Drinks Are On You

Posted on Sun Jul 21st, 2019 @ 12:31pm by Ensign Svetlana Bondoreva
Edited on on Sun Jul 21st, 2019 @ 1:10pm

1,784 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: [Joint Mission]Happy ever after
Location: Station Lounge/USS Michael Debakey
Timeline: MD001 1600

ON:

As she sat in one of the lounges aboard the station, Svetlana wondered how much she was going to like her new assignment on the Shanghai. She also wondered how she was going to fit in. She had been on the station a few days with nothing really to do and it had given her time to think – maybe too much time

Truth told though, she DID miss the Debakey, her old ship, and she missed some of the friends she had there as well. But in thinking of her old ship as she waited for her drink order to be delivered, she was reminded of a not-so-pleasant memory of the day she had left.

====== Approximately five weeks ago =====

Svetlana tugged slightly at the blue collar of her uniform. She knew that only the color differed from the white tabs that signified an assistant...but it was enough to make it feel foreign. Mostly because she knew what it signified. It meant she was moving up in the Starfleet hierarchy.

It had been hard for her to tell Maxwell and Jackie that she was leaving, and now that she was heading to lunch to meet Bob, she knew she would be telling him very soon too. But how to broach the news...?

Well, she thought, with a small smirk, her orders on the PADD would be kind of a dead giveaway...

She sighed softly. Give it a few days, she told herself. Change always takes time to get used to.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the officers' lounge and looked around.

Robert had just returned to his seat with a second ginger ale and trained his eyes back on to the entrance to not miss Svetlana's arrival as she entered. His dark features lit up with joy and his teeth stood out against his skin as he grinned. With an outstretched arm, he waved her over. As she approached, something caught his attention - his eyes had noticed a significant change, but they were unable to hand the news to his brain yet.

"Hey," she said, immediately giving him a smile as she walked over and sat down.

"Hey there," Duncan returned the greeting. As she sat down, the penny finally dropped. With a brief look of panic crossing his face, he leaned over the table.

"’Lana," he urgently hissed, "I cannot believe nobody told you yet - you seem to have replicated the wrong tunic this morning."

She winced slightly. I knew I should have waited 'til after lunch to make the uniform change... "Actually," she said softly, "I didn't. Umm...it seems there's a new ship that needs a counselor and...well...the counselor is me.

Duncan almost swallowed his tongue upon hearing that - on his features, the expressions rapidly changed, from surprise to disbelief to astonishment to fun.

"Counselor...you...ah, right, I get it." The NCO conspiratorially tapped the side of his nose. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on – Nice try, though, but I wonder what Commander McCallahan will have to say to it when he sees you in this. You’re still a counselor’s assistant. Why would starfleet assign you to a ship as a full-fledged counselor this soon? You’ve had what – nine months’ training?”

Svetlana shrugged.” I guess Starfleet thinks I’m ready. And as for McCallahan, go ahead...ask him yourself if you don't believe me," she said seriously. "He was right there with the captain this morning when she asked me if I'd be willing to take a posting to a new ship."

Duncan grinned. "Do you really think I of all people need to ask him? I get to see his paperwork! So I'll soon enough know whether you're kidding me or not." He cocked his head with a mischievous grin. "Seriously - Counselor, eh? Hey, thinking about it, that's cool...so I can come to see you anytime I like, and even on duty and nobody can object to that, eh, because my mental health depends on it."

She chuckled. "That might work—if we were on the same ship..." Svetlana paused. "But we won't be..." Her eyes glanced down at the table. “Didn't you hear me a minute ago, Bob? I'm being transferred to another ship.”

Bob hesitated for a moment. She HAD said something about a new ship, but he had thought it was part of some elaborate ruse for her to pull a practical joke on him. She WAS well known for that sort of thing after all. “I heard you...” he said slowly. “I just thought it some sort of joke, that's all.”

“It's no joke,” she said. “I'm being transferred to a ship that I’m to meet at New Haven Station.”

“Which one?” he asked.

“USS Shanghai,” she answered. “She’s a Vesta-class and I’m scheduled to report aboard her in just over a month. I go from here to Deep Space Nine, then from there to New Haven. Because of the transit time I’m being detached today.”

“I see...” he spoke slowly. “So what's going to happen to us? You know how long-distance relationships are. They never last.”

And therein lay her next problem—something else she knew she had to tell him.

“Bob, that's just it...How can I say this?” She hesitated as she searched in her mind for a way to break it to him without being rude about it. Finally she realized that the only way was to just say it and be done with it. “There's something I've realized for a while now and I've just not known how to say it, but the only way is to just be out with it. There IS no 'us'. What we've had has been fun but it was only a shipboard romance—no less and no more. But I've been offered this opportunity for advancement -to do what I was REALLY meant to do. I was meant to be a counselor and it's time for me to move on.

“So...” he said, doing his best to hide the disappointment inside him. “This has all been just a romp for you? Wham bam and thank you ma'am? Only I guess in this case it should be 'thank you sir'.”

“I'm sorry, I really am.” She said. “But if you remember, when this started I told you I wanted no strings attached.”

“I know...” Bob said quietly. “But I thought that things had changed.”

“Nothing changed. As I said, it was fun but now it's time for me to go. My orders should be in your office within the hour and I would appreciate it if you would put them through as soon as possible. I'm supposed to report aboard the Pathfinder this afternoon for transport and I'm sure the captain of the Shanghai would appreciate receiving my orders as soon as possible.

“I will have your orders processed and forwarded within the hour,” Duncan answered stiffly. He looked at Svetlana for a long moment before speaking again. “So this is how it ends, huh? You just waltz in here and say 'I've had fun but I'm outta here'?

“C'mon Bob...” Svetlana said, her bright blue eyes flashing with what he recognized as the beginning of anger. “Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be.”

“What the hell do you know about difficult?” he spat back at her. “After all, you're not the one getting dumped without so much as a by-your-leave.”

“What did you expect—a goodbye tumble in the hay?” Her temper was really beginning to become evident. “Sorry to disappoint you but that's not going to be happening. As a counselor I know these things hurt but I also know that the best way to deal with it is to make a clean break of it and not drag things out so that's what I'm doing. It's the best thing for the both of us.”

Thoroughly stung by both her words and actions, Bob could not resist saying the first thing that came into his mind. “Well I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for on this new ship, but I'd like to make one little suggestion if I may. Knowing your sexual appetite and your desire for partners, both male and female, when you look for fulfillment, try looking with your brain and not your body.”

She laughed softly, but it was a laugh devoid of humor. “At least I've been honest about what I do,” she said. “Never once have I lied about any of my relationships and I sure as hell never tried to sleep with the higher-ups in order to curry favor."

“What are you talking about?” he asked, although he had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly where this line was leading to.

“Thought I didn't know about all your late-night 'meetings' with chief engineer Mandell, didn't you? The 'meetings' in her office, and occasionally in her quarters, that sometimes lasted into the wee hours of the morning?” She grinned slightly, seeing his obvious discomfort. She had originally hoped this meeting would be short and simple but that was obviously not going to be the case. “Oh, and since you wanted to give me some advice on how to live my life, let me give you a bit of advice as well. If you're gonna screw around on someone, next time pick a partner that's not an inveterate gossip. You might actually get away with it then.”

“At least in that case I picked someone on my own intellectual level,” he said.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back where Svetlana was concerned. “I'm sure you did,” she said slowly as she stood up from the table. “Which may not be saying much for either of you. And that's what I SHOULD have done—because you are obviously nowhere near MY intellectual level.”

And with that, she proceeded to dump the entire contents of her drink glass over his head. “Drinks are on you...”

Slamming the glass back down onto the table, she then turned and purposefully strode away. “Have a nice life...” she tossed over her shoulder as she left the lounge.

====== Present time ======

Svetlana's reverie was interrupted by the arrival of her drink. Thanking the server, she slowly sipped from the glass, wondering what her assignment to the Shanghai would hold for her. More importantly, as she was eager to assume her new duties, she wondered when the Shanghai would arrive. "Perhaps I should check with station OPS..." she said to herself. "They might be able to give me some information."

OFF:

Ensign Svetlana Bondoreva
Counselor
USS Shanghai

 

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