Work Text:
After the last few missions, there was so much work on repairs to be done that no one had, had time to fix up the botany lab yet. So Sulu volunteered to help. It was supposed to be a simple task. Simple, and a little bit time-consuming. A perfect way to pass an afternoon of mandatory rest, so long as Nurse Chapel doesn’t hear about it.
The lab was relatively clean. Only a couple of containers had fallen over. There had been dirt trailing along the ground that took a few minutes of sweeping to clear up. So Sulu righted the containers, swept up the dirt, and dumped the contaminated soil into the trash to be resequenced later.
With everything tidy, Sulu rolls his sleeves up to his elbows. Now for the real work.
He approaches the first container, filled with Aphemalies, from M-113. A dry planet, where the plants have to hold onto as much moisture as possible to get through the dry seasons. A trait that causes it to attract the worst kind of weeds. Plantkillers. Little seedlings that latch onto the roots of other plants and slowly but surely grow, by sucking all the extra water out of them. They could’ve spread during any one of the attacks, or trimming sessions, but typically the botanist use their scanners to detect such things. With all the chaos that has been going on, the botanists in charge of this lab must’ve not thought about scanning for the seedlings.
It’s an easy mistake to make. One often done by the tired, weary, and even the inexperienced.
Which is why he is here.
Sulu slips on a new pair of gloves. The tips of the weeds. He pulls them up with ease, making sure to uncover the roots with one hand and tugging them up at the lowest point with the other.
He’ll never understand why others find this task tedious. There’s nothing quite as relaxing as having a simple, easily repeated job to do. When he’s at the helm there’s always something new happening. Equations to run, and mentally recheck in seconds, other ships to dodge last minute after they hadn’t shared their flight plans with the public, species known and unknown to face every day and consider if the facial expressions he makes are rude or polite.
Not a day goes by where he’s not thrilled to be up there. Getting to go on a mission like this to the far corners of the known cosmos is everything he’s ever dreamed of.
Which makes him all the more grateful for these quiet moments. He can simply go through the motions, allowing his thoughts to wander, and his mind to recover.
“You relax by doing chores?” Chekov had asked with an incredulous look.
“Plenty of people do.” Uhura stated, passing her salad over to Sulu.
He had just finished his own plate of food, and was graciously accepting Uhura’s. “It’s nice getting something done without having to think about it seriously.” The pilot explained between plates.
Chekov looked insulted by the mere concept but swore to rescue Sulu from himself when the two hours he allocated for the botanical lab were up.
He’ll show up sooner than Sulu expects. Of that, he’s certain. Sulu always ends up losing track of time in here. No amount of alarms on his PADD ever seemed to help.
So be it.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of the gloves as they rub against his fingers while he digs and trowels through the dirt. Just like there’s nothing exactly like flying the Enterprise. Each and every experience is completely different from another, and here, in this lab, he gets to simply savor that.
Thank goodness there are so many weeds to uproot.
The stress melts away as he works.