Joint Duty Log |Capt Ivanova, Norbert Bernard III - "You Probably Think This Song Is About You"

Posted on Thu Aug 28th, 2014 @ 7:50am by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova

2,080 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

A mess.

That's how the lounge had been described to her when she'd asked for a full reporting on the bar's progress. Everything she'd heard had pointed to one common problem; the new lounge manager. Pompous, nasty, rude. Those three wonderful words kept waltzing in with every sentence, each instance used as an adjective for the strange weasel of a man that had been placed in charge of what was supposed to be a fun and light hearted atmosphere. Rochelle had sighed, held up her hand to silence the complaints, straightened her uniform and simply said 'I'll handle it.' -- that was all that needed to be said. The complainers had snickered, smugly, knowing just how fiery the elegant little woman could be.

The trip down to the lounge was quick and uneventful and, much to her surprise, the lounge itself was quiet and slowly being put together in a manner that seemed quite delightful. It was a dark, swanky place with a chic almost European feel to it. There wouldn't been cheap thrills in After Dark, that much was instantly obvious. "Mr. Bernard?" She called, spying a dark haired man digging through a wine crate and chose to come to a stop a few feet off his hunched over six.

"I knew it", Norbert immediately rose to his feet and without looking back at the voice pointed towards a leering tower of wine crates, "Those are the ones", he wiped his hands on a nearby rag and sighed a deep breath. "I've never seen such a terrible selection of wine in all my life", he glanced back slightly, "Not really surprising though given ---", he paused as he realized that the red-headed woman he was now talking too was in fact not the new bartender who had been helping him sort through the old inventory. "where we are". he finished his sentence. "Can I help you", he said now turning his entire body towards the Captain.

"I believe you can." Rochelle replied with a small smile, "I'm here to take a tour of my lounge." She said, her fingers gesturing to the lofty room around them. If the rumors were true, such a statement would either set him off or send him groveling, the latter of which she couldn't see him doing. Then again, the legend of Rochelle Ivanova's temper had spread far and wide during her time commanding ships, the Vindicator not withstanding.

Norbert chuckled defiantly. "Your lounge?", he was taken aback by the brash statement, then it dawned on him, "Ahhh....You must be the Captain Ivanova then", he added, running his fingers through his jet black hair. "I must say I've sent several requests to your office and haven't heard a response, I was beginning to think you were ignoring me".

"That I am. Captain Rochelle Ivanova at your service." She replied with a mock curtsy as she watched him. So far, so good -- the verbose little miscreant and thorne in her crew's rear ends appeared to be behaving himself in the presence of the ship's big bad wolf... Even if she was several inches shorter than he and ever so refined. "Not in the least, Mr. Bernard, but I will say that ship as big as Vindicator requires a lot of attention and I work on things by level of importance. You've already met my executive officer and it seems that she wasn't enough, so here I am." She said, taking another couple steps towards the taller ink maned man and his wine crate, her nose wrinkling as she eyed the contents. "You're right, though, the wine selection sucks."

Norbert couldn't help but be somewhat intimidated as she stepped closer. This little woman seemed to carry an inhuman strength about her. But Norbert was also very good at schmoozing and being polite when he needed to be. If a lifetime of high society dinner parties with his parents rich friends had taught him anything it was how to fake it.

He followed her gaze to the wine crates. "Yes, that is something I will be remedying", he turned back towards her and smiled, "And you must thank Vilmar for me, he has been quite helpful in ensuring that all my shipments have been arriving expeditiously and complete. I must apologize however, I wasn't expecting your visit and am not quite prepared to provide a tour".

Rochelle nodded at what he said, approving of the fact that the wines would be remedied even if she didn't partake unless there was reason to celebrate. Alcohol had never been the delicate little creature's forte, the feeling of control being lost to the hands of a substance that burned the entire way down had never been alluring to her. If anything, it turned her off completely. A glass of a sweet riesling or bubbling champagne, however, would never hurt given the right circumstance. She was about to say something, remark about the care he was taking in stocking the bars, when he brought up the Frenchman and his little secret. It was amazing how she couldn't escape him. Vlimar had been there when Mikkal came aboard, when she was crowned Queen of Atlantis Prime and then again in the lift when -- she killed the thought quickly and held up a hand for him to pause. "Did you say that Vlimar is expediting your orders?"

Norbert caught something in the woman's eyes when he mentioned Vilmar. It wasn't much, but it was something he would have to look into further. He had of course heard the rumors, people who drink at bars are often quite talkative and he was quite good at sponging up every last bit of gossip he could get his ears on. "Well I would certainly hope that is what he is doing", he answered realizing that he may have overplayed his hand. "I am quite an important person here after all, engineering has also been quite helpful adjusting my room to fit my needs, thanks to Miss. Waterhouse.", he said, hoping to dilute the air.

"Very important." Rochelle repeated dryly as she shook her head. It was hard to believe that the crew around her had stooped to such a level, playing hush hush with a lounge manager, even Almar. How he'd managed to convince Amelia to get Almar to do anything regarding the upgrade of civilian quarters was completely beyond her, and something she'd have to take up with both of them when the time was right. "What, pray tell, has been adjusted?" She asked, moving to find an empty seat and motioning for the barkeep to take up the one opposite.

Norbert smiled fakely and took his seat. "Well to be completely honest" he leaned in closer, "I have requested a new room, one that would be much more befitting my family name and Miss. Waterhouse blew me off, she did however see fit to allow me to upgrade the shower into something a little larger", he paused, "That was one of the things I wanted to speak with you about, she mentioned that all the rooms were the same size, if that is the case then perhaps I could get two adjoining rooms and have one of the walls torn down".

A sanguine brow arched over one of the Captain's cold blue eyes as she took in what the strange dark haired man had to say. "I'm thinking not at this time." She replied, her head shaking in part to deny him his request and in part in complete disapproval over what had happened on her ship when she wasn't looking. "Right now we have a full compliment of civilians aboard this vessel. There are no spare rooms. I'm sure with time you'll become accustomed to the quarters that you have." It was her turn to offer a fake smile as her hands folded on the small cocktail table between them, "The Vindicator is, after all, the poshest ship in the entire fleet. You're living in the lap of luxury itself." It wasn't a lie, even Admiral Malone had been taken by the ship's elegant upgrades, all courtesy of the Chief Engineer that had seen her construction. However, she wouldn't bore him with that little history lesson.

Norbert had been so far, unimpressed by the ships so called, 'luxury', and chuckled. "Well then I guess I will just have to make do with the graciousness that has already been provided me, I did have one more request however", he rubbed his fingers through his hair again, "The carpet outside my quarters is much too thin, I can hear people walking by at all hours of the night when I am trying to sleep. It simply will not do and needs to be replaced with something thicker to muffle the footsteps", he leaned back in, very seriously.

That same, delicate brow arched even higher at his next request. He was daft, she decided as she listened to him and chose to spend a careful moment in silence as she considered him. "Unfortunately," She began, channeling the diplomacy and charisma of a Captain of old, "the carpet is here to stay for the time being." Silently she wondered how a man with such a penchant for running his fingers through slicked back hair could hold onto precious bottles of vintage wines as her words flowed a much different river forth. "What I can do, however, is have our quartermaster teach you the full extent of environmental controls in your quarters. There's a setting that will soundproof whatever room you choose and that includes guarding from outside white noise as well." She deserved a God damned academy award for this.

He smiled and leaned back. "That would be most amazing, I will make sure to send over a spreadsheet on carpet thickness to the quartermaster so that he can be well versed in how to best set the settings", he continued talking, "it is best for carpet to be about the size of a paperclip", he held out two fingers and a half apart, "for instance the shag type is obviously the best since it has the most amazing absorption of reflected sound at differing frequencies", he said with a deep breath. "Oh", he added without skipping a beat and standing up from the booth, "I almost forgot", he continued as he stepped back towards the bar, "I have a very special gift just for you", he disappeared into the back room and appeared a moment later carrying an oval shaped bottle with a long curved shaft, "This is a very rare George Dickel Whiskey Vintage 2270", he smiled proudly, holding the bottle outstretched in his hands. "My father asked me to give it to you".

"I'm sure that would be most beneficial as we continue calibrating new settings with new information." The redhead smiled ever so politely, "I've always been a fan of hardwood floors myself, but I can see where that could be an issue where noise is concerned." Small talk small talk oh you strange old hand, she goaded herself. Andrea would be proud, he'd survived and here she was placating him with idle chit chat about flooring sensibilities -- and then he moved, rising from his seat and trundled off like some large wading bird. A crane, she thought, yes... He looked like a crane. Statuesque and awkward all at the same time with his long, angular frame.

"Oh." Rochelle exclaimed, blinking in surprise as she sat back and allowed the beautifully crafted bottle to slide into her hands, her smile a bit more genuine. "It's absolutely marvelous. Send your father my gratitude." She added, looking up to the bird-like man. She'd let him live... For now.

"Will do", Norbert smiled. "Well Captain, it has certainly been a pleasure meeting with you, but as you can see I do have much work to get finished".

Nodding, Rochelle found her feet and offered her hand to the strange crane, "Indeed. I'm looking forward to your grand opening."

Norbert watched as she left the lounge and found himself overcome with relief. She appeared to be very clever, that alone made him nervous. "You will have to be much more careful in the future, the women here are not like the ones back home", he said to himself as he turned back towards the wine crates and smiled.

---

Captain Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR

&

Norbert Bernard III
Lounge Manager
USS Vindicator

 

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