Character

Month 16 Day 5

1115 Hours

Smitty

Smitty looked up to see MacGregor and a female doctor as they sat down at the mess hall table with him. "I thought you'd be here," Drake stated. "Lt Cmdr Smythe, this is Dr. Francine Lister, the psychiatrist here on the St Elmo. Fran, this is Smitty, chief engineer on the Fireball."

"Pleased to meet you," Smitty said, offering his hand over the table.

"I think I saw you when you first came aboard," Dr Lister told him, shaking his hand briefly. "You came to sick bay to look in on Mr. Facchini?"

He nodded as he cut off a piece of his omelet. "Yes, we were study buddies at the Academy. I wanted to let him know I was taking over repairs while he's laid up."

"I wouldn't think he was awake enough to be aware of you."

"No, he did seem to be pretty out of it," Smitty agreed. "But his fingers moved while I talked, so I think he heard me."

"Smitty, Francine has been talking to Dr Fong, and it's her understanding that the Fireball has a man-hater among her crew."

Smitty swallowed his latest bite and took a sip of his juice. "Man-hater? What are we talking about? A woman who was betrayed in love? Because that, unfortunately, happens far too often. Probably on any ship."

"No, something more complicated than that," Lister stated. "This would be a woman who won't let any man touch her, doesn't go on dates, pretty much won't have anything to do with men. And isn't particularly fond of women, either, most likely."

Smitty cast his mind over the female crew members that he knew, but that didn't seem to fit any of them. "Doesn't sound familiar."

"But Dr Fong—"

"She's talking about Mac," Drake broke in. "But you're right, I wouldn't call her a man-hater. She just doesn't trust men, probably because of her upbringing."

Smitty stared at the other man at this outlandish statement. Remembering the girl who had first come aboard, over a year ago, she was a flirt, but not ready to follow through once she had a man's attention. She relied on her Gaelund strength to give her 'No!' a punch. But if that was true, then how did she get pregnant? Surely if it was rape, she would have reported it. Or was she too embarrassed to have been bested by a normal human? Of course, more recently... "Her views have... mellowed... in the past year."

Drake looked surprised. "I'm not sure I agree with that assessment."

"I think I would know," Smitty said gruffly, and drank half his cup of coffee. He glanced at the chronometer, wondered how quickly he could get away from these doctors and to engineering.

"Why would you know?" Dr Lister asked, her eyebrows knit in confusion.

He hated to be rude, but this conversation was extremely boring. "Because Colleen MacDowell is my protégé." He looked at the clock again and decided he didn't have enough time for another cup of coffee, he'd have to make this one do. He was still hungry; maybe he should have gotten a couple pancakes to go with his omelet.

"You don't consider this protégé of yours to be a man-hater?"

"Not at all," Drake said before Smitty could respond. "Like I said, she didn't trust any men when she first came aboard. No, Let me correct that. She trusted one, a young man who had been her brother's roommate at the Academy. She calls him her adopted brother. There were some skirmishes when she first came aboard, as some men refused to believe she meant no when she said it." He smiled as he cut up his roast beef. "She even managed to give a black eye to a security shift supervisor, but that was due to a complete misunderstanding. But like Smitty indicated, things have, er, settled down quite a lot since those early days."

"The way you describe her, it seems pretty much like what any young lady newly transferred might have gone through. Maybe she's not the one Dr Fong has told me about."

"She is," Drake responded. "I've seen his files on her. Personally, I think he's completely misread her upbringing and blown it all out of proportion."

"How so?"

"First of all, she's Gaelund."

Lister paused to think. "Heavy worlder? So she's extra strong?"

"Right. And it's still in the colonial stage. Women there are supposed to get married and have a lot of kids. Bring the population up."

"A heavy patriarchal society. Not that unusual in a colony."

Smitty stopped listening. Whatever Colleen's upbringing has been, she's in the Fleet now, and has to live by Fleet regulations. Her past doesn't matter. That's what I have to remember. However she got pregnant, whoever the father is, none of that matters. So long as she marries me. He abruptly put his coffee cup down. "Excuse me, I need to get to engineering." He got up.

"Mr Smythe, perhaps I could meet your protégé?" Lister asked hurriedly.

"What?" He stopped, his tray in his hands. "Why?"

"Well, I've just been given a 2nd opinion of her character. I'd like to meet her and make up my own mind." She got up and picked up her tray. Drake quickly followed suit.

Smitty sent a smoldering glare in Drake's direction. "This is not a good time, doctor. She's just finishing up a 12-hour shift, and I'm sure she'd like to get some sleep. All my people are working 12 and 12. It gets the work done, but doesn't lend itself to a lot of social activity."

"I assure you, I understand. I just want a few minutes with her. I'm due back in sick bay for the rest of my shift, and I don't make a habit of being late."

"Smitty, play nice," Drake said quietly.

Maybe I am out of sorts. Long hours of work, babysitting an idiot who Stinky somehow took on as his protégé... It's going to be a long repair job. "Yes, well, come along. I still need to debrief her and Wilson on what they've gotten done."

"I won't get in your way, I promise," Lister told him, and they all left the mess hall.