Jessica poured two glasses from an elegantly slim bottle of Risan wine on her shelf, being very generous with the portions. As she returned the cork to the bottle and placed it upon the shelf of various other spirits, she turned with the two glasses in hand with a smile. “So how was your first day aboard?”
Clara sat on a lounge chair inside Jessica’s quarters, her feet tucked under her, leaning heavily against the armrest of the chair. As where the Commander was still in her uniform, albeit her duty jacket hung loosely open, Clara had already had the chance to change into a more comfortable, loose-fitting dress. “Its been amazing!” She replied, accepting the glass of wine being handed to her. “I have had so many clients tell me how they start to feel claustrophobic aboard starships, but I just don’t see how!”
Jessica smiled, pulling the glass to her nose to smell the vintage, “Give it time, eventually the corridors all start to blur together.” She explained, before taking a drink. “Got to meet with everyone already?” she continued her probe of the councilor’s day.
“I believe so. Doctor Roptojmey is such a sweetheart. I was worried for a second when we first met, but that gruff visage melted away as soon as we got to talking.” Clara reminisced.
“He is. If you ever let it slip your vice of sweets, he will start to stock some for you in his office.” The commander confided. “The kids aboard love him, confection bribery notwithstanding.”
Clara took a drink from her own glass before continuing, “Yeah. I got to meet with most of the Senior Staff, and have a good idea of who all I need to focus on professionally.”
“If I had to take a guess, Id say our two youngest, V’era and Kiff?” Jessica inquired.
Clara exhaled for a moment as she contemplated the question. “V’era is probably one that’s up there for sure. She’s very defensive due to her upbringing, but who can blame her? I think once she settles in and realizes this is a safer space than the Vulcan Science Academy, she might mellow out some. To be honest, she reminds me of you a bit, with how you two suppress your anxiety.”
“Oh, psycho-analyzing me already?” Jessica sneered.
Holding up her glass in a toast, Clara replied, “Always.” Before taking another sip. “What I mean by that is I can tell you both repress your emotions on a surface level. Which is a good thing, you keep them under wraps for as long as you need, and release them through healthy means.”
“To healthy means.” Jessica teased, holding up her wine glass in a toast before taking another drink.
Clara giggled, the wine already starting to make its effects known. “That is compared to the more difficult cases, like with Lt. Commander Pi, who, in a way, is a lot like Michael. They bury their trauma deep within and try to go about as if it’s not there, while the shadow of it slowly eats away at them internally.”
Jessica’s eye twitched at the mention of Michael, though she tried to feign her non-interest by taking another drink from her glass.
“Kiff is a curious case, because I think a lot of his self-confidence issues come from his age; then again, he has such a strong support system with Zachary, that I think over time he will come to absorb some of that confidence from him.” Clara carried on.
“Careful now, we don’t want to end up with TWO Brannigans aboard.” Jessica joked.
The two women erupted into laughter at the thought.
“Oh god…Zachary. He came in when I was talking with Dr. Roptojmey, who in no uncertain terms told him if he didn’t behave around me, he would neuter him with a rusty D’k Tahg.” Clara confessed.
The two fell into another fit of laughter.
“I will admit, his libido aside, Zach is a pretty solid individual. You can trust him to be there and do the right thing. And once you set boundaries, he respects them.” Jessica admitted.
“True, and you see that clear as day when he is around Kiff. He has that ‘protective big brother’ vibe about him, that I guess adds to his charm with the ladies.” Clara remarked.
“Oh, don’t tell him that, his ego doesn’t need any more inflating.” Jessica jests, finishing her glass, and rising to get another. “So…while were on the topic…” she remarked casually, retrieving the bottle of Risan wine again, “…what’s the Scoop on our new Captain?”
Clara held her cup with both hands, hesitant for a moment. Jessica filled her cup and moved across the room to offer Clara some more as well, who reluctantly accepted. “I’m not asking for you to break any doctor-patient confidentiality, of course. I just think it’s fair game, given he’s perusing the ship to get the skinny on the rest of us.” Jessica defended.
“I already looked up his file. I know about what happened to him on the Nakatomi; that was some bad shit. But the reports on what happened to him on the Fox out in Shackleton are sealed, all I got from that is that he was the only survivor…but the ship is still intact.” Jessica explained.
“It’s not that he was the only survivor; he was technically the only one assigned to the ship.” Clara clarified. “After the Nakatomi, when he was given command of the Fox, he…didn’t take a crew. He ran the ship mostly off automation and a very small, personalized holographic complement. Being a Betazoid, he thought it would be easier, since he couldn’t ‘feel’ the holograms, but after months of service, as anyone would, he grew attached to them. He treated them like any other crewmen and felt a responsibility toward them.” Clara took a drink from her refreshed cup before continuing, as if needing the libation to help her keep discussing the topic.
“I can’t discuss what actually happened out there, but needless to say, Michael had to make a choice, and that choice cost him his crew. And…to be clear, he was completely justified in doing so, I think anyone in his shoes would have done the same in that impossible situation, but the whole point of giving him command of the Fox was to help him heal from the trauma of the Nakatomi, and that kind of backfired.” Clara finalized, taking another drink from her cup.
Jessica only nodded silently as the councilor spoke. She took her own drink before a small smirk crossed her lips. “When I worked in the Diplomatic Corps, I had an EHH as a Yeoman. And it was so funny because after a few months, I almost forgot he was a Hologram. We got hit with an Ion storm enroute to Cardassia Prime one day, and his program was corrupted. Lost -him- completely. Sure, we were able to boot up a replacement, but it didn’t feel the same. So, hologram or not, I can somewhat empathize with his loss.” Jessica shared.
“As far as who he is as an individual…He’s still here after all of that. He’s very strong-willed, very caring, and compassionate. Constantly puts the needs of others before his own. That’s actually his greatest fault. He doesn’t value his own well-being as much as he values and cares for others. I think that’s why he’s here, to be around people who can reciprocate that care back onto him. You’re all just as equally nervous about this posting, even him. You’re all new to your positions and environment, and I think once everyone comes to terms with that, everyone will be able to grow naturally.” Clara summarized.
“I hope you’re right. And thank you for sharing that about…” Jessica began to say, but the two were interrupted by the trill of her comm badge.
[“Bridge to Commander Stern”]
“Stern here, go ahead.” The commander replied.
[“Sorry to bother you so late, Ma’am, but you placed the Captain’s Quarters under command lockdown. I wanted to let you know that we received an alert that it was just overridden.”]
“On whose authority?” Stern asked, but her face betrayed her, and Clara could see Jessica already knew the answer.
[“Records indicate the new Security Chief.”]
“That’s clear. Go ahead and clear the alarm. I’ll take care of it myself. Stern Out.” Jessica acknowledged. “Care to join me next door?” She casually asked Clara, standing and grabbing an extra glass from her table.
—————
The Captain’s Quarters were just next door to the Executive Officer’s Suite. They had not done any personalization to it, as they had not been sure until now who their new captain was going to be. As Jessica arrived at the door, she forgone ringing the bell and typed in her access code, slinging open the doors to the modestly decorated living quarters.
Michael stood in the center of the room, looking out towards the large bay windows along the back wall. As the doors opened, and the Commander and Counciler stood in the doorway, Michael did not turn to face them but already knew they were there. “You know, on my last command, they tried to give me the room with a view, but I turned it down for the quarters closest to the turbolift.” He reminisced.
“Well, if it pleases you, we can clean out that utility closet down the hall by the lift. We were going to stick Pi’s regeneration pod in there, but Captain’s Prerogative wins out.” Jessica teased as the two entered the room and let the doors close behind them. “You know, sir, I must advise you that snooping around the Captain’s Quarters, when you’re supposed to be incognito, puts you at risk of exposing yourself to the crew.” She stated, filling the third cup with wine and handing it out to him.
Michael had turned to face them finally, with a grin on his face, and accepted the glass. “Well commander, I figure if I was going to expose myself anywhere, it would be in the privacy of my own quarters.” He quickly retorted.
Jessica bit her lip as she slowly turned away from him, her cheeks flushing red as she tried to maintain her composure. Clara, of course, being accustomed to Michael’s occasional quick wit, only erupted in stifled giggling at both his own words and the commander’s reaction.
“So that’s how its going to be, Ok…” Jessica affirmed. Shaking her head, she allowed the smile to break across her face. For a moment, Clara could feel it, a spark between the two officers verbally sparing one another, and as innocent as the scene was, for some reason, that left a weight of woe in the pit of her stomach.
Michael immediately picked up on it, being attuned around Clara for so long, her own slight inebriation dwindling her telepathic block against the Betazoid’s keen senses. She quickly held up her glass, “Real stuff hits harder than the Synthesized versions I’m use too.” She quickly explained away, diverting the attention away from herself. “So what brings you around?”
“Well, poor planning on our part. We set up my basic cover, but didn’t really account for sleeping accommodations. So, unless either of you are offering a sleepover to maintain cover, I figured I’d just crash her for the night.” Michael rationalized, taking a seat and leaning back on the couch. “What are you two up to this evening?”
“Girl talk mostly, wanted to see how Clara’s first day aboard went. Though I’m sure we could ask the same for you?” Jessica explained, moving to take the other sofa in the room. Clara also moved in and took the lounge chair again, which was a near replica of the one in Jessica’s quarters.
“Honestly, it was good. I’m glad I got the opportunity to walk the halls like this. I think I learned a lot that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about had I just come aboard like normal. Nothing bad really, but it’s good to check under the hood from time to time.” Michael explained, raising his own glass in a toast before taking a testing sip.
Jessica’s face contorted, “Oh…you found out about the pool, didn’t you?”
Michael nodded, a small crack of a smile forming on his lips, “Yeah, Mr. Brannigan told me about that earlier. I don’t know if I should be insulted or flattered that the current running odds are that I will be a Rigelian in his late 70’s.”
Once again, Clara dissolved into a fit of light giggling.
“But all in all, I think we can end this little charade soon. I got what I needed out of it, might as well switch gears and start getting to work.” Michael declared, taking a braver drink from his glass.
“Did you want to wait until after the party? Or did you want to crash it in a spectacularly diva fashion?” Jessica asked.
Michael smirked, “No, I don’t want to crash the party and offset the mood, but I do have an idea with a little cinematic flair…”
