Admiral Maxwell Forrest sighed deeply in his chair. It had been a busy day so far and yet there were still things to attend to. He was extremely tired from not having a good period of sleep the night before. He rubbed his wrinkled face and looked at his agenda for the evening. Two topics were written on the PADD on his scarcely covered desk.
One was flashing softly and with a tired sigh he picked it up and addressed it. Its title was 'Ensign Jessica Inwood' and about her sudden condition, whatever that was. He skimmed through the relative information and that he had to discuss the matter with her in person. Great, he thought bitterly one to one's. It was the only part of the job he didn't particularly like, but it was one part he had to endure.
He stood and went to the door, revelling in looking forward to getting a good night's sleep. He stared into the waiting room for his office floor. There were five people sitting in the room, three were men and the other two were women. Most of them belonged to either the Engineering Department or the Weaponry Department. Their faces turned towards and nodded before looking away again. Two didn't, they nodded but stayed looking at, as if they were expecting something from him. One of them was.
"Ensign Jessica Inwood?" He asked. His voice was unusually dry.
"Yes Sir" A woman stood, clasping her hands behind her back. He nodded and turned back into his office. The woman followed glancing behind her.
Max was just about to start speaking when the woman suddenly swore. He drew his eyebrows up and picking up that the Admiral was not impressed the woman explained herself. She gave him a PADD and he skimmed through it. It was exactly the same as the one, which was handed to him in the morning by his aide.
"What does this entail exactly Ensign?" He asked not looking at her, his eyes sifting through the information.
"Tourette's Syndrome or TS is known to run in families, sometimes skipping a generation. My father had it Sir. It's caused by problems with the development of the central nervous system, which is mainly the spinal cord and brain, Dumbass! Symptoms include repeated twitches, blinks or jerks, which are referred to as 'tics'. In some cases, these may progress to more serious symptoms such as complex physical movements, grunts, coughs, noises or words Sir. Fuck arse, I have the complex part of it, I swear mostly but the 'tics' have seemed to have subsided, maybe due to the fact I swear Sir"
"Is this 'disease' bad?"
"Disease Sir? What damned disease?"
Max looked at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. 'Well, this is a syndrome is it not?"
"Not from my point of view Sir. I see nothing wrong with having it. I can't help swearing because I cannot control myself doing so. I'm not conscious of it and I'm only conscious of it because people tell me that I swear Sir. I can't help having Tourette's Syndrome Sir, it's in my blood and its part of who I am. I have very little choice but to accept that and bloody cunt, move on"
The Admiral studied the woman hard. Her hair was black as coal and had a soft complexion. Her eyes were of oriental origin but her accent was distinctly American. Max hazarded a guess at Texan.
"I see." Ensign Jessica Inwood had the Tereht's syndrome, which meant she twitched or swore without realising that she was doing so. He began to understand why she didn't think it was a disease. It was part of who she was and she accepted that. He too began to accept it as a way of life for her.
"Sir? You fucking all right?" Her voice brought him back to the present.
"Hmm?"
"You seem a little distant…if you don't mind me saying so Sir"
"Course not, course not. I was just thinking. They say you're ready for a transfer Ensign from what I am reading on here"
"Yes Sir."
"Your academic Engineering instructor Commander Luxford recommended a transfer to the Star Ship Enterprise. Now that I understand all of this, I am also going to be recommending you; your 'gift' as it were will open their eyes a bit. Would you like to be transferred to Enterprise?"
"I…I would love to Sir…thank you dickward very much" Her use of foul language shot through as a bullet through an apple. He had to bite back any bad remarks that could jeopardise his job.
"That's good. I'll let Captain Archer know as soon as possible Ensign Inwood. Dismissed,"
Ensign Inwood stood and went to the door but then she paused, as she didn't know where to put herself. She faced the Admiral once more and went over to him and held out her hand. He smiled and shook it in return.
She beamed and left the room with shuddering bounces filling the ageing Admiral with a new insight to people's way of lives. He immediately got into contact with his friend.
&&&&
Ensign Jessica Inwood walked down the academy corridors, beaming, her mouth curved into a genuine smile, eye to eye. Several passing crewmen, Ensigns and superior ranks looked at her and smiled in return. She was going to do her job on the greatest ship in human history. The Enterprise.
She entered her dorm room where her current bunkmate, Chrissie 'Jack' Peters was lying on her bed reading a magazine about the hottest celebrity's to date. Jessica was always amused about Chrissie's obsession with all the fittest celebrities, even if they were of an older generation several eras before. Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp were among her top favourites, but Jessica didn't fail to see why.
"You're still reading that trash?" Jessica teased her friend gently as she removed her boots. She was hard pressed to leave her boots, she would never let them go.
"It ain't trash, it's good stuff." Chrissie bit back, looking at Jessica. She was always known as Jack but no one knew why. Chrissie had a funny knack of knowing that something was wrong even if the person was as happy as the sun.
Jessica smiled, knowing Chrissie's knack "I have some fucking news to tell you" she conceded.
Chrissie studied her hard, to someone else there was nothing to give away that something was up, but from Chrissie's point of view, something was most definitely up.
'And what's that?" Chrissie asked tentatively, worrying that it was worse than imaginable.
"I'm being transferred to Enterprise as part of their bloody engineering crew," Jessica happily told her friend.
"Congratulations…that's a good thing right?" Chrissie joked, smiling and placing the magazine on her lap. She looked at her friend with happiness but also sadness.
"Course it is!" Jessica laughed. "Admiral Forrest was very understanding once he fully understood what 'gift' I had. I still can't believe it!"
Jessica sat at the computer console and checked her messages. She had two from her family and one from her friend in Spain. She opened the one from Spain and began reading it. She was capable of both reading and speaking the tongue and she laughed several times as she read.
She grabbed a comb from the side and began to comb her hair whilst she read the letter from the Spaniard.
"So, what Pedro's been up to?" Chrissie threw over her shoulder, not removing her eyes from her magazine. She repositioned herself on her bunk waiting for the forthcoming answer.
"Oh, not much. He went fishing and roller-blading at the weekend, hung out with his fucking mates…but that's about it" Jessica murmured, trying her best to stifle a yawn.
"You had better get some sleep…two hours should be enough before we go"
"Go where?"
"The Six Oh Two remember. Shauna's birthday party, but now it'll be a celebration for two things I guess" Chrissie informed her life long friend. They had known each other since kindergarten, right through to Starfleet Academy. They had been in the same classes since grade school and after that they were still pretty close to one another.
"Oh, right. Yes of course…well, good evening then" Jessica kicked off her boots and neatened them so they were standing to attention. She climbed onto her bank and promptly fell asleep.
Chrissie was soon to follow, carefully laying her precious charge on the desk beside her narrow but comfortable bed, fluffing up her pillow and tucked herself in for the two hours they were allowed to sleep. She turned her head so that she could see the clock. Nodding to herself she crept into a peaceful sleep.
Thank you for reading and remember, if sometone swears randomly at you in the street, it is probable they have this special gift. Please review, it's more important then my wage XDXD