Sonja was off duty and determined to enjoy it. She felt like she hadn’t had a break in weeks, though this wasn’t true she had been pulling more duties and doing even more than she was meant to do. She loved what she did, but sometimes a break was warranted. Her day dreaming was interrupted by yelling across the Promenade. She sighed ‘Don’t react…’ she thought as she clenched her fist. The thought was fleeting thought and she ran into a full sprint to see what was happening. As she looked closer she realized she knew the person being yelled at.

She casually walked up and greeted him “Hi Aiden, everything ok here?”

“It’s fine.” He answered with a heavy sigh that indicated otherwise.

The Tellarite who had been shouting at him begged to differ. “This human thinks my slipping and falling is humorous.”

“I wasn’t laughing at you.” Connolly replied defensively. “I was laughing at the book I was reading.” He reached down to his table and picked up a PADD, waving it around for added effect.

Sonja couldn’t help the fact that it seemed Aiden just couldn’t not get out of some kind of trouble. She looked at the Tellarite “Starfleet officer do not laugh at others pain, in fact Aiden is not someone who would ever do so. He is not only a model officer, but someone who would help you around any turn.” She turned to Aiden “Why don’t you show them the part that made you laugh?”

“What’s the point in that?” Connolly asked, confusion written across his face. “Humour is subjective and doesn’t always translate well across species.” He tossed the PADD on the table. “Besides, even if I was laughing at him,” Connolly turned briefly to face the Tellarite, “which I wasn’t,” he said pointedly, “what’s he gonna do? Call security? It’s hardly a crime.”

It was clear there was only one way out of this situation. “However, if my mistimed laugh caused you any offence then I apologise.” With the wind taken out of his sails, the Tellarite could only huff before he stormed off. “Someday I’m going to be able to have a cup of incident free coffee on this station. Or maybe I should just give up on coffee altogether.”

Sonja looked at him “I suggested you show him the humor for the exact reason you said. He may not think it’s funny, but by showing him he knows you were being honest about what was aid in the book. No matter the apology seemed to do it. I’m not sure it seems most times I run into you something is happening .” She thought for a moment “I have an idea follow me.” 

Plucking the PADD off his table again, Connolly dutifully followed Thompson. “Unless your idea is to erect a forcefield around me, I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna be enough to keep me from getting shouted at.”

She led him to a nearby café that she frequented and went to her usual seat. It was quiet and peaceful the perfect place for Aiden to grab so coffee “Here you should be able to drink in peace with no one bothering you.” 

“It’s gonna take more than a quiet corner to keep me out of trouble.” Connolly told her wryly. “I dunno if you know this but I’m a trouble magnet. I can’t walk down the promenade without being shouted at these days. Callahan and I tried to take a group of cadets on a training mission and wound up crashing on a planet. On the upside it earned me my second pip and a move to Strat Ops, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.”

Sonja nodded “I’ve noticed that you seem to be a magnet to trouble, but it doesn’t mean I can’t try and give you a little peace today. From what I’ve observed you are quite capable and know your job, but you just seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens to us all, but I’m optimistic that you’ll have a turn around.“ She smiled as she ordered an iced coffee.  

“I guess I’m just trying to be a friend…if you need one that is.” She shrugged not sure what she should say.

Connolly slouched in his seat and casually slung his right arm over the back of it. “You can never have too many friends. And a security officer as a friend could come in very useful.” He mused with a grin. 

Sonja nodded “So I have heard.” She smirked as she took a sip of her drink before speaking again “Well, why don’t you try and enjoy this little bit of peace and quiet you have.” She smiled at him gesturing for him to get a drink.

“Maybe you’re right.” Connolly had no sooner finished speaking than the lights went out all over the Promenade, plunging them into darkness. “I think this is a little too much peace and quiet,” Connolly muttered. The lights came back on after a few minutes and the patrons of the cafe shared looks of concern. “Planned outages.” Connolly reassured an elderly woman sitting nearby. “The reactors are being upgraded.” He lowered his voice so that only Thompson could hear, “Though I thought Ops was supposed to communicate any planned outages.”

Sonja had been informed of the outages, but this one did seem out of place. She has been told that most of the outages would occur at an assigned time and as Connolly stated Ops was to inform them of any of these outages. ‘Maybe we’re just being paranoid, but it wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.’ She looked over at Connolly and shrugged “Do you want to go and investigate or would you rather stay here and try to enjoy the peace and quiet as I suggested? Either way I’ll tag along I don’t have anything else to do today.”

“I don’t think we need to investigate, but we should log a report with Ops.” Connolly replied. “I’m sure they’re already receiving plenty of reports but it’s still worth logging our own.” He reached for his PADD and started quickly composing a brief incident report to fire off. “Nothing else to do today,” he repeated her own words back, “no duty shift later?

Sonja shook her head “Nope I am off for the next two days after working 16 days straight. We have been very short in Security and I have had to help in picking up the slack.”

“Sixteen days straight is a hell of a grind.” Connolly commented as he proofread his report before sending it to Ops. “I’d be looking into the possibility of a transfer if that kept up, then again if they’re short handed they’d probably just deny your request.”

“Nah I don’t mind I enjoy my job…well most days I do” She smirked “I can’t get into mischief when I am doing my job or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. It might just be some wishful thinking on my part, but I try to think I do my job and help others by doing so.”

Connolly rubbed his forehead. “Y’now, I think I’m gonna head home and unroll my yoga mat. I might be able to find some peace that way.” He stood and gave Thompson a slight smile. “I’ll see you around.”

Sonja smiled and waved as Connolly departed hoping that her discussion helped Connolly. She knew she’d see him again maybe they would make plans for coffee without an incident occurring.