Renewing Acquaintances

Posted on Sat Jul 11th, 2020 @ 1:16pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Mica Rue

Abigail was walking away from the shuttle bay, having left the away teams to complete their prep and plan for departure. Wandering along the corridor toward the turbolift, she was distracted by the PaDD in her hand and almost missed the tall, slender woman walking toward her. It was only as the other woman was right in front of her that Abigail looked up, blinking quickly, eyes widening with recognition. "Mica?" she asked incredulously. "When did you get back on board?" Holding the PaDD aside, she reached out and hugged the Trill looking woman impulsively, smiling happily. "I didn't get notification that you'd been assigned back to us!"

Mica accepted the hug stiffly. "Good to see you again as well ma'am." Backing a step, she straightened her uniform. "I did send through a message on my return, captain, but only just." she tried to smile, thought he gesture only tugged at her eyes and lips slightly. "As for returning, I seem to be 'on loan'. I'm not exactly sure why, but got the orders from the center I am working in now, as a request from starfleet." she tugged again at the uniform top, that she hadn't worn in months. "They never accepted my commission resignation fully, it appears. I was hoping you'd be able to lend some insight as to why I'm here, but..." her brows furrowed. She didn't like being kept in the dark.

"We've just had an influx of new crew," Abigail explained as she fell into step next to Mica and they continued walking. "I'm not entirely sure why to be honest, but I'll take a look at your orders when I get back to my ready room, maybe that will shed some light on things. Walk with me?"

Mica inclined her head. "Of course, captain." Placing her hands behind her back, she glanced around as they strolled. "There is a new mission beginning, I suspect? The ship is buzzing with the excitement of a new beginning."

"The away teams just left actually," Abigail replied with a nod as they walked toward the turbolift. "For some reason Starfleet Command decided that we'd be good bounty hunters, so here we are. Teams on their way to Kessik III and Kessik IV looking for some Cardassian."

The Lt followed her once-captain into the lift. "A strange mission for us to be on." Realizing what she had said, she flushed slightly. "Your ship, I mean." She bit her lip as the lift halted. "The officers here well-qualified, but a bounty mission?"

"Lets just say I suspect I'm hardly Command's favourite Captain right now," Abigail said with a laugh as they stepped out on deck one and crossed the bridge to her ready room. "Take a seat Lieutenant, can I get you a drink?"

Mica sat slowly in one of the chairs before the captain's desk. She intertwined her fingers, wondering on the captain's words. hardly Command's favourite Captain... The corners of her lips tugged upward and she ducked her head. That was something she could entirely relate to. Despite the Capital's persistent hounding for Mica to join their ranks, she had hardly been what they had expected. Warned twice for behaviour unbecoming of a trill engineer within their fold, Mica had been warned again upon reminding her superiors that she was, in fact, not trill at all. Between not attending meetings promptly, diverging on projects when other, better avenues took over, and the suspicions of her team when they stumbled upon her conversations with the machinery, Mica suspected the Capital kept her only for her impressive progress.

And now she was here, back on the Astraea. And her captain, her previous captain, was staring at her.

"I'm sorry," Mica let the smile show this time. "I'd say a Romulan ale, but I think a warm cup of coffee would be more appropriate."

Replicating the coffee and a chai latte for herself, Abigail carried them back to the desk and handed the coffee over before sitting back down in her chair, holding the mug up to her face and inhaling slowly before taking a sip. "Right, transfer orders, let's have a look," she said with a smile. "We have several new crew that have just come aboard, I'm still catching up with who's who."

The Lt nodded. A quick thought came to her and she set down the coffee without drinking it, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her padd. "Unfortunately I don't have much to aid you. The orders I received were simply that I had been temporarily reassigned by starfleet, by permission of the Trill Capital Technology commission to aid with a matter of importance on the USS Astraea. Aside from that..." she lowered her padd. "It's an open question as to why me, or what matter."

Abigail nodded as she listened while simultaneously reading through the PaDD in her hand.

"A part of me wonders if I was sent off by the Trill capital specifically." she placed her padd back in her pocket and picked up the coffee mug, sipping it. "I was doing my job well. Perhaps a little too well for their rules and regulations."

There was a soft laugh from the Commanding Officer as she shook her head slightly. "Try not to read too much into these things Lieutenant," she said calmly. "It rarely helps. Look, there's nothing specific on your file about why you've been transferred back here, but I'll have Lieutenant T'Vek see if he can find out any more if you really feel uncertain about it. It's probable that they believed you would be of benefit during the hunt for Tejar, I'm not sure."

Mica nodded once, taking two huge gulps of the caffeine. "I'd appreciate that ma'am. Is there anything I can do in the meantime? Or would you like me on standby?"

"Why don't you take the engineering station on the Bridge?" Abigail suggested. "I assume you're still up to date on Starfleet Engineering? I have no issue with you accruing some bridge time while we're monitoring our away teams."

The Lt considered, nodding once. "Of course. I haven't done anything with warp cores or field systems, but the knowledge never really leaves." She stood, placing the near-empty cup on the desk. "But I should let you get to it, Captain. I'll be sure to be on the bridge on the next shift then."

"Perfect," Abigail said as she stood up. "Sorry, I don't mean to cut this short, but I do have a few things I need to take care of. You should know your way around enough, but if you need anything, come see either Commander Gail or myself." The Commanding Officer watched as Mica nodded and started for the door, calling after her just before disappeared. "Lieutenant Rue, it's good to have you back."