[Fin]Something to occupy your time...

[Gideon Jethro Woods]

After leaving the bridge Jethro had gone back to his quarters and changed into civilian attire, but his was an outfit from the late twenty-first century, he pressed a button on the wall and the computer engaged his program...

He entered through the holodeck door which doubled as the door to a house with very little furniture. He went into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find a lot of fish food and a T-bone steak, he closed the door and went to the basement stairs...

In the basement were piles of wood and what appeared to be the frame of an old wooden boat, he took a jar of screws off the work bench, dumped it onto the counter, wiped it out with a cloth and poured himself a glass of bourbon. He then placed his comm badge into another jar and screwed it onto the bench so he wouldn't be disturbed. He then picked up several very old looking hand tools and went to work building a boat in the basement...



TAG: ANY (anyone is welcome to join, the door is always open)

[Sharpay Harper]

Shar was off to the holodeck to have some fun during her off duty hour. The first holodeck she had went to had been occupied so she went to the other. This one was also occupied. She let out a breath. Perhaps she'd request turning one of the cargo bays into a third holodeck. It for sure wouldn't hurt any. Out of sheer curiosity though, Ensign Harper decided to see what program was being run. Interesting. She hesitated for a moment before walking in.

"Wow." Sharpay said, a little less than impressed as she looked around. She, after a while noticed some stairs. I wonder... Sharpay silently crept down the stairs. There she found someone, and a rickety small old barge. "Planning on escape?"

Tag: Woods

[Gideon Jethro Woods]

"Planning on escape?"

He hadn't heard her come in, but it wasn't surprising. When he had been running this program at the star base, back when he was an Intel Officer, many people dropped by unannounced. Most of his visitors had been either his team or his boss but they were guests none the less, then he realized he had nothing to offer her in the way of food or drink. It was then that he looked up and saw who had joined him, Sharpay Harper, Engineer and former acting chief engineer.

"There is no escape, but I find building things by hand to be very relaxing and slightly therapeutic. Care to give it a shot?"

He pointed to one of the hand sanders on the opposite side of the boat from where he was as he picked up a hammer and nailed another board in place.



TAG: Sharpay

[Sharpay Harper]

"There is no escape, but I find building things by hand to be very relaxing and slightly therapeutic. Care to give it a shot?"

"If there's no escape I guess Mishtak is doing his job well." Shar lightly joked as she moved over to get a hand sander. "Personally I always think there's room for improvement." She put a finger to her chin as she looked at the tools. Such ancient things. "As for relaxing; I find busting up some holo characters works for me."

Sharpay looked at the tools more. "You want cordless?" Sharpay picked up a regular, rectangular, sander with a simple handle. "Or do you want electric?" Which happens to be a bit heavier... In the other hand was a sander with a rounded head, with a cord attached to the end.

Tag: Woods

[Gideon Jethro Woods]

"If there's no escape I guess Mishtak is doing his job well."

"Yep, that Klingon of yours is a fine officer."

He was not big on compliments, in fact he usually never said anything nice to anyone, it was very difficult to tell if you were on his good side or bad...

"Personally I always think there's room for improvement."

"Rule #15: There's always room for improvement."

He had a list of 50 rules, never written down, that he felt was his responsibility to teach to others that could use them.

"As for relaxing; I find busting up some holo characters works for me."

"Violence is one answer, but destruction is wasteful. It's why I build this boat, construction, creating something from nothing is much more rewarding."

"You want cordless? Or do you want electric?"

He looked up at that last statement and saw her holding a power sander that he didn't remember programming into the basement. He then looked at the single outlet in the entire room, it had only two spots and one had a small television plugged into it, the other had the refrigerator that kept his bourbon chilled nicely.

He pointed to the outlet as he spoke...

"Besides that outlet and those two necessities, do you see anything else plugged in down here?"

He never liked power tools much, always choosing to use hand tools as they not only made him feel like a part of his project but they also kept him in shape. Of course now she knew the reason he always smelled like sawdust and old spice...



TAG: Sharpay

[Sharpay Harper]

Klingon of mine? Guess it's no secret. Sharpay thought, wondering just how many crew members knew of her relationship with Lieutenant Mishtak. She certainly hadn't spread anything around, and she was also fairly sure Mishtak hadn't either. Still, there was that time with his family, and the brief talk (if one could call it that) with Lieutenant Commander Romilly in engineering.

"I get the point, lieutenant. I am an engineer after all. Creating things, fixing things; on duty or off. But of course we all have our own ways of releasing emotions."

He then pointed to something. Looked like a power source. He then asked if she saw anything else plugged in down here. "Cordless it is." Shar said setting the power hand sander down. "Why an antiquated boat?"

Tag: Woods

[Gideon Jethro Woods]

From her pause he guessed she hadn't realized he knew about her and Mishtak, truth be told he had only heard a rumor, but after checking visitor logs and other sources had discovered several connections between the two, it didn't take a genius to figure it out...

"I get the point, lieutenant. I am an engineer after all. Creating things, fixing things; on duty or off. But of course we all have our own ways of releasing emotions."

"Release in and of itself can be good, as long as we don't over do it."

Of course he was mostly referring to a problem among other crews where officers had neglected their duties to spend time in the holodeck living out fantasies...

"Cordless it is."

He simply nodded as he set his hammer down and picked up another hand sander and began sanding away some rough edges.

"Remember to sand with the grain."

"Why an antiquated boat?"

Not a question he had expected, he had no reason to hide his reasons either...

"My daughter loved old boats. I build it for her."

He was even planning on naming it after her when it was done, the real thing was sitting in the basement of his father's house back on Earth, one day he might even get around to finishing that one, but for now he simply practiced in the holodeck.




TAG: Sharpay

[Sharpay Harper]

"Remember to sand with the grain."

"The grain?" Shar sounded a little perplexed. Sure she knew a little about this time period, but that didn't mean she knew all the phrases, and such. She just watched for a moment. "Oh..." It dawned upon her. "You mean go the same way," Made sense.

"I didn't know you had a daughter. What's her name?"

Tag: Woods

[Gideon Jethro Woods]

"The grain? Oh... You mean go the same way,"

He smiled at her and continued working.

"I didn't know you had a daughter. What's her name?"

He took down two cups, emptied them and wiped them out then set them on the ship, he then opened his fridge, took out a bottle of bourbon and poured some into both glasses. He set the bottle on the boat as well, picked up his glass and sat on a stool.

"Her name was Kelly."

He downed the rest of his drink, poured another and sat back down. Talking about his daughter and first wife was painful and not something he did very often. Very few people even knew about them. His old team, when he was doing criminal investigations, hadn't learned about them for almost four years, though after visiting his father it became easier to talk about them, but not by much.



TAG: Sharpay

[Sharpay Harper]

Observing his behavior when she asked about his daughter, and him saying her name, well, Sharpay was not exactly sure it was wise to go on with any questioning. Apparently it was something he did not talk about much or want to. Though any shrink would tell him it'd be good to talk about whatever happened. Shar was positive on that front.

A small click was heard on the floor, and the sandpaper from the sander came off of Shar's hand sander. "I think a part fell off. That twisty looking thing. Care to put that down and help me look for it?"

Tag: Woods

[Mishtak]

//"All senior officers and department heads report to the briefing room in one hour...."//

[Gideon Jethro Woods]

"I think a part fell off. That twisty looking thing. Care to put that down and help me look for it?"

He set his drink down on the boat, leaned down to the floor and picked up the 'twisty looking thing' and walked around the boat to where Sharpay was, he took the sander from her gently, fixed it and handed it back with a smile.

"They take some getting used to. The man that taught me all about this stuff doesn't even use the tools, just the sand paper in his hand."

But Frank Marks was a strange kinda guy, he had been the agent in charge of the first team Jethro had been assigned to when he joined the criminal investigations department of starfleet security, he was also the man responsible for getting Jethro into the Intelligence Department in the first place, but that was another story.

The room shook repeatedly, as if the ship had come under attack and the inertial dampeners had been unable to react fast enough to the hits. After a while, as suddenly as they had started it all stopped and things returned to normal...

//"All senior officers and department heads report to the briefing room in one hour...."//

It was Mishtak's voice, which meant either the away team was still on the surface or something bad had happened... or both...

"Senior Officers and Department heads, guess that means you seeing as Romilly is on the away mission..."

He put his bourbon back in the fridge but left the glass on the boat as he walked toward the steps leading out of the basement.

"...I better go to, Krax may need me, especially if what I think just happened in fact did just happen. Computer, pause, save and exit program."

The computer complied and they were standing inside the holodeck, he walked toward the door and paused before exiting.

"If you'd care to join me here again to help with the boat your more than welcome, my door is never locked."

and then he was out of the room and off to Operations to assess the damage.



TAG: Sharpay/END: Jethro - move to somewhere else...

[Sharpay Harper]

When the ship shook, Sharpay fell to the ground. That was a wallop! She stood back up again, and was going to excuse herself to see what was going on when Mishtak's comm came through. Well. That explained some. "Guess we'd better. Thank you for sharing the holo program." Shar said as she exited the holodeck with haste, and swiftly made her way to engineering.

End Shar