Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Clinton Reed (Chief Operations Officer) in Stores crashes the party. Tag the CO

Posted by Captain Molly Holloway (Commanding Officer) in Stores crashes the party. Tag the CO

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Clinton Reed (Chief Operations Officer) in Stores crashes the party. Tag the CO
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Being the last person he would let onto the bridge and knowing that the CO was only of limited patience with his shenanigans it seemed prudent to call ahead before trying to get past bridge security. =^= Captain do you have a moment, I would like to visit with you =^= he sent as he left the XO’s office. This meeting was the one he dreaded, as he hadn’t seen the Captain since the flight deck incident and he fully expected to get his butt chewed on.

Nothing to it, take your lumps and get back to work Stores thought as he approached the lift.

Clinton”Stores”Reed,Supercargo

The call caught her by surprise, but somehow Molly had been expecting it. Ever since their less fortunate encounter in the hangar bay that she had been wondering when Reed was going to knock on her door. She worried that with their ‘environmental training’ she had given him too much familiarity in the idea that they might have become somehow ‘friends’ and his intervention in the whole Hammor vs Hudson debacle had only made her wonder if that was not the case. On the other hand, both Hammor and Hudson were now gone so it might be the perfect time to address it.

The reply came a few seconds later than expected, giving off the impression that she was purposely making Reed wait. =/\= Holloway here. Meet me in my Ready Room. Holloway out. =/\= She looked her wrist chronometer and bet with herself how fast the chime would ring.

Holloway, CO

It took just the time for Stores to make the walk from the XO’s office to the Bridge and thus the Captains ready room. He had been expecting if not the Captain then at least the X to call him in to trim his tail feathers, but alas no. Not particularly surprising to be honest as he suspected more than a little psychological warfare on the Captains part. For the first time, as he straitened his ‘uniform’ he regretted that the ship’s computer still refused to issue him a star Fleet uniform. With a wry smile he reached for the door chime as he rubbed his boot toes clean on the back of his legs and slicked his hair back.

Clinton”Stores” Reed, Supercargo

“Come in.” The dry tone came from inside the room before the doors slid open, allowing Reed to enter.

The office was the polar opposite to that of the Dresden’s Executive Officer. Contrarily to Renveer’s office, here the work desk was the room’s center piece, with the social, more casual area with a sofa, an arm chair, and a coffee table, being pushed to one of the corners. It was clear that this was a place to work, not a place to socialize.

All the furniture was Starfleet issue, with the exception of the corner opposite the sitting area, where the bulkhead had been covered from top to bottom with shelves. A variety of different books and small trinkets sat on them, but it was clear that the space was not completely full. Small glass terrariums of different shapes hung from different places on the shelves, giving the room a much needed natural aura. On the wall above the sofa, a scaled reproduction of one of Claude Monet’s waterlilies paintings was hung, and finally, a few items rested on the desk, next to Holloway’s terminal. It was clear that these were much more important than the others on display – a battered copy of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, a blue mug with UCLA printed in large yellow letters, a larger spherical glass terrarium, and a holopicture of Molly herself and Calvin Harris, the former Commanding Officer of the Dresden, smiling happily at the camera laying on the green grass of a park.

Holloway sat on the chair behind her desk. Her fiery red hair neatly pulled back on a bun, and her uniform seemingly perfectly pressed. She looked at her visitor as the doors opened, and she gestured to the chairs across from her, on the other side of the desk. “Ah, Mr. Reed. Please take a seat.” Her eyes had returned to her terminal screen and she tapped away on her console. Turning to face the operations officer again, she gave him a polite smile. “What can I do for you?”

Holloway, CO

Stores had expected to Stand, but happily took the seat as directed. “ I have been making the rounds, M’am to see if the senior officers could think of anything we may have forgotten, or had any special requests I could arrange before we launched. I figured you deserved the final word on the subject.”

As expected, he was comfortable with his captain, but his poster was deferential. Despite that the trust earned on the holodeck was was apparent.

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

Holloway looked somewhat surprised with the question, but the glimpse of astonishment in her features took but a split second to pass. “Not that I can think of, Mr. Reed. It was my understanding Lieutenant Hammor had been immensely thorough? Maybe a little too thorough?” She smiled softly, but the smile quickly faded. “Actually, you are probably the right person to ask this – how are things with Operations, now that Lieutenant Hammor has left us?”

Holloway, CO

“The X and I were just talking about that. Mr. Hammor trimmed the dead weight, so unless StarFleet saddles us with a real dead heads to replace him and the Quarter Master, Operations should be ok.” Stores didn’t share his feelings about going back to engineering full time tho, that wasn’t something a below deck plebe like him bothers the CO with.

But Stores being Stores. “But I know an old Supercargo that is willing to hold down the fort till they show up if you like.” That big Stores smile split his face in half.

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

Molly raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “So… Mr. Reed… Are you… asking for a promotion?” The look on her face was stern, but there wasn’t really a tell on whether she was amused or upset. There was a foreign neutrality to Holloway’s gaze. It would made one wonder how good at poker she might be, but maybe being an Intelligence officer helped with that.

Holloway, CO

The look on Store’s face was cautious and a bit confused. The Captain had moor than earned his loyalty but the threat of spacing him he more than half believed.

“Well Ma’m, I wouldn’t say no but I figured with my past y’all would like to keep me below decks and out of sight.” And well supervised tho the Captain had caught him off guard his humor was hard to suppress.

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

“I was not offering, Mr. Reed. You were the one that mentioned if I would like you to step into that position while there’s no one to fill it. I was just wondering if you were genuinely just trying to keep it afloat temporarily, or if you were positioning yourself for a promotion. You know, it’s not an unknown maneuver around here.” Molly’s expression remained neutral. “Why should I make you the acting Ops Chief? What do you bring to the table that the other Ops officers currently on the Dresden don’t have?” It was sounding almost like a job interview, and even though it was not apparent, it was safe to assume that Holloway was enjoying the questioning.

Holloway, CO

Stores was surprised, but he had some experience with the Captains question and answer sessions. “ I bring two things to the table, experience and motivation.” He new the Captain knew his resume, better than any one else on the ship. “ The Dresden isn’t just another assignment to me, she is my home.” Those words brought back memories of the Tartuga. For a moment his eyes showed the sadness of her loss, and his family with her. “ I won’t deny that other men and women worked hard to graduate the academy, and on that alone they are more deserving, but they don’t have my unique experience.” Clinton Reed had been born and raised on an old long haul freighter, buy sixteen he had his cargo rating and at eighteen he was a rated engineer. Five years at the IO shipyards expanded on that experience, he was a working Supercargo before his thirtieth birthday. For almost a decade he served in the Dominion war, eight of them aboard a federation ship of the line. Most of the intervening years working on the same ship in her Operations devision.

The old hand hadn’t came here to defend a bid for running Operations for her, but for this Captain he would tow the line and if that’s what she asked him to do he would be damned if he would give her a reason to regret it. “If you ever doubted my skills and work ethic, M’am I trust that the recent refit, restock and rearm dispelled them.”

The entire conversation the Merchant Marine’s eyes never left the Captains, it wasn’t a challenge, it was a measure of respect his mother had taught him as a boy. To look a person square in the eye, say what you mean and mean what you said. He owed the Captain no less.

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

The small sideways smile was still present on Molly’s lips as she listened to the man speak. And she let a moment of silence fall over the two before she addressed him again.

“See, Mr. Reed, I have never doubted your skills or your work ethic. That was never at play. What I am worried about is what happened a few days ago in the hangar bay. I have met my fair share of confrontational officers. I myself am like it at times, but now I can’t allow myself to be that way, because it falls on me to set the example for the crew. I was expecting some sort of scuffle when I got there, but I wasn’t expect to see you, or any other officer for that matter, ready to fire their weapon on someone else, crew member or not. How do I know that’s not going to happen again? Rumours run fast around the corridors, Mr. Reed. I’m sure that word on the whole debacle spread like wildfire through the lower decks. What message will it give your fellow Ops Ensigns if I give you more responsibilities even if only temporarily?”

Holloway, CO

Stores nodded. Tho surprised that this discussion was opened so diplomatically. “ I will not make any excuses, M’am. In hind sight it was unnesicary. I will offer you an explanation of my thinking at the time if you wish.” It wasn’t much, he did attempt to conceal the weapon beside his leg, tho with a room full of veterans he may as well have had been waving a phaser rifle. Tho he knew he had disappointed her, his expression remained neutral, showing no hint of defiance. In his admittedly small world he admired this one woman the most.

Clinton”Stores’Reed, Supercargo

“Very unnecessary. But please, if you don’t mind, I would like to hear your side of the events. I know what it looked like from mine.” Molly’s tone hardened slightly. “Because I hope you understand, Mr. Reed, I do not tolerate flinging weapons around on my ship. And I will take away yours if I have to, temporarily or not.” Her tone was not harsh or angry. More that of someone who was disappointed. Granted, she had gotten to know the man better in the past few months, but that was probably why she expected more of him than if it had been any other Operations officer.

Holloway, CO

“Yes M’am, I understand.” Taking a breath to order his thoughts. “I saw three officers, two of which were in a confrontation that had already turned physical.” Stores mind reaturned back to the sight of Hammor picking the Marine Officer up and tucking her under her arm. Unconsensly he smiled. “As Mister Harris was either unable or unwilling to gain control of the situation I felt that if it had deteriorated farther and the two had come to blows before either you m stunning the two might be prudent to avoid injury.” He still had doubts that stun would have done more than have made Hommor angry at him.

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Suoercargo

“Have you thought at any moment, that you could either try to separate the officers should it escalate, or maybe call security if matters became worse? That’s why we have them on board, Mr. Reed. Which leaves me no choice but to ask you, why were you carrying a phaser at all? There was no alert going on, and you’re not part of the Security personnel. We were docked and loading…” Molly shook her head. It was clear that she was not pleased with what had happened. She had never intended for the conversation to take the turn that it did, but now that it had started, it was as if Holloway’s mind was going back to that day and asking everything that she had wondered then.

Holloway, CO