LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - Chilli and Cornbread

[Tim]

((Mess Hall, USS Khitomer, a quiet night))

He had been chewing at the same piece of cornbread for nearly a full minute, his jaw working slowly as if the motion itself might be enough to dislodge the thought stuck to the back of his head. The mess hall was quiet. It was the kind of quiet only found while docked during shore leave during the third hour of gamma shift, when the artificial night cycle tinted the ship into a low blue light. Most crew were either asleep or pretending to be. 04:13 ship time, too late to be night, too early to be morning. It was that strange limbo where thoughts grew louder and your defences against them were asleep.

Connor stared at the half-eaten slice on his tray. Its edge was smeared with butter that was trying a little too hard to taste real. It was not bad. Just… stubborn. A little too dry. Like it was not sure what it wanted to be.

A little bit like him.

He blinked and tried again to focus onto something else. Anything. The chilli. The EPS junctions on deck 6. The ones that were cycling at unpredictable intervals, outputting micro power spikes that did not show up on any diagnostic but kept tripping sensor relays just long enough to annoy somebody in the science department.

He would solve it, eventually. Maybe reroute subgrid Beta-3 through the isolinear buffer, burn out the excess static, keep the load balanced. He had been mulling it over for three nights, like a puzzle that refused to click into place.

It helped to think about systems. About circuitry. About problems he could fix.

Because the other problem, the real one, was not written on a PADD or hidden in a power junction. It was his discussion with Ayemet. She had told him that she was fine waiting a couple of years, but that deed in their quarters was constantly questioning that settlement.

He took another bite of the cornbread, jaw tightening. It was dry enough to make him wince. That was the thing about chewing too long, you lost the flavor and got stuck with the texture. And the longer he mulled over that deed during sleepless nights the less flavor there seemed to be.

So instead, he came here, at 4 am. With chilli and jalapenos. With a tired smile and a maintenance patch for the replicator that could have been rolled out remotely. Some people drank to forget, he optimized the replicator.

The mess hall door hissed open behind him. Connor didn’t look up right away. He assumed it would be a security ensign doing laps or a science officer chasing nocturnal inspiration. But then he heard the padded footsteps.

Ohnari: Response

He smiled before he turned around. He was married to the resident counselor, the Chief Medical Officer checking in at night was probably the next best thing. Connor looked at his friend clothed only in a pyjama that was without equal. Her eyes were half-lidded, but sharp as ever.

Connor gestured to the seat on the opposite side of the table with a lazy wave of his fork

C Dewitt: Couldn’t sleep. Deck six EPS conduits are back to whining. Figured chili might drown them out.

Connor knew that this was a lazy attempt to create a valid reason that would probably not last the next three minutes of small talk. But somehow it was part of the socially accepted dance he had learned to do - even with people as close as Talia.

Ohnari: Response

Connor leaned back in his seat stretching his legs.

C Dewitt: Not exactly. Just figured if I can't shut my brain up, I might as well set my stomach on fire and distract it.

Ohnari: Response

C Dewitt: Hey, it works… Half the time.

Ohnari: Response

Connor chuckled. They fell quiet for a moment. Comfortable again. Nothing needed fixing. No alarms blaring. Just stars outside the hull and two officers who could not sleep, orbiting unanswered questions in different corners of their minds.

Ohnari: Response

For a while, Connor pushed his fork through the food on his tray and stared at the slow swirl of steam rising from it before he answered.

C Dewitt: Have you ever tried to solve a problem that does not want to be solved?

It was only a heartbeat that it took him to realize the irony of asking a doctor for such a problem. OF course she had… It was just different.

Ohnari: Response

LtCmdr Connor Dewitt
Chief Engineer & Second Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3