The Smallest Things

Posted on Mon Feb 8th, 2021 @ 12:03am by Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD & Lieutenant Commander Felicie Rivero

The past days and weeks had seemed to blur into one long hazy memory. There was little definition between days, it was just the same thing over and over with her time being divided between her own office and assisting General Lowe with his investigation, something that still didn't sit well with her. Being among the newest of staff to arrive on the station, and definitely among the newest of the senior staff, it stood to reason that Felicie was chosen to assist with the investigations, she had yet to have sufficient time to form bonds and friendships, but after this she wasn't entirely sure if that chance would ever come.

While initially people had been friendly and opening, that hospitality had waned since news of Lowe's investigation had travelled around the station. Even civilians had started treating her with a certain level of frostiness, at least some of them had. Others of course seemed more intent in cashing in on the situation, offering to trade her 'information' for money, or for turning a blind eye.

Now, needing a break from the barrages of PaDD's that seemed to be mounting up around her, Felicie found herself sitting on the edge of a window in the civilian section of the station, sipping a strong coffee while she stared out at the assorted ships moving about, contemplating whether or not this assignment had been a mistake.

Titus was cranky. Well, if he was being honest, he was actually frustrated, but that frustration was taking hold of the fibres of his being and wringing him with tension, which in turn meant he had a short fuse and a drastically reduced tolerance for even the most minor of transgressions. He was cranky.

He had been bogged down in a myriad of banal reports and departmental updates for most of the day and found himself increasingly unable to focus. Concentration was rarely something that eluded him, but the combination of his recent feelings of career stagnation and the frankly bizarre arrival of that marine general meant he found his mind wandering all too easily. Instead of reviewing Lieutenant Whitlam's performance review of Ensign M'Gora, his mind drifted to an imagined future that seemed even further out of reach than before. Instead of making notes on Ensign Got's research proposal, he found himself postulating why General Lowe was gunning for Captain Von.

In the end, he just had to get out of his office. He needed to walk and try to clear his head. Try to think about anything but the things that tormented his consciousness. The curve of the planet outside the windows in the civilian section of the starbase. The muted sound of his footsteps as he walked in this section, when compared with the harder deck of the science labs. Strangers from dozens of species going about their business. A Bolian and a Ferengi haggling over a box of who knew what. The new chief of security drinking a coffee by a window. A cleaning bot humming across the deck.

He stopped and looked back, his mind suddenly throwing up some of the thoughts he'd been trying to ignore. The new chief of security, who was helping General Lowe. It was probably a mistake and even as he approached her, he knew he should have just kept on walking. But he didn't care.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his tone cold.

The look on Felicie's face as she turned toward him was nothing short of shock. "Excuse me?" she asked softly. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Only you can answer that," he replied, his eyes narrowing. "I'm Commander Titus Livius Drusus, Chief Science Officer. And I do know you, Lieutenant Commander Rivero. You're the new chief of security whose been here all of five minutes and you're already trying to bring down Captain Von. I want to know why you're doing that."

Felicie drew a long, deep breath while she looked down at her coffee, not bothering to look at him. "Look, what ever it is you want to say, just say it," she said quietly. "I can guarantee it won't be the first time I've heard it. So, go ahead, be a bad boy and do your worst," she finally offered as she looked across at him, meeting his eyes with her own steely look of resignation.

Titus hesitated as her saw that expression in her eyes and he felt compassion fighting to get past his anger and pride, but those two emotions were very strong in a Magna Roman. She must have had this conversation countless times with people who were as disappointed in her role in Lowe's witch hunt as he was. He clenched his jaw and took a breath. If she was feeling the pressure, it was because of her own decision to help him.

"I think that if you'd been here for more than five minutes, you would never have allowed General Lowe to make you betray your captain like you have," he said, finally. "But I'm sure you've heard that before, so me telling you has no effect. What I want to know is why. Why are you doing this?"

Felicie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He was right, it was definitely something she had already heard, many times in recent days. "Because I've been ordered to do so," she replied, her voice devoid of emotion. She didn't even bother to look at him, just sipping from her coffee as she shifted her gaze back to the stars and the ships beyond the bulkheads. Oh how simple life appeared to be outside of those barriers.

"Only following orders, huh?" Titus said, shaking his head and looking at the side of hers with contempt. "That's cowardly reasoning! Every officer on this station would have recused themselves from the investigation, or even resigned their commission, before helping that man drag Captain Von through the mud."

He paused and felt his anger subsiding as he kept glaring at her turned head, which might as well have been bulkhead for all the good he felt like he was doing. He shook his head again and huffed as he started to turn away, "But you're only following orders."

"Anything else you want to add?" Felicie asked, turning a level gaze toward him. Though her face may have been basically blank, the expression in her eyes spoke volumes. "Would you like me to get down so you can kick me in the shins while you're going?" Her eyebrow quirked slightly, the closest thing to facial emotion she had shown yet through their encounter.

Titus straightened himself and scowled at her. "Play the victim all you want, Commander," he said. "But we both know the only victim here is Captain Von."

"Are you done?" Felicie asked with exasperation. "If you don't mind, I'd like to sit here and enjoy my coffee without being harangued by mindless peons who can't see beyond the end of they oversized and rather pointy noses!" It was a cheap shot, but the barb made her feel the tiniest bit better.

He wasn't going to take the bait. If she'd said it at the beginning of this encounter, Titus may well have fired something back equally as childish. But his anger was subsiding now and his reason was taking charge again, leaving behind a gnawing guilt that was weak but growing. "Good day, Commander," he said before turning on his heal and walking away, leaving her to her coffee and her orders.

Taking another sip of her coffee, Felicie turned her attention back to the window, looking out at the stars and ships again, though she felt her own gnawing guilt as he walked away, leaving her to contemplate the situation she had found herself. She was starting to suspect that this assignment may have been a mistake.

Commander Titus Livius Drusus, PhD
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Commander Felicie Rivero
Chief of Security