The Yeoman's Duties

Posted on 10 Jun 2016 @ 4:50pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Mila Rasputin

1,061 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 1 0500 - 0800 Hours

The staccato notes of the computer's alarm jolted her from sleep and Mila cast a sleep-filled glance about as if searching for something to throw at the offending sound before she realized it came from the hidden speakers. She had ordered the jarring sound to rouse her out of bed instead of the normally polite voice of the computer informing her of the time.

"Computer," Mila started, her voice rusty with the first true sleep since she had came from Yolvanda II, but she could not curse the place as that was what had brought her and Aidan together. She swung her legs out of the warm embrace of the covers and onto the floor, a shiver going through her as she worked out a kink in her neck.

"Disable alarm," she ordered and was grateful when the harsh, discordant sounds stopped. She definitely needed a new alarm, then stopped when she realized all she had to do was ask Aidan to wake her up. "Nyet. He is cadet. You are Captain's Yeoman. He is not alarm for you." Still, she could think of much more pleasant ways to be woken up.

Mila stood up after a few minutes, the covers falling from her bare shoulders and padded into the bathroom to shower in an attempt to wash away the past few days. While physically clean when she left the shower and proceeded to get dressed, her mind still felt raw as her throat had been and she knew she needed it to be as presentable as her body. "Computer, Zhokei coffee. Extra strong. Black."

She dressed in her duty uniform while the strong Russian coffee materialized and tried to decide if she would leave her hair down or put it in the usual braid she wore while on duty. Finally, she decided to leave it down as she took a sip of the coffee that was praised in St. Petersburg on Earth. She inwardly blessed the benefits of being a high ranking Yeoman to a Captain on a starship and the perks of being able to make special requests for the replicators and other shipboard functions.

Not content with just the coffee, Mila requested a bowl of kasha, a type of porridge made from different grains and ate it while she savored the coffee. Finally, she recycled the cup and bowl and sighed. She knew the Command department would be a wreck as she had been in Sickbay the past few days and dreaded to see what the junior Yeoman had done in her absence. Especially with the death of the acting Executive Officer she thought as she headed out of her quarters. It seemed the Captain can not catch break.

Well, it wasn't up to her to see that he could catch a break as he was the Captain and had accepted the responsibilities that went with the title and rank, she mused as she headed down the corridor to the nearest turbolift. It was her responsibility to see that everything was organized and prioritized so that he could maximize the most of his time while being overworked after being sick.

When Mila arrived on the bridge, she headed to her small office where she saw stacks of PADDs haphazardly piled on her desk, on her chair and even some carelessly propped against her terminal. A string of Russian curse words started to erupt from her lips before she sighed and brought her hands up to rub her temples. The junior Yeoman's had been doing the best they could...to shove everything back to her once she had returned to active duty. When she found a free moment, Mila vowed that she would blister their skin with a verbal lashing that would make Tsars flinch.

She started grabbing PADDs in no particular order, skimmed each one and began to sort by stardate arrived, rank of the sending officer, department and importance. Two hours later, she stood up and stretched, four stacks of PADDs arranged on her desk which threatened to topple at a good breeze. Well, if there was a breeze on the ship which there was not. Half of them should have been handled by the Executive Officer but he was no more and the other one was still on Medical leave, so everything had to go to the Captain.

Mila paused and briefly wondered at her use of the generic phrase 'the Captain' but shoved it aside. She had made her subtle play at getting the man's attention while he had been in Sickbay and he had dismissed her as if she had merely been doing her duty in coming to see him after he had been phasered by the former Chief of Security. Then he had let slip the name Jayla while they had been preparing for the ill-fated shore leave when she had delivered the invitation of the Administrator for him and his plus one.

For a moment, she was tempted to swipe the pile of PADDs from her desk, then the calming thought of Aidan came into her mind and she smiled. So what if the Captain preferred a stocky woman over a willowy one? She had someone much better than the remote, aloof man she served in an official capacity. One who appreciated her thoughts and more and had much to share in return. She grabbed the attention of a passing junior Yeoman and ordered him to grab two stacks of the PADDs while she took the other two stacks and headed to the Captain's Ready Room.

It was both a surprise and a pleasure that the man was not present and she left the PADDs by his terminal and ordered the junior Yeoman out of the room. She replicated a fresh PADD and left a note for the Captain, detailing the order of importance of the PADD and put it sideways on top of the others with the display showing the note with an alert.

Satisfied, Mila headed back to her office to play catch up on the other thousand little details that had been shunted to her instead of being handled. Now she would gather all the junior Yeoman's and give them the verbal benefit of having eleven years of experience under her collar and she knew they wouldn't like it at all.

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