Lets End The Day On A Positive MISSION END

Posted on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 @ 9:10am by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Commander William Gerhard
Edited on on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 @ 9:11am

Mission: Mission 5 - Babel
Location: Deck F - Armoury Locker Room
Timeline: Day 280 23:00
1935 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth sat in the armoury locker room a long time after everyone left just sat in vest and shorts on the bench, her armoury gear in a pile thinking about the planet and the history she had seen from the planet. It was going to fill her brain for weeks with wonderful and scary things but it would be an amazing story to write down one day to share with future generations so the story of the planet would never be forgotten. She heard someone further in the room and called out quickly. “I am still around so don’t be naked or nearly naked please,” Beth called in standard relieved to be able to communicate without having to think and translate into so many different languages.

William came around the corner after stowing his own gear in his personal locker. He saw the captain sitting on the bench slightly out of uniform. He looked around him before looking back at her with a slightly upraised eyebrow, "I don't think you have anything to worry about ma'am." He walked past her on the bench and pulled his holstered phase pistol from his hip. After entering the combination for the weapons locker, he opened it and stowed the weapon inside and resecured the locker. He looked back at the captain and smiled slightly, "Nice to hear you speaking standard, though I can't say I didn't enjoy exercising my language skills."

“I do not know I just saw far too much of crewman Harris after he came out of the shower,” Beth commented with a small smirk at the fact she had seen way more than either of them had wanted. It was now why she was declaring she was still there loudly. She did not need any more crewmen blushing red every time they saw her. “Yeah, it is nice to be speaking one language again instead of nine simultaneously. And do not lie I refuse to believe that O’Connery lets you not exercise your language skills.” She said brightly teasing him just a little to see where he was with Lexi after her memory loss.

He winced at the thought of the captain and Harris's awkward encounter. "So that's why he looked mortified when I saw him leaving," he laughed slightly as he leaned against the wall and folded his arms. At the mention of Lexi he sighed and looked down at his boots, "I guess the cat's out of the bag now. She has kept my skills up I won't lie." He looked back at her as he thought of Lexi lying in sickbay, "I just hope her memory loss isn't permanent, but we've both promised to work through it."

"Well... I can see why I hear rumours of him being a ladies' man." Beth said grinning ruefully before she shook her head. She would rather not know but it had been hard to not see when he had been stood there. "Very awkward but yes your cat is out the bag. I knew that you both had someone or something going on but I did not know it was together." Beth smiled and patted the bench next to her. "What does she remember?" Beth wondered as he joined her. She had not had a chance to talk to the woman properly since she had that ability to get around properly.

He sighed as he sat next to the captain on the bench. He leaned slightly forward and clasped his hands looking down at his boots through his arms. "So far the last thing she remembers is the party that Captain Morgan held shortly after our commissioning and the beginning of our mission. Anything after that she can't remember," he said the pain of the thought coming through his voice. He looked back up over at her and smiled slightly, "Quite a lot of time lost isn't it."

Beth nodded. It was a long time but if anyone could thrive under that type of pressure and move on it was Alexandra O’Connery. “It is a lot of time but if she is giving you the time of day then something but click in her head. Alexandra O’Connery is the only person I know who had thrived being so far from home and I think that might be down to you.” She pointed out thinking back to that night herself. It had been the last good party she could remember before everything had turned a bit on its head and then now had no backup nor supplies other than what they created themselves.

He nodded slightly reassured by her words. He and Lexi had already discussed the issues surrounding them, and he was hopeful that no matter what she still cared for him. "You're right, and she is strong. We agreed to take things slow and not rush into anything," he replied before looking up at the wall opposite them and sighing. "Hopefully soon we can catch a break. We've already lost so many," he said before looking back over at the captain, "I never heard of the update on Elegy."

Everyone kept using the phrase so many but Beth was becoming frustrated that the Enterprise and Columbia had lost more crew in their first years than Beth had. “It is not as bad as it seems. It seems worse because we are isolated.” Beth said nothing wanting to put her thoughts onto him when she was frustrated. “It is not looking good but he is stable for now,” Beth said gently thinking it might be a good time to broach the subject she was going to with him.

"That's good, let's hope he can pull through," William replied. He and Elegy had just been getting to know each other a little better during their off-duty periods.

“I was planning to find you after later this evening and discuss something with you. Elegy was going to become 2nd Officer but now with him not able to do you think you can work with me and Leyton as the second officer?” Beth wondered.

William looked over at the captain with raised eyebrows. He was flattered that she had asked him and a little surprised. Other department heads had more seniority than he did. With Starfleet being primarily an exploratory service, Armory officers within the command structures on starships were rare, but not unheard of. "I'm honored you would consider me Captain, but you do know there are other officers with more seniority than me," he replied.

“Like?” Beth asked gently already expecting this conversation with him. There was no one else, he was the next choice after Nascimento and the only logical one to maintain the order on the ship.

"Well, there's....," William started to say before his voice trailed off as he thought about it. In reality, he was the only one aside from Elegy. He looked back over at the captain and smiled slightly. "I guess I'm just being modest about it all," he said before nodding his head, "If you want me, then I'm your man captain. I won't let you down."

"Far too modest for a man who has done what you have the last few weeks," Beth said with a kind smile as he finally realised that there was very little option at the moment for options for second officer. It would have been easy if they had been home there would have been a change of crew and even herself would most likely have been changed for a more experienced and older Commanding Officer but here they had to do the best they could and hone the skills they had available. "Good. Because we do need you and the skills you bring to the command team since Sloan's change. I am more concerned about you letting yourself down."

William returned her smile. There was a part of him that worried if he would be up to the job. Being second officer would bring more challenges, but his whole career had been based on overcoming challenges. When he first joined Starfleet, William had had to work hard to overcome the stigma of how he came to join up. Thinking back to his first years, he had to admit he wouldn't have guessed this would be where he ended up. "You can count on me captain," he said in acknowledgment. He looked back up at her with a slight grin, "I guess this means Lexi and I can't come forward with our relationship again." He laughed slightly as the joke eased the tension in the room.

"Nope, that is fully out in the open for everyone around you now." She said with a slight shake of her head. "At least I did not need to get it out of you in an interview." The woman said with a small teasing smile as she patted his shoulder showing there were no hard feelings from her about how whatever it was with Michael came out. It was nice to see people creating bonds that would get them through whatever came their way if she was honest. They were never going to get through it if they did not.

William smiled and bowed his head slightly, "True, that would've been quite awkward." He then looked back over at the captain and gave her an upraised eyebrow, "So, I wanted to run something by you and I figure now is a good time. Before Major King...I mean Samuel...passed, he and I had a good working relationship between the MACOs and Armory. I want to continue this role with Captain Stenn, but he's been out of the game until recently. I just don't want to seem like I'm overstepping my boundaries here."

"Okay well right this second is not the time but I will organize something between us all to air it all." The woman assured him with a pat on his shoulder. She knew things would change with Stenn awake so there was going to need to change and an adjustment period. "We all need some rest and process what had happened on the planet. Was not exactly something simple or anything so get some rest and we can catch up as soon as possible."

He nodded, "Of course captain, though I have a feeling my sleep schedule is going to be cut back even more with this new job." He gave her a smile as he placed his hands on his thighs and stood from the bench. "Well, I'd better go make sure my armory team didn't get into too much trouble while I was gone." He paused and looked back at her sitting before throwing a thumb over his shoulder towards the exit, "Should I check if Harris is waiting for you outside?" He gave her a grin as she threw a towel at him and he caught it with his hand.

“Then get the rest whilst you can,” Beth called chucking a towel in his direction at his quip. “There we go now I can see the man under all the security training that Lexi found.” She teased him back.

He smiled back at Beth as he made his way towards the exit. He decided to check in on Lexi and headed towards sickbay. Second Officer he thought to himself as he walked down the passageway. Command aspirations had never been a focus of his career, but his feelings towards command had begun to warm since he'd been given more responsibilities. He just hoped that he would be able to live up to the Captain's expectations.