IMPORTANT - Joint Duty Log - Capt Ivanova, LtCmdr Waterhouse & Kogroth - "Winter"

Posted on Wed Sep 17th, 2014 @ 7:17am by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Admiral Rochelle Ivanova

1,876 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?

Amelia had a moment where no one was looking for her, so she stepped out onto the balcony attached to her room to look out at the beach and ocean. The wind blew through her hair, whipping it angrily around her face, so she pulled it into a messy knot at the nape of her neck. Below she spotted Rochelle, lounging and eying the contents of a PADD. She'd somehow managed to locate a wind shadow and was practically undisturbed where she sat. Amelia's eyes scanned the surrounding area, to see if anyone lurked nearby — Vlimar perhaps, as Amelia had started to note he lingered near her perhaps a bit too much like a lost puppy.

When she didn't see anyone else, she decided to go down herself. It didn't take long to detour past the bar, and collect two fruit punches in tall glasses, with fruit and umbrellas garnishing them. The one with the green umbrella had a little something extra added, a young sweet blood wine, and the one with the blue umbrella was left virgin. Amelia had carefully watched the prep of both drinks; after the incident when she'd convinced Rochelle to go bar hopping with her, she found herself a little less trusting of bar tenders than she once had been.

"Blood punch, virgin?" Amelia offered, holding the blue umbrellaed drink out as she approached Rochelle.

Looking up at the sound of Amelia's voice, Rochelle shook her head at the drink. "No, thank you. Blood anything has never really done well with me." She smiled apologetically. The very idea of the drink made her stomach churn. Hell, most Klingon fare made her queasy. Setting her PADD down, she ushered the taller woman to come sit beside her. "I was catching up on my reading," Rochelle explained, "I haven't had much time to do anything on my own. It seems everyone wants something from me now-a-days, afraid I'll break the moment I have half a second to breathe and think about what's happened."

"The only blood in the virgin one is blood orange," Amelia insisted, setting it down on the table next to the lounge chair. She sipped at her own, pausing instead of sitting down. "If you want some space, I can leave you alone."

The little redhead tilted her head and eyed the drink sidelong, considering it and the merit behind it before deciding to try and give it a try. "No no, have a seat." the Captain ushered her friend to sit, taking a sip of the drink in fair display of appreciating the other woman's company. Blood orange had always had it's own unique bite and sweetness that made the punch exotic enough to pass for being delightful. So much better than it's full-blooded cousin.

Amelia settled next to Rochelle on the lounge, cradling her drink in both hands. "Something up?"

"No one thing in particular." She shrugged gently, turning the PADD off in order to give her friend her undivided attention. "It's more a collaboration of things and I'm thinking it always will be. Such is the curse of a Captain."

Amelia tilted her head and sipped her drink, wondering what was up.

"Kidnap attempts. Dead loved ones. The war. Pick a subject, they're all dancing around in my head."

"That is quite a collage," Amelia admitted. She wanted to crack a joke, to make light of the situation... that was her instinct, to hide from these things, but she knew better. "They're all dancing around in everyone's head, though different ones are of higher prominence depend on who's head."

Rochelle nodded in understanding as she took another sip of her drink. "This is very true." She mused and sighed, "And I suspect they have no interest in changing any time soon. At least the resort decided to try and make the remainder of our stay a bit more bearable."

"Oddly enough, for a Ferengi owned place, they've actually been pretty generous. Clearly they want us to refer other starfleet ships to them," Amelia returned with a shrug. "Not sure that I'd come back, but mostly that's because I'd rather be in the cities."

"Without a doubt they want the money. Attempted kidnappings make for bad business." The Captain shrugged and leaned forward to tie her hair up, reaching for a clip that sat on the cabana table beside her, "I actually have no intention to ever revisit Qo'noS, but I can understand why you feel drawn to it."

"I'd hoped you'd think a little higher of our capital, Captain." A chuckle broke the chorus of the women's voices. Kogroth stood tall and statuesque a little ways behind them, closer to the poolside bar. "I'm not interrupting you two, am I?"

Amelia looked up at the deep rumbling Klingon chuckle, and she snorted with a laugh. "Are you here to finish our dance, from the other night?" she smirked as she asked this, then took a sip of her drink.

"No." Rochelle replied, turning to face the sound of the voice from the bar. She hadn't thought she'd ever see the Klingon man again, that he'd vanish into the Qo'noS ether and forget all about the time he'd had to foil a plot to kidnap Starfleet officers. Obviously she should have known better.

"Hardly." The gruff man snorted, though his eyes appraised the half-breed as if he'd considered the thought once or twice. "Even if I had been interrupting you, I'd say too bad. There are more pressing matters that we need to discuss." He added, crossing the coral pool deck and dragging a chair over to be able to sit with the women.

"Like?" Rochelle asked, an intrepid eyebrow inching skyward.

Amelia returned Kogroth's evaluatory gaze; it'd been dark in the bar and she hadn't gotten a look before. She smiled at him, and waited to hear what he'd sought them out over.

"It appears a civilian Terran ship crashed on a planet not far from here. We're not in the business of picking up strays and they aren't Starfleet so we have little interest. What we do have interest in is the planet itself." Kogroth explained knowing he now had their full attention, "We want to make sure our interests aren't being infiltrated by the outside. The planet is in our space after all. That means I'm being assigned to go with you to investigate this feeble cry for help and to get rid of the problem if there is one."

"Do we know anything about the ship? Like a name?" Amelia sat up straighter when the talk turned to serious business, setting her drink down on the ground next to her feet.

"And when did this happen?" Rochelle asked, the amusement gone from her face as the woman once more became the Captain. Kogroth noticed the light dim in her eyes and the way the half-breed suddenly came awake. The two of them were a lethal combination.

"No. The transmission didn't bother to give me that, but I do have the coordinates of its origin." He answered, leaning his elbows onto his knees. Even sitting he was taller than the little Captain. "How soon can you gather your people? We just received the signal, but it states that the crash occurred a month ago."

The firebrand was almost appalled with how candid the Klingon was about the potential loss of life. She wanted to say something about it, to chastise him and his ruling house, but knew better. Diplomacy was always so very needed when it came to a race like the Klingons, one never knew when they'd suddenly choose not to hold you in high favor. "By the end of the evening, a couple hours give or take." She said, looking to Amelia for confirmation.

"We'll get operations on recalling our people as soon as we're done here," she confirmed.

"Good. Then I'll leave you to it and meet you on the bridge in two hours?" The Klingon asked, looking between the two redheads.

Rochelle nodded, "Sounds fair."

Amelia just sighed softly as she nodded her head. She'd been looking forward to the rest of leave... and here it was gone. There was the matter of Dustin though. Amelia hadn't bothered to ask if he'd done his end of the paperwork yet, as she'd expected to still have a few more days of leave.

"Two hours," she confirmed, then turned her eyes to Rochelle, "There's one other thing we should address before we leave. I happened upon a retired engineer that's expressed a wish to rejoin the fleet..."

"A retired engineer?" Rochelle got to her feet and set about collecting her stuff, purposely ignoring the Klingon watching her every move. It was war time, the retirees were all wanting to come back and show their grit again. "Amelia... I don't think bringing an old engineer back onto our ship is going to be a good idea. The times have changed. Technology has changed. Almar is ruthless with his work." She began counting off the reasons why an aging officer wouldn't have been wise.

"He's not old, he's just retired. Very..." Amelia almost said the word spunky, but she wasn't sure that wouldn't discourage Rochelle. "...very enthusiastic. I know his combat skills are sharp, and when he sets his mind to something, he pursues it to fierce determination."

Kogroth watched the two of them as if he were watching a sitcom, amused as he sat back and listened. Rochelle shot him a withering look, perhaps even in warning. It didn't go unnoticed as he showed her the palms of his hands and got to his feet with a chuckle. "I'll see you two on the Vindicator." Was all he said and took his leave. For a Klingon he seemed well versed on a human social measures.

The delicate little phoenix shook her head as she gathered up her PADD and turned to face her first officer. Something just wasn't adding up, the picture was missing a key element or two, but time wasn't on her side. "Fine. Bring him back on probation and Amelia..." She sighed, the telltale eyebrow lifting, "I'm making him your personal responsibility. Don't make me regret this." First Archer and his Xepolite woman and now some unknown engineer. At least in engineering she could count on Almar to keep him in line.

Amelia nodded, bending over to collect her drink. "I'll put him on a leash if I have to, and if it comes down it, I'll kick him out the airlock myself," she insisted, only half joking. At this point, all she could hope was her instincts weren't wrong. She sipped her drink as she stood. "I'll ask the front desk to make courtesy calls to all the guest rooms, and then I'll have Vlimar get his team to work recalling the rest of the crew."

"Fine." Rochelle nodded, allowing Amelia to shoulder the responsibility of the new Engineer. "Let's get this show on the road."

"See you back on the ship," Amelia returned with a head nod as she started inside towards the front desk.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Captain Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR

Lt Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator

Kogroth
Klingon advisor
(APB October)

 

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