Drab-let Series (Guess it, Pick next) - “Team Building Activities”
This one is for @angrywarrior69 who requested 369 words (she’s so clever) First person to identify which episode this missing scene is from gets to pick the next one!
“Twenty million gigaquads of data…” she mutters. Her ready room door hisses open and she recognizes Chakotay by the sound of his footfalls.
“You’ve been locked in here looking at that all day,” he chastises.
“And all night. I couldn’t sleep.” She instinctively pinches the bridge of her nose bringing the screen back into focus.
He shakes his head in disapproval as he sits down in front of her. “Alright, have you found anything useful?”
“I’m not sure yet. There are star charts, planetary surveys, somethings that look like linguistic textbooks, medical data…”
“I hear a ‘but’ coming,”
“But, I can’t really understand any of it. It’s all just a bit off.”
“Not surprising, given that the way they communicated with us in general was a ‘bit off.’”
“I suppose you’re right,” she pages onto the next screen.
“Did you find any good recipes in there?”
She looks up. “Any what?”
“Recipes. As in, food? You do remember food, don’t you?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, Commander. I remember food.”
“Ok, then when was the last time you’ve eaten, Captain?”
She rubs the back of her neck slightly and stretches it from side to side. “Earlier today, I think.” She winces at the pressure on a particularly tight spot.
“Dinner,” he says. And from the tone of his voice he won’t be taking no for an answer. “My quarters, one hour. And, I’ll get rid of that kink in your neck.”
She raises an eyebrow. “That’s a bit bold, wouldn’t you say, Commander?”
“We could have all died yesterday, I’m feeling bold.”
“It was first contact, not a battle.”
“We didn’t know that. You may have been snoozing on the couch, but the rest of us stood together and stared down the great unknown.”
“Sounds like a good teambuilding activity. Sorry I missed it.”
“Dinner and a neck rub is a good team building activity too,” he says with a dimpled smile as he rises from his chair. “It may not be as interesting as a gazillion gigaquads of data, but it will be far more satisfying.”
“Twenty million,” she corrects, glancing down at her screen once more. “And serve that mushroom soup I like, would you? I’m starving.”
