A chow down run in!

Posted on 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:16am by Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Edited on on 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:52am

2,715 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: MD-03 1900hrs

As Dru looked around her office, she groaned. There were still wires sticking out of the walls and panels missing. She had no idea how on earth the room would be ready before the Galileo left the drydock.

It was so important to Dru that the office was in total order before she stated seeing people. She would need an office in which people felt they would be able to relax and open up to her. In its current state, all this office would achieve would be people meeting a stressed out counsellor.

Dru checked the time and decided she needed a break. She figured this would be as good an opportunity as any to go visit the mess hall. It would give her an opportunity to maybe meet some of the new crew and get a feel of how they were settling in. Dru smiled as she realised if other areas were like her office, everyone was probable going to be in a stressed out state like her.

Having spent most of the evening reading through a seemingly endless supply of status reports, ship completion schedules, and debating the finer points of LCARS access with a still-as-unresponsive computer as ever, John had decided that it was about time he put down the PADDs and get something to eat.

The mess hall, luckily enough, wasn't an excessively long distance away from the XO's office, one of the perks of his rank he had decided, and he was more than happy to see the mess doors part ahead of him and welcome him inside. At this time of evening, the mess hall wasn't exactly busy. Even with only a skeleton crew of a few dozen individuals and the occasional engineer wandering through, the mess hall was not exactly a focal point whilst half the ship was still being finished.

A couple of crewmen and non-coms were hanging around in one corner, huddled on one of the sofa sections as they continued their discussion, standard replicated plates and cutlery in front of them giving the slightest hint at the meal that they once contained. Heading to the replicator itself, John placed his order.

"Hasperat, extra spicy" He had decided he had a hankering for something with a bit more of a kick to it, the replicated stuff wasn't as good as what he had experienced during a trip to Bajor several years ago, but it would more than suffice. With its usual whirr and glimmer of light, the replicator completed his request, and the dish appeared.

Removing it from the small receptacle, he headed towards a table in the opposite corner from the other crew members on board, and sat down, PADD in hand, continuing to review the starship's schematics with one hand, whilst collecting a portion of hasperat with the other.

As Dru stood surveying the mess hall trying to balance a plate in one hand, a glass with her cutlery in her other hand and a PADD under her elbow. Dru took in the numerous groups of people laughing and enjoying themselves and decided it might be a little awkward to ask them to allow someone they don't know to sit with them. The counsellor suddenly noticed one table where a person was sitting on their own. Dru decided he seemed to be her best option, at least if he didn't wish to talk; they could sit in companionable silence, each reading their own PADD.

As Dru walked carefully over to the table, she cleared her throat to try catch the man's attention, "Excuse me? Do you mind if I sit here?"

Several bites into his meal, the Commander was pulled out of the world of status updates by a voice in rather close proximity. Looking up he saw a woman wearing the uniform of the science division, someone he had not yet met.

"Of course, feel free Lieutenant..." he left his sentence open to hopefully get her to reveal her name, if he was going to have to get used to having such a small crew, then he may as well start here.

Dru smiled nervously as she suddenly noticed the pips in the collar of the man. Realising he was looking at her awaiting an answer, Dru pulled herself up slightly straighter, "Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy, Commander. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting, I can find another seat."

"Nice to meet you Lieutenant, please take a seat, I'm Lieutenant Commander John Holliday, first officer."

He took another bite from his dinner as he tried to think where the name had been familiar to him from; it took a few moments for him to put the events of the past few days together, before he hit upon an answer.

"Our new counsellor I presume? I think I might have seen your file during the crew evaluations"

Dru carefully set her plate and cup on the table, trying to ensure she didn't drop or spill any of it, before she took her seat. "That's me Sir. I've only just been reassigned, less than 48hours now I think. The last few hours have been a bit of a whirlwind Sir. How are you finding your new ship?" Dru picked up a fork and started moving her food around her plate. She hadn't been thinking when she requested a spaghetti carbonara and suddenly realised this could be a bit a messy.

"If I'm honest? She's...small. That's the only word I can find to describe this ship right now. I'm used to bigger vessels, Galaxy class, Sovereigns, that kind of thing, these Nova classes are going to take some adapting. The first two days on board I don't think I left my office for more than a few moments at a time...I'm still holed up in there a lot these days....my first XO posting you see....I don't want to mess this one up."

He realised by the end of his sentence that John had done little more than ramble for the last couple of minutes, and was basically unloading himself onto this poor Lieutenant.

"Sorry, long day, probably got low blood sugar or something...what about you Lieutenant? What do you think of Galileo "

Dru smiled over at John suddenly feeling far more at ease. "Well low blood sugar I'd recommend either a visit to the ship's Doctor or a bar of chocolate. Personally I'd prefer the chocolate. I thought I was the only person who found the Galileo small. After 6years on board a Sovereign class ships, I am slightly worried I might find the Galileo claustrophobic. Mind you, the fact that the number of staff is less than 1/4 of what I am used to it'll be somewhat easier."

Dru took a drink of her water before looking back over at John, "Your first XO position? Well you should be careful not to wear yourself out before the crew even get here. You should take this time to gently ease yourself in."

Nodding in agreement as he continued his way through his meal, John took a sip from his own water glass, and continued on.

"I couldn't agree more, but I tell you, I'll be much happier once all the engineering work is done and we're out of here, sitting in a drydock on a planet just doesn't feel right to me. I was born on Mars, never did quite see Earth as home, doubt I probably ever will."

Taking another bite from his rapidly disappearing plate of hasperat, John let the flavours bounce around his mouth before continuing any further.

"Hopefully Commander Saalm will get us out into space on time in a couple of days, we have a mission accomplish after all!"

Dru continued to push her food around her plate before taking a few mouthfuls and grimacing slightly. She made a note to talk to engineering about the salt content the replicator seemed to have put into her food; it was already salty enough with the bacon pieces then adding anymore. "Mars? I have to say I've only been a handful of times. What is the planet really like? I'm not sure I could give up the oceans we have here on Earth easily, the Atlantic Ocean has always been home to me, my one beacon within the depth of space."

Dru blushed slightly as she realised she was getting a bit poetic. She tilted her head down to take another mouthful of food to try covering it up.

"It's nothing special....the terraforming process over the past few years has pretty much made it into a copy of Earth...albeit not quite as wet! Some of the old colony domes are still in place, they use them like laboratories, or as overflow storage, but in general, the planet is heading towards being M-Class itself."

He chuckled for a moment as he saw a look of humiliation or embarrassment on his subordinates face.

"Nothing wrong with the oceans though, just not much call for them in space! What about you lieutenant? Where's home?"

Dru blushed further as she heard the Commander's chuckle and mentally kicked herself, You made a fool of yourself in front of the CO and now you've done it in front of the XO Dru, way to go hun

Dru cleared her throat, "I'm from the west coast of a small island called Ireland, if you don't know Earth well you may not know of it. The Emerald Green Island is the old nickname for it. I come from a very rural area in the North West, millions from civilisation." Dru laughed softly, "As rare an occurrence as it is these days, there is still rural areas left in Ireland. I haven't been there since I left for the academy though.....Not sure when I'll ever manage to get back."

Dru looked back down at her food; suddenly realising she'd lost her appetite. "Anyway Sir....so given you're the person I report to, does that mean I can lodge a complaint with you about the state of the counselling suite?" Dru smiled up at John but the smile didn't reach her eyes as she'd hit a sore point within herself.

As yet another issue came into him, John was sure that the hasperat in his mouth suddenly became even spicier, as if reacting to the continuous onslaught of work that he had to get done in time for a launch.

"Let me guess, you're missing half your walls, and there's a real danger of you falling down a Jeffries tube because the floor hasn't been put down properly?"

Taking a large swig from his glass, he felt the heat begin to dissipate.

"My office wasn't much better when I came aboard...I tell you what, I'll have a word with the engineering teams tomorrow, see if I can't at least get your room looking somewhere near finished? I can't promise much though; the dock master is less than pleased when I reallocate his men!"

"Sir...I was joking, a bit of light humour...maybe I'm not that great at it" Dru bit her lip and looked down at her plate. "You've more than enough on your plate then to be fixing a counselling suite. If worse comes to worse, I can counsel people in any location available in which a crew member feels comfortable. You've a lot more important matters to be dealing with."

Dru hesitates slightly but realises, she's on duty she should do her job, "Are you getting a lot of hassle from people trying to get the ship ready?" Dru intentionally drops the Sir and Commander as she never feels she can try to counsel people when they have to stand on formalities with each other.

"Heh, you could say that. With Commander Saalm tied up with the fun of paperwork and dealing with Admirals who want an interview with the latest member of the fleet, a lot of the lower ranking stuff becomes my responsibility...we didn't even have phasers operational until this morning." he sighed and finished the last of his meal.

"Don't take it personally, I just haven't been getting a huge amount of sleep the last couple of days....I'm hoping once preparations are completed, I can get my head down and recharge, command is nothing if not a challenge."

"Just remember, you need to pace yourself. Once the ship gets under way you'll have the day to day running of the ship and its crew to try manage, if you run yourself into the ground at this point you'll find it difficult to try recover afterwards. Have you tried just going for a walk even? Go visit friends?" Dru sat back in her seat and took another drink of her water.

"I'm not exactly a friends sort of guy....I usually prefer my own company, either that or a few hours on the phaser range, that usually breaks down some of the tension...I might have to commandeer myself a holodeck later"

He finished the end of his water.

"You're welcome to join me if you'd like Counsellor? Even a therapist needs to keep sharp with a phaser right?"

Dru tilted her head down as she blushed once again, "Well...to be honest...I'm not that great with a phaser. Being a counselling I'm about negotiating rather than fighting, also the clumsy aspect of me doesn't agree with phaser. If you don't mind ducking a lot when I try to take shots I don't mind. Might do me good to get some training in."

"It's your lucky day then!" John perked up at the chance to train someone in tactical matters.

"I was an instructor of tactical training at the Academy up until recently. If there's anyone who can get you hitting the target rather than your shipmates, it's me. Just make sure we leave the safeties on in the holodeck!" he laughed, trying his best to get some humour into the conversation to make up for his earlier failure.

"I don't know....I kinda like the idea of hitting shipmates accidently should they get on my nerves." Dru smiled softly at the thought. "But sure....with such a small crew I guess I really should be as best prepared as I can...I'd love to take you up on your offer."

"Ok well once we get this bird in the sky, I'll schedule in some holodeck time at the end of a shift, call it official business, rather than just R&R....I'm sure you're going to be busy yourself with a new ship and a new crew to help integrate! My door is always open if you need a hand with anything." He quipped before wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Sir...doesn't official business defeat the purpose of you using the opportunity to unwind?" Dru laughed as she gathered up her PADD which she had left on the chair beside her. "And you know the same goes in return; my door is always open if ever you need a chat or someone to bounce things off of that is my job after all."

"Haha it might do, but it does mean precedence over people who just want the holodeck for fun, one of the perks of being the XO I think. Well then lieutenant, I've got some paperwork left to sort out.... after I get some sleep, counsellor's orders right" He smirked, before rising to leave.

"At least 6hours Commander, if not more." Dru smiled to herself. "And if that doesn't work I might see about getting the CO make you spend some time on the beach, at least there you have to lie back and enjoy the sun, even if you've a PADD in your hand you'll relax with the sun and stay there, and if we are lucky enough the sand will get into your PADD and render it useless."

"Haha yes ma'am" He jokingly replied, before getting up, returning his tray to the replicator, and heading back to his quarters for some sleep, hopefully more than the two hours or so he had been managing up to now. This ship would soon be heading into space, and he needed to be ready.

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