Post: # 4617Post
Quinn
Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:29 pm
OFF: This is a BackPost.
ON:
<< USS Malinche, Deck 03-Alpha - Day 1 - 2120 >>
Cade studied the file in his hand. The image of the woman looking back at him was attractive - blonde, a number of years younger than him, and one he hadn't managed to get out of his mind since first meeting her. Ensign Saoirse Eleanor Quinn. Ellie. Their initial meeting had not come long before, but she had made quite the impression on him. He had been serving as Chief of Operations on Outpost 8013 at the time and she had gotten stuck on one of the lifts. He'd managed to get her out, and the two had formed a-
He wasn't, to be frank, sure of what their relationship was. They'd kissed once, and that had been... pleasant. But had it been a 'thank you' kiss? A kiss of potential interest? A kiss between friends, or one between potential lovers? His experience with relationships was quite limited, and his single long-term relationship had been with someone only too willing to be the dominant partner to a largely accepting Douglas. It hadn't been that he wasn't interested, merely that he lacked any particular understanding of relationships. Not much had changed.
Standing, the officer walked over to his office's replicator and stood before it in silence. He wanted to surprise her. She was new to the ship, probably didn't know anyone. And she would almost certainly lack the confidence of a long-time Starfleet officer. And yet he wasn't sure what he could bring her. A housewarming gift? A bottle of Romulan ale? (He could picture just how well that would go over.) Ultimately he settled on a flower - but what kind? A rose, he decided. "Computer, a rose, please. Ah," he hesitated. "Make it a glass rose." That way it would never die.
The rose was beautiful, twisting upward into gentle, airlike petals. "Beautiful," he murmured. Then, "Thank you." He winced. He always found himself thanking the computer. It seemed bizarre, even to him. Fortunately, no one had ever noticed or, at the very least, commented on it.
<< USS Malinche, Deck 04-Alpha - Day 1 - 2131 >>
At the entrance to Quinn's quarters Kinkaid stopped. He pulled down his blouse to ensure there were no creases, ran a hand through his hair and - realizing what he was doing - felt remarkably foolish. "What are you doin', Cade?" he muttered. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves - Why are you nervous? - he pressed the chime on the door. For a moment he had the desire to bolt, but he suppressed it. Why was it so hard for him to talk to Ellie one-on-one, when he had no problem showing off his archery skills before a stadium full of aliens?
"New beginnings. Fresh start," Elle said to herself. She was going to do everything right this time. "New beginnings, fresh start," Elle repeated, as she finished unpacking her few possessions. Her quarters were a little... cozy, let's say, but that didn't much matter to Elle. At least she still had a room to herself.
With her "Tribute-Vintage" Korg keyboard set up in the corner, Elle placed the only two family holo-images she still had on her nightstand. The first holo depicted Elle as a child, not much more than ten or eleven years old, on the Harvard campus, holding the hands of her parents. Her mother's face was turned toward Elle, dotingly, but her father's gaze was far off, distant and preoccupied. The second holo-image showed Elle at her Starfleet Academy graduation just two years ago, towering over her mother. Elle frowned and adjusted the angle of the holo-emitter just so. Again. Once more. And... done. "Huzzah," Elle said aloud.
She absentmindedly reached out to her keyboard for a little celebratory flourish. "To new beginnings and a fresh start." Middle C? Ha! An appropriate place to start anew. Elle hit the key... and it sounded... "Weird." Wait. That was the door chime. She scolded herself, "Wow, way to be an idiot, genius."
Elle stepped over to her locked door and hesitated. Was it Lieutenant Doram? Perhaps with some specific orders for tomorrow? What if it was Captain Kersare? Should she change into her uniform then? Elle was about to go for a run, so as to burn off the excited, excess energy she felt at getting first rotation — and to revel in the silly pride she felt at being the one to bring the Malinche out of Spacedock. But her leggings and ratty tank-top didn't exactly scream "consummate professional", nor provide proof that Elle had turned over a new leaf. Maybe the Captain had come to her senses, and was coming to rescind Elle's transfer after all. Yikes. "Stop it. Stop being so paranoid. Don't be insane," Elle said aloud. Then she laughed, someday her brain would listen to her. Someday.
As she approached the door, Elle addressed whomever was on the other side, "I'm sorry, I thought the door was my keyboard." Elle shook her head, "Computer, unlock." The door slid open. "What I meant to say was that I thought you were my —"
Elle's eyes widened "— my — " and she almost kissed the man again, right then and there, "— Cade!"
Startled by the sudden opening of the door, Douglas forced a smile on his face. "Uh," he blinked. Flower, dummy. He lifted the glass flower, grinned. "Por vous."
Merci. Be clever. "Mercy." Elle shut her eyes, "I mean... w-what are you doing here, sir?" Suddenly, she was knee-deep in imaginary scenarios. "Am I still on Outpost 8013? Did I get court-martialed and pass out? Holy Hell, am I in a coma or something? Are you trying to wake me up?"
Then Elle opened her eyes and looked Cade right in his. "I'm awake," she said. His eyes were as honest and genuine now as they were the night the two first met, when Elle finally felt okay even while fumbling for words. When, for the first time in a long time, Elle felt like she wasn't being judged. When the two stayed up chatting through sunrise and into late afternoon without realizing it, right before Elle was ordered to return to the New York. When, at the very last moment before quite literally running into a shuttle back to the ship, Elle impulsively kissed Cade, convinced her Starfleet career was over and that she might never see the final frontier, nor Cade, ever again.
If Elle actually had any close friends to tell, she might have been embarrassed to reveal that it had been her first real kiss. She never had time for boys then, let alone gentleman callers now. And Cade was certainly... a gentleman. Her cheeks felt flush, and her heart was racing. "I'm going to have a heart attack," she said under her breath.
Only then did she see the lovely glass flower he held aloft for her. Elle smiled, "I'm going to have a heart attack."
"Please don't." Douglas smiled. "I saw you'd been transferred here. To the Malinche, I mean. I wanted to-" See you again. Kiss you again "-see how you were settling in." She was so tall. And attractive. Being in her presence made him nervous in a way no one else ever had. Forcing himself to break eye contact with the woman, he peered past her into the small quarters she had been provided. They were half the size of his own, maybe less.
A mental fantasy played through his head where Cade asked the woman to stay in his quarters, but he quickly dismissed it, embarrassed by the very thought. "It's..." The officer looked back up into her eyes. Beautiful. "We're... not on duty," he pointed out. "You can call me Cade, remember?" His smiled turned almost nervous. "It's nice to see you, Ellie." I missed you. That thought caught him by surprised. He pushed it away, recognizing the hint of lust for what it was.
Elle thought she saw something fleeting but fiery in Cade's eyes that she didn't recognize, but any qualms about whatever it was soon got washed away by warm memories of the night they met. "I remember," she said in response. "It's nice to see you too, sir — Cade, I mean." Elle smiled. "Actually, it's a lot better than nice. I didn't think I would. See you again, I mean. See any of it. See what comes next... for me, for Starfleet — I wasn't sure I'd last long enough to see the new frontier."
Elle placed her hand on her chest and took a breath, "But here I am! I dodged the boot." Elle then made a flying motion with her arms and shoulders that she hoped conveyed "evasive maneuvers," but looked instead like file-holos of awkward late 20th century Earth dancing. "And don't worry. I'll try to stay alive. They need somebody good to fly this bird." She reached for the glass rose with her other hand, "And thank you. Glass flora's my favorite — I can't kill it."
How did Cade know she had a "black thumb" — Elle hadn't told him that she was terrible with both plants and pets, had she? Yet he knew! As she clasped the rose, their hands touched. And Elle was just sentimental enough to think the static from scuffling her running shoes on the carpet was a spark. Her heart was racing again. Then something dawned on her (belatedly), and she gasped.
"Wait... you're on the Malinche. You're stationed here now? With me! I mean, not with me, I mean, um...." Elle sighed, appeared to fight the urge for a moment... before giving in. Suddenly she hugged Cade tightly, pressing the glass flower between them.
She held on, lingering for a long moment, before saying wryly, "So you blew up the Outpost, huh?"
Cade didn't want to let the woman go. The feel of her against his body and, yes, the smell of her in his nostrils made him feel...
But he did allow her to pull away, placing a look of mock hurt on his face. "I defy you to find any evidence that it was me." The look remained a moment longer before he broke into a broad grin. "Well. Just me. There were at least three other people involved." The officer, still grinning, shook his head. Outpost 8013 had been trouble from day one, though together with Engineering he'd done a remarkable job keeping the station from falling apart during his tenure. The two departments had been forced to work even more closely than normal there given the difficulties of working with aging, alien technology, coupled with the Federation's later add-ons. A single misstep in either department could have resulted in a piece of the hull plating coming loose, or power draining into subsystems that went nowhere.
Kinkaid gripped the young woman by the arm, not quite willing to lose contact yet. What's that about? "I'm Ops," he affirmed. "Like I said: I saw your name and wanted to make sure you'd been welcomed. By a friendly face, I mean. The Exo's friendly, but his face isn't, and the captain," he looked around conspiratorially before continuing, "she may look friendly, but she's a tiger." The man made a clawing motion in her direction, but followed it up with a laugh and a wink to be sure she knew he was kidding. "I'm glad to see you dodged that boot, Ellie. How did you dodge it anyway? Last I heard you were expecting something like a full court martial, maybe execution by being thrown into a black hole. That sorta thing."
Elle laughed, "To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how I escaped." She furrowed her brow, "I mean, I was... um, like I usually am, at my disciplinary hearing — meaning terrible, of course — I just kept digging myself a deeper and deeper hole anytime I said anything. I thought for sure Captain Wright was going to get me thrown out of Starfleet, but.... " Elle smiled at the idea of her new Captain as tiger, "But I think the 'Tigress' took pity on me. She’s developed a reputation for taking on hard luck cases, apparently. But hey, she must get results, with the kind of action this ship has seen — and survived."
"The Malinche's a better fit anyway. And yikes, what a welcome twist of fate, you know? It’s an honor, really. I mean, I did minor in Tactical Operations — aced all my Combat Strategy Scenarios too! And with the New York, I was at the helm in live combat three times! Outgunned too, but we made it. You're not the only Smartypants aboard, you know." Elle tapped her forehead, "I can strategize." Then she laughed again, "I just can't — um... verbalize."
"And Commander Korath's plenty friendly in the face. Maybe you're the problem, Elle jibed. Then she noticed that Kinkaid was still holding onto her arm. She smiled again, "Maybe it's you."
Cade snorted a laugh. "You may be right." Finally releasing the woman's arm from his hand, he reached back and rubbed his head, still smarting from the previous day's adventure on the holodeck. "I think he tried to kill me yesterday," the officer opined. "Oh sure," he grinned, "he said it was all about making friends, but when the arrow hit the targ it was really about seeing me get thrown off my feet by a weapon the size of my small toe." His words notwithstanding, Cade couldn't help but laugh at the event once more. "Long story.”
"You seem to be getting on here well." Douglas forced himself to look away from the attractive female. He peered into her room, which very much like a small, truncated version of his own. "I see you chose the one bedroom, one bath." Inwardly he winced at that comment. One bed, one bath? What the hell is that, Kinky? He could practically hear his sister's voice in his head, mocking him for his - poor - attempt to- To what? Are you flirting, Cade? His eyes widened at the realization. He stiffened noticeably. "I, uh- Sorry. Bad joke...?"
Elle laughed again. "I'm surprised you could tell, sir. Aren't all your jokes bad?" She felt her shoulders relaxing. She was so glad to see him. Now she finally felt at ease on the ship. "I think Korath tried to kill me too — but with Klingon Blood Wine. I couldn't sleep and so, I wound up running one of his training programs without realizing it. I'm lucky it was just the holodeck or I would've been cut in half. Wish the wine had been holographic too, I'll say that." Then Elle noticed Cade looking into her room. Oh no. Had she left anything embarrassing out that he could see? She almost immediately moved to block his view. She lifted her arm straight up and got on her tiptoes, "On a good day, I can almost touch the ceiling. And my feet hang off of the side of the bed." They didn't really. She looked over her shoulder, back into her quarters... and smiled, before turning back to face Cade, "I guess whoever runs Ops on this bird made sure I got the smallest room possible." Then she frowned, realizing that she had no idea what he was talking about earlier, regarding hunting targs. "Wait... what happened with your small toe?"
Finally her expression softened and she smiled again, "And don't worry, I like long stories... sir."
OFF:
Joint Post by:
Lieutenant Douglas "Cade" Kinkaid
Chief Operations Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A
and
Ensign Saoirse "Elle" Quinn
Flight Control Officer
USS Malinche NCC-38997-A