Tea Break

Posted on 23 May 2019 @ 4:49am by Ensign Graham Beckett, Ph.D. (Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & Lieutenant Junior Grade Anyi Nila

Mission: Hahai i na pilikua nui - Hunting Monsters
Location: Bridge
Timeline: T+1 1600 hrs

Sapient beings were definitely dead, and it was definitely his fault. He'd known it at the time, and now he had to run additional diagnoses on the tactical console to make sure it was working properly after repairs, that meant examining and re-examining all data feeds on weapon systems from the battle. Hammerheads had been launched. He'd successfully timed his assaults to bypass most of the Gorn defences. Hammerheads had struck. Enemy combatants would definitely have died.

And Graham Beckett felt absolutely nothing. He hoped, he really hoped, that this was because adrenaline hadn't faded, or that he was too exhausted. He hoped, he really hoped, that dozens or hundreds of Gorn hadn't been killed at his press of a button and he would remain forever indifferent.

But in the meantime it meant he had his head about him to ensure the ship's weapons systems were working fine, as Hawaii settled into orbit and everyone scrabbled in the aftermath to recover, to repair, and to wait for the other shoe to drop. And yet long hours of this concentration were still making his eyeballs throb. There was only one thing for it.

He went to the nearest occupied console, Ops, and gave Ensign Anyi a weary smile. "I'm going on a tea run to the replicator. Can I get you a hot drink?" It wasn't standard protocol to have a cuppa on the bridge, but the exhausted, informal aftermath of battle made tea sound like an essential intake.

Nila was focused on sending various damage control teams between decks eleven and seventeen which took the most damage during the initial battle over Canterra. Her attention was disrupted by the voice of Ensign Beckett, she sighed as she turned and looked at him. Her classic annoyed look that most people saw when she interacted with others. "No Ensign I don't need anything to drink." She turns back to her console and began to check on various energy outputs keeping an eye out for when a team was done so she could send them to their next assignment. "On second thought, get me a Red Leaf Tea." Most people from Bajor would hate that she would order a Cardassian drink but they sure knew how to make a good tea.

Beckett looked unconcerned by the dismissal, but gave a polite smile as she changed her mind. "Of course, Ensign. Milk? Sugar?"

"No." She replied without looking back at him focused on her work.

"Righty-ho," came the weary, but cheerful enough reply, and Beckett conducted the time-honoured tour of the bridge on a hot drink run for any officers who needed it. Being on a circuit, within five minutes he returned to the Ops station with the last two mugs; his own, and Nila's, which he set carefully on a flat corner of the console. With a coaster, of course. "There. A little bit of biological engine fuel."

Nila shakes her head at his comment before taking a sip from the Red Leaf Tea, "Thanks." She grumbled, she set the drink back down. "I take it you want to socialize."

"A cup of tea is a useful opportunity to take a breather," Beckett said pleasantly. "I've usually favoured 25 minute bursts of work, followed a short break; if you have a different time management technique, then please, don't let me intrude." He sipped his tea, eyebrows raised with polite curiosity.

"I don't understand you Beckett, you have been nothing but...chipper. Why are you so happy?" Nila asked turning in her chair and looking the Ensign in the eyes.

"I've never been accused of being one of nature's happy people before," Beckett mused, sipping tea. "I've just usually found the best way forward is... through. If things are hard, get on with them. Apparently battle has proven the same way." He did speak with a quiet wryness there, fatigue tugging at the corners of his eyes.

"You would make a good Bajoran, as long as you weren't an adult during the Occupation and of course you blindly follow the 'Prophets'." She almost scoffs at the mention of her races gods.

He obviously blinked at her disregard for her people's religion, but shrugged. "I confess I'm a man of science before I'm a man of faith. Of course lots of different paths work for different people, but I need more... tangible evidence in my decision-making. You seem rather the same, Ensign, if you don't mind me saying so."

"You would be a terrible Bajoran like me then." Nila shrugged before sipping once more on her tea. "I choose to walk my own path if I feel someone is an idiot and I have to break orders to save the ship so be it I will. I don't know everything but if it's something I know then you can damn well be sure I will speak my mind."

"It's actually... relieving to hear that, Ensign." Beckett's shoulders slumped, fatigue finally digging its fingers into him through the haze of focus and fear, a heady cocktail that had kept him upright for hours. "Moving from research and desk work on Earth, I've been accustomed to just speaking up when I have an idea, a thought. To being around other smart, capable people who also speak up. I've rather dreaded the thought of being assigned to a warship where the chain of command would keep us gagged. That's not why I came here. I came here to work with the best, and the best need... to speak up."

"If there was one thing I learned from occupation from others who went through it is that I will not sit around let someone tell me I'm wrong when I know better." Nila turned back to her conn and did a quick check on the repair crews.

"I wouldn't presume to debate that lesson," Beckett said politely, and nodded at her console. "How go the repairs on your end?"

"They are going." Nila groaned without looking away from the conn.

"As does Tactical. I assume the latest diagnosis has finished, in fact." Beckett tilted his mug to her in an acknowledgement and farewell. "Thank you for the conversation, Ensign. The next tea run's yours." The last was said with a wry, gentle amusement.

Nila simply rolled her eyes as he left.

[OFF]

Anyi Nila, ENS, SF
OPS

Graham Beckett, ENS, SF
SEC