Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Stabilizing Common Ground

Posted by Civilian Revna Freya McKenzie (Diplomatic Attache) in Stabilizing Common Ground

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Stabilizing Common Ground
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It had been several days since her meeting with Alex Cochrane. It bothered her that they seemed to be at odds with each other. Especially since they were both after the same thing. In the end Cochrane had at least somewhat agreed to let her try, to judge her by her actions. There was…something else there. Revna knew it without a shadow of a doubt. Problem was she wasn’t a ship’s counselor anymore and she couldn’t make him tell her.

Then there was that strange meeting with his mother and sister. She hadn’t been trying to intrude on his time with family. Infact she hadn’t known that’s who it was. She was just relaying a personal message from the Ambassador. There was something there too. And she’d eat her rune beads if the issues weren’t two different things. His sister knew too - twins. They always knew.

But he had offered to meet again if time allowed. She hated to take time away from Mike. She’d be gone soon, but she also needed to try and figure this out. If she couldn’t stabilize their working partnership then Revna had no business being on his ship. It was better to find out now, rather than later and the man throw her in the brig or out an airlock. So she sent a message to Cochrane asking him if he had time to meet her again. That she didn’t wish to interrupt his time with his sister and mother, but if he was able she’d like to meet with him again before the Manhattan left the station.
McKenzie, DA

A message came through about thirty minutes later for Revna to meet him in the Officer’s Mess on the ship at 1300 station time.

Cochrane arrived in the mess at 1245 and took his usual seat at his usual table. A PaDD lay at his right elbow and he was reading something as the hour chime dinged in the empty Mess.

Cochrane, CO

Revna confirmed the time, and at 1230, PaDD in hand she left for the Manhattan. There was some awkward walking partners along the way wanting to know if she was the woman with Big Mike in the vid. That took some interesting verbal sparing to avoid and keep walking to get to the Manhattan on time. There was a delay as the security officer at the dock confirmed her identity and the fact she really was part of the crew. Then was the matter of finding the mess. Revna had a decent sense of direction, but was unfamiliar with the layout so it took her a few minutes. That didn’t make her late though. She walked up to the door at exactly 1259 and walked through the door. She spotted Cochrane and walked over to the table. Just as the chime rang, “Good afternoon , Captain Cochrane.”
McKenzie, DA

Cochrane rose from his chair and smiled, holding out his hand. “Mrs. McKenzie. Good to see you again. Please, have a seat. I was happy to hear from you.”

Revna shook the offered hand and then took the offered seat. “It is good to see you as well Captain. Thank you for making the time to see me. Have you been able to spend much time with your family?”

As they say, Cochrane said “I feel I must apologize for our first few interactions. I was dealing with a… significant personal matter… at that was very distracting. I apologize if I seemed aloof or uncooperative. So what brings us together today? Oh, and if I may… you will want to try Chef’s seafood chowder. I’m not kidding when I say it will be the best thing you will have had to eat almost anywhere.”

Cochrane, CO

Revna waved away the apology. “I believe captain we both carried quite a bit of ‘extra’ with us those meetings. You, your significant personal matter, and I, my own personal matters. As well as trying to find my feet from fleet to civilian service. And that is what brought me to request another meeting.” Honesty, plain and open. It always served her well in the past and she didn’t see any reason to change that now. “I really would like for us to at least have a better understanding of each other before Manhattan ships out again. And as for the seafood chowder, I would be thrilled. It has been a very long time since I’ve had any even resembling decent.”
McKenzie, DA

“Indeed. Water under the bridge, then. And I am always a fan of understanding. So… lay it all on the table. What do I need to understand, and what do you want to understand from me?” At that moment, the doors to the kitchen swung open and a Bajoran man came out with an earthenware crock in each hand and board with dark, freshly baked bread on it. He set a crock in front of the new Diplomat and then one in front of Cochrane. The bread went in the middle and he nodded at the Captain and looked at Revna. “Chef Harv, a pleasure. You must be that woman from the vid thats going around.” and Cochrane cleared his throat loudly and said “Chef, this is Mrs. Revna McKenzie, out new Diplomatic Attache.” Harv smiled at her and said “Yep… and the woman from the vid. Nice to have you with us. Bring Big Mike in sometime, will ya?” and he nodded once and then left back into the kitchen. Alex looked at her and said “Vid? Am I missing something?” with a smile.

Cochrane, CO

Revna gave his question some thought, what did he need to understand about her? She opened her mouth to answer when she was stopped by the presentation of food. And it smelled devine! She turned her attention to the man and offered her hand, “It’s a pleas....” Oh wow, the vid, that thing really got around…She should probably be glad....no better not think it into existence. “I will certainly ask him next time I see him.” Oh wow....this was out of her league, how did Mike deal with this all the time. She had a feeling Mardusk had a lot to do with keeping the crazies under wraps on Atlantis because 1 she didn’t think the entire crew was as oblivious to ‘famousness’ as she was and 2 no incidents of crazy fans were reported to her. She turned her gaze back towards Cochrane, cheeks red but not flaming. “I doubt you miss much captain. But yes a vid of me and my husband. From the Eclipse bar.” She dropped her voice as if sharing a huge secret, poking fun at herself, “See, in case you missed it, apparently my husband is rather famous. And I had no idea he was here, and I was rather elated to be in his presence again. I understand the vid is rather....wide spread now.”
McKenzie, DA

Cochrane chuckled. “Mrs. McKenzie… my tastes in music lie in much different genres than that your husband is famous for… and even I know who he is.” and he laughed in a good-natured manner. “I certainly hope this isn’t indicative of the observational skills you use in your professional life!” and he laughed again.

Cochrane, CO

Revna laughed, she could laugh, over it. “No it is not and I am rather put out with myself over it.” She tried a bit of the chowder, her eyes widening in happy surprise. She sipped her water and the patted her mouth with a napkin. “Now, I knew the song FedSec Fascists of course and the band Government Kills was responsible for it, but names of singers, actors, famous sports players has never been trivia that interests me, unless it was information I needed to do my work. Maybe if I hadn’t avoided his bar like the plague, I would have realized it, but I just knew him as Mike the bartender.” But that was the thing wasn’t it. Something she was still working on after her injury, a break down in her self esteem and certainty to do her job. Finding a new path and all that entailed. Maybe she would have realized sooner who Mike was, maybe not…”But honestly, Cpt I wouldn’t change not knowing. He knows I love him for him and not his fame or his money, just him. But getting to hear him sing any time I want is a perk to our marriage.”
McKenzie, DA