Posted by Ensign Christopher Francis (Security Officer) in Security Office: Fresh meat reporting in

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Ella Lokaa (Chief of Security) in Security Office: Fresh meat reporting in

Posted by Ensign Christopher Francis (Security Officer) in Security Office: Fresh meat reporting in
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

As the doors slid open before Chris he could immediately see the Lieutenant before him. Suddenly he understood why Ensign Jill had told him to watch himself, recognising that it could be easy to become lost in Lokaa’s beauty. Her species wasn’t familiar to him, but he wondered if she could really be as young as she looked. In any case, she must have proven herself to someone Chris thought.

With the doors open Ella watched him watch her, she wondered what the young Ensign was thinking then again who was she to call young? Up until his arrival she was the youngest Security officer on board and now the chief which led to her having to fill some pretty interesting boots. She’d started to wonder if either were going to talk but as she was about to he proceeded first.

Worrying that he had already gawped a second too long, and sensing the eyes of a squad room full of security officers beating down on him, Chris cleared his throat and stepped into the office far enough for the doors to shut again.

“Ensign Christopher Francis reporting for duty, sir,” he said with all the practiced annunciation of a first timer. Having cleared that from his throat he remembered the PaDD in his hand and, still forgetting that it displayed his personal message, walked a few steps towards the Lieutenant and offered it saying, “My assigning orders.”

Ensign Christopher Francis - Security

Taking the assignment order she turned it around in her hand and read it over before the lines on her forehead creased into a frown. The message displayed clearly wasn’t his assignment and she couldn’t help but read it. *’“Go well darling. You’ve got this!” The originator come from an Ensign Ruba, Ella continued to look at the PaDD then back to Christopher. “So, who is Ensign Ruba?” She asked trying to hide her amusement as she handed the PaDD back to him to reorganise it.

Chris’ heart began a slow sinking descent when he noticed a frown furrow Lokaa’s brow. It wasn’t the reaction he was hoping for. Somehow the frown made the diadem or circlet on her head even more prominent and though it wasn’t standard uniform Chris couldn’t help but notice it gave the young Lieutenant an added layer of authority. An authority he had just embarrassed himself in front of. As soon as he heard his wife’s name the sinking feeling turned into pure self-consciousness. His pale skin was now red with blushing and it felt as though he would over heat.

He received the PaDD back, struggled to focus on it for a moment and cleared his throat, saying, “Um, that would be my wife, Lieutenant Lokaa.”

Remembering himself and realising his first ever attempt at reporting for duty hadn’t gone smoothly at all, Chris thought that it might be wiser to see the humour in the situation than to continue in embarrassment. Looking down at the PaDD he chuckled at Ruba’s message and cleared it, returning the screen to his actual orders.

She moved back round to the other side of her desk and where her replicator was located “Would you like a drink? Please take a seat.” She ordered herself an iced caramel mocha and waited for him to make a decision. She hand’t pictured this going the way it had already but it wasn’t a bad thing they were both only human, well she was Elasian but close enough.

• Lt JG Ella Lokaa

“Thank you, Lieutenant. An Assam tea would be lovely, please,” he replied, placing the PaDD on her desk and sitting down. It was good to take the weight off after his knees had gone weak. “There are my orders sir. I assure you they’re from Fleet Ops and not my wife this time.”

Ensign Christopher Francis - Security

The security chief moved to her seat placing the Assam tea in front of where he was sitting. She pulled out her chair and settled in taking a sip of the iced mocha she had replicated before picking up his PaDD and giving it a read. Besides her own assignment orders she’d never read anyone else’s and honestly wasn’t sure what to be looking for? His name, well she knew that and it clearly stated that he was to be assigned to the USS Chimera but beyond that was any of it really necessary she’d make her own judgement on him. “Well unless your wife worked in Fleet Ops then both would be true,” She said placing the assignment on the desk and smiling.

Chris sipped his tea, remembering how hot the first sip always was when he’d drunk it growing up. The replicators provided a good drinking temperature, but none of the thrill of a scolded mouth. That was just one of the things he was more than willing to give up for life aboard a starship, he thought. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” he began, replacing the cup. “If Ruba was in Fleet Ops I think she would have wrangled us a joint assignment,” he joked to the security chief. “As it is we’re having to work our dream postings separately for now.”

“It’s good to have loved ones supporting you, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed about that.” She said sounding a lot older than she looked having noted his blushing, finally someone who blushed in her presence because it was about someone else and not the way she looked or talked. “So do you have any questions before we start, as you can see I’m pretty young and until now I was the youngest, you now wear that crown” She tipped her hair, “Well the proverbial crown at least, I’ve got the actual crown.”

• Lt JG Ella Lokaa, CoS

Ruba had been more than just a support to Chris, she was in many ways the catalyst for pursuing his commission. Handing Lieutenant JG Lokaa that PaDD had given him a better reminder of that than Ruba’s note originally had. What embarrassment he had left soon eased into pride that he really wasn’t doing this alone.

“I’m sure that crown looks far more fetching on you Lieutenant than it ever would on me. I’ll wear my proverbial one with pride,” he quipped back at Lokaa, looking a lot more settled in himself. “I did wonder what it means, though. The crown.” He hadn’t quite phrased it as a question, but presented with an opportunity his genuine wonder had slipped out. Almost immediately another question came to mind and he almost asked if they had been at the academy together without him realising. After all there were more than enough cadets that you wouldn’t get to know everyone. But he reconsidered, thinking it might be rude to press the point of age further at this point. “I’m sorry, I have to admit to not being entirely familiar with your people,” he continued, finishing his last point instead.

Ensign Christopher Francis - Security

She’d never been asked about her head chain or crown or whatever people liked to call it behind her back. “Its not actually a crown it’s a head chain.” She explained her hand unconsciously found itself pressing against her head, catching the action she dropped the hand to her lap. “The band itself is just a design, this particular one is for day to day life, I have one for sleeping, fighting, swimming you name it but it’s the crystal tear that makes it unique.” She explained.

“It represents our power, as oppressive that power is I still wear it to remind me of home and how powerful I can be especially in times of weakness. The crystal is different in colour shape and size depending on the family, thier political position on Elas and where thier family is from. So mine is an average size because I hold no political power, well atleast not from here if I was on Elas I’d have one about twice the size thanks to my mother. It’s colour is from a rock which can only be found in the mountain regions of our territory, and its shape well its as I said what most woman on Elas consider thier power.” She made a tapping gesture with her finger to her eye. ” Our tears have a Biochemical compound which when humanoid men come into contact with them they become infatuated with the creator, the level is different between men and races.”

Chris was deeply impressed by the head chain and Lokaa’s explanation. It wasn’t so much the object itself that left an impression, though he knew that it, like the wearer, was certainly attractive. But for him its force seemed to come from how distinctive it made the Lieutenant and how through it she was connected to her home world. He thought to himself that she could be a quadrant away from home and that connection would still be sitting right atop her head. All being well this assignment would be Chris’ first prolonged absence from Earth. He wondered what would keep him linked to home after months on the Chimera.

Her revelation about Elasian tears was a bit more disconcerting. After all Chris had already had a sense that Lokaa was an unusually magnetic person. Infatuating tears sound as though they’d work a treat on human men, he thought.

Ella reached to her crystal and undone the clasp which meant she could change it from band to band. She held it out to him in her open palm. “There is a tiny compartment in the back of mine which holds just enough of althe antidote to reverse the effect incase I ever accidently infect anyone.” She didn’t know what it was exactly that made her feel she could share this with him, maybe it was because he had a wife and for once she felt she met a man who wasn’t simply just looking at her for the way she looked but because she was a strong individual and the chief of security.

• Lt JG Ella Lokaa

Chris peered at the crystal, not wanting to overstep the invitation and actually touch it. He’d never seen this particular colour or shade before and imagined for a moment the landscape it was native to. “I have to admit, knowing you keep the antidote so close is a bit of a relief, Lieutenant. I hope my efforts in your deportment aren’t so dismal as to make you cry, but it’s good to know nonetheless that you can reverse the effects if I do,” he offered, turning his previous unease about the tears into reassurance, more for his benefit than for hers.

She tilted her head in understanding, “You can also speak to the medical staff they have access to the replication program for the antidote if you feel you might need it close to hand but I can assure you I haven’t cried ina very long time and even longer in the presence of a male.” Some might consider that fact sad but for her, it was a way of life, she didn’t get upset and cry her eyes out, she got angry and punched things as was the Elasian way.

“I’ve barely been aboard five minutes and I’m wondering when I’ll have proper Earth tea or hear live music in London’s Festival Hall again. Don’t get me wrong, sir, I’m delighted to be here. I’m just thinking it must be good to have that piece of home with you.”

Ensign Christopher Francis - Security

“Its has its positives and negatives. I’m constantly reminded of home and of what I am missing but then it is my connection to home. If you ever feel the need to try some Earth tea or live music there is always the holodeck, Im sure you had your fair share of its use in the Academy I know I did. As for tea, you could always grow your own? I believe we have an arboretum onboard.” She’d have to check if that was true. “And if you ever feel like sharing that experience I would love to visit London, I’ve heard it quite quaint and maybe I could show you Elas, it has its own beauty that some find unique.” She explained, “Oh and please call me Ma’am” Ella hated herself for saying it but it was another one of those Elasian traits she couldn’t budge, Sir was to Masculine and she had found the Earth equivalent was Ma’am compared to being called Mistress or Princess which most Elasian’s were called unless of course, they were Queen.

• Lieutenant JG Ella Lokaa, CoS