Meeting Beyond the Pale

Posted on 04 Nov 2016 @ 10:09pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Daytona Ral & Lieutenant Claire Annette

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Brig
Timeline: Mission Day -2

ON

Having met with the Captain, Daytona went directly to the Brig to talk to his other boss, Lieutenant Claire Annette (no joke). The Master-At-Arms 2nd Class manning the desk was leaning back in his chair. When Daytona walked in, the MA2 glanced lazily over at him, not a care in the world until his eyes fell on the rank insignia on Daytona's collar. Daytona stared the man straight in the eye, giving him a look that would peel the paint off of a starship hull. The man scrambled to his feet.

"Uh...hey there, Master Chief!" he said. "Can I help you with something?"

Daytona held his evil eye on the man for a moment longer, then relented.

"Relax," he said. "I know how boring space dock is. Just make sure you don't let the boredom make you sloppy."

The MA2 looked relieved.

"Copy that, Master Chief," he said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah," Daytona said. "I'm your new Chief Master-At-Arms. I'm looking for the boss. She around?"

"Yes," the MA2 replied, pointing to a door. "She's in her office. Want me to call her?"

"Nah," Daytona replied. "I'll just go introduce myself."

Daytona walked over to Lieutenant Annette's office and hit the door chime.

"Come in," called Claire, looking up from her terminal.

Daytona entered and found himself facing an attractive woman, whose pale skin made her look even more attractive. Hopefully, she was as nice as she looked.

"Lieutenant Annette?" he said, coming to attention. "Master Chief Master-At-Arms Daytona Ral reporting in. I look forward to serving under you."

Claire stared at the man for several long seconds, her brow furrowing as she tried to recall who he was on the roster. "Yes, please come in and have a seat. Chief Daytona Ral, was it?" Typing on her terminal for a few seconds, she finally had his records and after a cursory glance over them, clicked the terminal off and smiled across the desk at the man. "Ah, excellent. Welcome aboard. Tell me something about yourself that isn't in your file."

Daytona thought about Lieutenant Annette's question for a moment before responding.

"Well, why don't I tell you about what's in the most recently redacted section of my file," he said. "It probably mentions in there that a particular marine officer gave the order to abandon SOCOM forces on Chintoka, of which I was a member, during the Second Battle of Chintoka. It says that I was left behind along with everyone else. This officer told his superiors that we had been lost. We hadn't, and he knew it. What this meant was that not only were we left behind, but we weren't retrieved until a few months after the treaties were signed. No one knew we were there until Starfleet came to supervise the withdrawal of Dominion, Cardassian, and Breen forces from Chintoka. When they did, only a fraction of us were left. I was awarded my second Starfleet Cross for my actions there. I'm not bragging, this just helps set up the story. I was pretty angry when we got back to civilization. I jumped through all the hoops that Starfleet required and was granted a brief leave period. I used that time to track down that cowardly marine. It wasn't hard. I was civilian police on Rigel V for fifty-four years, twenty-nine of those a detective. Well I found the coward and confronted him. Let's just say it didn't go well and we came to blows. I beat the man within an inch of his life. I should have been tried, convicted, and sent to a penal colony, but that didn't happen. You see, the cowardly bastard had been awarded a medal for his actions on Chintoka, and I had a string of decorations, including two Starfleet Crosses, one of which I earned for MY actions on Chintoka. A deal was struck. He wouldn't press charges against me for assaulting an officer, and I would let the matter of his cowardice in the face of the enemy drop, and take a lateral transfer out of SOCOM. I've been in Starfleet a long time. I didn't get where I was at the time without knowing when to swallow my pride and follow orders, so I did. I can promise you that that was a one time incident, and that I don't see it happening again. I have never violated a suspect's rights or a prisoner's rights. In my fifty-four years of civilian law-enforcement and my sixteen years as a master-at-arms, I have never been accused, let alone found to be guilty of, excessive use of force. I don't intend to start now. The incident was a personal matter and won't be repeated. The other stuff that's redacted or vague is classified, but that's how I ended up here as your Chief Master-At-Arms instead of as an Operations NCO in SOCOM."

Daytona leaned back in his chair and grinned.

"Also," he said. "I have secretly been learning to play the bass, both upright and guitar, for the last twelve years. I fell in love with jazz years ago, you see. One of the postives about being transferred back to being a master-at-arms is that I've had the time and energy to take up learning a musical instrument."

Claire leaned back and just listened for the time being, nodding slightly on occasion. "I play guitar. Normally in a lolita cosplay outfit. As for that part of your professional career, i feel for you but I couldn't care less what happened in the end. You obviously survived it and have a good demeanor about it and that tells me scores more than your bloviated tale could possibly inform me of on its own. It also tells me that you love talking. Please tell me the Captain gave you a fitting nickname."

"Nope," he said. The lieutenant was the second person to complain that he liked to talk. There was no way to respond to that kind of accusation verbally, so he kept his mouth shut. Why is it that people didn't want to hear what he had to say, especially when they asked you for an explanation. The Captain had asked him 'how did you end up here?' While the Captain was older, Daytona was still 116 years old. 'How did you end up here?' could hardly be answered in one sentence. Same with 'tell me something that's not in your file'. There was a damn lot that wasn't in Daytona's file. See if he ever told anyone on this ship anything ever again. Nope! No way! No how! He was just going to keep his mouth shut from here on out.

Daytona knew that there was virtually no chance of that actually happening, but it made him feel better to say it...er...think it...silently...in his head...where nobody else could hear him!

Claire sat there waiting for a few seconds before realizing no more words were forthcoming. "Well, at least you're honest. That's one of the reasons I asked such an open ended question. Now I'm going to ask you another question. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Nope," Daytona said. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. He WASN'T an overly talkative person. All you had to do was ask Daytona if he was a talkative person and he'd tell you in great detail, without being talkative, how talkative he wasn't. Ah...who was he kidding. "Ok, yeah. Let's get the 'what do you expect from the senior NCO in your department' question out of the way so you can tell me why you're so pale."

Claire finally cracked a smile and nodded, her perfect white teeth almost blending in with her skin. "I expect a lot from you. You'll be one of the people keeping everyone in line if we're boarded. Borg, Hirogen, and countless others might be on our list of unwelcome guests. On top of that, Talaxians might be on our welcome guests list and they... I'll let you read the file on them from Voyager. And I'm very pale, yes. I'm glad you noticed that I'm an albino. There was an issue with solar radiation at my colony so most of us had our pigmentation completely burned away. Most people stay inside the shields now, thankfully."

"Borg, Hirogen, Talaxians," Daytona said. "Got it. You take the two on the left and I'll take the 342 on the right. Does the ship's normal lighting bother you? How do you go on away missions? Do you go on away missions? Do you have to wear a big, floppy sun hat when you do? Does it match your uniform?"

"Normal lighting no, but I have to avoid sickbay because of all the extra lighting they insist on." As she spoke, Claire pulled out a bottle of SPF-100 sunblock and set it on the desk. "And this is normally enough for me, though I do have a nice wide brim hat that's big enough to shade half a dozen people. I haven't been on an away mission in ages, though I'm ready if I'm needed."

Daytona nodded.

"Now I kinda want to see the hat," he said with a grin."Don't worry about away teams. I'll make sure they have plenty of security so you don't have to go and get a fatal sunburn."

"The Captain has also brought up a couple medical procedures i might be interested in, if I want, but for now, thank you. I'll be counting on you." Claire checked the time on her terminal, then flipped it back off. "It's about time for something to eat, I think. Interested in joining me? Or have I been too rude?"

"I'll join you," Daytona said, "Thanks. And no you haven't been too rude."

"Excellent," Claire said as she stood and straightened her uniform. "I heard there's a lovely view at an observation lounge not far from here. I don't know about you, but I love staring into space. It almost feels like it's staring back, you know?"

"I used to have a really clear view of the stars from my family's farm and I thought that night sky was amazing," Daytona said. "Then I got into space and had my eyes opened."

"I bet so. We didn't have much in the way of upper atmosphere on our colony so we could see quite a bit, but even then..." Claire left the thought there and just smiled as she held the door open for Daytona.

Daytona went through and when she followed him out the two of them headed off.