To breakfast or not to breakfast

Posted on Sun Dec 31st, 2023 @ 11:04am by Teresa Forrest & Delaney O'Callaghan

Mission: Fractures
Location: Messhall, SS Mary Rose
Timeline: Backpost
2663 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

"You know sitting alone at breakfast is practically a war crime."

If she wanted to be completely and utterly honest, this didn't count as Delaney's breakfast. That had occurred almost two hours previous, as per the usual schedule that saw her run a circuit of the ship and possibly even follow Leiddem to the gym before the pair of them ate their way through the rest of the crew waking up. The Betazoid's tendency not to linger in bed was mostly a product of his time as a marine, whereas Delaney had always been a terrible sleeper and rubbed the proverbial salt into the wound by mostly presenting as if she got plenty of it. The energy that propelled her into a seat opposite the unfamiliar face she'd singled out was tempered somewhat by age and experience and yet, somehow, rode the crest of presumption with just enough warmth amongst the sheer audacity to translate as healthy self-confidence rather than conceit. It might not have technically counted as breakfast, but it was still morning and her stomach had a short memory. This time around, she'd grabbed coffee and a mound of cereal, which counted more as a snack given how much of the stuff she consumed.

She regarded the older woman over the top of her first mouthful.

"Engineering, right?" One of the perks of dating the Captain's brother-in-law was finally keeping ahead of crew transfers. She'd probably been told the woman's name too but, well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

"Dad always said that breakfast was the meal you ate when it was just getting light outside," The older woman began, looking up from her meal with a smirk. "We're in space. It's always dark out. Means this isn't breakfast," she added with a grin, one of someone who was more awake than most, even at this early hour. Truth be told she had been awake for a few hours as well, and had been working out before coming here, with a quick shower and a fresh change of clothes in between. "Teresa Forrest. Engineering, yeah. Only just came aboard," the brunette offered a hand in greet, the hand of someone used to a life of working hard.

"Delaney O'Callaghan, Security via Operations." The younger woman's grin held some anticipation of that being a confusing introduction. In many ways, the position she held had been entirely of her own design, having honed in on an area of the ship drastically in need of a management overhaul and just doing it without losing sleep about the lack of an official label. Now, the armory's asset manifest was streamlined, there was a schedule for service tagging safety equipment and a maintenance schedule for the weaponry they had stashed away. The fact that Security had held together through so many leadership changes was testament to the hard work of those already in the department and Delaney liked to think she'd made at least some valuable input. "How are you finding things so far?"

"Still trying to get my bearings. That's going to take me a few days on a ship this big and this modified from the standard Constitution layout. Nothing I can't handle though," Teresa smiled, continuing her not-breakfast-by-way-of-it-being-dark-out. "Old systems, heightened maintenance load, but again - nothing I can't handle," She was certain of that, that much was obvious. Whether it was just idle boasting or deserved confidence, time would tell. She'd already spotted a great many patch jobs upon patch jobs on obsolete technology. But that was the good thing about military tech - and Starfleet ships were military, she'd die on that hill - was that they were built to last and even obsolete tech tech in civilian hands would still be dependable, if maintained right. "Security via Operations? How's that work?"

The flap of Delaney's hand conveyed the impatience of having to wait to chew a mouthful of cereal before she could explain. "I'm on permanent loan, Security was struggling to get its paperwork in on time." A grin around another mouthful bought her time to realise that probably wasn't going to cut it as an explanation. "I came on board to help with Operations, Security had some gaping holes in its management of assets primarily. So I built them a working manifest management system and then decided I didn't trust them to use it properly."

"Well, I suppose on a ship like this that makes sense. You step up and do what needs doing," Teresa agreed easily, almost finished with her own meal of oats. She considered the other woman for a moment. Pretty, definitely, with fiery red hair and the complexion to go with it, unmarred so far by the advances of age. She almost felt envious for a moment, until she remembered how much effort went into maintaining a look like that and knew that wasn't for her. "So, what made you join this crew, Delaney?"

A thoughtful squint arrived at eventual honesty, which was virtually all the redhead was capable of. "A whim, in some respects. I left Earth with a university degree and some half-developed notion of traveling. Came on board for three months, still here a year later." The crunch of cereal became overly circumspect. "And now this is home. Met a guy, survived some crazy shit." It wasn't exactly everything Delaney had imagined for her life but now she couldn't see herself being anywhere else, for all the distance from family sometimes got to her.

Teresa finished her bowl of oats as Delaney spoke, an expression of curiosity on the older woman's features. Though that soon made way for one of amusement. "You met a guy after you came on board?" she mused, setting her bowl aside for now. She leaned back, tilting her head a bit. "Is there a story there? Care to spill the beans?"

An easy grin conveyed no compunction over the disclosure at all. "Leiddem's part of the fabric of the ship, so meeting him kind of involves spending time on board. Gregnol's brother-in-law," Delaney added for clarification. "Heads up Security in every sense except the official one because of some bollux about conflict of interest." It was not the first time she'd been vocal about her boyfriend's lack of promotion nor was it likely to be the last. "I'd love to say it's more exciting than that but really we just got lucky. Right time, right place, right person." A softness about her eyes gave the redhead away somewhat, though Laney was just as forthright in eventually declaring, "And now he's stuck with me."

"Right time, right place, right person. Isn't that always the case in these stories, though?" Teresa countered. There were some other juicy tidbits in the tale Delaney just told, but she'd get around to those. "I've always thought you meet the people you need to meet when you need to meet them. Or when they need to meet you. Sounds like that's what's happened here," she offered, soft smile playing on her aged features. "I went to the academy with Gregnol. Was in his class in our senior year," she smirked. "Thought him a bit of a dweeb at the time, but let's not tell him that. Never thought I'd run in to him out here. That he'd have a ship of his own. And that I'd end up working for him."

"Oh, he's a total dweeb," Delaney agreed, suddenly enamored with the term. Her absorption into the family had been a natural enough process that adjusting to a sibling's dynamic with her commanding officer had suited Delaney just fine. Arguably, Gregnol was still processing the inheritance but his impending sister-in-law had zero qualms about overstepping boundaries. "Which means he's either never grown out of it or you're drastically under-selling your valuable intel." Her eyes gleamed. "You've got a fortune's weight in stories to tell, I'll bet."

Teresa laughed a melodic laugh, before shaking her head a bit. "Honestly, no. I never interacted with him much, back in the day. Plus, it's been quite a few years and a lot has happened since in my own life that I honestly forgot a lot about that time, a lot of things that didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, you know?" It was strange to her, but this other woman she'd only just met seemed so easy to talk to. If all crew was like this she'd have no trouble finding a home here. "Besides, he's more likely to have stories about me, if I'm being honest."

The slowly dawning realisation of the truth of that statement caught Delaney mid-spoon. "True," she agreed, pointing the laden cutlery at the other woman before shoveling it into her mouth. Thoughtful chewing took in the guise of a mild sense of scheming, though what came of the deliberation was left for speculation as Delaney changed tact entirely. "So you're another Starfleet defector? Do they have any decent officers left at this rate, we seem to be inheriting them all."

"I'm a bloody good engineer. Never said anything about being a good officer," Teresa shrugged. "Starfleet seemed to think I run my mouth a bit too much. That I should keep quiet more, and not loudly and vocally call out things I think are messed up," the woman explained, shifting on her chair a bit to make more comfortable as she did. "This started back in the academy. Hence my assertion that Reuben would have stories about me instead of vice versa. Turns out Starfleet doesn't like that very much, so I got sent to a backwater posting and kept getting passed over for promotions. Eventually I had enough, gave them a massive middle finger and started freelancing as engineer for hire. And here I am," she concluded with a shrug.

Delaney screwed up her nose in empathy. "I came close to trying for the Academy but, honestly, my brothers had a few friends who had already gone that route and some of the stories..." Parts of it sounded like huge amounts of fun but other aspects, the sheer amount of protocol and professional subservience, had not been appealing at all. Having grown up cultivating the kind of personality that saw a problem and took responsibility for a finding a solution, Laney couldn't imagine having to walk backwards through hoops whilst balancing a circus ball on her nose just to seek permission to form a plan of action. "You're in good company here at least. Those who've flipped Starfleet the bird are starting to outnumber the rest of us."

"And yet, here we are, flying an aged Federation starship, helping other people like the ideals they stand for," Teresa countered, with a slight shrug. She closed her eyes for a moment, stifling a yawn, giving a big stretch, rolling her shoulders before regarding the other woman again. "I still believe in their ideals, what they stand for. It just - helps not to be bogged down by all the layers of politics they have to wrestle through to get anything done." Beat. "You must be similar, or you wouldn't be here or stay here for that long. Unless you're just staying for - what's his name, Eiddem's sake?"

"Leiddem." Delaney's deadpan was peppered with amusement. "And no, I don't think I'm here just for him." There was no denying that their relationship was a significant part of the reason and, should the Betazoid suddenly fall on his head and decide to go somewhere else, Delaney would likely follow. But she had extended her stay on board before the pair of them were more than friends and this new direction Gregnol was taking them in was bound to ignite the Irishwoman's own moral code once they got into it. "All of them are family now." A hunch of her shoulders left the summary at that.

"Leiddem, right. Haven't met him yet," Teresa smiled. "Haven't really met anyone yet, apart from the skipper. And now you," she added. Her expression faltered a bit though, seemingly becoming caught in a thought. "I'm glad to hear the crew is like a family to you. But, honestly, I've heard that said before," Many times, even. She'd had more than a few 'welcome to the family' speeches, but never quite felt she fit in, herself. "Not that I don't believe you and I'm glad it feels that way for you. But I'll - .. be patient and see if that extends to me as well," the older woman tried to be as charitable as she could.

"Give us time, we'll win you over." As much as it was said in jest, there was an element of easy confidence to Delaney's assurances. "Well, some of us will," she amended, actually turning her attention to the crew as a whole in an attempt to remember what first-impressions meant with some of them. "Liha takes some getting used to, Kali's a little easier to gauge though..." She hesitated. "I'm trying to decide if being told that you're going to get punched in the face is better or worse than it just happening when you least expect it." She squinted a moment before giving up. "You'll like working with Burnie though. He's a far better engineer than his reputation for blowing things up suggests."

"Burnie?" Beat. "Oh you mean Burnstein? He's like the chief engineer, right? Yeah, I was gonna go find him after bre - ... after my meal," Teresa snickered, recalling an earlier comment of hers. "You know, I'm open to being won over. But I'm not gonna take it for granted. So far the ship itself feels - ... right. The feel and mood of her corridors, the thrumm of her engine. She's an old lady and I suspect she can be cranky, but she's loved and she'll fly true."

"Now you sound like my mother."

It was an enigmatic statement that would have made immediate sense had Delaney explained her mother's profession, or the family's transport company, or how close she had come to being either a pilot or an engineer herself before deciding she wanted to strike out on her own. Instead, the redhead simply grinned and, finishing her bowl, scooted back her chair to rise. Technically, she had set out to gather up the safety lamps from the security lockers throughout the deck to run a routine check on their function and change over globes. Her stomach creating a deviation to plan wasn't unusual but it didn't leave her with a lot of time if she wanted to remain efficient.

"A lot of us will hang out in the lounge tonight, we pretend to play cards whilst we goad everyone into karaoke. Good chance to meet a few people," she added as extra enticement. "Anyway, welcome on board. Sing out if you need anything."

Teresa's expression at being compared to Delaney's mother as .. interesting, though she quickly recovered. She rose as the other woman did, having been finished with her bre - meal already. "Sounds like fun," she said in all honesty. "I've been known to dabble a bit in singing. It was nice to meet you, Delaney. Looking forward to gettin this family feeling you've been on about."

"Just don't listen to Curtis if he tries to tell you he's running the place," Delaney called on her way to the door. "Oh," she added, popping her head back around, "and if Burnie's got a funny look in his eyes, your best bet is to grab Jeassaho if Liha's not around. Maybe even if Liha's around, depending on the day." The younger woman gave the new arrival a thumbs up. "Good luck!"

Teresa for her part understood most of those words, but without knowing who any of those people were, had no idea what Delaney was talking about. So she just smiled, nodded, and went on with her day as well.