Posted by Lieutenant Commander Royal Sinclair (Counselor) in CNS’ Office, Boarding Eval

Posted by Ensign James Franklin (Engineer) in CNS’ Office, Boarding Eval

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Royal Sinclair (Counselor) in CNS’ Office, Boarding Eval
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻
((Snip))

James found himself chuckling along, somehow… Gratefully. “Well, Sir, that’s a damned good fake, I appreciate it. If more Starfleet Doctors had coffee this good, I’d be a lot less worried about these check ins..”

-Franklin, Eng

Sinclair smiled a conspiratorial smile. “Well I’m not a doctor, at least not yet, so you can relax. And I’m almost as new here as you are. Looks like we are both still getting used to our new lots in life.”

Sinclair, CNS

Franklin nodded amiably. “I reckon so, Sir. Hopefully changes for the better…” He took another sip of coffee, and tried to still his mind. “I guess I figured I’m the probie, and everyone else has been settled a while.”

-Franklin, Eng

Sinclair shook his head. “Look, you may be an Ensign now, but you have more experience than to be that naive. Every ship has new people on it all the time.” and he chuckled slightly. “It just so happens that you and I are some of those people.” He then looked at the Engineer and said “So let’s get to it. How are you adjusting to the new rank?”

Sinclair, CNS

Franklin stared into his coffee for a long moment. “It stings, Sir. But I have to bear it. Every time I put the uniform on, I remember.” Unbidden, flashes came and went. Faces, klaxon alarm tones, coolant vapor, screaming, the ringing he always got in his head during transport… Debris bits colliding with the hull of a starship sounded like rain, if you didn’t know any better. With an effort of will, he pulled himself out of it. Blue eyes lifted, and went back to the medal in it’s case. “It’s funny, Sir… if I’d been just a little quicker, things would be so different.”

-Franklin, Eng

“How do you know that for certain, Mr. Franklin? We humans don’t possess the ability to see alternate timelines. If you had been faster, why would that be definitively better? What if the outcome would have been worse?”

Sinclair, CNS

Franklin’s blue eyes rose up to meet Sinclair’s. There was a mixture of emotion in them… Fear, Sorrow, Regret, but there was anger there too. A deep, slow-burning anger that very rarely bubbled up to the surface, but remained simmering none the less. Franklin’s eyes dropped again before he muttered his answer. “I guess I can’t (Cain’t) be certain… But I don’t think I can imagine how it could be any worse. Sir.”

-Franklin, Eng