Pop the Champagne (Part 4 of 6)

Posted on 12 Nov 2012 @ 7:09am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Scott Parker & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Amril & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Verity Thorne & Petty Officer 1st Class James Watt

3,562 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 04 - 1115 hrs

Previously, on Pop the Champagne (Part 3)...

Gabriel Stark smiled as he lowered the glass, looking into it with a content sigh. It was his what? Fourth? Fifth? Sixth? He'd lost count already, and he loved that. Especially with real alcohol. Real cocktails. He moved easily to catch up another one, this time an ominous green colour. He all but avoided the food. That would just dampen the flow of drink. Shame there wasn't a dance floor, but he wasn't sure if the crew were ready for his club moves yet anyway. Probably just as well. Still, they'd got through a difficult mission alive, it was worth a celebration.

Scarlet Blake watched the young man going through the drinks like it was going out of fashion. She smiled weakly. She could understand it. Still, she'd try and catch up with him at some point, for work. He needed a psych check up. She shook her head lightly to get work out of it as she looked around the room, smiling gently, but hanging back a little, happy to just sip her drink. It had been a long day. She was still smiling inwardly at the promotion. She was getting there, slowly, back to where she had been in the marines. Working hard to get back up the ladder. It was a tricky climb at times, but she'd keep going. One foot after the other.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

From a distance away, Verity Thorne caught sight of the counsellor. He lifted his glass to her with a small smile from across the room, but made no approach. She seemed content to just soak it in. And he was much the same in honesty. He was still shocked with the promotion. He hadn't expected it at all. He hadn't thought that it would happen, at least not for a very long time. The chaplain drained his glass of the whiskey before letting out a long, shaking breath. He closed his eyes, pressing the cool class to his forehead with a frown. His head was pounding again. It was probably just the lack of sleep, but even so it didn't make it any more pleasant. He went for another scotch on the rocks. He couldn't even look at the food, it made him feel queasy. He got the scotch quickly so he could pull away from the food and drink, sticking to the brew he knew best.

"So, is this normal?" A tallish blond appeared somewhere in Thorne's line of vision, cradling a very large number of muffins and cupcakes on a tray in his arm. He reached over and picked an obnoxiously pink one out, and offered the tray to Thorne, filled with various brightly colored confectionery. "I mean," the science officer clarified, "the fact that nearly everyone here is on the way to drunk." The Rigelian crewman smiled down at Thorne's scotch.

Verity looked to him with surprise, taking the blonde man in before looking to the tray of bright coloured cakes. He gave a slight grimace at what seemed like a sickly sweet smell to him, but smiled all the same, holding up a hand to decline. "Actually, this is usually a pretty straight laced messhall," he chuckled softly. "I don't believe we've met? Verity Thorne."

"Ah," Athlen said, balancing the tray a little before placing it on a table to the side in a way that looked nearly accidental. He seemed completely unperturbed. "Athlen," he greeted. "My clan name would probably not roll off the tongue." He grinned widely. "Congratulations on your promotion," Athlen said sincerely, leaning back against the table. He glanced around the room at various groups of people either drinking or planning on it, and tilted his head wryly. Clearly they hadn't got the memo on that straight laced bit. "Hey, are you okay?" Athlen actually managed to get a good look at him, and noticed the lines digging in his face. The man didn't look too good. "You look like you could use a nap. For a week."

"Oh I probably would if I could," Verity chuckled softly, shaking his head with a small smile. It wasn't for lack of trying. "And thanks. It was very unexpected," he admitted with a small smile, glancing around. "Some of the crew here worked really hard during the crisis. So what is it you do here, Athlen?"

"I keep Lieutenant Liyar from pissing everybody off," Athlen said with a smirk. "I'm a sociologist," Athlen explained, and he pilfered a large glass of wine from the table he was stretched out over, eying it curiously before continuing a little more seriously. "Mostly, I help out where it is necessary in terms of the crew's ability to socialize with one another across cultural boundaries. What about you? I have not seen you before."

"I suppose we sort of cross paths a little. I'm the Chaplain," Verity shook his head gently, but regretted the movement. "Faith, culture and even easy discussion."

"Verity," came the voice of an excited Andreus Kohl, as he came round from somewhere behind Athlen. Kohl had abandoned his half-drunk wine and snacks before making introductions. "Oh, there you are. Hello!" Kohl said. Sweeping a hand to the woman by his side, he asked, "Have you met Lieutenant Panne?"

Maenad was looking for a place to set down the empty plate she had been holding, deciding to leave it on the window sill for the time being. She turned around while swallowing another mouthful of wine. "No," she said with a courteous smile, "We haven't met." Maenad extended her hand to him.

Verity took the hand carefully, shaking it gently as he smiled to the woman. "Nice to meet you, Lieutenant. Verity Thorne. I see you've met the man who patches us back together again. A good friend to make," he teased lightly before looking to Kohl. "Good to see you, Andreus."

"Good to see you as well," Kohl replied in kind.

Athlen looked up at the two new arrivals and smiled, picking up the tray. "Cupcake?"

"Always!" Kohl enthused with the eagerness of someone who could eat sweets with every meal. He carefully plucked a cupcake by its base, and as he did so, he asked, "What flavour are they?"

"I honestly have no idea," Athlen said, with what constituted a shrug, "But to me, that just makes it more fun."

"Thank you, no." Maenad help up her free hand, "I just had a sandwich." She swirled the wineglass, watching the red drink make a whirlpool.

Athlen just smiled. "I have not met... you," he noticed, gesturing at Kohl with a finger. "I am Athlen. Good morning, Lieutenant Panne," he said familiarly to the science officer. "Liyar!" he called, and a berobed Vulcan stilled near the door. He turned around stiffly at Athlen's call. Athlen waved him over. "As much as it pains you to remain, it might be good to meet people. For instance, have you met Lieutenant Panne or Lieutenant ... This one?" he gestured at Kohl easily.

"Lieutenant Kohl and I have met. I am unfamiliar with you." He swept a cursory glance over Panne and said nothing further.

"Cupcake?" Athlen held out his tray to the incoming Vulcan.

"Absolutely not." The imperiousness of his tone was only belied by the fact that he was pushing a tray of rainbow colored cupcakes out of his way.

Undeterred, Athlen bit down into one happily. "Your loss!"

Not in any rush to make acquaintance with the vulcan, she watched Athlen torment him with a distant amusement. She had been dealing with them for years, having spent many months on Vulcan for her research, and had developed a sort of numbness toward them. "Pleased to meet you," she nodded to Liyar and spoke flatly, without offering her hand and not smiling; she knew that vulcans didn't shake hands. Instead she switched her wineglass to her left hand and used her right to make the vulcan salute. "Maenad Panne, chief science officer."

Liyar returned the ta'al with his right hand before folding both behind his back. If he held any consideration for her efforts, he didn't show it. Perfunctory as ever, he said shortly, "Liyar. Diplomatic officer."

Athlen busied himself by attempting to work a box of wine, somehow managing to get it into a glass, and raising it in their direction. "And it is very nice to meet you all," he said sincerely to Verity and Kohl.

Verity lifted his scotch glass to Athlen in return, a silent toast before looking down into the glass with a slight frown. He needed another to get through a little longer. "I'm just..." he motioned to the glass before moving to get a refill so he didn't just walk away rudely.

As they all raised their glasses for the toast, Kohl raised his cupcake. He looked to Verity, as the Chaplain moved to step away, and Kohl asked, "Get me one of the same." Silently, Kohl mouthed, "Synthehol," because he had a hedonistic reputation to maintain. He offered a smile to Athlen, and then Maenad, before he asked, "How are the laboratories faring these days?"

Maenad closed her eyes, shook her head, and made a display of pinching the bridge of her nose. "Not good," she muttered, lowering her free hand, "But, they are coming along. Miss Cho has done an excellent job supervising the repairs. If we maintain our current timetable, they will be operational again within next three days and back to normal operations in one week, give or take a day." She looked to Athlen with a playful grin, "I am just thankful that Lieutenant Cho isn't my boss. I don't think I could keep up with her work ethic," she laughed, jokingly. Maenad had faith that Cho would become one of the finest officers with whom she would ever serve.

"Well done, Lieutenant Cho," Athlen said sincerely, though Cho was likely off somewhere else and did not hear it.

Meanwhile, Kohl simply offered a laugh, and he nodded in agreement with Maenad.

"You consider your work ethic to be sub-par?" Liyar asked, turning to face Panne, while Athlen shook his head a little in mock-exasperation.

Maenad turned her head to face Liyar, her lips pressed tightly. She pushed her tongue against her lower front teeth, forming an underbite with her chin, thinking of how to answer him. Her subtle humour was always lost on people, that she was to. But that Liyar had completely missed her obvious sarcasm and genuine laughter genuinely irritated her. With a slow and frustrated shake of her head, she looked to the ceiling and held her green eyes there for a moment, then levelled her them with Liyar's. "I consider my work ethic to be different, not sub-par." Maenad raised her glass to her lips to finish it off but stopped herself halfway, adding, "That the work is done properly is more important than the ethic itself; unless the ethic effects the work in such a way that it interferes with a person's work, or the work of others, I cannot judge how people decide to accomplish their objectives." She looked at the glass in her hand, twirled her wrist and downed the rest of her wine, sharing a brief smirk with Crewman Athlen.

Athlen rose his drink to his lips to stifle his full grin at the science officer, rather than antagonize his direct superior.

Liyar had completely missed her frustration and amusement. Athlen was easy to figure out for the most part, he wore his own emotions on his sleeve, perhaps purposefully, but this human was more subtle and he barely understood overt displays as it was. "When one is invested in completing their project, the project is unfailingly completed with superior results. You do not consider the value in one's subjective consideration of work?" Liyar asked, this time turning to regard Maenad with more than idle acknowledgment, meeting her eyes as he spoke.

"I do not deny that, Mister Liyar, nor do I understand how you came to that conclusion," she sighed. "Of course I value the work of those under my authority, but I will not tell them that they are doing the work improperly if it achieves the same results that I have asked for." She looked into her empty glass, glanced her eyes around for a server. "If I have asked stellar cartography, for example, to get the holo-emitters back online and the grid repaired so that I can observe our course or a spacial phenomenon in full-3D, it makes no difference to me how they do it - so long as it gets done by the time I have specified, I will be happy."

"I have come to this conclusion due to the fact that you have acknowledged explicitly that it makes no difference to you whether or one one has work ethic, but only that the work is done," Liyar pointed out. "By your admission, your own work ethic falls into the latter category, and you encourage your subordinates to adopt a similar attitude. Rather than tell them their procedure is incorrect, or engage their subjective participation, you settle for a final result that appears similar, but lacks," he searched the ceiling for a moment, before spitting out a word that did not get translated, "buhl'es. Personal investment. The main reason why work is done by sentient beings and not computers. You would not choose to encourage their ethic?"

Athlen seemed inordinately busy stuffing his face with a wrap, watching the two with a bright interest in his eyes. He knew Liyar was more or less attempting to make conversation, but wow, that was some terrible smalltalk. Athlen shook his head a little, burying the smirk that threatened to rise in a hearty bite of pita.

Maenad watched the vulcan speaking while she churned like a brooding hurricane. Once he had finally wrapped up his stunningly illogical diatribe, she looked at him with a most scathing glare. "Mister Liyar, for one who believes himself so bound to logic, I am genuinely astonished by you," she began. "Logic has no basis in conjecture, thus making your suppositions toward my authority illogical. I told you that I do not judge the work of my staff so long as their work is completed on time and in proper fashion; I stand by that and have only received exemplary work. My staff and students know that I expect top performance. Those who fail me are corrected or removed." She really wanted another drink, but she held her fiery eyes with the vulcan's. "You say that I have admitted to a poor work ethic; I have done no such thing, nor would I ever. You do not earn yourself a PhD and a professorship at a reputable university, and at Starfleet Academy, by sitting around, accepting low-grade performance, or by coming second."

Maenad clenched her jaw, thinking she had said enough, but feeling that her integrity had been assaulted she kept going. Her voice remained level, but her words sharpened and her speed quickened. "Logic, Mister Liyar, would imply all of what I said. Deduction, I thought, was an impressive vulcan quality. I did not say work ethic is unimportant; on the contrary, I said that how one completes a task is irrelevant as long as it gets done as specified. A poor work ethic will not get the astrometrics lab repaired in a day. A poor work ethic will not get a particle analysis done within a few hours. A poor work ethic will not be tolerated by a superior. There are many ways a person can complete a task, Mister Liyar. There are many ways to eat your dinner, too. Some people eat their peas last, some people eat them first. If everyone finishes at the same time, if everyone gets their fill, if everyone leaves at the same time, who am I to say one person ate better than another? It is the same with work ethic. The end result and the quality of the result is what matters. The result will reflect the quality of one's work, and if I expect top-quality work, would I not also expect quality ethic?"

"I am merely responding to your statements, Lieutenant," Liyar replied monotonously, unaffected. "Was it not you who said that the work is done properly is more important than the ethic itself?" Liyar reminded her of her own words calmly, unfazed by her obvious passion. "Therefore, to contradict that statement as you have now done would suggest that you do not expect quality work ethic, as your preceding arguments have attempted to illuminate." His own words lacked the heat of hers, and he didn't shy away from her angry gaze. In fact, he appeared completely oblivious to it. "You are contradicting your original statements. I have merely postulated that your arguments indicate that you do not prioritize work ethic among your subordinates, nor do you primarily encourage it, which would by default indicate your own work ethic to be dissimilar to that of Lieutenant Cho, whom you have stated exhibits exemplary work ethic. You have also indicated that you would not know how to function were she to be your superior, which indicates that her ethic is above your standards, as you have admitted. You also state that conjecture has no basis in logic, however, you deny the capacity for rational thought of an individual being when you make a supposition such as this. Conjecture is natural. As you have supposed my logic to be in error, you yourself are indulging the same process. You appear agitated," he said as he took in her features, and tilted his head. "I see that I have offended you," he said, as if he hadn't recognized at all how his words affected her until now.

Maenad smiled, but it wasn't a happy one. She had proven him wrong, had valiantly defended herself, and explained one too many times exactly what she had meant. Pointing out that his logic was flawed incited him to point out that her was as well, but she had no pretense of being illogical being. How she loved vulcans.

"You are arguing on semantics," she snapped. "I have explained myself more than adequately that a strong work ethic produces positive results. I never said that I discourage it, that I create it, or that I tolerate it - nor was it ever suggested. My saying that I am more concerned with the end result does not mean that I am not concerned with how it is achieved. I encourage and accept diversity in my department, and that includes how people do their jobs. If someone can do the same thing that I can do, but in a different way, then who am I to say that my method is better if the same result achieved?" She slowly shook her head. "Methodology is subjective, the end result however is not."

"You operate under the assumption that I am arguing," Liyar said, as he tried to work out what she was even discussing. "Terrans puzzle me," he said, almost offhand, as if he had no idea that they were even arguing at all, or that she was defending herself from anything. "As for the statement you have just said, we are in agreement. However, my point of contention arises because I do not understand whether or not you value subjective input, as your semantics indicate that you do not. You have blatantly stated that it does not matter how something is achieved, as long as it is satisfactorily achieved." Liyar paused, and blinked, genuinely puzzled. "How can you claim to believe what you say when your semantics contradict this? I asked whether or not you believed your work ethic to be sub-par because I did not understand your semantics. It was not my intention to offend you. Forgive me if I have done so. Nevertheless, we appear to have differing motives for this discussion, and therefore I shall take my leave now."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CWO Cyrus Kiwosk
Security/ Tactical
USS Galileo

Master Chief Petty Officer Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lt JG Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, SDD/VDF
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SCC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Evelyn Coleman
2XO/Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Kiri Cho
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Scott Parker
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Scarlet Blake
Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lt. jg Amynta Markos
Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Amril
Vorta Defector
USS Galileo

James "Striker" Watt
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
played by Pylus Anon

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