A busy day, Shock decided to finish his shift early as he hadn’t had time to eat lunch at the usual hour. So around 15:45, he left his office to go to the lounge to grab some lunch. It was quiet in the lounge at this hour – at least in comparison to normal mealtime hours, and Shock could easily find an empty table by his favourite spot by the windows.

Having ordered baked potatoes, which he drenched in oil, with a side dish of high-protein mushrooms from Vulcan, he sat and enjoyed his bland meal.

He took up his padd, and starting going over Klingon inflexions. jI-, qa-, vI-, Sa-, vI-; bI-, cho-, Da-, ju-, Da-.... There was something relaxing about going over prenominal verbal prefixes. He whispered the pronunciations, mouthing them. Hearing the sounds activated better memory learning, but he wanted at the same time be respectful and not disturb people around him.

He sighed, and took another bite of his oily potato.

– Lt Shock (COS)