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Captain's Quarters - Dancing On Toes, Losing The Rhythm

Posted Oct. 18, 2021, 9:02 a.m. by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) (Lindsay B)

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Captain’s Quarters - Dancing On Toes, Losing The Rhythm

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Captain’s Quarters - Dancing On Toes, Losing The Rhythm

(snip)

Faye snorted as she stepped through the large double doors and into the corridor. “Quarters. Tess will be pissed off I do that without her there, like she would know the instant I stepped in later.” She cast a sideways glance at Alex. “I swear they lied to me and she’s actually telepathic, not empathic and she knows,” Faye said nodding empathically before grinning. “Annoying as it is sometimes, I’m really grateful for her. I never thought I’d be a cat person but here we are,” she added with a laugh.

A few minutes later, Faye unlocked her quarters with a mindless tap of the keypad, the door swishing open to admit them.

Tess jumped off the new cat tree which served as a perch, scratching post and bed in one, chirping at Faye and Alex. Faye scooped her up and scratched behind her ears. A part of her intellectually had understood that getting an empathic animal was somehow allowed a deeper bond to be formed than usual, but it was hard to explain how bonded the two were now. Tess didn’t freak out over each and every flicker of emotions now that she understood Faye’s moods better, but she was constantly watchful and always there- a reassuring presence that was hard to articulate just how lovely it was.

“We’re going to call Uncle Gavin now. Prepare yourself Tess, this could possibly get bumpy.” For her part, Tess just looked at Alex and then back at Faye, then Alex again, as if to ask ‘now what are you doing you silly person?

“Grab a chair,” Faye told Alex as she began tapping keys to put in the call to the Alpha Quadrant, a feat that took a small amount of time on most days.

~Faye

Alex took a seat in a spot where he would hear clearly but not be on video. “If you run into any trouble getting ahold of him, let me know. Four pips means I get answered.” and he chuckled.

Alex

Faye snorted. “Well you can be all Captain buddy-buddy if we need you to be, but I suspect his curiosity will be enough to answer the call anyway.”

Several minutes of waiting, tapping her fingers on her desk and petting an insistent Tess who wanted love and cuddles, the screen shifted. A middle aged Human male, with nearly salt and pepper hair and a full beard. He had the same pale blue eyes that Shara did, the corners creased heavily from (what Faye could imagine) was a lot of smiling and laughing. In his Command uniform, Gavin Conner was the epitome of a seasoned Captain.

“Well, well, well, so it is who I thought it might be,” he said, his voice warm and rich.

Faye shouldn’t have been so surprised, but she was. “You know I’m out in the Delta Quadrant?”

Gavin grinned. “I’ve kept an eye on your career, invested in it as I am.”

It was so weird. There was no other word for it. It was weird that all this time she had had an anonymous champion in her corner. Sometimes when she thought about it, she felt similar to when she really thought about how integral Shara had been to her life in recent years and she’d never known it. It wasn’t that she felt tricked, but it made her a little sad sometimes. “Yeah… that was news to me. Only found out recently.” Faye was also starting to find it weird that they were just talking as if they knew each other, but all she knew about the man was his record and what her mom had told her.

“I was wondering if that had precipitated this call,” Gavin said with a nod.

Faye opened her mouth to speak, but was momentarily lost for words. Tess stirred in her lap, nudging Faye under her chin. “Yes, yes,” she said, looking down at the cat. “It’s fine.” She shifted her attention back to Gavin. “Tess here is my therapy animal. She reminds me to take a breath or a break when I’m dealing with difficult emotions.”

Gavin was quiet for a moment but then nodded. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Faye?” he said softly.

It was a simple statement really: I’m getting married and I wanted to invite you. But it was more complicated than that and it came with qualifiers and addendums for context that Faye knew would shift this conversation very quickly into tricky territory. Confusion played across her face and Faye found herself looking to Alex. Did she just drop news of her mom in his lap? Not mention her at all? She didn’t know how to go about this. So silence ensued.

~Faye & Gavin


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