Capt. Shayne: Different Strokes

[Quinn]

((Deck 1, Captain’s Ready Room, USS Arrow))

Shayne: Can I get you something? I’m afraid our engineering department

hasn’t gotten around to sprucing up my replicator yet.

What an entitled thing to say. Perhaps, if he was capable of returning the ship to a home port without it falling to pieces with but the engineering department’s grace and skill keeping her together, they might have the time and inclination to make a desperately unnecessary luxury of the captain more a priority.

 

It felt good to not truly feel the biting sting of such remarks for once. 

Waters: Just a water will be fine, please.

Shayne felt the almost irresistible urge to make a not-dad joke, but found the strength to stay pleasantly silent. Retrieving the two glasses he ordered, he swiveled back around. 

Shayne: I must say- while I believed fully that you’d exceed our expectations, this wasn’t quite the way I’d anticipated it. 

Waters: I will admit... after training as I did, serving as I have,

adjusting to a new post will be... difficult. I rather enjoyed the view.

Shayne had harbored similar concerns when he moved to an Ops role. He hadn’t initially sought such an unremarkable position, but the needs of Rear Admiral Renos were the needs of the fleet, and he’d always sought to serve one if not the other admirably. As chance would have it, he enjoyed the Ops position more than he thought possible, and realized in time that he might well be a better Ops guy than a pilot. 

Shayne: I can understand that, but from one former pilot to another, you may fly higher here than you ever could have at your old station. 

Waters: Then again... it would seem I would be in for a significant

period of adjustment regardless. The crew roster seems quite different

than it was. ::beat:: Though it is good to see some things don't change.

Shayne inclined his head, an indication of both appreciation and mourning. Most of the people who had moved on from Arrow hadn’t moved off the mortal coil, and for this he could not help but feel grateful; and yet it felt like a loss nonetheless. The more things changed, the more Shayne wished they could stay the same, just for a time. Then again, where was the adventure, and the nuance, and the appreciation for the now?

Shayne: I suspect in this case it’s a good thing. Allows you to get a fresh start in another role. 

He wasn’t in Chloe’s position, but if he was, he’d value the opportunity to make as many separations between old and new as possible. 

Waters: Response 

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, before Shayne had to ask. 

Shayne: Why Mission Spec? 

Waters: Response 

It seemed like an obvious question, but as the words tumbled from his mouth, he realized it might not be so obvious after all. 

Shayne: I can’t think of a position more different from helm than mission specialist. Helmsmen react quickly, instinctively, and mission specs take their time, collate data, make logical conclusions from incomplete deductions. 

Waters: Response 

Tag/TBC…

Captain Randal Shayne

Commanding Officer

USS Arrow
NCC 69829
G239202RS0