Venting Frustrations

Posted on Tue Dec 2nd, 2014 @ 4:13pm by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Maxwell & Lieutenant Lynsi Mason

Mission: Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: Flight Operations
Timeline: MD12; 0900 Hours

Ed had been annoyed when he left the staff meeting. Damn little had come of it and for the most part it was a waste of his time. All it had accomplished was to bring the XO up to speed on what was going on and just how lousy the situation was becoming. Add in the ignorant comments made about Marines by the punk security officer, who had less time in uniform than Ed did time in grade and the empty turbolift ride back to Flight Ops and Ed's annoyance had stewed into full blown aggravation. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the, for him, pointless meeting had cost him the launch time for his Squadron and stuck him in the office for yet another day!

He walked through the doors into Flight Ops, glaring straight ahead and his back ramrod stiff. Anyone looking at him knew to stay out of the way. His orders were probably as pointless as the meeting had been, noone wanted to get near him when he was in that mood.

"Unless it's life or death or my son don't disturb me." Ed growled as he made his way towards his office. "I'll be in my office. Blaze! With me." He called out, probably louder than needed, but what the hell it got some stress out.

Blaze had been looking over some reports from the other squadrons. With her duties as the assistant CAG, she often found herself reviewing flight performance reports from the other groups, not just her own. It was one of the less interesting parts of her job, but she had already resigned herself to having to spend some time not being behind the controls of her bird. She was in mid report when she heard Ed storm into Flight Ops, and it didn't take an empath to know that he was in a bad mood.

Lynsi sighed and nodded to the flight controller to let them know that they were in charge before heading to Ed's office. She stopped nervously at the door. "You wanted to see me, Boss?"

Ed had stopped at the window of his office and was staring into the void of local space outside the station. He was still pretty torked off, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. "Come on in Blaze, palm the door shut will you?" He asked quietly, without taking his eyes from the blackness just outside the window. "If you want to bail out of FOps for the day and get some stick time, you may as well. No reason for us both to get screwed today."

She closed the door behind her and strolled over to the desk. She lifted herself up to sit on the edge. "You've been looking forward to getting some stick time. You want to talk about it?" Whether he did or not she didn't know, but Blaze had a feeling Ed didn't call her into his office just to tell her to fly her sortie.

"Not much to talk about as far as getting stick time, maybe I can get out tomorrow." Ed shrugged as he turned around. "That punk in charge of security needs to watch his mouth. I've got more time as a Major than he does out of the Academy and he has the balls to say Marines only have half a braincell compared to security."

"Which is surprising since those meatheads in security only have half a braincell too." She shook her head with a smirk, just to let him know that she was joking, or at least half joking. "It's inter-branch rivalry. You're never going to get away from that, at least not entirely. I've carried on like that with the station's shuttle pilots. There's always going to be shows of false bravado, on both sides."

"Yes, but when he insinuates that Marines can't do patrols to back up Security because they aren't smart enough it pisses me off. I wear the same color as those grunts and I'm not going to sit there and be silent about his ignorance."

Blaze took another deep breath. She had spent much of her career working alongside marine pilots, even before she came to the station. The Shiloh had a very large marine contingent, not just among the pilots, but the infantry as well. There were plenty of moments where they shared a friendly rivalry, but it had never reached a point where it was anything beyond playful ribbing. She didn't know Commander O'Connell personally, so she couldn't say for sure what his motivations were, or if he did believe what he said. "I can't speak for him. I don't know anything about him. All I know that is that you and I both know better. It doesn't matter what he thinks. I'm sure the captain knows that that green uniform doesn't make you stupid. If she thought otherwise, she wouldn't have wanted you in this position."

"You and I know that Lynsi, but that punk needs to watch himself." Ed said with a shake of his head. "Since when did you start playing counselor anyways?"

She just smiled. "About the time you asked me into your office, told me to shut the door, and told me to fly my sortie. An order that simple could have been done in passing, and you know it."

"So you're saying I may have had an ulterior motive Lieutenant?" Ed asked with a wicked grin. "Something to do with last night perhaps?"

Lynsi laughed as she brushed some stray strands of hair out of her eyes. "I never said that. I only assumed that you wanted someone to vent to." She gave him another grin to match his. "But that doesn't mean you don't have an ulterior motive, Major." She didn't use ranks often, usually preferring to use their callsigns, sometimes even over their names. But she figured that this time he started it.

"I see." Ed replied in mock thought as he stopped just in front of where she was sitting on the edge of his desk. "And just what do you think my ulterior motive might be?" He asked, stopping only a mere foot away from her.

She slid off the desk to stand face to face with him. "I don't know, but I have a feeling I should be reporting it to my superior officer," she replied with a wink and a grin.

"And why would you be thinking that I wonder?"

"I just assumed that it would be unbecoming of a marine to kiss his subordinate, especially while they are both on duty."

"Well you know what they say about closed doors and all." Ed grinned at her. "No one else's business but those involved."

"I suppose you're right." Lynsi gave him a laugh. "But you were thinking about kissing your subordinate, right?"

"And what if I still am thinking about it? Last night was just a peck at the door." He asked her with a challenging grin.

Lynsi reached out and took Ed's hand. "You did seem pretty nervous last night. I suppose even a Starfleet Marine feels like he has to retreat sometimes. I know that I can be pretty intimidating. You're just worried that I kiss better than I fly, and that you'd be overwhelmed."

"I seem to recall you were just as nervous as I was." Ed said with a wry grin as he took her other hand and gently pulled her to him. "What say we find out if you do kiss as well as you fly?"

"You're crazy. I'm never nervous," Lynsi replied, trying to save her own pride. But she was nervous last night. She was nervous now. But she was too stubborn to ever admit it. "Bring it on."

"You're full of it." Ed teased before he pulled her in for a kiss.

Lynsi made no effort to fight it. She let Ed pull her in close, his lips pressing tight against hers. She let go of his hand and put her arm around his neck, pulling them even closer in a tight embrace. After a long kiss, the pair pulled apart. Blaze smiled at him. "I'm glad we got that out of the way so we can get you to relax."

"Thats a start." Ed said with a grin. "But that's all we can do on duty." He said and gave her another quick kiss. "Thanks for letting me vent Lynsi."

Blaze blushed at the thought of what they might have done had they not been on duty. "You're welcome, Ed. You know you can come to me any time if you need to talk."

"Why Lynsi," Ed teased with a grin, "is that embarrassment or something else causing you to blush? You do turn such an adorable shade of red."

Lynsi glared at him as she smiled. "I'm sure it was just an environmental irregularity." She decided not to address the adorable shade of red, though in her mind she took that as a compliment. "Are you sure you don't want to fly my sortie? I can hold up shop here. It might do you good to get in some stick time."

"I'll fly with my Squadron. It's no good to mix up leadership within the Squadron for just one sortie. You go out with your people, I'll get my time in tomorrow with any luck." He paused and grinned wickedly at her. "Environmental irregularity hell. Give it some more thought and maybe we can work it out after work."

"Fair enough. Maybe if the you're comfortable leaving someone else in charge of flight ops, you can watch my backside. Sometimes Jinjo needs a break. Just throwing that out there." Lynsi started for the door. "By the way, you never said. Do I kiss as well as I fly?"

Ed raised an eyebrow as he reached for his helmet on the shelf behind his desk. Watching her backside sounded more like an invitation to a competition. "You know, maybe some stick time is in order after all. I'll tell you when we get back which is better your kissing or your flying. Have to see it first hand before I can say one way or the other."

"Well, then I better make sure I show off," she replied with a smile, having stopped and turned away from the door. "I better go tell Jinjo the news. Am I dismissed, Major?"

"Smartass." He said with a grin. "Lead the way Lieutenant, it is your Squadron afterall."