this deserved. "Have you ever thought about being a holoprogram designer? This has amazing detail."

The elder science officer rubbed his chin as he took a look around. "The detail is quite nice isn't it?" he replied with a smile. It had never really struck Oskar how much detail he had placed into the creation of this specific program. "Oh well to be fair I did use a template as a starting place, but it wasn't the correct era and I found some glaring issues with it from a historical view. They had a few things absolutely wrong. So, I had to make changes to that and then, of course, I added my own little touches and there may be some embellishments here and there" teased Oskar. "Couldn't have you on a historically inaccurate date" commented Oskar who only caught himself using the word date after the fact.

"They had made some ridiculous mistakes actually" explained Oskar. "The scale was off. Some buildings were either taller or shorter than they should have been. The template I was using was cira 1980s. There was one building on fifth avenue that was not here during this period of Earth's history...I had some free time on my hands and I just got sucked into it all."

Kiernan listened as Oskar explained his method. Kiernan liked history, or at least the parts that involved the evolution of scientific methodology, but would he had known if a building's height was 46 floors or 50? No, not in the least. But he knew enough about New York City to know that the twentieth century saw a lot of changes to the major city, it was truly a bygone era at this point. The NYC of the twenty-fourth century had very little crime, it was clean, pollution free, no more homeless or hunger, and the buildings were much taller than the still standing Empire State Building. It didn't have the same feel it did all the centuries ago. Most major cities didn't. Only rural areas tended to keep their charms, but you could still find modern conveniences even in farmhouses that were hundreds of years old.

"Well, it is easy to get sucked into something if you are passionate about it," Kiernan replied. He smiled when he heard the word, 'date' and his cheeks flushed softly. He felt the leash in his hand grow taunt and realized Otis had already began to explore. The pug had found a lamppost and was clearly intrigued by it. It was an ornate lamp post, the light was a yellowish tinge, but clearly was on a power grid that didn't have the power needed to light a whole city brightly. It gave off enough light just to brighten up a small area. As Otis continued to sniff around the base of the lamp post, Kiernan looked back up toward Oskar and said, "I can't wait to see what you have in store for us."

Oskar smiled and a small little chuckle could definitely be heard coming from him in response to what Kiernan had said. "I've heard that before in the classrooms and lecture halls. Students excited to see what I had in store for them. I was known to be a long-winded lecturer, but one who would easily go off track and tell my students tales about 'the old days' when I was a science officer in Starfleet" he explained his chuckling to Kiernan. "I did not come from one of those fleeter families. It wasn't something I was born into. My parents were not in Starfleet nor were their parents" added the elder man.

He looked at the pug and smiled. "How did the two of you end up in Starfleet? Surely, you could have easily found success in Environmental Sciences elsewhere. I know there would have to be dozens upon dozens of paths you could have pursued. Why Starfleet?" the elder science officer inquired. "My life ran parallel to Starfleet for a bit, but I came in through OTS myself after I earned a degree."

This always seemed to be a standard question when two fleet officers met and were beginning to learn about each other. Kiernan, over time, had prepared a standard answer, but something told him that Oskar deserved more. "I didn't come from a fleeter family as well, despite how big the Gallagher and Byrne clan is, there are not Starfleet personnel in there." He smiled. "I'm the first in the family to join."

He looked back at Otis who was having the time of his life apparently. It wasn't like the dog hadn't encountered lamp posts before. Kiernan shook his head and turned his attention back to the older man. "I knew I always wanted to be a scientist, a geologist, but Starfleet wasn't always in the cards. But knowing that there was a whole universe out there that had planets that were just begging for a geologist to explore. So, I ended up at the Academy and then followed that up with graduate studies." He drifted off for a moment as he took in the sights and sounds of the city. It was a very good program.

"My mother was and is very much against me being in Starfleet. She is worried for my safety mostly."

"Moms typically are" replied Oskar with a bit of a chuckle. "They definitely have a sort of focus especially on only children or their youngest. In many ways it is as though said child is made of porcelain or some other extremely fragile material, Kiernan" said the elder scientist. "My mother was very much set in her ways as well, overbearing at times. I think I damn well near gave her a heart attack when I said I was considering joining Starfleet. Then again, I think when one breaks that news to a parent they immediately think we're going to be going into careers with phasers at the ready twenty-four seven" mused Oskar.

He shrugged. "It is as though they can only see the dangers and nothing beyond that. There's far more to Starfleet career-wise than going into security or tactical, and I don't know about you, Kiernan my boy" said Oskar almost fatherly, "but I have no plans on putting myself on the command track either" explained Oskar. "This is the uniform I want to be wearing now and until my final breaths of service. I'm a scientist, an explorer, and a bit of a teacher."

My boy. The moment Kiernan heard those two words, he couldn't help but smile. He wasn't even sure why, but it was something he felt in the pit of his stomach. Then he nodded his agreement. "I suppose I haven't given it much thought beyond the uniform I currently wear either. I don't think I ever really thought of command, my career is still young I suppose in that anything can happen." He found himself shrugging, obviously Oskar had more experience in Starfleet than he did. Oskar also had much more time to think about the direction the older man wanted his career to go in.

"I just want to explore," Kiernan stated. His gaze dropped down, and teetering on the edge of a sidewalk crack was a pebble. He dropped down on his haunches and picked it up gingerly. He held it at eye level and studied it. "A piece of sandstone, probably been kicked around for ages, I bet the chunk was much bigger fifty years ago." He stood up, took a hold of Oskar's hand and placed it the taller man's large palm. "See the dark, rich color? That means there is a high amount of iron, more than likely this little nugget here belonged to a brownstone type row house."

Otis was sitting now, he looked a bit bored and slightly confused as to why they weren't moving again. His head tilted right as he observed the two. Kiernan than said, "as I said, I just want to explore."

"The nice thing about holodeck programs is you can always freeze them, go off on side adventures, and 'rewind' if you don't go where you originally had intended," said Oskar. "You sound like you might be more inclined to explore this simulated city right now than sit in a darkened theater?" inquired the older science officer. "You have a way with rocks and with words, Kiernan albeit sometimes you fumble with those words...more noticeable when I'm around."

Kiernan's cheeks flushed a light blush at what Oskar had said. He was glad the mid-twentieth century lighting was sub-par and cast a yellowish hue. The older man had a tendency to do that, make him fumble over his words - tongue tied really. He cast his gaze toward Otis who just gave a quick tilt of his head to the left.

"I," Kiernan looked back up at Osakar, "Still want to head to the movie then maybe we can explore the city afterwards." He had no place to be after, except his bed. He also chose to mention the movie theater instead of his penchant for 'fumbling' with his words as Oskar had so eloquently put it. He just had to remember to keep himself composed, there was nothing to be nervous about.

Oskar smiled and stepped closer towards the younger man. "I concur, Kiernan. We can catch the movie and explore the city afterward" he said as he placed his arm around Kiernan. "Onward to the theater dear boy," he said with a bellyful chuckle. "Fortunately, we do not need to make heed. It's programmed to start when we arrive. I was not sure how well my navigation abilities would be in this setting, and I wanted to be flexible in case we wanted to explore a bit" explained the older man.

"Otis," Oskar said clearing his throat. "Come on little guy, we are going to get you into the theatre. I won't take no for an answer" added Oskar. "We can swing by fifth avenue if Otis needs a pee break after" he added.

At his name, Otis fell instep next to the two men. He wanted to explore more and sniff out all the new sights and smells. However, the command was given and he followed the two humans.

Kiernan chuckled lightly. "I'll have him go before we go into the theater."

Oskar chuckled "Oh, that would probably best. Heck, I might go before we enter the theater too" replied the elder science officer. "Movies are long and my bladder isn't what it used to be, I know not the sort of thing one typically says to their superior" he added with a wink. "I hope you enjoy tonight and we can make this more of a regular thing, get us out and away from the lab work and such."

A Flashback Post by:

Lieutenant JG Ruseka MD

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Lieutenant Kiernan Gallagher VII, PhD

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Otis the Pug