Bailey and the Blakes

Posted on Thu Oct 22nd, 2020 @ 9:42pm by Commander Ryan Blake
Edited on on Fri Oct 23rd, 2020 @ 2:29pm

Mission: The Thorion Conundrum Mission Brief
Location: Olympia Lounge
Timeline: Mission Day 6 / 1820 hours

Ryan stepped into the lounge. He had just finished a shift as the bridge duty officer for the First Dog Watch and was looking to have a quick drink before heading back to his quarters and a shower. It had been a long and busy day, what with the ceremony and launch that morning, but he felt energized. He had been at the starbase since Graduation and this was his first starship assignment as a member of the permanent ship's crew. He ordered up a bottle of beer and looked about.

Bailey had been stood on his own in the lounge. With not knowing anyone onboard, an obvious question of appropriateness with having a drink with a subordinate and a limited number of marine officers on the Leto, having a casual beer alone and hoping to bump into someone sociable seemed the only way forward.

Joseph had been standing at the bar for a good 10 minutes, looking around, seeing if people had already formed cliques, who looked like someone to speak to, who looked like someone you hoped not to get stuck in a turbolift with. It dawned on him he’d probably been looking borderline creepy.

An enthusiastic Lieutenant in command colours came up to the bar next to him, ordered his drink and looked out on the crowd in the same way the marine had been doing.

Ryan spotted Joseph a couple of seats down the bar. The Marine office seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he knew him from. He wandered down and gestured at the empty seat next to Joseph. "You mind or is the seat already taken?"

“Knock yourself out.” Bailey said, gesturing at the seat. “Joe Bailey.” He introduced, half getting up from his seat and brandishing an outstretched hand.

"Ryan Blake." He shook hands as he sat down. He still maintained the curious expression. "If you don't mind me saying, but you look familiar. I am just having trouble trying to figure out where from."

Joseph smiled, it wasn’t the first time someone recognised him before and didn’t know where from, he just had one of those faces. “That depends. If you holidayed on Risa 3-to-5 years ago it may be there? Or I was on Starbase 50 for a few months waiting to be posted somewhere? "

Ryan gave a thoughtful nod of his head. He had never been to Risa. "It must be the station. I have been there for the last four years."

“Four years??” Bailey blurted with an unintentional shock. “Wow. Not sure I’d’ve been able to hack it there that long. Too, serene.” He commented, struggling to find the way to describe it. “What is it you were doing there? I’m guessing you weren’t just cleaning the windows?” He asked, gesturing to the colour of the man's collar and the pips sat on it.

Ryan gave a light hearted chuckle to the window cleaning comment. He shook his head as he grinned and took a sip of beer before responding. "Strategic Operations Department. I was the Signal Intercept Division Officer to start, transferred to Analysis Division and finally Threat Assessment Division slash Assistant Department Head before being offered the position of Strategic Operations Department Head on the Leto." He took another long pull from his bottle. He looked passed Joseph to see someone he'd promised to meet in the lounge coming through the door. He gave a small wave. "Samantha, over here."

Samantha gave a bright smile as she strolled to the two men sitting at the bar. She was clad in a cream colored blouse, black slacks and comfortable black flat shoes. She stepped up to Ryan, giving him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. She turned to Joseph and offered a hand. "Samantha Blake. And you would be...?"

"A third wheel." The 2nd Lieutenant smiled as he stood up to shake the hand, passing what he thought was a subtle glance to her other hand, but realised it was probably a strange look to make when someone's expecting eye contact from you. "Joe Bailey." He corrected himself.

"From the lack of ring but the shared surname and friendly welcome, I'm going to guess at, sister?" Joseph squinted slightly, hoping his educated guess was right and not offensive comment for an estranged wife or a weirdly old looking daughter.

Samantha grinned as she glanced at her brother, but with a head shake towards Joseph. "This guy is pretty quick on picking up clues. Isn't he?" She held aloft her left hand. "Good thing I didn't wear my graduation ring."

Ryan shook his head and smiled before gesturing out into the greater lounge area. "How about we get a table." He turned to Joseph. "I hope you will join us."

"Erm" Joe stammered, he'd gone from going lone ranger to gatecrashing a family evening. "Sounds great." He smiled politely, instant panic setting in about whether or not he should be bailing on this occasion and respectfully giving them time alone, but he had gone to meet people after all and they'd invited him over after knowing him for just over 3 minutes.

Looking at the uniforms he, the rest of the lounge and Mr Blake were wearing, the contrast with Miss Blake's attire was stark. "Might be a slightly personal question, but do you often change out of uniform before going for a beer?" Bailey asked.

Samantha chuckled. She gave a slight smile to Joseph as they made their way to a table close to the bar. "I'm a Geosciences Fellow for the Federation Science Council, not a Starfleet officer." She spoke briefly with the floor server as they sat down, ordering up a Long Island Iced Tea. "Real please. I abhor synthale swill." She turned back to Joseph. "So Joseph. What is it you do aboard this fine ship?"

"Pretty much nothing at the minute." Bailey replied, laughing. "It's basically my job to sit around and wait until there's mortal danger. The rest of the time I'm just a charming personality to have around the ship." He smiled as he swigged his beer. "But thank you for asking all the same."

The marine was unsure of what conversation to make with a pair of siblings who had arranged to meet each other privately, one of which was a member of the senior staff and the other a civilian, but was conscious not to appear rude. "So have you two been brother and sister long?" Joe asked, fishing in the dark for a conversation starter and realising he'd missed the mark. A mental cringe crippled him.

Both Blake siblings exchanged amused glances before facing Joseph.

Samantha patted Ryan on his shoulder as a warm smile came to her face. "I've been his big sister for more than 26 years now. I was 2 when he was born."

Ryan merely shrugged. "Truth be told. She has been my older sister for that long. Bigger sister... not since I was about 14."

The server arrived with Samantha's drink. Ryan held up his bottle with a little wiggle and a gesture to Joseph. "Two more of the same if you don't mind."

Samantha looked at Joseph, a curious expression of interest on her face. "What about you? Any brothers or sisters Joseph?"

“Ah I’ve got loads! Third of four, me. All of them on the fleet side, just like my parents. They’re all pretty serious now though, Christmas isn’t exactly the comedy roadshow It used to be.” Joe half-smiled, thanking Ryan for the drink as the waiter arrived back with their drinks.

“I think the best one was probably the year me and my brother figured out where the whole turkey was going to be for dinner and pinpointed a site-to-site transport to beam a communicator inside it and have it scream out in pain when my Dad started carving.” Bailey laughed loudly as he swigged his beer.

“Those days are behind us now unfortunately as it’s now ‘immature’ and ‘not appropriate for someone befitting my commission’. Ridiculous.” The soldier’s voice faded, clearly begrudging the fact.

Samantha laughed at the torture turkey story. She glanced at Ryan a moment. "We should have done that for Christmas Dinner."

Ryan shrugged. "Dad would have sent us both off to boarding school if we'd pulled a stunt like that."

"I've heard Christmas dinners are great at boarding school to be fair. There's always a lavish dinner, snow, and a ghost of some kind. Maybe you missed a trick!" Joe replied, drinking a large portion of his beer. "Anyway, I must be getting back, I heard something about a big shindig tomorrow morning and won't want to annoy my giant boss this early in the trip."

"Thank you for the beer Lieutenant, even if it costs us nothing in this day and age." Bailey stood, shaking Ryan's hand. "Miss Blake." He said shaking her hand again, this time remembering to stick with the courteous eye contact this time. "I'll leave you to have a lovely evening." He finished with a polite smile before taking his leave to let them have the evening they'd arranged.

Ryan waved at Bailey as he walked away. His sister watched the Marine officer leave with a mild interest. "Nice fellow." She finally turned to Ryan. "So what is the story about you and the XO baby brother?"

2nd Lieutenant Bailey
USS Leto
Marine Officer

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Lieutenant Ryan Blake
USS Leto
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

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Doctor Samantha Blake
Federation Science Council (attached to USS Leto)
Geosciences