EXETERRPG: (1 - 1030) Lt Cmdr Alex Jones and Lt(sg) Erin Cortez

[Jaclyn Smith]

Mission: A new day dawns

Day: 1

Stardate: 2446.01.28


(Earth, San Francisco- outside Starfleet HQ - Lt Cmdr Alex Jones and Lt(sg)
Erin Cortez - 1030)


The sun was rising in the morning sky, a gentle breeze taking a tiny amount
of warmth from it’s radiant heat. Alex strode slowly, with honestly few
cares in the world. Taking a sip of the fruit juice that he’d picked up
from a drinks stand, he changed path and turned toward a small lake where
there was sometimes a band playing by the water. Still in uniform and with
a regretful smile he walked, deep in thought toward the water.


Strolling through the gardens, Erin had needed to walk. The events of the
last few days had been weighing heavily on her mind. She had just been to
see Greta and the state the poor woman was in was rolling around her mind.


That, and the fact that she had just sent off her findings from the Empress
incident to starfleet science, her mind was not on where she was walking as
she sipped a cup of coffee, she walked towards the lake with a heavy sigh
on her heart and her mind.


Alex looked forward briefly,  Seeing a young female in Fleet uniform,
denoting science or medical walking toward him, there was something about
the bounce of her hair and the way it caught the light that had pulled his
attention, but that moment was only fleeting as this yesterday's meeting
came back to his mind, and his train of thought was diverted. ~Passed over
for promotion…~ If he was truly truly honest, he wasn’t sure why it
mattered to him so much, but it did, he seemed to himself at least empty,
lacking in some regard that Alex had always put down to a yearning for more
and higher rank.


Gazing out towards the lake as she walked, Erin’s mind wandered. Something
about everything that had happened recently was bothering her. It wasn't
just the fact that they had had an encounter with a Q, it was more what had
happened after. The trial and what she had almost done for Ash, then the
whole business that had led to half the crew being turned and others
suffering at the hands of those they once called friends.


As she walked, she sighed again. The sight of Greta, lying in the bed and
shaking from some unseen nightmare had shaken Erin. She knew to some extent
what she had been feeling but it had seemed that this was on another level.
Walking,  her gaze lifted up and she became very quickly aware of two
things.


One, that she had a hot cup of coffee in her hands and, two, the guy in
front of her wasn't stopping.


The potential for collision was of course utterly in fate's hand, and fate
being a fickle mistress, this time was obviously in a mischievous mood.
Alex only became aware of the other person's proximity as he literally
collided with her, knocking both of their drinks out of their hands.


"Watch out!" Erin said as she shook her hands, now sticky with wet coffee.
Looking up at the man in front of her, she didn’t recognise him. Something
about him, the way he carried himself told her that he had weight on his
mind as she did.


“Oh Hell; I’m so sorry;” a flush of utter embarrassment filled him, his
face, thought what some would kindly call ‘rugged’ and other less kindly
‘mature’ was now flushed the same colour of the command red that he wore.
“I’m sorry, are you okay? I...I…”


"I'm fine. Hands are a bit covered in coffee but I'll live." Catching a
glance of his rank, Erin closed her eyes for a brief second and knew that a
flush of colour had filled her cheeks. Moving a hair from her face, she
nodded and said, "Sorry,  Commander..  my head was elsewhere."


Alex shook his head, a blush still on his face, “Just Alex, please, I won’t
stay Commander if I keep throwing coffee at people eh? Fault is mine, I was
elsewhere.”


Softly smiling, Erin nodded, "Call it a no score draw. My mind was …
elsewhere too. Erin.." she said, Holding out her hand, "..  Erin Cortez."


He took her hand in his, “Alex, Alex Jones. ” He looked at her hand still
held in his, “Not burnt I hope? At least I’m only slightly sticky.”


"My hand is fine." Erin replied with a smile. Looking at him for the
briefest of moments, she continued, "Can I have it back?"


“Sorry...Of course,” He wiped the coffee/orange juice mixture onto his
trousers. “Look, Lieutenant, Erin, at least allow me to replace your drink?
You came here to think and didn’t need me to crash into you.”


"Fault was just as much mine as yours but, if you insist.." Erin replied, a
slight smile creeping onto her face. Precious few smiles had been seen on
board the Exeter in passing weeks and it felt good to smile. "Company might
be good. There's been a lot going on and I..  came here to process."


He fell into step beside her, and looked more closely, He knew he wasn’t
the brightest amongst his peers, but there was a look about the eye in her.
“I’m not great at small talk,” He said, motioning toward a small outside
cafe a ways away. “But a problem shared, yes? In return I’ll tell you what
not to say in front of a promotion board to full Commander.”


"There’s only so much I can say. Most of it is highly classified. What I
can say is that my ship, her crew have been through the ringer. We've lost…
" she paused. ~including almost me~


"We've gained also but there are some, someone close to me that's suffering
right now and there's not a lot I can do… any of us can do to help." She
finished with a deep sigh. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to offload. It's… just
nice to talk to someone who isn't either a crewmate or a counsellor. "


He waved a hand, dismissing the apology, “none needed. Counsellors do a
fabulous job, not my thing, but sometimes just saying stuff out loud helps.
Even if it is to a stranger in a park who has just assaulted you with your
own coffee.” He half smiled. “I’ve been at HQ since I graduated the
Academy, but part of me has always wanted to venture out into the black, I
read quite a few logs here and there, I hear the scuttlebut too. Your
friend...if I may be so rude, suffering how? I mean...rude of me, sorry,
you don’t need to.”


"No, it's fine. She's… physically fine. From what I know.." Erin said,
choosing her words carefully,  "... she.. had a bad experience with a mind
meld… " Erin stopped as they neared the cafe. She knew full well what had
happened but couldn't accurately say.


“How awful. She’s in the best hands I’m sure. Are you okay? Must have been
traumatic. I’m sorry, I see the blue, what is your posting?”


"I'm fine. Benefits of being one of those pesky counsellors. Well, used to
be. Now… well, I'm Chief Science Officer of the Exeter. " She replied as
she took a seat at a table outside the cafe he had pointed out.


Sitting opposite her he caught the waiter's eye. “Two coffees please…” he
licked the back of his hand with a silly smile. “One sugar in one of them,
no milk in either.” He winked impishly at Erin. “Certainly Commander,
won't’ be long.


“The Exeter…” His voice changed and he sat more forward in his seat. “The
ship that the entire Admiralty have been peeing themselves about since new
years?”


"Why…. Okay, start over. Yes, the Exeter. Now why have they been talking
about us?" Erin replied,  leaning back in her chair. She was holding back a
smile and crossed her arms around her waist.


The waiter brought the coffees over and Alex nodded a thanks, and as an
afterthought spoke to him once more. “Suns on the yardarm, two shots of
rum, I have a feeling we’ll need them.”


Turning back to Erin, he sipped the coffee and thought for a second. “So
I’m no one important, an attache to the desk of….yadda yadda...however,
things cross my desk. On new years day at 0300 the Exeter disappeared out
of dock orbiting Risa. Not ‘left early’ Disappeared. With all associated
staff, Officers and crew. Even those that weren’t even on the ship. You all
then reappeared in high earth orbit, the scuttlebut is that you were in
bloody Andromeda.”


Closing her eyes, flashes of the mission passed by her vision. Figuring out
where they were only to be then taken over in an apparent mutiny by crew
that she knew, having to gas two security crew in her own lab.. "I…. Can't
say." Erin replied softly, taking a sip of her coffee.


Alex held his hands up in apology. “Of course, I’m not pushing, just what I
heard.” He nodded to the waiter again, and passed one glass over to Erin.
“Been through the mill eh kid?” he shook his head, “Sorry. Rude of me. Want
to change the subject?”


Downing the shot of rum and raising an eyebrow, Erin took a second to
actually look at the man she had been talking to for the last few minutes.
~nice smile. Not looking for it, girl. But still, kind of cute~


Smiling, Erin replied,  "I need to change out of this uniform and, to be
honest, you haven't caught me at my best. Give me an hour to change and let
me go check on my friend and then i'll meet you back here. Maybe I'll tell
you about how I nearly shot the head of Starfleet Science in the ass with a
bow and arrow!"


“Sounds a fun story.” He said with a smile and a gentle nod. “I hope that
your friend is well. See you in an hour?”


"It's a deal." Erin replied,  smiling. ~it is nice to just talk with
someone not connected to the ship and anything that has happened.~


“Take care, and my apologies again for my clumsiness.” He watched as she
left the table, the both of them having finished their drinks. Watching her
walk away for a moment he smiled to himself, and allowed a breath out, his
nerves easing as the stress of small talk with a new person began to leave
him. He stood up, and paid for the drinks, and then took a path the other
way, off to shower and change.



(Reply None)

(Posted by Jackie and Mark)
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