Making Strides

Three days later, it was about four hours into her sleep cycle and Kaira found herself being awakened by something. She awoke quickly, almost in a state of panic, thinking it was a klaxon for a drill but then calmed down when she realized it was only someone at her door. She sat up sleepily and enquired, "Computer, who the hell is it?"

"Lieutenant Commander Sarkaal," the computer informed her.

She looked over at the clock. It was just past 3:30 in the morning! "Enter," she barked, nearly indignant.

The lieutenant commander entered, still looking fresh and wide awake. "Lieutenant, I had a question I-"

"Sir! It's 0337 in the morning!" she almost yelled.

"You said I could enlist your aide at anytime."

She fell backward in bed and cursed the literalness of Vulcan hearing. "Sir, the next time you show up at my door at this hour…" She remembered then, he was a superior officer and you generally weren't supposed to threaten them with violence. "Sir, are you invoking rank on me at this time?"

He seemed to think about that for a good ten seconds. "Yes, I am," he finally decided.

She sighed as she sat up again and started climbing out of bed. "Make yourself comfortable on the couch, sir. I'll be ready in fifteen minutes."

She found herself being led to Holodeck 3, arms folded and not in the mood for whatever was about to happen. "Sir?" she asked, "The holodeck?"

"I have made a training program to help my progress in interacting with other races."

"Hold it, sir," she said as she paused in the corridor, arms still folded. "You made the program?"

"Yes, I did," he said.

She held back the urge to laugh out loud. "I can almost feel it in my bones, but this one's going to be good," she murmured under her breath.

They entered the holodeck and from the moment the scenario began, Kaira found herself just barely holding in her laughter. The characters were all overly emotional, stereotypical and cardboard cut-out textbook aliens. By the time the angry Andorian entered the picture, antenna twinkling wildly with fury because someone had misplaced his lab specimen, she could no longer hold it in and began to laugh a little bit with a snort through her nose. And then she was on a roll and couldn't hold it back any longer.

The play went on with the members of his department being parodied by holodeck caricatures. It was so politically incorrect Kaira was doubled over, on her knees, tears streaming down her face. "Wait, wait!" she screamed, by then on all fours, unable to stand back up. "Computer, halt program!" she howled with laughter, her hand in the air seemingly begging for mercy.

As the simulation froze in its tracks, a puzzled Sarkaal was then standing in front of her. All she saw was his boots and as she raised her eyes to look at him she was met by his serious demeanor and one raised eyebrow. "Lieutenant, I fail to see the humor in this situation."

"Yes, sir, I suppose you would. But goodness, you would have made a great comedian," she said, still out of breath but sobering up.

"I…I thank you?" he said, trying to be polite, just as she'd taught him.

It began a new roll of laughter from Lieutenant Tenary. "Oh by the Ancient Goddess of Light, I was really not happy about this but it really was worth getting rousted out of bed at 3:37 a.m.!"

"I…I do not understand," he said.
"Okay, sir. I'm sorry I laughed but this was priceless." She forced herself to stand and get serious. "Do yourself the biggest favor you will have ever done in your 25 year career in Starfleet, sir."

"And that is?"

"Don't ever let this thing be seen in the light of day by anyone else. As a matter of fact, for your sake if anyone ever asks I will disavow all knowledge of this holodeck program. Seriously, they'd put you up on charges for this one."

He thought about her words for five seconds and it dawned on him. "It was that bad?"

"Yes, sir, quite, and offensive…but enjoyable. That's the best laugh I've had in…well, months."

He sighed, his shoulders slumping just a little bit. "I suppose I shall have to start again."

She nodded. "No, no, no, sir. Give me your original of this and I'll rewrite it for you, all right?"

"What will you do differently?"

"For starters, we're going to get rid of the people you work with and have you work on your skills with hypothetical holodeck characters."

"That is acceptable," he qualified.

"And I'll add about four more social scenarios I think will be applicable to your time on the Enterprise."

"Also acceptable," he said.

"And sir, your idea to use the holodeck?"

"Lieutenant?"

"Hit and miss attempt, but a pure genius idea. I'd never have thought of it myself."

He nodded and this time said with meaning, "Thank you, Lieutenant."

It took her a week but she finally got the program and its subroutines up and running. They made an appointment for him to begin on the first scenario, a hypothetical work situation. Kaira knew she'd been a terribly bad girl with some of the things that unfurled in the program but part of her could not resist watching a Vulcan squirm.

It took two hours for the scenario to run but Sarkaal, to his credit, stuck it out. In that two hours he dealt with: a subordinate who began crying when he chastised her, an angry young man with nothing to lose, a worker who was groomed inappropriately complete with stink-to-high-heaven cologne, a worker who needed the rest of the day off because his child was sick and a woman who was very attracted to him. That last one Kaira wished she had popcorn as she watched. It was a wonderful thing to watch the tips of a Vulcan's ears go green from embarrassment he would never admit to.

At the end of it he asked, "What is your assessment of my handling of the situations?"

"Sir," she said, "I must say, the woman who started crying, you handled it perfectly."

"I did?" he asked. "That was the one part of the scenario I thought you would have expected more."

"You assured her the criticism was not a reflection on her character, gave her a tissue and after assuring her there was good to her work performance and you'd noticed it- there was nothing more you could have done, at least not in my opinion."

"No touching was required?"

She smiled. "No, sir. Not everyone wants to touch a crying person. Not every crying person wants to be touched by a stranger or non-relative. I know I don't," she said. Onto the next scenario, she began, "The angry young man, well of course you handled that great. I mean you wouldn't lose your temper anyway, so onto the guy with the grooming problem." She sighed. "Um, sir, the thing is…" And she didn't even know how to fix what had gone wrong there. "We'll skip that for now. The worker who needed the rest of the day off, you could have bent more on that, sir."

"What difference would his presence have made with the child? His mother was with him according to the personnel file."

"Sir, I know, but- it's like this. Parents worry and they just want to be there. I don't think this has anything to do with you being a Vulcan and everything to do with you not being a parent. I'm not a parent, either, but I took care of two of my cousins when I was younger, sometimes for days at a time. I'd want to be there when they were ill whether or not their parents were, even if I had nothing to offer the situation besides sitting at their bedsides. You just want to be with them. So try to remember that, okay, sir?"

"I will endeavor to do so."

"And lastly, the lady who was enamored of you…"

"It was sexual harassment," he said with strong certainty.

"And right you were, sir, you handled that correctly. I think you pass this one, commander."

He actually seemed quite satisfied. "Thank you, lieutenant. Am I free to go for now?"

"Yes, sir. We'll do the next scenarios tomorrow. They're only about half an hour each."

"I will be on time, lieutenant," he said.

The next day's scenarios did not at all go as well as the day before and Kaira knew why. Lieutenant Commander Sarkaal had been in a professional capacity the day before. These scenarios were all social situations with aliens. The poor man stood there through one of them and said not a word. In two of them he bored the pants off of his listeners and in the last one he inspired laughter for all the wrong reasons.

"How did I do today?" he asked.

And for once she detected eagerness in his voice. It was the beginning of Kaira starting to worry about the man's feelings beneath his exterior. She didn't have the heart to tell him he'd done very badly so she just said, "Sir, your workmates must love working with the new you," and left it at that.

"But you have not told me how I did in the social settings," he pointed out to her and then waited patiently.

She sighed. "Commander, you need a little work socially, but honestly it's not the same as going to a job or working in Advanced Genetics. The social stuff isn't that important and on top of that there aren't really any rules as to how you should truly behave-"

"I did not do well," he concluded.

She swallowed hard. "Sorry, sir," she whispered.

His shoulders slumped just a little. "Then you and I must embark on a series of social outings. This way you may teach me at the precise moment of interaction."

Once again she couldn't believe where this was going. "Sir, is this an order?"

He thought about it for a few seconds. "Yes, it is."

"Fine, sir. We can do 10-Forward several times a week."

"And whatever social events are held on board the Enterprise."

"Yes, sir, and whatever social events are held on board the Enterprise."

"We shall set a time limit. Three months?"

"Sure, sir, I can be Rent-a-Friend for three months."

He seemed genuinely satisfied by that.

Counselor Troi returned to the Enterprise. It took her a few days to get settled in, but she finally got around to re-amassing her cases and gauging their progress. Lieutenant Commander Sarkaal, like before she left, was the last on her list. She read the reports from the Advanced Genetics lab and immediately called up Kaira Tenary.

Kaira got to her quarters on time and sat down with Deanna. "You look so much better!" she said.

And she did. Deanna's smile was back and she looked nice and healthy with a slight glow. "I feel much better, too, thanks for noticing."

"I was so worried about you the last time I saw you."

"And I was worried about you since you were so reluctant to take on the case of Lt. Commander Sarkaal, but I just read the updated reports on him and…"

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yes!" said Deanna, excited. "I don't know what you did to him, but his fellow workers are amazed at the change in him."

"It isn't that huge Deanna, I don't have him singing show tunes or anything."

"No, but he's personable now. They say he has better manners, attends to their every word and they say he seems to care more now for what's going on with his subordinates. Congratulations, case solved, lieutenant."

Kaira groaned as if she were in pain. "Well Deanna, not yet." She told the counselor about the several instances of the Vulcan pulling rank on her. "Commander Sarkaal is a gangster, Deanna!" she said as Troi laughed herself silly.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea it would turn into this."

"Me either."

"Do you mind still assisting him?" she asked as she reached out empathically.

It was the first time Kaira ever really thought about it in that way. "Actually no, I don't mind. I'm glad I was able to help someone else. And if I can help him out some more, then someday I can look back and feel like I got something unique done."

After the three months of social hopping, Lieutenant Kaira could honestly say there was a definite improvement in the Lieutenant Commander's social presence. He would never be a social butterfly but that was all right because it wasn't him. She figured they would part ways then, but she seemed to have forgotten their deal.