The Alphabet Game: Part 2/2

Posted on Mon Aug 31st, 2026 @ 9:41am by Lieutenant JG Electra Drake & Sergeant Jace Morven

2,317 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Pilot - "The Gate"
Location: Drake's Quarters
Timeline: A few days after 'First Contact'

Continued from part 1

Jace's lips parted as he watched the girl before he gave a small nod. Lucy seemed set on the decision to teach him to play games and what he was figuring out was how stubborn she was. Reminded him of Elen. There was no point in saying no. He finished what was on his plate, thinking.

Lex watched him with a small smile, setting her napkin down. She could almost hear the cogs moving in his head and didn't want him to feel overwhelmed. "Lucy, why don't you teach Jace the alphabet game while I clear up," she suggested...a nice, easy game that wouldn't overwhelm him.

"Sure..." Lucy jumped down, running to wash her hands before dashing back, catching hold of Jace's sleeve to tug him to the viewport. Alphabet game was always played watching the stars.

He went with her, looking at her with confusion. "What are the rules?" he asked, looking at the little girl, tilting his head.

"We choose a thing...like...food....or planets...or something," she settled on the window seat so she could look out, leaving room for Jace. "And...we go through the alphabet and think of the things..."

He sat down, nodding as he looked at the stars, thinking for a moment. "You chose the thing," he said, quietly. Because he didn't know what the limits were. But she would know...and he could adapt to that.

"Hm...er...." Lucy looked out as she bit thoughtfully on her lip, wanting to figure out something he might know too. Animals? No...he might not have been to a wildlife park. Food? No...he didn't know what quesadilla was. "Things....on a starship?"

He nodded, watching her for a long moment. "Okay," he said and looked at the stars. "I know things on a starship." The fact it was the alphabet was...something to consider. But he suspected he did not need to be fast.

"I'll go first, to teach you," Lucy nodded firmly, reaching for her pink unicorn blanket, pulling it down to spread over both of their laps. "A is for...Astro-met-rics...now you do B."

He looked at her for a moment, before he looked down at the blanket. His fingers stroked over it and he let out a soft breath. "Bio-neural gel packs," he said and glanced at her, to her face, to make sure he was playing the game right.

"Ooo good one..." Lucy nodded her approval, tapping a finger against her lip in thought. "C is for....console!"

He nodded, looking at the stars as he let out a breath, thinking. His finger tapped the blanket for a moment before he just stroked it, feeling the softness of it. "D..." he said, thinking. No, disruptor wasn't Starfleet issue. "Deflector," he finally said.

Lucy giggled, repeating the word slowly, just because she liked it. "De...flec...tor...hm....E is for EMH!" she smiled, particularly proud of that one.

He looked at her with surprise, thinking, trying to figure it out. But he didn't know in the end. "What is EMH?" he asked, because he hadn't come across that before.

"Oh..." the girl cleared her throat, straightening up ready to deliver the facts. "Emergency....Medical....Hologram. He works in Sickbay. And is very grumpy."

Jace looked at her and nodded, taking in the information. "Cressida isn't grumpy," he said before he looked at the stars, considering it. "I think I prefer going to her then, rather than...the EMH."

Lucy gave a serious little nod of approval. "He gets all cross. And huffy. Like a bird," she warned. "Okay...you do F..."

Jace thought for a moment, lips moving as he tried a word. No...he knew phasers didn't start with an F, even if it sounded like it did. "Forcefield," he finally said, knowing the silence had stretched. But Lucy was...patient.

"Ooo...magic science," she giggled at the mention, her fingers wriggling like the sparkles on a forcefield. "G is for....for...hm..." that one took her a little more thinking. "Ground Forces!"

A small smile came to him at the answer, his eyes going to her as he nodded. "Yeah," he said, and the smile faded. "Yeah, we're part of the ship."

"You keep it safe," Lucy nodded as her fingers played with the soft blanket. And she knew that for a fact now. After they'd rescued them.

He looked at her before he nodded, looking at the stars. He thought about what came after G. "Holodeck," he said, after a moment. H was for Holodeck.

"Can we go there one day?" she asked with hope, watching him nervously as she bit on her lip. "I'd like to show you."

"Yes," he said before he looked at her, at how she bit her lip. He reached out, awkwardly, touching her arm. "I'd go there with you, Lucy."

Lucy relaxed with the words, a small smile returning with the promise. She reached out to hold his sleeve in return, her fingers finding the bracelet to play with. "I is for...icy-linya-chip..."

"J is for Jeffries tubes," he said and looked at her fingers, how small her hand was. He let out a breath that felt stuck in his chest. "I think you are good at this game."

"You too," Lucy praised with a shy smile, looking to him thoughtfully. "K is for...er.....hm....kitty cat!" she giggled at the stretch.

He looked confused for a moment before he gave a nod, accepting it. "L is for..." he stopped, trying to think of what was on a ship that started with L. "Lounge." It would have to do.

"I can't go there alone," she said solemnly to him, as if it were a rule that might be relevant to him too. "M is for...medical tri-corder..."

He gave a nod, considering it for a moment. "Medical tricorders are...strange," he said, before he shook his head. "I can't read them well." He moved his fingers as he considered what was after M. O. No...N. What did he know on a ship that started with N? "Nacelles," the words almost tumbled out of him.

"Ooo....have you seen them? When a ship flies? They glow so pretty," the girl giggled, looking out of the window as if she might be able to spot one. "O is for...officer!"

"The bench we sat on, on deck 14...if you sit to the left, you can see them," he said as he looked at her, studying her profile, the red hair. He blinked, remembering how it would curl against Raimi's cheek whenever she pulled her helmet off. He had to look back at the stars. P. Phasers was easy. Photon Torpedos was easy. But Lucy was there and she was a child who had seen dead bodies on the deck. His mouth pinched a little as he thought. "Plasma conduit," he said, and something in him eased at finding something better.

"Oh...very important things," Lucy admitted with awe, chewing on her lower lip with thought as her fingertip started to draw a pattern on the window. "Q is for Quarters!" she leant in closer to lower her voice, sharing a very important tip. "Q is usually a hard letter."

"Not much that starts with Q," he said in agreement, voice lowered as he gave a serious nod, taking it onboard. He would have gone for quartermaster after all, but hers worked better. "R for Replicator," he suddenly said and looked at her.

"One of the best things on a ship," she looked to him with a slight giggle, thinking of all the yummy things it could make. Her mummy always said they'd eat nothing but rations without it. A scary, scary thought. "S is for....stellar-cart-ograpy..." she took her time to say the word right.

Jace watched her at the word, the way she said it. And he gave a nod. "I've never been to one," he finally said. People like him didn't exactly...go to the smart places of a ship. T was next. "Transporter room," he added the last because...it felt right to be precise.

"More magic science...turns us into sparkles...." she said on a low, wavering voice, as if it was spooky. "U is for....er.....um....." she struggled, a soft grizzle in her throat with it and a frown descending. She rubbed her hands together as her anxiety grew.

He looked at her, seeing her distress. He didn't know what to do. Not really. All he saw was her getting...tenser. He moved to his commbadge, unclipping it, before he put it on the blanket in her lap. "Universal translator," he said quietly.

Lucy let out a long breath of relief, visibly relaxing with the answer. She took the commbadge to feel, but was careful not to press it. "Universal translator..." she repeated, looking up to him with a small, grateful smile. "I'll do V for you...Viewscreen...."

He nodded at that, seeing her calm down, which drowned the spike of panic he had felt at seeing her reaction. He looked out to the stars, trying to think about W. And grimaced slightly. "Weapons array."

"X...is...for..." Lucy pressed her lips together, but didn't get anxious this time. She knew she had one...she just...had to....find it... "Xen-o-biol-ogy Lab!" she finally got it out with a sigh of relief.

He nodded at that, because it was something he had heard about. Xenobiology. But that meant the next was...Y? He let out a soft breath, even as he considered it. What was there that started with a Y? His eyes went to Lucy for a moment. He wasn't sure if it counted. But she had said officer. "Yeoman."

"Yeah!" the girl clapped with excitement, because Y could be tricky too. "We're so close now! Just...er...Z...hm...." her teeth started to worry her lower lip again and she thought carefully.

He looked at her for a moment before he reached to touch her arm. "We can do Z together?" he asked, because he saw the way her teeth were digging into her lip and he didn't want her to hurt.

Lucy nodded, reaching to touch his arm in return, watching him intently as she tried to think of words that began with Z that might help. "Hm...Zero begins with Z...Zone begins with Z....?"

Jace watched her as well, thinking as well. "Z-axis," he finally said, blinking. "It's...we use it in navigation on the ship. Three axis...Z-axis is...forward and backward, or...even depth. Does that count?"

"Yeah!" Lucy grinned, her features flushed with triumph as she lifted her hand for him to high five.

He lifted his hand to hers, for their palms to hit together. Elen did that now and then. Apparently it was a good thing. "Did we win?"

"Yeah! We didn't miss a single one!" Lucy grinned to him, shifting on to her knees. "That's not easy you know! You can play this game like this, or on your own, when you're lonely, or bored, or scared."

Jace gave a nod, pleased that they had won the game, but the words she said...it made him wonder. "You play it on your own a lot?" he asked her.

She nodded with a small smile, glancing down to her hands shyly. "It makes my head quiet...."

"It's good to have something," he said as he thought about what made his head quiet. Repetitive movement. The punchbag in the gym. Engraving. Or making watches. He gave a nod and moved the blanket off his lap, carefully. "Maybe I will try it if I need it."

"Yeah, like, if you're lonely, or sad...or you could play it with your friends in the forces," she smiled gently up to him, her hand on his arm.

He looked at her for a moment before he nodded, his hand going to cover hers for a moment. "I don't...get lonely," he said and gave a nod. "Or sad. But I will play this game again. Thank you for...teaching me." He looked around, to try and find Lex.

She was sat at the kitchen table, reading over a PADD, a glass of synthaholic wine close by. Lex had left them to it at seeing them in the middle of the game. He had asked to spend time with Lucy afterall.

Jace looked over at Lucy again, watching her before he nodded. "I...should go soon," he said, not because there was anything wrong...but he knew he had been here a while.

Lex glanced up at that, smiling gently to them with a nod. "It's not long before Lucy's bedtime anyway," she assured, despite the 'hmph' from the young girl.

Jace took his commbadge back, putting it on his chest again. "Sleep is important," he said quietly to Lucy, before he touched her arm, a gentle pat. "Night, Lucy."

"Night night, Jace, have sweet dreams," Lucy conceded, but there was a sigh to her voice as she squished his arm.

He looked at her, at the sigh, before he put his hand on her shoulder for a moment. "Safe dreams," he said and stood. He walked over to Lex, awkwardly, hands behind his back. "Drake...thank you. For the...food...and time..."

"You're most welcome," Lex assured as she walked him to the door, sliding her hands into her pockets with a small smile. "You make Lucy feel comfortable. That's not always a given."

He hesitated, glancing at her at that. "She...makes me feel comfortable too," he finally said and let out a breath. "Not always a given either."

----

Sergeant Jace Morven
Platoon Sergeant, Alpha Squad
Federation Ground Forces Detachment
USS Guinevere

Lieutenant JG Electra 'Lex' Drake
Counsellor
USS Guinevere

Lucy Drake
Civilian Child
USS Guinevere

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