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CSO office Kelly meets M'Lene

Posted Aug. 14, 2019, 1:33 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade M'Lene (Chief Science Officer) (Emily S.)

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in CSO office Kelly meets M’Lene

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in CSO office Kelly meets M’Lene

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade M’Lene (Chief Science Officer) in CSO office Kelly meets M’Lene
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Kelly walked into the science lab and looked around. The new science chief had come aboard a few weeks ago but diplomatic duties and life had stopped Kelly from formally meeting her. With her afternoon clear, Kelly decided to stop by the science labs and say hello. Entering the lab Kelly head towards the chief’s office. Since she did not arrange the meeting prior, Kelly could only hope the woman was free. “Lt. M’Lene,” Kelly called out.

Captain Kelly Shultz

After a few seconds, M’Lene’s head popped out from the office door, her fur flat on one side of her face and eyes a bit wider than normal indicated that the science officer could possibly have been taking a nap. She hadn’t long been released from sickbay after her injury and the whole ordeal had washed her out even more so than normal.

“Captain!” She exclaimed then cleared her throat and brought it down a notch, stepping out into the main lab.

“Lt. M’Lene,” Kelly stuck out her hand brushing past a plant that seemed to make this section of the lab remember a jungle. “Sorry, it has taken me so long to get down here.” Kelly cocked her head to one side slightly. Do you have desk head, she thought looking at the Caitian. Desk head was a well-known condition of Academy Cadets and Department Head. With humans, it usually accompanied a line of drool that made the sleeper look oh so cool but Kelly wasn’t sure about caitian anatomy. She also wasn’t going to say that if the woman had what might be an equivalent of a cowl lick on a human and wasn’t napping on the job.

“Good afternoon Captain, it’s good to meet your acquaintance,” she added as she thrust out her arm for a handshake a little too vigorously and winced, letting out a squeak of pain, forgetting that a few hours earlier it had been in pieces.

“Oh god,” Kelly said bending into the handshake and ultimately holding the woman’s hand instead of shaking it. “Are you okay?”

“Sorry ma’am, I had a little accident earlier,” she said sheepishly. “The docs have fixed me up but I guess it’s still a bit sore and stiff…” she added as she gingerly rubbed her sore elbow. She leant in closer to the Captain to avoid any of her officers hearing.

“If I’m entirely honest I think Ryley might have made sure I was still in a bit of pain when I left…I may have taken a swipe at him…” she said with a hint of shame. She rarely bared her claws unless it was a matter of life and death and she was deeply ashamed that she’d used them on Ryley, even though it had been a reflex. She didn’t know why she had a crush on him, he baffled her entirely and maybe that was the appeal? She realised things were getting a little serious and turned back to the Captain. “Either that or he’s keen for me to go back for another visit?” She chuckled, trying to make light of it.

“Next time go for the cane,” Kelly said in a low tone after looking around suspiciously too. “He takes out the cane controls the medical bay,” she winked at M’Lene

M’Lene giggled and nodded. “I’ll remember that next time!” she said as she tapped her head to make a mental note.

She gestured for Kelly to join her in the office as she walked across to the replicator and tapped a few buttons then placed a mug of coffee in front of the Captain. “You strike me as a coffee person? Unless something else takes your fancy” She chuckled.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)

“It runs in my veins,” Kelly said walking into the office and taking a seat at the desk. Sitting down Kelly scratched the base of her skull and resisted the urge to fluff out her hair. Maybe it was walking by the insects another ensign was working on but Kelly swore she could feel something on the back of her neck. It was not a itch nor a tickle but something in between.

“So tell me a little about yourself,” Kelly asked wiggling back into her seat as the CSO got the drinks. “And FYI, your record speaks for itself. So maybe we keep this informal and find out about the person and not the pips.” Kelly only met formally when it was required for paperwork. The rest she tried to issue an air of approachability. “I mean at some point you are going to throw out some chemicals or number string at me and say “trust me captain do blank and I ain’t going to have clue as to why so maybe we work on the trust thing here,” she laughed.

Captain Kelly Shultz

M’Lene laughed as she set a cup of hot coffee down in front of Kelly. “I’ll try to keep that to a minimum Captain,” she said as she smiled and took her seat and sipped her coffee. It wasn’t normally something she drank but she needed a little bit of a pick me up. She made a bit of a grimace at the bitter taste of the coffee but gulped it down and chuckled as she set it down on the desk. “What do you want to know?” she asked with a curious smile. “I was born on Macadarna, was a bit of a disruptive child but that’s mainly just because I got bored easily. I was always jumping off things or upside down on something so my parents sent me to gymnastics which for a long time was a big part of my life. But I’ve always loved science and studying how things interact with each other and from a kitten, deep down I knew I wanted to travel the stars,” she continued as she smiled fondly, thinking back to her childhood.

She allowed herself a moment to look at the picture on her desk of her and her sister on Macadarna. “It wasn’t really the popular choice with my family though, they want me to stay home and continue with my gymnastics. As much as I love it, most of the time…” she added as she rubbed her elbow again. “…it’s not my calling if that makes sense?” she offered. “I always knew I would be a scientist,” she added as she grabbed a sugar cube from the bowl on her desk and plopped it in her coffee, hoping it would make it a little less bitter.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)

“My family have been sailors since the first Phoenician threw up a sail. Others say it was the Vikings,” Kelly let out a half laugh taking a sip of her coffee. Wrapping her hands around the warm mug, Kelly let out a deep contented breath. We have ever not lived on the water. I am from a town called Annapolis. It’s on the water and home to what was for centuries the home of the United States Navy. We were career Navy back then. When Starfleet Academy opened up my great great something was in the first class. That caused a few people to wrinkle their noses,” Kelly shook her head. Families were the same everywhere. “Tradition and the future tend to clash at times but in the end who wouldn’t want to sail the stars,” she said taking another sip of her coffee. She would have to pace herself. She drank coffee like Nash drank shots and at times she and the CTO could go toe for toe with both depending on the situation. “Or sail the waters of ancient planets,” Kelly said taking a Padd off the desk and flipping to her personal files. There she brought up a picture of a catamara and showed it to M’Lene. “This is my baby.”

Captain Kelly Shultz

https://imgur.com/ohZ0zDu

M’Lene let out an impressed whistle. “She’s a beauty ma’am,” she said with a grin. “Mind you, I’m afraid I’m not really a fan of water…call that a tradition of my people!” she giggled, referring to the old adage that cats did not like water and avoided it at all costs.

“So before you were the boss, what was your area of expertise ma’am?” M’Lene asked curiously as she sipped her coffee then held up a hand. “Actually no, let me guess…” she said with a mischievous grin as she peered at the Captain. “I don’t think you’re a scientist, believe me, I’m the exception to the rule, most of us don’t like to mix with others, you’re too friendly for a scientist…” she paused as she had a think. “I think if you were a doctor your instinct would have kicked in when you shook my hand and your hands are too smooth to be an engineer…I’d have to go with security?” she offered as she raised a quizzical eyebrow.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)

“If I answer can I get another one of these,” Kelly held up her empty mug with a grin. Walking over to the replicator she ordered another cup of coffee. Check-ins could go one way or another and for the first time in a long time, Kelly wanted to kick up her feet on the edge of the table, have some coffee, and find out about the officer in front of her. M’Lene was not like the typical science types that seemed worried the captain wasn’t going to approve an experiment or question every requisition order for beakers. She seemed laid back which Kelly loved. Officers that were calm in non-crisis situations tended to be calm in crisis ones. High strung people tended never to be not high strung. Returning with a travel mug instead of the typical eight-ounce issue thing Starfleet thought people needed, Kelly returned to her seat.

“I was security,” Kelly said each word slowly as if it were the beginning of an amusing story. “I always wanted command and my own ship. I, however, fell in with Mr. Dante Knight.” Kelly let out a laugh that most people would recognize as the laugh of someone remembering something special. “He and I spent the past 15 years together leapfrogging from ship to ship and demotion to promotion,” she took a long draw on her coffee. “We were the epitome of work husband and wife. He had command of the Broadsword but everyone knows the XO is the one that is really in command. When the Atlantis came up another ship called the Saracen came up. He took it and I landed here. I was a good thing. Helped the divorce thing move along with less sting,” Kelly took a long sip of coffee.

Captain Kelly Shutlz

M’Lene raised an eyebrow at the Captain’s rather jovial recollection of her former marriage and nodded. “I suppose it would do, serving with a partner certainly does bring it’s fair share of challenges…” she chuckled and then gritted her teeth with a sudden air of melancholy about her. She quickly cleared her throat and shook it off. “Sounds like you did a fair tour of the fleet together though?” she added with a grin. “Any I might have heard of?”

“Constellation, Fox, Eisenhower, Harrier, Broadsword, and Atlantis,” Kelly rattled off the ships in her career. “And it did. All the time apart certainly didn’t help Ric and I. We spent the bulk of our marriage in either exotic locations that were not exotic or cramped quarters.” Kelly would never talk bad about her first marriage but she would also never make it sound like one of them was to blame over the other.

M’Lene’s ears pricked up at the sound of a familiar name. “Did you say the Broadsword? It certainly is a small universe…” she chuckled. “My little sister’s first posting was on the Broadsword, before she transferred to the Washington,” she announced proudly. T’Lama and her were different in so many ways but at least they shared a love of star-fleet, it had been one of M’Lene’s proudest moments when her little sister had decided to join the fleet.

As she sat back in her chair, she noticed her screen blinking indicating she had a message from her sister. She made a quick mental note to check it later as she took another sip of her coffee.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)

Kelly caught the eye gaze to the console. “Do you need to get back to something,” she asked. It was a weird question but M’Lene was not in her office but Kelly in M’Lene’s. Issues were always popping up with her so why would it not be the same for the CSO.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

M’Lene shook her head with a grin. “Not at all Captain, it’s just a message from my sister, her ears must have been burning! It’s no problem, she’ll call back,” she added as she took another slurp of her drink. “So when did you serve on the Broadsword ma’am? My sister was there from 91-93 I think…” she asked as she tried to recall.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)

“The first stint was 86 to 91 then I was the XO there in ‘92. It was my last ship before I got the Atlantis,” Kelly reminisced. “What was your sister’s name? Is she science like you?” Caitains were not an unknown race in the Federation but they were not as common as some races like Vulcans and Betazoids in Starfleet. Kelly let her mind drift to all the people she had known on the ship. She typically had a name or a face for everyone on the crew. Given enough time both married up to a single individual.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

M’Lene laughed out loud, nearly spitting her drink across the table. “T’Lama?! Not at all, she doesn’t have the patience for science, she’s a security officer. She’d much rather shoot something than see how it works!” she giggled as she wiped her mouth. “You were there in ‘92? You may have come across her then? I’m guessing there weren’t many Caitians on board?” she mused as she rifled through her desk and pulled out a picture of the two of them at T’Lama’s graduation and handed it to the Captain.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)

Kelly took the picture and looked at it. M’Lene was not wrong. Caitain’s were not an unfamiliar species but they did not have the numbers in Starfleet like other races. “I do remember her. She was a character,” Kelly said smiling. “I remember thinking that she needed to be in front of the group when carrying a phaser instead of brnging up the rear. Are you two close,” she asked her CSO?

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

Bump

M’Lene chuckled and nodded. “Indeed, that sounds like T’Lama, always charging in…” she sighed, recalling a number of times that her sister had found herself in a difficult spot that could have been avoided with a bit of forward planning. M’Lene looked at the picture of them together and nodded fondly. “Yes, we speak to each other fairly often although given our postings I don’t see her as much as I’d like. But when we do get together we’re like a couple of teenagers again,” she smirked. “Do you have any siblings ma’am?” she asked curiously.

Lt (jg) M’Lene (CSO)


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