Taking a Break

Marco was in a daze, his first few hours of work as a Chief Operations Officer had been gruelling, especially with the prospect of overtime to be put in now due to the Leviathan's 'hasty' departure. After that, he'd have to work off-duty as well writing personnel evaluations for his department. For the moment however, he was enjoying a quick break and a coffee in the mess hall.

There were several NCO's needing reassignment to different areas of the department and a few crew evaluations to be submitted to Commander J'ross, he'd be glad if he'd get any sleep in his first few days aboard the new vessel. He was worried that other people may think he was a slacker, but then he attributed that to resettlement into a new situation and got back to the mug of coffee he was drinking and the operations efficiency report he was redrafting when suddenly, a sound came from above him.

He looked up and found to his surprise there a young, female officer, from the looks of her uniform, either Security or Engineering. He vaguely remembered her face from the briefing he got before being assigned to the USS Taurus, a Security Officer, sister of the Chief Security Officer, Lana… Lana… McQueen, that was it, Ensign Lana McQueen, Security Officer.

The voice suddenly seemed more 'real' and focused to Marco and he heard the Ensign saying in a slightly embarrassed tone. "Uh, Sir, is this seat free ?" to which the Lieutenant replied, "Oh, yes, hello Ensign, that's fine"

She sat down. "Aren't you the new Chief Ops Officer ?"

"Oh, yes that's me". Macro replied.

They settled into a lively conversation which was abruptly ended ten minutes later when through the comm came [Lieutenant Borealiou to the Bridge immediately please.]

Marco uttered an affirmative into his comm badge, turned to face the Ensign and said, "Nice to meet you, I hope we see each other again soon."

"I hope so too, maybe we could maybe see each other for a coffee tonight, that is if you'd like to and if that is coffee you're drinking." Lana replied. "I have to go anyway, I'm transferring the last of the Jem'Hadar prisoners off the ship before we leave."

They both smiled and Marco said that he'd love to meet her again. As he left the mess hall he logged into a nearby wall console to find a message waiting in his Personal message account.

It said "Twenty-one hundred hours, I'm off duty then, would you like to meet at the holodeck."

Marco logged off and walked down the corridor with a smile and a spring in his step, he was starting to make new friends.