EXETERRPG: (1, 1900, 2034) CEO/2O, Commander Keira Merek & ACFO Lieutenant Greta Smith

[Todd Holladay]

Mission: Space was cool before it mattered
Day: 1
Stardate: 2446.04.25


(USS Exeter - Starlight Lounge - CEO/2O, Commander Keira Merek & ACFO
Lieutenant Greta Smith - 1900)

Walking into the Starlight lounge,  Greta felt a little underdressed.
Wearing a comfy sweater and jeans, she took a seat at a table and ordered a
small fruit juice. Wondering to herself why Keira had asked to meet her, in
some respects she was glad.

Since her experience with The Empress, there had been few that had come to
see her. Most simply gave her rather look of sympathy as she walked passed
them.

Keira saw Greta walk into the lounge. After the meeting with the rest of
the command staff, knowing what was coming in less than a day, things were
going to change very rapidly. Keira waved her friend over to her table.

Seeing Keira,  Greta offered back a smile and walked over. Truth be told,
she hadn't really interacted with many other than Ire  her counsellor and a
couple of others who had come to see her. Social situations made her a
little nervous now.

The thought of are they looking and wondering if she's okay was prevalent
but, smiling, Greta sat and said, "Good to see you."

“Glad you could make it.” Keira said with a smile. “Something to drink?”
Keira had thought to wear her “going out” dress, but wore something casual
instead. Seeing how Greta was dressed, she was glad she did.

"Just an apple juice, please. Drinking anything stronger holds no real way
with me any more."

"No pressure." Keira assured her. "Haven't seen you in a while, how you
doing?"

"I'm okay. I wouldn't be here if they thought I wasn't ready to be."

"Apple juice and a water." Keira said to the wait staff before they
scurried along. "That's good to hear…." Knowing even a small sliver of what
her friend went through let Keira know how strong she was. Not wanting to
dwell on that Keira awkwardly moved the conversation forward. "How are
things doing with you and Ire?"

Greta, a small smile on her face, looked at her friend and said, "Why do
you ask?"

"This is going to sound weird, but some of your bath products have a unique
scent, only one I've met on the ship that uses them. When Ire smelled like
it when I bumped into him a while back, I knew you were at least talking
enough for him to borrow it, or you spent some time together. I would
suppose the latter was more likely."

"We've…. We're good. He moved back into our quarters. "

"Things…" it was now Keira's turn to smile, "moving along then?"

"We are taking things slowly. It's been nice to have him around again."

"Slowly as in, you won't need the services of your maid of honor for a
while?" Keira asked.

Greta smiled softly, "That is something we haven't talked about just yet.
But not in the next few weeks, no."

"Certainly, you two will need these before I will." Keira said and placed a
small box on the table.

Looking at the box, Greta had an inkling of what may have been inside as
she placed a hand lightly on the box, "Keira… are these…. I… did you make
them?"

"I made them, gold-pressed latinum bands. It was for Ravok and…well I'm not
going to need them anytime soon."

Greta opened the box and gasped gently. The rings inside were beautiful.

"Isn't it tradition…something borrowed, yeah?" Keira pointed out.

"It is… I just.." Greta looked at her, "I don't know what to say."

"La…" Keira cut her speech off before saying his true name, "..Ravok would
want you guys to have them."

~My Lathuel, the one I fell for before all this, the one who is gone.~
Keira thought to herself.

"Are you sure? I mean, surely you should keep these…" Greta paused for a
moment and took her friend's hand, "only if you are sure."

"I'm sure," Keira reassured her friend, "it's on indefinite loan until you
guys decide what you're going to do. If you do get hitched, it becomes a
gift from me and Ravok."

Greta nodded, a tear threatening to drop from her eyes but she sighed and
managed to say, "Thankyou."

"Consider me on retainer if you guys need a redesign or a resizing." Keira
said with a giggle.

Greta smiled, "I will. I would think Ire will be touched by this gift." She
replied.  ~she doesn't know… when I woke up, I saw him… he scared me…~ she
thought to herself.

“I hope so. I know Ravok was a good friend for Ire, that he gets a piece,
something to remember him by should help him heal.”

"I… wonder sometimes why he stayed with me… I mean I am better now. Much.
But I'm not the same woman he fell in love with."

“Don’t you think the experience has changed him too? Shaken him to his
core?” Keira explained. “He had to watch his hands and hear his words be
cruel to you. If he could have, he would have rushed to your side, I have
no doubt.” ~By Thor I had to stab him to stop him.~

"I know…" Greta said as her head dropped a little. "Makes me wonder if he
stayed out of some sense of duty or pity…"

“No, not out of some remorse or pity.” Keira shook her head. “He’s not that
kind of guy.”

She sighed,  "He's a good guy. I know."

Keira gripped Greta’s hand tighter, “Look, he loves you, alright?” Keira
said with a smile. “Take all the time you need.”

"Do you think he would… want to still.."

“He’d do it in a heartbeat.” Keira assured her, “but when you’re ready. Ask
him. He’s not going to say no.”

Greta smiles, "Hope not. I do love him, I just worry sometimes. "

"Worry about what?" Keira asked.

"He’s been so good, not pushing anything. Part of me just wants to get back
to how we were before… all that happened. But I know it's gonna take time."

"Then let it take time."  Keira said.

"But enough about me. What's going on with you?"

Keira sighed, "Tried to flirt with a prince, got shot down.." she quickly
took a drink of her water to stop talking.

A small smile appeared on Greta’s face as she said,  "Oh you didn't…"

"I didn't know he had a fiance at the time, I would think attempted murder
would equal annulment. He hasn't hailed me at all since then. What would
you call it?" Keira explained.

"You got ghosted."

"I thought that," there was a pause as Keira collected herself, "with Ravok
gone, moving on might help me get over him."

Greta sighed, "When Ire… was under the control of the Empress and Broke
things off, it hurt badly. But, one thing I did learn from that and the …
incident… was that these things take time. You can't rush things, Keira. "

“Isn’t that what you two did? I smelt you on him, you had to have been
close for a while.” Keira reasoned. She saw the look on Greta’s face, it
made her rethink her position on what she found was telling her. “Did you?”

"I haven't… I mean we haven't… been together properly since it happened.
I'm not pushing myself. I can't. I don't want to go back to where I was…
that scared, frightened and quite mad girl that was at Starfleet Medical. "

“That’s fair.” Keira said, not wanting to push her friend past where she
was comfortable.

"I have to ask because my memories of being there are a little hazy. Did
you come?"

“Of course I did.” Keira said, “ At the earliest time. The first few times
I showed you weren’t taking visitors.”

"I know… Keira, I am sorry. It seems like so long since we talked and all I
am doing is making this about me."

"I'm always okay if you need to get something off your chest." Keira said.

Greta smiled gently, "How about this? No men talk and no Empress talk? We
just talk about happy things. For example, I hear someone got a promotion?"

Though Keira wasn't wearing her uniform, she knew word travels fast on a
small ship, just like they did on the small colony where she grew up. "You
know Trip's not really into pomp and circumstance, but yeah happened not
too terribly long ago. Long enough for the ship's rumour mill to get a hold
of it anyway."

"News travels fast on board." Greta said with a smile.

"Yes, news does travel fast." Keira said with a grin. "My parents told me
when my mom was pregnant with me, my father, used to the length of Romulan
pregnancies back on Romulus, was out surveying a spot many kilometers away
for a new building cluster. My mom went into labor and the whole village
learned of it before my father did."

Greta chuckled. "That's amazing. "

"That's why there's a Carrayan saying:" Keira said,  "News travels faster
than subspace."

"I bet he sped back home." Greta said as she sat back in her chair.

"I'm told he did," Keira said with a chuckle, "as he described it he made,
"best possible speed", which apparently included leaving the rest of the
survey team behind when he took the shuttle pod back in his excitement or
urgency."

"Oh lord…. Were they upset?"

"They were upset, but understood."

"I am sure they did." Greta replied with a smile. "Kind of makes me wonder
what we will be like as parents."

"You and Ire?" Keira asked.

"You and I. My family is not the most conventional. Neither is Ire’s
either. Our lives are … strange to say the least."

"Might seem strange from the outside, from where we each stand it just is,"
the Romulan explained, "I had thought about children with Ravok, but I
wasn't ready yet."

"To be honest,  I never thought about kids. Now.. I look at Ire sometimes
and just think how amazing he would be as a father."

"I know. I fell…felt the same about Ravok. He was a great father, the way
he looked after Rayna."

Reaching forward,  Greta gently grasped her friend's hand gently, "You will
be an amazing mother."

"Well, for me it's not happening soon." Keira said.

"I know. You need time to deal with Ravok…"

"Not just that, even if I had a partner, I started contraceptive therapy
before Risa." Keira admitted.

"Ah… that's…"

Keira’s Combadge chirped, interrupting the conversation, she mouthed the
words “sorry.” to Greta and slapped her combadge letting the call through,
=^= Commander Merek this is Ensign Kovak. =^=

Keira held up one finger, “This is Commander Merek, go ahead.”

=^= I am sorry to bother you sir. I have the shuttle transfer information
here. Do we know if both the Mitchell and the Kazansky will be arriving at
the same time or do we have a staggered arrival? =^=

“That doesn’t happen until tomorrow.” Keira said.

=^= Yes sir. It just that I am working out a movement order for all the
craft. =^=

“How many pilots do you have?” Keira began, “Wait, belay that, it doesn’t
matter.”

(Reply Kovak)

“To answer your question, the briefing didn’t specify if their approach
would be staggered, but they both have the same arrival time estimate. Work
as if the worst case scenario were to happen, arrange things as if they
will arrive simultaneously.”

(Reply Kovak)

“The number of pilots you have on hand doesn’t matter, because you can move
the shuttle in position, put it on auto pilot for station keeping, then
beam the pilot out and have them move the next into position.” Keira
explained her reasoning.

(Reply Kovak)

“I wasn’t planning on starting to move anything until 2400 hours, but if
you want to get a jump on it you can,” the Commander explained.

(Reply Kovak)

“I’m not going to require you to execute my plan, I’m sure you have your
own ideas. You can take volunteers to watch the shuttles and camp out
overnight, but don’t require anyone to do so.”

(Reply Kovak)


“If that’s all, Merek out.” Keira said closing the channel.

"Listen, if you are busy,  you don’t have to stay here with me…" Greta said
with what she hoped was a smile on her face.

"What I chose to do on my off time is none of the Ensign's concern." Keira
said evenly.

"If you are sure?"

"Positive." Keira said with a smile.

"Then, let's eat."

(Reply Kovak, none)
(posted by Jackie and Todd)


(USS Exeter - Starlight Lounge - CEO/2O, Commander Keira Merek & ACFO
Lieutenant Greta Smith - 2034)

After an amazing meal and a good catch up with her friend, Greta was slowly
becoming tired. Smiling softly at Keira,  she shook her head. "I know he
loves them but I swear he has more model ships than he does socks."

"Really? Where does he keep them?"

"It's everywhere. Speaking of which, I really should be getting back. I
need to find homes for a few different versions of the enterprise that are
not going to be on the floor." She smiled.

"I'll send you the plans for a magnetic wall and ceiling mount display, I
was going to use them to clean up Rayna's room at the Alaska cabin."

"That would be amazing. Thankyou. "

"It will keep them off the floor at least." Keira said with a smile.

"Definitely. If I stub my toe on another reliant class, Ire will be
sleeping on the couch. Thanks."

"No problem, always happy to help."

"This has been fun. It's been good to just relax with someone that isn't
constantly wondering what state my mind is in."

"It has." Keira agreed.

"We should have a girls night. A proper let loose girls night."

"Name the time and place." Keira challenged.

"I'll leave that one with you. Keira, thankyou."

"Good night then, I've got some shuttles to check on." Keira said getting
up.

"And I have some model ships to find homes for. Good night Keira. "

(Reply None)
(Posted by Jackie and Todd)

-- 
Todd Holladay
SGT, IA ANG (Ret)

"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk
awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek
revenge when those we love are taken from us, but that's not who we are." -
Captain James T. Kirk
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://startrekfreedom.com/pipermail/exeter-rpg_startrekfreedom.com/attachments/20220709/c8292f0b/attachment-0001.html>