Coffee, Cupcakes and Conversations

Posted on Sun Feb 14th, 2021 @ 1:04pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander Nathan Octavian

It had been two days since they had departed Earth, with still a few more days until they reached Pathstone, Abigail had found herself comfortable leaving the bridge at the end of each day, leaving the bridge in the capable hands of Commander Rozia who it seemed never needed sleep and was constantly tweaking their warp engines.

The civilian section of the ship had drawn her attention, having first walked through it with Dirk the day before, but now she found herself there alone, chai latte in one hand and a freshly baked chocolate cherry cupcake on a plate in the other as she walked out of the small bakery, her gaze settling on a nearby table occupied by a familiar figure.

With a smile, she approached, setting both her drink and the cupcake down before sliding into the seat across from him. "Penny for your thoughts?"

A sly smirk appeared on the corner of his slips as her voice awoken him from his thoughts, "Penny? The economics of the future is somewhat different. You see, money doesn't exist in the 24th century..." He dipped his index finger into the blue icing of his cupcake and licked it gingerly clean. "Yum... bubble gum!" Nathan did not ordinarily eat food he would consider junk food; but, when he did it was often steeped in nostalgia. The most childish sweets were his favourite, bubble gum, cotton candy... it didn't matter. He loved it. "My thoughts for you are always free," he said alas. "Sharing my thoughts is my job, what else would an advisor do...?" He tapped upon the bubble gum which was perched on the top of his cupcake and looked at her. "I was just thinking about all these furry aliens. Can I be honest? I think I am a little allergic to your XO..." He laughed.

Abigail smirked. "I suggest you see Commander Morgan and hook yourself up with some antihistamines," she said as she broke her cupcake in half, watching the cherry filling ooze out onto the plate. "I can't have you sneezing when we get to the Dalacari homeworld."

He nodded in jest, "Yes, I should probably follow up on that. So what do you make of the Pathstone Project? It all seems a little too good to be true to me. When I heard of it, I couldn't help notice the parallels between it and the Pathfinder Project. Do you remember that project? Pathfinder first made contact with Voyager in 2376, using the Mutara Interdimensional Deep Space Array System to create micro-wormholes. Pathfinder sounds a lot like that, except on a more macro level. I wonder if the scientific processes behind the two share any similarities?" He shrugged, "That was what I was thinking about. I hope the furries don't get ticked off with us and... 'accidentally' send us to parts unknown... I am not in the mood to get stranded."

Abigail narrowed her eyes slightly. "I trust the Dalacari," she said softly. "Commander Gail trusts the Dalacari and I trust Commander Gail." She sighed and shook her head slightly. "You don't have to like them, but please don't upset them. Commander Gail is an integral part of this crew and we owe the Ts'usugi a phenomenal debt of gratitude. They were the ones that rescued us after the ship was destroyed."

Nathan took a big bite of his cupcake, he licked the edges of his lips clean, "I am not painting them all with the same broad stroke. Not all humans have bad or good intentions, and I have no doubt the Ts'usugi do either. All I am saying is there is a lot we don't know. Admiral Noth thought so too..." He reached under the table and revealed a PADD, he pushed it towards her. "He told me to have a look, there were a lot of files I couldn't access though. I found the information about the Underspace particularly interesting. There is some other classified information on there, reserved only for Captain's of the Delta Quadrant. So it might be worthwhile to share with our traveller as well. Noth calls it the Contingency Protocol. An option for when there are no other options..." He smiled at her, "I have been in this part of space for years. I would never question the integrity of your XO, or the Ts'usugi. All I know is... one can never get too comfortable in the Delta Quadrant." He smiled wider, "This is why I am here. To tell you...sometimes...what you won't want to hear." He motioned his hand, "Anyway... Enough about work... Been enjoying your new wheels?"

Abigail broke off a piece of her cupcake and popped it in her mouth, chewing slowly and swallowing before she replied. "It's been... interesting." She laughed and shook her head. "I've gotten lost at least three times. Yesterday a Lieutenant from Intelligence rescued me. I followed the directions one of the maintenance staff gave me, or at least I thought I did. No idea where I ended up but it wasn't where I was meant to be. How about you? What are you thinking of the ship so far?"

"Unless we go head to head with a Borg cube, he is unnecessarily huge. I was using the transporter to get around for days. It was going well too. Until the transporter had a hiccup and popped me in on our Vulcan Chief Counselor, in his office. He nearly wrote me up - what a scolding I got." He wet his lips on his coffee and finished off his cupcake. He left his bubble gum in his plate...for now.

"Lieutenant Styvek is a bit unusual for a Vulcan, he has some anger management issues it would seem." She laughed, recalling the incident on the previous ship. "He yelled at me once on comms, called me some choice names before he realised that the comms system malfunctioned and routed him to me instead of maintenance."

Nathan laughed aloud, "Ha! I wish I had know that when he was looking down at me from his soapbox! Interesting..." He motioned his hand toward hers and scooped one up. "So tell me all the gossip! What's your crew like? Do you have any friends among them. If you could take one crew member to a pub for a night of drinking who'd it be? Besides me of course. If you could take two to a deadly planet who goes? Who's the brains of the bunch? Who's the muscle? Give me all the need to knows... Start from the top..." He grinned.

"I've been pretty lucky actually, I managed to keep most of my crew when I was reassigned here. They're good people, all of them." She broke off another piece of her cupcake and popped it into her mouth as she contemplated. "Ichiko, Commander Gail, has become one of my closest friends and confidants since we started this assignment together. I trust her more than I trust anyone else." She smiled. "I don't know about any of the rest of it, they all have their strengths, and I've had drinks with most of them. You should join us in the Deity one night."

"Deity, what's that?" He pulled back and popped the bubble gum in his mouth and began the chew. "What sort of trouble to you get unto in there?"

"That's the Officer's Lounge." Abigail picked up the whole cherry from on top of the buttercream and twirled it in her fingers with the stalk. "Though I never really enforced it as 'officers only'," she added. "I didn't like how restrictive that felt. If the crew works together, they should be able to wind down together too."

"Well... aren't you just the little rule breaker..." He chewed his gum, "So fill in the gaps for me. We haven't talked a whole lot since the Gettysberg. Our paths have only crossed just a handful of times. A fun handful of times I'll give you that. Did you ever get married again? Any kids? All work and no play... you know what they say..."

"No kids and no, I never got married again. Barely dated," she laughed softly. "What can I say... things just don't work out." She shrugged. "I saw Lockwood recently, our paths crossed in the line of duty."

"That has to be the creepiest Captain I've ever had. He always gave me this uneasy feeling. Like he was a Romulan under cover or something..." He laughed. "What was that like? I hate seeing our old commanders. It is like meeting an old school teacher... They know things... I don't like that..." He laughed again, "I'm pretty sure he always had the hots for you." He gasped, "You didn't did you? He's an admiral!" He teased.

"It didn't end particularly well," Abigail replied. "Honestly, I'm glad to be headed to the other side of the known universe." She bit the cherry off the stem and dropped the stem back onto the plate. "I strongly dislike his presence." She shook her head. "Anyway..."

Nathan blew a bubble with his gum, a skill he wondered if he still had. "Unlike you... I got married in 2385, I guess you heard? We both got assigned to the Excelsior together. Headed off to take on the Delta Quadrant not long after..."

"I actually saw that," Abigail said with a smile. "Where is she now? Your wife I mean? I didn't see her mentioned on your transfer orders or accommodation requests."

Nathan smiled gently, “Where is she now? She is everywhere…” His voice softened, “It was sudden you know. One minute she was there and the next she was gone. That was the moment when I threw myself into my career. But I learned pretty quickly, it doesn’t matter how fast you run… the pain will always run faster... That was when my life went completely off the rails… Thankfully for me, Noth accepted my transfer. His ship, his crew… the Equinox saved me. They gave me a purpose again. I was valued there, I belonged. As an extension, the Delta Quadrant became my new home. I began to appreciate its beauty. But I also feel closest to Sara here.” He swallowed, “When Noth approached me to join your crew, I knew it was his way of saying, 'You're strong enough… try something new… test yourself… and live your life.’ So I accepted. While I am still trying to find my footing. I am happy to be here. Happy to be with you. Happy to be watching you eat a cupcake. If there is one thing I have learned it is… sometimes we waste our words, and we waste our moments… we don’t always take the time to say and do the things that truly matter.” His eyes caught hers, “I believe our mission here matters. I know we will do good things on this mammoth ship of yours.” He tossed his gum in his napkin, “Thanks for having me.”

"I'm sorry," she murmured softly, caught by the rawness of the words as he spoke. "And for what it's worth, I'm glad you're here too." She smiled as he caught her gaze. "It's been a long time, but I am very glad you're here my friend."

"That is worth something to me," while Sara had died years ago, he still carried her wherever he went. Slowly but surely, when he thought about his wife, it more often brought a smile to his lips than a tear to his eye. "You know...? We should do this again... A coffee and cupcakes gossip session..." A gentle laugh escaped his lips. "And besides... Didn't you say you were going to throw me a huge bash in that Deity of yours?"

Abigail laughed softly. "Once we clear Pathstone, sure. I'll just tell everyone it's your birthday."

"Okay... But, I'm only 30. I look 30 right?" Nathan smiled and ran his fingers through his hair.