Memo

[commodore_69]

To Spock (mirroredspock):

I hope you're settling in comfortably in your quarters. Please stop by my office during Alpha or Beta shift at some point within the next two days to discuss how you'll be filling your time while you're here on the station.

I look forward to meeting you.
Commodore Tandy Otrona

Comments

[mirroredspock]

He would not have approved of the comparison to the Klingons. Spock was... less enlightened about such prejudices. And it had kept him alive in his own universe.

Spock, from a position still half in the doorway, surveyed the woman behind the desk. She was fit, as many of the Star Fleet officers he had met were not. Nothing approaching the standards of the Empire but she appeared well enough equipped in musculature to defend herself from casual attacks. She was small, however; short for a human female. Otrona was poised but relaxed, confident behind her desk and her authority. It was, possibly, a conscious display. Interesting.

There were marks of age. She wore them well. Spock guessed her to be close in age to his mate. She had survived -- no, in this universe that was not an issue. He had met many officers of Christopher's age. So strange.

He inspected the room - only the doorway in which he stood, though there were a variety of access panels through which one might gain entry or exit.

The chairs for visitors were, however, positioned with their backs to the door. Spock moved to stand beside one and glanced back at the door. This was a different universe. He turned the chair enough that he could observe the door as he felt it necessary, and sat. Precise and stiff.

"I am Spock. Your communication instructed that I should report to you."

[commodore_69]

Suspicious, check.

"Yes." Tandy sat back down and called up the communique she'd received from Starfleet intel shortly before Spock's arrival. "I wanted to discuss how you'll be spending your time here. We could treat it as equivalent to leave, but I see that the duration of your partner's solo mission is listed as indeterminate. I thought you might like to consider some form of occupation for the interim, to keep yourself busy."

And in pocket change, though with the wage that intel was apparently laying out for "specialist consultants" these days, he hardly needed it. Maybe she should consider a second career.

[mirroredspock]

Indeterminate. Indeterminate. Whatever Christopher was doing, he had shipped Spock off to a starbase in the middle of nowhere with no information whatsoever and now this human woman was telling Spock it was for an indeterminate length of time.

And a solo mission. Christopher had said nothing.

Spock held himself very still. Christopher had not only sent Spock away, he had done so while almost certainly endangering himself - had done so with no word of communication to his lover, to his mate. The anger bubbled up and Spock took a deep breath, nostils flaring, to control it. He pressed it back down, still further down. To lose control would only prove, he suspected, that Christopher had been right to send him away.

What would Christopher do, Spock had the sudden thought, it Spock did not return to him? He shook his head to clear it. Unimaginable.

When he faced Otrona again, he was impassive, eyes as empty as he could make himself be. "It is generally superior to be occupied in useful fashion. My father always said, idle hands make for broken bones."

[commodore_69]

"That's a new one on me," Tandy said, gracefully ignoring Spock's obvious irritation. It didn't seem to be directed at her, and he was controlling it, so it was none of her business. "But I can agree with the sentiment."

She shuffled through the PADDs on her desk until she found the one she wanted, and held it out to him. "You're technically employed by Starfleet as a consultant already, which makes this a little tricky. You can't work in the private sector without first ending your contract with the 'fleet, and I doubt you want to do that. So you're limited to applying for positions currently available for Starfleet personnel. Here's a list of what we've got openings in."

[mirroredspock]

He was careful not to brush her fingers with his own as he took the PADD.

Preschool attendent. Spock rather thought not.
Janitorial. While there might be usefulness in having such access to the various areas of the station... it was not his first choice.
Food Preparation Specialist. These people were amazingly frivolous when it came to controlling access to their food supply.

There were no lab positions. Of course not. How convenient.

Florist.

Surely Otrona was laughing at him. Preposterous.

Security.

Spock's gaze flickered back to Otrona and there was, this time, a slight glimmer of interest in Spock.

"It is doubtful you are completely ignorant of my background. I lack the requisite skill for flower arranging. However, as first officer on the Fleet starship, the security of the vessel at large and my captain in particular was my responsibility. I have foiled... many assassination attempts."

[commodore_69]

"Not completely ignorant, no." There was some humor in Tandy's voice. "It does seem like a better fit than florist, certainly. Based on your previous experience, I'd be happy to pre-approve you for the position. Then you'd meet with my chief of security for an interview, and he'd make the final determination."

The information she'd been sent did note that - in addition to being in excellent physical condition, with superb reflexes - Spock was quick to respond to orders, and very efficient in carrying them out, which on the surface would be excellent traits in a low-ranking security position. But even from their brief interaction so far, she was already fairly certain that some of the intel that had been passed her way was incomplete at best.

Still. Everyone gets a chance.

[mirroredspock]

Spock placed the PADD on the corner of her desk.

"What do you know of me?"

What had their new masters told her? He was curious.

[commodore_69]

"Basic biographical details, which includes some of your work history. I've seen your medical scans. And I have access to the notes of several people who've interviewed or worked with you since you arrived here." Most of which were more subjective than she'd like. "Are there things you think I should know? Or that you'd like me to know?"

[mirroredspock]

"Those who have interviewed or worked with me since my arrival? A short list." Spock leaned forward. "If any of them are from your Enterprise, I would... question their veracity."

Not Tina. But Spock doubted Star Fleet had actual official record of their friendship.

[commodore_69]

"I don't rely on other peoples' notes," Tandy said calmly. "It's supplemental information, at best."

[mirroredspock]

"On what do you rely?" Spock's head tilted in a gesture that seemed to cross realities.

He had not risen above his misery. But Spock's intellectual curiosity was certainly a good distraction from it. And it was intriguing to ponder what knowledge this woman might have been given. And how he could use that.

And how he might gain access to her knowledge of Christopher's location and mission.

[commodore_69]

"My own judgment, based on experience and my personal assessments, mostly." Tandy lifted an eyebrow. "And you? You don't strike me as the type to be satisfied with someone else's conclusions."

She'd already confirmed the assessment of habitual suspicion and paranoia independently, after all.

[mirroredspock]

It was not paranoia when one's subordinates and adversaries were plotting your death, as Spock's father always said.

But this universe...

"My experiences are not entirely, I am told, indicative of the more general characteristics of your universe."

Spock had very little on which he could rely any more. He had relied on Christopher. And he would not allow himself to rely on Tina - or on James T. Kirk though the human indicated every willingness.

[commodore_69]

Interesting. Her eyebrow remained quirked. "Meaning? That you suspect my judgment, or your own?"

[mirroredspock]

Spock studied his hands, the slightly crooked ring finger of his right hand, the scar where his left thumb had nearly been severed. When he looked back at her, there was something bitter in his face.

"Meaning that one must adapt, Commodore. Or one will die."

[commodore_69]

Ah.

"You're a young man, Spock." Tandy kept her voice mild. It wasn't pity, or condescension. Just an observation. "You have time."