Posted by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Nash (Chief Tactical Officer) in CTO office - All the Paperwork and no increase in pay

Posted by Captain Kelly Shultz (Commanding Officer) in CTO office - All the Paperwork and no increase in pay

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Nash (Chief Tactical Officer) in CTO office - All the Paperwork and no increase in pay
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Kelly approached the tactical chief’s office with a box in her hands. Typically she would call an officer to her ready room in situations like this but Nash was not a typical officer nor was the subject matter she needed to discuss. Stopping in front of his office, Kelly looked at the small box in her hand. She hoped Nash would appreciate it. Kelly had used all the official channels at her disposal and several personal favors to procure the contents of the box. Taking a deep breath she reached out and palmed the door chime.

Captain Kelly Shultz

“In,” was the simple reply from behind the door and barely had it faded than the near silent swish announced that entry to Nash’s Office was open.

Through the door, Nash was standing behind his desk, bent forwards and hands on the table. Strewn across the desk were a number of PaDDs, cigar butts and a bottle of tequila sat, unopened, on one corner. Nash’s old coin and flip lighter lay on the table next to him.

Looking up, he saw his visitor was Kelly and his eyes narrowed slightly, especially when he spotted the box. “Do you have any idea how little ‘Intelligence’ is held by the brass at Command? You just gave me this job so that you could sit back and drink more coffee didn’t you.” His tone was stern and straight, but Kelly knew him well enough to note the brief change in his eyes, the flicker of his brow that hid the smirk.

“That better not be the ashes of your enemies,” he said, indicating the box. “I’m supposed to find things out, not hide evidence. Come in and make yourself at home, Captain.” He put two tumblers on the table then sat down, and put his feet up straight onto the assorted PaDDs as he leaned back in his chair, letting it make an obnoxious creak.

Lt Cmdr Nash, CTIO

“Well it appears Starfleet command has picked out the best candidate for the position,” she said sauntering into the room. “You are already hard at work doing,” she half glanced at the images on the PaDD’s and tried not to shudder. Most people saw intelligence work as shuttle chases, shadowy meetings, and disguises. The reality was it was ninety-nine percent analyzing information. Kelly knew first hand it wasn’t that. She found this out for herself after a heavy night of drinking with Dante and Ric back at the academy. One night during the fall semester of their plebe year, the three of them had decided to change majors and go intelligence. The excitement of espionage faded as quickly as their first field class. Ric, Kelly, and Dante sat for twelve hours in a vehicle taking notes of people entering and exiting a building. The next twelve hours resulted in matching names with the faces that had entered the building. The final twelve hours of the weekend introductory class involved filling in blanks on dossiers of the faces that they had matched with names from the previous day.

When they finally returned back to campus the three of them changed their majors back to security and never looked back. Ethan, however, was now assigned the job of matching faces to people and creating dossiers until his eyes crossed. “Can I get one of those,” Kelly pointed to the bottle at the edge of the table.

Captain Kelly Shultz

Nash looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Sure, sit.” He said offhandedly and leaned forwards, feet still on the table. It was a position he had clearly considered and chosen with care so that the bottle, and his cigars were within easy reach. It also revealed another clearly carefully considered effect, another loud and obnoxious creak of the chair that Nash had likely spent hours perfecting just to annoy unwelcome guests in his office.

Picking up the tequila he spun the top, then carefully poured two measures of the liquid into the tumblers before nudging one across the desk with one finger. The obligatory loud creak followed as he shifted his body weight, then raised his tumbler. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of the Captains company? That is evidence you want me to destroy, isn’t it.”

Lt Cmdr Nash, CTIO

“No it’s a gift,” Kelly said and set the box on his desk just far enough from him that he would have to stretch to get it, “for later. I went to a lot of trouble to get this for you. I had to call in some markers and pretty much laid my career on the line.” Kelly picked up the shot and threw it back. She let her mouth pucker a bit and tilted her head to the side indicating she was analyzing the drink. “God that was smooth. Like butter smooth with so little alcohol taste,” Kelly reached out for the bottle and poured another shot. This time she held it in her mouth. Kelly was not a tea tottler by any stretch of the imagination. Sucking on the mouth full of liquid to let it flow over her entire tongue, Kelly held it for the required time and then swallowed. “God this is good. HInts of smoked oak, vanilla, caramel, and spices but with a honey base,” she let the last ingredient float in the air like a question.

“Does this have blue agave in it,” Kelly asked. “God I am glad you like the good stuff.” Letting out a deep sigh, Kelly started to feel relaxed.

After receiving her answer she drummed the table with her palms a few times beating out a rhythm for a second. “So are you going to pour me a drink in a big girl glass or keep passing it out in sippy cups? You know I am a beer or booze kinda girl.” It had been a while since she and Nash kicked back and downed a bottle of the hard stuff. Both of them were busy and he was typically in command of one of the bridge shifts daily. This meant they were two ships in the night passing in the halls. The analogy reminded her of their first meeting. Another shot or two and she would see if he remembered it as well.

Captain Kelly Shultz