SD241401.02 || Joint Personal Log || Cmdr Ivanova & LtCmdr Dahe'el || XO & CEO

Posted on Thu Jan 2nd, 2014 @ 8:49pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova

1,667 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: In the Dark
Location: Officers Lounge

=/\= Officers Lounge, USS Vindicator =/\=

Having split up to get cleaned up and finish off their duty shifts, Almar found himself stepping into the lounge alone, the eyes of the three occupants immediatly flashed to him as he began to move towards a table near the window, the holo-waiter making it's way to him as he sat down.

"I'll have a tea please, hot and extra sweet." the Cardassian asked with a slight nod before the waiter moved away and back to the bar.

The lounge was never her most favorite place, always filled with people, always holding some secret round of speculative gossip. It was a hub for a disease that Ivanova truly thought needed to be outright exterminated. It bred contempt and snide snickers. And still... She'd agreed to dine and discuss with Almar in that very spot. She'd slowly trailed her way home from the Captain's quarters, changed into jeans and a scoop necked T, and made her way down for food and chit chat.

It wasn't hard to spot the Cardassian, all she needed to do was follow the direction of darting eyes and uneasy quirks of a head or thumb. The ignorant were out, though thankfully not in full force. "Coke. Light ice." Rochelle placed her order as she sat down before the holo-waiter could disappear. "You have a chance to go over any of the data?" She asked, hooking an arm over the back of her chair in true country fashion. Frak the eyes watching them. Let them talk.

"I always have time Commander," Almar replied with a slight grin as he held up a padd, "I learnt very early in my career that I could walk and review a padd in the same space of time, my size and race mean that people tend to move out of my way." he added with a light chuckle as the holo-waiter returned with their drinks and placed them both down on the table.

Rochelle nodded as she lifted her drink, "I'm impressed, you can multitask." She teased with a wry smile, touching her glass to her lips.

"There is always a huge amount of work to do as Chief Engineer, people are always wanting things looked over, things always need fixing," Almar replied before taking a few sips of his tea, "You get used to always working, even on my downtime, I spend some time working on simulations."

Setting her glass down and swallowing her sip, Rochelle shook her head. "Captain's orders are that we all relax for the next 72 hours." She chided him, wagging her finger. "But, I'm sure he'll be happier knowing more about what we found. He seems content that we're getting things fixed up, already has our new marching orders."

"You know as well as I do, that I can't relax, I gave him 72 hours as my estimate for completion of the repairs, that's with myself overseeing them," the Engineer inside him replied with a slight sigh, "There's more than just structural damage that needs to be rectified, the cores also need to be realigned and checked over, we had quite a few problems with one of them during our last outing."

"I'll let him know you're disobeying orders." Of course she wouldn't, but given their little squabble in the holodeck another jab seemed entirely way too fitting. She was tired, hungry and slowly but certainly falling into that space between being awake and asleep that just defied the bounds of work. "Do you ever rest?" Rochelle asked, her arm leaving the back of her chair. "I used to think I was the only one that was committed to the job and not a damn thing else."

"In general I can only sleep for about four hours," the Cardassian replied with a tilt of his head as he observed her body language and the small changes in her facial expressions as she addressed him, "I do spend some time doing things I enjoy, but that being said, I am someone who enjoys their job, you saw that much in the holodeck."

"Ah... Yes." She nodded slowly, "I'll never forget that experience." The dry response edited itself with a need for another sip of her heavily carbonated cola. "I've been finding myself sleeping less and less lately," She added, the glass lingers in her fingers as she perched her elbows on the table top, "maybe this time off will do me a lot better than I'm willing to admit?" Her nose scrunched in distaste for the idea. Darkness and night still wasn't her friend, not completely.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," the Cardassian replied with a knowing nod, "When we're on a mission, I find myself sleeping a little more than usual, probably because my body knows I might be needed to pull double or triple shifts if something happens."

"I sleep less." Another sip punctuated her speech, "I get too wound up to sleep. Used to take melatonin to try and help knock me out on a more regular basis."

"Such is life on a ship like the Vindicator," Almar replied as he flagged down the waiter again, turning to look at the photonic man with a slight raised brow, "Could I have a steak please, medium well with the usual trimmings please." the Cardassian asked before looking back to Ivanova, "Do you want anything Commander?"

"True." She mused lightly, her nose twitching again as she looked up at the waiter, blinking slowly "BLT. Extra bacon, mayo." Rochelle ordered, "And a dill pickle spear... or two. Thanks."

As the waiter disappeared to place their orders, Rochelle once more directed her attention tot he Cardassian, her brow furrowing in thought and her head tilting, "Tell me, just what did you find out from that little exercise?"

"The shield modifications provide us with between ten and twenty five percent additional shield strength, in general this would mean we have the capacity to take out an enemy or escape." Almar replied as he rolled through the information in his mind, "But..." he paused and took a sip of his tea, thinking for a few moments, "It can be unpredictable when activated mid-battle, we would be better served if we were able to engage it before we begin taking fire."

"M." Rochelle hummed, "Good thing we're getting those repairs, though I suppose it's good to know in the future." She continued, letting her fingers run the length of the cool glass in front of her. "Though right now I'm hoping we don't have to test that out any time soon."

"The repairs certainly will help some, since it means we won't have to direct as much extra power into the structural integrity or the inertial dampeners," he replied as a padd appeared from his uniform jacket, as if by magic, "Both systems were a huge drain on resources when we arrived at Sol, but that was because we were using the slipstream drive while both of them were fluctuating, we had to manually maintain them because the computer couldn't."

The holo-waiter returned and set their plates down in front of them. Two pickles. And chips she hadn't ordered, "A compliment to your sandwich, Commander." The holo-projection gurgled. It was enough to make the tired Commander smile. "Thank you." Rochelle admonished, picking up one of the spears and taking a bite, savoring the tangy, salty flavor of the dill that followed the succulent crunch. Food was a truly beautiful thing. "You did a good job down there, but the goal is to make your job easier and keep the ship rocking and rolling more efficiently." She said after she swallowed her bite and paused before taking another, pointing the bitten pickle spear at him with a roll of her slender wrist, "Which is why we're always interested in your thoughts and inventions. It could be argued that no one knows the inner workings of this beast better than you do. Which is either terrifically amazing or absolutely blood curdling depending on who you ask." She winked and directed the pickle-wand back to her mouth for another satisfying crunch.

Almar cut into his steak and took a few bites, savouring the taste before swallowing and cutting a few more ready, "I'm always working on ways to make the ship work better, I have been since we launched to find the Vindicator D."

"I didn't say you weren't." Rochelle chuckled lightly, finishing her pickle and picking up half of her sandwich. "We're all figuring out ways to try to keep ourselves safe and alive, to improve for the greater good." She said with a slight shrug, biting into the heaven that was a BLT made just perfect. Next time on Earth, it would be the real thing.

"Some of us more than others," the Cardassian replied with a slight smile, "I've already begun retrofitting the modifications onto the shuttles, perhaps it was a little forward of me, but I thought it would be best to make sure each piece of our equipment was upgraded at the same time."

The redhead's eyebrows lifted and fell as she nodded "Truth, undeniable." She answered between bites. "I'm pretty sure you're ok on that front. Granted, heads up would have been nice, but in the grand scheme of things it is what it is."

"Perhaps," Almar replied as another few bites of his meal disappeared from his plate, "As things stand, we're pretty much ready to make the final adjustments and finalise the changes to the ship, the shuttles should follow suit soon after,"

"Personally..." She began, sipping her drink, "I like it when things are ahead of schedule. Being unprepared isn't one of my favorite things to be and I simply won't allow the Vindicator to fall into that lull."

"We'll be amply prepared for whatever situation we find ourselves thrust into," Almar replied with a slight smile between the final mouthfuls of his meal.

(End Log.)

Commander Rochelle Ivanova
Executive Officer

&

Lieutenant Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer

USS Vindicator

 

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