Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in XO’s Office

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Teller (XO) in XO’s Office

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Teller (XO) in XO’s Office
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was about that time and Nikki had taken the interminable lift ride up up up to where the boss lady hung out. It had taken a long time, to him, for them to get around to him. The Iotian didn’t think that the security fellow would let this lie. The question was - did he go on his rant because he was sweet on the lass, that he was wantin to score points with her by comin down on him so hard, or was he showin an ill intent to his past? Or a bit of all three wrapped up in a high strung power trippin package that he would so make a ‘hit’ on him like that fer no reason.

The thing about stations was that they took the turbo out of lift making it all feel very slow. But at last he made it and then trekked the final short distance to her office, where he buzzed. Whatever happened, really, Nikki was not concerned.
- Nikki

“Nikko Nikko Nikko,” Jessica said coming up from behind him. If anyone would took a picture of her face now and change her uniform out they might say she reminded them of an old teacher or principal. “We need to stop meeting like this. Can’t we do a luncheon or maybe a drink at the casino one night?”

Brigitte, his first wife, started off scoldings with ‘Ki-Ki-Ki’, though that was more with gritted teeth and flashing eyes. He wondered if he preferred that to the more demure sounds of the lady boss. “Aye, but people would start talkin. This way they can only guess.”

“I like the way your mind works,” she let out a half laugh. “If people were talking about something in this place I have no idea what I would do.”

Her comment was mostly in reference to the last time they met when she arrived behind him again only with a diaper bag in town spilling coffee all over she promised it wouldn’t happen again. Seems at times life repeats itself.

“Shall we,”. She gestures into the room

Lt Commander. Jessica Teller. XO

Nikki entered the room. Sure it felt like bein called to the principles office - or would if he had every actually been at a regular school. He didn’t sit yet; somewhere in there he wasn’t sure if the meeting would last that long. It didn’t take much to fire him. Granted that was not something that would bother him. “What can I do for ye, boss?” he asked.
- Nikki

“Give me less headaches,” she motioned to the replicator. “FYI report to Harland when we are done here but tell me about Sigma Iota? What’s your homeworld like,” she took a sip of her coffee and sat down at her desk.

Lt. Commander Jessica Teller XO

Nikki’s one brow rose some but he ended up letting out a shrug instead. “Well, after Boss Kirk left after puttin Bela in charge the gangs quieted down some. There were still some hits goin on but after some time they saw there was more te be gained by a certain mutual cooperation than constantly makin hits on each other.” He put a finger up in the air. “It didn’t end, and after a while different gangs came up lookin after different things. It was in that time that we started puttin the tech together and meetin other peoples and doin business. You could say that we had options then and others te be puttin hits on. After all, everyone is simply part of another gang.”

“Now? The families are still important and those who got ahead are still at odds with one another. The terms have changed. Gang is now Company. Members are now Employees. But the heart is still the same in the competitive mind. Now we just have eyes more out there in space than just on the world.” He looked out the window to space. “I grew up mostly in space on our family liners. Don’t much like planets. Too much ..” his finger twirled up in the direction of the ceiling. “.. empty space up there.” He smiled in a wistful expression. “But the heart of the gangs are still there and lawyers tend te bring their boys along with them. So the gangs are now powerful families who make hits through the lawyers. A bit mercenary but it works. The cities are taller. Bigger. Still a lot of open country and the bosses tend te have big .. ranches out there.” He smiled again. “Harder te hit.”
- Nikki

If Kelly had a magical lamp that she could rub, her wish would be to be back at the academy in Lars Thridace’s Prime Directive Theology class. Nikko’s assessment of the complex gala-political landscape was narrow yet brilliant in it’s simplicity. One generation’s enemies were another generation’s friend which spoke to the ancient saying the enemy of my enemy is my friend. While Starfleet claimed to be open to all, it was really open to all depending on the situation. When Starfleet needed something, they tended to overlook the very things Starfleet stood for hiding behind the words of accepting differences and respecting the autonomy of others. When Starfleet didn’t need something, the powers that be often assumed haughty postures and firey rhetoric condemning the actions as vile or irresistible. Many people would say Jessica was disgruntled with such views however she was in intelligence and had seen what went on behind closed doors. Nikko however was correct; it was just one gang making a treaty with another gang.

“You have a very eloquent way of speaking the truth,” Jessica stated leaning back in her seat taking in every line, hair, and feature of his face, “and one that I tend to agree with. Old Thridace back at the Academy might not see the big picture as you do but then again I have meet a lot of people that do see the world as you do. They are some of the most introspective and honest people I have met. I value that,” she took a long sip of her drink. “So who do you see as the next ranch that might need a talking to?” Jessica wasn’t trying to be sly or manipulative in her question. She also began to think that maybe his talents were being wasted as an operations officer and that he should have been in intelligence.

Lt. Commander Jessica Teller XO

OOC: Oy! Had to sit on this one to think about it!
IC:

“Fer that ye have te watch and look beyond the mouthpieces. Ignore the frail spirits who are only judges in disguise who want ye te conform to their righteous standard.” He waved a thick hand. “They mean nothin and that cause will blow over to another then the next one along the way. They’ll always be around. The way I see it the Feds are gettin too big. They are the big brother and others want a piece of that action, but with size comes grudges. Ye can’t pander to them all and they can’t all be the favorite of the boss. So ye start gettin smaller gangs forming among the others because each listen to each other. The Klingons are a small picture of that with their families.” He rubbed a hand along his short Mohawk. “Like the Iotians too fer that matter. But there as I see it is the where the heater hits the hand. Ye will either see the Feds become an overlord te control the lesser gangs or it breaks apart under its own weight, or it erupts into a gang war.”

“The way I see it is that the Feds think they are the righteous ones and that is dangerous. Their ideals are not matched by the people because the people are people no matter what planet they are from and everyone is flawed, but the ideal is not. What bosses need a talkin to? The ones who harp the most about it? No. It’s the ones who don’t care about the ideal and who think they have a better one.” He shrugged. “Maybe they do. Maybe they don’t. But everyone needs te be proud of who they are and where they come from.”
- Nikki

Jessica stared long and hard at Nikko. His answer was not what she thought or expected to come from him. Pushing up from her desk without a word she walked to a cabinet behind her desk. Several clinks and chimes later she spun around with a bottle of Bourbon and Whiskey in her right hand carefully balanced in her fingers and two glasses pinched between the fingers of her left hand. =/\=Jackie I have something to attend to for the rest of the afternoon. You have the conn =/\= Jessica messaged the lieutenant to take her place watching over things on the Outpost. Moving to her seat she set the glasses down and transferred the bottles so that she had one in each hand.

“O’Neills’ 20 Years Old Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey or the Balton’s 50-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky,” she held up the bottles for Nikko to choose from. “If you don’t have a preference I would suggest the O’Neill. I am friends with Captain David O’Neill. Do you know him?” Jessica waited for a second in a polite pause but continued the conversation. The odds were slim to none that Nikko actually knew the family as she did even if he was familiar with the spirit. “His father was Captain of the USS Tieconderoga. When it was blown up in thier last mission, he and the XO moved to no wheresville and opened up a brewery where they,” her tone took on a more actors like quality, “where they blend Scottish flavors with hillbilly ingenuity. Anyway Dave used to send me a bottle now and then but once I married Daddy Warbucks the cost of things no longer mattered.” After three years of being married to Aedan, Jessica no longer pretended they were average folks. What they did with their money was what set them apart in her mind and not the amount.

Nikki shook his head in that brief pause. He didn’t know the fella. There were so many different brands in the galaxy that keeping tabs on them was the part of a bartender. Nikki relied on others to know what he didn’t.

Jessica was a typical woman preferring a beer or one of those fruity slush drinks with the side car of fruit slice or colorful umbrella instead of the hard stuff; however, at times the hard stuff was needed. Pulling the cork from the bottle a soft pop sounded in the room. This was the sound of luxury to most. Replicated drinks came in a glass you just drank. One could have simply replicated a bottle to simulate the sound but there were the subtle differences no replicator could ever match in somethings especially booze. The soft and subtle glug, glug, glug of the dark amber colored liquid slowly filled the glass. “Do you know what I hate more than anything else in the galaxy? People that say that there is no difference in replicated items over real ones. Its the imperfections I enjoy. Take this bottle of booze. I can replicate it. It will taste the same every order, every glass,” she held it up as if inspecting the contents in the light of her office. “The glass I have in my hand however will never be is perfect. It got a tablespoon of vanilla more, sat in the oaken barrel for less time, was brewed just five minutes longer,” her voice took on a dreamy quality. “This bottle will never ever be like the others Malt Masters produces. It is unique and an original by some critics standards. It’s flawed and imperfect by other standards. My view of the Federation is much like my views of booze. The brewery or academy in this scenario,” she gave a head wiggle back and forth as if it a synonym, “pumps out cadet after cadet to fulfill the gold standard however every once in a while you don’t get a replicated officer. You get an imperfect officer. An officer that sees they are different because they are not the sheeple boarding a shuttle to wherever someone sends them. These imperfect officers are the ones I trust the most. They are the ones that care more about what is right versus what is commanded. While you might not see it off hand, Mathias is a very imperfect officer. That man,” she let out a full bodied laugh that shook her body as she threw back her head,” was stuffed into the bottle but his contents are not at all Federally regulated. He has a conscious. He does the right thing when needed instead of the commanded thing which inspires people to follow him and trust him. It’s why I jumped at the chance to work with him.”

What the lass was talking about was a feature that was happening. The common folks just gettin replicators were all over that, but those who knew that for a time were making a comeback on cooked food and prepared things like good booze. That was what they had on the family liners. Chefs. Cooked food. It was the ‘new’ novelty and the people ate it up. Literally. His mind did a twist when talking about the boss. It was good to know that the boss was unconventional. Really though, the lass wasn’t fittin any kind of typical mold either. Was this the place where they ‘hid’ all the ‘non replicated’ people?

Pouring another measured cup, Jessica took a long swallow. “You are right about the Federation. At times I feel like I can hear the wheels creaking at the weight of it masses threatening to snap the thin axel holding it all up. When it breaks…and at some point it will, I plan to be standing on the side of the imperfect officers like Captains Knight, McGarrett, Bordeau, Cochrane, or Calin.” Jessica was starting to feel the effects of the booze but was enjoying the conversation. “So if we do have a civil way like all the great empires before us who do you see seceding from the union first?”

Lt Commander Jessica Teller XO

bump
OOC: That’s a whopper of a post … lol
IC:

Nikki had been sitting watching her and listening and he was trying to fathom just where she was going. If she was goin. Maybe she wanted to just drink and enjoy time with a fella who wasn’t a slimy weasel for a bit. But somewhere he thought she had somethin te say that would come out in time. “It’s only a civil war if the heads don’t want te let them go. When the Klingons broke away for that time they just let them go.” Well for the most part. “I’m guessin the Zeddies will lead the way on the next break. The telepaths make a great show of bein amused by the way we think, but they know more than anyone what is goin on in the heads of everyone. As things get more to back room dealin because the administration don’t see the small needs, they see the corruption creepin in more. They’ll be the first te be discontent at how things are run and will bring along their local federation with them. If there is pushback they’ll reveal secrets and then we’ll see the hits start.”
- Nikki

“God don’t get me going about telepaths,” she threw her head back with a moan. “For the most part they are fine but at times I just want to scream. I did learn a trick from a doc once. She had a lot of secrets to hide or at least I think she did. Anyway,” she waved her hand about as if pushing away a physical memory cloud, “she said that whenever you deal with a telepath always think about something that is not related to the topic. I think about my mom and dad. We are a close family so it is easy to think happy thoughts about them regardless of what I am feeling. She said she learned this from a Betazoid at one time. They use thier empathic skills to figure out the context of what is going on in your mind much like we do body language so if I am flooding myself with happy thoughts and visions of my childhood during non speaking times, it is harder to figure out what one is really thinking. Thank god you aren’t a telepath,” Jessica laughed taking a long swig of her drink. “You would get lost up here,” she winked tapping her temple. “Mark of a good intelligence agent. Come off as one thing but be something completely different.”

Lt. Commander Jessica Teller XO