Rolling With The Waves

Posted on Fri Aug 17th, 2018 @ 6:05pm by Hak & Commodore Jane Saulitis

Mission: A Majestic Affair
Location: Captain's Quarters
1243 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Jane pressed a few buttons on the screen across from her bed and then sat down on the edge of it. "Hi," she smiled when Hak's dark eyes appeared. "I'm here, well I've been here for a bit I just kept forgetting to let you know. Arrived almost a week early and I'm already making waves. I single handedly crushed the heart of the Chief Engineer moments after we met. Then there was this guy in the cookie store I knocked to the ground because I thought he was robbing the place. I'm on a roll." She flopped backwards on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

There was almost a full second delay on the subspace channel, as evident by the pause between when Jane spoke and the way Hak's smile brightened and then ultimately a genuine laugh upon hearing each of her stories. There was almost always a delay on their chats, but it was something you barely noticed after awhile. Of course he'd already known that she'd arrived on Majestic, but he had nodded appreciatively as though relieved to hear the news from her. "It's really good to see you again, Jas. I was starting to get worried but it sounds like you're fitting right in and making friends," he chuckled.

"Yeah, you know me. Miss social, should have been a counselor." She sighed and sat up again almost staring at him. "I'm doing the right thing . . ." She almost asked it as a question.

"You know full well Starfleet Command doesn't make mistakes," he replied confidently but the crease in the middle of his brow told another story. He wasn't going to let her slide back into these old insecurities. "You are the most qualified person for the job or they wouldn't have put you there, Jas. Trust me, if they had any doubt about you, you'd be at the helm instead of the center seat. I know you're a damn good helmsman, but the center seat is where you belong."

She already knew what his answer would be. Perhaps she'd just needed to hear it again, for the nineteenth time. "Thanks," she said simply. "I guess I'm just a little nervous. But hey, I wasn't arrested for knocking the baker to the ground so things must be looking up." Jane thought of some way to change the subject. She really didn't want to take up too much of Hak's precious time but she missed him. "I hear you you've already introduced yourself to the chef. My favorite meal was waiting for me."

Hak laughed at the news and pumped a fist. He loved it when a plan came together. "Was it good? He's supposed to be pretty good."

"It was, he came to my ready room with it all prepared so I invited him to join me. You might have competition. A man who can cook that well is surely after more than just feedback on the meal." Jane knew that Pat was in fact a bit flustered by another man on her ship, but it didn't hurt to tease a little bit.

"Ouch, are you preying on the widowers now? I completely underestimated your level of desperation," he flashed her a conspiratorial wink. "Go ahead if you must. I'll understand." He was kidding of course, but also not kidding. They had no formal relationship, at least not in a long while.

"Would give people something to talk about but he's really not my type." She shrugged. "I seriously doubt anyone has to worry about me causing gossip. You know me, the quiet unassuming one." Jane pulled her legs up on the bed. "How can I make it up to you? Lunch I mean?"

"People will find something to talk about whether there's anything actually happening or not. Since when has the truth ever slowed up the rumor mill?" He ignored her question and leaned forward a bit toward the camera, frowning. "Speaking of which, I need you to be really careful out there."

"Hak, I'm always careful." She turned her head sideways slightly. "Why? Something going on that I should know about?"

He was walking a thin line here and he knew it. "Probably, yeah, but Mother is still running it up the flagpole." It was thinly veiled code. Mother: some unknown, unspoken of entity who was most definitely not a biological relative but could have some sort of oversight role somewhere in Hak's rarely referenced hierarchy. Flagpole: a reference to the flag officers of Starfleet-- admiralty -- or else just a generic term for the the chain of command. All this to mean that he couldn't outright tell her what the exact issue was, but there was something. It was visible in his eyes. He probably didn't have a hard confirmation or he would have found a way to break protocol and tell her directly, but there was enough there to cause him concern, it would be clear to Jane.

She gave a simple nod. "I won't watch my back, I have people for that now." She winked at him but was honestly a little nervous about his warning. Still, she was generally a very careful person, not one to take risks especially with her first command. "When do I get to give you a tour?"

"Mmm, you know I wish I was there right now," Hak replied wistfully. "I do have some R&R time saved up, so you never know when I might flag you down for a ride. You remember the last time we managed leave together? The Ice Cream Incident of '93." He chuckled.

"That wasn't my fault!" Jane said, rather jokingly appalled that he'd brought it up. "Why do all of my misdeeds seem to involve comfort foods? First ice cream and now cookie dough,"she muttered to herself. "You are welcome anytime, you know that. Even if I have to go across the galaxy out of my way to pick you up."

"I know you would," he smirked. "And I know if I really needed it, you'd set warp records and break border crossings in eight different sectors just to do it. Cause I would do the same."

Jane made a face as if she were thinking about it. "Maybe seven. I'm not sure you're worth eight." She sighed, "I should let you go, I know you're busy. Thanks for the lunch. . ." She almost felt as if there were more she should be thanking him for but the words weren't coming easily to her.

"Never too busy for you. Talk to you next week then?" He held up four fingers, touched them to his forehead and then tipped them toward the workstation in a sort of half-assed salute that had become his signature sign off. He didn't bother waiting for a reply on the question, though. 'Next week' was sort of an inside joke with them. Sometimes it was a week, sometimes several weeks. They were as unreliable as they were reliable, but it worked for them. "Hak out."

Jane touched the screen after his face had vanished from it. She got up from the bed and headed toward a nice sonic shower. She shook her head and swallowed hard, not wanting to admit to herself how much she needed him and how much it hurt every single time he faded from view.


Lieutenant Commander Jane Saulitis
Commanding Officer
USS Majestic

"Hak"
Guest Star
PNPC Murphy