One Small Thing

Posted on Mon Feb 20th, 2023 @ 9:04pm by Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen & Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: The Interim
Location: Primary Science

Moving in wasn't that difficult. By her request, she had quarters that were very close to the primary science labs... which would save her a hell of a walk. Which she appreciated. Standard quarters worked well for her, mostly because they were expansive and vast to her. Bridges, ladders, ramps, it was quite a work of art. The Quartermaster must have built models.

Now came the fun part. Meeting the Captain. Without asking for a ride from someone she hasn't even met yet things would be interesting to go too much further. Hmmm... Well, time to see if this could work out. Her uniform was replicated, and it had a badge, but the workings were too small to really have any range. Which is why she wore the bracer. Sure, it was a bit tacky at times but it worked. Signal booster. She needed it so the ship registered her as a crewmember, rather then a sensor echo.

"Captain Skyie, this is Lieutenant McMillen, I'm the newest addition to your staff and crew. Could we meet in the Science Labs? I hate to inconvenience you but, once you get my transfer PaDD sorted I think it'll make more sense."

The chime had come at one of the worst times possible. Cally was in mid-swing and the racquet impacted the tennis ball badly, sending it from the corner of the serve line all the way to the side, narrowly missing the umpire, who gave her a stern look, “Game and Set to Blakely.” They stated into the microphone. Service, Skyie”

“Never mind, program end.” Cally muttered as she listened to the announcement from the newest member of her crew. The room fuzzed out, then blinked away to the holographic grid and a towel sitting on the remaining Hilo bench, which she picked up and wiped some sweat away from her forehead, then hit the badge that was still on her tennis outfit, a red one just in case emergency duty called, “I’m on my way, Lieutenant.” She hung the towel around her neck, best to go see the newbie now.

It only took a couple minutes as Calypso bounced in her sneakers and black skirt down the corridors, ponytail dancing with each step and she was at science lab before she knew it. She’d run over what she’d remembered from the arrival notice she’d gotten that morning, Five-six, brown hair, pretty cute, gravimetric scientist with a good knack for trans warp and propulsion theory. Would get along with Jenna, probably. There was something else she couldn’t remember as she triggered the door to what she was certain was the right lab and looked around. She saw… No one. “Lieutenant McMillen?” She called out, internally thinking, ‘How rude.. asked me to come here and didn’t show up herself?’

Oh she was here. Trick is Calypso made great time getting here, and Rebecca hadn't managed to get to someplace where she could easily talk to the captain. Instead she was nearly bowled over by a sneaker and thrown onto her back. Looking up, up, up at the Captain... okay, just keep breathing... "C... Captain!" she squeaked upwards. "D.. down here. Sorry I... I was hoping to be on a table before you got here." Rebecca called upwards.

There was a voice and Cally looked around quickly, "Wait, what?" Then she finally looked down and saw something... Some one? She crouched down, still towering above the insanely tiny figure, quizzical look on her face, "Five.. Six?" She asked, reaching out with one hand.

Rebecca managed to get back to her feet, 'dusting' herself off, "Captain." she offered with a nod, and then watched the hand come down and took a step back. "Palm up, please. I... we're not at 'grab' yet." she took a bit of a step back, and waited for the Captain to adjust. She'd rather step up than be grabbed right now.

"And wait, five six? Yeah I wish. Maybe five POINT six." she corrected, amused.

"Right." Calypso flipped her hand over to offer the palm and waited for the diminutive figure in... Uniform, yes, definitely in a uniform, to climb up before bringing the hand up closer to her face. "Five point six centimeters? I thought that was just a typo or maybe someone putting in..." She shook her head, ponytail whipping around her head as she did so, "I'm sure there's a story that explains this? Unless you're some sort of fairy species?"

Rebecca did indeed hop up into Cally's offered palm. She was practically weightless, so small and fragile. "Sorry, not a fairy. So no pixie dust coming off this butt." she giggled, relaxing and even sitting as the palm was lifted closer to Cally's face. At the whipping pony tail, Rebecca took evasive cover. "Whoa whoa, watch it." she said, but wasn't really in any peril. "So yeah, there actually IS a story. So all the basics, graduated out of the science field, majored in gravity theory and propulsion technology. Got a chance to work on the transwarp theory project, and for my specialties they sent me to Research Station Epsilon Seven. Nice place, literally in the middle of nowhere, but what was nice about it was it was relatively nearby a well documented subspace compression phenomenon. Which I got to study." she recalled.

"Trick is, the station wasn't exactly in a friendly neighborhood, and wasn't exactly well patrolled. It fell under attack, and we got the order to evacuate. So I got into an escape pod and off I went. Then, well then the station reactors went and the shockwave threw my pod off course for the evac, and directly through the compression anomaly." she got quiet for a moment. "My escape pod was recovered... and Hand Delivered to the rescue team."

"That, was about three years ago. The station's detonation destabilized the subspace event. Going back there is pointless, kinda stuck like this. Extra petite and all." she offered up.

"Helluva weight loss program..." Cally murmured, "Not really like we're heading in that direction in any case. I did hear about Epsilon Seven in one of the reports that came over to Perseus while I was Exec over there, but it was more on the level of the notification of an attack and the destruction of the station. One person didn't make it off, if I recall?"

"Yeah, not really arguing the results." she stood, and even twirled and posed in Cally's palm. "And yeah, I didn't really think anyone was heading out that way." she paused, "Look, I've long since made peace with this. Best I can do is accept it, smile about it, joke about it, and move on right?" she said, more to herself than to Cally.

"And yeah, we got lucky with the numbers but yeah. We lost the station commander, made sure everyone else made it off." Rebecca recalled. "You know, if you want to put your hand on a table I can walk off and we can have this conversation a little more comfortable." she paused, and smiled, "I mean, unless you WANT to hold me?" she said, now with a comfortable tease.

"I'm not sure it would work out between us." Cally said with a mock moue, standing and bringing Rebecca over to the table as suggested, "I mean, we just met and you've made your way into that small space I had left in my heart already, but..." Oh yes, she already like this one. Better than the first Science weenie, then the replacement. But she had to change tack a bit, "So, you're aware that you're going to be running the department, right?"

"Shame, I love a tall blonde." she kept up the tease before hopping off the palm and onto the table. "Wait, me? In charge? Can someone even look UP to me?" she questioned, but then giggled. "I'll do my best to keep things smooth." she took the moment to take responsibility. Though that moment passed. "Aside from being a demanding overmistress, what's currently going on in my department?"

"Right now? Probably as little as possible." Cally shrugged, "I'm a pilot by profession myself, so I'll be the first to admit that I'm less proficient when it comes to all of the sciencey stuff. But..." A wide grin crossed her face as she reached out and pulled up a chair, "You've got the entire power of a Luna-class starship's science instrumentation at your control. Well, except when I need us to be somewhere else or something of the like, but we're going to be going out of the Federation, seeing things no one here have seen before. And we leave... Tomorrow."

Rebecca glanced upwards, hands on her hips, tap tap tap of a tiny tiny foot. "Really?" she asked, "Really?? As little as possible?" she held the posture for just a moment before she broke posture and giggled. "Sorry, couldn't resist. You set it up." when she recovered, she regained her posture, "Okay, so right now we got nothing on the docket, and I don't have any projects on my personal plate, so aside from having the department build a pyramid in my honor, I think for now I'll just meet the department and maybe get to meeting the rest of the ship. Aside from the XO, anywhere I should start?" she paused, then smirked, "I mean, you seem like a fun captain. Mind if I ask a few casual questions?"

"I'd offer you a candy," Cally dug into one of the pockets, pulling out a few wrapped jolly ranchers, "But this would be about a month's worth of sugar for you?" She unwrapped and popped one in her mouth, still making the offer to the diminutive officer, "You're going to want to talk to Jenna down in Engineering, she's your best bet for getting anything done. She's basically our Chief Engineer right now, graduated the Academy a bit less than a month ago... Just haven't been able to get someone to fill that slot.. Oh, and F'Arra in sickbay, just to get the general checkup done. I wouldn't recommend playing a cat and mouse game with her, she's a Caitian after all."

The diminutive officer politely refused the offered candy. "Appreciated, but yeah, that much sugar would last me forever. Or you'd find me in my quarters sticky and covered in candy sweet. Let's avoid that." she giggled. "Got it, so Jenna is the one I gotta chat up, and try not to piss off F'Arra. Pretty much what I was looking for." she said with a nod. "I... don't suppose I could ask for a lift to sickbay? This ship's HUGE..."

"Certainly!" Cally agreed, this time, without even thinking of it, her hand darted out and grabbed the scientist, then stopped to consider for a half second before unzipping the shirt as far as it would go, which was only to her sternum, then tucking Rebecca down into her bra with a shrug, "Pockets are tiny and have candy, this is... The best way I can think of?"

(To be continued......)