Off on the Wrong Foot

Posted on 05 Aug 2019 @ 10:29am by Lieutenant JG Damian Akorem & Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael

971 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Truth and Justice
Location: USS Black Hawk; Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 3 || 0830 hours

A good nights sleep, and his terekine injection, he felt pretty good today, considering. He had an appointment with Captain Geisler tomorrow at 1000, to see about coming back to active duty, but until then, he was free to do what he liked, within reason of course. He had spent some of his time writing his parents some letters the night before. At some point, he would be able to send them, but for now, they would have to wait. He walked from the sickbay to the turbolift to go up to Deck 5. From the turbolift, it was a short walk to the mess hall. He could have just stayed in his quarters and ate, but he wanted to get some social interaction, that wasn't under the watch of armed guards.

He walked into the room and made a beeline for one of the replicators. He ordered some spaghetti and meatballs, something he picked up from his father, and a jumja stick for dessert, which he got from his mother. He turned and looked for a table, and spotted... no, it wasn't was it? He thought to himself. He walked over to the man he thought it was. "Charles? What in the phekk are you doing on the Black Hawk too!"

Charles, who'd been up for half the night soaking up time with the lateral sensor array studying the cosmos, sat at a table with a cup of chamomile tea and a club sandwich. In one hand was the sandwich, and the other a PADD with a sampling of the data he'd received, comparing it against what he was able to get from the Alpha Trios system. At the sound of his name, he looked up to see a rather overjoyed Bajoran coming his direction. Charles did not recognize the man at all, evidenced by the "Ummm," that escaped his lips.

"Damian? Akorem?" He replied, with some confusion in his voice. He had been on the da Gama for around a year and had definitely spoken to Carmichael before. "From the Vasco da Gama?"

"That's a name I haven't heard in a while," Charles muttered, trying to recall the man's face from the distant past. "I... I didn't realize you'd been aboard."

He smiled, slightly. "I was incapacitated on Finnea. I only woke yesterday morning, hence the lack of uniform. I'm on inactive duty. I worked with Yoshihiro, it was so sad when he, when he did what he did. I know you two worked together for a little while."

Yoshihiro? Carmichael froze in thought thinking that he should know that name. It came to him a few seconds later. "Oh. Ensign Akagi. Right. Yeah, I don't think anyone saw his or Commander Yuki's betrayal coming. Over a probe no less."

"Yeh. It was so unexpected. Were you two ever close? Or just work colleagues? I didn't know him as much as I could have, but he seemed like a really nice guy outside of work." He thought back to the handful of times he remembered from the da Gama. And the few times he had been at social events with Charles.

That was a complicated question for Charles to answer, and he did his best to shrug it off. "We worked together once or twice. But, he also made sure I saw the inside of a Selubassari prison for a few weeks, not to mention the lack of trust I ran into here on the Black Hawk because of it."

He thought to himself for a moment. Everyone he had run into on the Black Hawk had shown him nothing but friendly faces. "That does sound like a hard time. Can't say the same if I am honest. Everyone around here seems so friendly." He looked around to the few other people in the mess hall and noticed that some were not actively avoiding his direction.

Charles grunted a bit, choosing not to carry that line of conversation further. At one time, the crew of the Black Hawk were friends to him, but those days were long over. One day, not long from now, he'd be able to show why. "How fortunate for you then."

That was an odd response Damian thought to himself. Maybe a change in the direction might help. "So what have you been doing with yourself on the Black Hawk?"

Carmichael looked at Akorem for a moment before turning and flashing the screen of the PADD at the hybrid. "I'm a cartographer, so I'm charting the zone. At least as much as we're able to see."

"Anything interesting out there? I know when we were back on the da Gama, seeing inside the zone was on my list. I love a good mystery." He took a bite of his food.

Charles sighed, looking back over the list. For a cartographer, and for him especially, there was a lot to see and study. But most probably wouldn't care. "Several destroyed planets. Dangerous nebulae. You know, the standard horror stories of the unknown."

"Sounds like space! Lots of stuff out here." He couldn't help but feel that Charles wasn't really interested in chatting.

"Indeed there is," Charles muttered, adding, "Hasn't changed much."

"Yeh. Not much has changed." Except you he thought to himself.

Charles sighed, tapping the padd on the table as he rose from his seat. "See you around, Akorem." With that, he exited the mess hall, bound for who knew where.

Akorem wasn't sure what just happened. Charles really had changed. Oh well. he thought to himself, as he carried on eating his spaghetti. People were still looking at him eating spaghetti for breakfast, but he hadn't eaten for a little while, and he was savouring every bite. At least his taste buds hadn't changed.

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