Joint Personal Log - LtCmdr Dahe'el & Lt Waterhouse - "I Promise On A Dime, It’s The Last Time"

Posted on Sat Aug 9th, 2014 @ 12:34am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse

1,581 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

It had been easy enough to get her parents to part with the bottle of tasty she'd intended as an apology to the Cardassian, but finding him where she could actually present it to him had been the challenge. Illegal bathtub booze, even if not actually made in a real bathtub, was not something to show off in public after all. Amelia had been stalking him a couple days before they reached the shipyards, and the only place he ever seemed alone was his quarters or his office in engineering. Because she didn't want to explain to him how the bottle fit in her tiny pockets, she couldn't smuggle it into engineering... So despite what she'd wanted, she found herself invading his privacy and ringing the chime for his quarters.

A rare moment of peace was what the Cardassian had found in his quarters, he was sat on the sofa, his legs crossed below him and his eyes closed, his breathing was shallow and carefully timed and his heartbeat had slowed to the point of giving him a statuesque appearance, "Enter," he called out slowly as his eyes opened slowly, the darkness of his room filling his vision as he unfolded his arms and tapped a button to raise the lights a level.

"Apologies for disturbing you in your quarters, sir," Amelia said as she entered just far enough to let the doors slide shut behind her, and stood letting her eyes adjust to the dimmer light of the engineer's quarters. When she could see, she was amused how much like an alabaster sculpture he looked, not unlike the ones her aunt Zia carved. Rochelle could do worse, Amelia thought, recalling the information between words spoken during their recent tea party. Amelia held up the bottle of purple liquor where he could see it.

"Lieutenant Waterhouse, to what do I owe the pleasure," Almar replied as a smile spread across his lips slowly, his voice was still down a pace as his heart rate climbed slowly back up to it's normal resting rate.

"I felt I owed you an apology for what I said on the bridge while you were saving Rochelle and Captain Neyes," Amelia started, stepping forward a little bit. He didn't seem annoyed, maybe she'd over estimated how bad she'd bungled things with her little joke. No matter, staying on the good side of engineers was always in one's best interest anyways. "My uncle makes home distilled grain alcohol and infuses it with various fruits and flavors. This is one he's particularly proud of, featuring klavaatu."

"No apology needed," Almar chuckled as his frame began to unfurl, his legs moved out from under him and he stood, moving forward to look over the bottle, "But I appreciate a good alcohol."

"Then you'll love this," Amelia insisted, handing the bottle over. "Ask him, and it's okay, but everyone who's tried it loves it. I'm trying to remember what other fruits he's currently using, but I should be able to get more if you like this... It'll be a little delayed, given the current situation, but my brother seems able to slip back and forth with stuff still."

"Very nice," the Cardassian replied as he handled the bottle and opened it up, letting it flood his nostrils with smells that just weren't able to be replicated, "My compliments to your uncle, this smells like some quite potent stuff."

"I think his original goal was make something that would put my mother under the table, but the connoisseur in him got inspired." Amelia knew if she wasn't careful, she'd talk his ear off about family and alcohol, but then inspiration struck. "How's your new engineer working out? That little Ferengi woman, Zola is it?"

"She's surprising," Almar replied honestly as he placed the bottle down on a shelf and gestured towards one of the chairs in his living quarters, "I'll make no secret of it, I've never been particularly fond of the Ferengi, but she has been quite useful, especially with retrieving our people, without her help, it would have taken much longer."

"Considering the photo finish, thank lady luck she helped," Amelia returned, taking the offered seat with a nod and smile. "My rule of thumb is never trust a Ferengi until you get to know them, especially if you actually have currency... But they're really resourceful creatures."

"Indeed," the Cardassian replied, his voice dipping slightly and his tone almost as cold as they planet they had just left, "When they realise that profit is not everything, they make extremely useful comrades," he added as he brightened up slightly, "I'm putting it forward to... well... whatever is left of the Fleet Research and Development that these probes be added to the pattern library, with Zola's permission of course, they could be quite useful in a number of situations with a bit of modification."

Amelia couldn't help note the change in tone when the words photo finish left her lips in reference to the rescue of the command team, so even though she wanted to talk more about Zola she felt that maybe she should find out more about his man's intentions towards her friend.

"Indeed they could, what I could follow of the specs when I sat down with them..." Amelia shook her head with a grin. "So, how long have you known Rochelle?"

"Since she came on board the Vindicator," the Cardassian replied as he sat back on the couch and ran his hand through his hair, "At first I think she was rather... hostile towards me, as most people are, especially in light of the crimes my race have committed recently," he continued, pausing for a second on how to word things correctly, "She took the time to speak to me though, we formed a friendship."

"I've noticed the crew's hostility," Amelia grumbled with an eye roll. "Nearly smacked Yeoman duPont a couple times because of his commentary since he started following me like a bad penny." Amelia sighed, slumping back in the chair. "I'm glad you two became friends, not many would take a ship as large as Vindicator into atmo to retrieve anything less than the love of their life." As she said this, her eyes sought Almar's.

"I am used to it," Almar replied as his eyes met hers with nothing but conviction, "I took the Vindicator into atmosphere because I was sure I could bring her back,"

That statement could be taken one of two ways: he was certain he could bring Rochelle back, or he was certain that he could bring Vindicator back from the atmospheric crawl... Perhaps, probably both. Amelia didn't feel the need to clarify, she was going to trust her gut. Rochelle could keep this one. Amelia grinned wide at him.

"You and this magnificent ship did the job well, even if the fleet needs to create more resilient thrusters, and I am glad you were able to bring my friend back," she returned even as it occurred to her that maybe she should let him get back to his solitude, considering how rare that seemed to be as of late.

"I built her, so she should be quite capable," the Cardassian replied as his eyes swelled with pride, "And I intend to make sure we keep her strong in the years to come."

"You built her?" Amelia looked around, as if she could take in the whole ship with her eyes, just sitting in the Chief Engineer's quarters, "And they let you out of the shipyards to be her chief engineer? Nice."

"Let me, is a bit of a misunderstanding," Almar replied with a light chuckle, "I refused to sign off on any of the candidates they put forward to Command the Vindicator to her rendezvous with the Vindicator D and to take up the position of Chief Engineer, so they sent me instead."

"Sometimes they don't know what's good for 'em until you force their hand," Amelia returned with a merry laugh. "That does mean I'll have to keep an eye on you though, stubborn engineers can be problematic." She winked and grinned at him.

"The only good engineer is a stubborn engineer," he replied without a pause, another chuckle taking and carrying to the corners of the room.

"A good engineer can get away with being stubborn," she corrected with a snort. "You apparently have the skill to excuse your stubbornness."

"I do have a considerable amount of skill, especially where this ship is concerned," Almar replied with a slight smile.

"A good engineer is worth his weight in booze," Amelia insisted.

"Of course," the Cardassian replied before standing slowly, "I'm sorry to appear rude, but it is getting quite late and I'm sure we both have plenty of work to be doing tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it, I've got a date with an Admiral, one that isn't my Dad, tomorrow." She grinned as she stood. "Let me know what you think of the purple tasty when you get the chance, I hope you enjoy it." And with that, she headed out the door.

"I'm sure I will," Almar replied as she headed out of the door, he returned to his sofa and sat, his eyes closed as he began slowing his heart-rate again, slipping back into the statuesque state he had been in before.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Lieutenant Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Vindicator

Lieutenant Amelia Waterhouse
Infiltration Specialist
USS Vindicator

 

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