The Blue and the Grey

Posted on 18 May 2020 @ 8:18pm by Lieutenant Rosine Deschamps

872 words; about a 4 minute read

Quinn Romanov made his way into the mess hall. Things had been pretty quiet on the flight deck, all things considered, but that didn't mean he wasn't busy. There was always plenty of work to do even when the birds weren't all in the air, so he looked forward to a break and a meal. Once in the lounge, he headed for the replicator but had to wait in line. Things were apparently busy in here too, he thought as he got to the head of the line and got his meal.

With food in hand, he looked for a free seat. The closest one was at a table with one other inhabitant, but since he was hardly a shy man, he simply walked over. "Hey there," he said with a smile that had often been called charming. "Mind if I sit?"

Glad to finally be out of Sickbay, Rosine thought the mess hall was a good place to get familiar with the ship and its people again. Not exactly a social creature by nature, she still didn't mind being around people. Quite a few people had already approached her, happy that she was on her feet again. A few had been familiar, most hadn't been. Some of those obviously looked at her as if she was supposed to recognize them, but she didn't.

As another guy walked over to her table, she was pretty much very convinced this time that she didn't know him. Most of all because he was a pilot and she had never known many pilots. "Be my guest," she waved in reply to his question.

"Thanks," he said as he sat down and set his tray on the table. "I didn't realize today's activity of choice was eating, but I guess I get to join the crowd." He laughed and then offered his hand across the table. "Quinn Romanov."

Rosine shook the proffered hand, and continued studying the cheerful stranger as he sat down. Technically, he wasn't a stranger anymore, because he had introduced himself. Something she hadn't yet. "Rosine Deschamps, nice to meet you. As for today's activity of choice, I guess people liked the menu."

"I didn't even realize it had changed," he said with a smirk, starting to eat. "Hope it's not rude but can't say I've seen you around. Big ship and I, but I still figured by now, I'd seen just about everyone at least once."

"I got hurt as we were hauled back to the past," Rosine shrugged, poking at her food. A few people had asked her by now, and she'd managed to find a pretty detached way to say it. But still, she felt like she'd missed out a lot and that she had landed on an alien ship. Hardly this guy's business though. "I woke up from a coma just recently, and I'm now trying to find my way around the ship again. So either you haven't seen me at all yet, or it's at least been a while."

He considered this for only a moment before he nodded. "Makes sense," he said pragmatically. "There's been a few folks going through that, but after everyone we lost..." He drifted off, thinking about his sister and how he'd almost lost her. He gave himself a little shake. "Well, it's nice to have people coming back to us. So. Welcome back."

Rosine took another bite of her food, but she sensed the undertone that had crept into the conversation. She wasn't a counselor, but you didn't need to be one to pick up on it this time. "It's good to be back. Now it's up to all of us to make sure we never forget who we lost. Or nearly lost," she spoke carefully.

"Very much so," Quinn agreed with another flash of a smile as he ate some more of his meal. "If you need a buddy to walk around the ship and catch up on everything that's happened, I'd be happy to help."

"I might take you up on that," Rosine replied, genuinely caught off guard. She was perfectly capable of walking around the ship on her own, but a buddy sounded nice. Especially that body being the almost-stranger across the table. Deciding it was better to steer the situation clear from where she didn't want it to go, she swallowed and smiled. "You're a pilot?"

He nodded. If he noticed the blatant subject change, he didn't let it show. (He noticed. He wasn't as dense as people sometimes thought he was, but he wasn't going to make her stay on a topic if she wanted away from it.) "Yep. I'm the squadron commander for the Warriors Squadron. We're one of the squads of valks here on board."

"I don't think I've met many pilots. Most steer away from a blue shirt like mine," She grinned, giving herself a once over. "I'm a science officer though, so you've got nothing to worry about."

That made him laugh. "I wouldn't have worried either way. I got no beef with docs, counselors, or science officers." He took a drink and then set the cup down with that smile he had. "Besides, blue is a great color. Nothing to worry about."

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