An Ensign's Request

Posted on 20 Jan 2011 @ 10:09pm by Captain Reva Madhava

1,992 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: M7: Shore Leave - Mercer Colony
Location: Holodeck/Lounge

It was the middle of Reva's restricted-to-the-ship shift; she was due to be on duty in another five hours and should have really been sleeping. Instead, though, she was in a holosuite, muttering to herself as she attempted to fit another piece of the puzzle together.

The puzzle was a literal one: a massive 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. If the half-Orion ever finished it, it would be a one-eighth scale model of the Cathedral of St.John the Divine in New York City on Earth. Currently, Reva was puzzling together the Rose Window, a part of the Cathedral's western wall. Stepping back from what she'd put together so far, Reva marveled at the engineering and architecture of the building.

What she was muttering about, though, wasn't the puzzle: she was talking to herself, arguing, really, with herself. Barely vocalizing an internal argument, one that dealt with her current position in Science, Reva was trying to set out the pros and cons of staying in Science versus moving to Engineering or Ops.

[Killian's Office]

Don had been reading reports he had received from the various departments he had received and his attention was drawn to science. He had not had a chance to speak to Madhava yet after her ordeal and he decided that now was as good a time as ever. In any case, he had been in his office way too long. He should have gone to the colony and the beach, but went riding instead and now he had been here for hours.

"Computer locate Ensign Madhava"

"Ensign madhava is in holosuite 2"

Don''s hand went to his comm badge, but hesitated. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb her. He sent a message to her instead.

*Let me know when you are done, I would like to see you. Commander Killian.*

[Holosuite 2]

Reva slid a piece of the cathedral into place then stepped back again to look over the cathedral's current status. She had built up the west wall three-quarters of the way up; the Rose Window was complete and she had made a decision about whether she should stay or go. "Computer, save and end program."

The computer complied then announced she had a message waiting for her. Upon hearing it, Reva contacted the XO: =Ensign Madhava to Commander Killian. I'm done in the holosuite; where would you like me to meet you?=

=^=Meet me in the lounge =^= Don said. While waiting for Reva to contact him, he had caught up with some more administration. It was a few minutes away from coming off duty, so he was ready to relax.

=Will do,= she answered and quickly made her way there. "Commander Killian?" she unnecessarily introduced herself, "I'm Ensign Madhava, Sir."

Don was already seated when she appeared and was unprepared for the Orion. He caught himself staring at her. ~How could I forget what she was ... damn...~ "Of course, Ensign... please sit down," he said as he raised slightly from his own chair.

She caught his stare and smiled slightly. Men could be so easy.... She flipped her long hair off her shoulder and sat down, perhaps a touch closer to the Commander than strictly necessary. She turned the full power of her smile on him and asked, "What can I do for you, Commander?" It was an innocently worded question but her tone turned it into something far less innocent.

Don lifted his one eyebrow ever so slightly, indicating that he fully heard the undertones of her question. A small smile curved his lips. What he thought and what he answered was definitely not the same. "I had not met you and wanted to catch up with you, see how you are doing. In other words, ensign, I wanted to know what I could do for you," he mirrored her question perfectly, sublime message and all.

How was she doing? Reva paused to assess that question, even as she felt that the Commander's interest wasn't limited to a professional level. Giving him a once-over and a quick smile, she made a snap decision on the question she'd been pondering for days. "You could transfer me, that's what you could do," she blurted out.

The fact that Don wasn't Betazoid now counted against him as her admission completely surprised him, but he was professional enough not to reveal that. "Transfer you..... what do you mean Ensign? To a different department, or different ship?" he asked concerned, trying to ascertain the scope of her request or problem.

"Oh, no, not a different ship. Sorry, I could have been a bit more precise," she answered. "I mean departments. Ever since... my little adventure.... I'd rather be in engineering. Sciences has Goodshire with his bugs, Andrus with her anthropology, Eagan with his.....," she realized she didn't know Eagan's specialty and waved the idea away with one hand. "...I just don't have that kind of passion for science."

Don smiled his relief at hearing she only wanted to move departments. She also answered what would have been his next question. "I remember that you were trained in both fields," he mused. "Scott is the CEO," he added. "As far as I am concerned you can be transferred if you are sure, but we need to include him in your decision as well as your current chief," he said.

She nodded. "I just made this decision; I haven't had time to talk to Eagan about it," she paused, briefly wondering whether the CEO would agree to her transfer. "Will you approach them?"

"I will talk to them and then I will let you know," Don said. "Now, tell me, how are *you* doing, after the ordeal?" Don was not the greatest ear, but he was genuinely interested in the well being of the crew.

Her smile turned shy as she considered how to answer that question. Truth was, she was miserable: she felt guilt over Hemmingway's death, even though she couldn't have stopped it; she'd been snubbed by the one man she believed she loved; and she couldn't see how to fix either situation. Overriding her Betazoid upbringing (the one that held honesty in emotional matters paramount), she widened her grin and shrugged one shoulder, "Oh, I'm handling it as best I can; Ms. Kelan and I had a talk about things and I'm supposed to go back to see her in another day or so." Probably sooner, considering Lieutenant Vazquez's ultimatum. The deadline on that was coming up quickly. "I knew serving in Starfleet would be dangerous... I hadn't really expected that sort of danger," she chuckled at her naivety.

"Look," Don said softly. "I have been there, I had lost team members and people under my command. No matter what people say, whether it was your fault or not, you feel guilty..." he said. "And it is always hard, but in time it gets better..." he said.

She wondered if the Commander didn't have a bit of Betazoid blood in him. Or was she projecting her feelings at him? Reva checked her mental walls while answering him, "Yeah. I'm not real happy with that outcome but... I wasn't in control of either her choice or his actions." She smoothed a wrinkle in her slacks and quashed the urge to flirt with him before continuing, "It'll be fine, eventually." Pausing, she frowned slightly and asked, "What about us? Are we joining the other ships in Romulan territory?"

"At this point we remain on yellow alert," Don mused. "At this point we won't go, but remain on stand by," he said. It was clear that he would rather have action than to sit around and wait. "In any case, Ensign, I am pleased to see you are coping as well as you can and that it was not needed to book you off," he said with a bright grin. ~She is so damn pretty...~ he thought.

"Book me off?" She quirked an eyebrow at him, amused by the, to her, strange wording. She laughed lightly and, without thinking, put a hand on his knee as she said, "Yeah, no worries there. Most Betazoids have that great quality of being rather stable, mentally; fortunately, I get that from my dad." Her hand slid over the fabric of his pants and she pulled it back to make a gesture towards herself, "Everything else is courtesy of Mom." If she caught his thought, she didn't make any indication of having done so.

Don laughed as well, as he realized that he used a term his father always did. "Well," he said with a closed lipped grin "Then you would have to thank your mom for your good lo....," he heard himself say, "...for her good genes," he corrected himself.

Reva nodded, laughing. "Yeah, so I would," she agreed and spoiled any flirtation by using his rank, "Commander. What about you? What's it like working under Captain Da`nal?" She met his gaze and had the thought that working under Killian probably wouldn't be half-bad; he was good looking. Her gaze wandered to his hands and she had to stop herself from imagining them on her skin.

Half grateful for the change in direction, before he ended up in trouble, he smiled. "I had worked with a few captains," Don said thinking of his yoyo career. "Some are harder to follow than others and ours is easy to follow. He is fair, straightforward with no hidden agendas. He is an honorable man. You will always know where you stand," he said.

Thinking of the recent transgressions that she'd been allowed to get away with, Reva smirked slightly. Her grin broadened. "That's good to know, Commander. I prefer men - officers, I mean - who are uncomplicated," she said. Casually touching him, she asked, "Have you enjoyed serving on the Achilles?"

Don caught onto the little slip and the subtle contact and smiled, looking straight at her. "I really enjoy this ship, being my dream class of ship, and interacting with the crew of course," he said meaningfully. "What do you like doing when you are not working?" he asked, knowing he was now on dangerous ground.

She was touching him, so her ability to read him was elevated; she grinned, knowing that she could push that advantage if she wanted to. At the moment, she didn't want to, for reasons unrelated to the Commander. Reva admitted: "Puzzles. Big 3-d puzzles that let me explore different cultures' architecture. My current attempt is a human-built cathedral on Earth."

Don leaned back a little, as if to get away from her intoxicating influence. He had to watch it, but she was so damn attractive. "That sounds interesting," Don said not hiding his amazement. "I had never tried anything like that... I could hardly build a 2 dimensional puzzle. I got only one puzzle as a gift, but after I threw my pieces in my poor cousin's puzzle box, that was the end of my puzzle building career..." Don said chuckling.

"Ah, that's the lovely thing about holodecks: no pieces to toss in someone else's box," Reva commented, chuckling with him. She unmindfully mimicked him, leaning back slightly and pulling her hands into her lap. "It might be interesting to have the computer include random, unrelated pieces.... More likely, it'd be frustrating." She stopped short of asking him to join her.


Don laughed. "Well ask my sister about just how interesting that was. She nearly killed me...." he said. "So I stuck to my rock climbing and horse riding... far less risk involved," he said with a grin at the contradiction he implied.

"Horses? Those are the big, four-legged things?" Reva looked doubtful but nodded as Don nodded. "Never been near one; they sort of scare me. So big and unpredictable. And don't they have teeth? Big teeth?" She turned big eyes on him as he answered and they chatted amiably.

__________________________________

Commander Don Killian, XO

Ensign Reva Madhava, Science

USS Achilles

 

RSS Feed