" Friendly Chat "
Previous Post: "Updating the Mission Profile"
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Stardate: 60319.1745
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Black Hole Lounge
Looking at the odd gathering of officers, several of
them being at various stages of their transformation
into the persona that they would portray during the
mission to the TANGIERS ORBITAL, it was easy to see
that the pressures of the upcoming mission had been
momentarily lifted. Congratulating one another on
whatever promotion had been handed out and received,
the Romulan/Terran hybrid had found herself standing
directly in front of the other officer who had been
elevated to the rank of Lt. Cmdr.
Knowing that the Cardassian was in reality the
ANUBIS' overly talkative CSciO and that the Romulan
Tal'Shiar agent was actually the ship's COO who tended
to keep to herself made listening to the conversation
between the two oddly puzzling. The main reason for
this was that the only one speaking between the two
women had not been the Shillian but rather the
Romulan/Terran hybrid who seemed to have a lifetime of
information to convey in only a few moments.
Appearing a little baffled by her not being able to
slide in a word edge wise, the Shillian had
reluctantly accepted that for the time being she would
be on the other side of the field where so many of the
other officers had found themselves in at one point or
another. Concluding her rapid review of her time at
the Academy, the Romulan/Terran hybrid continued
without taking a breath although her skills in such
talking were still short of matching those of her one
and only audience. "If someone, two and a half years
ago, had told me that I would become the COO of an
Intel ship operating from a base that did not appear
on any list or map and that I would hold the rank of
Lt. Cmdr., I would have told them to report to the
Infirmary because they were suffering from some sort
of virus causing delusions and/or hallucinations."
While explaining to the CSciO why she could not
believe that she had reached such a milestone in her
career so rapidly, the eyes of the Romulan/Terran
hybrid drifted to another pair of officers who had
drifted away from the main group. Remembering and
speaking of her time at the Academy with Maya had
brought certain memories to the surface for the COO,
memories that involved in one way or another the man
whom she was looking at. Apologizing to the Shillian,
who did not appear disturbed or hurt by this chance
for a break, the COO crossed the room and joined her
Academy classmate and the Bajoran woman with whom he
had been with.
Coming within earshot of their conversation, the
Romulan/Terran hybrid stopped for a moment, judging as
best she could if her arrival would interrupt some
important discussion between the Cns and former CEO of
the ANUBIS. Recalling the way the XO had been when
she had wanted to speak to him earlier that day made
the COO a little nervous since she doubted that anyone
had been keeping a transporter lock on either one of
them. Seeing the sombre expression on the engineer's
face made the Ops officer understand that the
discussion had nothing to do with the recent
promotions and awards that had been handed out and
which had been part of.
Having waited for lull in the discussion, the
Romulan/Terran hybrid cautiously approached the two
officers, focussing her observations on the large man
who seemed caught between absolute rage and
immeasurable pain. Unsure as to how to approach her
former classmate, the COO decided to go with the most
obvious route. "Congratulations on your receiving
that award, it is more than well deserved."
Looking back at the Romulan/Terran hybrid through
partially narrowed eyes, the engineer seemed ready to
lash out at the COO but showed enough restraint to
simply reply in a way that the Ops officer had not
expected. "Thank you, *Sir*."
Taking a moment to figure out why David had been so
nasty about this, the Romulan/Terran hybrid turned to
Ensign Mei. "Would you excuse us for a moment?"
Looking a little hesitant in leaving the two of them
alone, the Cns retreated giving the COO the privacy
that she had desired while hoping that things would
not degenerate to the point where security would have
to be called in.
Snapping her gaze back onto the man with whom she had
gone through the Academy with, the COO wasted no time
to confront the CEO with what was on her mind. "I can
understand that you are upset and maybe even angry at
me for my having been promoted, especially with you
blaming me in some way for what James was forced to
do, but I'll be honest I never expected you to be this
childish about this whole thing. Somewhere down the
line there was a mistake made, and that your skills
and devotion to your work and fellow shipmates has
been recognized by you getting this award shows that
we *all* believe that this was only a momentary
problem. So if you still have something against me,
or Cmdr. Rikar, or Capt. Simmons, get it off your
chest now, once and for all, because I am honestly
getting tired of this unprofessional attitude of
yours."
Staring back at the Romulan/Terran hybrid, David
seemed ready to send her face across the room with a
single blow, an eventuality that the COO had been
ready to deal with if it came to that, but instead the
Ops officer saw her friend's head drop as he spoke.
"It's not James, not you, its not ever Sabrina. It's
my brother Jordan. He's dead."
Realizing that she had completely misunderstood the
situation the Romulan/Terran hybrid relaxed her
posture and sat on the nearby empty bench dragging the
much larger man along with her. Words could not
express her sorrow at the news that the CEO had just
relayed, so the COO just sat there by his side
remembering just how highly David spoke of his brother
and imagining with ease who such a event would affect
him or anyone else in his position. When a member of
a family suddenly departs, it is the responsibility of
the rest of the family to help and fill in the void
that was created, and in this instance that
responsibility fell on the shoulders of the crew of
the ANUBIS, a task that the Ops Officer had been more
than ready to tackle with all of her strength and
energy.
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Lieutenant Serenna 2005 post #152
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Serena Switt {serena1141@yahoo.com.au}
Chief of Operations / Second Officer
USS ANUBIS
