A Simple Request

Posted on Sun May 7th, 2023 @ 3:48am by Captain Alistar McKeon & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi

1,172 words; about a 6 minute read

The new Endeavour was almost too large for Alistar. He had long ago accepted the fact that he would never be on the top of Starfleet's front page list of officers, and honestly that had been fine with him. Command of something small, like the previous ship he had commanded, had been on his goals since he had graduated from the Academy. Commanding something like a Sovereign hadn't entered the realm of possibilities when he had attended command training, but the universe was a mysterious place and things always seemed to happen. By some good luck lightning strike, he had been given command of one of the most advanced Sovereign class explorers, and while he had been humbled by the chance to command the new Endeavour he had to admit that there were times he wished for a smaller ship. Like now.

He finally stumbled into a science lab where the person he had spent half an hour looking for was standing. "There you are!" he said as he walked up to Commander Silvisi.

Isabella had finally put the science department's personnel roster in order. It hadn't been an easy task, since the officers assigned to her were all very good and outstanding people with a wide range of specialties, skills, and experience, but she had finally narrowed the department roster down and posted the duty assignments. Now, she was focused on getting the different science labs in order, a task that had become much more difficult than she had thought it would be. Moving from one lab to another, Isabella had spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to arrange experiment schedules and assignments to fit with the duty roster. By the time the captain's voice broke through and interrupted her thoughts, she had finally admitted to the fact that she had developed a headache. Turning, she gave the captain an annoyed expression.

"Captain, I sincerely hope that you're here to tell me that we've been reassigned and a much smaller star-ship awaits us somewhere nearby," Isabella said with a voice that betrayed her tiredness.

Alistar paused and took a moment to regard Isabella. From the tone of her voice, she seemed to be tired, and he didn't blame her. "Being an all in workaholic sometimes has it disadvantages, doesn't it?" he joked.

"Says the man who barely sleeps at all," Isabella said. "Honestly, I've never managed a staff like this before. The Ravenna had a crew similar in number to the Endeavour, but the science department wasn't as large or diverse and it didn't have a civilian crew to work around. Plus, I was familiar with the entire science department there when I did take over science. Here, I've been given over twice as many officers, the majority whom had never worked together before, along with a civilian roster, and I've had to figure out how to set the entire department up."

"And here I thought you enjoyed a challenge," Alistar joked as he gave her a grin.

"I do enjoy a challenge, just one that involves problems related to planetary science and not personnel manifests," Isabella playfully snapped. "I actually have most of this figured out, other than the odd officer or lab assignment. And I'm quite sure you didn't come down here to listen to me complain."

"Actually, I came to ask if you could download the most up to date map charts of the DMZ, the Bajoran Sector, and the Badlands," Alistar said. "And I'd like to have them on a padd as quickly as possible if it's not too much trouble."

Isabella hid her reaction, although it took almost all of her will to do so. She had served with the captain long enough to know when he was up to something. "You're expecting trouble," she said.

"Always, but when you throw Cardassians into the mix, well, they're like Romulans," Alistar said. "You always watch your back and plan for every angle of attack."

"That's not a very healthy mindset for a Starfleet captain about to embark on a critical diplomatic mission," Isabella said, the comment being said without any thought before it was spoken.

"Oh, you're the ship's counselor now?" Alistar growled.

"I could be, but I much prefer science to medical," Isabella said. "Alright, I'll have the charts downloaded and sent to you as quickly as possible. It might take a few hours, though."

"That's fine, but there's another matter I need to discuss with you," Alistar said. "It seems that one of my senior officers needs some down time, and I'm ordering you to take the next twenty four hours and don't think about work."

"I'm sure you can order that, but if you could do such a thing I'm quite sure this officer in question might just simply disobey such an order," Isabella said as she stood and faced the captain.

"Isabella, everyone, even me, has limits and you've clearly thrown yourself full speed into this position," Alistar said, his tone letting her know that he knew and understood exactly what he was talking about. "So, just take a day and relax."

"Alright, I will relax but only under one condition," Isabella finally said.

Alistar winced, knowing that he was probably going to regret this. "Deal, what is it?" he asked.

"Take me out to dinner," Isabella said. Before he could say anything, she raised a hand. "I'm not asking for you to take me out on a date. I'm asking for an informal and relaxing dinner between two friends who both need a distraction from the stress and worries of their jobs."

Alistar blinked, staring at Isabella for a long moment before he nodded and shook his head. "Ok, dinner. No date. Just a quiet meal between friends," he said. "Ok, I think I can agree to that. But if it's not work related, then no uniforms."

"Agreed," Isabella said. "So I take it that we both are in agreement and we have an understanding?"

"I take you out to dinner off duty and you agree to relax," Alistar growled. "Ok, I think I can agree to that."

"Very well," Isabella said with a smile. "This evening, say 2000 hours?" she asked.

"I'll meet you in the port side dining lounge at 2000 hours," Alistar said, shaking his head and wondering what surprises were in store for him for the rest of the day.

"Very well, Captain," Isabella said. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a request from a command officer for star charts to get busy on and you have a star-ship to manage. So please get out of my science lab."

"I'm going, I'm going," Alistar grumbled as he did indeed start towards the door because he didn't want to know what other evil punishments his science officer might inflict on him next. Making it out into the corridor, he paused for a moment as he tried to remember which way he needed to go to find a turbolift before he headed off to his next stop.

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