A better impression

Posted on 10 Aug 2020 @ 12:57am by Lieutenant JG Oliver Stevens & Lieutenant Xu Chang Lau

Mission: Mission 4 - Race against the machine
Location: Medusas head
Timeline: MD6 19:00
1818 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Oliver Stevens liked a drink at the end of a shift. With the other couple of Federation ships keeping pace with them in pursuit of this planet killer he had been beaming over new people.

"Usual Oliver?" one of the bar keeps nodded at him as he found a table.

"Yes please," he nodded leaning back into the chair at his favourite table and relaxing. Sometimes the Captain joined him.

Most didn't know they knew it other, had been mates at the academy. Oliver had an insight into Jon that most didn't. He didn't think it would be tonight after Jon had told him about Eddie being grounded. He had to chuckle at that story. Eddie had his fathers temperament to ignore the rules and get himself in trouble sometimes.

The waiter placed a glass of beer in front of him and a bowl of peanuts. He had him trained well. He watched the door to see if anyone interesting might come in and grace him with some company.

The day had been that pushed Xu far beyond her comfort zone. She assumed that was the nature of ship board assignments. She relished the challenge, she wanted to expand herself beyond her limits but on day two of a new assignment it seemed a little quick. What she needed now was a drink, ideally the real stuff but being this close to imminent destruction she figured she'd have to stick to the replicated stuff.

The doors to Medusa's head slid apart as she approached and as with her last visit the place was busy. She picked her way past the people surrounding the bar to order her drink, a large glass of Merlot. She turned to take the room in as she took the first sip of her drink and her eyes fell onto the one face in the room she recognised, the Transporter Chief that she had made such a terrible impression with at their first meeting. Unsure if she should approach him and make an apology or just turn around and move to a table at the opposite end of the room... It was to late though, he had already seen her.

"Lieutenant," Oliver said loud enough that she couldn't ignore him. "Have you settled in?" he asked nodding towards the seat opposite.

For a split second she considered pretending she had not heard him, but that thought soon left her as he had very obviously seen her staring back at him. Her cheeks reddened once again. It seemed to be her default state at the moment.

Instead she began to weave her way to the table and gently lowered herself into the seat across from him. "I have, thank you... I do want to apologise to you for my conduct in the transporter room... I was rude and inconsiderate and for that I am truly sorry!"

Oliver waved her off. "You just beamed over in the middle of chaos. Its fine. Although your a little snappy at being addressed Maam. What's that about?"

She smiled again, this time apologetically.

"Once again, I'm sorry! I'm simply not accustomed to the formality of military life. My last assignment was about the work, we all pulled together as colleagues and friends. I see everyone as equals and not subordinate... Not to mention we are the same rank Lieutenant!!!"

A little bit of her usual joviality returned to her voice as she started to gently tease him. She also couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. Was this ship just full of all the eligible bachelors!

"So you would prefer a conversation where we just went, Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Lieutenant? he asked a twinkle in his eye indicating he was also teasing.

"I ended up stuck in one of those with 5 doctors once. It was crazy. Doctor, yes doctor. May I introduce Doctor, doctor and doctor. Well hello doctor, doctor, doctor .... oh it went on and on and on ..... made me feel sick," he cracked a joke. Ok it was a bad one but it might be enough to stop her apologising.

"If it makes you feel more comfortable you can call me Doctor! After all, my line of work has lead to a Doctorate!"
Her own eyes started to twinkle, feeling that she had misjudged this person in a monumental fashion.

"See I knew you had a sense of humour. Just needed all this crazy to settle down," he smiled. "What's the doctorate in?"

"Forensic anthropology..." she could see his confusion emblazoned across his rugged features. "I study bones, give a voice to those that passed years before. I bring closure to families... recently families on Cardassia..." she left that comment hanging knowing full well that he would know along with the rest of the federation the scale of the clean up after the dominion war. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, not wanting to dredge that up again, Ensign Hawkins had been gracious in listening to her but she didn't like or want to lay her own issues on others. Probably the reason why she had refused to see a counsellor after her time on Cardassia had come to a close.

"What about you Lieutenant... Just a transporter chief or do you have other duties or interests?"

"That sounds heavy stuff," Oliver observed. "Me just a transporter chief. Well Im a dam good one. If your stuck floating around a billion atoms I promise you I will do my upmost to get you materialised again. I have a 100% track rate you know.

Interests. Well I like a nice drink. I like boxing. Sometimes give our dear captain a good spar partner. I like games too. Old ones, new ones. Cards. Board games. Do you play any?" he asked.

"We had a games night once on Cardassia in the first few months... Non of us really knew the rules to poker, we just wanted the distraction... We didn't try again after that. Turns out not a single one of the federation recovery team had any talent with cards!"

She smiled, pushing down the memories for why they had wanted to find an outlet, someway to try and forget why they were on Cardassia. "Chess on the other hand I can play, not very well but I know the basics".

“Ahh well chess, that’s a battle of wits,” he grinned. “Hey George,” he flagged down a passing waiter. “Can me and the lady have a chess board?”

The man nodded and headed off out of view. “Let’s see what you have got doc,” he dared.

"Prepare to be thankful I'm a scientist and not a tactical strategist!" this time she laughed and it was mirthful, joyous and full of life. The first time in a long time that she had felt those three emotions all in one place at the same time.

George dropped a box off and Oliver opened it starting to set up the table. “I took the liberty,” the waiter nodded sliding a fresh glass of what he was drinking in front of him. “I can see Your set,” he nodded at The female. “Just yell if you need anything more though. Good luck.”

“Your a peach George,” Oliver said after him.

“You know they say this originated in India around the 6th century. I like history too,” he grinned. “Then in the 1500s it really started to take off. Had a romantic period apparently.”

"There is nothing romantic about it when I play... Its more like a slow motion shuttle crash with lots of severed limbs"
Again she laughed, genuinely enjoying his company. With the exception of Ensign Hawkins not twenty four hours previous, it had been a long time since she had been in the company of someone who wasn't seeing her as a scientist or a Doctor but seeing her as a human and a women. She held his to the same gratitude she had for Michael Hawkins.

"White or Black?" he asked her. "And Im sure your fine at this."

"I'll go with white" she said as she started to lay the white pieces out on the board.

"Ladies first," he indicated politely letting her have the first move. "You have a variant of this in your country don't you? Japan? Its called Shogi. I have never played that one. Maybe we should check it out sometime?"

"It is called Shogi... I never learned the rules though. The same principle as this version of chess but the rules are a little more complicated".

She stopped placing her pieces and looked at him. "Have you been reading up on me Lieutenant? I don't remember telling you I was born in Japan!"

He flushed ever so slightly, "I may have glanced at your personal file. Is it not prudent to ensure you acquaint yourself with the senior staff ....

Okay okay you seemed really grumpy and I thought even despite that you seemed quite interesting so maybe I should get to know you better. So I peaked. Its a public file ...."

"Just a peek?" adopting a stern expression and fixing him with a very direct, stoney eyes stare!

"Why are you grumpy again?" Oliver asked. "Unless you have something to hide."

"If you want to know about me Lieutenant then you should have just asked..." the steely gaze evaporated in an instant. "And invite me out for dinner, who knows you may find out everything you want to know!"

She had started once more placing the pieces on the board, not fixing her gaze with him... even she was a little shocked at how brazen she had just been.

"Would you like to go for dinner?" Oliver said honestly. "I was working up to it. I was thinking somewhere better than Medusas, I wanted to have something good planned before I asked you."

She couldn't stop herself from laughing, the mirthful yet nervous laugh one adopts when something they wanted but thought was so far out of reach it would never happen. She was also once again feeling red in the cheeks, embarrassed about her outburst but floating on a cloud that he had wanted to ask her the very same thing.

"I do... er, not I do as in I do but yes I do want to go for dinner... I'm making a mess of things again!!!"

"Then I would be very happy if you would accompany me to dinner. How's tomorrow night? join me on the holodec. I think I would like to take you back in time, if your amenable?"

All she could do is giggle a little and nod her head with a smile beaming from ear to ear. Like a teenager with her first crush, which she was far from.

He smiled. He was glad Jon had told him to go for it. "Excellent. I'll message you with the costume requirements," he said with a grin.

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