Station Post #5. Some things are easier over coffee

Posted on Sat Mar 9th, 2024 @ 11:51pm by Captain Shauna Callaghan & Lieutenant Commander David Wallace
Edited on on Wed Mar 27th, 2024 @ 8:47pm

Mission: TALES FROM THE MIDDLE STARS
Location: Prominade Level 1 - The Coffee Bean
Timeline: *tbd*

On:

The odd hour was nothing new, David found himself at the Coffee shop in a corner of it going over an updated report from a patrol along the boarder, it read the same as the previous three weeks. Essary Corvette class ships, one Borealis Class on the same patrol pattern they kept, two day circuit between the Eir moon and the Eiridan system, same formation, same cycle every forty-eight hours, the only variation was the addition of one of their few Blackstar ships, most likely one of the two that had shadowed the station during the move. Looking through the report he'd found a few reports of radiation spikes in the Eiridan system that were out of the norm, he set down the pad to take a drink from the coffee. He realized he'd garnered a few stares from people realizing that seeing an intelligence officer outside of the realms of the intelligence offices was a rarity let alone one of the senior ones. He sat back acting as if he was actually paying attention too the goings on around him, he'd actually gone too the coffee shop because he wanted to be away from the insanity that was intelligence, round the clock calls about this and than, no distraction, no one to distract him, even if it was over a cup of coffee.

“Fed up of being stared at yet?” Shauna smiled as she walked over to Wallace, having seen him sitting alone. “Taking a break from your Office I see, can’t say I blame you.”

David looked up, smiling, "Seeing anyone from intel seems to unsettle the population, frankly the bullpen was starting to smell like a Klingon bird of prey so I had to get out of there."

Shauna couldn’t help but grin. “Sounds like I need to get the cleaning squad in there to freshen the place up then.” She took a seat. “To be honest as much as I like doing what I do, I much prefer being out here amongst the population. It gets a little...claustrophobic after a while cooped up in Ops.”

David motioned for Shauna to take a seat, "We could use a few days of relative quiet around here, I don't think I've slept more than a few hours, that just adds to the tension at times."

“If I could guarantee that, I would” Shauna smiled a wry smile. “As it is we just have to hope that nothing else unexpected crops up. We don’t get a lot of visiting traffic as yet, but once word gets out I’m sure we’ll get more.”

David smiled slightly, something he hadn't been doing much of "With the marines here it's starting arrive in numbers it's more like my time on the Wellington during the Hellguard fiasco, hopefully we can avoid anything more than a few skirmishes."

“The Hellguard fiasco?” Shauna gave David a curious look. “I’m not familiar with that one.”

David smiled as he set down the coffee cup, "One of my first missions when I was posted to the Wellington, we were on a mission to the planet Hellguard to repair the subspace relay station on the planet that had been damaged by a renegade faction that was on the planet, it went from a simple repair mission to a twenty-eight hour game of cat and mouse before I was able to get myself and a few of the away team off the planet." Knowing what the next question would be "Well myself and Captain Blumenberg who was the Wellington's chief engineer at the time."

“Ahh I see” Shauna nodded. “It doesn’t help having to watch your back incase of attack, when you’re trying to get a job done. Twenty-eight hours! That must have been some game for you!”

"We wound up in some bad lands that had a number of caves we were able to hide in which helped, afterwards Maria and I wound up together, at least until a few days ago." David said looking down at his mug.

“Oh? Tell me if I’m overstepping here, but if you need to talk about it?” Shauna offered an understanding smile. “In our line of work relationships don’t always work out, things can be...overly complicated.”

David looked up, on half a smile he said "Complicated would be an understatement, My parents separated before my fraternal twin sister and I were born and like you might remember I never actually met my father until recently." he paused "So there are time's where I don't get how some people do it." David said making eye contact.

Shauna nodded. “I understand, maybe talking to Isabelle might help? She might be able to help you see things in a different way?”

"I thought about it, but right now just being able to talk to anyone is a break from the intelligence grind." David said taking a sip from the coffee afterwards.

"Fair enough" Shauna smiled. "If you ever need a break, or just a chat I'm always happy to oblige. It makes a change from the usual routine."

Changing topics David spoke "How are things with you?"

“Me?” Shauna shrugged her shoulders. “Okay I think, things were...complicated a little while ago, but not so much anymore.”

David lowered his mug showing a partial smile he could sense something wasn't right, "You know I'm part Betazoid, you can be honest with me."

Shauna knew she couldn't hide from the senses of a Betazoid. "Okay...so, I made the mistake of falling in love with a Klingon! problem was he couldn't reciprocate. That, and the fact that Deke and I have feelings for one another. We're trying to get back on track now."

David's expression didn't change, he didn't like using his abilities but she was projecting like a holo-emitter at this point and he had a very hard time blocking it out, "I could say something cliched here, but I get the feeling there's more too it."

“Not really” Shauna shook her head. “I know I’m mulling everything through in my head over and over, it’s just me trying not to make more mistakes!”

David knew there might be more but didn't want to prod, "It's never easy, I know that feeling." he paused taking a drink "But there are times stepping into the unknown doesn't just involve being in Starfleet."

Shauna gave David a considered look. "Are you saying I should go join a certain Klingon ship?" she shook her head. "To be honest I need to see where things are going with Deke, I'll never forgive myself if I don't."

David set the mug down, "What I meant was if things don't get sorted out maybe take a break before you end up in a situation you don't want to be in."

Shauna nodded. "I guess that makes sense, it's better to have a clear head than be distracted." she offered a smile.

He sat back with only a mild surprise at her reply, but the emotions had changed and they were much less noticeable, "That's why I'm not taking my break up too hard, yeah it sucks and I'll move on at my own pace."

Shauna nodded. “We’ll both move on at own pace, and if you ever want to talk about it you know where to find me.” She offered a warm smile. “Actually we should do this more often, it makes a change to the usual daily routine.”

Before David could reply =^="Commander Wallace to Intelligence."=^=

"Duty calls..." David said slamming back the last of the coffee, "Acknowledged, Wallace out."

Shauna smiled. "Thanks for the talk. Let's do this again sometime." With that she stood ready to head back to Ops.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll see you then." David said without thinking.

Shauna couldn’t help but smile as she looked back. “Until then.”

End