Ensign Juliet Banks – In Hiding
Juliet Banks
((Juliet’s Quarters, Room 142, Deck 14, USS Khitomer))
((Timecode: after the conference room, before the Captain’s summons))
fffffff… fffffffffff…went the swivel of Juliet’s chair as she swung it slowly back and forth, enjoying the feeling of momentum and friction working against each other.
fffffff… fffffffffff…as she flexed her thighs to push herself through another arc and back again. It was like moving meditation, almost. Focusing on the pattern and keeping her head empty. It was a shame the arboretum didn’t feature a swing set like a children’s playground; that would be even better.
fffffff. fffffffffff.
Juliet felt… battered, bruised almost, in the wake of the conference room meeting. She’d long since come to terms with the fact that she found it difficult to maintain her own serenity around people who were upset – and impossible when it was people she cared about. How much worse, then, must the meeting have been for those with personal entanglements? Talia, Amelia, Commander Dewitt and his wife … not fun.
She’d been steadfastly avoiding thinking about the Ouachita trio’s claims, about what they meant for the future. Crashed, died, invaded… defeated. “Conquered the quadrant in a decade,” Lacy had said.
Was even thinking about it a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive?
fffffff. fffffffffff.
fffffffffff. She slowed to a stop and stared at the screen in front of her, a queue of Ops requests reordering itself by priority in realtime as new requests arrived. A bomb might have gone off in the conference room but the ship’s routine continued, unconcerned, unaware. She’d been halfway to the Ops Cupboard after the meeting was dismissed before the idea of attempting to project equanimity and unconcern in front of other people made working from her quarters look a lot more appealing.
She thought again of Amelia, Talia, the Dewitts. Amelia, her expression polite but her gaze inextricably fixed on her daughter-not-daughter. Commander Dewitt, pale and silent; Lieutenant Dewitt, intense and focused. Talia, obviously feeling some kind of way, heavens alone knew what. And she couldn’t even help – they doubtless all had people to offer a shoulder, and the newest Ensign in the room was a well-meaning stranger.
Well. Less so, with Amelia. Maybe it wouldn’t be inappropriate to reach out to her, at least.
Resolved, Juliet pulled her chair towards the desk, and tapped a few controls to bring up a message entry screen. She entered Amelia’s addressing details and began to type.
BEGIN MESSAGE
DATE: 240210.10
SENDER: Ensign Juliet Banks [NL-337-050]
RECIPIENT: Lieutenant JG Amelia Semara […]
SUBJECT: Checking in
MESSAGE:
Hi Amelia,
I know you’re probably really busy, on top of dealing with everything our visitors represent, but I wanted to at least send a message of support with an IOU for a supportive hug and/or company for tea and snacks at some point when we’re off duty, when you’re feeling up to it and company would be welcome. In the meantime, I’m just checking in to see if there’s anything I can do – I hope I’m not overstepping, I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.
Take care, and let me know if I can help.
Juliet
END MESSAGE
She stared at it for a while once it was written – it was awkward, no denying it, but she doubted she could be anything but awkward right now. At least it was sincere.
She bit her lip, having come to the end of her standard overthinking checklist, mentally shrugged, and tapped the ‘send’ control.
Right. Enough procrastinating. Maybe dealing with the sensor priority request queue would be sufficiently engrossing to shut out the looming tidal wave of emotions she’d rather ignore. Determined, she pulled up the ops queue, and got to work.
No Tag / END
((OOC: No response required from Amelia – happy for it to trigger a response or an interstitial scene but not expecting anything 😊))
Ensign Juliet Banks
Ops/Comms Officer
USS Khitomer – NCC62400
K240206JB1