A Reunion in the Nook

Posted on Sun Jan 14th, 2018 @ 7:53am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa

Mission: S01E02 D-8 With the Devil
Location: USS Musashi | Deck 1 | Command Nook

Aboard the starship Perry, the crew was as tense and on edge as those aboard the Musashi if not even slightly more so. They arguably had a lot more to prove in the mission ahead of them. Though it was true that the crew of the other starship would be handling the boarding parties that would beam over to the Klingon shipyard, the responsibility for penetrating the shipyard was placed upon the shoulders of Captain Reed and his Hoover class starship. The Musashi had several years on the Perry, but its crew were veterans. Some of the senior staff were seasoned Lieutenant Commanders with touches of gray in their hair. The Hoover class was not as agile as the Ares class vessel they were accompanying, but the Perry could take one hell of a pounding given its design, reinforced hull armor, and the most recent shield upgrades. Armed with the latest in Federation photon torpedoes, she was an excellent starship to have been tasked with her job ahead; Sending out volley and volley of high yield torpedoes, concentrating on taking out the shield generator. Aye, the Perry would get the job done.

As much as it was up to Captain Reed to give out commands and call out orders on the bridge when the attack commenced, he would rely fairly heavily on his First Officer, Commander Kumara Dishita. She was his right hand, and she had plenty of experience. However, her working relationship with Reed was shallow and in rather untested waters at this point. Perhaps this mission could have come at a better time or perhaps there was no better time than the present. She was a fine officer, but she was new aboard the Perry having only come aboard a couple of months prior. She had been a First Officer aboard her previous posting, but it was a much smaller patrol starship and her rank of Lieutenant Commander then was just fine. Coming aboard the Perry meant a promotion to Commander after she successfully proved herself and passed all the examinations and completed all the paperwork for it to be approved and finalized.

She was a bit of an introverted woman who kept to herself. Something that did not necessarily speak well for someone in the position of Executive Officer for a starship, especially one like the Perry, but where lacked in open personality, Captain Reed more than made up for with his charisma and near flamboyancy. What she brought to the table was her vast technical and tactical knowledge, a winning concoction during war times. Though the Commander truly had hoped the war was behind her. It was what helped shape her career advancement and give her a bit of an upward push up the rank ladder, but Kumara felt uneasy about being thankful for the war. She may have enjoyed the spoils of it by now having the rank of a full Commander, only having been a Lieutenant not too long ago. However, she had confidence and belief that regardless of the war, she would have eventually gotten here on her own merit.

Being alongside the Musashi felt good. It was an opportunity that she did not think would ever come her way. Though she was confident in both starships and their respective crews, there were unknown factors. They did not know what sort of Klingon resistance they were going to run into out there in the Boreth system. The chance to visit someone who had meant a lot to her professionally and personally was not an opportunity that she was going to just let slip through her fingers. The privileges that came along with being First Officer permitted her to convince Captain Reed that she was capable of taking his place for the tactical briefing with the Musashi's Captain. So, she did just that. She volunteered herself to take his place for a late evening meeting with the woman who commanded the Ares class starship.

Captain Donatella Figueroa had been reading over the preliminary reports from each department aboard her starship to ensure their battle readiness. Toe to toe with the Klingons once more. Another dance with those devils she thought as she relaxed in the command nook, a small private area on the first deck of her starship. It was not an office so much as it was like a compacted lounge for the exclusive use of the Captain and her Executive Officer and Second Officer. It was where they could meet before or after a shift to discuss everything and anything in private without it feeling 'cold' like the briefing room. The command nook had a bit of a nickname as the 'coffee nook' because of the aroma of freshly ground coffee that came from within. Commander and Samuels and Captain Figueroa had one thing they could agree upon for sure, and that was that there was no better way to start a morning than with freshly ground coffee from Earth.

Fig was anticipating the arrival of Captain Reed from the USS Perry and in doing so, she had just used an old Earth coffee grinder to grind up the beans to a lovely roast. Medical may have stripped her of her leisurely glass or three of wine after a long hard day, but it would be over her dead body that they ripped a fresh mug of coffee from her hands. The Captain 's little command nook of course had a perfectly fine food and beverage slot which could muster up a decent coffee in a pinch, but nothing that think could do even on its best day could defeat a true genuine hot mug of freshly ground and brewed coffee from Earth. The Italian heritage in her almost perked up at the scent. Tonight, it was a lovely roast which she used for an espresso.

The comm panel on the wall summoned her immediate response as she leaned and gently tapped the necessary control. “Captain here” she replied. The voice on the other side was that of the young male Trill who was aboard the starship to study and observe human behavior, but Fig put him to work on communications for certain shifts and as relief for her Chief Communications Officer. He informed her that the First Officer of the Perry has requested to come aboard in place of Captain Reed. Fig thought nothing of it. These things tended to happen. There were times she would send Commander Samuels to sit in on something for her or attend a meeting on her behalf. She imagined that would be more often the case once her pregnancy really started to show and her mobility became a bit of a struggle. The thought of that displeased her. She would fight 'forced' maternity leave for as long as she could. Hopefully, she could defeat it all together. The last thing she wanted was to relinquish command of her starship, even if it was only to her Executive Officer again for a temporary amount of time.

Fig knew absolutely nothing about the man, woman, non-binary, or agendered Executive Officer of the Perry. She had not looked over it's manifest as their was not really any need to. She knew the Commanding Officer personally to a small extent, but more so knew of him by reputation. He knew the men and women under his command and Fig trusted him to utilize them as needed for this approaching mission. She would never dare intrude on another Captain's starship and tell them how to run their ship. That was the job for those pesky commodores and admirals. When the chime to the nook's door rang, she reached for the control panel that unlocked the door permitting it to slide open in a bit of a swoosh. When she turned around to greet the First Officer of the Perry she was met with a surprise that instantly brought a glow to her. “Oh my stars. Kumara?” she said almost questioning her own sanity to perceive the woman standing before her.

The other woman with a darker complexion smiled at Fig. “Captain. It's good to see you again” Kumara said. This reunion was a long time coming. They had not seen one another since the war. “I was so delighted and surprised to see that we would be rendevouzing with the Musashi. I had to take Captain Reed's place just to see you” she explained.

Captain Figueroa gentured the woman to have a seat on the sofa. “I just made coffee. I know Captain Reed likes my coffee, had I known you were...I can make some Darjeeling tea if you...”

Kumara interjected “No no. Coffee is just fine, Captain. “It smells wonderful” she added pleasantly. “It has been sometime since I've been aboard the Musashi. She looks a bit different.”

Fig smiled. “I redecorated after the Klingons decided to punch a few holes into her hull. Captain's prerogative...I seized the moment. And on the subject of changes....Commander? When did this happen? The last I saw you, you were a lieutenant transferring off my starship against my pleading for you to stay as I recall.” The two women would have a lot to discuss for the next few hours.