Morning Ritual

Posted on Wed Dec 18th, 2024 @ 9:55am by Ensign Carter Page & Ensign Tobias "Toby" Dienstag & Chief Petty Officer Quinn Kincaid

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 5: The Price of Paradise
Location: Deck 4: Mess Hall
Timeline: M5 MD08 (2268.07.31) 0700

It was 0700. Part of the morning ritual of the alpha shift junior officers was to meet for breakfast in the mess hall. Although a fairly anodyne morning activity, it was how news was spread through the ship and how newly assigned officers got to know each other. In this spirit, Carter brought his new roommate Quinn to get acclimated to the ship. He sat down at one of the grey rectangular tables, tray in hand. The tables were fairly empty but more officers were filing in.

"This reminds me of my time at the Academy," Quinn said easily, his tray piled high with sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, and fried potatoes.

"So, where are all the good looking gals?"

Carter's eyes widened slightly, "Oh, eh there are plenty aboard ship, I'm sure some will join us..." he said before looking over his shoulder. He saw Ensigns Dienstag and Parker approaching, trays in hand. He waved to them.

Brooke, with her wavy blonde hair cascading past her shoulders and her sharp green eyes radiating curiosity, carried herself with an air of quiet confidence that matched her graceful movements. Beside her, Toby with his sandy swoop of slightly tousled hair exuded a boyish charm. He scanned Quinn with his brown doe eyes, betraying a complicated mix of shyness and inquisitiveness.

"Good morning Carter," Brooke said as she sat down. Toby sat down next to her and gave a smile and a nod to both of them. "Who's your friend here?" she asked, eying up the confident looking dark haired chief who was nearly brushing against Carter's slender shoulder.

Quinn looked between the new arrivals keeping a neutral expression on his face. Then a slow smile crept across his face as his eyes moved from Toby to Brooke.

Then turning to fully face Brooke, his smile grew wider. My name is Quinn. As you might have guessed, I'm new here, as you might have also guessed from my red shirt, I'm Security. Actually an investigator."

"Are the two of you a couple?"

Toby chuckled and blushed.

"Oh, ah, no," Brooke responded with a grin, "Just friends... And nice to meet you. I'm Brooke Parker..."

"Toby Dienstag," Toby responded, finally speaking up. This was the first time anyone had ever mistaken them for a couple. Even if Toby were interested, Brooke was way out of his league.

"My mistake," Quinn replied, "But in my defense it looks like you could be together. So what positions do you have on the ship?"

"We're both science officers," Brooke responded, "Both normally assigned to science lab #1. Although Toby here moonlights as a bridge officer..."

Toby smirked, "From time to time," he added.

Quinn turned to look at the fresh faced officer still wearing his signature smile. "So, aspirations to be the next Jonathan Archer?"

Toby's smiled faded a bit, "I don't know about that, I'm not a pilot," he responded, "And I'm not... Not sure if I'm up to command."

"He did fine on the Kobayashi Mary, don't let him tell you any different," Brooke responded, fork in hand, "You're the only man I know who needs his ego inflated not deflated..." She looked over at Carter, "Second," she responded before glancing at Quinn, "I can tell you're not like these two," she added.

"Don't sugarcoat it, will ya?" Carter responded as he shook his head with a mild grin.

The security officer gave the blonde guarded look. "And just what kind of man do you think I am?"

"One who constantly needs his ego stroked," Brooke responded.

"Feisty this morning, Brooke," Carter responded.

"Getting prepared for mental gymnastics and verbal fencing with Car Crash," Toby interjected.

"You're not toofar off," Quinn replied after looking at Toby and searching his face, "but I don't need anyone to stroke my ego per se. I will admit to being cocky though."

Brooke nodded before returning to her breakfast.

"Well welcome aboard regardless," Toby responded

"Dangerous job, security, so I wouldn't be too rash," Brooke added.

'Careful is my middle name," Quinn retorted.

Carter looked at Toby and lifted an eyebrow. Both were thinking the same thing. They couldn't tell if Quinn was specifically flirting with Brooke or if he was always this way with people.

"So eh, how are you settling in? Have you met anyone else in your department yet? Like Lt. Miyake, Ensign Novak or Ensign Osbourne?" Toby asked, trying to cut through the awkwardness of the conversation. He could tell Brooke wasn't interested, if Quinn were indeed flirting.

Quinn was pretty intuitive, it was what allowed him to do what he did so well, but he wasn't a mind reader. So he didn't know what the two men were thinking. Even if he'd had that power he probably wouldn't have corrected their misconception. Brooke, as attractive as she was, simply wasn't his type. He'd not been flirting with her at all.

"I haven't met anyone else," he admitted, I'm too new. What are they like?"

"Peter is a nice guy, stand up... Someone you can count on," Brooke responded," Osbourne is..."

"Incompetent," Toby finished with an eye roll, "And Lt. Miyake... Well, she has a strong personality...

"Nothing wrong with a strong personality. It can make for some excitement if one plays their cards right. Maybe more excitement if they don't I look forward to meeting with Peter and Lt. Miyake."

"Osborne, not so much. If he's incompetent, what is he still doing on board the ship?"

"Miyake keeps him around as her whipping boy..." Toby responded with a sigh, "I know what that's like."

"Eh you know how to handle Car Crash, Lt. Miyake is just unpredictable," Brooke responded, "And he isn't exactly incompetent, more like unlucky... When stuff goes wrong it's usually under his watch and gets blamed for it... Like when those prisoners escaped and knocked him out..."

"He was a lieutenant not too long ago," Carter added.

Quinn shook his head bemusedly. "And, what is he now?"

What he really wanted to ask, but didn't feel was his place, was why Toby felt like he was a whipping boy.

"Ensign, like I said," Toby responded, "Got busted down after those officers... Well those prisoners escaped custody. It was the last straw as far as Lt. Miyake was concerned."

"Officers? As in Starfleet officers? Why were they in the brig in the first place."

"They weren't Starfleet no," Toby responded. He shouldn't have said anything regarding their last mission.

"Long story, the official report is available if you are really interested," Brooke responded, trying to clean up Toby's verbal slip.

"It does sound fascinating. I will have to look it up."

He took a sip of his coffee, "Anything else interesting going on here?"

"The ship or the security department?" Brooke asked, setting her fork down.

"Humor me," Quinn replied after taking a bite of his fried egg sandwich, "what about both?"

"We had a reporter onboard for a story, but I think we bored her to death since she's already moved on to greener pastures," Brooke commented.

"Well the Captain wasn't thrilled about her being here to begin with," Toby added.

Carter shrugged, "I found her to be quite... Friendly," he commented.

Brooke smirked. She had noticed the stains on the carpet that night after coming back to her quarters.

Quinn caught the smirk, it was hard not to but he didn't catch the deeper meaning behind it.

With a cheeky grin he replied, "Friendly women are great, I've met more than a few of them, but I prefer strong women who speak their mind."

"You will find a mix here," Brooke responded, "Although everyone tends to look after each other."

"Especially those of us who have been here since launch," Carter commented.

"For most of the ensigns aboard the Midway is our first posting after the academy," Toby added.

"Well, I do have a bit more experience, at least on paper. But sometimes it feels like this is my first day."

"Every time we leave dock it almost seems like everything refreshes or restarts," Brooke commented.

"New faces appear, old faces disappear..." Toby responded, "What I miss most of all is the change of scenery, something different than grey bulkheads." He sighed.

"Gray bulkheads are quite boring I think. I prefer changing scenery myself. What the best port or world you've been yo Toby?"

"Well, port wise the best is Starbase 10 which we just left... Haven't been to too many others yet... World wise... Well the worst was Nimbus III."

Brooke shuddered when Toby mentioned Nimbus III, "Hopefully we never go back to that rock," she commented.

"Favorite would have to be Alpha Centauri, but that was my first trip outside the solar system and well I was fourteen at the time..."

"Daystrom Institute Student Program, Mr. Boy Wonder," Brooke commented with an eye roll.

Toby shrugged then commented, "I forgot you applied but didn't get accepted."

Quinn paused before answering, unsure of his best response. "So tell me more about Nimbus III."

"Toby's eyes widened. "Nimbus III? It’s a barren, sun-scorched wasteland meant to be a symbol of peace under the Organian Treaty with the Klingons... After ferrying the delegate there none of us are confident it's going to yield any results," he commented.

"This is a very interesting ship," Quinn commented, "is that mission also classified?"

"No, but not much else to tell," Toby responded with a sigh, "It was a mess and so far hasn't gone anywhere."

"Most of us were surprised they picked this pompous idiot as the diplomat for this peace conference," Toby responded, "The Captain could and would do a better job..." He sighed.

"Makes you wonder if they were even serious with this idea," Brooke added.

"I'm not sure if I'd make a great diplomat either," Quinn replied, "though I've been accused of being good at running my mouth. But at least I know that's not my career path."

"Who picked the pompous idiot and who are they?"

"Foreign service I guess," Brooke responded, "And they being the Federation."

Toby glanced at Quinn as he engaged in conversation. For an NCO Quinn wasn't up on some basic workings of the Federation. He shrugged off the feeling, he was probably reading too much into it.

Quinn's left eyebrow rose at the news. "Of course the Federation, but I was looking more of a specific person."

"Anyway, enough of the past, how is the rest of the crew we have now?"

"Solid group all around," Carter spoke up, "Talented and dedicated... Starfleet's best and brightest."

"Sounds like a recruitment poster," Brooke responded with a chuckle.

"Certainly youngest," Toby responded.

"It's too bad we can't all stay young forever, though that would probably get boring after awhile." Quinn opined.

"I've really got to get going though. I don't want to be late for my first shift. Making a bad impression isn't something I want to do."

"The Captain's pretty interesting, and he's turning 32 in a few months," Toby responded before looking down at his watch, "Yeah, it's about time we head out too... It was nice to meet you Quinn."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Well that went well," Carter commented as the two roommates stepped into the corridor, "Good luck on your first duty shift. I guess I'll catch you later." He gave his calm, hospitable midwestern smile.

Quinn smiled back at him as he tugged the hem of his uniform shirt down.

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