Not My Quarters

Posted on Sat Aug 3rd, 2019 @ 4:22pm by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Dixoho Saa (*)

Mission: Mission 9 - Daucina
Location: Deck 3 - Senior Officer Quarters
Timeline: MD 07 23:00
1555 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Dixoho was tired, more tired that she had been in a long time and that was saying something when the woman used to work on a cargo vessel doing double shifts. She had been up early to try and work out what to do with Micheal’s shuttle, it was all there apart from Rebecca which didn’t matter just annoyed her that it was her mess to clean up.

She was on autopilot as she slipped into the quarters and instantly headed towards bed tugging off her clothes and quickly getting over the covers. It took her all of thirty seconds to realise that someone else was in the bed with her and she let out a scream the sheet to her as she fell out of the bed.

"-the hell..." Jake sat bolt upright in the darkness, fumbling towards the side cabinet where a hand phaser was stashed. He halted when he realised that not only was it way out of reach, but also that he wasn't under imminent threat of danger. "Who's there? This better not be another stupid prank, I swear..." he barked.

"Dixoho..." The woman spoke up as she tried to sit up from the floor and untangle herself from the sheet at the same time to cover herself before some type of light came on. "Who are you and what are you doing in my quarters?" She asked sounding confused. She was in her quarters, right?

"Your quarters!?" Jake exclaimed. "Last I checked the sign on the door said 'Chief Armoury'. Unless we've fallen into some alternate universe, that's the job I signed-on for." He was about to give the computer a verbal command to increase the lights, but realised that the Mary Rose's system didn't run that way. At least not in his room, that he knew. Instead he found a manual control and brought the lights up. He'd forgotten he was only in a pair of shorts, but that paled in comparison to the quick realisation that she was wearing even less. He sharply averted his eyes. "Woah...too much."

The woman quickly covered up more as he got a good look of her. "Sorry... I am... I was the former Chiefs girlfriend. I wandered in here on autopilot. My commands must still be active" She said finally managing to sit up and tugged the sheet around her properly. How embarrassing was this? This had to be more embarrassing than when she had shown up naked at Gregnol's door and he polietely turned her away. It was like she was young and dumb again.

Jake peered around the room for a moment, checking for anything else that might be amiss. After his earlier misadventure on arrival, he wondered if this was another elaborate set-up to catch him out. The young lady in question, however, looked pretty genuine. And incredibly embarrassed.

"Here." He grabbed a spare folded-up uniform he'd left out for the next shift and handed it over, still maintaining a respectable distance. "Not sure if you need them, but it's probably better than walking around in sheets."

"I am fine." The woman said glancing around for her own uniform but it was out in the main living area where she had taken them off. "My room is just across the hall... Um... I'm sorry. I used to..." The woman slowly tugged herself up from the floor using one hand to keep the sheet around her and the other to haul her up.

"Don't worry about it. So long as it doesn't become a habit," he responded kindly. He still wasn't completely sure the other shoe was about to drop. "If it becomes a problem, we could just swap quarters?" he smiled, semi-serious about the idea.

"No... Just getting used to the changes. Only been twenty-four." The woman commented on still bright red in the face. This was ridiculous, Micheal had made his choice and it hadn't been her so she needed to put her big girl knickers and get over him.

"Hours? Damn..." Jake winced. "Sorry to hear that. I guess it's kinda awkward, me taking your old boyfriend's job and all. Just make sure folks don't hear that you jumped straight into bed with his replacement. Scuttlebutt will be in overdrive for a month."

Dixoho could have laughed herself silly at that comment. "Don't worry there is bigger scuttlebutt about me than we jumping in someone else's bed." The woman assured quickly. It was nice to not have someone look at her like she might be a doubleganger or something.

In the back of his mind he started to question what she meant by 'bigger scuttlebutt'. He made a note to find out later. "If there's talk about you, then it's news to me." He hadn't even known her name until thirty seconds ago, but maybe it would allay any worries. "So, uh...since we're both awake, I could get you a drink?"

"Um... can I at least put on underwear first?" The woman wondered with a small smirk as she indicated the sheets that was still gathered around her. The man might not be so eager to have a drink with her after he heard the news around her. No one trusted her much anymore.

"Good point." Jake did a half-turn, thinking about just turning his back so she could change, then figured it was best he give her the room. "I'll just be-" he motioned to the living area. There was a short moment of awkwardness as he maneuvered his way sideways past her and through the doorway into the next room.

Immediately noticing her discarded clothing on the floor, he scooped down to pick it up and turned back to offer it to her. Of course, that was the perfect moment for his grasp to not-quite grip correctly and he came out facing her while just dangling her bra from his fingers. "Oh." He felt himself flush. "That's...that wasn't..." he stumbled over the words before managing a goofy "this is yours" and beating a hasty retreat.

"Indeed it is." The woman turned her back on the man and easily put the piece of clothing on before grabbing the rest to drag on just as quickly. "Decent." She mumbled turning back around to face him with a bit of a blush on her cheeks. It wasn't every day that a random man saw her nude and then dangled her bra in front of her.

Finally feeling a little less awkward, Jake grabbed a bottle of Kesatian ale from his stash and plucked a pair of glasses to join it. He poured a little in each and offered one to her.

"Want to talk about it? The break-up, I mean. I realise I'm a total stranger and all, but it sounds like you need an ear," he suggested.

"Not overly. Micheal decided a mark was more important than staying here." The woman said with a shrug. It was as simple as that. "Left his ship and everything." It was strange but what could the woman say about it, the man was gone and she was here.

"Yeah. Sorry." As if the words would help, he acknowledged. "If he figures the mark is more important than you, well..." he shrugged. "Sounds like he wasn't worth it then. Shame on him." It was a very recent, open wound, he noted. Best not delve too deep. Even though his own natural reaction to guys like that was to bash some sense into them for lacking class.

The woman nodded, after all, they had been through it really was a kick in the teeth to the Trill. "So moving on what brought you here and I see that your quarters is um... sparse?" The woman looked around at the nearly empty quarters a little confused as she finally sat down.

Jake smirked. "I think someone thought it would be a great idea to welcome me aboard," he explained. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you weren't involved?"

"No way. If I had you might not have seen me naked." The woman said with a shrug. "I can't even imagine who it would be. Maybe Leiddem. He seems the jovial type, maybe he roped Mac into it. No many options it could be." The crew weren't normally ones to play pranks.

"Leiddem. Mac." Jake repeated the names. They were unfamiliar, at least for the moment. That would change in the morning. "Appreciate the input." He felt a little awkward, considering she had climbed naked into his bed and was offering up the names of potential conspirators. All he'd done was offer her a drink. "You need any more help finding your room?"

"I am going to take that as my hint to leave. Thank you for not calling for help and thank you for the drink." The woman said graciously standing up to take the last of her drink before she put the glass down. It could have gone a lot better but at least he hadn't called for help and made the situation a lot worse.

"Any time," he gave her a warm smile. "Hope you start feeling better."

OFF::

Dixoho Saa
Chief Navigator
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose