Joint Duty Log - Capn Ivanova & LtCmdr Waterhouse - "Suicide is Painless, It brings on many changes"

Posted on Mon Aug 18th, 2014 @ 8:31pm by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Admiral Rochelle Ivanova

2,488 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

The ready room desk now seemed more sacred than it had been ever before. She'd fought to keep it, insisting that she didn't want to see it replaced with the passing of a new order. It didn't matter to her that it was Landon's or that tradition stated that with a new Captain should come a new desk. The rich mahogany had begged for her touch and she promised its safety in spades that day. Her fingers now ran over the elegant curves of the carved edges — so masculine and yet so perfect. It reminded her of Andrea's and that alone was enough to cement it in her mind that she was going to keep and preserve its power and integrity, not unlike how she would protect and serve the ship that held it.

Tradition. The word bit at the corners of her mind as she remembered the sound of violins and the conversations she'd had the night of the awards ceremony. Tradition. The word that upheld so many shenanigans and imposed worry into the hearts of the fiends that dared to become victim to it's innocuous discord. "Commander Waterhouse." Her voice rang boldly after her slender fingers pressed her combadge and it's chirp of readiness passed into quiet oblivion, "Report to the Captain's ready room." she rolled again, no love nor warmth highlighting her words, "Now." and so the games begun.

Amelia had been in the middle of wrangling the shipyards to deliver her stuff. Despite being in port for a few days already, she still hadn't been able to get her belongings delivered. People were busy, they were under staffed, her stuff was buried behind incoming supplies and couldn't be pulled out... the excuses had gone without end. Amelia hadn't had the time to march in to someone's office and raise a ruckus to get her stuff, so she'd let it lie. Now that the award ceremony was done, she had time to finally find someone who could fix it. Then Amelia's combadge chirped at her.

"On my way, ma'am," Amelia returned with a slap of her combadge. She let out a frustrated sigh when the channel closed again.

"We'll get your quarters assignment from the Vindicator, ma'am," the crewman assured her, pointing her towards the nearby transporter pad. She nodded and darted over. She disappeared in the glimmer of the transporters, rematerialized on the ship, and headed straight for the ready room. She couldn't quite read Rochelle's tone over the com, so Amelia was happy she'd been in uniform already with the intent of helping her in encouraging someone to resolve the issue of her stuff being missing.

She pressed the chime on the ready room door, and waited.

"Enter." The voice on the other side called. Rochelle looked up, ice eyed and stern faced as she watched the willowy one come through the doors. Immediately she found her own feet, standing with her hands folded in front of her. "Take a seat, Commander." The words were more of an order, no longer a friendly suggestion as her lips pursed and a hand gestured to the so-called 'hot seat' in front of her desk. She herself stepped away from her seat, taking to the replicator and ordering herself a coffee.

"I suppose you know why you're being called in here?" She asked, taking her traditional rock candy to stir her coffee with. There was that word again, tradition — but this time it broke as she failed to offer the other woman anything and instead walked stiffly back to her seat.

Amelia hadn't even had time to come to her customary stop just beyond the sensor range of the door, Rochelle's direction to take a seat came so quickly. Her head tilted to the right, ever so slightly, as she followed directions and sat down in the indicated chair. Her head tilted further in confusion at the ordering of coffee from the replicator, instead of their more customary tea. Amelia was absolutely confused when Rochelle finally asked if Amelia knew why she was there. She didn't.

She ran through the mental catalog of what she may have been up to lately, and nothing came to mind. "No ma'am."

"Your behavior last night." The Captain's eyes closed for a moment as she stopped stirring her coffee, her jaw set as she mulled over what would come next. The entire ordeal had ransacked her mind since she was conscious enough to truly comprehend what had gone down on the stage the evening prior. What she herself had set up was one thing entirely, to be hit so quickly with another prank? Another altogether. Rochelle sighed and sat the mug down with a soft clink against the desk, "It's unbecoming of an officer of your caliber, Amelia."

"The dance with Dani, or flirting right out of the gate with mystery man turned operations officer?" Amelia was certain her Romulan Ale flask had not been caught by Rochelle, and that's the only thing she could think of that might have been a problem.

A sigh escaped her lips and Rochelle shook her head, "All of the above. Not to mention... Your little purple concoction."

"I had to keep Dani's spirits up, that meant convincing her to cut a rug. You know how she gets when she's forced to behave too long," Amelia insisted, even as she tried to figure out how Rochelle figured out about the drink. "And the best way to get information out of men is distract them, so they don't think about what they're telling you."

"Enough!" She roared, her hand coming down roughly on the desk. She'd regret that action later, a bruise was already starting to form where her wrist had cause the edge. Getting up she hovered for a long moment, observing the other woman, "I don't want excuses, Amelia. I want actions," Rochelle started, emphasizing the words that fell from her lips, "What the Hell am I going to do with you?"

Amelia was out of excuses, out of quips. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. Never admit, she knew that much. If they don't show they have the information, never assume they have it. So she sat quietly, meeting Rochelle's gaze and waited to see what was going to happen.

The silence was deafening and Rochelle threw her tiny frame back into her chair, shaking her head. "You leave me no choice, Amelia, you really don't." Again she sighed, "By now you've already noticed your belongings are missing. It's no small coincidence." She said, pulling up a PaDD and thumbing through it as she spoke, adding to it without looking up at the other redhead. "Your orders are changing from here on out."

Amelia's head tilted again. "I hadn't even been able to get my stuff onto the ship yet. I'd been working on that when you called me here. Crewman something or other assured me he'd get them sent over, but I won't believe it until I see it at this point," she sighed, waiting for Rochelle to hand over the PADD.

The PaDD slid across the desk with an idle flick of her sore wrist and she crossed her legs, watching Amelia's face with avid interest. "I'm aware. Why you underestimate me is truly beyond me." The little one scoffed, folding her hands in her lap.

Amelia had opened her mouth to retort in some way as she collected the PADD, she just was so thrown off by the way this conversation was going she was having a hard time keeping it in check. Then her eyes fell on the duty assignment, and the commentary under it. Executive Officer. Kings to me. Amelia's eyes lingered for a moment before raising to find Rochelle's. There was no words for this, except perhaps thank you or a long string of Klingon. Amelia wasn't sure which, so she just stared at Rochelle.

Rochelle blinked slowly, meeting the woman's eyes with the ice of her own, "Is there a problem, Commander?" She coolly asked,

Amelia turned her eyes down to the PADD again. She examined the orders closer. Looked for something to indicate they'd been fakes, forged, something to trick Amelia. Everything pointed to legit. The way they were presented was a good solid joke, easily getting her back for her conspiracy with Almar at the ceremony... but Amelia still didn't quite believe it.

"Your belongings can be found in the Executive Officer's state room," Rochelle said languidly, still postured with authority as she spoke and turned over a hand to study her nails. They were still perfectly put together from the night before. "Cat got your tongue?" She asked, looking back at the woman with a raised eyebrow.

"This is truly, 100% legit? You're not just yanking my chain, I am actually the second person in responsible for this ship?" Amelia finally spit out. All joking, all quips, all sarcasm gone. Just the young woman who was overwhelmed, unsure what to do, and perhaps a little scared at the responsibility just dropped into her lap.

"Signed, sealed, and approved by Admiral Malone." Rochelle nodded.

"The same Admiral I sat in the office of the other day, trying to convince him to let me auction off the privilege of pieing him in the face?" Amelia asked meekly, wanting to disappear into the chair.

The Captain blinked, uncrossing her legs and leaning far forward, "You did what?"

"It's to raise resources for the fleet. Daddy volunteered to be a target too, if I could find a bigger brass target to draw people in," Amelia explained. "I don't even remember what brought the topic up, but we started talking how the old earth military would auction pies for charity, and the first one would always go in the CO's face." Explaining this was helping calm Amelia down, backing crazy ideas with logic was familiar territory for her.

"And the Admiral agreed?" She asked, tilting her head and turning it slightly, eyeballing her new XO sidelong with an almost worried gaze.

"He is supposed to get back to me."

Rochelle sighed softly and leaned back in her chair. "You need to tell me these things before you go off half cocked." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Admiral Malone and I had a bit of an encounter last night, it may have gone a bit differently if I had known about this need for him to be pied for charity, maybe I could have persuaded him a bit better and saved myself the direction the night took."

"If I'd had any idea I was going to be anything more than an Intel minion for Mr. Swans Around In Civies Like He Owns The Boat, I would have told you," Amelia insisted with an eye roll. Then she stopped and considered what Rochelle had said. "An encounter?"

"If I'd known that I was going to be taking over the Vindicator, I'd have told you my intentions." Rochelle bit back, looking up at the woman, "I... Turned an advance down." She sheepishly replied, "During the tour of the Vindicator."

"He's certainly easy on the eyes... If not for, well, you know... Would you?" Amelia couldn't help smirking as she asked.

A telltale eyebrow lifted and arched high as she considered the statement and question, Malone was indeed a handsome man with a talented kiss and a fantastic career - a catch for any woman, let alone a Captain of a star ship. "You know what?" She asked, leaning her elbows on the desk eyeballing the other woman with a wary eye.

"Yes?" Amelia teased with a wink.

"Not what I meant. Embellish, what am I supposed to 'know'?" The shorter woman snorted almost indignantly.

"Landon, obviously, and you seem to have acquired a Cardassian puppy," Amelia grinned as she compared Almar to a puppy. She liked the Cardassian, and it was obvious he cared about Rochelle.

Rochelle sighed again, softening at the mention of Landon. "If not for Landon, then perhaps." She mused, remembering she'd used the fallen Trill as an excuse — a valid and honest excuse for why she'd pulled away. "Commander Dahe'el is hardly a puppy." The Captain rolled, shaking her head, "Not in the least."

"A guard dog then, a beloved one, even." Amelia shrugged. "He seems a good guy." Amelia slouched a little, crossing her legs and bouncing the PADD in her knee.

"Hardly a guard dog either." Rochelle replied, continuing to watch the other woman with avid interest tinged by concern and curiosity. "What are you trying to get at, Pond?"

"Forget I said anything, I must be wrong. Even if Mama's commentary after her dance with him... No, never mind," she demurred, sitting forward and placing both feet on the floor again. "May I go make sure my brothers paintings made it to my quarters okay? They were the only thing that I couldn't find a way to pack securely." Amelia smiled wide at Rochelle.

"No. You're going to embellish and tell me what you're trying to accomplish here." The Captain straightened up, pointing at the woman as if she were telling a dog to be obedient. The looseness that their friendship allowed was a lucky strike.

"Just making observations, nothing to accomplish," Amelia insisted, holding her hands up at chest height, palms facing Rochelle.

Tilting her head in the opposite direction, Rochelle's quizzical expression failed to change, "Your mother was dancing with him last night." She stated, "I'm intrigued and I probably should know better than to inquire about your mother's commentary, but satisfaction is the only way to bring back a curious cat."

"I think her commentary was something along the lines of how she would have made a play for him if he wasn't clearly unavailable," Amelia allowed with a shrug.

The shorter woman recoiled and shook her head, "Hardly. As far as I'm aware, he's available." She replied, reaching for her coffee and hiding behind a sip, "Besides," she started after she swallowed, "He deserves someone he can build a relationship with, not be a toy of. No offense to your mother."

"Of course he does." Amelia was fine leaving it at that. Explaining her mother's Sherlock Holmes level of observation about a person's relationship status was sometimes more complicated than it was worth. "May I go make sure I don't need to beg my noodle headed little brother for new paintings?"

"By all means." Rochelle nodded, sinking deeper into her seat.

"Tea once I settle in?" The red headed tree asked as she stood.

"Whenever you please." The sitting one responded, coiled around her coffee. Her fingers wrapped around the mug for warmth as she continued observing the woman as she left. Something strange was afoot on the Vindicator. Something strange indeed.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Captain Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS Vindicator

Lt Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator

 

RSS Feed