Dinner Among Friends
Posted on Thu Jan 18th, 2018 @ 2:17pm by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 9:51pm
2,645 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Enemy Within
Location: Captain's Dining Room
Timeline: MD001 1900 hrs
Tags: SD 71370.1900
Tyler had the support staff prep the dining room. The eve of a first mission was an auspicious occasion as far as he was concerned, and he invited his XO to dine in the Captain's dinning room for the occasion. The official dining set for the ship, bearing the ship's name and registry number was taken out for the dinner. With all of the hustle and bustle that it took to get the ship ready to leave he hadn't caught up with his friend in a few days. He looked forward to this quiet time when he could just be Tyler. He sat at the head of the table and sipped a glass of wine as he waited for her to arrive.
Patricia pushed a hand across her hair, if she was to be honest she half wanted to be here and half didn't. On the evening after their first departure, departmental and personal reports where piling up on her desk and each demanded attention over the other as people wanted answers only she seemed able to give in their minds. She knew that with time would come more fluidity but right now it was all a little overwhelming...The Pioneer was nothing like the Aura...the defiant ship had been minute which reflected in her work; the Pioneer made her feel like maybe she really was in over her head.
Stopping outside of the dining room, the officer allowed herself to close her eyes for just a moment as she forced herself to take a calm and even breath before managing a smile before pressing the chime to announce her arrival.
"Come..." he said nonchalantly... He looked up and saw his XO enter. "Hey Monty welcome have a seat... Glad you could make it. What ya have?" Tyler smiled at her.
It was on the top of her tongue to ask him to stop calling her that. Monty was left over from the academy...days long gone by and in their past. Although she understood the sentimentality it still drove her up the wall...especially when around the crew.
Instead Patricia forced a smile on her lips, even though her eyes didn’t hide the strain of the pressure she was under. “Your timing is as good as ever Ty...you wouldn’t think we just left this morning.”
Tyler smiled, "Call it Captain's prerogative. I thought a friendly dinner to catch up would be great. So, tell me how do you fare Patricia?" A member of the support staff came over and Tyler ordered a ribeye rare with all the trimmings. The support staff member then asked what the XO would be eating while she poured some Pinot Noir.
Patricia hesitated, unused to such intimate surroundings onboard a ship, more used to messhalls and quarters when out in space. “I’ll have the same...medium rare please.” The woman offered the staff a small smile before taking a seat opposite her friend. “Which part would you like to know? The work or the personal?”
Tyler smiled at her, "Well both... But let's start with the work. We have a good crew here."
Feeling slightly more at ease with the subject on professional, Patricia relaxed back into her seat, bringing her leg up to rest horizontally across the other. "Work is chaos...we have a good crew on the surface but the departments are still filling and issues with staff lacking in certain areas is beginning to arise. Our department heads have alot of work ahead of them and it won't be easy on their own."
"Precisely and that is why they need to do it. If my department heads can't handle simple staffing issues without coming to you or myself then how can they tackle the tougher issues. We as a command team just have to let them succeed or fail as it happens. We can't hold their hands through this. Would you like some wine?" Tyler poured the wine, a good replication of a carmenere vintage.
"The issue isn't holding hands, the issues is the physical presence of the people that we need." Patricia leaned forward in order to push her glass closed to Tyler. "Just like the issue we faced with our Doctor, Starfleet aren't being exceptional giving of people in order to fill the ranks. You can only expect people to be able to do so much, to cover so much, before burnout becomes a concern. Our biggest issue at the moment is the juggling of the people we have to avoid the possibility of burnout, especially given our opportunities to refresh and renew crew is going to be very slim once we leave here."
Tyler chuckled "Stop worrying, this ship is fully staffed and operational. There are a couple of positions that we haven't gotten staffed yet. But it will be fine, we can always annoy command when we return. Right now we have a mission to complete." Tyler raised his glass as a toast to his friend.
Patricia shook her head, before raising her glass in return. To Tyler this was all second nature but to her she had a point to prove...that she was capable of being an executive officer; to prove that she could juggle all the balls thrown in her direction and make them all work. Failure in any small aspect of this could not be allowed. “And how do you feel about the mission Ty?”
Tyler looked around the room to make sure that the room was clear except for the two of them for the time being. He sipped his wine as he chose his next words carefully. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. Starfleet at large thinks that we are going to the Badlands on a science mission, as does the Detapa Council for that matter. However, we are on a search and capture or destroy mission. That rubs me the wrong way. There is a huge part of me that hopes that we get there and find nothing."
Patricia’s thoughts momentarily turned to Vela, recalling how the part destruction of his ship was part of the catalyst to this whole situation. “This is dangerous Ty...we could loose everything in one sweep if this doesn’t go the way it should. We’ve already seen their capabilities.”
Tyler nodded sagely... He and Patricia had only been serving together for a short time and already their thoughts were in sync. "I agree, and I take it that you heard what happened to the Fearless. That is another issue entirely... You see the Fearless was attacked by a Cardassian ship. This creates an entire new issue here. Are there Cardassians in league with this New Maquis or are they an entirely new threat. That is one of the things we have to try to find out. However, as you are aware, the ship and the crew comes first. I will not sacrifice anyone for this. A big worry of mine is about the crew. They do not want to bond with me. I am not sure what it is but I try to chat and they avoid me like a plague. I want and hope that they bond as a family. That is my question when I ask how is the crew?" Tyler's brow furrowed in worry briefly as he spoke.
Patricia's eyes focused on her wine glass as she twisted the stem between her fingers, considering a number of elements of what Ty had just said to her carefully. Sometimes it was difficult to leave her old roles behind, but other times it came in handy. "What makes you say that the crew don't want to bond with you?"
He sipped his wine and looked at her over the glass. Tyler knew what she was doing, she was going to council him. Well, he didn't want to confide in someone he didn't know. Who better than one of his oldest and dearest friends. He sighed audibly, "Well I went in to the mess hall yesterday for lunch. Yes I had an ulterior motive. I wanted to get to know my crew to bond as it were. I felt like I was in a High School lunchroom. Everytime I asked to join a table people politely excused themselves, as if I had the Yiridian Flu or something. Come on Patricia if they wanted to get to know me why run away." He sipped his wine as the dining staff presented waldorf salads to the two of them.
Moving back slightly, Patricia smiled her appreciation to the dining staff before taking a fork in hand and thinking carefully over her friend's words. "You knew that being a Captain would never be as easy in more ways than one. Crew have connotations towards their command staff, a fear of saying or doing something wrong. It's still very early days and they don't know you and are too new to the ship to know your reputation."
Tyler thanked the staff for the first course and then gave his XO a look of thoughtfulness. She is probably right he thought, and that is why she was here to keep him from making an idiot of himself. He took a few bites and then smiled, "You're probably right. When I had been told that the center chair was a lonely place. I didn't think that it would be this bad. Hurumph... Well, we touched on the ship, but not you. How are you adjusting Patricia?" The look on Tyler's face changed from the ear to ear smile to a look of concern. Patricia after all was the third most important woman in his life.
“It won’t always be a lonely place...you just need to give it time and extend to people the same trust as you would wish from them in return.” Patricia played with the fork in her hand for the moment before looking to turn the conversation away from herself. “Have you heard from Captain Vela recently? Has he managed to move his new ship out from the base yet?”
He realized that she was skirting the issue about herself. "Well I believe he is still trying to staff that sucker." Tyler laughed and then ate some more of his salad. "Listen, I know that it has been hard on you, tell me what is going on... Alas, if you don't I want you to know that you are doing a phenomenal job, that I am here for you and would like to make sure that you are doing well." He looks at her with a pained look, one that spoke of the worry that he had.
Patricia smiled at Tyler’s casual reference to his friend, also relieved to hear that perhaps Vela’s life was returning to a little more normality after the loss he had somewhat experienced. It was her friends further words that had her stuck for a responce. Which she appreciated the praise, it still didn’t sit so well when she knew there was still so much to be done and still so much left unfinished.
Sitting back into her chair, the woman twirled the stem of her glass between her fingers once more as she studied the movement of the liquid against its vessel. “I’m fine...I guess maybe it’s just taking a little longer to settle back into the uniform than I had initially planned for. I’ve a lot of lost time to make up for and this is a big step to where I came from before events occurred as they did.”
"I can understand that, care to elaborate. If we can't lean on each other then who can we lean on." Tyler worried about her, perhaps too much. Did he push her back out here too soon? he thought. "There is always a lot to do, but we will fall into a routine." he added.
Feeling a loss of appetite, Patricia sat back in her seat as she studied the glass of wine; avoiding looking at Tyler. “You know about before....What you didn’t know I’m sure Katherine filled in the gaps. I know that the two of you keep no secrets. I failed the last time, both as a commanding officer, a Starfleet officer and as a Doctor. I ignored warning signs I knew weren’t good, all for the sake of trying to prove my worth. This time needs to be different...this time needs to work Tyler as I won’t get another chance.”
"Patricia..." he reached out and took her hand for a moment. "You didn't fail... If anything you were trying too hard. You have to have faith, in yourself and in this crew." He looked at her and knew she was hurting and hoped that his words and presence helped.
Almost as if they sensed something, the dining staff came in and served the main course, steaks with vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes.
Patricia pulled her hand back as she allowed her barely touched food to be swapped with their mains. She knew that Tyler meant the words that he spoke but she also know that no matter what he said, it would never convince her that she hadn’t failed. The words echoed over and over each night in her head since the accident. The accusations from her former commanding officer that she wasn’t fit to fulfil her duties and she’d gone and proven him right.
The woman had enough of a head on her shoulders to understand that given time she could prove them all wrong but until then...she had to keep doing her best. “How’s Katherine? I’d hoped to see her before we left but it seemed that our diaries weren’t destined to line up.”
Tyler smiled at the unspoken feeling between them. He knew that she would succeed, and that he would see that she did. "Kat is well, you know her always an engineering project to have the priority. Now that she has an entire station to assist in repairing all hell is breaking loose. I spoke to her yesterday and it seems that she has met Larim's wife and the two have become friends. She made me promise not to loose my cool, and to listen to you. I believe she referred to you as my work wife." Tyler laughed boisterously and tucked into his meal.
"Work wife..." Patricia couldn't help the small smile as she shook her head a little in disbelief. "Does that mean I get to nag you as much as she does you?"
Tyler laughed, "Indeed, perhaps more so because you will keep all the fun away missions to yourself and make sure that I don't make a jerk of myself. Patricia, I think we are going to make an unstoppable team. The crew we have is some of the youngest, and brightest in Starfleet. This ship, and her crew have a story to tell." Tyler was wistful and dreamy when he spoke the last sentence.
The two dined through the evening, they ate as they reminisced and chatted. At the end of the evening Tyler realized a few things. The first was that he had a great XO and a greater friend. The second was that he had the best crew in Starfleet. The third was that he actually had three wives, his wife Kat, his work with Monty, and his ship. Tyler was sure that he would not tell last about the first two...
A Joint Post By
Commander Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Commander Patricia Montgomery M.D.
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
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