"Today's really kicking my ass..."

Posted on Sat Feb 6th, 2021 @ 2:09pm by Lieutenant Vanessa Jackson

Mission: Welcome Aboard
Location: Turbolift
Timeline: Follows after "That's My Spot"

OOC - This is a backpost, and takes place following the events of "That's My Spot"

"Today's really kicking my ass..."
Commander Yvette Kane, Chief Operations Officer/Second Officer
Lieutenant Vanessa Kane, Chief Science Officer

*****

Vanessa was going over different ideas for the arboretum, and what she might need for each layout as she stepped on the turbolift. She hadn't really paid attention to who else might be there until she looked up and noticed Commander Kane. "Hello, ma'am," she said pleasantly. "How are you today?"

Kane, turned to the Science Officer and nodded, and merely replied, "Yeah." Yvette and Greyson had just had a few choice words for each other, so at that very moment in time, she was in no mood for pleasant. But that wasn't entirely fair, was it. She'd had no disagreement with Lieutenant Jackson. No ill will between them. So it wasn't fair for her to address her the way that she did. 'Stop being an ass,' she told herself. 'Be nice to people,' she told herself. "Today's really kicking my ass," she finally added, to Vanessa, not herself. 'That's better, you can speak like a human being,' she told herself.

"I'm sorry," Vanessa said contritely. "I've had days like that. Alas, my remedy is generally dark chocolate. Then again, that's my remedy for a lot of things."

"You're not alone, Lieutenant," Kane replied, "although personally I find that there's nothing better than a whole load of grilled meat, covered in melted cheeses." She grinned widely, forcing it to be there. She was pissed off, for sure. But not with the Lieutenant, and it wouldn't do to direct that energy the wrong way. She breathed out a sigh, as she realised how the Lieutenant had reacted to her. "You don't need to be sorry," she added, "I'm just a bit on edge. I don't mean to direct that to you."

Vanessa smiled. "I've had days where I can't even be polite to a test tube. It's quite all right. I've heard darts are helpful, although I haven't tried them myself. I have a friend who puts a face on a dartboard for practice. She finds it quite cathartic."

"That's senior officer level thinking right there, Lieutenant," Yvette nodded, with a grin. "I might give that a try." She didn't have to waste any time thinking about whose face would go on the board. "Say, Lieutenant, what say you and I go and grab ourselves a drink."

"Sure. I'd love to get a drink," she replied.

"Computer," Eve called out, "cancel current destination requests." Kane waited a short moment or two, as the turbolift came to a halt, now with nowhere to go. "Ten Forward." The Turbolift now reversed itself, taking the two to a different part of the ship, that they hadn't previously been heading for. "Do you know, as Starship bars go, it's not half bad."

"Good. I've only been there once, and didn't stay long," Vanessa said. She didn't generally go to bars as they tended to be lonely places if you were on your own.

The turbolift came to a halt, with the lift exit just around the corner from the main entrance. The two walked inside, and made their way straight to the bar.

"Commander," the bartender said as he approached them, already knowing Kane, "what can I get you both?"

"I'll take a beer Joe," she replied. Joe had been the 10 Forward lounge manager for at least all the time that Yvette had been aboard the Resolution.

"And you, Lieutenant?" the Bartender asked.

"I'll have a glass of white wine," Vanessa said.

"Coming right up," he replied, as he walked off to get their drinks.

When the bartender walked away to get their drinks, she turned back to the Commander. "Normally I'd ask what you think of the ship, since I've only recently arrived, but I don't think today is a good day for that. So, I'll avoid work and ask what you like to do when you're not on duty." She smiled and added, "Except throwing darts."

"It's ok, you can ask about the ship. I'm pretty proud of it," Kane replied, as Joe returned with their drinks. She took a sip from the glass, savouring the taste of the cold, refreshing beer. As she set the glass back down, she almost felt like the pressure that she was under slipped away, slowly. It took little more than a second or two for her to be reminded that they were still there. "I've been aboard for 3 years, so I know her pretty well."

"That's a long time. Have you been the Chief of Operations the entire time?"

She tried to add a little context for the Lieutenant. "I was the Chief Engineer for a couple of years, and I've been the Head of Ops for about 8 months, not to mention being the Second Officer. And, right now, I'm in charge of this damn refit, that just seems to be taking too damn long. It's a lot of the reason why I consider it mine, more than most other's do."

"That's a lot to have on your plate," Vanessa said. "Although on my part I'm glad to come aboard during a refit so I have a chance to make some minor modifications. It's easier if it's part of a larger refit."

"Of course," Eve replied. "If there's anything in particular that you need modifying, feel free to give the refit team a call. We'll look into it for you. The Science Department is one of the departments that we've really focused on expanding, and I think that we've done a great job up to now. We've almost doubled the amount of labs that we have on board. We converted 4 storage units on decks 10 and 11 a couple of weeks ago to install a new Stellar Cartography lab. Opened up the whole space. It's really something. Holoscreens on the walls, the whole works. Worth checking out, when you get the chance."

"I've read about it," Vanessa said. "I'm really looking forward to playing with the new features."

Eve nodded, "I'm told that it's pretty cool," she paused to take a drink from her beer, before continuing, "but I've only seen it switched on. I don't know if the refit team are waiting for someone who knows what to do with it to actually do something, or if they've run some other tests. All I know for sure, is that the works have been signed off, and it should be good to go."

"I'm sure it's fine, but I'll get a team together to play around with it and see if we want anything to add to it," she said. She was eager to have a good look at with what she'd been reading about for months.

"I'm pretty proud of how the refit has gone so far, but I know that the Captain could be happier," Eve offered to her drinking companion. "He's never happy when the ships not operating on her own power."

"Ah. I was about to ask what he wasn't happy about," the science officer said. "I can understand why he'd want to be out on his own. He must be chomping at the bit right now."

"He is." Kane replied nodding. "And he's making me brutally aware of it. We were almost ready to launch two days ago, and I made the mistake of telling him, before we found a new issue with the inertial dampeners." She shook her head. "He was pretty pissed when I had to tell him false alarm."

"I can imagine." She shook her head and took another sip of her wine. "I've had to deal with a few hard-headed superiors. It's never fun."

"You know, he can sometimes come across a little bit that way," Kane replied, "but he's not really." She had to admit to herself, she was pissed at him that it hadn't been her that he had chosen to be his First Officer. Still, he was a good Captain, and not as much of an ass as some others she'd served under. And, of course, she'd served under quite a few. "Have you met the Captain yet?"

Vanessa nodded. "I have. He seemed quite nice." She couldn't help smiling. "But then, I didn't tell him the refit would take longer than anticipated."

Eve grinned, "that's probably a smart move."

"Or maybe I should take cookies if I have to give him bad news?" the science officer mused, a mischievous grin on her face. "Here, Captain. Have some cookies. They're your favorites. Oh, and by the way, the refit has been delayed again."

Eve laughed, harder than she probably should have. "Maybe that's the way I should have done it." She turned to look at the Science Officer. "I like you, Lieutenant. You should call me Eve." The way she said it sounded like the Commander was presenting her with some kind of badge of honour, as if few people had that privilege.

"Thank you," she replied, taking the offer in the spirit in which it was intended. "And please, call me Vanessa." She was enjoying the conversation more than she'd expected on first meeting the second officer. The woman should laugh more, the scientist thought.

"Vanessa it is," Kane replied, raising her glass, and offering it to the Science Officer, to toast to their new understanding.