Old Friends, New Secrets.

Posted on Sun Sep 20th, 2020 @ 1:41am by Lieutenant Commander Rain Lexington & Captain Rhenora Kaylen

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Before the Captain is confined to quarters

Rain sensed Rhenora’s presence as she got closer to the bridge. There was a lot going on in the woman’s mind and Rain made sure to mind her own business and not get wrapped up in her old friends thoughts. When she heard the doors of the turbolift open she looked back to meet the eyes of her Bjorn friend. Rhenora didn’t have to say anything outloud or mentally for Rain to know she was to get up and follow the older woman to her ready room.

The new first officer walked in quietly and put her hands behind her back at an at ease position and waited for Rhenora to speak first. Part of Rain wanted to start explaining but she also knew that she needed to wait. She needed to wait for her Captain to chew her a new one, there was no doubt that’s what was going to happen.

Rain had really dropped the ball right off the start. That wasn’t like her. She was a hard worker to a fault and Rhenora knew that. But when it came to her wife...well Rain was a little more slack and she knew she was going to have to put a stop to that.

No more galavanting space and time unless it is on her days off.

The silence was uncomfortable which made Rain feel uneasy. When she feels uneasy she tends to tap. Her index finger started to tap her hand while she waited patiently.

Rhenora looked up from the padd she was reading as she detected a presence just outside her personal bubble. She looked up to see who the newcomer was and nearly did a double take.

“Lexington… where the heck have you been?” The words were out of her mouth before her filter that normally stifles such outbursts and reorganises them into more socially acceptable comments could catch up.

“I was in my quarters...time kinda slipped by” Rain said sheepishly. “I’m sorry Rhenora. It won’t happen again.”

“You… missed… an entire Orion boarding, the command staff being held hostage and the crew holed up in the cargobay. How does that happen?” The Captain was understandably a little pissed.

“I was otherwise pre disspossed…”the Betazoid said carefully making sure to choose her words wisely. “There is no excuse for my actions...all I can do is promise it won’t happen again.” Rain let her arms go to her sides as she took a step towards her friend. “Is everyone ok?” the genuine concern showed on the Betazoid’s face.

“We have one deceased shuttle pilot by the name of ‘Cody’ but apart from that, it was mostly bumps and bruises from the fighting. We thankfully retained the blueprints for our weapons upgrades that the Orions were after. It was close though, a little too close for my liking.”Rhenora admitted, rubbing her side unconsciously where her ribs were still sore.

“I’m sorry to hear about Cody...I know I really didn’t start on the best of terms. Things just...happened” the first officer said, not giving away any type of real information to answer Rhenora’s question.

“It won’t happen again. I’m here...I’m ready to get to work.”

“I don’t know what you’re keeping from me Rain, but it better be nothing more than ‘I overslept’, I need to be able to rely on you” Rhenora’s words were in earnest. She and Rain had a long history, they’d known each other for over 15 years but when it came down to it, Kaylen was the Captain and Rain would need to prove herself again as XO.

There was a long pause before Rain spoke “ You can rely on me Captain….my wife called and well...you know how it goes with her.” Rain was being cryptic not saying Liv’s name out loud or the fact they just zipped through time to go skinny dipping in the hot springs on Tyl’ith prime.

“It won’t happen again. You have my word and you know my word is true.”

“So there is nothing to explain the time dilation that was recorded in your quarters yesterday? I didn't have the staff to investigate it fully when it occurred and by the tie we go there it had well and truly dissipated” Kaylen also chose her words wisely.

“There have been times when a warp core sends off unexplained readings. I guess it just happened to be my quarters this time.” Rain kept her gaze with Rhenora’s and decided to explain but not out loud.

~Liv popped in...you know that is what happened. I can’t say it outloud. They are tracking her. If I say her name out loud they’ll pick up on it and you’ll be in need of a new XO because I’ll be scooped up~ The Betazoid sent the secret message telepathically to her friend hoping that her bitterness towards Liv wouldn’t make her to want and contact the temporal agents that were on the hunt for her wife.

Rhenora winced as Rain communicated, she was definitely out of practice for when the powerful betazoid decided to talk telepathically. She now understood, but the fact remained that Rain wasn’t around when they needed her still irked. Hopefully as Rain promised it wouldn’t happen again.

“Sorry..” she said quietly forgetting it had been awhile since she had spoken to her friend telepathically. “ I will prove myself. You have my word Captain.” The Betazoid spoke with conviction in her voice.

“You’re word is all I need Commander” Kaylen said with a smile “Now I do believe there is a small mountain of paperwork that Ronson is about to deliver to your office now that you’re back on deck. Once we get the engines back online we’ll be heading back to Starbase 234 to hand over the Orions and run a full systems diagnostic” Rhenora explained, sending her Yeoman a message to delegate some of the ships reports to the XO.

“I better get to it then. Once you’re healed we need to have a sparring match. I could use someone that isn’t afraid to fight” Rain smiled. It was good to be back. She was going to make sure it stayed that way.