New Friends...

Posted on Wed Oct 26th, 2022 @ 8:43am by Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Ragnarok
Timeline: 2393
2229 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

After his initial duty shift was completed, Nicholas decided to walk through the ship, both to familiarize himself with her, and to just spend time wandering the ship that his brother, Kyle, had nearly lost his life on.

Fate seemed to have an interesting sense of humor lately. Not only had he and his brother now served on the same ship, the quarters Nick had been assigned turned out to be the same one Kyle had had as well. It felt weird, to say the least, yet, oddly comforting at the same time.

As Nicholas continued to roam the corridors, he started to drift, mentally, as he thought about his brother.

Cassia was out running the decks to lose some energy before she crashed for the evening, that, and she had needed some alone time since her actions earlier that day. Cassia fully expected to be pulled into counseling for the knife incident and she needed a clear head. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, that she rounded the corner blindly without her usual caution and hit something large and solid, and ended up flat on her back on the deck. "Ow...." she groaned as she raised a hand to her now throbbing head.

Nicholas was surprised by the impact, and stumbled back a step. "Oh!" He grunted after he got hit by something small that was moving fast.

Looking down, he saw the attractive, dark-haired, young woman, laying on the deck, holding her head. "Shit! I am so sorry," his deep baritone voice full of regret. Stepping forward, he reached down and offered his right hand to the horizontal woman. "May I..?"

Cassia replied by placing her hand in his. "Yes you may" She grumbled. "I am sorry, I normally take more care when running."

Giving the young woman a soft, boyish, grin, Nicholas pulled her gently back to her feet. "It's totally my fault. I was meandering, both physically and mentally. I'm sorry." He bowed his head slightly as he spoke. "My name's Reece, by the way. Nicholas Reece. I'm the new strategic operations chief."

"Cassia Cavendish" She replied with a smile. "Flight Control Chief. Pleased to meet you. Welcome to the Ragnarok"

"It's a pleasure to meet you. And thank you." He gave Cassia another warm grin. He normally was a bit standoff-ish with strangers, at least until he learned more about them and made his decision about them, however, there was something about this woman that he found...captivating.

She casually ran hand over the back of her head. "Welcome. Though please don't tell the captain about this, he will probably think I did it on purpose or something."

Nicholas chuckled good-naturedly. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed." He paused for an awkward second, and then asked, "um... I was about to go grab a bite for lunch. Would you...if you're not doing anything else...care to join me?"

Cassia gave a glance down at her running sweats. "Sure. Just let me change and I'll meet you at the mess hall."

Nicholas glanced down and chuckled again, his eyes sparkled with humor when he looked back into Cassia's eyes. "Heh, sorry. Of course. I'll see ya there." He suddenly realized that he was still holding her hand in his his. He absentmindedly rubbed his thumb over the back of her smooth skin. "Ah..uh.. sorry." He blushed slightly and released her.

Cassia smiled at that. "See you in ten." And with that she headed off in the opposite direction.


=/\=ten minutes later=/\=

Cassia, clean and dressed in casual wear of jeans and tee shirt, entered the main messhall and looked around.

Nicholas saw Caaia enter and smiled as he raised his arm to signal her, only to drop ot again when he felt both a little embarrassment for his behavior, and a little bit stupid. He had no reason to raise his arm, as he was the tallest person in the room, even sitting down. He smiled a bit sheepishly as she approached his table.

Cassia took the seat opposite him. "So," she began as she did so. "Finding your way around alright?"

Nicholas nodded. "So far, so good. Though it does feel a bit...weird...being on this ship, though."

"Oh?" Cassia asked. "How so?"

"Well," Nicholas responded. "My twin brother, Kyle, served on the Rök during her last mission, a few years ago. He nearly lost his life when the ship was attacked by a Borg cube. When the battle was over, the ship was basically dead in space. The crew had to abandon her and she was set adrift." His eyes took a more somber look to them. He then shook his head slightly.

"Sorry, that was a dark time for my family. We all thought that we were going to lose Kyle." He paused slightly to take a breath and then, when he continued, his voice cracked slightly. "S-sorry. He and I have been inseperable most of our lives. I can't imagine my life without him in it."

"Your brother is ok though correct?" She asked "Now that is?" She knew that the Borg were not something to be trifled with. And that any situation facing them was probably worse than facing the Breen.

Nicholas nodded and put a smile back on his face. There was something about this woman that put him at ease. "Yes, thank you. He recovered from his injuries and is now serving on Starbase 80 as the Chief Strategic Operations Officer there." Before he could continue, a waiter, a male Bolian, came over to the table and asked if there was anything he could bring them.

Cassia ordered a water and a small caesar salad, as she still didn't eat much.

Nicholas ordered a shrimp parmigiana hero and a black cherry flavored seltzer next. The waiter nodded to the both of them and smiled as he took down their orders. He then peeled away from the table and returned to the small kitchen area.

Nicholas looked over to Cassia and asked, "So, where was I? Ah..I was about to ask you about yourself. I know that the Ragnarök just relaunched, so, are you a mew addition to the crew, like me? Or have you served with the Captain in another command?"

"No to both. I am fully new to the ship and the Captain's command" -Though he is probably rethinking my appointment now- She thought to herself. "I was on the USS Jean Luc before its destruction. I have been on Earth for a year or so and this is my first assignment back in space since the Jean Luc."

Nicholas nodded as he listened. His eyes took on a sad expression when he heard about Cassia's recent past. "I am so sorry to hear that." He had never been on a ship that had been destroyed, so he had no idea of the pain that was associated with an event as catastrophic as that. "If I may, I am glad that you seem to have survived it. I can't imagine going through something like that."

"It was not fun, but that said, had it been a mere destruction, it would have been easier. But we survived it." She looked around the Mess Hall. "And without that I doubt I would be here"

Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. There was definitely more to Cassia than was on the surface. He knew, somehow, that she was someone he could learn to trust.

At that moment, the waiter returned and served their dishes up. First to Cassia, then to Nicholas. "Enjoy," he stated in a friendly voice. He then mo ed away to help another customer.

Nicholas cleared his throat softly and then said, "So, enough serious talk." He grinned his lopsided grin again. "What is there to do around here for fun?"

Cassia took a sip of her water. "Well, before we left there was a number of people visiting the station. But now, people use the holodecks, meet in the forward lounge and such."

Nicholas nodded again as he chewed a bite of his sandwich. Once he swallowed what was in his mouth, he wiped his mouth with his napkin and asked, "And what do you do to unwind, if you don't mind me asking?"

She grinned at him. "Well I run a lot. I like running the decks, you never know who you will run into you know."

Raising his glass in a toast, Nicholas nodded to Cassia. "True indeed."

After a few more mouthfuls of food were swallowed, he looked back at her and said, "Well, I've asked you a few questions, only fair if you get a turn." His eyes sparkled with a hint of mischief as he smiled at Cassia.

"Well, what do you do to unwind?" She returned the question. It was still hard for her to get used to socialising after so long with the same people.

Nicholas took a sip of his drink before answering. "Well, I do enjoy swimming and working out. If I'm having a really bad day, I'll hit the gym and pump iron until my muscles feel like limp noodles." He chuckled softly at that image. "But, I am open to learning new ways to relax."

"New ways? You mean like socialising?" She smirked.

He returned the smirk, with a look in his eyes the might have bordered on hunger, and not for food. "I'm sure, if we put our heads together, we could figure something out that we could both enjoy."

"Now that is an idea." She laughed softly. "But other than that idea, what other ways do you relax?"

Nicholas thought about it for a moment. Usually, while he was off duty, he spent a good portion of his time reading over Intelligence briefs. And, as he was currently undercover, he could simply lie and use more of his cover identity. However, there was something about the way Cassia looked at him that caused him to desire to be honest with her...at least as honest as his job would allow him that is.

"Well," he began. "I do enjoy reading, various card games, and I recently began rock climbing." He shrugged as he concluded. "That's about it."

"Rock climbing sounds like fun." She said remembering her own adventures with climbing ice walls. "Might be nice to climb walls with safety equipment."

Nick nodded as he took a final bite of his lunch. After wiping his mouth with his napkin, he looked over at Cassia. "Well, now that lunch is over, whatever shall we do? I'm not due to start work until tomorrow, and all I have left on my official agenda today is to go see the Doc for my initial physical. Do you have any plans for the rest of today?"

She smiled faintly at the mention of the doctor. She had been avoiding that particular area. "I have to go beg for my knife back from the captain."

Arching his right eyebrow and chuckling softly, Nicholas leaned in and asked, "Do I want to know?"

She shrugged. "You'll hear about it shortly I am sure. It will be all over the ship soon enough. But he startled me, and I jumped over a console and then pulled my ankle knife and almost threw it at him. "

Nicholas's mouth dropped open in shock. However, he quickly recovered and had a humorously bewildered look on his face. Leaning closer to Cassia, he lowered his voice to speak at a bare whisper. "You..pulled a knife...on the Captain?"

"Well in my defence I didn't know it was him when my body reacted before my brain caught up." she sighed.

Nicholas sat back in his chair, grinning and chuckling softly. Turning his chin to his left slightly, he responded. "Heh, remind me never to piss you off." He winked playfully and chuckled more as he spoke.

A slight blush stained her cheeks. "So... are you doing anything this evening?"

He thought for a second, then answered. "Other than unpacking? No, don’t think I have any other plans. Why do you ask?"

"Well I have been told that holodeck time is good for socialisation, if you are interested?"

A warm smile filled Nicholas's face. "I'm certainly interested. What time should I meet you? Oh, and which holodeck?" He chuckled a little, realizing he would need to know the location as well as the time of their rendezvous.

"Holdeck Two? Say, nineteen hundred?" Cassia suggested as she stood up glancing at her wrist chrono.

Nicholas stood as well (he had been raised with proper manners. A gentleman always stood when a lady got up from the table). He smiled and nodded. "I'll be there." His eyebrows rose as he remembered to ask, "Oh! What should I wear? Is there a theme for the program you have in mind?"

"Casual. Jeans and shirt is fine." She smiled. "Was thinking about a walk through a city on earth or somesuch."

Nicholas grinned again. "Sounds great!" He stepped around the table and stood next to her. Looking down into her hypnotic eyes, he added, "I'll see you there." He then turned and confidently walked out of the lounge, certain that Cassia was watching him go.

OFF

Lt. Cassia Cavendish
Flight Control Chief
USS Ragnarok

Lt. Nicholas J. Reece
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Ragnarök