GRS5 office
midday of the next working day after the first broadcast of the pilot of "Ranger Danger" Doc leaned back at his desk, had a look at the chrono and relaxed. Sure, the work climate had been a bit frosty after "Ranger Danger," but it seemed to be normalizing slowly. At the next desk, Gooseman looked up, too. "Break," he announced. "Good. I've still got something to correct..." He threw a predatory glance at Doc, who suddenly knew how a rabbit feels when it looks up to see a tiger crouching over it. "Easy, Goose. Don't do anything we'll regret later," Doc spluttered at the fangs flashing in his direction. "I won't regret any of it," the ST said eagerly, making a slashing movement with his claws in the air. "You can be sure of it." "Gooseman, you won't..." As the ST's cruel grin intensified at that, Doc turned beseechingly to his captain. "Zach, please, do something. You can't mean this seriously, can you? Please..." Zachary sighed and looked up from his file. "Okay. This has gone far enough now. Goose, don't do anything to Doc." "Aye, sir." The ST relaxed into his seat. "I won't lift a finger for Doc, I promise." "Good." Zach continued his reading. "Did you mail the parcel, Shane?" Niko asked from her desk, as she shoved her work aside and took her thermal coffee pot and a mug out of a drawer. "Yes. First thing this morning. – Do you have a mug of coffee left for me?" "Sure." She leaned back with her coffee and looked up at Goose as he filled his mug. "When do you think it'll reach her?" she asked. The ST shrugged, leaning against her desk. "Maybe tomorrow. I paid express mail rates for it." He pulled a white receipt out of his shirt pocket. "Fine." She took a sip. "I hope Daisy watches it immediately." Shane smiled. "I'm sure. I haven't sent her many gifts." Niko punched his upper arm. "Don't remind me, you–" "Aaah!" Doc yelled as the meaning of their conversation reached him. "You didn't send Daisy a copy of that film. You couldn't have. She's going to kill me–" Niko looked up at him in surprise. "Sure she will. She's a gunslinger, after all." She snorted. "I won't mind. And I mind her a lot," she said with a dark look towards Goose. Doc went pale. "Please, you can't let her come gunning for me!" Niko shook her head. "You know as well as I do that she's a better shootist than me or Zach. The only one of us who matches her skill with the blaster is Goose." The ST chuckled. "And you just made me promise not to move a finger in your favor." He nipped at his coffee. "I keep my promises, Doc." "But–" Cold sweat prickled on Doc's forehead. "I'm sorry, but I don't shoot with my feet." Gooseman shrugged nonchalantly and laid said feet on his wastebasket. "By the way, I'm sure that whatever Daisy does with you will be much better than anything I'm allowed to do." Zachary looked up from his file as the door slammed shut behind a horrified Doc Hartford. "Did you really send O'Mega a copy of that tri-D garbage?" he asked the two. They laughed out loud. "Nope." The ST said with a grin. "Didn't have her address." Niko fetched the paper out of Shane's fingers. "That's the bill from my laundry." "So nothing's going to happen?" Fox began to smile, too. "Nothing, Captain," Gooseman confirmed. "But we're going..." "...to take at least a month to tell him that," Niko finished.
