Sticking Around

Posted on Mon Mar 13th, 2023 @ 7:03pm by Lieutenant Xystos Nisu & Lieutenant Commander Diane Doctrine

Mission: Evacuation
Location: Chief of Intelligence's Office
Timeline: After Colonists Depart

Xystos had the final intelligence report to turn in to his Commander. While it had only been a short stay aboard the Resolution so far and as he was still getting his space legs back under him, the Trill was quite content with the change of pace in his life. He was even more so now with his wife in close proximity, which they were both figuring out how to live together again after being apart so long. He entered Doctrine's office after a quick rap of his knuckles on the door frame. "Final report, Sir. All incidences were handled well by security and any underlying threats we found have been handed off to base staff to handle."

“Great thanks,” she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms upward, “Considering all that could have happened I think we got off rather lucky.” She stood grabbing a coffee cup with the intention of refilling it in the replicator, “I may sound crass for saying this but it’ll be nice having our ship back.”

A smirk crossed Xystos' face in response to his commander's remarks. "It would make things easier, by far. It's been hectic running Intel on the thousands plus of colonists while making sure that we are still pulling Intelligence from the increasing tensions, we definitely had our work cut out for us."

“That and me as acting first officer,” she stood and walked to the replicator alcove, “I’ll be glad when Tony can get back to her duties.” She sighed and ordered a hot coffee. “I’ve put in a request for at least one more for our staff here but so far I’ve heard nothing.”

"I'll be sticking around for the foreseeable future. My team back at headquarters wants an in on what we come across. Added bonus, looks like my wife is sticking around for similar orders," Xystos added. "We can use her in a pinch as she is Marine Intelligence."

One side of Diane's mouth turned up a degree, "I know." She sipped her new coffee and walked back to her desk. "Even still, one other on the staff would help. Commander Pallara has some experience. He asked if we needed help, but I turned him down for the time being. I want him to recover completely from his ordeal first." She sat at her desk after another sip, "Kerr could also help in a pinch, he's had some training and experience. I'd like your opinion on those two."

Suppressing a non surprised scoff about his wife, Xystos responded simply, "Both have potential. Considering Kerr has a legacy and some tricks he may not fully know about yet, I can see him doing well here. Considering what Pallara went through, I'd agree with your assessment. We aren't to the times of desperation yet. He does need to recover from what he went through. Torture of any kind has a way of needling its way in ways that we don't fully understand and recognize." He was speaking of his own personal traumas here from the times he had spent undercover and through the insane amount of conditioning he went through in training. "We can afford him getting his ship righted first at this time. It'd be nice to be able to gift him that time which the rest of us in this industry were not granted. Both have proven themselves to be resourceful since my encountering of them. Personal opinion, once Pallara is righted, consider him half a head and Kerr can be a half a head now. Once we get to that level of desperation or something else changes, I think we could use them regardless of being granted another Intelligence officer. I don't know how those two would handle shocking some sense of normalcy completely behind and we can always use more sources anyways."

Diane nodded slowly as she listened to Xystos' explanation. "Agreed," she replied simply. She set her mug on her desk and asked, "How are you doing? Integrating with the rest of the crew all right?"

He rubbed his hand up the back of his neck along the short hairs there. "A bit. I'll admit if I haven't been working, I've been catching up with Alise. We have the last year to make up for. I am trying though. It's been a bit of an adjustment having my team present and not on the other side of Federation territory. That and I've been predominantly planetside for many years."

Diane smiled as her posture relaxed, "I think there'd be something wrong if you weren't catching up with Alise. As for getting used to shipboard duty, it takes a minute. I came here from Jupiter Station so not quite as drastic as planetside duty, but still, a little adjustment. You'll get your sealegs soon enough."

He allowed a smirk as he pictured his lovely wife. "They are coming along quite well. The hum is taking more time. Thankfully, it's a Galaxy Class. So there is room to hide from too many people. Be easier now that we are down the colonists," he said on a breath of fresh air.

Diane blew out a sigh, "You can say that again. That's not something I want to deal with again any time soon. Toby is going to miss the new friends he made but I told him he could keep in touch with them when comm bandwidth allows."

Sighing as well, Xystos added mournfully, "I don't think that's going to be the last that we'll see of an evacuated colony. The latest reports from the Gamma Quadrant and Deep Space 9 are not boding well..."

Diane frowned. She was aware of those reports. "Well, we can hope we don't get assigned to them at least," she offered with a shrug.

With a half laugh and scoff, Xystos responded, "If this were another vessel, then maybe not. However, we're on a Galaxy class that has ridiculous evacuation capacities, so, doubtful. We do have good phasers though. Maybe next base we can look at getting more than our current allotment of torpedoes..."

Now Diane's mouth turned up at the corners a bit, "I do realize hoping and reality are two different things."

"Isn't that the first lesson in Command Training?" Xystos jested.

"They tell me it is," Diane returned in jest as well, "But I've never had any official command training."

Xystos smiled. "One would have never thought that. On that note, I probably should get back to it. Let me know if you need anything from me, otherwise, I'll work on backchecking the rest of that intel."