Long Time No See

Posted on Sun Jan 22nd, 2023 @ 9:09pm by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea

Mission: Character Development
Location: Lounge :: USS Athena
Timeline: Prior to Earth Arrival
2006 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

"Mind if I join you?"

Nayisa looked up from her reading to see her long time friend standing nearby. It was late, and she didn't expect anyone else to be in the lounge, but she knew that Zade sometimes had trouble sleeping. With the PaDD, she gestured to an open seat and gave her a joking smile, "I absolutely mind, Didrea." When they had met to go over contingencies for when they found the Avalon, Nayisa picked up on the professional air in Zade's office and matched her energy. It was, after all, ultimately preparation for a battle. "How's your shoulder?" She asked, setting the PaDD down on the table between them. Zade was the only person she didn't have to put some dumb facade up for, and honestly, it was nice to truly be herself for once.

Zade accepted the seat offered to her, cupping her tea with both hands as she leaned back into the chair. The woman before her was the only one she allowed to call her by her first name. In a way, she became family. "Fine. It was an easy fix for the doctor," she responded. With the Avalon destroyed, Zade felt as if she had failed in some way, and a mix of emotions sat inside her. There was some guilt over those killed by the Romulan boarding party, and it weighed on her knowing that her own orders sent at least 5 to their deaths. But they were caught by surprise, what could she do? Even Nayisa, sitting in front of her for the first time in 8 years, gave her a mix of joy at seeing her friend and... some unnamed, yet confusing emotions. Nayisa was on the ship for some time before the Trill even noticed, and it wasn't until they were told to strategize together that Zade had noticed. While her presence on board wasn't for very long, she was a little disappointed that they didn't meet up sooner, but it didn't hinder their relationship. She knew the mission came first. "How's your leg?"

Nayisa shrugged, being reminded that she went against the doctor's orders and went back to work early. "Better. I'm just glad we didn't have to use Contingency Plan B: Knock 'Em Off Their Feet," she said with a grin. That plan was way more involved, which meant a lot more crawling around and sabotaging. She could have done it, but it was a lot more stressful because she wasn't at a hundred percent.

Zade couldn't help but chuckle, evident by a huff of air leaving her nose. "I still can't believe you gave them names," she said, taking a sip of her tea. She let a pause sit for a moment before asking, "Nayisa, what happened during your last posting? I hadn't heard from you for over six months, and then you show up here as if nothing happened."

The silver haired woman's smile faded, and she sighed as she picked her drink up off the table. Zade hadn't changed since the Academy… she still wanted to get to the point. The memories of sitting in a dark shuttle several months ago with two others occupied her mind, her memories bouncing between her teammates and the vast asteroid field outside their shuttle. "A team of us on the Pioneer were tasked to do recon, and things just… went wrong."

"'Things went wrong?' For six months??" Zade understood having to adapt over the course of a week or so, but for six months was almost unimaginable. What the hell could go wrong to complicate a mission so much that it was completed six months later than expected?

Nayisa took a sip of her own beverage, a spiked banana smoothie. It was an Earth beverage designed to help encourage sleep, but man it was so good. And the extra little shot of alcohol made it that much better. "Yeah, surprisingly," she sighed, noticing her friend's surprise. "It was like being led on a wild goose chase. No communications, either, or we'd risk being caught, which is why I didn't contact you. The Pioneer ended up in a fight and limped back to starbase."

Zade didn't blame Nayisa for the lack of communication. If she had to blame anything, it was the uniform. A frown settled onto the Trill's face. "You became much harder to stay in touch with once you switched to intelligence. You had me worried."

"Yeah, I know," Nayisa reluctantly agreed. It sucked having to always be the one who set up calls, but her life was so unpredictable. It was easier that way. "In fairness, my last mission was very abnormal. If things hadn't fallen into place the way they did, I'd probably still be unreachable."

"Now I'm curious, what was the Pioneer's mission?" Zade asked, leaning forward in her seat. Her hands cupped the tea as she took a sip.

A small knot formed in her stomach, knowing she'd have to lie to her friend. Nayisa hated the feeling, and instead of answering she opted for a smile. It was tight-lipped, and her expression was that of an apology. She couldn't lie if she didn't say anything. Man, she missed the days of being able to talk shop with the Trill. It wasn't easy to make stuff up either, just for the sake of having a conversation to hold. She couldn't do that to her friend.

Zade recognized the smile and frowned. Nayisa had used it several times over the years whenever Zade asked the wrong thing. To her disappointment, it meant she couldn't answer the question. "Ugh, fine," she huffed, leaning back.

"Yeah, sorry," Nayisa sheepishly said, knowing she yet again disappointed her friend. A gentle silence settled between them for a moment as the woman figured out how to continue the conversation. "You... can at least tell me about your life over the last 6 months. Last I heard, you were on the Colossal."

Changing the subject was a long time habit of Nayisa's. Even before she switched to Intelligence, Zade would find herself saying more to her friend than what she received. Nayisa just didn't like talking about herself, and she didn't need intel as an excuse. "For the most part, Karav helped me with training up until I transferred here."

Nayisa couldn't help but scowl at the mention of Karav. She looked into him the last time Didrea brought him up, and despite him having a near-perfect record... she didn't trust him. She couldn't put a finger on it, but he seemed too cautious about everything. She couldn't bring herself to like him. "Is he still a creep?" Nayisa asked, some teasing laced into her otherwise serious question.

Zade rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you say that. He's never done anything weird." As the words left her mouth, she remembered the last training session she did with him, his eyes burning deep into hers with an intent to kill. She had convinced herself that it was for the training, but him turning off the safeties definitely surprised her, to put it lightly.

Nayisa watched Zade ponder before casting her a look of doubt before throwing her words righr back at her. "Really? He's never done anything weird?" She never mentioned it directly, but Zade was not as difficult to read as the Trill claimed. The way her eyes slightly shifted focus, the minute fidgeting with the cup in her hands... telltale train of thought. It was a specific tell that Zade did whenever she had doubts that Nayisa had noticed during the Academy. Maybe it was why Nayisa could usually beat her at cards.

"One of the training sessions got... intense, that's all," the Trill responded. She saw the look of 'I know there's more' from the silver-haired woman and rolled her eyes. "He's not someone to be worried about, Nayi."

"He's too normal," Nayisa started, putting her drink on the table before crossing her arms. She knew Zade wouldn't agree with her, and for good reason: she had no proof. The silver-haired woman was going entirely off of intuition, which wasn't something she was supposed to go off of. "There's normal normal, and then there's suspicious normal. I don't know which one he is."

The Trill chuckled again, watching her friend turn into Intel mode. "Only you could make the word 'normal' have more than one meaning," she joked. Taking another sip of her tea, Zade continued, "anyways, I got to the Athena mid-mission and stayed aboard."

"Mid-mission? Damn, they must have been desperate," Nayisa chuckled. She didn't mind dropping the conversation about the Trill's former boss, knowing that they'd ultimately agree to disagree. For all Nayisa knew, maybe Zade was right and the silver-haired woman was just a paranoid spook who saw everyone as a potential enemy.

Glad to see the subject change, Zade gave the woman a smile. "I was escorting some extra manpower and supplies through Cardassian space, and once the mission was over, it was too out of the way to rendezvous with the Colossal, so I stayed aboard. Two of the other scientists stayed as well, but the other three in the team went back to the Colossal once the ship returned to starbase."

Nayisa raised her eyebrows. "Hold up," she said, waving her hand as if to rewind the conversation. She leaned forward, "you had to nav a shuttle full of scientists and supplies through Cardassian space???" Her lips curled into that joking grin again, "either Munro was really desperate to get rid of you or Kane was that desperate for extra hands."

An amused huff of air left Zade's nose as she shook her head. "Haha, very funny," she joked back. "It wasn't a long trip, for the record. Munro was kind enough to change course so the travel time was halved."

"That's good at least." Nayisa paused, then leaned back into her seat and stared out the window. It was nice to be in the company of a friend again and just... exist. The quiet hum of the ship filled the void left behind by the dropped conversation. She could finally relax a little, and as she lounged in the chair she realized just how much tension her body was holding.

Zade too turned her attention to the window, unsure of how to continue the conversation. What was there to talk about when her friend couldn't really share things, either out of necessity or out of bureaucracy? Taking a sip of her drink, the Trill finally said, "has anything recent happened that you can talk about?"

There was a pause as Nayisa considered her reply. She spent many hours in her free time doing research into him, and at some point she had finally picked up on a decent lead, but was that worth sharing with Didrea? She knew the woman's history, and the last time she mentioned a lead, it was all Zade could think about. She remembered her disappointment when Nayisa reported that the lead wasn't any good, and she hated making her friend feel that way. "Not really," she finally responded. "Unless you want to hear about how I made a new friend by accidentally setting them on fire." Her face lit up with a cheeky grin, as if she had the dirtiest gossip known to man.

An amused huff of air left Zade's nose again. Somehow, Nayisa managed to have a handful of these stories, and they never failed to amuse. How she managed to get herself into these scenarios, however, was something of a mystery. "Of course, but I have to ask-"

"They're alright, minor injuries but quickly patched up," Nayisa interrupted, guessing with ease what Zade was going to ask. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, and clasped her hands together. "We still laugh about it. Alright, so I was rock climbing with two engineers and a scientist on the holodeck..."