Breakfast On The Hull

Posted on Tue Nov 13th, 2018 @ 2:10am by Commander Rita Paris & Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: Escaped Pantheons
Location: USS Hera, Deck 10, Holodeck 2
Timeline: 2395, en route to the Galactic Core

In order to allot the time, Rita Paris had slid it into the captain's schedule of meetings. Likely she'd be in her ready room when she got the alert, would grumble about what the hell was on deck 10, assume that Rita was planning to demo some wackadoodle idea and show up with an open mind and skepticism.

Instead, as the holodeck's doors opened. there sat Rita Paris, cross legged on the deck. On the hull, to be precise. As the stars slid by, she sat on a holographic real-time representation of the hull of the Hera, sitting atop Deck 3. Just outside her office, in fact.

"I have coffee and breakfast burritos, and one hell of a view. Come take a picnic on the hull, Cap'n? I cleared your schedule for the next 45 minutes, so you have the time...?" Paris batted her lashes at the busty pirate captain.

Sighing heavily, Enalia stepped out onto the hull of the Hera. "Well... I could use a break." She then joined Rita and sat on the hull itself, taking on more of a relaxed pose. "So what's up?"

"So put upon. Captain, I arranged for a meeting on the hull of your starship and I cooked you breakfast. I even put it on your schedule so I'm not interrupting anything. So why the heavy sigh? Why is this such an imposition, ma'am?" While the words were naggy, Paris still had her customary good humor behind the words. She genuinely wanted to understand the woman, which she had been working at for a while now. Handing off a cup of coffee, she eyed the spotted mistress and commander.

Taking the mug, the spotted woman nursed it a bit before sipping at it. "Normally this is the sort of setup my wife would do before a night of passionate lovemaking. Coming from you, I assume it means I'm overworking myself or stressing the crew or something. Beautiful view though. Thank you for this."

"You're welcome, it's my pleasure. It is a beautiful view- thanks for the office. You are not stressing the crew, and you aren't overworking yourself near as I can tell. I was not planning to make this a night of passionate lovemaking. Again, we only have 45 minutes," Rita joked, then took a sip of her coffee.

"It's lonely. Command. Or so I'm told," Rita unwrapped an egg, bell pepper and onion burrito to hand it to the commanding officer. "At the end of the day you have to live with all of the decisions and you can't afford to second guess yourself. But you still have to consider if you made the right choice, so that you'll make the right one tomorrow."

"A lot of the crew are spooked by you," Rita declared. "I see it in your eyes, it hurts you. It's what the Baroness always talks about with 'fleeters. The pirates look you in the eye and call you by name. A captain in Starfleet is somehow removed from the social activity of the ship. Conversations shut down as you approach. People turn to look and seldom is it a warm smile, but a look of fear. 'Oh shit, it's the Captain!' It wears on you, because it's lonely."

"Loneliness is something with which I am very familiar, Captain. So I thought you might want to talk about it with somebody who somewhat gets it."

"That's... Rather observant of you..." Enalia accepted the burrito and nibbled on it, resting the wrist of her coffee wielding hand on one knee. "I think you're right though. Growing up with pirates, I was trained how to be both a Commander and a leader from a young age. It was the miners and pirates that taught me how to be a woman and a friend. In the Academy, I always took charge, and while I tried to fit in, I don't think I ever fit in- except with similarly minded cadets like Farenia. As soon as I got Lieutenant Junior Grade, I was given command of an Intel courier ship. Lieutenant Commander, I got the Hera. I can't really remember a time I wasn't somehow in charge..."

"The old guys my father hung out with, the dinosaurs who could claim they served under Archer, they talked about it a lot. I'd be eavesdropping and they'd forget I was there, and they talked about it late at night at parties. Lonely at the top and how command distanced you and changed the whole game. Then they chain you to a desk and that's the end of your career." Rita pulled back a bit to smile that dazzling display of pearly whites. "But you're not there, and I doubt you ever will be. So although you have Maica to come home to at the end of the day, being alone on your own ship bugs you."

"My job is to make the ship run efficiently for the captain and to insure that her orders are carried out. Part of that is crew morale, and you are a member of the crew, ma'am. Last time I checked," Paris held her gold-braided sleeves up in defense. "So I'm here to help you figure out how to raise your morale, and maybe figure out some way to make you more... accessible to the crew."

Enalia chuckled softly as she nibbled on her burrito. "That might be a tall order. The old men were right though - It is rather lonely at the top. Why do you think I signed up for a Subspace Order Bride? Heck, I even had a mercenary go pick her up. You have to admit that she's become integral to the crew though. And damn is she a good cook... I'm amazed I don't weigh twice what I do..."

"So, you have a fulfilled personal life. Now, how do we not make the crew flinch? Sorry Captain- this time I brought you the problem, but no solution." Rita shrugged broadly, then finished off her first cup of coffee. "But I figured you'd want to work it out, so... here we are. Hera we are, I guess?"

"We've identified the problem - now we just need to focus on the solution." The captain gazed out at the stars as she finished her burrito. "You know, the quarters between ours has a small distillery and a stash of real food in cryo-stasis. If you ever need something, help yourself. Maica keeps it well stocked and Schwein keeps the wine in check."

"Please don't laugh, but... I quit drinking. See, he shares my mind, so if I get drunk, he gets drunk. And you are poisoning your brain cells, technically speaking. He can't actually conceive of wanting to blunt one's intellect- it's kind of an anathema to him. So while he doesn't condemn the choices of others, he wants nothing to do with it. So when we touch, we're connected, which means I choose not to drink out of respect for him and his choice." Rita shrugged sheepishly. "I know. As a line officer I can drink with the best of them, but he's more than worth it."

"You know, now that you mention it, you told me to hit the hydroponics gardens and I never have. I replicate the vegetables then cut them up. I still have that stupid 'I don't want to impose' reflex. Stupid rule my parents had- when you visit someone's home, you don't ask for anything and you don't accept anything offered. They are just being polite. What a terrible thing to teach children, isn't it? People are only being polite, they aren't really generous, you just refuse it and shut them out. Yet it sticks with you for a lifetime." Rita turned and offered a chagrined expression. "Yes ma'am, that's very generous of you, and I'll take you up on that. Thank you."

Enalia shrugged as she drank on her coffee. "You can still cook with wine, you know. No one is ordering you to drink it. And the foodstuffs are often more than I can eat so that's why we hold those weird dinner parties. Cargo bay three has like a dozen more crates of foodstuffs as well if you need anything there. Just mark it off the inventory so Maica knows."

"Aye ma'am, I'll do that. Still not solving your problem, though. So... you do hold dinner parties. How do those go?" While Rita had attended a few now, she was curious to hear the captain's take on them.

"The ones with Nexi and Aewia were awesome but the rest... Normally stiff, formal... And a bit awkward." The well endowed captain finished her coffee and set her mug next to her even more well endowed first officer before splaying out across the hull. "You saw me naked and then I cried and now you're not so afraid of me. Maybe if I did a tearful strip-tease for the crew they'll loosen up." Feigning seriousness, Enalia watched Rita for her reaction.

"Ah, no Capt..." Rita started before she caught the Trill pirate queen's expression and smirked to match the one that often graced the face of her commanding officer. "While the sight of you naked would likely inspire, and showing vulnerability to the crew is a tricky thing that can work well, I don't know if you want to get to shimmying the pole in 10-Forward for latinum strips just yet. So who were Nexi and Aewia? I'm sorry, if they were former crew I don't think I ever met them."

As she spoke, Rita poured them both another cup of coffee. She'd chosen small cups for their little picnic, because she wasn't sure how much of a coffee drinker the captain was. Handing her refilled cup back to her, Rita unwrapped a bacon cheese ham and egg burrito and handed it to the decidedly carnivorous captain, sensing she would like it better than the vegetarian option.

"Thank you," Enalia muttered as she sat back up and accepted the refill and fresh burrito. She ate somberly for a few moments as she thought about what to say about Nexi and Aewia. "They were... They were with this crew for the longest and I think they grew the most with us. They were half sisters. Aewia was an undercover operative that was lobotomized while on a mission in the Tal Shiar. When we rescued her, Nexi happened to have boarded the Hera to catch a bounty that we had for whatever reason. She was a collector for a Ferengi. When I asked her to join us and told her who we were rescuing, things fell into place."

Enalia paused a moment as she sipped her coffee. "Over the next few missions, we paid off her debt to her Ferengi master, Aewia slowly got a bit better, and both of them became a part of the crew. They were like family. We started tracking down the Master's work but at that point it was all hints and the barest of clues. We got thrown back in time and when we returned it was the wrong year and history had changed... Romulus was back, for instance. That's another story..."

The Starfleet captain paused again, a tear rolling down her cheek. "The next few missions took a heavy toll on all of us. Eventually several of the crew were infected with the Master's black blood, starting with Nexi. She and her sister got it the worst, I think. When Danu, one of those deities that we seem to be running into, healed the rest of the crew they had to stay behind because their minds had been all but shattered. Last report I got from Danu, Nexi doesn't remember the past five years and Aewia has constant flashbacks of the Master's torture. They may never heal fully, but she's doing what she can for them."

Sitting apart, by the time the captain finished speaking, Paris had scooted next to the heartbroken woman and was enveloping her in a hug, pulling the slighter woman in to rest her head on the gold-clad bosom of the anachronistic uniform of the first officer from so long ago. "That's a special kind of awful, Enalia, and I am sorry that you had to lose two members of your family like that. Maybe someday their memories will return and they will remember how you cared for them and made them family. The universe is not unkind, ma'am... I'm living proof."

"In this case, I may be dead and gone before they're fully healed." Enalia didn't resist the head hug that Rita had her in and slowly munched on her burrito, trying not to get too many tears or drool on the gold clad woman's bosom.

After another minute, she had something else to add. "The universe did bring you around. I feel like you're part of my family now. Nexi may have spread mayonnaise on the mansion walls of a man that outbid me on a teacup and swiped said teacup for me... And protected me from the Yakuza while I collected a cursed tea set... And hired my great grandmother and namesake in person to deliver repair resources when we got stuck in the 2160s... But I have a feeling we'll have some pretty zany times ahead of us as well, you know?"

Pulling back, Rita turned the captain's head so that the captain's dark brown eyes of Trill could see the bright blue of the California girl's eyes, so that she would see the sincerity in them. "The universe has a way of yanking me where it wants for me to go, and often that's not where I want to be. I will always do my best to make it back- you've seen the lengths I will go to. And sometimes I just plain have to be rescued, because I can't find my way back. But whatever the cosmos may have in store for me, yes- we're family, Enalia Artan Telvan. You and me and this big crazy starship of yours, and this crew of misfits and my logical man, we're all family. I will fight just as hard to get back to you as I did to him- and I will never lose faith that if I am missing, you won't rest until you've found me. So you can rest assured that the same is true of me- you're my responsibility now, and I'll move the heavens and planets and time itself if I have to in order to find you and bring you home."

"I can't replace the people you've lost- and they might not be lost to you forever, we don't know that. But I'm here, and I'll be here for you until I can't be any longer. Fair enough?" Rita offered a gentle smile at that, hoping it would reassure the woman who was not at all comfortable being vulnerable, hoping to offer her some stability and comfort.

The spotted captain smiled as best she could. Letting her guard down was certainly a new position for her. "Thank you. Just... Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate that." Looking back out at the stars, she smiled a bit more solidly. "Hey. We should take over the flight sims some time so you can see my baby back at the fortress. She's kind of in storage right now, but I still have a program with me just in case, you know?"

"Of course! You know I am always game to go flying. And I'd love to see your baby. You just say when and I'll be there. After all, one of these days I might find myself behind the wheel of a pirate ship, according to some reports." Rita smirked at that- the first night she'd been reconstituted aboard the USS Hera, she'd made the captain nervous and she'd brought up the pirate fleet, which had only served to confuse the already addled time and space traveler in the moment. But now, knowing what she did, Rita would welcome an outing with the pirates, though her heart and her career would always be with Starfleet.

"We haven't figured out how to make you more approachable to the crew, y'know," Rita realized aloud. "You're not so scary once you get to know you. You've a good heart, Captain, and I know you'd do just about anything for your people. They still see you more of an authority figure, I guess. Mysterious, a bit aloof and in person you are a lot different than they expect I suspect."

"That's probably for the best, I suppose. At least for now. After all, this is a big ship, and she takes a big captain to keep her flying." Patting the holographic hull they were sitting on, Enalia chuckled softly. "And that means I have to be larger than life a lot of the time, right?"

"That's not a bad way of looking at it I suppose," Rita admitted. "Guess that's where I come in... the accessible member of the command team who can listen to their problems and encourage the crew to get through it, while you issue orders and make the impossible happen. But if you are lonely at the top- you know you aren't alone, right?"

"I know," Enalia replied with a soft smile. "I have family I can count on."

"We all do," Rita replied with a warm smile of her own. "That's what Starfleet's all about, Captain. Family you can always count on."

With that, the captain and first officer watched the stars slide by in silence for a while, simply enjoying the company of one another, and the mighty starship that was their home.

 

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