Posted by Lieutenant Commander Mathys Ducote (Chief Engineer) in Captain’s Office- New Beginnings

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Office- New Beginnings

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Mathys Ducote (Chief Engineer) in Captain’s Office- New Beginnings
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

After the door shut behind Mathys, the Captain’s voice softened quite a bit. “You don’t mind if I take a minute here, do you? I try to create some space in my calendar when I know I have to… deal with certain unpleasantness.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Mathys’s gaze followed the retreating individual until the turbolift’s doors shut.

A question stirred his brain into thoughts before the CO’s voice interrupted him. Impulsively, his hand rose and raked across his wavy brown hair. With a deep breath, the man stepped into office. He easily slipped into the chair while listening to the rest.

“Take your time. I doubt the Europa minds waiting a little bit longer.” His lips curled into a boyish smile as his genuine kindness rolled off him.

-CE, Mathys Ducote

“Thanks,” the Captain said simply. Johann got up from his desk and walked over to the replicator. As he stood, it seemed like he was carrying something on his back that was invisible. A burden.

The replicator produced a glass of water as he stood next to it. “You’re right, she’s actually nice and accommodating like that,” Johann said again, this time referring to the Europa just as Mathys did. “I mean at least with little things, like this glass of water I didn’t actually have to ask for.” It was something that the computer seemed to be doing for years - anticipating what his order was from the replicator. It had puzzled Johann the first few times but then he just got used to it. He knew it wasn’t a standard feature of the Discovery-class computer system.

“Do you want anything from here?” he asked politely enough.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Mathys’ grin widened as he shook his head.

“Appreciate the offer, but no thank you. I’m currently drinking in the atmosphere.” He chuckled at his comment, realizing how corny it sounded.

The tip of Johann’s right eyebrow seemed to raise by a few millimeters, and maybe the corner of his mouth seemed to curl imperceptibly.

“That was a terrible reply,” owning up to his own mistake, “It’s the wonderful thing about ships. They always surprise you. From the looks of it, you’re not doing very well. Anything I can do to help, sensitive issues aside?”

It was a simple offer as Mathys’ kind heart showed through.

-CE, Mathys Ducote

“No, it’s not that big of a deal,” Johann said as he sat down at his desk. “Just that it’s sad to see someone young… umm… let’s say, realize the limits of their potential. More I should not say. I’ll be over it in a minute or two.”

“The ship itself is actually doing rather well,” the Captain said, as he changed the topic to something directly relevant to his new Chief Engineer’s responsibilities. “Probably because we haven’t collided with anything recently. But you’ll probably need to make your own assessment. We haven’t had a permanent chief engineer for a while. I’m sure you’ve heard of the staffing issues back at fleet.”

Johann took a sip from his water glass as he let that particular statement hang in the air slightly.

– Johann Dvorak, CO