The Yellow Shirts

Posted on Fri Apr 12th, 2019 @ 4:04am by Staff Warrant Officer Victor Ward & Lieutenant JG Danica ("Dani") Tyr

Mission: Array of Sun
Location: STAT Lounge
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1215

The first meeting of STAT-42’s senior staff had just been dismissed, and Victor was set to get to work. There was a lot to do before the runabouts could launch, so he started toward his workspace. However, if he knew one thing about himself, it was that he operated best after a date with sweet lady coffee. So he diverted to the lounge to get something from the replicator.

Lost in thought, Dani's feet led her practically on autopilot to the nearest replicator where she waited for her turn. She figured she'd look at the runabouts because it always helped to do a visual inspection, get a real feel for size and capacity, make sure that everything closed properly. One corner of her expressive mouth quirked upward at the memory that came unbidden to the forefront of her mind of a particular door that didn't close properly and drove an officious and somewhat annoying lieutenant practically insane on an away mission for the Pirogav. Couldn't have planned it better if I tried, she thought. Odious toad that he was. Still, that had been the younger, less experienced version of herself. I could probably do much better now.

Black coffee in hand, Victor turned around and stopped as he almost bumped into the much shorter Ops lead. “Oh, pardon me, Lieutenant.” He smiled. “I need to pay a bit more attention to what’s around me. Not the easiest thing to do before getting refueled.” He gestured to his cup. “I’ll get out of your way.”

"My fault," Dani said as she edged around him and spoke to the replicator. "Turkish coffee," she said and then turned back toward her teammate with a slight shrug. "I can get a bit focused when I'm too long without." She picked up the cup and its accompanying glass of water. "I ... am going to sit down and drink this coffee." She looked around the crowded room and spied a spot over by the viewport that looked promising. "Care to join me? Or do you need to be rushing off?"

Victor thought a moment. He did need to get to work, but he could spare a moment to sit with the young woman. They were both new to the team, and he knew he could use a friend. She probably could, too. He nodded and gestured toward the seats by the viewport that she saw.

Dani took her two-part drink over to the spot she'd noticed and sat, with her back against the wall and one foot tucked up beneath her. She took a small cautious sip and sighed with pleasure. "I so needed that," she said.

“I’ve never had Turkish coffee,” Victor said as he sat down opposite Dani. “What is it? And why the two cups?”

"Turkish coffee is strong and water is used to cleanse the palette afterwards," Dani said. "Done in this small pot, sugar added while its being made as well as cardamon. Takes a bit of time to do it right but well worth it."

“Hmm,” Victor said, nodding as he considered it. “I’ll need to try it sometime. I knew someone on my last assignment who didn’t like the way the replicators did coffee. When she became Assistant Chief and had the authority to do so, she reprogrammed the replicators to do it better. But before she had authority, she would replicate grounds, hot water, and a French press. She was an absolute genius, that one.”

Dani laughed, one hand lightly encircling the tiny cup, as she considered the idea. "Though one would argue that the taste would be essentially the same. We would buy beans and grind them ourselves than use the replicator for tools and hot water. We even tried setting up a heat source so that we could boil the water ourselves though that proved to be a bit problematical."

Victor smiled at her. “Where was this? Where you ground your own freshly grown beans and boil your own water?” He was curious about Dani and her apparent love of coffee that rivaled his own.

"The Pirogav," Dani answered at once. "Grinding beans is as easy as a mortar and pestle. Low tech but easy enough to stash ... I mean ... store. Served on board for five years. Great people. Job was ... ordinary ... but the people ... totally worth it."

“The people,” Victor repeated. “That’s always the most important thing, isn’t it? People you can work well with, people you can be friends with. Superiors who don’t let rank go to their heads. I’ve worked with some amazing people over the years, and some real idiots.” He took another long sip of his coffee. “I get the feeling we’ll do good things together here, Lieutenant. Or may I call you Danica?”

"Almost no one calls me Danica. I'm Dani. And you," she asked and used the opportunity of waiting to take another sip of coffee.

“I usually go by Victor, but I’ll answer to Vic, or Ward,” he replied. “The only one that bothers me is when officers your age or younger call me ‘Warrant Officer Ward’, putting emphasis on the rank. Sorry, I don’t mean to vent. You’ve been very nice, I’ve not gotten this from you at all and I appreciate that. I’m hoping this team is full of people that respect each other’s specialties and skills and don’t boss around us noncoms because they can.”

Dani shrugged slightly unsure for a moment of the best way to respond. While it was true that he seemed old enough to be her father, given he started young, she had never been the type to rely on the trappings of rank. "Victor it is then," she finally answered. "And for the record, I have never asked anyone to do anything that I haven't already done ... more than once."

Victor nodded. "That's a good approach. I have immense respect for any officer that does the things the men and women under their command are ordered to do. I get the feeling that most of our unit will be good to work with. People who know their stuff and respect each other for their abilities." He finished his last mouthful of coffee. "I need to get back to my machine room. I have some specs for modifying the runabouts. Did you want to take a look at them? I'd appreciate your input."

"Sure thing," she answered as she too finished off the last of the coffee and followed it up with long drink of water. "Lead on."

OFF:

Lt. JG Danica Tyr
Operations Lead

Staff Warrant Officer Victor Ward
Technical Lead