Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Captain’s Ready Room - The Proposal

Posted by Lieutenant Ian Bordeaux (Chief Diplomatic Officer) in Captain’s Ready Room - The Proposal

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Captain’s Ready Room - The Proposal
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Ian wasn’t one to be nervous very often, but the call he just had with Admiral Perkins was not something he had expected. It took all his schmoozing and boozing to get that old fossil to even talk to Ian, and to be fair Ian understood why he had to work so hard. The proposal that was sent over was something only Kelly as the ships Captain could ever approve. If it wasn’t for the fact that Ian was her husband and knew all the right ways to convince her of the benefits of always listening to Ian this might have been a hard sell.

“Look sir, I think she will love when I go over the specs. This maybe home in some ways for us, and I know we have made it that way… but just the memorial of this ship and the chance to get our hands on what you are offering… I think she will agree. Give me 48 hours sir and I will get her signing on the red line so to speak.” Ian said as he took a deep gulp as he looked into the eyes of Perkins. It was ironic in some ways, for many years Ian had been the yeoman to Perkins and now found himself the Chief Diplomat and crew liaison officer. This was never a path he had planned, yet somehow he found his role as husband to Kelly Bordeaux made him still her yeoman.

“See that you do Lieutenant, I don’t like sticking my neck out for people. I put her on the Atlantis, I would much rather it be her than the Saratoga, Admiral Harper is in command of that ship and she would love to gloat about the honor till I was blue in face. Starfleet has giving me a chance to offer it to Kelly, and I am putting a lot of faith in you. Let me make it clear though son, if she doesn’t say yes… you are going to need to start getting used to video chats when you want to see your wife… I will send you to farthest regions of the quadrant if you fail me on this.” Perkins didn’t seem to flinch or show any signs of humor as he spoke, the man never had any humor.

“So no pressure right? Listen sir, I know my wife… more than anyone. You gave us the leeway to stay together after our marriage, you don’t know what that means to me. I am not about to let her make a decision to force us apart and becoming a 2-3 times a year marriage when we just get to see in person on holidays and joint shore leave. If I can get the Breen Confederacy to give us the vein of Dilithium on Reicen VII I can get Kelly to agree to this.” Ian said as he tried to hide the nerves as he waited for the Admiral to say the words he wanted most, dismissed.

“Okay, I trust you on this son… get this taking care of. You have 24 hours, no longer.” Ian’s face seemed to drop as he hard that, he had asked for 48 but he wasn’t about to argue with this change. “You are dismissed Lieutenant, I expect to hear good news soon though.” Perkins said as he pressed the screen to cut the call leaving Ian at his desk with a feeling of dread washing over him.

“She’ll accept this… why wouldn’t she accept this…” Ian seemed to say to no one as he trailed off in mid thought at the task just thrust upon his lap.

Bordeaux, Chief of Diplomacy

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Twenty minutes later....
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“Oh heck no. No,” Kelly instantly was on guard the second Ian mentioned Admiral Perkins and this was going to be a great thing in the same sentence. Never had anything Perkins did benefit Kelly or Dante. Now Ian was standing in their living room trying to sell the idea. “If Perkins wants it, then it will only screw me over in the end. You can tell Perkins to take his offer and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine which FYI is the dark recesses of the man’s soul.” Kelly’s hatred of Admiral Perkins was well known.

“Look, I am not big on Perkins either but you gotta hear me out here. I don’t see it as a bad change, just one you didn’t expect.” Ian said as he took a bite from his steak as he hoped the more whiskey she had the calmer she got as he poured her a second drink. “Plus he is offering to honor the service of this ship, it’s been around for awhile and they want to memorialize a Pendragon class ship, why not ours?”

Kelly took a large swig of her drink as she ate. She would need to pace Ian with the whiskey. Already she was feeling a bit less tense. Normally this was a good think but with Perkins, it was never a good thing.

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One hour later....
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“Whose side are you on,” Kelly ran her fingers through her hair. If the man before her was not legally her husband, Kelly would order him out of her quarters for harassment. It had been an hour of her being admittedly stubborn but Ian was also digging his heels in the imaginary line in the sand and refusing to see her point that Perkins never did anything without a motive. At this point, Kelly was being a wife and not a Starfleet captain. “You know he is still miffed you slept with his niece at that graduation party years ago. So why do you think anything he is offering now is positive or helpful? I see it as a way for him to get revenge on me for the goats and on you for ditching a member of his family to sleep with the enemy.”

“He didn’t like me long before her, but I was good at my job so I got to stay. She just broke the camels back so to speak. Still, this ship class is outstanding love. Perkins is a tool bag but he has something no one else is offering us and that is a Mythology class. It makes the old Sovereign class that Picard flies look like a space rock. Just look at what I have here and I think you’ll see.

“Mythology,” Kelly said a single word that spoke volumes. Who wouldn’t want a ship like that? Mythology classes were enormous but built that way for extended deep space missions and first contact settings. That was why most people joined Starfleet. Now Perkins was handing her the dream ship for any captain. How long could she pretend that the thought did not excite her?

“Ugh okay show me the specs,” Kelly moaned dropping into the couch.

“Perfect love, let’s go over the specs first… and I think we need to start on this… Expanded Diplomatic Module.” he said looking at her with a huge smile as she melted into his embrace as he kissed her forehead as he kept the PaDD in front so she could see.

“Expanded Diplomatic Module,” Kelly had a hint of skepticism in her voice. “That is where you want to start?” Ian was acting like a kid in a candy store. Kelly couldn’t help but smile at his excitement. Everyone wanted new things. This new Atlantis was the equivalent to a new vehicle.

“I mean look at this…”

This suite of modules gives expanded diplomatic meeting rooms. When installed it gives:

• Twelve Ambassadorial quarters each
• Two hundred staff quarters each
• One conference hall complex with bar and mess area for 200 guests
• 12 twelve seat briefing rooms
• Facilities and quarters, for up to 100 members of the press
• All areas are capable of supporting H, K, or L environments

“How can we say no to that? I can finally get a full staff to help maintain all the dignitaries we have and we can have so many more first contact missions…” he said as he looked over and could see he was capturing her attention as he quickly flicked a button to go to the next feature.

“Expanded Entertainment Module… I mean how does that not sound amazing.... and what it offers would keep our crew in comfort for decades to come.”

When installed it gives the Mythology expanded entertainment capabilities, including:

• Sixteen holosuites
• Six recreation and performance halls for live performances
• Three 100 yard long twelve feet deep swimming pools with spa facilities
• Three casinos with two deck bars
• Three cargo and replication areas for entertainment storage and small scale fabrication
• Fifteen fusion generators to support the added power demands of each module, five generators are located in each module.

“Wait did you say casino as in blackjack and one-armed bandits casino,” Kelly sat more upright in her chair. One did not last long in Starfleet if you did not learn to play cards. Normally the house was always your enemy but on a ship, you learned it was typically operations that ran the tables. Having a house control the deck would level the playing fields.

“Hell yeah, I think I even heard we might be able to get an upgraded package but I don’t know for certain. Something about an OMAP’s touch but I don’t know what they will do. Still even stock this thing sounds insane. It can only get better doll.” Ian said softly as he kept pressing past highlights of the ship.

“I know that sounds good to you, plus a dozen other thing, Expanded Cargo Module, Planetary Colonization Module, Expanded Weapons and Fleet Operations Control Module, Search and Rescue Operations Module, Flea’tan Compression Relay Jump Core Module and that is just to name a few… this thing has a built in gym, nursery, schools, machine shops, arboretum, schools, diplomatic hall… plus we my love, we get our own hot tub… I mean look at what our quarters gets.” he said as he enlarged the area about the CO quarters.

Kelly looked over the specs specifically for one thing as Ian explained everything.

The CO’s Quarters are located on deck 3 starboard and are spacious and open. The room is divided into three areas: a living and work area, a sleeping area with private storage. The living and work area has two couches, a table, desk and workstation with table. The bedroom has a large king-sized bed and bathroom, complete with a three person hot tub. Connecting to this is the CO’s storage room, allowing personal effects to be easily on hand when wanted. This storage room is a 3x2 meter rectangular shaped room.

“How can you say no to all this?” Ian asked as he looked over to see what she was thinking. Gauging her was something he was always good at and he was hoping he was winning her over.

“Yes but we have two bedrooms here,” Kelly pointed out. Her comment was not confrontational but inquisitive. One bedroom quarters limited their future if they wanted that future. Ian and she had talked about it a bit on their winter getaway yet came to no further conclusion. At least here it was not like the possibility was closed. The new ship physically removed that possibility unless they were going to bunk any future kids in a JO suite down the hall. Still, there were a lot more things to consider that something they had never had a serious discussion on.

“That I have covered my love, how would you like a two story suite? Directly under us the guest quarters, we can get them converted by Jacen and go from one bed room to three, yeah I am planning ahead now.” Ian said with a small wink as he kissed her cheek.

OOC: For those who want to know more, specs can be found here.

https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/tm/mythology.html

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Four hours later…
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Kelly hated to admit it but the specs on the new ship did excite her. The new ship would be like a floating city and allow the crew to explore deeper into the cosmos not to mention the incredibly powerful huge honkin’ space guns the ship would have. Still, there was something about honor and conviction. “Ian first off I am going to admit I am being stubborn and irrational but I am not able to swallow my pride and take anything from that man. If I sign off on this transfer it will feel like I owe him,” Kelly moaned staring at the ceiling as she processed all the positive points about the decommissioning. And limiting the personal us, she thought but didn’t have the courage to bring that up right now.

“Okay… I thought I could win you over but honestly… you being this damn stubborn is going to force me to use Perkins own trump card against us. First I want it to be known I truly want this ship, yes Perkins gets to win against Harper and have one of his ships immortalized but honestly this is a great ship. If though you want to continue to go down this route and say no to him, he is going to transfer me.”

“What,” Kelly sat up instantly irate. She wanted to say that was never going to happen but Starfleet was like any other business on a basic level. They paid you for your skillset and did not issue you a wife and child with your duffle when you exited the academy. This was a very real possibility. Picking up her drink she downed it as she looked at her husband.

“I know that isn’t going to suddenly make you giddy for joy to accept this seeing as it’s near blackmail but love… I don’t wanna get separated cause your pride was too much to let the man have a win and give us a great new ship…do you?” he asked her as he hopped this was enough to shock her into agreeing.

Bordeaux, Chief of Diplomacy

“It’s not about the win or the ship or even Perkins,” Kelly said as she turned on the couch sticking a knee between them so Ian couldn’t do something distracting like try to hug her or be anything except an officer right now. Looking at Ian, Kelly put on the neutral expression she wore when on duty. It hid most of what she felt. Most was the keyword. With Ian, it was never going to be able to cloak all her inner feelings because he could read her eyes. He was a trained diplomat and while the mundane things he might have to take a stab at the dark to figure out, anything that involved real emotion Bordeaux would be able to spot. Her eyes searched his finding only pure excitement at the thought. He wanted this and under any other circumstance, she would be overjoyed.

“I,” she opened her mouth but the next series of words the emerged from it was not exactly what she wanted to say, “say we go for it,” she broke out in a huge grin. Moving to her knees she tucked them up under her body and did the one thing she was trying to prevent him from initially doing. Kelly embraced him hugging Ian deeply.

“Oh thank God, I didn’t want to end up on Andoria freezing my ass off trying to understand how their four sexes work…” Ian said with a deep sigh as it turned into a large smile.

“Yes,” she laid her head on his shoulder and let his arms wrap around her body. “It is the chance of a lifetime for both of us. Where else can we both have the dream job of our careers without giving anything up.” Kelly stared across the room wondering if she was giving something up or just mourning something that never would have happened. In the end, it didn’t matter. She had Ian and if that was all she ever had it would be more than enough.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux.

“Then all you need to do is sign, or I can I forge it all the time… but you need to contact Perkins” Ian raised his tone knowing Kelly was not going to sit back and listen any longer.

Kelly spun in the chair like she was slapped to face Ian. “Oh god you are on drugs and you had better get that parka ready because Andoria is cold this time of year,” Kelly said in a flat tone talking over Ian as he spoke. Her husband droned on as if she was silent, however.

“with all the proper trim and proper attire to make it shown that his most humble offer” Ian increased his volume to command level over his wife’s tone

“That’s it! I am taking up knitting. I will knit you the warmest damn sweater which you can curl up with every night because I am not going to be touched that” she threw his words back at him.

“truly touched you my love and how honored you are,” Ian never broke the cadence or the rhythm of his voice

“he thought of me?” Kelly half squealed imitating the exact words Ian was saying.

“he thought of you.” Ian said, playing it thick in the words as he knew this would be the hardest part for her to do.

Bordeaux, Chief of Diplomacy

Kelly broke out laughing knowing Ian was only being half silly. A part of him really meant what he was saying. It was the diplomat in him coming out and the only thing worse than being married to an officer that outranked you was being married to an officer whose job it was to make you seen his point of view. “You know what babe,” Kelly took Ian’s hand and shoved it halfway up the back of her shirt. “The only way you are going to get me to say that is if we start working now on our ventriloquism act.” As if to punctuate her point Kelly turned and faced him with an open mouth like the wooden dummies of vaudeville from the 1950’s.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

“Oh sugar… there is one issue. Remember that whole… forgery thing I mentioned. This really is all a formality, I signed off hours ago before you came. I am glad you said yes cause boy would it have been awkward if I couldn’t have convinced you but… there is a ceremony and they will be here first thing in the morning for a holo call and acceptance, I already drafted your speech… don’t look at me like that half the crap that gets done on this ship is cause I sign the red ink as it is… and you are going to thank me the speech has plenty of platitudes about how much I am your rock and anchor and how you could never make this with out me…” Ian said as he heard a loud beep come from a paging at the desk.

“See that’s Perkins to confirm what I sent him, have I told you diplomacy is the art of knowing when is the right time to make a move? I am an expert at that, don’t act surprised when he talks about the gift basket he got you put a lot of thought into that exotic meat platter.” Ian said as he got up and offered his hand to move her off of the couch.

Bordeaux, Chief of Diplomacy