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CH02: S [D01|1945] Funny Seeing You Here

[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Bridge | Upper Deck| USS Allegiant ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan
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Frank had come from a pleasant picnic. Had he had to cut it short? Probably. But that was just the way things went on high stakes missions. You never had time to do the things you wanted really. In reality that was just life, too much crap to go in the crapsack. Either way, now he'd made his way to the bridge of this craft. He'd come to meet Jen of course, or in this instance Captain Jennifer Dewett. Her career had advanced a little farther than his, after the Cortez. They'd both escaped that gruesome fate, by weeks each.

Either way, now he was here, she'd definitely aged better than him, that was for sure. He was leathered, weathered by time and duty, not so much by sun. His eyes narrowed both by artificial light and welding flash, his skin a warm tan, and his giant hands rough from days of work. The only views he'd gotten of Jen, were nice. She was as pretty as he remembered, albeit that was eight years ago now. And here had the eight years brought both of them, to the space of the Breen Confederacy, how crazy was that?

He wrapped his hands onto the padding of the captain's chair aboard the bridge of the yacht, that was supposed to be for the captain, that was instead suiting as a Reman-Cloaked, fighter carrying, drone carrying, wolf in sheep's clothing, out looking for bombs. By the end of this, they could all write a damned holonovel for sure. The Parasite Paradox, by Frank Arnold. No that sounded terrible. The padding on the chair was quite plush though, that was a positive for the person who had to sit there, and the ship had very nice cargo bays, that he could certainly testify to.

Either way, he waited for Jen, patiently, while in truth it was impatient time. He had to resist pacing, changing one foot for another in an awkward standing cross, had to restrain talking to himself like a weirdo, as he just waited patiently. They'd shared almost two good years together, she'd taken him to a few good planets, and taught him the joy of bird hunting. But that was a long time ago, Frank tried to put Jen out of his mind, and remind himself this was Captain Jennifer Dewett.

He couldn't help but smile though, wondering if she still blew the hair out of her face the same way, with that scrunched up frustrated look. Certainly he'd find out soon, stuck between a QSD jump, and an old girlfriend. He grinned at that, 'take that rock and a hard place'.

For the moment, he wandered over to the helmsman's chair, and settled into it, crossing one ankle over his knee, and just waiting for his fifteen minutes to meet with Jen, to do a bit of catching up, it'd be weird not to right?

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #1 –
[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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They had yet to reach Breen space, according to the Savi, so Jennifer leaned back in her seat in her Ready Room and took a deep breath. She did have the expected fifteen minutes to spare, and she had decided that it would be good in two ways to have a meeting with Frank. Not just because they had barely - between mutual duties on different fronts - been able to trade a handful of words since he came aboard the Theurgy. No, while it was a good thing to catch up with him, he was also serving as Chief Engineer on the Allegiant, and they had an important mission ahead. While uninformed as they were, the stakes were high. As always, it seems of late.

"Dewitt to Arnold," she said and rose from her seat, slowly walking over to the small sitting area in the room, since talking to Frank across the desk of the Captain's ready room seemed far too formal. "You can come in now. I've finished talking with the Savi, and we're still fifteen minutes out."

Having made her summons, informal as it were, Dewitt smoothed her uniform down her sides and sat down on the couch. She adjusted her sleeves while she waited, and ran her hand through her red hair. When Frank eventually entered, she gave him a smile.

"Hi," she said simply, the corners of her eyes creased in a small smile. "Please, have a seat. How long as it been, anyway?"

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #2 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan
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Frank had been enjoying a nice daydream by this point, mostly about days gone by, times that he and Jen had enjoyed, or times they had not. Frank couldn't remember the first day he'd seen her, but he did remember how they'd met. It'd been almost a decade now. He was snapped out of his daydream by the chirp of his communicator, by the signal from the Captain, 'Dewitt to Arnold'.

He gave a gentle smile, and would offer lightly, "Right away Captain." Off he strode towards the ready room, mere yards away, he took only a moment to brush his uniform with his palms to free it of lint. He slid through the door with the satisfying hiss classic to Starfleet ships. He gave a gentle smile back to her.

He looked tired to be certain, having not really slept since the start of the Tovarek project, and wearied by the knowledge there was no end in immediate sight. He certainly looked older than the junior officer she'd known aboard the Cortez, speckles of grey in his hair, and his snow-dipped beard. His smile back to her reached his eyes, she looked good. Older too, but, still the same in a lot of ways.

He waited with his arms crossed behind his back, his small gut slightly sucked in, until he was informally addressed, and then at her 'Hi' he let out a little chuckle, and a small puff of air, offering "Hey Jenny." He looked at the seat she had offered, and slowly settled down on the couch near her, brushing off his legs as he sat.

To her question, he rocked his head back and forth a moment, before he offered, "I transferred off the Cortez, on that supposed temporary rotation to the Exeter, about ten weeks shy of eight years ago." He nodded slowly, "A few months after you went to the Rapier." He gave a slow smile, he'd written her for a while, but eventually she'd stopped replying.

He smiled softly to her, and offered lightly, "Time's been a lot kinder to you than me eh?" He winked at her, "You still got it."

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #3 –
[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Hearing his complement, alluding to her having aged well, Dewitt could but chuckle and shake her head.

"Always the flatterer," she commented, wondering how many women he'd been chatting up since they parted ways. Knowing him, he had likely tried to woo a few on the Theurgy as well during the brief time he'd been aboard, and while she might not fault him for it, she was no longer so easily impressed. Command had her always dictate the terms of her personal life, and whether or not she indulged was a carefully weighed decision. It was actually quite refreshing to know that Frank hadn't changed that much. At least at heart, she added in her thoughts, having noticed his gut and the grey in his beard.

"I am sorry that I ceased replying to your messages," he continued, however, having been meaning to reach out to Arnold in that regard. She hadn't wished the past to dampen anything between them during the upcoming mission. He deserved an explanation. "I was commissioned to the Black Opal as its Commanding Officer. You wouldn't know of it, but since it's gone now, the fact that was a classified research facility wouldn't matter any more. While I was able to download correspondence now and again, replying was not ideal, since everything was screened. The whole assignment was really hush-hush. You are a big boy, however, and I assumed you wouldn't be too distraught."

Running a hand through her hair, she continued. "It wasn't like I sought the assignment either. It was actually more like a punishment, for ruffling the feathers of people higher up in Starfleet's food chain. To put it short, I may have been a bit too vocal in my defence of former Maquis members that had returned to the fleet. They didn't deserve the treatment they got. In fact, the manner in which they were distrusted warred against all I believed Starfleet stood for, and I wouldn't tolerate it. That, eventually, earned me the fate of rotting away on the Opal, just to get me out of people's hair about the Maquis."

A long story made short, to say the least.

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #4 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan
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He smiled coyly as she chuckled at his compliment, and to her retort he offered lightly, "Some things don't change." He gave a slow grin. While Frank had had a few partners since they were together, nothing really stuck, and he'd not been on the Theurgy quite long enough to establish anything, he'd certainly done some chatting.

He gave a slow shrug then, to her apology, and replied after a moment, "Distraught, me? No. I figured you had a good reason, especially once I tried to inquire to check up on you, and you'd been transferred off ship, and I couldn't figure where from your post listing." He continued on, "The Black Opal." He'd heard someone else mention it, "Isn't that where the drones came from?" He raised a brow, "I think I saw that in the manuals I was working with for Commander Fisher." He gave another nod, "Beautiful machines really, well, the one machine I had to get my hands on was quite a beauty, especially once I was done with her." He nodded emphatically, settling into a slow ramble, "Wanted to convert it to a strike craft basically...." He stopped himself, looking up and offered idly, "Uh, that's all irrelevant I suppose." That part of him hadn't changed, he rambled, frequently.

He heard her explanation of how she'd come to being transferred to the Black Opal, and he gave a gentle chuckle, saying after a moment of contemplation, and a stroke of the beard, "That sounds like you Jen." He laughed softly, "Vocal to your beliefs, steadfast in their application, perhaps a smidge too stubborn, but that was never a bad thing." He gave a sagely nod when he was done, and then offered, "And now you're senior staff aboard the USS Theurgy, so you landed back on your feet. I'm curious, how'd you come to be convinced to join this mission?" He raised a brow, knowing that the Theurgy must have crossed paths with the Opal at some point.

He continued on, "What else have you been up to since you've been aboard? Still hunting?" He raised a brow, "I still keep a program on the holodeck for water fowl hunting, I've always liked that since you got me to actually go to planet surfaces." He gave a slow laugh, "I'd have been content to never go, but you were...vocal in your beliefs and steadfast in their application." He winked at her, bringing the conversation around in a circle, "And a mite stubborn. Besides, I wanted to keep you happy so I could see you naked." He laughed heartily and slapped his knee, "From the Cortez to searching for Thalaron bombs in Breen Space, what a crazy run we've had."

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #5 –
[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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"Indeed we've had. I hardly believe the Infested will try to use a thalaron bomb at Breen if they mean to pin the deed on the Federation, however. My bet is that there is something else about to happen, be it a bomb of Starfleet signature or some other kind of event," said Jennifer, having chuckled when he mentioned indulging her whims just for sake of seeing her naked. "And it seems you never caught on to the fact that I brought you down there to get naked in the first place. Did you really think my stubbornness was wholly invested towards hunting when I actually had ideas for alternative activities as well? Come on, away from internal sensors and telepaths on every deck, truly all by ourselves? You certainly didn't mind the excursion when we found that lagoon, I recall."

She shifted the topic, however, not about to go too far down memory lane, lest they'd get distracted from the more important matters on hand. "Not sure if my official role as Mission Liaison is part of the Senior Staff, coming and going as I am depending on where I am needed, but I have often participated in the meetings since I was the go-to contact when dealing with the Aldean Defence Committee. As for why I am here?" she took a deep breath, thinking that it would be easier to send him the report about the events surrounding the Theurgy's arrival at the Black Opal. "Let's just say Captain Ives convinced me that hir crew weren't defectors since a Romulan bird of prey decloaked and boarded the station, and the Theurgy crew nearly destroyed that ship entirely, right before our eyes. Suffice to say, that was enough leeway for a conversation to be held, and the truth was easy to accept once we saw the tactical logs and all the other evidence they'd gathered."

She shifted in her seat a little, folding one leg over the other and put her elbow on the back of the couch. "The done project we had there? Yeah," she ran a hand through her red hair as she remembered the details of it, "it was just one of many things we had underway, but they weren't called Tovarek-class before one of the Theurgy scientists took it upon himself to finish them. Most were lost when we battled the Versant, I recall, but I am glad you could salvage the last one for this mission. It's not irrelevant in the slightest, however. I really do need to know the new specs of that thing if I am to know how it may be utilised in the mission, so please, give me the cliff notes."

Dewitt always put the mission first, just as steadfast as Frank called her out to be, and right then?

In her stare there was no immediate room for whatever had once resided between them. Whatever memories had stirred of that lagoon, they were not important in the context of stopping an intergalactic war, and she needed to know what tools were at her disposal.

OOC: My turn to be late due to a fucked up weekend, lol! Hope this one works! :)

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #6 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold [ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ] | Attn: @Auctor Lucan
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Frank gave a slow musing nod to her point, and offered lightly, "Something Federation in design then. What times these are these days." He slowly shook his head, and offered idly, "It's become madness at every turn." He chuckled softly, "Never thought I would have longed for straightforwardness, but here we are." At the second part of her comment, he gave a slow grin, and offered lightly, "I certainly did not mind one bit." He laughed his cheeks turning slightly for a change.

He gave a slow shrug and offered, "You must have some form of the Captain's trust and esteem, otherwise, you'd not be leading this mission." He smiled at her, "I was just happy to see a familiar face for a change, instead of unfamiliar but friendly ones." He gave a slow chuckle, and then rolled his shoulders leaning back, wishing for a moment he had a cigar, something to make him relax just a little. He would give a nod saying lightly, "Haven't met the Captain yet, but I hear good things."

He gave a bright smile, and took out a PADD as she asked for the specs of the Tovarek Drone, but then asked for the cliff notes, and he cleared his throat, and then slid the PADD away. He nodded slowly, "It's not fundamentally different than the original pattern in flight function, but I've made some big changes to the hull, it now has a very reduced sensor footprint, not as good as a cloak, but pretty good. It'll make any fucker that tries to lock it, struggle. If they do hit it, I've enhanced the hull composite with an addition of my own, some extra weight, but it'll take a beating." He was clearly excited to be talking about his craft, "I've turned one of the wing phasers, and the torpedo launcher groundward, to support an away team. I affixed it with that docked tail, and in there is a communications relay, and site to site transporter. Best part is, it can be partially run from a modified PADD, so the ground crew can site and sense what's ahead of them." He offered, "I can send you the complete specs for your perusing."

He smiled gently, "I can also do any repairs, or refits here if need be, although I don't have too much of a staff, Ji is obviously no stranger to small craft, and it seems you've got a choice group here, no doubt a few pocket aces."

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #7 –
[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Sitting there, she focused entirely on what Frank was saying, deriving what manner of usage she would have available from the tool, for it was to her essentially just a tool, nothing more.

She did not share in the engineer's fascination for the machine itself. She was hard to impress in terms of engineering feats, merely expecting things to work, and preferably, that they would be available for the needs that might arise at any given time. She had zero tolerance for ambiguous reasons that this or that was unavailable when she needed it. Either something worked as it should or it didn't, and those things were supposed to have the kind of power profile that wouldn't demand some damn re-routing of plasma from the bloody sonic showers before that.

"How many personnel would the thing's transporter buffer hold?" was her immediate question, because she could see the utility for infiltration missions where the drone could get somewhere it was't supposed to be, and then let the team materialise somewhere that sensors mightn't see them. "Secondly, I need to know what kind of means the things has to get inside buildings, ships or stations. It merely has a phaser strip or two, right, and that's far from ideal if time is of the essence?"

If only the Savi would be willing to lend us a small graviton beam cutter... but we'd have to fit it on the drone as well. I can just imagine what kind of complications that would entail...

"Please understand, I am not saying I am not impressed," she clarified after a moment with a smile. "You know me. I am not easily impressed, and I really never cared for the engineering classes. I am sure what you've done with the drone is impressive. I just don't care about the loops and hurdles, only that it gets things done when and where it should."

Tough audience, to say the least.

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #8 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan
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Frank smiled gently, and would look Jen over, shuffling in his seat a little bit as he did, trying to get comfortable while they had this conversation. Her non reaction did not go unnoticed, and he was a little disappointed to tell the truth. Frank loved machines, it was hard for him to grasp the notion that other people didn't feel that way about creations. And this was someone he'd jived with for a long time, so he hoped she might share his enthusiasm. Hopes...dashed.

Still though, indomitable of spirit, he smiled through it, and at her question, he brightened, after all, it was something that he actually got to think over, before offering, "Confidently and safely; Four." He nodded slowly, following his simple answer with explanation because he couldn't help it, "Theoretically of course, we've not held anything in the pattern buffers for more than a few minutes, and only then they were just test cylinders. However I can confidently say, it should handle four people with relative ease. Any more and I'd have to give you a probability of success." He'd leave out of course that maintaining any pattern for a long time could be an issue, and it was energy intensive, she hadn't asked, and she didn't seem to want to hear him ramble.

He gave a slow shrug, and offered, "I mean, inside a building, transport of course, a groundward phaser strip would do it as long as you're not cutting anything real dense, common construction materials shouldn't pose a problem for phasers, and even then can always use a torpedo." He rolled his shoulders, "If you want to cut a hull though, anything dense, shielded, or conductive, you're going to have some trouble yes. It's just not what it was designed for, wasn't in the specifications." He rolled his shoulders, "Now that's not to say that can't be changed of course, I made her I can unmake her a little, but that's neither here nor there for the moment."

He gave a shrug, "I'm not sure my creations ever much impressed you." He winked at her, before offering, "You give the drone a mission inside the design parameters, I have one hundred percent confidence it will be able to successfully execute. Outside the design parameters, same answer, it'll just take a bit of fenagling, she's modular."

He was used to a tough audience.

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #9 –
[ Lt Cmdr. Jennifer Dewitt | Ready Room | USS Allegiant ]
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Hearing what she needed to know about the drone, Jennifer nodded with a smile.

"Very well, Frank. I'll take your word for it, and let's hope there is no need for anything so extravagant that it might force you to make some last minute fixes to it during this mission. I have bad experiences with rushed inventions on the Opal, and I don't care for them. Then again, you weren't on the Opal, so I will consider my worries unfounded."

She shifted in her seat then, putting one leg over the other, and ran her hand through her hair. She looked Frank over with a coy smile, thinking back on what she may have seen in him back then on the Cortez. It seemed so long ago, and while gut aside, the man remained the same, she realised there was nothing substantial left in terms of feelings for him. Attraction was something else, of course, but emotionally? No, she believed that ship may have sailed.

"It's good to see you again, and I look forward to another chat sometime, when the needs to the Galaxy isn't banging at our door."

A kind dismissal, with so much unsaid, and in hope to stay in touch this time around.

At least they would have the duration of the mission, if nothing else.
 

Re: CH02: S [D01|1945] - Funny Seeing You Here

Reply #10 –
Frank gave a gentle chuckle, saying lightly, "I've never lied to you before." That was a lie of course, everyone lied white on occasion, but the sentiment was clear. 'I've never lied to you about the big stuff' but that was too wordy to be worth it. He laughed at her second statement though, and offered gently, "I'll have you know, on the fly is where my kind lives, eats, and shits, just not at the same time. That would be gross" He chuckled gently, "After all, I'm a damage control expert, when am I not working on something impromptu, damage rarely announces itself."

He offered her a warm smile, but he felt much the same as she. They'd been a decade younger, green, and three thousand days worth of experiences different. She'd always be someone he'd loved, and someone he had love for, but not someone he was in love with. That had gone some time ago, many messages left in the past unsaid or unread. That wasn't to say it wasn't nice to see her however, and slowly he rose, and offered a gentle nod at her dismissal, saying warmly, "It was nice to see you too Jen, I'm glad to be in your circles again, I missed your company."

With that, he simply turned, and headed for the door, it had been funny seeing her here.

--FIN--
 
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