Fishes and Loaves

Posted on Wed May 4th, 2022 @ 6:27am by Delaney O'Callaghan & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*)
Edited on on Wed May 4th, 2022 @ 6:50am

Mission: Mission 15: Adrift
Location: Deck 6 - Lockdown Area
Timeline: MD 02 03:00
3645 words - 7.3 OF Standard Post Measure

It was impressive, really, how long autopilot could sustain a person past the point of initial panic. The convergence of the crew into what was relatively close confines had created a cacophony of competing orders and priorities, layers upon layers of considerations and readjustments as the scope of their situation expanded and a natural rhythm finally asserted itself. A lot had overwhelmed Delaney in the first few moments of pandemonium, with the most preoccupying being worry for those she had not yet been able to account for, but it was typical of the woman to concern herself with others well before it even occurred to her to think about herself, and it was just that preoccupation that had seen her fixate during the first hours on what she was good at; organising, stocktaking, categorising, manifest creation, resource allocation. As the supplies had rolled in, she'd been one of the first to start sorting it, working out suitable storage for it, running the maths on consumables, and creating forecasts and contingencies based on shifting variables so that they had some sort of baseline for how long they could hold out in these conditions. Yes, she was bossy by nature. So far, nobody seemed to have minded, and for many, the menial task of folding blankets and adding them to basic supply kits was better than sitting around anxiously wondering if the ship had power enough to get them through the night.

One of a handful of pens she'd managed to salvage from her own quarters was tucked behind her ear when the Operations officer finally approached the Department's makeshift central depot, another tapping against her notepad as Delaney frowned at her latest stocktake and sighed, in partial relief mingled with frustration. She sank into a chair and allowed her head to drop back, gaze fixed on the ceiling.

"You know, at this rate," she mentioned, rolling her tired head towards Cassie, "We're going to have to run a poll on whether we run out of toothpaste or pasta first."

Cassie looked up at the voice. She had forgotten that the woman was there having been so deep in her thoughts. Those thoughts as usual were dark and twisty and wondering what Eden was up to out there in the universe now that she had gone off. Cassie had not heard from her in weeks so that was either good in that the woman was active or bad that she was in trouble. “Pasta. Toothpaste tubes can be shared between species.” Cassie said without looking up from throwing the hygiene kits in the locations she had repeatedly throwing items for twenty minutes or so.

"Yeah, but people are more likely to skip out on brushing their teeth than they are eating." Leave it to Delaney to paint a vivid picture of long-term halitosis prospects. It was bad enough that they weren't likely to wrangle a shower any time soon. "I should be helping with the galley," the redhead added, one arm dangling over the edge of the chair as she slumped. The temporary kitchen promised to become a rotational responsibility, with more stringent mealtimes now that it wasn't feasible to simply run the portable ovens all day and night to cater for intermittent shifts. "But my head is killing me and there's no coffee."

Cassie conceded that she might have a point but also that she really was not sure that she wanted to eat anything that the galley was going to be creating. “Have you looked for an alternative caffeine form?” Cassie asked looking over with a bit of concern as she said it down the package she was creating. “Or maybe you need a rest?” She added as an afterthought as she thought about the fact it might just be simpler to get some sleep.

From her pit of melodramatic despair, which was good-natured in intent and far from any actual complaints that Delaney felt like making, the younger woman watched Cassie for a moment and managed to focus on one thing for long enough to realise how quiet and drawn her colleague looked. It was an expression she'd seen on countless faces all day but there had been a general, unspoken agreement amongst the crew to rally around Anderson and it occurred to Delaney that another emergency of this magnitude was probably ticking a few anxiety boxes for the woman. She smiled reassuringly and forced herself to sit up.

"Caffeine withdrawal isn't really a priority now, I'll be fine until they manage to rig up the urn." Bright blue eyes studied what Cassie was doing for a moment before Delaney asked, "How are you holding up?"

“It is a priority as it is impacting you. Just because it does not relate to the on going emergency does not mean it is not important.” Cassie commented before to turned away at the question about herself. She had been asked so many times last couple of months but she always answered fine. “Been better but so could most of us.” She finally said.

"Well, the fact that other people are suffering doesn't detract from yours." Delaney, ever the one to revel in her own mischief, grinned as she flung Cassie's logic back in her face. "Anything I can do?" That was her practical side kicking in. Delaney was fully capable of empathy but what she couldn't stand was wallowing in non-productive emotion. It wasn't the same as not feeling things, it simply meant that her general reaction was to use whatever was going on in her head as momentum. Right now, as much as her head hurt, and her body craved a stimulant she was far too reliant on, the human's mind was buzzing and would be for a long while yet. If she was going to be awake anyway, Delaney preferred to be useful. "We can always go scrounge something edible."

Cassie almost asked if the woman had a time machine but shook her head. There was nothing that anyone could overly help with but it was kind of people to keep offering. “Not really. Just need time I guess.” Grief and pain need time to work through someone’s system she knew that logically but it was the anger she was struggling with. “If you are hungry I can join you.” It would be a distraction from the numbers and processes that she was clinging to in an attempt to maintain some decorum.

"I'm always hungry," Delaney confirmed enthusiastically, groaning somewhat excessively as she hauled herself upwards out of the chair. "I used to get accused of having hollow legs when I was a kid." It was an odd expression, possibly entirely colloquial, but the human pressed on as if it made perfect sense. Weaving away around some of the partitions that had been put up to give the vast space a semblance of smaller, functional zones, Delaney cast her eye over the various pockets of personnel, scanning faces as if to search out something specific, and then turned to make sure Cassie was with her before heading over towards the makeshift galley. Since it wasn't a designated mealtime, there was nothing hot on offer, but limited refrigeration was keeping the fruit bowls topped up. Laney grabbed a bunch of grapes and then screwed her nose up at the jugs of questionable juice. "This looks like that grapefruit juice that could double as shuttle fuel. Haven't we used it all yet?" It had been an excessively large and generous bonus order.

“Seems not. Probably the rumour that it is like rocket fuel has gotten around.” Cassie said quietly as she wrinkle her nose at the juice and just got some coffee. She really did not fancy anything to eat. She looked around for somewhere to sit before just plonking herself on the floor.

Delaney eyed the coffee herself, weighing up the potential alleviation of her headache against the probability of having to go through the withdrawal at some point. It was also, and this was where she was valiantly trying to battle against privilege, not exactly her favourite blend, nor was there enough cream or sugar to mask it. Delaney drank her coffee black when the taste warranted it, but now it just seemed like a substandard pay-out for probably having a headache later that would keep her awake all night.

It was a heck of a time to be a coffee snob.

Flopping down next to the other woman with just her grapes, the human stretched out her legs and picked and flicked the debris from her pants before settling the fruit on her knee. Once again, her eyes scanned the room, flitting between faces. "You think we have enough bedding to sleep everyone?" As it was, an eventual shift roster would have to be established, and sharing sleeping arrangements was practically a given.

Cassie looked around. “I do not know but I also would not be opposed to sharing right now. I’m freezing.” The woman was not normally cold but for the first time in a very long time she was feeling her Vulcan side, not at all happy with the arrangement of the ship. “You know something I grew up in a cold country when I left Vulcan and I never acclimatised then.” She revealed a little bit about her past as she sipped on the coffee. It was not to bad, it was more bitter than she liked but she had drunk worse.

Delaney, having grown up in Ireland close enough to the coast to have learned to stand upright in a hurricane, blinked at the other woman for a moment in visible surprise before glancing around and scrambling to her feet to jog over to the assortment of organised blankets she'd recently finished cataloguing. Grabbing one, she moved back to offer it to Cassie, dropping it over the woman's shoulders before taking a seat again. "It's probably going to get colder," she sympathised, studying Cassie's face keenly. "Did you manage to grab any warmer clothing?" As it stood, Delaney was already reasonably sure that, at some point, they were going to have to do fresh supply runs if any could be managed safely.

Cassie was surprised by the kindness of the woman putting a blanket around her and almost snuggled into it. “Nothing other than a hoodie somewhere in my pack. “ She did not really own much seeing everything she had ever owned had disappeared in 2346 when she had been declared killed in action with everyone else on the Ishimura. “I am sure I can find something or someone to help.” She shrugged taking another sip of the coffee.

"I've got a couple of jackets in my quarters." There really hadn't been time to grab much, and the jackets were bulky remnants from back home. It had seemed better use of her carrying capacity to bring the pilot's medkit she always kept and her bedding. "If they let us do another dash for supplies, I'll grab you one."

Cassie nodded appreciating the thought that the woman even if she could not go was thinking of her. “If you can that would nice but do not go to any extreme effort.” She said quickly. “I am sure someone will have something. Ford is not going to let me freeze.” She said it might be depressing but she would survive.

"None of us will," Delaney reassured the other woman, and then regarded Cassie keenly for a moment. In the midst of the chaos, the human's natural tendency to reach out to others had become a coping mechanism, a way to keep herself from dwelling on the dire nature of their situation, not to mention a way to mediate significant frustration with the constant interruption to her personal life. The universe had crappy timing. "Where did you grow up that was so cold?," she eventually asked, natural inquisitiveness taking over.

Cassie did not think everyone would be so willing but she did not comment on that. She was pretty sure that some people would not mind if she was no longer amount the living but she did not dwell or linger on that. "Scotland. My mother left my father and moved us to the highlands of Scotland back to her family home and away from everyone and everything." She admitted with a small shrug. It was not so long ago to her that she had last been there but it would be nothing but ruins now.

"Aye, she's an Albannach!" The grin on Delaney's face, coupled by her flawless descent into a thicker variant of her softer brogue, was immediately followed by a friendly jostle sideways. The lilt of the Irishwoman's natural speaking tone usually veered towards a pleasantly gentle accent, rounded by what was probably a life-long intention to 'tidy up' her enunciation. Five minutes around her brothers might have changed her perspective on that, however. "No wonder you froze though. That's fierce country up there."

Cassie smiled just a little. She often wondered how her parents had understood each other with her mother's accent sometimes but there must have been affection and love at one point as he had never remarried nor had more children. "My parents were great geneticists it is how I exist. But when it all turned a mess and they separated my mother took me to the coldest place she knew as my father would never come to bother her or me." It had been a hard truth as an 11-year-old to accept the change from the deserts of Vulcan to the highlands of Scotland.

Delaney, on the other hand, came from a long line of deeply-invested Irish stock, where matches seemed to last and separation was less common. Empathy wasn't impossible; she had an imagination, after all, and experience enough with other people's tribulations, but her parents had a rock solid relationship, like both sets of grandparents, and their parents, and onwards down the line. If anything, the only familial issue that Delaney suffered from what figuring out how to uphold the standards.

Her expression softened.

"My parents run a transport company." The redhead laughed. "Not quite as impressive, and I expect the Irish winter is the cause of my existence." Delaney watched the other woman for a moment. "Have you been able to go back at all?"

"No. Not since I was freed from the transporter loop. No need to go back." She had not had any reason to go back to Earth or anything since she had woken up as she had lurched from one personal issue to another. Johnathen, Savik, the children she had not known existed which meant she had grandchildren. It was a hot mess in her mind sometimes and she could understand the karma she was getting in finally feeling the emotional load of everything.

"I don't know. Sometimes home is the only place I feel like I can think straight."

Delaney was not, perhaps, people's first choice for motivational confidant. Not unless you were the type to prefer bluntness and a certain stubborn tenacity to see the bright sides of things. But the last couple of years had taught her a few home truths, and her time on the Mary Rose had lent her a greater appreciation for the whole 'home away from home' deal. She was soft-hearted enough to want to help, and observant enough to have picked up a few hints her teenage self could have done with on how to approach delicate issues. She smiled now at Cassie and offered the woman a grape. "Maybe it would help more than you think."

"This ship had been more of a home than anywhere else. It was my home in 2246 and now in 2397." Cassie said with a shrug. She knew the ship was not much to most people but to her it was everything. it was all she had left really of her old life. Cassie took the offered grape with a murmured thank you. "This ship might not be much but it kept me alive when the dikironium cloud creature attacked us."

"I wouldn't say she's not much." It was staunch support from Delaney, who lamented often enough about the lack of updated facilities. It was never a particularly serious complaint, however, the human wasn't the type to wallow. "I mean, she can't sustain a holodeck and she's spent the past week trying to feed me beef soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I don't know..." Delaney popped a grape into her mouth, chewed it thoughtfully and allowed her gaze to wander. "When I decided to try my luck off-planet for a while, I didn't really expect to last this long on a single ship. This was supposed to be a working holiday but I don't really think I could leave just like that now. Of course," she added, swinging her gaze back to fix the other woman with a pointed look, "Rosie has big ideas about letting any of us leave right now."

“She does that when the wind of change happens.” Cassie mused. Before shrugging to herself as she thought about it all. “Any particular reason why you cannot leave now?” She asked wanting to move the subject from herself to the other woman. She did not like always being under the microscope.

The question caught Delaney without an immediate response and sent her, for once, into a moment of reflective silence. As she turned her thoughts over, her eyes once more drifted around the space, inclined this time to pinpoint several specific targets before lingering on one in particular. Her pensiveness dissolved into a fond smile and Delaney's eyes once again found the other woman's. "I think I'd miss this too much. Not this specifically," she added with a wry smirk, "As cosy as it is, I think I prefer our less-rustic adventures. But there are a lot of people here I'd regret losing contact with."

Cassie nodded. She would not pry but she had seen the smile. "It is different. Certainly different from Starfleet or at least the Starfleet of my time," Cassie mused glancing around to see if she could figure out who had made the woman smile like that but could not pin it to one person around them. It could have been anyone if she was honest, but there had been someone. You did not just smile like that for no reason. "Well I am glad you are sticking around. Much easier to process Security tags and organise with someone else who thinks the same way."

"Oh, trust me, if you ever try to leave for good, I'm tracking you down and locking you in an room until you change your mind." If Delaney wanted to be honest, she'd learnt a lot from Cassie over the past few months, but the natural synergy and their mutual preference for things being streamlined and thorough had made her role as a bridge between Operations and Security far less painful than it could have been. It was nice to have at least one of the staff who didn't need countless reminders to follow the process.

"I would not leave for good. I am so lost in this new time sometimes." Cassie said with a shrug as tried to not think about the earlier and the moment with Jake. It was easier to not think about those feelings. "Everything that went down before you came on board has made me appreciate a lot of the crew onboard. They are good people with a good calling now. Something to give us all a focus and an almost calling now... but being locked in a room sounds nice and quiet." She mused trying to make a joke now that she was warming up enough to think. There was still the overwhelming exhaustion but she was going to find somewhere to sleep soon, maybe she would rest without the sleep aid for once.

"And so dull." It was no surprise that Delaney's version of personal hell was a room by herself with the door locked and nothing else to do. A moment of clarity allowed her to catch the weariness in Cassie's longing and, for once, Delaney managed actual empathy in the moment, rather than several hours later. "You look beat. Why don't you go find a cot, I can finish up the hygiene kits, you looked basically done anyway."

"Cannot appreciate the bright if you do not have the dull. Plus not having to listen to anyone or see anything sounds just like what I need for self-reflection and rest." Cassie offered a rare smile to the woman at her suggestion. "I was done a while ago." She admitted with another shrug. She had just kept the momentum to be in someone's company if she was honest. "Maybe I should." She mused.

Having already clambered to her feet, Delaney stretched out a hand in offering. "Come on, we need your brain at full capacity and at least one of us needs to get some sleep. I'm a lost cause."

"Maybe you should find the person who made you smile and get a nap too." Cassie challenged taking the hand feeling the warmth of the woman's fingers in hers pulling her to her feet. "My brain has not been at full capacity for months. But I think you are right, some sleep might help."

Some people might have felt awkward. Some might have flushed, sought to deny, fumbled for explanation, or retreated into silence. Delaney, far more surprised by the woman's astuteness than she ought to have been; it was Cassie, after all, simply paused, decoded the suggestion and then grinned. Moving behind, two hands found Cassie's shoulders and steered her to face the direction of the makeshift dormitory.

"Okay, Sherlock, let's find you a bed."