Lieutenant O’Shea Quarters – Deck 4 – 20:15

James O’Shea walked back into his quarters, looked around and tossed his jacket onto his desk and sighed. Between checking in with the Captain, medical, sorting out the new security teams and responsibilities and getting aquatinted with the USS Mercy he had only spent a few passing moments awake in his quarters, his very bare quarters. He started to walk to the replicator to get some food when he stopped and thought to himself ‘Nope, not going to sit in here eat and work, time to take a break even if just for an hour.’

With that, he grabbed his jacket and put it on, leaving the upper flap hanging open. He then turned and left his quarters.

Crew Lounge – Deck 6 – 20:30

After wandering around for a couple of minutes O’Shea walked into the main crew lounge and stopped just inside the door. As he had expected the lounge was pretty full given the size of the crew and additional medical staff. Seeing an empty table near one of the viewports he wandered over and took a seat and just let enjoyed the feeling of being back on board a starship surrounded by the crew. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed it.

Egrel slipped quietly into the lounge after seeing to the crew for check-ins all day. He wore a tired expression on his face and he walked towards the replicator. He got a sandwich and some coffee and looked around for a seat. All the tables were full. He lifted his brows in surprise. He noticed James sitting all by his lonesome self and strode over, stopping near the table. He inquired, “Mind if I join you?”

O’Shea looked up from his food, “Oh, hey, Counselor Choi. Please do.” He said as he pushed the chair out across from him with his foot. He waited for the counsellor to sit down before saying anything. “How was your first day?”

Egrel chuckled softly as James pushed out the chair. He pulled it out the rest of the way and moved to sit down. He reached up to undo his hair from the tight ponytail he wore for a moment’s respite before answering, “Quite busy. Checking in with various crew and staff; not all, mind you. That’s too many for one day. How is yours?” He sipped his coffee quietly as he listened.

O’Shea let out a slight laugh, “Same to be honest, this is the first chance I have had to sit really. Lot to do when taking over a department, especially one for a ship this size.” He said with a smile as he took a sip of his drink and debated taking a bite of the pasta he had ordered. “Nice to be back on duty though. Was going stir crazy, to be honest on medical leave.” Pausing for a moment he continued, “So why the Mercy? Random assignment or request?”

Egrel sipped his coffee, “I can’t even begin to imagine what such a long medical leave would be like. Wasn’t anticipating being thrust as Chief Counsellor, but I have no objections.” He hesitated, formulating his next words, “I requested anywhere off my old ship, I did not care where. And it ended up being the Mercy. You?”

At the O’Shea raised an eye, it wasn’t every day that someone requested just to leave a ship. “It was a random assignment, though like you I wasn’t expecting a Chief of Security role, but I had been training for it before, so guess it made sense.” He said with a shrug, “How come you wanted off your old ship if you don’t mind me asking?”

Egrel frowned as he stared down into his coffee, “There was an ethical issue that went down that I did not agree with. I was also under incredible stress due to my old captain’s problems and doing damage control too much for the crew because of him.” He sipped his coffee, “It was tiring.”

“Ah, well that sounds like more than enough reason to look elsewhere,” O’Shea said as he leaned back and looked around. “All commands have their challenges but that one sounds especially difficult, good idea to move on and get a fresh start.” 

Egrel sighed and shook his head, “More than a little. I have a feeling Halsey won’t throw objects at me when he’s mad. The most un-Vulcan like Vulcan I have ever dealt with.” A grim look resided on his face as he sipped his coffee again, “And the kidnapping of another officer…”

O’Shea looked at Egrel with a slight look of shock, “Your old CO threw shit at you when he was mad? And a Vulcan? AND KIDNAPPING! How are they still in command? I assume they are since you transferred….” Shaking his head O’Shea took a long sip of his drink and continued. “Halsey seems solid based on his record and the brief chat I had with him. You should be much happier here.”

Egrel nodded, “He did, yeah. The crew kept a tally sheet of what he threw and made bets on who was the next target. I have no idea how he is still in command. He’s old though, maybe he is getting senile, or maybe the rumours of him not being a full Vulcan are true. Yeah, an officer got kidnapped off of a base under his command. As far as I know, he’s still in command. Though I heard he was under investigation.”

“Damn.” O’Shea said shaking his head. He then lifted his cup of mug up to Egrel, “Too better days and a better command on the Mercy.”

Egrel chuckled softly, “I have no doubt that this is what we will have and have already.” He raised his coffee mug in a mock toast, “I’ll drink to that, O’Shea.”

O’Shea smiled at that and said, “May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.” With that, he finished off the final bit of his drink. 

Egrel smiled and sipped his coffee, “I’ve talked a lot about myself. What about you? I know your file, sure, but from a non-professional, absolutely off-duty point, let’s hear more about you and your past?” He paused, then grinned, “Not as a counsellor, I assure you.”

“Ah,” O’Shea said, “The sneaky, not a counsellor questions…” as he let out a short laugh. “Not much to say that isn’t in the file really. Was based at Starbase 3 for a while; was a routine posting but learned a lot then moved to the Radiant Storm and was doing well there. Anti-piracy duties are either very boring or very busy and the Storm, well the Cardies kept us all busy chasing them around.” O’Shea lended back and looked out the viewport at the starfield move past. “Then well, I lost my leg. Felt I needed to shed some weight anyways.”

Egrel quirked a brow, trying to figure out if that was an intentional pun or not. He murmured softly, “I’m going to get blasted out an airlock for finding that pun amusing.” He shook his head and sipped his coffee to hide a smile, “Medical ship is definitely a change in pace for us both I see.”

At that comment O’Shea let out a deep laugh, “I am glad someone gets my sense of humour.” he said with a smile before continuing. “Yeah. Well, we will see. Given what we know, well don’t know about this signal I am not sure really; a bad feeling almost.” Shrugging looked down at his food. “Always up for a mystery but would be happier if said mystery turned out to be mundane and not something that I need a full hazard team behind me; especially since we don’t have one.” Turning to look out the window watched stars go past for a moment, his mind drifting back to previous engagements. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said turning back, “we have the gear and my officers are very good but that makes three of us. The crew members are new; well not Suven Pach but you know, Klingon. The others, they need a lot of training.”

“But that said, given time they will be great. I will make sure of that.” O’Shea said, “Just hope they are not needed too much.”

Egrel nodded slowly and frowned, “I am uneasy about this myself. When the Betazoid counsellor is uneasy…” He turned his dark eyes down towards his coffee, “I hope this is mundane. Rather deal with something like pirates where we just roll our eyes and know what we are dealing with or something.”

“I know what you mean, a known entity is always easier to deal with. Fewer surprises and such,” O’Shea said before taking a final bite of his meal, finishing it. As he did the PADD beside him beeped and he looked down at the reminder he had set. “Sorry Counselor, but I am going to have to head off. Need to finish a few more things tonight and my alarm is telling me I am now running behind. It was a pleasure talking to you. Let me know if you want to do this again.” 

Egrel smiled and nodded, “Always willing to share meals with colleagues. Makes it far more enjoyable. Good luck with your errands!” He waved at James and watched him hurry off before he stood up himself and recycled his dishes and headed back to his office.