Need a Room at the Inn...
Posted on Thu Mar 11, 2021 @ 10:39am by Captain Tam "Demon" Haican & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas
1,468 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: DS5, Chief Ops Office
Timeline: MD3, 1045 hours
Tags: Quartermaster, OPS, Marine
Shortly after their arrival, Tam made his way to the office belonging to the Chief Ops Officer, to secure quarters for himself and Sabina.
Upon finding the appropriate office, he pressed the conm panel to request entrance.
Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas had spent so much time in his office that he figured that he might as well convert one of the smaller confernece rooms into sleeping quarters. He was severely understaffed to the point where he had begun triple-tasking most of his department leaders in some attempt to get ahold of the ever-developing crisis that is structural integrity of the station.
He found himself in his office going over the quarterly reports on dilithium distribution for the sector. Ever since the Xi'Cadians had seized the dilithium mines and broken away from the Federation, the station had been forced to keep an eye on their deliveries as well as request from neighboring facilities. A severe shortfall could trigger a cascade of problems for others.
He looked up from his console just in time to see the Marine walk into the outer foyer of his office.
"Ugh, he better not be here to ask for some new gun to put on those damn Fighters of theirs" The Chief Ops Officer mumbled to himself as he pressed a button to allow the Marine to pass through the doors and into his office.
"Yes, how can I help you?" Lt. Kivan asked.
Tam felt a bit of annoyance in the office, and something else. Something he hadn't felt since...
He turned to the direction of the voice and froze, his friendly grin dropping away as he saw the face of a Cardassian. His demeanor darkened visibly as he said, "I'm looking for the Ops Chief." He almost spat at the face of enemy that had ravaged his homeworld.
Lt. Kivan watched as the Marine marched. . .not stepped, but marched into his office. They always walked in such static and pre-determined fashion. As if they counted each step in their mind so that they could come to an exact stop with their boots perfectly parallel with one another.
The Ops Chief also noticed the deamnor on the Marine's face darken as he entered his office and saw who had allowed him to enter. He recognized that look. It was a look he had seen many times since the end of the Dominion War. Hell, he had seen it many times during his years spent on Bajor. It was a look of of a man who still carried the demons from over 20 years before. Demons that he couldn't leave behind in battles long since ended.
"I am the Chief of Operations." Lt. Kivan said to the Marine. "You made a long trip down to the far side of the station for a reason. So state it." Lt. Kivan said, not entirely excited about the encounter so far.
Before Tam replied, he started to pick up more emotional discharge from the Cardassian. As the Cardassian species were genetically predisposed to being safe from telepaths, much like the Ferengi, the fact that Tam was reading anything, meant that the Ops Chief was not pure blood.
While he was still uncomfortable with what his eyes were telling him, the Betazoid visibly relaxed slightly. "First off, Lieutenant, I need to apologize. I am Betazoid, and when I saw your face, I reacted poorly."
maybe you shouldn't go snooping around people's minds in the first damn place Ta'Gas thought to himself. He had always had a problem with Betazoids, empaths, or just about any other race that had the ability to go into the most sacred place a person had and just review their thoughts or emotions as if it was a unlocked data padd.
"It's fine." Lt. Kivan lied.
"What can I assist you with?" He asked, hoping to move beyond this aggravation and go back to his mountain of work.
While Tam didn't try to read the Lieutenant, he didn't need to. It was clear that there was an equal amount of racial animosity between the both of them, though he was unsure why on the other man's end. Regardless, he could feel feelings of open disapproval directed at him. He decided to swallow his growing anger and tried again.
"Okay, Lieutenant...?" Curious of the other man's name.
"Ta'Gas, Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas." He said slowly.
"Hello. My name is Captain Tam Haican. I just returned to the station after being on Earth for the past year. I have been assigned as the new CAG, and am here to requested senior officer family quarters for my daughter and me. Now, while I am not trying to read your mind, as you know, that is illegal, I am also empathic and have been picking up your negative feelings as soon as I walked in and made an ass of myself."
...open to read like a book Ta'Gas thought to himself. It was one of many features of his Bajoran heirtage that he wished could have been Engineered out of him. Or perhaps it was his Cardassian side that just hated any part of his body or personality that could be used as a weakness.
"Right. . .I've got to handle booking rooms for Senior Officers, as if I didn't already have my plate full." He said as he spun his chair back to his console and accessed the quartermaster system. Ordinarily, this would be handled by the Quartermaster. However, the department was shorthanded with just dealing with the Enlisted that needed rooms or other supplies. Lt. Kivan was responsible for handling Senior Officers since there would be a relatively small number of them coming on board.
"Ordinarily you would be housed with the other Marines on Deck 74. However, since you are bringing a family with you unlike the rest of that rowdy bunch, I'm going to house you on Deck 135, the Flight Command Crew and Flight Staff Quarters. They actually respect Quiet Hours on that level." Lt. Kivan said as he slidd a padd towards the Officer.
"So who did you piss off to get assigned back here?" Lt. Kivan asked.
Tam gave a polite smile as he picked up the PADD. "Thank you. I appreciate it, Lieutenant...?" He felt it was a bit rude that the Cardassian hadn't given his name.
The Operations Chief noticed that the Marine was dodging his question. Heh. . .must've been something bad Lt. Kivan thought to himself.
"Ta'Gas, Kivan Ta'Gas." He repeated to the Marine.
Tam nodded. "Pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant, Ta'Gas." He paused for a moment, then continued. "As for your question, I am a former member of the crew here. Little over a year ago, when the crisis with Pangaea occurred, I was on an escort mission away from the station."
"When the crisis occurred, I, well, in simple terms, I felt that my daughter, Sabina, who was here, was in danger. I think made the decision that I just spent the past year paying for. I left the escorting assignment to my subordinates and hauled ass back here, as the humans like to say. Following a massive battle, which I was able to assist in defending against, I was brought up on charges."
"I was charged with abandoning my post during a critical mission, disobeying orders to return to the mission and conduct unbecoming." He paused again, then continued. "In light of my so-called heroics in the battle to save the station, the first and last charges were summarily dropped. For the second one, I was put on probation for a year, had my flight status temporarily suspended and had to return to ERth and teach a course on ethics at the SFMC Officer's Training Academy." Sighing, as he was getting tired of giving the explanation, he summed up, "And now, I'm back, I've been reinstated, and even given a tougher job to do."
Considering the shitshow that just seemed to continue evolving everyday on the station, it seemed that he really drew the short-end of the stick. "Well, by the end of the day, you might want to reconsider just how long you want to stay at this posting." The Operations Chief replied. "Hell, you might want to re-calculate just how long you'll stay alive while you're at it." He added sardonically.
This actually made Tam break out in laughter. After a few beats, he wiped the tears from his eyes and then replied. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine." He extended his right hand in friendship.
Lt. Kivan stood and accepted the Marine's hand. "Welcolme aboard." He said.
The two men shook hands, possibly finding some common ground to build on.
*OFF*
Lt. Kivan Ta'Gas
Chief of Operations
DS5
Captain Tam Haican
CAG
DS5
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