Making Friends

Posted on Fri Jul 16th, 2010 @ 1:40am by Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola

1,927 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Transitions
Location: XO's Office
Timeline: Just after the conclusion of the Enduro race

Karma looked at the PADDs again and let out another sigh. He still wasn't ready to deal with the reports. He looked at his display and saw another name that he hadn't talked to recently. He reached up and tapped his combadge again. "Sinclair to Mikkola. Please report to my office."

The news reached Kaj at an inopportune moment, caught in the middle of changing shirts after a rather long shower. He hadn't shaved in several days and also walked in a rather peculiar fashion due to the usual and not-so-usual aches and pains that came after endurance-style hoverbike racing.

However he couldn't come up with a legitimate-sounding excuse to duck the summoning, so foregoing the shaving mask he resigned himself to his duties once again, tapping his commbadge and affixing it in its usual spot.
"Roger that commander, I'll be there shortly."

Indeed in short order Kaj made his way to the XO's office after realizing that Karma wasn't in the Intel section anymore. Apparently people had been promoted while had been off on his mini-adventure. Punching the chime to the XO's door he tried in vain to loosen the kink in his neck, giving passers by the impression he had a sand flea burrowing into his neck.

"Enter," Karma said as he continued to read through some of the progress reports.

Kaj entered and dutifully clasped his hands behind his back at parade rest. He knew Sam would have told him to cease and desist then and there but Karma was a different officer, and for all he knew he was more formal than Sam, so discretion was the better part of valor at that moment.
"Reporting as requested commander, or should I say XO. Congratulations by the way."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Karma said, looking up from his display. "At ease, man," he said, seeing his stance. "Have a seat. May I offer you something to drink?"

Kaj thought for a moment as he sat then scratched the stubble on his cheeks. He was tempted to ask for his usual round of Coffee with Cloudberry, but at the moment only one thing sounded good to him.
"Water please, as cold as possible without freezing of course."

Karma nodded and walked to the replicator. "I heard you were doing a little racing," he said as he set the glass of water on the desk in front of Kaj. "How did that go?"

Kaj chuckled a bit before answering, reveling in the insanity that always came with that sort of racing.
"Well I would love to say we came and conquered all, but nobody was seriously injured or killed, we all finished respectably with no DFL awards to anybody. I was just happy to get on the bike again, it'll be a shame to leave it behind again."

He rolled his neck one last time and was rewarded with a pop that was audible across the room. Sighing in relief he continued on.
"How about you XO, what did I miss while I was busy dodging trees and pissed-off Nausicans on Osalri?"

"Other than my promotion it's been fairly quiet," Karma said to him. "How are things in your department? Anything I need to know about?"

Kaj was about to give him an incredulous look but guitily envisioned the stack of PADDs in the Flight Control office.
"Well sir my department is due for a shake-up, I have three members leaving. Petty Officer Christian Vital was accepted into the Academy, Warrant Officer Kurtis Straub was re-assigned the second we put into port, and Ensign Melinda Catto... well she was done even before we left for Tiberius, after all she requested a transfer the second she got wind that I was coming in as CFCO rather than her being promoted to the position.

Still, I get to keep Eve on, and I do have new members that are due to arrive well before we shove off from port. Other than that there's nothing to report really, the yardies haven't completely screwed the controls and the shuttle bays are actually organized for once."

"Excellent," Karma said with a nod. "It's good to hear you're on top of it. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"

Kaj was in mid-sip when Karma asked him that, so he had to hold up a hand and hurry up and swallow before continuing, meaning he didn't realize he left a few drips on his uniform jacket.
"Uh yes, first I'd like to recommend that Warrant Officer Gianni be promoted to Chief Warrant Officer and be given a rotation at the helm once she's completed her simulator training and supervised training on the bridge.

Also...nevermind, I was going to ask about a much more personal headache but I don't want to put you in a bad spot over a dog."

"I'll look into the Warrant Officer's file," Karma promised. "What else is on your mind, Lieutenant?" he asked.

Kaj scratched the back of his head for a moment. It was a personal matter but yet he was getting nowhere. However there was something else that was bugging him as well.
"Well before that, what should I call you? I know the Skipper utterly despises formality necessary, and for my part I always prefer Natch or Kaj over my rank whenever possible, so how about you sir?

The problem, well, it's personal but aggravating. When I left Utopia Planeitia it was kind of in a hurry. I had to give away a few things but in the shuffle my dog Lusa wasn't cleared for passage along with me for some bizzare reason.
During our mission to Tiberius she finally got to the the station, but now some anal-retentive pissant quartermaster has decided to personally check every single listed veterinarian that she's ever been to personally. Apparently meticulous breeders and veterinarian records complete with physical signatures and thumbscans aren't good enough for that guy.
It's nothing short of a pain in the ass to say the least, but if I have to Ill smuggle her aboard. I refuse to leave her cramped in some quarantine kennel because some micro-brained clerk felt like throwing their weight around."

"If we're on the bridge I expect you to call me Lieutenant Commander or just Commander, or Sir," Karma said to him. "Any other time you can call me Karma," he added. "As for the dog, I can have a talk with the quartermaster. I'll be going to the base shortly anyway. I can stop by his office and see if I can speed up the process." He paused and reached for a PADD. "What was the guy's name?"

"Its' Jeroth or Jerrut, something starting with a J and a round vowel in the middle somewhere, he's the pudgy bastard with Senior Chief Petty Officer tabs a bald spot and a torsion rod up his.... well you know. He's the Chief of the Watch in that particular quarantine for Alpha shift.
Look I appreciate the help...Karma..."

Kaj had to do a mental change-over from calling Karma sir to using his name in the non-formal setting, but he managed with minimal brain cramping.
"... but if its going to require you sticking your neck out pretty far don't do it on my account, I have plenty of experience stretching my own neck out that far, plus if the axe does drop I have a lot less to loose than you do in that regard."

"Don't be absurd," Karma said to him. "I'll be on the base so I'll just stop into his office and make a simple inquiry into the status of the dog. Nothing to be concerned about." He made a note on his PADD then looked at Kaj again. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Kaj pursed his lips for a moment and looked at the ceiling, considering a few minor problems but settling on taking care of them himself.
"Nothing at the moment XO, but then again we're still docked so there's still plenty of time for things to go wrong. How about you, is there anything I can take care of or work on for you?"

"Just make sure your department is prepared for departure," Karma said to him. "There's no telling when we'll receive our orders." He paused, considering his next statement then continued. "My door is always open. If you have any problems you can come to me. And if you need someone to unwind with after work, I've been known to toss back a drink or two in the lounge."

Kaj chuckled and slapped his knee, and felt a twinge of regret at letting his personal bias towards starfleet intelligence get in the way of getting to know Karma for the longest time, clearly he wasn't the standard issue spook that the academy churned out.
"Yeah, I'll remember that the next time I punch up the Olympus Mons alpine program and Trent isn't available. Believe me after a run like that you won't want a drink."

Karma looked at him and nodded. "Do you play cards?" he asked suddenly. "I've been considering getting a friendly game of poker together."

"Sure, as long as the house rules don't get too screwy. There was one time on the USS Cape Town that our chief engineer decided to have some sort of wild card rule involving schematics of 23rd century plasma induction coils. Believe me, that is twice as headache-inducing to play as it sounds."

Karma laughed and sat back in his chair. "Nothing like that. Just a simple game of standard Texas Hold-em," he said. "Nothing extravagant."

Kaj grinned
"Well then I'm in, and I assume that it'll be friendly enough to forestall any threats of tack hammer justice in regards to slight of hand play."

He stood up and stretched a bit, still working out the kinks from the ride.
"I hate to cut it short but if it's all the same to you I still have some unpacking to do. We had to ship out rather quickly for the enduro and I left it to the quartermaster to move my belongings over here, and with the way they packed, lets just say making sure everything came over in as little pieces as possible would be a wise move."

Karma nodded and stood up, extending his hand. "If you need anything else just let me know and I'll see what I can do."

Shaking his hand, Kaj nodded and grinned before speaking.
"Just keep me informed about Lusa for the time being, that's all, and give her a scratch behind the ears if that curmudgeon won't yield anytime soon.
Oh and just let me know when the poker game is on, I'll try not to lose within the first three hands. Nice talking with you Karma, I know you'll make one helluva XO."

Turning on his heel he walked out of Karma's office with a newfound respect and understanding of the man. Although he still mistrusted starfleet intelligence in light of some of his personal experiences, he had a feeling that Karma wasn't the type to get caught up in the cloak-and-dagger BS that a lot of intelligence agents were prone to, and that scored major points with him.

Karma watched him leave and smiled as he returned to his desk. He still had a couple reports to file before he could get some time to get to the base.

:OFF:

Lt. Kaj "Natch" Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Calypso NCC-71350

Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair
Executive Officer
USS Calypso

 

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