Post by Admin on Mar 31, 2016 5:56:11 GMT
Reflection, Refraction, & Focus
Postby DeirdreMcGowan » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:35 am
Engineering lay eerily quiet, running with a bare skeleton crew. There was no emergency, the crew of the Aquarius hadn't evacuated. On the contrary, everything was well with all the parts and pieces that made up the framework of the ship. Knowing that full well, Deirdre McGowan had organized a get-together for the engineering crews who had worked so feverishly for days, and had suffered the loss of far too many of their colleagues.
She'd booked the main lounge and managed to get them to bring in a few extra staff to help with the event. The recreation spot was still open to other crew of course, but the majority of it bulged with engineers. She invited all of her department, but asked for volunteers to run the skeleton crew. With all the details settled and the gathering underway, Deirdre smiled at the sight of her people together.
Moving to the platform area near the viewports, she borrowed Ensign Truelight's spoon to clink against her glass. It took a moment, but she finally collected everyone's attention. Still smiling at them, she returned the spoon to the eager young interface specialist and faced her people.
"Thank you for coming, everyone," she began. "First, let us have a moment in silence as we reflect on those, in our department and without, who fell in the line of duty during the last mission." She bowed her head, as did many others, and thought of those who were lost. After a minute, she raised her head and continued.
"It was, for many of you, your first taste of Starfleet and starship action. It is a hard, hard way to learn how difficult this life can be. Pain, suffering, loss. Long hours, tired and sore bodies. I know that many of you are still feeling down, and this is why I wished you all to come here. Because, as difficult as it can be at times, it still has its rewards and benefits.
"I could not be more proud of how you all handled yourselves during the crisis and through the hard labor afterward. While some met their end in the battle, the rest of us move on. The rest of the crew needs us most especially during these times, as the ship is not just a home. It's not just a workplace, it's the foundation of life. Even as that foundation began to crack and crumble from the inflicted damage, you all kept it from breaking. You fixed the damage. You made it better than it was.
"It can, and no doubt will be in the future, thankless work, as the others complain why we haven't fixed that system yet, or why we can't make the warp drive work like new in the space of a few hours after it's been pummeled." She smiled wryly as chuckles broke out through the assembly. "You know, and I certainly know how hard you work, and take pride in it. Don't mind the grumbling, as every once and a while you'll be given a jewel of thanks from the others and it will seem a sparklier gem for the lack of them." She paused a moment to look out over her people.
"When it gets hard," she said finally. "Remember this sight, and the lesson of it. We are a unit, we engineers. Those who understand the parts and pieces of technology and bore people senseless as we wax poetic over them also understand each other. I can not, nor will I, call us together like this often, but there is no reason you cannot, or should not, assemble on your own. Take pride in yourselves, take comfort from each other, and enjoy every bloody day like it's the last."
"Now," she said, grinning brightly. "Enough prattle from your boss, enjoy yourselves." She was warmed by some enthusiastic applause, and turned back to her glass.
"That was very moving, ma'am," said Ensign Truelight.
"Well, it was bound to be, one way or the other," she replied, amused. "They'd either be moved or start moving, out the doors." She took a good look at her sparkly new ensign, and sighed inwardly.
Eager, polished, and looking far too damn young to have a pip on his collar was Ensign Jadyn Truelight. His hair was a wavy golden blond, his eyes the same blue she had so often seen looking out over the Celtic Sea as an awkward girl growing up in Ireland. Everything about the young man screamed innocence, and to prove that assessment his cheeks flushed pink as the words of a very bawdy joke delivered by CPO Singh overtook them.
Had she ever been that innocent? Perhaps, as a babe in arms, but certainly not since could she remember it. More often than not that she was delivering the types of jokes to make someone blush than doing any blushing over them. When she hadn't been tinkering with whatever she could manage to take apart, she'd been outgoing and a bit rowdy.
When other girls her age had played with their dolls or later on preened over themselves in the mirror and twittered over boys, she most usually was out kicking the football around with the boys or later helping customize their hoverbikes. Her aunt had despaired over it, and attempted various forms of persuasion and even bribery to get the young Deirdre to take more interest in feminine things. The red-haired girl had caved occasionally, when it suited her. She could thank her aunt for teaching her how to keep her hair in good condition, which had always been a problem when she spent all her time on a football pitch or knee deep in parts and pieces.
Even to this day all these years later she could barely be bothered the feminine rituals. Her hair, as always, started the day perfectly arranged and through the miracle of modern technology and some old-fashioned female tricks managed to end the day not too far from where it started. It was a rare occasion that she could be bothered to add any accessories, so the small diamonds set in gold that dangled from her ears now felt almost uncomfortable, light as they were. Makeup was almost always out of the question, though after considerable thought she'd put a bit on as her aunt had taught her. Blessed with fair skin and a good sense of personal hygiene meant her skin was usually in good shape, even if it ended up coated in grime.
Another rare thing for her to think on was her bosom. Most of the time it suited her fine, as it didn't take up much space and therefore didn't get in her way. Anyone who's had to slither through a narrow opening to get to the innards of a console or other system could appreciate not having extra mass to squeeze through. Even outside of the practicality of it she liked the fact that it didn't distract the attention of the men she spoke to. As rare an occurrance as it was for to seek out male companionship for anything other than a laugh and pint, it was a fine thing indeed to speak to a man and have his eyes looking into yours instead of fixed decidedly below them.
All of these things managed to combine perfectly for the gathering, and even in her Starfleet uniform she glowed. Quite a few of the engineers looked at her and were almost surprised, as their bulldog of a boss was pretty, as they hadn't thought to notice before.
Deirdre was completely oblivious to it, of course. It just wasn't in her mindset to wonder if men were looking her way unless she had decided to look at them first. As she wasn't looking now, she didn't notice that she'd attracted the attentions of sable-haired man at a nearby table.
Lieutenant J.G. Zak Howard had been drowning in paperwork since they'd set out from the starbase. Every requisition request and cargo manifest had to pass through his desk down in the closet that served as his office on deck six. Working in Operations often equated to mind-numbing drudgery, and after a recent resupply to having more requests coming in because of the recent damage meant that he dreamed of cargo containers at night.
Finally, after putting in extra hours and extra effort he'd managed to sneak in an opportunity to come relax in the lounge. He hadn't realized it would be packed with engineers, but he'd be damned if he were going to retreat to his quarters because the techno-geeks were swarming around him.
He'd arrived just after the moment of silence in McGowan's speech. He'd settled in with a synthale and listened to the rest from his table as he pondered the tiny woman giving it. He'd heard rumors that she was a mannish firebrand down in engineering, and thought no more of it then. The woman who spoke tonight however was far from masculine, though he could see the firebrand woven in through the pretty words.
He watched her now as she sipped what had to be Guinness from the dark, foamy look of it. As people swung by her table to have a quick word, her eyes danced with unmistakable pride and amusement. Her quick, bright laugh occasionally wafted its way over to him; words as well, rich and warm with the music of Ireland in the sound of them.
The look and sound of her stirred something in him. It was an unwelcome feeling, one he tried to shake off. He was far too busy to think of entertaining a relationship, even a shallow physical one. Starfleet romances didn't fare well as a rule as well, a lesson he had learned through his brother. Zak would confine himself to admiring her as he would a piece of art. Something to admire, but stay behind the velvet ropes and don't touch.
As she finally managed a moment of peace, Deirdre took a look around the lounge. Her engineers were mingling with each other, laughing and talking with drinks in hand. It was a heartening sight. She saw others in the room as well, in and out of uniform. Her gaze finally landed on the table of a tall, lanky man with black hair. He was looking at her, she saw, and she made eye contact with him.
A handsome man, he was. Chiseled, aquiline features and an air of casual superiority. Why he was staring at her so she couldn't fathom, but he had the look of a man recharging his batteries, so she assigned it to fatigue and put him out of her mind as she turned her attention to Ensign N'Peeces who had wandered up to chat.
He'd stiffened as if someone had replaced his spine with a duranium pole when she'd looked at him. Firebrand indeed, he pondered. The woman radiated energy out of those misty green eyes like she'd tapped into the warp core. He shook his head. Art, he reminded himself. A pretty painting.
"Hell with that," thought a moment later.
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DeirdreMcGowan
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