Post 130: Back to the Old Routine

Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 9:35pm by Master Chief Petty Officer K'Ral De Bruinhiena & Rei De Bruinhiena & Dogo Goi & Kijana Goi
Edited on on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 11:21pm

893 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Obsidian

ON:

So far, nothing had managed to catch fire. Again. For now. Then again, it wasn't exactly his job to deal with those kinds of emergencies anymore, and the old hyena was glad for that. Then again, he'd also gotten extremely lucky with his career.

He'd managed to miss out on the Federation-Klingon War that had kicked off the start of the new century by a year, and since all of his sea assignments had been on minewarfare vessels until being posted on the Arcadia, he hadn't had to deal with any skirmishes. Even though minewarfare ships tended to be tempting targets of opportunity, it was very rare that they operated by themselves outside of training operations. If there was an armed conflict, a minewarfare ship would be a part of a larger task force coming in to either destroy a minefield or put one in place, so their safety was fairly secure.

Plus minewarfare ships didn't do First or Second Contacts, another benefit. No having to beam down to the surface to deal with the natives. All in all, K'Ral was fairly spoiled.

Of course, all of that was before the Arcadia, and before the damn Cardis and Romulans decided to fuck around and find out. And boy had they found out. They might have given Starfleet a sucker punch to the gut, but Starfleet had swung right back and given them a black eye.

It was a pyrric victory though. Most of Arcadia's original crew, the crew she'd left Utopia Planetia with, had either been killed or so badly wounded that they were given medical discharges. That included everyone on the main bridge and several of the engineers. They'd limped into the wrecked dry dock with a brand new JG from the Beta shift in command. And he'd just graduated from Flight Control Officer's Course the month before. If he remembered right, that kid had gotten a two rank promotion and was serving as a Second Officer on a Constitution III. Lucky bastard.

And since the Master Chief had to act as temporary XO during the voyage home, there was scuttlebutt about him getting a battlefield commission at one point. But that had died down fairly quickly, not that the old Hienian wasn't slightly disappointed over it. It did come with a lot of career benefits, and from what the rumor mill had been churning out, he'd have probably been a Commander. It was a fun thought experiment at least.

Putting his little mind excursion aside, he reached over to his desktop communicator and pressed the call button. About a second later, his wife answered. "Hello."
"All settled in, hun," K'Ral inquired as his wife finally sat down at the desk, hands moving to adjust her shirt.
"Almost. The kids are getting a bit restless. They want to go explore the station," She rumbled as one of her long ears twitched.
"Yeah, I'd keep them at home for a little longer. We may have gotten the promenade mostly up and running, but we're still working on the other sections."
"Just what I wanted to hear," the Canian grumbled as she leaned back in her seat. "Last thing I need is to send a message to their grandmother telling her that one of them got sucked into space. Do they have any idea on when the school's going to open up? Or the holodecks? They've been cooped up in starships for the last few days and they're bouncing off the..." There was a loud crash in the background, causing Rei to turn her head and stare off screen.
"Sorry mom," the two children whimpered.
"Go to the replicator and have it make a new one," she growled before turning her attention back to her husband. "See what I mean?"
"I know it's a bit rough right now, but I'll see what I can do about burning off some of their energy. Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?"
The Canian shook her head. "No. We all should try to get on a decent sleep cycle so we're awake when you are." She paused for a moment. "How do you do it?"
"Well, easiest way is to stay up until the clock tells you it's 2100, then you activate the window darkeners and draw down the shades. They'll keep the sunlight out during orbit. That and a sleep aid usually does the trick."
His wife let out a long sigh. "I'll see if it works."
"It usually does, but I don't know if it'll work on Dogo and Kijana. If we weren't still fixing this place, I'd let them run laps around the station to tire them out first."
"Or take them to the holodeck and run that park simulation."
"That too."
"Do you know when you'll be home?"
"Not for a couple hours, but I'll see what I can do."
"It'll be nice having you home every night for a change."
"It will. I'll see you soon." The Master Chief smiled before blowing a kiss at his wife, who gave him a warm grin.
"I'm looking forward to it."

K'Ral pressed the disconnect button before leaning back in his chair. "Now I just have to kill a couple hours and hope nothing crazy happens."

OFF:

K'Ral De Bruinhiena
Command Master Chief Petty Officer/Chief of the Boat
USS Arcadia/Obsidian Station

 

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