Posted by Captain Calvin Marius (Captain) in XO quarters

Posted by Lieutenant Sage Brennan (CMO) in XO quarters

Posted by Captain Calvin Marius (Captain) in XO quarters
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Marius slid his rank pips across his desk. He hadn’t put them on quite yet. He exhaled for a moment, this was going to be quite a change, but even more… was dealing with a new Captain. He shrugged he doubted he would have too much of an issue, he knew how to follow orders. He needed water, three hours drinking with Julien was enough to even make him drunk.

As he spun towards the replicator, he noticed that the comm was illuminated. He had a classified set of orders coming in. Well, that probably wasn’t good news. The only reason he would get classified orders as opposed to Julien, it was because they were assigning a new Captain. “No time like a present,” He tapped a key to open it.

Reading a few words, “I’ll be damned.”

Marius

Sage walked out of the bedroom enveloped in an emerald green robe. “Are you going to work all night, babe?” She returned an empty glass to the replicator and walked over to stand behind him. Her hands found his shoulders and she began to massage the upper trapezius muscles at the base of his neck. “You’re awfully tight, Cal. Luckily, I’m a doctor and I can help.” Now she bent down to wrap her arms around him and nuzzle his cheek. “Why don’t you join me in the shower? I’m sure the heat will work wonders to relax you.”

—Sage

In a slightly surprising degree of non-responsiveness to her flirtation. “I’m not sure what Julien and I were doing could be called working. In old school parlance, I’m hammered…” He slid the box sideways on the table so it was closer to her… “I’m also a commander. So that’s nice.” He said without humor.

OOC: He’s sitting at a desk and she is behind him rubbing his shoulders.

IC:
Sage looked at the little black box, and immediately recognized what it was. Feeling a slight hesitation, she stepped to Calvin’s side and palmed the black velvet container. It opened smoothly to expose a solid gold pip to replace the black one he currently wore on his collar.

“Congrats…but why?” She slid herself onto the desk and crossed her legs, the robe sliding partway open over a creamy thigh. Of course she was happy about the promotion, but ‘Commander’ usually came with a step up the ladder. “What’s going on, babe?”

—Sage

Calvin exhaled as he tilted his head towards her. He lifted one heavy head and rested it on her thigh. “Julien’s leaving to be with La’kia and the baby. He’s turning in his commission. I’m not sure that’s why I got the promotion - I was due for that.” He pressed a button and re-illuminated the desk monitor and rotated it slightly towards her. “This on the other hand is a little more of a surprise.”

“Fleet, in their infinite wisdom has elected to give me the Genny.” He looked at her with a surprising amount of sadness, “Wonder how bad I can screw this up.”

Marius

OOC: Sage and Julien never had a conversation about him leaving the Genny. I’m sure she would have been happy he and La’kia were getting back together, but sad he had to leave his career in order to make it happen.

IC:
The velvet box snapped shut in her hands, surprise negating coordination for a second. “What?” Her voice held a trace of disbelief in it.

—Sage

Calvin tilted his head. “Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for family.” He was breathing a little heavier as he tried to clear his head a little from the alcohol. “I told him I would hold the seat so he could settle the family down and the he could come back to the Genny and into a seat I kept warm.”

Marius

Sage was shaking her head. “No, no, no. I know why Julien’s leaving the Genny, but Star Fleet needs to find someone else to take his place, Cal. It can’t be you…” It wasn’t that she doubted his skill to lead a crew successfully. He was a decisive man who inspired courage in others along with a desire to live up to his expectations. The simple fact was that she didn’t think she could serve under him in that capacity. It was actually something they’d never discussed. However, it looked like that particular conversation was being served up between them while he was under the influence and she perched on the edge of his desk.

—Sage

Well that sobered him up or at least he thought it did. It certainly cleared his eyes as his head pivoted to look at her directly, “What the Frack does that mean?” That didn’t sound like a I’m worried about you or even are you sure you can do it. It certainly wasn’t the reassurance he wanted and expected from his wife. Somehow because he trusted and relied on her more made him angrier that she would say such a thing to him.

Marius

She leaned back from the anger in his response. “I’m sorry. That was a knee jerk response—a surprise and that’s putting it mildly.” Sage slid off the desk and walked around it to the other side, placing it between them. “You never even told me you were being considered, Cal. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve never wanted the center chair.” Pressing her lips together to keep angry words inside instead of letting them have life on the air, she set the tiny, black box on the surface of the desk. “Maybe we should wait until morning to discuss this—at least you’ll be sober by then.”

As if the discussion were over with, she turned in order to head for the bedroom and the shower she’d mentioned earlier.

—Sage

The look of his face was a combination of confusion and anger. “That’s not what you said… Don’t act as if it was…” He said far too loud for her to pretend she didn’t hear him as she stood and moved away.

She stopped and turned back towards him. “Cal, you never wanted command.” How many times had he told her that during their relationship? A dozen? A hundred?

“I didn’t know if I wanted the Department, I didn’t know if I wanted the Exec position, you never said ‘It can’t be you?’ He was getting louder “It can’t be you - isn’t the same as you never told me.” He shook his head.

He wasn’t making a lot of sense, but Sage understood he was floored that she wasn’t happy about his promotion.

“Don’t pretend what you said had anything to do with that or that I had too many drinks in me. You said it… and now you want to walk away.” He watched her carefully. The last thing she needed to do is to let him stew over this.

Marius

With her hands balled at her sides, she took a deep breath. “It can’t be you because I don’t want it to be you!” She yelled. “Do you have any idea how this promotion is going to affect our lives and my career?”

—Sage

He pointed at her, “There it is.” He nodded, “Yes its going to affect our lives. It a big deal that affects both of us. You literally saw the order thirty seconds after me, so I didn’t really have any time to discuss it.... But what does it have to do with your career.”

“Really? What does you being the CO of the ship I’m serving on have to do with my career?” Emerald eyes rolled in exasperation.

He shook his head, “That’s what bothers you, I was an ensign and you were the lieutenant when we first met.” he snorted. “It was nice when we were the same rank, but you didn’t like me getting the next promotion and this is one more.” His voice was suddenly calm, “Worst part was, I never wanted it, never asked for it and it still kept coming. Is that what bothers you?”

“If you never wanted it, why did you take every promotion and step up they handed to you?” Sage folded her arms in front of her now, body language emphasizing her anger and wish to keep her distance from him.

It was a reasonable comment from one perspective, not so reasonable from another, “They didn’t hand me anything… I earned it. I earned every honor and promotion I ever received - some by sweat, some by tears, but most by blood.” Calvin was now getting offended by almost anything. On one level he knew that wasn’t what she meant, but he was growing too angry to care. “And you can earn rewards that you didn’t want or ask for, that how promotions work you don’t ask for them you receive them.”

He shrugged, “I’m supposed to say no, for no reason. The ship needed me, the crew needed me. I believed it was my duty to serve when asked. That was always my rationale. You never once told me you didn’t want me to take another promotion, never mentioned that it was bothering you. You wondered why you weren’t getting them, but never mentioned that mine were a problem. Now suddenly its this huge thing.”

“I would throw it all away to be with you, family first, I’ve said it a dozen times to you, to Julien, to anyone who would ask.” He pointed to her slowly, “You are first over that,” He pointed at the box with his new pip then waved encompassing the Genesis. “Or the ship.”

“I’d give it all away.” He waved his hand as if brushing away a fly. “Would you?” He looked at her.

Marius CO

That would be a fair question if she thought he was being totally honest with her. “If I absolutely HAD to in order to keep you? Yes. But I’d look tirelessly for an alternative before finally giving in. You aren’t asking me the same question you answered though. You said you never wanted any of this—but I do, I always have. I’ve worked very hard to land the position I’m in. And yes…10 years under Julien’s command and not one promotion for me. I never understood it. Every time I was up for review, all the correct boxes were checked. But he passed me over time and time again. Being a doctor on a starship is what I was made for, so I went along with it the first few times. Then you and I met and the thought of being reassigned somewhere else without you wasn’t worth another pip.”

“Well, Its nice to know you would if you ABSOLUTELY HAD to.”

She looked away from Calvin and took a couple of deep breaths. Him being the Captain was going to change things between the two of them. The hard part was that he wouldn’t be able to see why it happened.

“I’m rescinding the shower invitation. I think we both need a little distance right now.” That said, she swung around in the direction of the bedroom door.

—Sage

Calvin snorted, like either of them wanted to have the other’s company now. He let her have the last word as she left. He made his point.

Marius

After the shower Sage did her best to keep her distance from Calvin. He’d been insulting to her in his inebriated state and there was no having an intelligent conversation with him until he’d sobered up. She had a terrible night’s sleep, what little she got, from trying to keep herself near the edge of the bed and away from ‘his’ side. Eventually, frustration and a headache got her up in search of coffee and an analgesic.

She sat at the small table in the ‘kitchen’ in near darkness, wrapped in the same silky robe of the night before. The hot, creamy liquid brought a bit of ease to her whole body, making Sage aware she’d been tense all night.

—Sage

OOC: I kind of pictured him on the couch, but its not that significant.

Calvin was an exceptionally light sleeper, even when he had a few drinks in him and he wasn’t as drunk as Sage imagined. He woke at nearly every twist and turn of Sage’s body and he though she was trying to agitate him with her mad twisting. He remained silent until she was clear of the bed and the bed room before he let out a deep growl.

Leaving him alone, he got up and dressed in some workout clothes, his old too tight Marine tee shirt was lost on the last Genesis so he had it replaced with a new one that wasn’t quite right with it newness. He like the overly clean thread bare shirt that was his gym and social attire for over a decade.

He strode quickly from the bed room to the door not sparing his wife a glance. “I’m going.”

Marius

She watched his back from where she sat at the table. Him leaving, instead of talking to her, wasn’t a surprise. Even as emotionally connected at they were, Calvin still had difficulty expressing his feelings at times, as far as she was concerned. Why should this morning be any different? “Yes, I see that, Captain.”

—Sage

OOC: Restart this at the end of the day? Or another idea

OOC: You choose. I didn’t know if he would actually leave after her comment or not, but either way is fine.

Two hours in the gym and then his normal duty shift, showering and changing in the locker room in case anyone was worried about that, did not put him in a better mood. Marius usually got madder the longer he thought about things and very little would calm him down. Activity would make him think less about it if it were intense enough but the emotion wouldn’t diminish over time, which made him a bad person to get on the wrong side of. The only solution was to show him that he was wrong… which sometime was the bigger problem as he rarely thought he was wrong.

He could have gone to the lounge and replicated his meal, but he returned to his/their quarters. It wasn’t like he was looking forward to the fight that was about to restart, but the dilemma was… it always was… if you wanted to move forward you had to deal with the present.

Captain Marius

Sage had the day off and had spent most of it in their quarters.. She’d filled the time by examining the situation she and Cal now found themselves in. Ten years without a promotion, and now her husband was the CO and any promotion would look like he was favoring her. There was no way to move her career forward now—not on the Genesis. She thought about transferring ships. It would be a fresh start. Her records were impeccable, so moving up the ranks shouldn’t be a problem with a new CO. She was sitting at the desk with the console open to open availability within the Fleet. A few ships needed a CMO and there was nothing stopping her from applying for the positions.

A fresh cup of coffee sat next to her right hand and she browsed the information. When Calvin entered their quarters, Sage sat on the desk chair in yoga pants and a slouchy t-shirt, her legs pulled up and crossed on the chair. She looked over to see his dark countenance, checking his mood so she knew how to react. Apparently he was still feeling like the victim in their conversation. She sighed and shook her head slightly. A storm was brewing.

—Sage