As the prophecy foretold

Posted on 30 Dec 2021 @ 7:07pm by Lieutenant Madalene Sabine & Lieutenant Commander Cintia Sha'mer

1,154 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Home
Location: Mess Hall

Later in the day after she forced herself to get through most of the PaDDs, luckily most of them were just requests for supplies for projects or the go-ahead for projects and research. But, unfortunately, those were some of the most tedious things that department heads had to deal with.

But, now it was time for food, unlike before her stomach was actually growling. Making it down to the mess hall, ordering a simple garden salad, and tea she turned to find a table, "Excuse me, may I sit here?"

After the odd encounter with the fighter AI ensign, Sha'mer had withdrawn back to her office and spent most of the day working through the pile of PADDs which had been waiting for her: personnel files, old reports, and logistics. She had made notes, summaries and half of the report which would be sent to the XO at the end of her day. The other half she wanted to write once she'd visited the bridge and worked through the tactical panel. But that would have to wait until after dinner. She needed some food and some space – the office was stifling.

In the mess hall she found a quiet corner, out of the way and close to the viewport through which she could see her beloved stars. She had just settled in with a plate and a large mug of raktajino when she heard someone talk. It took her a few moments to register the woman was actually addressing her. "Of course," she said, gesturing with the mug to the free chairs."Plenty of space."

Setting her plate and cup down, Madalene took a seat not recognizing the officer, "Madalene," she said simply as an introduction.

Sha'mer gave a friendly smile, or so she hoped. "Cin Sha'mer." She recognized the face and name from one of the PADDs she'd been reading. "You're the chief science, right?"

Madalene had taken a few bites of her salad which took a few moments to clear her mouth, "yes, I am the chief science officer, formerly the chief operations officer," she also added.

That bit of information hadn't been on her PADD. "Any reason why you made the switch? If I may ask," she added. The last thing she wanted to do was to pry. She always hated it whenever she was on the receiving end.

"The heroic thing to say would be for the greater good of the ship, but truthfully my skills are better suited for science, or at least my mind is," she said with a chuckle, "....and I also messed up on a mission, and did somethings that, as chief operations was....," she said drifting off as it was still a painful memory.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sha'mer said hastily. "I didn't want to drag up any bad memories…" Damn, this really was the day for putting her foot in her mouth. Maybe she'd better finish her meal, complete her report and call it a day before she ran into the captain and started to insult her ship or worse.

"No, it is okay, it happened, and now I have to deal with the fallout," she said simply as she took a few more bites of her salad, "what department are you in?"

"Tactical. I'm the new chief."

"Oh, welcome aboard," Madalene said simply finding tactical an interesting department, but again it was combat ornated which was not her strong suit, "...I don't think I even knew the last chief of that department," she said as she took a few sips of her tea.

"I heard he transferred to a colony position," Sha'mer replied. "Which is kinda ironical seeing that I transferred from a colony to here. I wonder if we've actually traded places, but I haven't had the chance to look that up yet."

"A tactical officer for a colony, hrmm, seems a bit odd, don't you think? I mean chief of security makes sense," she said, hoping that didn't sound stupid.

Sha'mer nodded. "True. They're often combined. Funny thing, though, I served as science officer on the colony, not tactical. Medical reasons," she added wryly.

"But, you can serve as chief tactical here?" Madalene asked quickly realizing she was becoming a little blunt with her questioning.

"I've been cleared by Medical." There was that brittle grin again. "So, yes." I hope.

"...oh that's good, sorry I don't mean to pry," she said blushing to realize she was apologizing for the same thing, "what colony were you stationed at?"

"Little out of the way place called Trilista. Perfect if you're into hiking, mountain climbing, swimming and stuff," Sha'mer said, trying for a light and airy tone. She used to be, before all this. Another irony which hadn't been lost to her. While she had been stationed there she had tried one hike, a relatively simple one, over almost level terrain. She hadn't even made it halfway to her destination before she had to call a hovercab to bring her back and she had been useless the rest of the day. That was the end of those experiments. Strange, that it hadn't hit her just how frustrating it had been until she'd left the place.


"Sounds awful," Madelene said with a chuckle, "...not a fan of biking, climbing or swimming, well actually swimming isn't bad, but the others are just, yeah not me," she said with another chuckle. "Used to being on a ship all the time," she said with a shrug.

"Well, I'm not really suited for those activities either," Sha'mer replied. Not any more, not any time soon. "I, too, prefer ships." She lifted her half-empty mug of raktajino with a faint grin. "I know a proper toast should be done with something else than tea or raktajino, but I guess this'll do. Here's to ship life."

"Yes, here is to ship life, that sweet simple life," she added and chuckled as it wasn't really a sweet life, but sometimes it could be.

Sha'mer finished the last of her raktajino and set it down on the tray which also held her plate. It would be the perfect ending to an absurd day if she allowed her instinct to take over and just transported the tray directly into the replicator, with mug, plate and all. No, better not, she thought with an inward sigh. "I'd love to stay here and continue our conversation, but it's my first day on board and I still have things to finish. I look forward to working with you."

"Same here, and good luck with the rest of your day," Madalene said letting out a small sigh as she realized that she had to still finish out her day as well.

"Thank you, and you too." Sha'mer picked up the tray with one hand and folded the other one around the handle of her cane, rose and gave Madalene a friendly nod before limping away.

 

RSS Feed