Breakfast Operations

Posted on Wed Aug 9th, 2023 @ 7:13pm by Ensign Sophie Bishop & Commander Steven Greco

1,969 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Year One: Whispers in the Wind
Location: USS Moore - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD002 - 0800 hours

Sophie had been fussing over her hair like a total teenager since she got out of the sonic shower. She'd asked Steve, Commander Greco, to breakfast to go over some operations data and pick his brain about the department. She had learned he used to be an Ops Chief and that made her giddy with geekiness.

She was pressing her uniform down all the time trying to flatten bits but realised she was getting ahead of herself. This was just breakfast with her superior officer, her XO, about Operations. Yep, no pressure.

Without much time left she left not wanting to be late but already running late. Entering the mess hall she looked for Commander Greco.

Steve thanked and smiled at the crewman who placed his scrambled eggs on his plate before handing it over for his tray. Like everyone else, he knew that you relax and have a drink in the DMZ, but eat your meals in the mess hall. Char was friendly and an excellent host, but he used replicators for his food. It never quite tasted the same. Chef tried to use fresh ingredients, or at least replicated the ingredients when necessary, but made the food from scratch.

Grabbing some toast on his way from the line, he found a small but intimate table to sit with Sophie at. Once settled, he found himself frequently looking up at the doors to the mess hall in anticipation of the ensign's arrival.

Sophie quickly saw a flash of Steve and tucked the PADD under her arm and went up to the counter to order. She ordered some avocado toast and a cup of tea with some honey in it. It was rather moreish a tea but her grandmother had always treated Sophie and her siblings to such things as grandparents often do.

Moments later she moved over to the Commander's table and smiled. "Hope I'm not interrupting sir. I know we had arranged this but if you don't want to do it over breakfast." she was already making excuses she knew she didn't have to make.

Steve practically jumped up from his seat. “No! No, it’s alright please. I’d love for you to join me.” He added with an awkward and embarrassed smile. He realized he came across too eager. He liked Sophie, she was sweet and diligent in her work but was aware of the fact she was a young ensign on her first assignment out of the Academy and he was an experienced XO. “If you like, we can discuss the ship’s operations while we eat.” He offered in an attempt to be more professional and recover from his eagerness.

Sophie got a bit of a fright when Steve jumped up. She hadn't expected the speed and force at which he did so merely at her arrival. Although internally it did make her heart flutter a touch to be so warmly welcomed.

"As long as you don't mind sir. I know you were an Operations Chief and I'd love your brain... love to pick your brain!" Sophie quickly corrected herself as she sat down. She began fussing a little with her hair subconsciously as she fixated on her PADD after her embarrassing comment.

Steve just nodded and blushed himself. “You are fine, no pressure. Let’s see what you got.” He leaned over his breakfast to view her PaDD.

He smelled amazing! Just like she thought he would which was odd that she was imagining how he smelled but Sophie was somewhat infatuated by the XO and she was trying her best to play it cool.

She'd closed her eyes with the intake of breath and quickly realised this before opening them and focussing on the PADD hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Oh these are the scans of device I found, remember?" she asked showing him the screen. As of yet they hadn't been able to get into it let alone find out who and what had planted it there.

Steve nodded as he read through the report. He couldn’t help enjoying the little things the woman across from him did. The soft pink in her cheeks when she was distracted particularly stood out. He nearly choked on the mouthful of eggs he was chewing as he read. “It was cloaked?” He asked in hushed tones, looking up into her eyes.

"Yes sir." Sophie replied. "Olivia, ehm Petty Officer Coleman and I were in to fix that comms issue we'd been having. Don't know if it crossed your desk as we are still without a department head." she let the comment drift for a moment before shaking her head and focussing back on the PADD. 'His hands looks so soft. she thought as he held the PADD but again shook herself free of those thoughts.

"There was a minor power drain in that conduit that I believe was powering the cloak of this device. I think it was trying to gain access to the comms array, if it hadn't already, but I haven't been able to access it yet... or determine what species it is from..." she bit her lip in annoyance and nerves.

Steve nodded in understanding as he read through the notes on the PaDD. “I want you to bring it to the science lab. You, Lieutenant s’Lovok and our new chief intelligence officer need to run analysis and find out what you can. I want to know where it came from, how it got aboard then ship and how we didn’t notice it until now. Most importantly I want to know what it was transmitting and why. I expect a full report.” Steve was worried. Whoever planted the device was likely amongst the crew. Could it have been whoever assaulted Amarok?, he wondered.

He beamed at Sophie and felt himself flush. With a slight cough of embarrassment he nodded. “Good work, Ensign.”

"Thank you sir! I will sir!" she beamed like a good student being given an A+. "Commander Davaris said not to connect it to anything just yet until we know what it is. It might pose a danger to the ship so right now it's isolated in Science Lab 1 and only certain people have access. I'll add Lt. s'Lovok and Commander Akimon so they can come in." she stared into his eyes, getting lost for a moment before she realised his mouth was moving.

Steve nodded in agreement at the plan. “Just be responsible about that restriction. We don’t want people panicking or gossiping. Things have been tense enough. Set the doors for security access level three. That should keep the non essential officers out without putting people on edge.” He commented about the situation. The assault on s’Lovok weeks prior still going unsolved weighing on his mind.

Taking a sip of his coffee, he grinned at Sophie. “But if that is all there is to report, I’d like to hear more about you. Your personnel file can only tell me so much.”

"Me?" Sophie snapped back with a small shake of her head and a flutter of her eyes. "I'm not sure there's much to tell... I'm not very interesting." she shrugged. "Youngest of 3, with 2 older brothers. My dad is Captain of the USS Inverness. I think I'm actually quite boring. I spend too much of my free time reading and researching things. Like I didn't know that the moon had moonquakes... did you?" she asked him.

Steve couldn't help smiling at her modesty but clear enthusiasm. He shook his head at the question as he grinned. "No, I did not. That must have been long before lunar colonies were established. What do you know about them?"

"Well it's called Terra Luna now isn't it?" Sophie corrected herself outside of Steve's question. "But I do know people who live there still just call it the Moon." she smiled to herself. "I know there's a bunch of colonies, Typhon, New Angeles and New Berlin to name a few main ones. Went to New Berlin on a school trip and seeing the Earth from there just made me want to set off for the stars then and there!" her passion growing by each word.

Steve was finding himself enchanted by the young ensign. Her enthusiasm was infectious. He grinned as he nodded in understanding, laughing as he sat forward and leaned his elbows on the table. “That’s how I felt when my dad would take us backpacking in the wilderness in the Rockies. It was breath-taking to stare up at all those stars, knowing so many of them had planets and people on them. I just wanted to go and explore them all.” He looked up into Sophie’s eyes.

Sophie looked back at Steve and noticed his gaze upon her. She too got lost for a moment. "You have such beautiful hazel eyes. I could stare into them for hours." she said aloud. It was then the world stopped spinning. The room quiet, muffled the revelry in the background, almost like the shields of a starship going up around them. She looked shocked, what had she just said to her XO? "Oh my God!" she panicked. "Sir, I am so sorry!" she looked down and then started mouthing to herself. "Inside voice, Sophie. God!"

Steve was admittedly taken by surprise with the compliment. She gave a slightly uncomfortable smile as he reached for her hand to reassure her. His own cheeks blushing. “Sophie…I’m flattered, truly. We all have moments where we say things we didn’t mean to.” He said calmly to reassure the young woman. He didn’t realize his hand slipped to hold hers. “You are a bright and competent officer and a…lovely woman. I enjoy being able to spend time together. I don’t want this to affect that. Alright?” He said sincerely but diplomatically.

Sophie for a moment could do nothing but stare at his hand in hers. It was warm, strong but gentle but all the welcome and it made her cheeks almost burn with fire. "I totally meant it." she thought.

A reflex, a small hand spasm made her give his hand a small squeeze before she pulled hers back a little in mortification. "Yes, sir. Thank you sir. I like spending time with you too... like maybe we could possibly go down to the festival? On the planet? Well, there's not a festival anywhere else I guess but I think it'd be nice and you have experience in different cultures, different species... please stop me from talking..." she babbled.

Steve blushed as he unknowingly squeezed her hand in return. “That sounds like a good idea. Let’s figure out a time to meet up there.” He said as looked into her eyes again until he shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand away and made to stand. “Is there anything else, Ensi-Sophie?”

"Ehm no sir. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to the festival." she smiled at him but tried to rise to meet him, but instead she fumbled with her PADD and dropped a piece of cutlery. "Klutz!" she very discreetly chastised herself.

Steve gave a reassuring smile as he patted Sophie’s shoulder as he left in a friendly gesture. “Carry on, Ensign.” He said more professionally, despite making a point of meeting her blue eyes with his for an extra moment before walking out of the mess hall.

"Stupid... stupid..." Sophie watched as Steve left. "Last thing he saw was you being a klutz and dropping shouting at yourself... never even did say bye."

"Who are you talking to?" A server asked as they walked passed.

"Shut up." Sophie said embarrassed and walked off herself.

 

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