Tea, Biscuits, and Days that Never End (Part I)

Posted on Monday, 13 July 2020 - 3:57pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Aristede Hobbes & Lieutenant Raith Kolani & Lieutenant Talarn Zilth

Mission: Operation: Jabberwocky
Location: Starbase 118 - Wardroom
Timeline: MD 3

Starbase 118’s Wardroom was a multipurpose room designed for versatility and ease of transitional use. Station Commander, Captain Adelia Dashwood used it primarily for diplomatic functions, and an occasional brunch nook, and from time to time a room she retreated with a nice mug of tea to sit among the stars and quietly contemplate. Today? Now, at this moment? It was not serving any of those posh purposes with her frivolous amenities. Instead, it would be acting as a briefing room as soon as her First Officer arrived; However, the others would soon be arriving and the room was not looking its normal inviting self despite her best efforts to have it less militant.

“YOO-HOO,” she called out to a man who was passing by. “Be a dear and start bringing in some carafes of tea and a pitcher of water, oh and make a pot of coffee please dear. The XO does enjoy her coffee,” Adelia said. The man looked to be processing the random request, if only for a few moments, only to be on the receiving end of a series of finger snaps. “Snap, snap, dear. Move along, now. We don’t have time for you to think about it, just do it.” The man quickly enlisted the help of two others in his immediate vicinity.

Several minutes had passed as Adelia paced back and forth around the room. The doors opened and in came two men and a woman that she vaguely recognized but could not, for the life of her, name. “Right here. Over there, space it out on the center of the table,” she said, directing them to set up the pitchers and carafes. She did catch a glimmer of the woman’s name. “Oh Bridget, be a dear and please go to my office and fetch me the good china. Teacups and saucers, and do not let those butter fingers get the best of you. We can’t have chipped china when the admirals come.”

Poor Bridget had only been gone for a bit when she came back to Adelia’s presence with a large tray with what had to be a dozen teacups, saucers, and a pot. “I am sorry it took so long, Ma’am. I thought I should bring the pot as well. I took the liberty of brewing some fresh tea,” she said. Everyone who served on Starbase 118 learned quickly that Captain Adelia Dashwood was not one to settle for anything less than your absolute best and then some. She was a woman who, despite the Federation not using any monetary form of currency, still lived her life of luxury as her ancestors always had. Captain Dashwood was a woman of poise and posture, who had a dependency on her Betazoid abilities. Everyone had gossiped and speculated about her behind her back whether she was fully Betazoid or not.

“Wonderful, you have done well, Bridget. Now, off you go dear. This a starbase, not a menagerie,” replied Adelia crisply. “Too many people to see… too much to do, and not enough time at all,” added Adelia; however, everyone knew, even if they did not speak of it, that Adelia Dashwood spent plenty of time in the holosuites. Among her favorite programs was one that was set on the HMS Titanic, but she did not use it to admire the engineering marvel of the White Star Line passenger liner, nor relive the events of that terrible night. No, she avoided the bad days of their voyage and instead inserted herself among the socialites of Margaret Brown.

Adelia had a good bit of time before the meeting was scheduled to start. She was still miffed at being rudely stood up for brunch by Stillwater, she knew that was inevitable. The two of them had nothing short of a complicated history; back and forth trading jabs through the Academy and of course, she always got the better of him. At least in her opinion, which was the accurate one, naturally. Her day was a day so far, as had been yesterday, and the days leading up to that. There was no end in sight for this vicious ouroboros; however, there was always tea. It was the tea and often some shortbread biscuits that got her through her day, though she was also particularly fond of ladyfingers, Jaffa cakes, and Jammie Dodgers.


Commander Barret Stillwater had been with Talarn when the USS Gentry returned to the station venting plasma and looking as though the starship had barely survived whatever encounter it had just had. Several minutes later another Diligent class starship had arrived at the station, also showing signs of battle, but aside from a few cosmetic hits the USS Monarch clearly made it through the skirmish relatively unscathed. Stillwater was slightly taken aback when he received the immediate request last night to attend a meeting this morning with Captain Adelia Dashwood and members of her senior staff. Likewise, Stillwater was encouraged to bring some of this own. He could only surmise this had to deal with the Gentry and Monarch.

Unfortunately, Lieutenant Commander Soral and several others of his senior staff had taken their shore leave in a very literal sense and boarded high warp transports two days prior. Off to various locations that were of no interest to Stillwater, as he was always focused on something to keep himself bust. Leisure time was for those who complained too often. Though admittedly, he had been pushing his Vulcan XO to their limits physically. Apparently, Vulcans were not made as thick of skin as they had been in his younger years. Stillwater had requested Lieutenant JG Kolani whom Stillwater had intended to restore to the position of Chief Operations Officer. Additionally, Stillwater had requested that Talarn be present.

Captain Adelia Dashwood had summoned the station's Chief Engineer who was otherwise occupied, leaving Lieutenant Aristede Hobbes to join them. Her First Officer would be attending as well, once she was cleared by medical as they had been commanding the wounded Monarch and suffered a bit of damage themselves in the process, but nothing that the station's medical staff were not prepared to handle. Unfortunately, Starbase 118's Chief Medical Officer was aboard the Gentry and was listed among the fatalities suffered during their skirmish, an ambush from what she had gathered. Adelia had taken her seat at the head of the table and poured herself a teacup of hot tea and grabbed a few biscuits to munch on as she waited for the others to arrive.

As the designated stand-in for the station's Chief Engineer, Hobbes was used to doing the Gamma Shift and then a round of meetings afterward. All part of the price he paid for being shanghaied off of the ship that had been his intended destination. Having taking a moment to tidy up, he entered and looked for the most senior officer in the room. "Ma'am," he said as he walked toward the station's commanding officer. "You asked for me?"

"Not specifically, dear, but you'll do just as well," she replied. "The Chief Engineer is busy with repair crews on the Gentry and I need an engineer here sitting in on this briefing. So, get yourself settled and here," she said grabbing a PaDD and handing it to him. "Take notes of everything. I want this to be transcribed in case the Federation News Service of Federation News Network decides to come to pay me a visit."

Hobbes nodded and if he took exception to being reduced to note-taker, he gave no outward sign. After all, he worked under Lapid. He smothered a yawn and found a seat for himself. In school and later at the Academy, he relied more on his memory and a good working understanding of the material than on note-taking. Privately, he wished her good luck trying to figure out the one or two word phrases that he generally wrote down as his version of summarizing key points.


Having met with T'Lanna's father and finally seen that their personal situation was now making progress, Raith almost felt a little bit relieved as he made his way to the Wardroom on Starbase 118. It felt good to be off ship for a change and he was also curious as to why he had been requested.

As he arrived in the room, Raith could see several officers already there and as soon as he saw Commander Stillwater, he made his way over to the CO. He was still trying to judge this new commanding officer, however, he seemed to have great faith in Raith and he took that as a good thing. "You requested me, Commander," Raith said as he arrived.

Before Stillwater could response, Adelia was already pouncing. "Oh look at you, so dashing," she commented and gestured for Kolani to take a seat. "Go ahead dear, but some more meat on those bones. There are plenty of biscuits, scones, teas, water, and coffee to partake while we wait for my First Officer to arrive. She's usually not one to be late, but we'll give her a few moments," Adelia explained.

Stillwater looked at Raith and nodded, a silent approval to partake in the woman's insistence. "Lieutenant, there's a seat right here for you," Stillwater said glancing to his right. Normally, it would have been a seat that Lieutenant Commander Soral would have likely taken.

Raith smiled as he took on board the Captain's comments and then looked over at Commander Stillwater. As he gestured to the chair, Raith moved towards and took the seat, sitting himself down. Once he noticed the Commander sat next to him, Raith leaned over with questions. "Sir, should this seat not be for your XO?" he asked. Taking a breath, he then carried on. "Or am I filling in that role for this briefing?"

Stillwater cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Commander Soral and the others are still on shore leave and not on the station. Doctor Rose is not part of the chain of the command structure, and there have been some changes to the Operations Department that I will discuss with you afterward, but essentially you are Chief Operations Officer... permanently and as such the next highest ranking for Standing Bear in attendance after myself. So, yes, for this briefing you are."

Raith nodded as he listened before picking up on the part where the Captain wanted him back as the Chief Operations Officer. Raith looked at him with some surprise and realised that there was a discussion that would be had after the briefing. "I understand, Sir. Thank you, Sir," Raith said before grabbing a small glass of water and taking a sip to calm himself. He mentally noted to speak with Tee once he was back on board. Suddenly, he was staring at the chance of being a senior officer again and there seemed to be a sudden spark within Raith, as if this was something he wanted and not something he was concerned about anymore.

He also knew that she would be happy to see him re-instated back as the Chief Operations Officer on board the Standing Bear. This also showed Raith that the Captain had faith in his abilities and he was beginning to realize how much regard the captain held for Ratih.

Talarn was silent. He was seated on the other side of Barret, which is where he really didn't belong either. He also wasn't in any sort of uniform, adding to how uncomfortable he was. Not that anyone could tell. The Cardassian's face was a passive, even potentially bored to anyone who didn't know him really well. His eyes mostly followed the actions of Captain Adelia Dashwood, a woman he had only met once before, briefly, but had instantly developed an intense dislike for. He didn't trust her, but he really couldn't put his finger on just why, so he studied her, trying to decide exactly what about her was like nails on a chalkboard to him.

While everyone settled in, Hobbes recognized the need for preventive care. Having been up all night crawling through Jeffries tubes and holding impromptu meetings with members of the team, he would need something caffeinated to remain awake. Dashwood had quite the unflattering reputation among the rank and file but today would be his first chance to observe. Tonight, he thought as he poured himself a cup of coffee, will be all about grilling me for information. He took a sip, nodded to himself in appreciation of the taste, and returned to his seat to wait.

Talarn glanced at Barret for the first time in a long time, waiting for some sort of sign of how he felt about this. The Cardassian could usually read the Human fairly well and quickly. A lot of time alone with someone taught you quite a bit about their little quirks and tells. He still wasn't exactly sure in what capacity he was even here at this table. He had no rank, was it spousal only? His eyes flicked back to Dashwood, before returning to Barret again.

 

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