The Six Million Ruble Man

Posted on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 @ 10:15pm by Commander Temperance Zachary & Lieutenant Vasily Andropov II

Mission: Episode 01: "Vestal Hearth"
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Day 1 at 0000

Vasily looked at his watch, realizing he'd be fifteen minutes early to his planned meeting with the Executive Officer. That was a good thing, it meant that he would be punctual. More importantly he could run some last minute diagnostics before he met with her, his leg was giving him a bit of trouble lately and was likely due for a software update. Either way he'd need to get it fixed soon, lest the issue get worse and he'd be further unable to do his job.

The turbo lift doors opened to the bridge, Vas stepping quickly inside to see it thankfully empty. Finding an empty chair, mindful not to take the commander's, he sat down completely ignoring the majesty of the bridge. Rolling up his pant leg and removing his boot he exposed the duranium leg underneath. Taking another look around to ensure that indeed no one was present, he twisted the appendage off and set it on his lap.

Pulling out a tricorder to scan his leg he heard the distinctive woosh of the door. Silently cursing his luck he looked at his watch, still ten minutes early. Setting the metal leg aside he pushed himself up to face the person who just entered, using his left hand to stabilize himself, "Commander Zachary, my apologies."

Temperance found herself pausing, taking in the scene in front of her. "Well..." she said with a slight smirk. "I can honestly say this is something new... though, I suppose, at least I didn't catch you with your pants down." She closed the gap between them, holding her hand out toward him. "Commander Temperance Zachary," she said calmly. "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you would be Lieutenant Vasily Andropov?"

"I am," Vasily grasped the woman's hand, probably a little harder than he should of. Though considering the circumstances it was probably the least awkward thing happening in that moment. Letting it go he nodded to the woman who looked about ten years younger than him, "I tried to get a leg up by arriving early, it obviously didn't help. Would you mind if I reassembled myself?"

"Well, you better hop to it," Temperance replied, trying to keep a straight face as she spoke. "While you're reassembling can I get you a drink? Nothing alcoholic though, we're both on duty and I wouldn't want you to end up legless."

"Black tea, strong and dark," Less than gracefully he flopped back down on the chair. Fumbling with his leg he managed to get it reattached quickly enough. He looked at Temperance as he slipped his boot back on, "It's good we're abstaining, otherwise I'd be compelled to check you ID."

"Oh, I think I like you already," Temperance replied as motioned for him to join her, the duo walking to the small lunch room off the bridge. Once they were within, she replicated his tea and a hot milk chocolate for herself, then ordering a tray of shortbread cookies as an afterthought. "We may as well sit in here and chat, if that suits you? It might be more comfortable."

"No complaints from me ma'am," Vasily took the seat across from her, wrapping a hand around his mug of tea. He took a sip, eyes never leaving her. Setting the tea down he spoke, "I take it that you know a bit about me, though I'm not sure if you were already aware of my disability."

"I spent a while on transport to get to the Station so I could transfer to Vesta," Temperance replied with a smile. "I spent time reading up on the crew, especially the new crew who would be coming aboard while she's on layover here. Sometimes it's difficult to join an established ship without feeling like an outsider, so I figured I'd work out who I was going to be the outsider with," she offered as explanation.

"Smart move, I did the same," Vas offered a rare grin, gone as quickly as it came. His studies had been on what to expect, which was exactly what he was expecting with a standard Starfleet crew make up, "What questions do you have that my file couldn't answer?"

"Only one," Temperance replied with an easy grin, keeping her hands wrapped around the mug as she leaned forward toward him conspiratorially. "What kind of weapon have you turned that prosthetic into? I mean, you could be packing some serious hardware there and no one would know..."

“I have a phaser and a fighting knife stored in it, contingencies for other equipment,” His answer was nonchalant, as if she asked him about the weather. The question was expected, at least some flavor of it, now he inadvertently revealed it. At least she wasn’t shy about the question which boded well for any future discussions, “As for the leg itself, I can kick down most
standard doors without aid and I suppose it would make a decent club in a pinch.”

There was a look of momentary surprise on Temperance's face before she laughed and shook her head. "I was being facetious with the question," she said, her voice still light with laughter. "But, you know, if I ever plan to get stuck behind a locked door with bad guys chasing me, I know who to have on my team."

"Let's hope it never gets to that point," Vas sipped his tea, appreciating the surprise he gave her. Setting the cup down he leaned forward a little, "Otherwise I have failed my job at some level," The neutral voice didn't give an indication of the statement's tone.

"I've learned to expect the unexpected," Temperance replied quietly. "Roll with the punches, bad guys, locked doors and all."

"That's why it's always a good idea to have plastique on you, in case you need to dynamically break the lock," Realizing he had made her uncomfortable he thought of a way to change the subject. Despite officer polishing school he was still very clumsy even with that, "What is home for you? If you don't mind the question."

"A small place on Earth," Temperance said with a smile before taking a sip from her hot chocolate. "Eldheim, I doubt you would have heard of it, almost no one has. It's... well, it's not really what you would call 'on the maps' so to speak. That's where I grew up anyway, before I went to live on Starbase 413."

There appeared to be a lot buried under the surface of that statement. Prying wasn't his business, but he'd at least have to maintain some form of conversation, "A big change I take it? Going from the middle of nowhere to the hub of technology?"

Temperance laughed openly. "Oh, believe me, you have no idea," she said with a shake of her head. "Have you ever been in a village that has no technology?" she asked curiously. "I mean, I'm talking nothing. No electricity, no technology, no replicators, nothing at all?"

"Only living history villages," It was obvious she wasn't being hyperbolic, she was describing her childhood. Still, it was best to act simple. Sipping the tea he kept his attention focused on her.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it, a living historical village." She shrugged slightly and wrapped her hands around her chocolate. "I didn't know any of this existed until I was sixteen and I went to live on 413. But, anyway, how about you? In what part of the universe do your roots lie?"

"Small village in the Western Steppe. I can't say we lacked for the basics but I did ride a horse to market," Vas nodded, concerned he had hit a sore spot. Taking a drink of his tea he continued, "My parents insisted on teaching me how to live like our ancestors did in the days of old."

"It's not a bad skill to learn," Temperance replied with an easy smile, settling back in her seat, her hands wrapped firmly around her chocolate. "I mean, I can guarantee most people you'll find on this ship won't know how to live without modern technology. My parents had no such honorable intentions, they were just crackers," she said with a shrug, clearly nonplussed at that moment.

"My apologies if I upset you Commander," He wasn't quite sure what else to say, never really being good at small talk. To fill the silence he finally grabbed a cooking and chewed on it, watching her for any other social cues.

"You didn't," Temperance replied easily. "What's done is done. If I have to be honest, in some ways it was a blessing in disguise."

"What are your expectations of me?" He figured it would be best to move onto business, finding discussion of personal events uncomfortable, "Professionally."

Temperance laughed suddenly. "I'll tell you what, when I work that out, how about I let you know?" she asked with a grin. "I'm still working out what I expect of myself. This is all new."

"New to command? Could have fooled me," He smirked slightly sipping his tea, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, you can't be much older than twenty," There may or may not have been sarcasm in his tone.

"I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment, so thank you," Temperance replied with a sweet smile. "I'm actually twenty eight. But it's always nice to know I'm aging well. And yes, I am new to command, this is actually my first stint as First Officer and I've only been on board for twenty four hours, so I'm still finding my own feet so to speak."

"I wouldn't dare insult you ma'am," Feeling a little more comfortable he took another cookie, "If it makes you feel any better, I haven't actually served on a ship since I was a wet behind the ears rookie, probably twelve years ago now. Which means you have roughly twenty-three and half hours of experience on me."

Temperance laughed. "Good, we can work out what we're doing together then," she said with an easy smile.

"Anything else I should know about," Vas smile lightly, looking about, "This reminds me more of the cruise ships we used to board rather than an actual fleet ship. I take it this isn't just a run of the mill explorer."

She shook her head slightly in response. "Honestly, I don't think there's anything run of the mill about this ship, I have a feeling we'll be finding out her secrets for quite some time. I have no doubt we'll speak again before we leave, so we'll have plenty of time to make sure we're across everything. Until then, I guess just settle in and spend some time scoping out your department? Meet your crew and get to know them, make sure you're all ready for departure."

"Of course," Taking her statement as the end of the meeting he stood up, careful to not let his non-organic leg his the deck too hard. This was becoming more and more odd. Still, a rifle was a rifle and no matter what quadrant one found themselves in there were plenty of angry groups, "It was a pleasure to meet you ma'am."

"And you Lieutenant," Temperance said with a smile as she watched him stand up. "I'm looking forward to working with you."