Showered with Responsibility

Posted on Sat Mar 14th, 2026 @ 8:26pm by Lieutenant Rala & Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Deck 1, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: A day or so after "Departure"

It was odd, seeing the turbolift doors open onto the bridge when she wasn’t on duty there, but she had business in the one place on Deck 1 that required passing through the bridge to reach: the Captain’s Ready Room.

Rala stepped out of the turbolift, walked behind the tactical station to the other door at the back of the bridge, and pressed the chime.

"Come i-in!" Calypso sang out as she relaxed in comfortable chair, feet on her desk without shoes on. She turned in the chair to get a look at whichever supplicant was about to come through her door.

Rala entered the ready room already opening her mouth to start pitching her idea to the Captain, only to stop and do a double-take at the remarkably casual sight before her. “Uhh...”

"Rala!" The Captain stated cheerfully, waving at the couch along the wall, "Come in, come in, have a seat! How's my favorite draconid this lovely day?"

The unexpected compliment derailed her thoughts again. She shook herself and tried to refocus. “Uh...I know you like to stay casual, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this relaxed while on duty,” she said. “Also, ‘favorite’? I’m pretty sure I’m the only one you know,” she added with a smile as she stepped down into the ready room proper and toward the couch under the aft-facing windows.

"That's beyond the point!" Calypso slid her feet off her desk and began to wheel her chair around without getting up from it, the wheels fighting the carpet but she still made it around and kicked herself over backwards towards the couch, "And clearly you haven't seen me in here when I'm 'technically' on duty." She spun the chair around once she got to the low table, propping her feet up on it instead, grinning at Rala, "What can I do you for?"

“You’re right, I haven’t, considering that, despite having been on board for most of a year, I’ve never actually been in your ready room before,” Rala said, taking a seat on the sofa and pulling her legs up beside her. There was a framed picture on the low table by the sofa and she leaned forward to pick it up for a closer look. It was a pencil drawing of a Luna-class ship; when she noticed the registry number on the nacelle was the Chimera’s, she realized this was the drawing Commander Espersen had mentioned during their lunch conversation a few weeks before.

“Wow,” she said. “He did a really good job on this.” She carefully placed the picture back on the table and sat back into the couch, returning her attention to Cally. “I wound up having lunch with Commander Espersen shortly after our ‘beach day’ stop;” she explained, “he mentioned that picture.”

"He gave it to me for... I can't remember why he gave it to me, but he's a very good artist." Cally agreed, smiling at the framed picture, "If he ever does one large enough, I think I'd put it in some 'Proof' fame and hang it up by the builder's plaque. Of course, he's also never shown me any of the drawings he's made of Michelle, but apparently they're really good as well."

Rala’s eyebrows climbed by a couple of centimeters as her imagination provided her with an image of Michelle posing, nude; and Espersen sitting nearby, the faint scratch of graphite on paper in the air. Then suddenly she was in Michelle’s place, just as nude, graphite still scratching at paper as Espersen’s pencil sketched her.

She felt herself blush slightly. “Uhm...yeah, probably,” she said, shaking her head to banish the images. She refocused on the Captain. “Anyway,” she said, “my original reason for coming: Showers.”

"Showers are good, they can be fun as well!" Cally gave a laugh, "There was this one time when I managed to get one of the Lieutenants on the Perseus into the showers and—"

Rala’s imagination immediately conjured a vision of Cally and some generic human Lieutenant getting intimate in a shower together for a split-second before involuntarily putting herself in said Lieutenant’s position. She blushed, her cheeks and the sides of her snouts darkening by a few shades, and held up a hand. “Captain. Please.”

Cally stopped and gave Rala a curious look as she trailed off of her story, "Oh, not into that? Fair enough, go on ahead with your thought process."

“Sonic showers are great when one is in a hurry, but they just can’t compare to actual hot water. A lot of the officers’ quarters and several of the guest quarters are technically equipped with actual water showers, but most of those have been non-functional since this ship was called the Aegir. I’d like to get them working again, and potentially even maybe add some more. I think it would be a nice and well-deserved gift for the crew.”

"Most..." Cally stated in repetition of Rala, "Mine works, but I had engineering come in special to make sure it was. But the others don't work? I thought that they'd have gotten the rest of them working while they were at it..."

Rala shook her head. “Yours; Commander Espersen’s, I believe; two of the VIP guest quarters; and a couple of others, and that’s it right now for working water showers.”

Cally smiled up at Rala, "Consider that on your list of things to do! We could probably convert oh.... Cargo Bay Twelve to a communal shower area if we clear it out, set up some stalls, put some cameras in the ceiling to make sure no one's getting hurt.." She trailed off at the end.

Rala gave a nod. “I’ll start working on plans for how to go about it. I’ll probably start with the Officers and work my way down.” A slight smirk crept onto her face. “In particular, I think I’ll start with my own; that way if I screw anything up, it only affects me.”

"Not just that, but you'll get the added benefit of being able to enjoy the spoils of your devious plot first!"

Rala gave a sly smile. “That does make the risk/reward calculations pretty simple.”

Calypso grinned widely and glanced the Draakri over, "Hmm... But there's a problem that I just noticed. Did you know you're out of uniform?"

Rala gave her a confused frown, glancing down at herself. “Uhm...I am?”

"Absolutely you are, and it's disgraceful!" The Captain finally got up onto her feet and walked back over to her desk where she opened up a drawer and tossed a small velvet box over to Rala.

The toss caught Rala off-guard, and she bobbled the box once as she caught it. She glanced back up at Calypso before opening the box to find a single gold rank pip resting inside.

"It just so happens that when one is a Chief of Operations on a ship this size,” Calypso continued, “they typically have the rank of full Lieutenant. I'm not sure how you thought you were going to get away without that second full pip, but I can at least correct the oversight!"

“Ca...Captain, I—” she stammered as she pulled the pip out of the box, stopping herself as she fully processed what Calypso had said, the pip resting in her palm. “Wait...Chief? I know T’Pinga left, but me? And full Lieutenant? I’m not even three years out of the Academy, I don’t know if I’m ready for this yet!”

"Oh please, since when has that stopped me from doing something like this?" Cally made a throwing away gesture, "For a couple things, Raven doesn't even have three years of Fleet experience and she's the Chief Flight Control Officer, basically right out of the Academy. Jenna is, well, was just out of the Academy when I put her in charge of Engineering as Chief and if you look at Kally? She's been an Academy graduate for about two years and she's my head medical officer." The Captain gave Rala a smirk, "So, what's your argument again?"

“They’re not me!” Rala said, staring at the pip still resting in her palm. Her opposite upper hand had gripped the adjacent lower wrist in a white-knuckled nervous gesture and her ears had folded down and back in distress. “Just because circumstances put us here doesn’t mean we’re ready." She glanced up at Calypso again, her hand unthinkingly closing around the pip. "Sure, you’ve gotten lucky so far and it’s turned out the rest of them were, but there’s no guarantee I am.”

"And if you can tell me specifically why you aren't doing a good job, especially since the departure of Lieutenant T'Pinga, then you may have about a one in ten chance of convincing me to change my mind." Cally retorted instantly, "If you think I'm out to promote anyone and everyone I possibly can, you'd only be about half right. Promotions came hard for me, because I had some disadvantages, but I also got a good sense of who was doing what and why and how good they are at doing things, and that's without using my telempathic senses. I see people at work and I can tell whether they're pulling their own weight, or not, or shouldering the lion's share of the work." The Captain gave a sigh, "I also look at the overall health of the ship and our situation out here and use my judgement about that as well. I'm not about to put you in command of the ship, not yet, but I'm going to be working with you, Raven, Kally and some others to actually GET you Bridge Command Qualified."

Rala’s mind was a storm of emotions. The surprise of the offer and the Captain’s flippancy about it had stirred up her initial uncertainty and doubt to be much stronger than they would otherwise have been. The repeated affirmations had helped, beginning to tamp those feelings down and kindling up flickers of pride and gratitude, but these only added further chaos to the storm, and rational thought hadn’t yet managed to regain control.

“You say I’ve been doing a good job since T’Pinga left?” Rala’s voice cracked as she spoke. “Because it feels I’ve been drowning, and I can’t tell if I’m finally figuring out how to tread water, or if I just got lucky and managed to stick my snout above the surface for a second before I go under again.” Tears stung her unfocused eyes as the storm behind them raged, gradually shifting and gaining direction as frustration entered the fray.

“I’m sure whatever system T’Pinga had for organizing files, forms, reports, and whatnot made perfect, logical sense to her, but by the Makers, I can’t see it,” she continued, abruptly standing up and beginning to pace as she suddenly felt the need to vent her spleen, tail lashing and all four arms gesturing wildly. “So now, on top of Bridge duty and everything else she had me doing before, and everything she was taking care of, it feels like it’s taking me three times as long as it should just to file anything or look anything up!” She turned, pacing back the other way. “I left it that way because I figured someone else would come along who could maybe make sense of it, but if I’m going to be doing this indefinitely then I need to reorganize it all into something that makes sense and works for me and that’s going to take even more time, and now you’re talking about Bridge command traini—”

The hand she’d had clenched around the pip slipped open in her frustrated gesturing just enough for the tiny rank indicator to slip free and fly across the room. She instinctively lunged after it, a choked “No!” escaping her throat, but it shot out of reach too quickly. It tinked off Calypso’s desk, followed by the far wall, before disappearing behind the desk somewhere.

Rala’s lunge after the wayward pip left her stumbling into the desk. A few seconds passed with the swish of her tail as the only motion from her before four fists thumped weakly against the desk's surface, followed by Rala’s head. A choked off sound that could have been either a sob or a wry laugh came from her, followed by another, before she stood up and turned around, slouching back against the desk as she faced the Captain—her friend. “You really think I’m ready for all of this?” she asked sheepishly, eyes threatening to overflow at any moment.

The smile on Cally’s face was warm and motherly as she tried to replicate the one that Marjorie had given her those few years back when she herself had stared at the extra pip in her hand, the full one of a full Commander. “Now, more than ever.” She said quietly, taking the handful of steps to Rala and placing a hand on her upper right shoulder, “I’ve seen people get promoted who are all gung ho and adamant that they’re the next coming of Captain Kirk, I’ve seen those who fall apart at the added responsibility and I’ve seen one that actually puked all over the Captain out of sheer nerves and excitement.”

Rala couldn’t help but let out a short laugh at that image; and the gentle smile and plain statement of confidence from Cally combined with the laugh went a long way to calming the storm in Rala’s mind.

Cally squeezed Rala’s shoulder tenderly before stepping around the deck to retrieve the errant pip, “One of the horrors of being a department head is being responsible for everything that goes on. On this ship, you only have to report to me and to Alex, unless we place someone else in command temporarily and you have to use that most fickle of things: Your own judgement and instincts. In return, I won’t question most of your findings unless my own instinct says something different or I genuinely have questions. The benefit to being in an independent command like I am on Chimera is that I have the luxury of being able to pick my own senior officers whenever a position opens up, so I can go by who I trust, not what some Admiral in a Task Force or behind a desk demands. It means my promotions that I give out will stick, until or unless I’m proven wrong and someone way above me comes down with a hammer, which would also mean my own career in the process.”

Calypso held the pip out towards Rala again, a sly smirk on her face, “It also means that people I pick can tell me to suck eggs and give me the finger if they so desire and the fact that I believe in them to know what’s best for themselves also means I won’t ever hold it against them.” Her eyes met Rala’s, “And if you desire more time to think about it, all you have to do is say so.”

Rala had stood up off the desk and turned around as Calypso went to retrieve the pip. Now she stood there, her gaze moving between the other woman’s face and the pip being presented to her and, after a brief pause, she reached out and took it. She held it in her hand and stared at it for another few seconds, swallowed, then reached up and removed the black-centered pip from her collar, replacing it with the new one, then looked back to Calypso with the remains of her earlier tears in her eyes and a faint smile on her face.

The Captain stepped around the desk once more and reached up to straighten the collar just a hair before placing one hand on each upper shoulder, "Congratulations, Lieutenant Rala, you have my utmost trust and confidence and if you ever need any advice or just someone to vent to, I'm always available."

Rala’s smile growing slightly was the only warning Cally got before four arms wrapped around her, pulling her into a fierce hug. Rala wished she could connect mentally with Cally to properly convey her emotions, but she was no telepath and, even if she had been, she wasn’t about to ask Cally to open up to her like that. “Thank you, for...” Rala started, then paused. She sniffled once, then said “Just...thank you,” before realizing that she was squeezing Cally harder than was probably comfortable for the betazoid. She released Cally and pulled away. “Sorry. I’m, uh...a little emotional, in case you couldn’t tell,” she said with a smirk.

Cally exhaled as she was finally able to contemplate the thought of breathing once more, "I don't think I could tell, through the grey starting to block my vision for lack of oxygen!" She giggled, "Note to self, let Alex give you the next promotion, he's much more expendable than I am!"

Rala covered her mouth with one hand as she let out a soft giggle. “Sorry...again,” she said, looking Cally in the eyes. “I...uh...” almost want to kiss you, she trailed off, keeping the thought to herself, and pivoted, “...I’ll do my best not to let you down,” she paused to sniffle again, “and I’ll let you know if and when I need help.”

Cally leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Rala's cheek, "Good." She took a step backwards, "Now, go and let the others know the good news, why don't you? If they're smart, they'll find a way to celebrate. Dismissed."

The unexpected kiss on her cheek caused Rala’s brain to lock up for a second or two. By the time she resumed processing, she could feel a slight blush on her face. “Uhh...” Rala started, still buffering responses, “...no, I think I’ll keep the shower project under wraps for now, at least until I’ve got my own done; don’t want to get people excited too soon. And as for this...” she reached up and brushed the new pip on her collar a smile gradually returning to her face, “I kind of want to see how long it takes anyone to notice.” She started to turn toward the door, then paused, brushing two fingertips across the spot Cally had kissed and glancing back at her. “And here I thought the Kellermans were the ones to watch out for in terms of teasing.”

Calypso gave Rala a warm and inviting smile, “My poor, poor Rala, they have almost decade and a half less experience in the art than I do. But… Who said that I’m just teasing?”

That hit Rala like a miniature rogue wave, briefly throwing her off balance but also forcing her to focus and readjust. After letting her mouth hang slightly open for a second, she closed it, collected herself, and gave the betazoid a flat look. "I’m sure you do have more experience, but I've seen them do it a lot more than you. And, Cap—Calypso," she said, a hint of reproach in her voice, "we've had this discussion. I told you, platonic closeness is great, but I don’t think I’m ready for anything else at this point. Maybe someday, but teasing me isn't going to put any more wind in that sail. I promise I’ll let you know if and when that changes...and...” she trailed off, her expression softening into a faint smile with a hint of expected weariness to come, “...that’s...not really going to stop you, is it?”

The smile on Cally's face would have been answer enough, "If it did, would you really know it was me?" She asked Rala innocently, "I can't promise I'll stop, but I'll keep it toned down as best I can. Just know that you can always be open with me, if you have questions about anything at all, there are no questions that I won't answer... About this, that is."

Rala gave a thankful smile at Cally’s statement of restraint, and nodded understanding at her assurance of openness, but her gaze shifted slightly as the qualifier reminded her of the conversation she’d recently had with Michelle. “I appreciate that,” she said, returning her gaze Calypso. “Thank you.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her snout briefly, then looked back at Cally. “More tennis soon? Hopefully I can avoid hurting myself this time.”

"Whenever you feel up to it!" Cally smiled with a hint of a smirk, "And as you know, we do have a very fine set of medical personnel on board, just in case."

Rala smirked back. “That we do. I was still sore the day after that first session, and I figured doing the smart thing and getting it looked at would make an excellent excuse to go see a friend. Now I have at least a little idea as to why Kally has such a reputation for massages.” She winced and rubbed her snout again. “Speaking of medical issues, I think I’m getting a headache. I’m going to go rest for a bit.” She stepped forward and gave Cally another quick—and gentle this time—hug, then stepped back. “Thanks again,” she said, turning to leave. “I’ll keep you updated on the shower project, and I should be up for another tennis session in a couple of days.”

"You know where to find me." Cally beamed, "Go get 'em."

Rala gave her a smile and a nod, and turned for the door, her first right hand idly coming up to touch the shiny new pip again.