Two Bosses Walk Into a Bar...

Posted on Thu Sep 8th, 2016 @ 8:04pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Alika Mahone

Mission: Mission 2 - Contagion
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 02 :: 15:05
1337 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Rueben sighed as he span on his chair looking around his office. It was nothing compared to his former office on the Victory it had been smooth walls and sleek lines and he had a fish tank with a fish called Piotr in. On Rosie he was lucky to have furniture in the room even if it was a huge old fashioned oak desk and a mouldy looking couch that he had covered with blankets in an attempt to freshen the office up. It looked better and it would have to do for now.

He glanced up as the door chimed. It was a familiar sound, one that he recognised despite the time warp he felt he was in sometimes on this old ship.

“Enter!” He called loud enough to be heard through the solid door.

A sneeze was what opened the door, the likes of which rivaled the sneezes of elder grandfathers. It slid open to reveal Alika Mahone, impromptu Chief of all things pilot, master of talking people out of their chairs (and into better ones), and now holder of a sniffly nose, bad cough, and the grumps.

Alika had never been sick before, unless you asked her parents, who would have thought her physically ill every week (thanks to a glitch in their thermometer). It would be to her annoyance that an illness would smack her in the face the moment she had herself settled on the Mary Rose. It did not stop her from her job, or at least trying to. Rueben's faith in her had given her a purpose, even if she begrudgingly took it. She didn't want to screw that up.

"Ya rang, Boss?"

Rueben frowned at the huge sneeze that greeted him. It wasn’t the first sneeze he had heard on the ship that day, he had heard a few engineers sneezing at breakfast. He indicated the chair in front of him for her to sit down on.

“It’s adjustable.” He commented on about the chair with a small grin as he took in her flushed cheeks and sniffling. “Cold?” He wondered.

"This is gonna be a thing, huh?" Appreciative of the gesture, Alika flopped herself down in the seat, comfortable enough to continue the meeting. "Yeah. I was gunna ask Doc Joss 'bout it, but thought I'd come 'ere first. I think there's somethin' goin' 'round."

"Sure is i am afraid." The Captain replied with a grin. He was starting to develop his sense of humor back now that he wasn't always running and having to cover Barton's ass. "Maybe see if Kea is around he could help if Joss is too busy." Rueben suggested knowing that Talon was busy still trying to bring some order to the Medical supplied and space that they had. It was no easy task when you didn't have much to start with.

Alika snorted. "Tch. Typical. Maybe it was somethin' we picked up from the Starbase. Those'll pass." She brushed off the idea of asking someone she wasn't comfortable with to wave a tricorder over her. Talon was discomforting enough. Great guy, but way old. "I'll make sure t'get checked out."

The man nodded, it was all he could expect from her to say the least. It was easy to see she wasn't comfortable with his suggestion but didn't argue.

"I appreciate the fact you came here first but I would never expect you to sacrifice your help as i believe you might be right about something going around. I will get Engineering to check the air filters and sickbay to run medicals." He sounded like it belonged in Starfleet but it was what he knew by heart.

And at the 'Starfleet'-sounding mentions, Alika squinted as if she were a cat about to be sprayed with water. "Right. If I get any of the other pilots sniffing and sneezin', I'll send 'em down to sickbay... but we should get down t'business so we can get t'all that. What's on ya mind?"

Rueben smiled a little more and sipped on his coffee. "It's not so much business more an opportunity." He started to explain. "I don't have an Executive Officer or a Second Officer for that." He said hoping she would get the hint. Barton had him to keep him straight, he needed that especially with Jeaasaho on board.

"Oh." Alika's brow shot up at the mention. "You should definitely pick Joss for that. He's probably got the experience. A little serious." She definitely did not get the hint.

Rueben stared at her with a small smile on his lips. It was easy to see he was amused by her complete lack of understanding.

"Da... But I am talking to you about it." He said softly trying to make her understand.

It seemed more evident that Rueben had specifically had her in mind, and that did not escape Alika's notice. But now, it was less a matter of suggestion and more a matter of getting to find out why her. "I dunno, you're asking for a level-headed person who knows rules. My rule-knowing ain't that great."

“But I like you... and that's important for my Executive Officer...” He said simply. It was an easy choice for him, there were only a few people he actually liked on the ship. So few in fact that he could count them on one hand at the moment, Alika, Jeassaho, Bradon, Dixoho – when she wasn’t being a pain in the behind and Joss. The Doctor and Engineer weren’t being picked because their departments were just too important to him at the moment that taking them away from there crew would decrease the momentum and order they had. Jeassaho he didn’t want it to be like he had favorite's if he wasn’t so in love with the Betazoid he would have picked her because she had command experience from her previous ship by the looks of the stolen service record he had. Dixoho he had never seen in a command experience and he really wasn’t so sure she was going to stay about, she was growing more and more quiet by the day so that just left the Flight Control officer. “And you are already on the bridge.” He added with a shrug.

And, as the youngest member on the ship currently, Alika didn't see herself as 'leadership' material. So what he saw was not something she agreed with. She did want to make sure the ship actually stayed afloat, which was a point in her favor, but it was likely the only point. "... Huh. This isn't the career path I thought I'd be taking in my life, but if you really want me wandering in that capacity..."

The big Russain smirked as the cogs went through her mind about what to do, whether she wanted to be his Exective Officer. "Da...I do. There is no one else i want in the capacity, no one else i could have. Number one choice." He said watching her intently hoping she understood that she wasn't a second choice.

"... Alright then." Alika didn't give it much thought on her own, nodding (mostly to herself), before holding her hand out to shake, as if that was what she was supposed to do. "I'm in, Boss. Consider yourself with a second."

"No Alika you are my first." He said standing up to walked to her side and take her hand. He shook it once before he held out a piece of paper letting her take it before "You need to move quarters. I've cleaned it and you have office... i haven't clean that." He said softly with a hint of amusement that she really didn't have any ideal of what was going to happen now.

"... Clean my office?" Alika's entertained smile turned to a frown. "Don't I get a yeoman for that?"

OFF::

Rueben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose

Alika Mahone
First Officer
SS Mary Rose