Chance Encounter
Posted on Tue Sep 12th, 2023 @ 5:46pm by Captain Ansel Benoit & Ensign Evie Forde
1,599 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
The Trafalgar Roll
Location: Mess Hall, Deck 6
Timeline: MD1 following "Pinpoint"
The events of the past day or so had been very evident to the crew of the Victory. They had been thrown about like ragdolls on more than one occasion and in quick succession very shortly after leaving space dock. Luckily Evie had been reading at the time and no injuries happened.
She had been familiarising herself with the science console on the bridge as well. She'd taken the training course at the Academy but hadn't had the pleasure yet.
As she walked into the mess hall and got herself a light bite to eat she was surprised to see the Captain sitting by himself at a table near the window. He looked lost in thought and for reason she had a surge of courage to walk up to him.
"Good morning sir. Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else seems to be full." she asked a little sheepishly.
Ans had been staring at his coffee cup for the last . . . well he didn't know how long. The dark swirling liquid was hypnotic and gave his active mind a few moments of peace. "Hmm?" He said as he looked up. "Oh yes, of course. Ensign . . . ?" He felt foolish, not for looking distracted but for not remembering her name. He prided himself on knowing the names of his crew.
Evie smiled and placed her tray down softly on the table. "Forde sir, Evie Forde. I am the ships alien archaeologist and anthropologist." she smiled. "Bit of a mouthful to say, its even taken me a few years to perfect." she slightly joked out of nervousness as she sat.
"You'd think with all the acronyms that Starfleet has they'd come up with something to shorten that." He gave a small shrug. "So," he said, just to keep the conversation going. "You've had quite the first week on your first assignment. How are you holding up?" He wanted to give her some words of encouragement but honestly he couldn't think of any. This situation was just so unique.
"Starfleet does love a good acronym." Evie giggled. He was funny, she hadn't expected that. "But I'm alright sir." she replied with her Irish brogue lilting around the table. "Definitely more exciting than I thought it would be, and so quickly." she took a sip of her tea.
The Captain seemed a little down, she thought as much even as he stared aimlessly into his coffee. Evie always was good at spotting the moods of others, and was even told she should have been a counsellor by some. "Penny for your thoughts?" she smiled warmly at him. "I know you don't need to tell me anything, but you looked a little lost Captain. You don't need to be, we are all here for you." she kind of half looked around the room and noticed in fact right now it was only her that was paying any attention to him.
Ans looked up at her and then smiled. For an Ensign she certainly was projecting calmness despite talking to a Captain. "Feeling a bit useless I guess. I miss the days where I actually fixed the things that broke instead of sitting behind a desk and ordering other people to do it. Don't get old," he joked.
"Oh? I think you fix more than you believe sir." Evie smiled. Captain or not he was still a person. "I know I don't have much experience, or any to be honest, but I know people and I know you wouldn't be in command if you didn't fix problems. If a crew is broken, even a little bit you can fix them..." she played with her food. "As for getting old... you're not old. I mean you must only be like 38 or something?"
He had to admit she did have a point there. He remembered back to when he was an ensign and how much he looked up to his Captain even when the Captain hadn't actually done anything. He supposed he should stop sulking, though he doubted many people besides Evie here had even noticed. Ensigns were so cute sometimes. He wondered if he had ever been that cute. "41. Tell me, what age do you consider humans to be old?" It was a serious question but there was a sparkle to his eyes, evidence of his finding the situation now more amusing than depressing as it had been before.
Evie's cheeks flushed at his question and she began to stammer a little. It had caught her off guard and for a moment she had thought of how to answer him. "Got to be over 50." she joked. "You're nowhere near that yet sir, and you don't look 41 so that's pretty cool. Still got a good few years in you." she added without thinking. She internally scolded herself as she looked away from him and the table, her embarrassment growing as much as the redness of her face. "Why did you say that to him?!" she yelled, her internal voice screaming at her. Was she doing that stupid flirting thing she did with older men? Her father would kill her...
Ans laughed. "Thank you, I think," He studied her for a moment, noticing the blush in her cheeks but he didn't really understand why so he decided to change the subject. "Where do you come from?"
"I was born in a small village called Keel." Evie replied. "It's on Achill Island just off the west coast of Ireland on Earth." she added the last part because sometimes it was natural to assume Humans always knew about Earth but sometimes they were just as ignorant to where places were if they hadn't been born there.
"It's beautiful. Green everywhere, the beach is just a stones throw away and is honestly the greatest thing in the world. Sand, sea and campfires. Best childhood ever." she grinned. "Where are you from sir?" she asked. There was a Canadian twang to his voice but she thought she'd just let him tell her. Sometimes it was nice to pretend there was a little mystery.
He chuckled before realizing she hadn't said anything funny and she wouldn't have any idea why he'd laughed. "A farm in the middle of Canada. My apologies, it's just that my sister's name is Keela. I always wondered where they found the name. Perhaps they were fans of Ireland or they could have found the name elsewhere too." He waved off the thought. "My parents wanted someplace where we could roam free and learn about nature without all the influences of technology. It didn't stop us from becoming accustomed to every new gadget invented but I sometimes think they had the right idea. We learned to fish, grow our own food and just be still."
"Everyone is a fan of Ireland sir, and those that aren't... well, they just haven't been yet." Evie grinned, she was very proud of her heritage and where she came and would always be on to talk up the emerald isle and her people. "My da is a preacher, mums a doctor but Keel was great for nature and all that. We'd often gather around a big fire, whole village I mean, and swap stories and the adults would drink." she said the latter with a certain degree of specificity. Her father would never allow such things, drinking that is. "The village is like a family. Everyone knows everyone and every little thing about you. Think my mum knew about my first kiss before I did." she laughed.
Smiling he nodded. "I would love to see Ireland someday. Maybe on my next shoreleave I'll drop by Keel. I can get my sister a t-shirt. She'd get a kick out of it. That is, if we manage to get out of here alive. I know! I know! Doom and gloom again. I promise not to sink back into my hole. And thank you Evie. I've appreciated the wisdom and conversation."
"You should go sir. Its a beautiful place, full of very welcoming people." Evie sounded like a travel agent. "I'm sure your sister would love it as well." she listened to him as he continued. "Aye sir, stop being such a gloomy gus." she teased him, her Irish humour coming through and then waved him away. "Ach I wouldn't say I'm old enough for wisdom but I'm happy if you've improved your mood even a wee bit." she grinned.
"You would be surprised by the wisdom that comes out of the young. Not that you're too young. I mean, you're an adult . . . . " He huffed out a sigh. "I'm going to leave now and pretend we ended this conversation only moments before I said all that." He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you again," he was sure his face was probably turning purple at this point and he got out of there as fast as he could.
Evie subconsciously placed her hand over his as he touched her shoulder. "I'll make up that you said something profound and insightful sir." she joked with him. " But your are very welcome. It was nice to talk, and if you ever need brought out from under a dark cloud I can be found in the science lab, or library." As she spoke they removed their hands from contact and a short second passed before the Captain left.
Well, one way to introduce yourself to your commanding officer, try and bring him out of his funk... mission accomplished, mostly.
Ensign Evie Forde
Alien Archaeologist & Anthropologist
USS Victory
Captain Ansel Benoit
Commanding Officer
USS Victory
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