Lower Deckers

Posted on Wed Sep 3rd, 2025 @ 12:59pm by Lieutenant JG Katie Kellerman & Ensign Henry Taylor & Lieutenant JG Rala & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jadizon Enor & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Lieutenant JG Jeanine Jeffries & Petty Officer 1st Class Kael Draven & Petty Officer 3rd Class Fulvia Benvenuto & Crewman Apprentice T’Vel & Cass'e'Indira

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Recreation Lounge
Timeline: After Return to Normalcy

Katie had changed into a simple pink polo shirt and short, pleated tennis skirt and had managed to wrangle Jadizon into a casual outfit as well, done with wearing her uniform for the day. She held Jadizon's arm as they walked slowly into the lounge. She steered him to a small circle of chairs and sofas and helped ease him onto a loveseat. She felt bad still asking him to walk while he was still in recovery, but he'd been the one to overexert himself over the previous hour. Still, she wasn't going to make him suffer any more steps than necessary.

"What can I get you from the replicator?" she said, once he was comfortable.

Jadizon eased back into the chair with a slow exhale, rubbing his shoulder like the walk had been twice as long as it really was.

“Something strong enough to make me forget I’m still supposed to be on light duty,” he muttered, then gave her a sidelong smirk. “But since I know the doc’s probably got you watching me closer than a Ferengi watches latinum… surprise me. Just no more of that dehydrated kelp tea they tried passing off as ‘nutrient-rich.’”

He stretched his legs out, glancing around the lounge. “And maybe a plate of something solid, too. Perks of surviving—real food.”

"Deal," Katie said, leaning over him and kissing his forehead. She crossed the room to the replicator and put in their order. A moment later, she came back with a tray containing two glasses of light blue liquid and two steaming bowls. She set the tray down on a small table next their chair and took her own bowl and glass.

"Bolian tonic water with an apple infusion, wonderful for calming the nerves," she said, "and pairs well with a bowl of grilled kielbasa, onion and potato pierogies, roasted brussels sprouts with apple and onion, and a light swirl of sour cream on top," she said, almost drooling through her words. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until that moment. She sat down next to him, tucking her legs underneath her, and popped a pierogi in her mouth, chewing happily.

Jadizon wiped a bit of sour cream from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and gave Katie a lopsided grin. “See, that’s why I keep you around—anyone who can order food like that deserves a medal. If I’d gone to the replicator, I’d have come back with… I don’t know, probably just bread. Plain bread. Maybe two slices if I was feeling fancy.” He leaned back, spearing a pierogi with his fork. “But this? This is the kind of thing that makes recovery worth it.”

Katie smiled at the praise. "One of the things," she said, giving him a flirty smile before reaching up and taking a bit of sour cream from the other side of his face. She took another bite of food and settled back, getting comfortable.

JJ strolled into the lounge, sleeves rolled up, and a light step to her gait. The replicator beckoned, and she scrolled through her personal short-list of favourites... bingo. An Ocean Starburst.

The drink materialized into existence, the swirling mix of blues, and purples, and just the right fizz to tickle on the way down.

With a drink in hand, JJ's head scanned the room, spotting a pair and heading that way. "Hey!" Her bright smile was full, and genuine as she reached Katie and Jadizon. "Mind if I join?"

She was already turning a chair backwards, straddling it, and leaning forward on the backrest.

Katie smiled, her cheeks bulged slightly. She nodded excitedly and swallowed her mouthful of food. "Please!" she said. "Good to see you, Jeanine," she said, grinning at her fellow Engineer. "Have you met Jadizon?" she gestured towards her...she paused as her brain stumbled over an appropriate label, but she pushed the thought aside for later, turning to him. "Jeanine is a propulsion specialist," she explained. "She makes things go," she added, doing her best Pakled impression and snickering.

"And yet Jeanine is still second best to me in that regard." Jenna said as she overheard the comment as she walked in, already starting to take off her uniform jacket, "Not that it takes anythin' away from you, JJ, but you weren't there when we recommissioned Chimera. If you've never recrystallized dilithium crystals, you'd know it's time-consumin' as all get out and we didn't have the time or a new set. But 'll take JJ over most anyone else to help keep my engines up and goin'."

"And I can keep the computer up and running, so between the three of us, the ship can function," Katie said, grinning.

Jadizon raised his brow as JJ came striding over, sizing her up with a half-smile. “Depends—do you always enter a room like you own the place, or is that just the engineer confidence talking?” He shifted in his seat, extending a hand across the little circle. “Senior Chief Petty Officer Jadizon Enor. Chief of the Boat, resident pain in the ass. You keep the ship moving forward, huh? Good—means I don’t have to push.”

At the mention of being 'second best' to Jenna, JJ just smiled and downed half her drink.

Jadizon leaned back, catching Jenna’s words as she came in, and smirked. “Well, sounds like I ended up in the right circle. One keeps the engines singing, one keeps the propulsion honest, one keeps the systems stable…” He gestured lazily with his fork, before popping the pierogi in his mouth. After chewing, he added with a shrug: “And me? I keep the lot of you outta trouble. Or, failing that, at least patched up enough so the Captain doesn’t have my hide.”

"Oh, Jadizon," Katie said, sympathetically. "If you're trying to keep us all out of trouble...you're in so far over your head." She giggled and squeezed his hand. "But we all appreciate the effort."

"Ah don't get in trouble, so you don't have to worry about me, Jadizon." Jenna said primly, smirking at Katie, "It's keepin' these two in line that we gotta worry about."

Kael slipped into the lounge behind a couple of junior crew, still looking like he’d been half-dragged there by the aftermath of chaos and soot. He clocked the small circle—Katie, Jadizon, JJ, Jenna—already deep in food, drinks, and banter. For a moment he looked like he was going to turn right back around.

He glanced at the pair of ensigns who’d wandered in with him. “Bye,” he said flatly, dismissing them with a little wave before veering toward the group.

It wasn’t until Enor gave the faintest motion—a subtle flick of the chin—that Kael actually committed, crossing over and sliding into an empty chair with his usual half-grin.

“...Yeah, no, I see how it is. This is the cool kids’ table,” he muttered under his breath, then “Petty Officer First Class Kael Draven, reporting for… uh, whatever this is. Group therapy? Mandatory morale hour? I wasn’t given a pamphlet.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “Figured if Chief Enor’s here, it’s legit. Or at least entertaining.”

He gave a nod around the circle. “Don’t mind me—just here for the pierogies and to make sure the Chief doesn’t get all the good jokes.”

"Not just pierogies. Kolbasa, vareniki, zharenaya bryussel'skaya kapusta, yabloki, luk i smetana," Katie said, the switch to Russian making her sound more like her sister. "A perfect blend of flavors. One of my mother's favorites." She took another bite and sighed happily, leaning against Jadizon.

Henry stepped into the lounge, still going over his notes on his padd. He was about to turn to the replicators when he saw the assembled group. "Did I miss a notification for a team meeting?" he said, confused.

Katie gestured to a free spot. "No, we're all just relaxing after shift. Pull up a chair."

Henry frowned at her, then realized who he was frowning at and his expression slightly softened. "I think I'll get dinner first," he said, turning and heading for the replicator without further chatter.

Rala wandered into the lounge, looking—and feeling—groggy and disheveled. She’d swapped shifts with one of the other junior ops officers, and had subsequently been unable to sleep for more than an hour. She meandered over to the nearest replicator, took a moment to collect her thoughts, then mumbled “Raktajino.” The replicator chirped, hummed, and Rala took the mug that had materialized within. She took a small sip, then a larger one, felt her thoughts begin to flow a bit more smoothly, and realized she was blocking someone else from the replicator. She stepped aside and looked up at the person in question. Human, tall, youngish, fit, science teal, holding a PADD...sickbay... “Uh...Henry, right?” she asked, making a ‘go ahead’ gesture toward the replicator. “Sorry, I’m a bit out of sorts at the moment.”

"Join the club," Henry muttered, making a final note on his padd. He looked the operations officer up and down. "Are you all right? From what I've read of your physiology, you look awful."

Rala mumbled something about an extra shift and disrupted sleep patterns and took another large sip of her ‘Klingon coffee’.

Henry's scowl deepened. "Regulations require a minimum of four hours between full shifts in order to properly recuperate in non-emergency situations," he quoted. "By authorizing that shift change, Lieutenant T'Pringa is violating Starfleet medical policies." He made a note about it on his padd to be added later. "If you do not get at least six hours sleep in the next ten hours, I will have to put you on report," he said. "Please try to rest." He replicated a large, steaming mug of chicken noodle soup for himself, his go-to comfort food, and turned to survey the room. "Evidently there is a to-do going on."

Rala’s brain connected a few more synapses, and she spoke up. “No, no, no violation of regs here. I had alpha and delta shifts, I was off for beta and gamma, and all of today. Just...couldn’t sleep. I’ll try again in a couple of hours—with some chemical assistance if needed.

"Make sure you see Sickbay for any 'chemical help' so that you don't risk any other violations," he said.

"Rala!" Katie's voice said across the room, having noticed the side conversation. She carefully set down her bowl of food and got up, bouncing over to Rala and grinning, pulling her in for a hug. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Rala carefully held her mug out of the way of the unexpected hug. “Been busy lately, especially the last day or so. Two shifts in the same day, followed by something resembling acute insomnia. Not my best day ever.”

"Well come join us! You can sit and rest," Katie said, smiling. "And you too, Henry! Come hang out with us. It's a 'no senior staff' meeting,'" she said, giggling.

Henry looked like he wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of seeing her, but he didn't want to seem like a stick in the mud, so he shrugged. "Sure," he said.

“I’unno, the way T’Pinga’s got me handling alpha-shift bridge duty so often, I almost feel like senior staff sometimes.” Rala shuddered slightly at the thought, shook her head, and took another sip of her raktajino.

"I hear ya. Jenna's had me as her right arm, and I'm enjoying it, but it's a lot," Katie sympathized. "Well, for now, you're still one of the worker drones, so come join the hive." She grinned, almost skipping back to the group and sitting back down next to Jadizon.

Henry shared a look with Rala and shrugged before walking over and sitting in an empty solo chair and crossing his legs, resting his padd on his leg. He took a sip of his soup quietly.

Rala followed him, pulling a chair over from a nearby table and straddling it backward, using three arms to prop her chin up while holding her mug in the fourth, her tail laying limply on the floor behind her.

“Ah know Ah probably shouldn’t even be here,” Jenna pointed out, “Bein’ as Ah am effectively senior staff, but given that Ah’m a more recent graduate of the Academy than most of y’all?” The brunette grinned widely, “Ah declare myself fair game for complaints if need be!”

"Nah, we love you too much," Katie said, blowing her a kiss.

Jadizon finally leaned forward, setting his mug down with a thump and giving the little cluster of junior officers a look that had them straightening instinctively.

“Y’know,” he started, tone dry, “the more you lot talk about how you’re not senior staff, the more you sound exactly like senior staff. That whole ‘woe is me, long hours, carrying the ship on our backs’ routine? Careful. You keep that up and the deckhands are gonna start calling you ‘sir’ out of pity.”

He let the jab land, deadpan serious for a beat, then his mouth twitched into a grin. “Relax, I’m giving you hell. Griping’s part of the job. If the crew stopped complaining, I’d check the life support systems.”

The group chuckled, Katie swatting his arm playfully, and Jadizon’s voice softened, more like an older brother than a drill instructor. “Look—at least you only have departments to wrangle. I’ve got half the damn ship, officers and enlisted, and both sides think the other has it easy. So don’t sweat it too much. This ain’t your last stop. One day some of you are gonna be department heads, maybe even an XO or a CO. And then it’ll be your turn to sit there and listen to the next generation gripe about how tired they are.”

He raised his mug again, grinning crookedly. “So count yourselves lucky. Right now, all you gotta do is complain quietly, work hard, and try not to get caught by the lower decks sounding like senior staff. Because trust me—if they catch on, you’ll never live it down.”

Jadizon pointed toward Kael, who was sitting across the table stuffing something in his face “Take him, for example. Officially? Boatswain. Reality? He’s my sidekick. Does whatever I tell him to do. Half the time he doesn’t even know if it’s in his job description, but he still does it. Why? Because the Chief of the Boat said so. That’s career development, kids.”

Kael, without missing a beat, looked up from his plate with a mouthful he rambled off, “Translation: I’ve been voluntold so many times I stopped keeping count. If you think you’re tired, try being me.”

Jadizon smirked, letting the laughter settle before softening his tone, more like an older brother than a drill instructor. Kael piped up again “And if Boss like I do, Even though technically I should be reporting directly to Lt. T'Pinga myself but even though I'm being used as his personal errand boy, I've learned the ropes. Everywhere we've been.”

Nodding his head looking at each and everyone and them then back at Katie "I guess what I'm saying is, ya'll run this ship, and I will say that the Senior Staff don't forget that..... even if we don't openly share it with you."

"And we very much appreciate that," Katie said, rubbing his arm.

Nice to see someone on the senior staff is being responsible," Henry muttered behind his mug.

Rala made a gesture of appreciation in Jadzion’s direction with her mug and took a sip. “Of course, one wonders how much this particular ship’s...unusual crew complement makes such dynamics different from those of a more typical Federation ship,” she mused.

Katie rested her head on Jadizon's good shoulder, thinking. "My Aunt Sasha used to say that 'normal' was an excuse for not living creatively enough." She gave a small smile. "If I mentioned doing 'normal' life things, she'd scoff and say, "Yerunda, Katarina,. Who say vat is normal? Ve love who ve love und live how ve live.' Are we more unusual than a ship with an android officer? Or a ship with a holographic officer? Or a Klowahkan? Or a Xenexian? Are we more unusual than ships that have traveled through time or the multiverse, or fought the Borg, or dealt with Q? I bet our dynamics are just as complex as anyone else's. Granted some of us are out of uniform more often than others," she ignored Henry's half grunt half bark of a laugh, "but we work alongside each other, we laugh together, we fall in love, we fight, we make up. We're no different than any other crew." She then pointed at her boss. "Except Jenna. She's way too good and proper for the rest of us." She grinned.

"Ain't that the God's-honest truth!" Jenna agreed with a satisfied smile of her own, "Someone's gotta give y'all a good example to live up to and Ah happened to be the one to volunteer to do that."

Kael leaned back in his chair, raising his hands like Katie had just revealed a deep cosmic truth. “Okay, but hold on—if Jenna’s the ‘good and proper’ one, what does that make the rest of us? Because I’m pretty sure my file says something between ‘competent enough to keep’ and ‘should come with a warning label.’”

He pointed his fork toward Katie with a mock-serious face. “And for the record, if this crew is ‘normal,’ then I’ve been serving on the wrong ships my entire career. I mean, come on—we just fought boarders with an alien satellite in the cargo bay, and Patel—the cook—was on my fire team. The cook. He kept ducking every time a disruptor went off, like the bolts were aimed at his meatloaf.”

"It wasn't a perfect metaphor," Katie mumbled, returning to her food.

Kael’s grin widened as he glanced back at Jadizon. “But hey, if the Chief says we’re the ones running this ship? Guess that makes me middle management. Which means technically I’m allowed to boss people around, but only until T’Pinga catches me and reminds me I’m supposed to be fixing bulkheads, not handing out performance reviews.”

He raised his glass in a lazy salute toward Jenna. “And yeah, if Jenna’s the gold standard, the rest of us are just the badly photocopied training manuals.”

With a smirk, he added, “Though I do like Katie’s aunt’s take on it—creatively unusual. Has a nicer ring to it than ‘band of misfits who probably stress out the Captain’s cardiologist.’”

"Her cardiologist is one of the misfits," Henry grumbled.

Kael leaned back, propping one boot lazily on the leg of his chair, and gave Henry a sideways grin. “Speaking of responsible senior staff, I heard our very own Ensign Taylor over there mumbling into his mug a second ago.” He lifted his glass in Henry’s direction. “C’mon, Henry, don’t just sit there brooding like a holo-noir detective. You’re in the circle now.”

He leaned forward conspiratorially, lowering his voice just enough to be dramatic. “We were just deciding if this crew counts as creatively unusual, delightfully dysfunctional, or just plain doomed. You get a vote.”

With a smirk, he added, “Though, word of warning, if you say normal, Katie’s aunt might crawl out of subspace just to whack you with a pierogi.”

Being the youngest in the room, Henry didn't quite feel like he had a right to vote, given his lack of experience, but he looked at Kael and shrugged. "I've done what I can to help Sickbay straighten up. Rules exist for a reason. Some of us are too quick to flaunt them."

Katie scowled at him but held her tongue.

The lounge doors opened again, permitting in Fulvia Benvenuto, who was pulling T'Vel with her. Both had dressed down, the former having convinced the latter to 'doll up' with her in a cute Iotian dress. She was rambling on about the benefits of lounge time when she saw the gathered group. "Oh jeez, did we interrupt something?"

"This is why you check the reservation schedule, first," T'Vel told her friend. A soft green flush came to her cheeks as a surprising number of fellow crew, including her superior officer, were now seeing her in this ridiculous outfit.

"Humans have this thing called 'impromptu' which means we just spontaneously do something. No reservations were had, and you're absolutely welcome to join," Katie said.

The two newcomers pulled up chairs and joined in, with Fulvia excited and T'Vel going along to get along.

Socializing with your crewmates may be beneficial, T'Vel thought to herself. Emphasis on 'may'. "Indeed, humans acting without thinking, or 'impromptu' as you say, is something I've observed frequently."

"See, you're already chatting everyone's ear off," Fulvia said, squeezing her friend's arm. "I'll get us drinks." She flounced off to the replicator, leaving T'Vel to the wolves. Or friends, rather.

"Well, welcome aboard," Katie said to the newcomer. "You're new on the ship, yeah? Please, introduce yourself!" She grinned at her.

"...We have already met, Doctor," T'Vel said, raising one eyebrow. "Do you not recall our sexual encounter two weeks ago?"

Just behind her, Fulvia, who had just collected them each a drink and was taking a sip of her own, did a spit take. "I'm sorry, what was that, Ears?"

Rala, having nearly joined Fulvia in doing a spit-take, had instead started choking on her raktajino. A long series of coughs followed.

Katie blushed so hard it reached down her back all the way to her calves. "That....um..." she glanced at Jadizon who had the good sense to put a comforting arm around her, but couldn't control his amused chuckle. "That was my sister, Kally. I'm Katie. I work in Engineering with Sakura. So that'd make you...T'Vel? She mentioned you'd met."

"Y-yes," T'Vel timidly and quietly said. "I am pleased to meet you, Katie."

Fulvia gave her friend her drink and raised her own half-remaining glass to the room, grinning all the while.

"Well...who knew Doctor Kellerman had such a firm grasp of...logic," Henry said, consuming the last of his cup of soup. He stood up and nodded to the group. "If you all will excuse me, I have something to attend to." He returned his mug to the replicator and walked out of the lounge.

Having mostly recovered from the prior coughing fit and going back to her raktajino, Rala was unprepared to be sent into another fit by Henry’s remark. By the time she was able to—mostly—breathe normally again, her eyes were watering. “By the gods, could you lot have worse timing with what you’re saying?”

"When it comes to some of these ladies and gents, their timin' is all intentional." Jenna pointed out as she changed seats at the table, moving around clockwise, "Ah've had the grace and fortune not to be be seen by your sister, Miss Kellerman, else God only knows what she's be tryin' to do with me." The engineer chuckled, "But little does she know she'd bounce, ain't that right Katie? And Ah wonder where Henry is goin', with the subject bein' what it is." She nudged Rala with an elbow, then stumbled as her foot came down on something uneven, "Oh mah God, Ah am so sorry! Ah didn't mean to!"

That broke through the remnants of exhaustion that Rala’s raktajino hadn’t already driven away. She winced, letting out a wordless grunt, instinctively yanking her tail out from under the offending boot and wrapping it protectively around her chair. “No, no,” she said through gritted teeth, “it’s not entirely your fault. I know better than to leave my tail where it could get hurt. Hell, I usually don’t even have to think about it. I guess I was just more tired than I thought.” She lifted it up to examine the site of the injury; there were no visible signs just yet, but squeezing it gently with one hand made it ache a bit more than it already was. “Yep, that’s gonna be a bruise in an hour or two,” she mused.

Katie sat up, concerned. She wasn't a medic, but she was medic adjacent and knew when something was going to hurt for a while. "Okay, not to sound suggestive, given the topic, but you really should go to Sickbay for that."

“I might,” Rala said, “But this is hardly the first time something like this has happened. ‘Keep your tail out of the way’ is a lesson that every Draakri learns the hard way, and most get reinforcement lessons like this once every decade or two. I was due for one.”

“If you did go to sickbay, it would add a whole new meaning to Doc Kellerman getting a bit of tail,” Fulvia quipped.

Now it was Katie's turn to joke on the last of her drink and try to cough and laugh at the same time.

“Let it out, doll,” Fulvia said, clapping Katie on the back as she coughed. “When this one can breathe again, anyone up for a game? There’s cards in the drawer over there.”

"Ah've got a few spare credits Ah can lose to you, Fulvia," Jenna stood from the table to head towards the drawer in question, "Just don't take them all at once? Ah do want to spend a bit of time playin'."

"I'm game," Katie said, looking at Jadizon. "Would yo mind?"

Jadizon gave Katie a faint smile over the rim of his mug and shook his head.

“Go on if you want,” he said, his tone easy. “No harm in you taking a few credits off them while I sit back and watch.”

He leaned further into his chair, stretching his legs out. “I’ll stay out this round—still getting my strength back. But don’t let that stop you, doll. Go have some fun.” He gave her a quick wink before settling in, clearly content to spectate.

Katie grinned and kissed his cheek before bouncing to her feet, heading for the table.

“I think I’m gonna head out,” Rala said, standing and returning her chair to the table she’d taken it from. “Probably swing by sickbay.” She brought her tail up to rub at the sore spot. “See if Kally’s got any suggestions about helping me sleep, and may as well get this looked at while I’m there.” She tossed off the last of her raktajino and returned the mug to the replicator for recycling. “I might be back in a bit, if you lot are still here.”

"Feel better, Rala!" Katie said, sitting down next to T'vel and blushing as they made eye contact, then giving her a friendly smile. She watched Fulvia start dealing as everyone either went about their business or settled down for what she was sure would just be a light, friendly game, then saw Fulvia smile, as if knowing Katie's assumption, and was eagerly looking forward to proving her wrong.