To The Mission

Posted on Wed Jul 14th, 2021 @ 7:50am by Commander Alexis Agrax (*) & Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri (*) & Commander Christopher Mitchell & Chief Petty Officer Chuck Finley

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Starbase 47, USS Cosmos
Timeline: 2396
1885 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Sitting in one of the many bars that overlooked the docking area, Chuck had picked this partcular bar, and viewport, because he wanted to watch his next pisting come in to dock. The USS Cosmos, an Intrepid class starship, had just recently had their former Chief of the Boat retire and, Chief Petty Officer Chuck Finley, had been chosen by Starfleet Personnel, to fill in the now vacant slot. So here he sat, waiting, for his new home to arrive.

The Cosmos had arrived on the other side thanks to an issue with the docking mechanisms and the fact Ledeya Ehestri wanted more stringent security checks on anything coming onboard due to the last events on a base. The bigger docking area was perfect and who was Lancaster to deny her. Ledeya was just relieved to be off the ship after the event with the virus and in a bar where no one would know who she was. She sat at the bar for a long time before she realised how packed the place was. “Do you mind if I sit here Chief?” The woman wondered finding him with the only empty spot with a comfortable seat with the heels she wore in civilian clothes.

Hearing the feminine voice, Chuck turned his head and looked up. Wow! Very lovely. He thought to himself, without the thought being displayed on his features. Standing, good manners being a part of who he was, he gestured to the empty seat. "Please." When the attractive woman sat, he signsled for the waitress to come over. Then he reclaimed his seat. He split his attention between the viewport and his new lovely aquantance.

A few beats later, The waitress, a young Bolian woman hustled over to their table. "My apologies folks! What can I get for you today?

Chuck indicated that the lovely lady should order first.

“Oh.” Ledeya paused she had only been considering to sit there waiting for Alexis and Christopher to finish and find her but she shrugged. “Just an iced tea please.”

"Very good, Ma'am." The waitress then turned to Chuck. "And you, Chief?"

"Just an Altair water, please. Thank you." Chuck replied with a charming grin.

Nodding with a grin of her own, the waitress quickly moved away to fill their order.

"So," Chuck asked the woman in front of him. "My name's Chuck, Chuck Finley. And you are?"

Ledeya smiled at the man. "Ledeya Ehestri." She introduced herself. People either knew her or they did not. It did not trouble her in the slightest. She felt so much older than she was after the virus had decimated her senior crew.

Chuck grinned slightly. He, of course, had heard of her. It was one of the reasons he had requested the posting on her ship. "It's a pleasure to met ya, Ma'am. Though, Ah am curious as to how you're here, but the Cosmos isn't sitting in the berth outside that viewport."

"We are parked in another berth," Ledeya explained with a shrug as she spotted her missing companions.

Christopher and Alexis came around the corner actually smiling and sharing a little joke between them. The XO did a double-take as he spied the Commodore waiting for them, snapping habitually into a more formal and professional stance in spite of himself.

"Commodore. I'm sorry if we're late, Commander Agrax and I were..." he glanced at Alexis, looking for her to bail them out of being tardy.

"Making out in the Turbo life and lost track of time," Alexis said without a hint of embarrassment as she sat down receiving a roll of eyes from the commodore.

"My chief of security and my Executive officer." Ledeya introduced with a small smile at Christopher watching the emotions cross his face.

Christopher opened his mouth to protest Alexis' explanation, but Ledeya had got there first and was clearly enjoying his embarrassment so he let it slide.

"Yes. Well. I'm not normally one to be running late," he apologised, glancing at the gentleman she had been introducing them to. "Commander Christopher Mitchell."

“Commander Alexis Agrax.” Alexis said slightly more formally still smiling at Christopher.

Chuck dipped his head politely. "Pleasure, Sir, Ma'am." He dipped his head to Alexis as well. "Ah'm Chief Petty Officer Chuck Finley, your new CoB."

“Ah Chief of the Boat.” Alexis said. “Forgot Bruce finally retired.” It had been a long time coming and the empathic virus had given him the push.

"Good old Bruce. I'm going to miss that guy," Christopher agreed with a thoughtful nod. "Not that we're not enthusiastic about his replacement of course!"

“Did not know we were meeting you here though Chief.” Alexis settled into her seat and smiled brightly. She was not dressed in her uniform but a black dress with blue accessories and shoes.

“We happened on each other.” Ledeya explained. “He was was wondering why we are not berthed where we should be.”

Chuck nodded. "Bruce and I went through Boot in the same squadron. He's solid as they come."

Ledeya nodded. She had known the man from her first tour as a doctor on Cosmos. He knew the ins and outs and was an asset. “So what made you pick Cosmos?” She wondered.

The senior noncom shrugged slightly as he took another sip of his drink. "I've never served on an Intrepid-class before, Bruce also told me that he was thinking of retirement and wanted to make sure his enlisted were looked after by someone he knew and trusted, and...I've heard about the good Commodore here, and was impressed."

"As you should be. I'll go get you a drink, Sir." Alexis commented with a small polite smile as she shrieked back into herself disappearing off to get her and the Executive Officer a drink. Ledeya raised an eyebrow at Christopher but said nothing more.

"I appreciate your faith in me Chief," Ledeya assured. She dreaded to think of what he had heard after sea base zombies and empathic viruses.

"As I said, Bruce had only good things to say about you and the crew. That's all the info I need to know that this is where I want to serve, Ma'am."

Ledeya nodded. "So what is the first thing you want to do once you are on board?" Ledeya wondered filling the space with a conversation to put everyone at ease. She knew that Christopher did not really do small talk which she appreciated but she could not sit there in silence and not say anything whilst her Security chief went off to find drinks.

Chuck shrugged slightly. "To be honest, Ma'am, I'd like to see how things work before I decide if anything needs work. Is there anything that you feel requires my attention?"

Ledeya shook her head. "Nothing that I can think on off the top of my head but I am sure I will come to something. Commander, can you think of anything?" She wondered glancing around for Alexis. She spotted the woman at the bar looking deep in thought as she ignore the bar man for a moment before coming back to herself.

"Well we're due to take on some new crew, and the ones we do have just came off the back of a nasty Betazoid influenza strain, so they're a little shaken in places. It'll be good to schedule some drills to get them back on their toes once we're done with R&R. What do you think, Chief?" Christopher suggested.

Nodding, Chuck replied. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Sir. After I officially report aboard and get settled, Ill start working up a few different drills for you and the Commodore's approval."

Coming back with four drinks instead of just her own and Christopher’s Alexis sat down silently. Ledeya looked at her. “Everything okay Commander?” She wondered.

“Yes sir. Busy at the bar. Thought it best to get everyone a drink. Hope you don’t mind.” She said quickly sitting up straighter her masks falling back over the emotions that were twirling around her face.

While he didn't know Alexis, Chuck had dated a few Betazoids in his time and recognized the look of one feeling a disturbance but not wanting to alarm anyone. Reaching out, he laid a gentle hand on top of hers. "Thank you for the drink," he said aloud, while thinking in her direction, in perfect Betazed, Sl'omia haf, tromadid gara.

Alexis pulled her hand back and nodded firmly hearing his words. Sl'omia haf, tromadid gara or as her internal translator told her after so many years of Starfleet Standard I can be a friend, should you require one. The surprise did not show on her face but the fact he knew her mother tongue surprised her. "Any time." She offered quickly.

Christopher eyed her curiously for a brief moment, but dismissed any notion that it was anything other than a greeting of some sort. That the Chief had made contact with her like that, he was nominally surprised she hadn't reacted more strongly. "Where are you from, COB?" he asked, trying to move things forward.

Turning his gaze to the executive Officer, Chuck took a pull from his drink and replied. "New Berlin, Luna, born a raised. How about yourself, Sir?"

"San Francisco. The house I grew up in looked out over the bay. I guess you could say there was only one thing I wanted to be when I was a kid," Christopher grinned. "Seeing the uniform every day makes you pretty idealistic, to be honest."

Chuck nodded and chuckled. "My father was in. Rise to be Command Master Chief of Starfleet, before he retired. It was inevitable that I enlisted as well."

"Runs in the blood," Ledeyda commented with a small smile. "I think I was the same after... after the wall seeing the uniform. Led me into medicine." She had grown up on Betazed and would still be there in some convent or asylum if it was not for her parent's determination to keep her safe and not use her for any number of protected when her mental abilities had appeared after the war and the solutions they had used on the Dominion.

Chuck nodded slowly. "It certainly does. Personally, my family has been in Starfleet all the way back to the founding. I had a grandfather several generations back that was the Chief Engineer on the NX Columbia."

"My roommate in the Academy for my whole experience there was a Sloan," Ledeya commented with a fond smile. Everyone knew about the NX Atlantis and the surname Sloan. "She literally oozes that family connection no matter how much she tries to deny her Romulan side or the fact she had the brains that she is related to the Captain and Engineer of NX Atlantis." She wished sometimes she could have persuaded the woman to come to the Cosmos after 621 and her moving to a Seabase. It was a waste of so much potential for a scientist and an officer.

"Sounds like you all have me beat on the history front," Christopher chuckled.

After waiting a beat, Chuck raised his glass in a toast. "To Starfleet. Where she's been, where she is now, and where she's going."

"I'll drink to that," Christopher nodded, matching the salute.