It's the simple things...

Posted on 02 Oct 2016 @ 2:53pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant JG Paul Akron

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: MD -2: 1100 Hours

Captain Nathan Cowell stood on the bridge of the USS Arizona, the cavernous compartment devoid of anyone save himself. The ship had just recently returned from the shakedown cruise around the Sol System and back again, and had apparently passed muster with flying colors. Nathan stepped up onto the raised platform that held the chair from which Nathan would soon be directing the lives of well over 500 people for as long as the ship held out. It was very much like a scene out of any old movie Nathan frequently watched, two old friends united after a long separation. Except in this instance it was a man being reunited with a chair, and by extension the ship that came with it.

Capt. Cowell stood before the symbolic piece of furnishing for a moment, just taking in the feeling of finally being back where he belonged, even if it wasn’t his old chair. He turned around and sank into the rather plush material that made up the seat’s surface. Nathan frowned a bit, it had been sat on by someone else, he could tell, and it caused him to push himself back off it almost as soon as he’d sat down.

“This won’t do…” Nathan grumbled.

The sound of doors sliding open to Nathan’s left drew the man’s attention, his eyes resting on a face that was all too familiar to him.

“Akron!” Nathan bellowed at the man who had just stepped onto the bridge, “Who the hell sat in my chair?!”

Poor Lieutenant Junior Grade Paul Akron had no time to formulate any sort of coherent thought as he stepped onto the bridge into an immediate barrage of questioning. The man stood in shock for several seconds for several reasons. The first of which being that he hadn’t expected to see Captain Cowell standing on the bridge. The second of which was that he hadn’t been aware Captain Cowell was a Captain again, and not an Admiral. Third being, he had no clue who had been in his chair as he had only just beamed aboard not even five minutes prior.

“I… I don’t know…” Paul sputtered helplessly, “I just beamed aboard…”

“No excuse!” Nathan raged, “Didn’t anyone have the good sense to tell people to stay out of my damn chair?!”

Lt. Akron rubbed his hands together nervously, “I just assumed everyone knew it by now sir, or I would have sent them a message…”

Nathan gave the shivering Conn Officer a withering stare for a moment before shrugging, “Can’t be helped I suppose. Probably didn’t think I’d be coming back to her. See what you can do about getting it replaced.”

“Yes, Captain, right away…” Paul nodded and scrambled to the turbolift he’d just come from.

“And Paul,” Nathan called back to the man.

“Sir?” the man turned about with his eyes wide.

“Nice to have you back, son,” the old man said with what could almost have been considered a smile before turning around to vanish into his ready room.

“Nice… to… be… back… Captain…” Paul struggled to get the words out as a bevy of emotions flooded the man’s thoughts. He stood in stunned silence for nearly a full minute before remembering he’d been given a task.

Nathan walked into his new Ready Room and found that it was as sparsely decorated at his office back on Earth had been. The furnishings were nice enough, but there were no pictures on the walls, no statues cluttering up the place, and nothing that didn’t serve a purpose. In a word, it was perfect. Nathan rounded the desk and pulled the chair out that had been placed behind it. With a grunt, the old man flopped down into it, finding at least that particular chair had not been occupied before his own ass had a chance to break it in.

“Well, that’s something at least,” Nathan said aloud as he leaned back and kicked his feet up onto the desk in true Cowell fashion.

Nathan let out a long sigh before his eyes began to get heavy. Everything around him started to dim as he blissfully allowed himself the sweet release of a long overdue nap.

“Bridge to Captain Cowell,” a voice called out, the sound of it jostling the old man free from his slumber. A second call came over the speakers in his quarters before he registered that it was Mr. Akron who was trying to get ahold of him.

“What?!” Nathan grumbled.

“I managed to get your chair replaced, sir. I thought you might want to know…” Paul’s voice sounded surprisingly stable despite his gruff response.

“Fine… I’ll be right out,” Nathan said as he dragged his tired appendages off the surface of the desk. With a bit of a grunt, Nathan propelled himself out of his chair and made the slow trudge to the door, not overly thrilled at having to abandon his nap. As the doors to his ready room parted, Nathan took in the room around him. It was still markedly sparse, population wise, but more bodies had managed to filter in. The one thing that really did stand out, however, was the replacement seat Paul had mentioned. It looked too familiar.

“Where in the hell did you dig that up from?” Nathan asked, more than a little surprised.

Paul straightened up with more than a little pride, “I talked to a friend I have here at the shipyard and worked out a deal with him. Long story short, I managed to convince them to bring your old chair from the original ship over here.”

Nathan eyed the man for a good minute before his gaze turned to the chair in question. It stood out in a bad way compared to everything else around it. Even the color was off by a large margin. The smile that spread across the old El-Aurian’s face was enough to tell anyone looking that he was exceptionally pleased with what his Conn Officer had done.

“Son…” Nathan said, “I don’t care how you made it happen, but you did damn good work.”

“Thank you, Captain!” Paul practically chirped.

Nathan approached the chair and eased himself into it. His ass was caressed in all the right ways by all the right contours, signaling to him that no other posterior had defiled the thing since the last time his rear had graced it. Nathan shifted pointedly in the chair and nodded his sincere approval.

“Now she’s the Arizona,” Nathan smirked.

If Paul had possessed a tail, it would have been wagging furiously at the proclamation he had made. Throughout their association, Paul had never once seen Capt. Cowell so contented. More importantly, he couldn’t recall a time when the Captain had been so content with anything he had done. His only regret about it was that Lt. Marion hadn’t been there to see his crowning achievement in terms of his dealing with Capt. Cowell. It was her, after all, that had convinced him that the Captain didn’t hate him, he merely didn’t show his approval overly often.

“Akron!” Nathan barked, snapping the young Lieutenant out of his trance.

“Sir?” the man responded with a start.

“Don’t just stand there, get to your station. This boat isn’t going to pre-flight itself!” Capt. Cowell ordered.

“Yes, Captain!” Paul nodded and nearly leapt into the Conn console to begin the pre-flight checklist.

Nathan sank back into his chair and clasped his hands together in front of him. Soon… soon they would be back out in the great unknown… And perhaps this time they would make it back in one piece…