Everyone has a weakness

Posted on Mon Feb 3rd, 2020 @ 3:22pm by Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri (*)

Mission: Cosmos
Location: USS Cosmos
Timeline: 2396
1018 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

There was one passenger on board that she had yet to meet and it was the person she had been interested in meeting since he had come on board. It was not every day you got to meet a survivor from the USS Bozeman. Ledeya stepped into the Mess Hall and smiled as she saw him sitting alone. She grabbed a quick mug of hot chocolate before moving through the nearly empty mess hall to join the man.

"Hello, Lieutenant. Can I join you?" She wondered.

"Yeah, of course, Captain," Sam replied, standing respectfully and gesturing to the chair opposite his own. "I've been meaning to thank you for the ride."

"No need to stand to attention." Ledeya quickly said taking the seat indicating that he could sit back down. "And I have been meaning to talk to you. The ride to Heimdall is my pleasure. I think I am taking most of the new senior crew to there new home." She admitted thoughtfully. It wasn't often she got to meet senior crews for her task group before there own captains.

"Well it's still appreciated ma'am." The engineer replied with a grin. "There's a lot of people with a lot of stuff. It can be hard to cram all your stuff into a shuttle, along with five kilos of coffee beans. Especially when you've gotta share."

"Five kilos of coffee beans?" Ledeya repeated arching an eyebrow. That was a unique item to bring to a posting in her opinion. She was known to love coffee but even she could not believe that she would bring that.

"This stuff isn't the same." Same raised his mug of replicated coffee. "The real thing isn't always easy to find either. The Tellarites bio-engineered something that can be grown in more environments, which is pretty prolific but doesn't taste quite right. I found a good supplier so I bought in bulk, who knows when the next opportunity will come along."

Ledeya could not help but chuckle. She was the same but weakness was not coffee at all but Betazoid nectar. It was getting harder to get hold of at the moment thanks to a bad harvest. "I will advise 621 of your weakness and ease to bribe with coffee then Lieutenant." She teased just a little. Engineers were known to always have a weakness anyway.

"I have numerous weaknesses Captain." Sam admitted with a crooked grin. "I'm hoping that five kilos will alleviate the need to take a bribe for a while at least. You know 621 well?"

"I know some of the crew well. The Chief Science Officer was my roommate all the way through the Academy and I was lucky enough to meet the Executive Officer a month or so back at the cancelled War Games." Ledeya grinned back not wanting to let on how wacky Kaleetha really was. Everyone needed to make that opinion themselves.

"Sounds pretty good. I don't know any of the senior staff, but it's a big station and I've been around a while, might be a familiar face or two aboard." He replied.

"Hopefully." Ledeya wanted to be positive despite the news that had come out of 621 and the attack there. "A new assignment does not feel quite as daunting if there is at least one familiar face."

"Tell me about it." The engineer replied. "I've been around long enough to have met a lot of people now, but there was a time when I knew nobody."

"The universe does not feel quite as small when that happens isn't it?" Ledeya knew that to be a fact. She had thought the universe small when she had just been a Doctor but now as Task Group Commanding Officer it was nothing like that, she longed some days for the small role she used to have.

"Hasn't felt small for a long time now Captain." He said. "I think the best I can hope for is to find something that feels like my place in it. Maybe even do some good with my time."

"And I am pretty sure you can do a lot of good right now to a lot of people." The woman was pretty sure of that. It was a sad state of affairs on the base and they still did not know what they were walking into.

"Rumour is things are pretty rough there." Sam said. "But nobody seems to want to say too much. I know it's not the friendliest corner of the galaxy."

"And with a diplomatic summit it was not the best timing from our point of view." The woman admitted with a roll of her eyes. It might not be good timing from the Federations point of view but whoever had set the bombs off had done it knowing fall well what they were doing and when. What an investigation it was going to be.

"I think I'm gonna have my work cut out for me." He remarked. "Although I'm no diplomat, so I'll try to keep my distance from that part. Anyone I oughta keep my distance from?"

Ledeya shook her head. She was not sure there was anyone he should get close to or distance himself from at all. It was able all the quadriple border of the Federation, Breen, Tzenkethi, and Cardassians, pretty much the wild west. "I think you will need to learn that for yourself, Lieutenant." She admitted.

He shot the Captain a crooked grin. "I suspect that won't take me too long."

Ledeya just grinned back. Nothing would be gained from her spoon feeding officers especially ones as experienced as him. “I should be getting on. If you’ll excuse me.” The woman said politely.

"Sure, thanks for stopping to say hi," Sam said. "Good to meet you, Captain."

"You too Lieutenant," Ledeya said with a nod. There was not much time at all but she was going to need some rest and she hoped the new Department heads did the same.

OFF::

Captain Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri
Commanding Officer
USS Cosmos / TG 72-B
(PNPC Gregnol)

Lieutenant Sam Ellis
Chief Engineer
Starbase 621