Moving house

Posted on Monday August 19th, 2019 @ 6:59pm by Lieutenant Commander Freya Mannerheim & Lieutenant JG Sydney Allen

982 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Departure and Trial Run
Location: Junior Officers' Quarters, Deck 5
Timeline: Pre-Departure, Post-Briefing
Tags: Pre-departure, post-briefing

Freya was slowly walking back to the quarters she shared with Sydney. Promoted to full Lieutenant, and Chief Flight Control Officer? It felt strange, to be honest. And the way Sydney had stormed out of the briefing made her somewhat worried about her friend and soon to be former bunkmate.

Her head was all over the place as she opened the door and entered the room. "Hey, Sydney?", she asked into the room. "Are you oka-" She stopped as she saw the Quartermaster in her bed, surrounded by pillows, crying. "Hey now," Freya said, sitting down at the edge of the bed and placing her hand on Sydney's shoulder. "I'm sure it's not so bad. You are new to this, you are bound to make some mistakes. It could have been a lot worse, trust me."

Sydney was so zoned out that she only came back when she felt Freya's hand touch and unbeknownst to her that she was going to be her ex-bunkmate. She hated that she doesn't know anything on this ship or that she is even on this ship. All Sydney wanted right now was her wife to be there right now, just the thought of Mandy just brought her to tears again.

Freya just sat there for a moment, unsure what to do, when she had an idea. She had seen this in one of the films she had watched to familiarise herself with this universe, and it might just work here. She stood and went over the small replicator. A moment later, she came back with a mug of steaming hot chocolate, complete with cream on top. "Hey, Syd," she said warmly. "You want to talk about it?"

Sydney stopped crying and smelt the hot chocolate which was her favourite drink. She wiped her tears away with her uniform sleeve and looked up from her pillow. "Why did I have to be here and get dragged out of the Academy, I never got a chance to say goodbye to my wife and family. They haven't seen me for over a year and I am really missing them. Now I am told to do a job I have no clue in, I am responsible for ordering the items and making sure that we have everything we need to get us to our location. Not only that but I have the XO's daughter looking up to me for orders." Taking the cup from Freya's hand and taking a sip, "At least I got y...." Noticing the new pips on Freya's collar. "You got promoted?"

Freya nodded. "Chief Flight Control Officer, Lieutenant Freya Svanirsdottir, at your service." She laughed. Sounds strange. Especially seeing how I've never actually flown anything remotely similar to this ship. So I know how you feel." She paused for a moment. "And I know how you feel about your family, too. I've not heard from my little sister in almost a year. She is the only one I have left. Or had, really. I have no idea if I will ever see her again."

Sydney had to force a smile and know that her friend will be going up an entire level to a senior officer so that means, she has to leave Sydney behind all alone in these Quarters. Sydney was proud but also thinks that Freya wouldn't talk to a junior officer anymore. "So I guess you won't want to speak to me anymore, I'm just a junior officer and I guess that makes you a Senior Officer, Sir"

Freya shook her head. "Now don't even start on that. Yes, I outrank you again, yes, I will have new quarters, and yes, in the formal context you will have to call me sir. But you are my friend, Sydney. And that is not going to stop just because I have different pips on my collar. That's not how it works. I'm still the same person that went into that room earlier."

Sydney Started to smile "What did you just call me?"

"Do you need your hearing checked, Quartermaster?" Freya laughed. "You understood exactly what I said. You are my friend. I mean, I could have just grabbed my stuff and left you here to wallow in self-pity, couldn't I?"

Sydney laughed, "Even so you are a higher rank, doesn't mean I won't barge into your room unannounced." She winked at Freya and sat up straight taking another sip of the hot chocolate. "Hey if need you for anything can I still come to you?"

"Of course you can. But please don't just barge in, use the doorbell like a normal person. You know, common courtesy and such."

Sydney laughed again still wiping tears from her eyes. "Okay, by the way i'm sorry you haven't seen your sister for over a year. How so?"

Freya paused for a moment. "It's a complicated story. I am very, very far away from her now. She probably thinks I'm dead." She looked at Sydney. "But let's not talk about that." She stood and reached under her bunk, pulling out her two bags. "I don't have much stuff, but I still need to pack." She shook her head and opened her locker, pulling out two spare uniforms, some underwear and her exercise clothes, and shoved it all into the bags. She had no personal things other than her clothes, PADD, and Katana, the latter two of which were always hidden in one of the bags anyway.

Happy that she had gathered all her things, she turned back to Sydney. "Right, that's that done. Look on the bright side, you now have this whole room to yourself!"

Sydney stood up and gestured a hug, "I am really proud of you and for you. You deserve it."

Freya hugged her friend. "And you will do fine." She picked up the bags. "My door is always open. Once you ring the bell."

RSS Feed