Uncertain Company

Posted on Sat Apr 26th, 2025 @ 6:17pm by Lieutenant Commander Ryan Price & Commander Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels

Mission: Those who are left behind
Location: 'Ten Forward' Crew lounge
Timeline: --tbd--

On:

Ryan had made his way too the lounge mostly get get a drink and see if he could get a read on the social scene aboard the ship, he picked up his order and walked over to an empty table near the large viewport. As he sat down he noticed there wasn't a large crowd around at the moment, as he took a seat he tried to let himself relax for the first time in hours, maybe days. He'd managed to avoid the ships doctor and other assorted types too this point, mostly because he despised doctors, and counselors even more, his life was a close book, he prefered it that way. He looked up to see the battle scarred world of Chintoka below it in one way was another reminder of the almost non-stop battles in recent months, he took a long haul on the drink the network of scar tissue was visible on the top of his hand in the dim light.

"Penny for your thoughts." An older gentleman said down on the opposite side of his table. He held a small glass in his hands. From the smell it seemed to be a glass of bourbon. Dark twinkling eyes looked at Ryan and seemed to be taking everything in. He was dressed in stylish but slightly oldfashioned civilian clothes.

Ryan looked up, "My first real break since Deep Space nine fell, I just wanted to take advantage of it." Ryan said looking at the visitor "And you are?"

"Moxley Sorrel. May I?" He gestured to a chair opposite Ryan. "I am a civilian, retired."

Yeah..sure..." he paused "Ryan Price Starfleet Intelligence."

"Ah the new intel chief." Moxley looked the man over again as he sat down. That may not be the easiest post to hold on a ship. How are you finding it so far?"

Ryan paused Marine, retired or semi-retired is more likely, Cardassian border war vet most likely "Beats sleeping in swamps and fields playing hide and seek with the Jem'hidar, but I'll let you know after a few days."

Mox snorted. "I am very glad that the years of sleeping rough are far behind me." He looked at the younger man again. Intel officers came in two sorts according to the ones he had worked with over the years. The high and mighty ones, and the ones willing to fit in and work within a crew. "You want some tips, son?"

Deciding to be be polite he replied "Sure."

"Go gently." He said. "I know intel is part of starfleet but some crew don't view it like that. There is a lot of distrust around. From what I have seen so far, this is a fine crew. Earn their respect, don't ever lie and tell them all you are allowed to tell them. Do that and they will start to trust you soon enough."

Ryan let out a laugh "After the Antwerp fiasco being nice hasn't gotten me very far."

The older man raised an eyebrow. "Did I mention the word nice? I don't think so. I have known enough men who were gentle but not nice." He smiled as most people would describe him as neither. "Don't be the bull in the China shop."

"WTF."

Moxley looked up to see his granddaughter stand at their table.

"Please get the hell away from our new officer. I don't want you anywhere near him!"

...and that explains a few things Ryan thought, "it's fine Commander no real harm done."

Moxley got to his feet and used his command voice on his granddaughter. "Antonia Alexandra Stoffels, SIT DOWN." She was surprised so only a little push had her in the seat. "Now you two are going to play nice and get to know each other. I will be watching from the bar, and I don't want to see any fighting." He gave her another look.

"Commander Price, it was a pleasure meeting you." The older man nodded and made off to the bar.

"You too sir." Ryan said trying to be polite

Toni just groaned. Leave it to her granddad to put her in an impossible situation. "Commander..." She began. "I do apologize if my grandfather was a nuisance. He means well."

"It's no big ordeal really." Ryan said picking up his drink from the table, "So what can I do for you?"

"I can go if you want." She looked a little sheepish. "I only sat down because granddad asked. Or... we can try to get to know each other a bit better, like he suggested. I don't think we got off on the right foot yesterday when we met."

As the drink continurd up too Ryan's lips he took a sip, "I don't well in group settings when I've only slept a few hours."

"I get that." Toni said. "Neither do I. I get very nervous in those situations. It can't have been easy meeting the senior staff like that."

"Excluding Wolf three five nine, I've never served aboard a starship" Ryan said telling a half truth, "...and after the Lazon camp raid getting sent here left me feeling like I was being retired."

Toni took in what he was telling her. Wolf three five nine could not have been easy. And being in Intel there probably was more that had been hard in his career and she knew that in Intel it could be harder to find a counsellor with clearance. "My behaviour can't have helped. I am sorry, you triggered me. I.. I have some bad experiences with Intel."

Ryan smirked "Intel has a bad habbit of telling people things they don't want to hear and it always leaves a bad taste after."

She smiled. "My family has had some serious problems with Intel. Not my granddad but my dad. It rubbed off on me."

Ryan looked over his glass "Intel has a problem with intel these days, too many internal squabbles and even more divisions since the whole Admiral Layton mess."

'What happened to my family was kind of like that but it was many years ago. It's probably classified still. But I hope you never run into my dad."

"I doubt I have, I've mainly dealt with other things." Ryan said as he looked to take another drink.

"You would have remembered." Toni said with a smile. She found herself relaxing for the first time in days. "So you like your job most of the time?"

Ryan paused his thoughts were a bit suspect for no reason "I do, even if what I've done hasn't always been known to make a difference."

"That's something most of us can say." She looked at him for a few seconds. "Look, as first officer I do hope that you will share as much information with us as you can. Remember we all want the same goals."

"If we do our jobs right, we'll all be at a bar in the oldcity part of Vancouver drinking until dawn and greatful we had those same goals." Ryan said lifting his glass in a mock toast.

"That is not exactly an answer to my question." Toni said gently.

"It's going to have to be, things will change every day and all we can do is adapt and do our part to the best of our abilities..." Ryan was interupted by the comm system.

"Sorry to interupt commander but Captain Stolkath from the Concorde is on subspace and needs to speak with you urgently." the crewman called.

"Thank you crewman, I'll be back too my office momentarily." Ryan said setting down his drink "Ask the right questions and you'll get the right answers, because if you don't learn from the past you'll fail." he said as he stood "Your judgement of me is tainted by your past, you should figure out how to get past it, now I have a panicy vulcan to talk too." he said as he walked out of the lounge.

Toni exhaled and leaned back in her chair. ~Bloody slippery intel.~ She thought. Parts of the talk had gone well but in the end he had not given her much. And she was still unsure about working together in the thick of things. Not wanting to talk to her grandfather right now she got to her feet and walked straight past him out of the bar.

Ryan stood at the door to the turbolift, he had an equally uncertain feeling about the XO, the attitude was unfounded, the behaviour was unnecessary and to be honest going to become a problem if things got hairy and if it continued a sit down with the Captain might have to happen, the federation had gotten dragged from one war to another and shaky officers led to dead crew something he'd seen enough of, as he stepped into the turbolift he decided he'd change what he thought his policy about being available too the crew, he also decided it would be of benefit to speak with the captain mainly to prevent future problems.

End