Shore Leave: The Bar

Moira gives Stone a look that he'll know quite well as "please no shenanigans today, I'll tip you more." Darcy's party is later. She doesn't want anyone surprise-tipsy.


So! she asks Nic. What year is yer ship? An' private er public sector? Ah love old freighters. Ah really do miss tha Bull, though ah wouldn't trade tha Potential fer anythin.

"Yeah? What kind of modifications have been made to it?"

Cass sighs. "He's young. I'm hoping he's just nervous and will settle down once he gets adjusted to being on the Potential. I sort of made a big stink during debriefs after the last mission that if a scout ship is going to be put into that kind of situation, a ship's counselor is an absolute necessity. Spacefleet agreed, but I'm told that all the scout ships have been given counselors like him - young and green."

She scowls, shaking her head. "I mean, sure, most of the time, a scout ship isn't going to wind up dealing with a complicated first contact with a dangerous race, so maybe it makes sense to give your new counselors field experience on them instead of starting them on the larger classes. But Moira here is in training to become a ship's counselor, and Max is the guy they send to be her mentor?"

Cass suddenly realizes that she's ranting and picks up her tea glass to take a long drink.

Sighing, Cass slumps in the booth. She hadn't meant to start bitching about Spacefleet - it had just sort of tumbled out. But she did resent Spacefleet sending her an inexperienced counselor, especially since they'd made it clear that she was expected to sit down with him for regular appointments once he was stationed on the Potential. She'd had a few sessions with a counselor at the starbase, but he had prescribed ongoing therapy for a while to help her deal with the effects of trauma.

And they somehow thought Max was capable of not only understanding what she had been through, but of helping her heal from it.

When the drinks Nic ordered arrive, Cass doesn't argue.

Her glass raised, Cass says simply, "To better days ahead," and takes a sip. It's like drinking a comet; she feels it blasting down her throat and into her stomach. Immediately, her head begins to lightly buzz. "Wow, he wasn't kidding. I'm definitely only having one of these. Maybe not even the whole thing, if I want to be conscious for Darcy's party tonight."

"No, the party's being given by his daughter, Cassandra. She's my acting chief of security." Cass hazards a second sip of the Fleetwine. "Hey, you should come along. You could meet the rest of the bridge crew."

Well, she is tha most capable member of tha crew aside from our dear Commander, here.

Moira locks eyes with Nic and takes a larger sip than anyone has yet. It burns, but she manages not to flinch.

But ah think it's a casual affair. Oi. I should bring Max. But yeh'll like tha crew. Tha Potential's a regular family.

This guy is way too careless. And this comes from a woman who hides booze in her Murphy Bed.

"I like competent women" is something that a man who owns a stardust fedora would say. Moira does not like this man. And she doesn't like that he's flirting with Cass.

Oi, Moira, she ain't yer daughter.............But! He's a cad.

She smiles coolly.

Oh, ah got plenty a stories, an' ah saved tha Bull. It's why ah'm called "RC." But ah dunnae believe in raisin' mah own pride at tha expense of tha hard work mah superior officers do. As fer Cass? Well, let's see. She's always runs the mornin' debriefs. Has a deep, deep respect fer tha lower-ranked officers - doesn't let frivolity fly, but also makes a point ta acknowledge creative thinkin'. She successfully took our captain an' crew outta a toxic planet-quake after-shock. Oh. An' yeh may have heard about our first-contact with a new, hostile alien race that ended with the buds of genuinely peaceful negotiations with tha Consortium. Ah've got a hunch she was a bit of a spitfire in tha day, but stars, has she turned that inta an asset.

She is dead serious as she continues.

Shawna Cassano is one of the finest folk ah've ever worked with. We need more folks like her in tha Fleet.

Cass is staring at Moira in shock and confusion. She'd picked up on some antipathy from Moira toward Nic, but had assumed it was just her usual protectiveness around someone acting a bit too familiar with Cass. This display of subtle hostility suggests that it's something more.

"Moira, Nic and I are old friends," she says gently. "He didn't mean any insult to me."

Fashionably late, Zephyr returns to Stone's the next morning as well. He left a note for Vega that he would be heading there.

Nodding everyone as he enters, Zephyr says to Stone, Load me up on some carbohydrates if you have any, and make it spicy. Anything you've got would be fine. Do you happen to have espresso back there?

Zephyr then turns to the group and sits down at their table.

I apologize for the sober ending to an otherwise fun filled evening everyone. I did not realize my sister would be joining us. She has a knack for finding me at the oddest times.