For The Love Of...

Posted on 24 Aug 2015 @ 7:28pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday & Jynn

1,617 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 1, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD02, 0730 hours

[ON]

Well, this was going to be somewhat awkward. Jynn didn't always mind awkward encounters, it was sort of his thing, but to meet with Galileo's captain so late into the game had certainly seemed intimidating to him, especially at the request of a report. If there was one thing Jynn disliked more than anything else it was reports. He was more fond of verbal updates, but he knew most captains wanted something in writing and a little more official. And so he hastily wrote something up to present to Jon... er,... Captain Holliday. Or was it just 'sir?' 'Sir' would just have to do.

He approached the ready room's door and paused at the entrance. No doubt he was detected the moment he stepped before the door, but he still signaled his intent to enter. He could hear the chirp on the other end as he eagerly awaited his welcoming, though he was unsure how welcomed he would be.

The doors slid open without much ceremony as Holliday tapped the control on his desk. The console was piled with PADDs outlining everything from power distribution to crew availability and even the occasional replicator menu as he tried to decide what to order for supper. Needless to say, very little free space was in fact, free.

"Lieutenant - take a chair. I'll be right with you. Replicator is available if you want anything." He called out gruffly, not looking up from his work and instead gesturing with his hand for the man to approach.

Jynn made a quick detour to the offered Replicator before he would find his way to the chair. He leaned in and requested a beverage. "Ice water, four hundred and seventy-three milliliters." Once the drink was produced he quickly grabbed it up and took a sip as he made his way to his seat. He placed his PADD by his side and rested his arms on the chair, spinning the glass of water gently with one hand as the ice gently rattled against the glass. As he watched Holliday go about his work and waited for a moment of his time a bit of a smile began to form on his face.

"Something funny Lieutenant?" Holliday called out without looking up. After a moment he tapped a few last commands into the PADD before letting it settle on the desk and look up towards his latest meeting. Quite how the Captain had been able to see the face of the man sat opposite him wasn't clear, although the extremely shiny desk might have had something to do with it.

"Speak freely. Please."

Jynn was almost caught off guard a bit by the sudden inquiry, though it had not been his first encounter with a ship's captain. He took another sip of his water, allowing a cube of ice to enter his mouth, it' soothing feeling making Jynn smile more. "Nothing funny," Jynn said as the cube clacked against his teeth with a pause as though he had to literally sift through words in his mind for the most formal of titles, "sir. Just admiring the level of dedication superior officers have to their duties despite the appearance of it being never ending. It's like love, is it not," he asked, not really expecting an answer aside from a continuation of formalities. His free hand was already placed upon his PADD, ready to report in as he had found himself doing so many times before.

John raised an eyebrow at the comparison. The work he was doing was his duty, nothing more and certainly nothing less. He had never thought of completing paperwork as anything particularly enjoyable, and certainly not something even similar to love. Equally, he was a closed man, and as a general rule was married to nothing other than his ship.

"It is...duty, Lieutenant. Four pips means paperwork, and a lot of it. Even more than when I was First Officer. Speaking of paperwork - what can I do for you?"

"I've got my report for you, sir. I do hope you still have time to hear it? I can come back another time if you have more pressing matters." As he awaited John's answer he opened up the file on his PADD to present to him.

John folded his hands together on the desk in front of him, before leaning back in his chair and allowing his eyes to focus on something other than PADDs for a moment.

"Very well. What do you have for me?" He replied, raising an eyebrow as he waited to see how this new officer would perform aboard his ship.

Placing his PADD down on the table Jynn slid it forward to the captain with one of his decorated hands. At a closer look it also appeared that his PADD was equally decorated with decals of a sort. Most were celestial objects but a couple where notable physics equations. "The data and the details are in there, sir, but to put it in brief despite our current circumstances I must say that Galileo has performed quite well. To say nothing of her crew, of course," he finished with a smile.

John looked down at the PADD, frowning as he noticed the apparent modifications to it's casework, and the similar designs on his crewman's arm. There was some artistic licence given within uniform regulations, and for religious purposes but this seemed to be purely for show.

"Lieutenant - I wasn't aware it was standard procedure to decorate Starfleet equipment?"

"Not standard at all," Jynn replied confidently. Wait, was this one of those traps commanding officers liked to set for subordinates? He tried to sort through his scatterbrain memory to find any appropriate regulation regarding the personal decoration of one's issued equipment. Book seventeen, sectio... No, book twelve, section twenty-two, artic... He stopped his thoughts with a sigh. The trap was set and he had stepped right into it. "Do you like it?"

Jonathan simply raised an eyebrow at the very idea of the question. Why in any sense of the word would he 'like' that someone had defaced Starfleet property for a simply cosmetic value.

"No Lieutenant, I do not like it at all. I expect to see this device returned to it's correct appearance before I see it again - is that understood?"

With nothing more than a nod of defeat Jynn confirmed the order that was given. He was going to miss all that flair. Now how was he going to know which one was his? "You'll find everything else to be in proper order, sir," he stated, referring to the report within the deregulated PADD. And oddly enough it was a very proper report with perhaps only one or two slips of eccentricity, the rest of it being quite formal in its writing. There was even proper citation with links to recorded data on the device.

"Hmm...yes...it does seem to be concise, if a little flamboyant in it's presentation." Holliday replied as he thumbed the padd through a few of it's pages. He would read it in detail later and digest it's contents with a little more thought and attention.

"Thank you Lieutenant. I would appreciate an up to date analysis of the status of flight control within the next few hours. We're going to be needing support vehicles during our repair mission and we cannot afford for them to be out of action for a minor reason."

"Yes, sir," Jynn replied with a nod. "All shuttles will be given a thorough inspection. I am sure Celeste and Pisa will be in perfect working order, but I must ask, how many shuttles will we need? My babies in the main shuttlebay have quite the workload placed upon them at the moment. I'm sure Marina and Virginia are quite tired," he finished with a sigh as though to share their exhaustion in a moment of man-machine empathy.

"Hopefully no more than one or two Lieutenant" John replied, making note of his officer's comments regarding the status of their support craft.

"If Commander Kohl's report is correct then there shouldn't be a need to expend our entire complement as part of mining operations. We only need enough to replenish our stores, and then we'll head for home. Use your discretion regarding vessels to be used."

Jynn gave a smile and a nod to the captain. "Then Marina and Virginia can continue with their assistance in keeping Galileo in working order while Celeste and Pisa will aide in refitting and refueling. They are quite suited for those tasks, after all." His smile broadened as he continued, "Don't you just love it when the pieces just sort of fall together like that?"

Holliday sighed as he once again found himself hating the language being used by one of his officers. Of course there was nothing wrong with being passionate about ones job, but in this case if all seemed a little too flowery and excessive for his liking.

"Er...yes....erm. That'll be all Lieutenant. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Jynn replied with a quick nod as he stood up from his chair. "Oh," he all but exclaimed as he reached his hand out in offerance to his most commanding of officers. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Er..you too..Lieutenant." Holliday replied, reaching up to take his hand whilst trying to keep his own confusion at bay. An interesting Lieutenant this one most certainly was.....


[OFF]

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Jynn
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

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