Off Duty Lounge Lizards
Posted on Tue Nov 28th, 2017 @ 9:57pm by Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant Commander Akira-Ri Sato & Lieutenant Jera'turak Ros & Lieutenant T'lon & Lieutenant JG Abigail Eidan
1,502 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission: Memento Mori
The ship’s lounge was mostly empty as Isabella walked in and headed to her usual table after a brief stop at the replicator. It was almost a daily ritual for her to stop by the lounge and grab a light meal and a drink before finishing her day. Sitting down at one of the tables situated before the large forward view port windows, Isabella opened her napkin and started eating.
Akira yawned as she stepped into the lounge. She had decided to finish the day with a quick stop for a quiet drink after walking a brief patrol. Absently, she brushed the three pips on her collar, as she was still trying to get used to her new rank. She hadn’t expected the promotion, but it hadn’t come as a total surprise either. Grabbing a drink from the replicator, Akira spied the first officer and stepped over to join the other woman. “Mind if I sit, Commander?” she asked.
Isabella glanced up between bites of her salad and smiled towards Commander Sato. “Please, join me, Miss Sato,” she said as she indicated an empty chair.
Sitting down, Akira took a drink of her water and sighed. “The captain working late again?” she asked, making conversation.
“More than likely, as he has a habit of doing most of the time,” Isabella replied. “I don’t know why he wants a yeoman assigned, there’s never enough paperwork left over to warrant having one.”
“Who knows, maybe he wants to delegate some of the paperwork over to you,” Akira said with a grin.
Isabella almost rolled her eyes and made a dismissing sound at the thought. It was a well known fact among the senior officers on the Endeavour that while Captain McKeon did a lot of paperwork, the ship’s first officer also did a fair amount as well. “So, how did everything go while I was away?” she asked, shifting the conversation to a different topic.
“Engineering broke the ship, fixed it, and we continued on as usual,” Akira answered with a shrug. “One of the these days, we need a nice, quiet, dull and boring as hell week in which nothing out of routine ever happens.”
“May I be the first to wish you good fortune in finding that such an extended period of time in which the Endeavour finds nothing that is classified as ‘exciting’ ever happens,” T’lon said as he walked up to the table. Bowing his head, he continued. “Forgive me, commanders, but I could not help but over hear part of your conversation as I walked by. I do believe that it is a logical conclusion to say that the Endeavour will always find itself in a situation of one type or another.”
Akira laughed at the Vulcan’s bland choice of words. “You sure know how to dull down an otherwise dullish conversation, T’lon,” she said.
“Don’t blame him, blame the fact that he’s a Vulcan who is quite the oddball, even for a Vulcan,” Jera said as she approached the group. For once, she had managed to escape engineering without something needing her attention and requiring her to stay past her usual shift. Poor Walker, however, was having fun running the evening shifts for a while, since she had delegated most of the extensive maintenance work to him and there was less chance for something exciting to happen at those times. “Even other Vulcans find him unusual from what I’ve heard.”
“That is an incorrect statement, Lieutenant,” T’lon said with a raised eyebrow. “There are many Vulcans who share my unusualness. We are simply very well adapted at hiding our differences.”
“What differences are those?” Abigail Eidan asked as she walked up towards the growing group of officers. She had left a routine and quiet day in medical to hunt down something to eat. It was good to have a quiet day, since the opposite usually meant an overflow of wounded due to the ship’s practice of attracting quite violent encounters.
“Mostly those of personality, I’m afraid,” Akira replied as she took a drink of her water. “Finally escaped sickbay, did we Abi?”
“Nothing much to do today, fortunately,” Abigail replied with a shrug. “I’ve got most of the science staff on light duty for the week after getting their test results from the post mission exams. Most of the crew that came back need to rest in order to recover from the ordeal.”
“I can fully agree with that statement, however some of us don’t have that luxury,” Isabella said with a humorless smile as she finished her salad and pushed the bowl back. Waving at the empty chairs around the table, she invited everyone who hadn’t already to sit down.
“I am afraid that I must decline your offer, Commander. I must return to the bridge for my final few hours of bridge duty,” T’lon said, bowing his head before he started out of the room.
“I’m afraid I was only running through to see if the air filtration system filters in the lounge were changed out last night, and then I’m heading for a nice hot shower and my bed,” Jera said. “Since the system also filters to the rec room below and we got a complaint since yesterday’s card game, I thought I’d check it.”
“What happened during yesterday’s card game?” Isabella asked with a frown, since nothing had been reported that she had seen.
“Apparently, Bzzit Khahts don’t do well under stressful situations such as a high stakes poker game,” Jera answered with a scowling expression. “The smell they put off is rather unpleasant.”
“What is a . . . whatever you said?” Isabella asked.
“A very fishy smelling species that stinks when they get nervous,” Jera said. “I’ve never seen one, apparently we’re giving one a ride until he passes his field exams, which since he’s in science I’m hoping won’t be long. The filtration filters can’t do much against some of their odors.”
“I’ll speak to the captain and check in on that,” Isabella promised.
Jera nodded and moved on towards the service access hatch, which was just outside the lounge. She would take a quick look before she headed to her quarters. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to gripe at anyone in the morning.
“Well, I’ll sit down for a few minutes,” Abigail said as she sat down and sighed. “Did you know that I think they redid the floors in sickbay when Starbase Typhoon gave us our refit? I swear, my sickbay floor has been uncomfortable to stand on ever since.”
“I think they replaced our original deck plating and carpeting with their current ones when they ‘modernized’ the ship,” Isabella said with a nod. “I’ve noticed a slight change as well, but most of the time it’s subtle and not that much of a difference. I’m sure we’ll all get used to it.”
“I hope so,” Abigail said.
“Speaking of changes, can you speak to our brave captain and see if we can get a change of missions for a while?” Abigail asked. “It’s been nice to not have half the crew down for severe injuries and half my staff out manning the aid stations.”
“Hear, hear,” Akira echoed.
“I’ve defiantly made plans to speak to the captain about that,” Isabella said with a nod. “I think he has plans for us to take on as many boring missions as we can. I think he’s gotten tired of the endless conflicts as well.”
Akira nodded and absently looked at the time. Seeing how late it had gotten, she sighed and finished her drink before standing. “Unfortunately, I need to go get some sleep. We should arrive at the science station soon and I’m sure everyone is going to want some R&R. Shore leave, a security officer’s worse nightmare.”
“Get some rest, Akira,” Isabella said with a small friendly smile as the small Japanese woman walked towards the doors. She glanced at the time and groaned. “I think I hear my own shower and bed calling me as well,” she said quietly after a few moments.
“A good night of restful sleep is sometimes the best thing for anyone to get,” Abigail said with a nod. “I’m going to go check in on my minions in medical and then I’m off to get some rest as well.”
Isabella bid the chief medical officer a good evening and finished her drink before she stood and cleared the table. Dumping the tray in the reclamation bin beside the replicator, she headed to her own quarters. It was a short walk and turbo lift ride followed by another short walk to her quarters, and once inside she quickly showered and settled in bed with a book for a hopefully quiet evening.
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