Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie - Recluse
Addison MacKenzie
She'd told herself it was incidental... Simply a wrong turn, a moment of indulgence, a desire to be somewhere that didn't hum with duty. The ship’s library had always been a place of quiet gravity and overlooked order - a place she admired from a distance though carefully avoided in practice. Too open. Too accessible. Too prone to interruption. And yet here she was, moving between rows of illuminated spines with the faint hum of the ship’s warp core humming through the silence like a restrained breath.
Addison had always been drawn to the aesthetics of this place... She'd found an odd comfort in the way the light filtered through the architectural panels overhead, muted and warm, nothing like the sharp precision of the angular chrome on the bridge. She ran her fingertips along the edge of a data-shelf as she passed, letting the texture ground her... a small, deliberate act of presence she rarely afforded herself. Every step carried the faint awareness that at any moment someone would recognize her. A nod. A cautious greeting. The subtle shift of posture when rank entered the room.
She opted for a physical book from the shelf, then selected a narrow reading alcove tucked just beyond the main archive ring and settled there, the ergonomic chair adjusting automatically For a moment, she simply sat, shoulders loosening, gaze unfocused, surrounded by the faint scent of recycled air and old binding polymers. This was not the stillness of sleep or strategy, but something softer. Something almost foreign to her now.
She'd no sooner opened the cover of the book in her hand when a subtle change in the ambient soundscape reverberated in her cochlea... the quiet footfall of someone else entering the stacks, the whisper of fabric, the soft thrum of a console activating nearby. She didn’t look immediately. There was a brief, fragile pause where anonymity still existed… and then the inevitable sense of proximity. Presence. Recognition.
The commanding officer of the Artemis offered a gentle smile, not expecting to see the woman emerge from the stacks. To her credit, the junior officer looked just as surprised.
MacKenzie: ::nodding slightly:: Lieutenant Storm.
Storm: Response
MacKenzie: ::holding up the book:: Oh, this? I just thought I'd engage in some indulgent reading. Most of what I end up getting my hands on these days is so dense... Medical journals and the like.
Storm: Response
She closed her eyes briefly and leaned her head slightly to one side before opening them again.
MacKenzie: Sometimes you don't want to sit in your quarters, but you also don't want to be in a place that will draw too much attention, does that make sense at all?
Storm: Response
Tag, and TBC!
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A