Biding Time Part I
Posted on Sun Apr 6th, 2025 @ 9:03am by Lieutenant C'Mila Juli & Lieutenant Junior Grade Wyatt Spencer
Edited on on Tue Apr 8th, 2025 @ 8:19am
2,321 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Like Sands Through The Hourglass
Location: Conference Room - Deck 1 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD003 2000 hrs
Juli sat at a table in one of the station's restaurants. She found a spot near the promenade so that she could watch the people walk by while she waited for her food. She had ordered a spicy curry dish she'd grown fond of when she was at the Academy. Once the Herodotus started their mission, the small crew would be stuck with one another for the foreseeable future, with little on board to entertain themselves - at least compared to most other ships that were in service these days. While they waited for the rest of the crew to arrive she thought it was a good idea to stretch her legs as much as she could. She was looking forward to the upcoming adventures, but it was unlikely that she'd be in contact with much of anyone else after this.
Wyatt had a bit of a headache. He had always had a tough time adjusting to the different time shifts from one ship or station to another, at least the first day or two. But that at least meant he wasn't a corpse like everyone he'd once known thought he was.
No one at the station knew him, and since he wasn't wearing a uniform, they were likely to even know he was in Starfleet. Still, he had to be cautious. He was going to sit alone and just mind his own business. That would have been the smart thing to do. But, his self-imposed plans were derailed when he caught sight of someone in his peripheral vision that he recognized. He'd never seen her in person before, but he'd seen her file.
He changed course and moved to where she was sitting, dodging a busboy carrying a tray stacked high with dishes.
"Sorry," he said barely avoiding the collision.
"Excuse me," he said, "do you mind some company?"
"Not at all," Juli responded gesturing to the seat across from her. "Are you..." she let the question dangle. She didn't recognize the officer, and their assignment was classified, but if it were someone from the Herodotus, Juli knew she'd be easy to spot. Since there where only so many Orions in Starfleet, the green skin was usually a dead giveaway.
He gave her an easy smile as he sat down across from her. "I know this is scandalously forward of me to invite myself to your table, but I'm just waiting till I can board my ship and I'd rather not do that alone."
"If this is your idea of a scandal then you, my dear, have led a grossly sheltered life," Juli teased. She started to put an arm on the table but stopped when the waiter brought over a tray with the food she'd ordered.
"Do you like curry? This is a vegetarian vindaloo. We can get another plate," she offered before the server left.
He smiled, an almost innocent smile as she was pulling his leg.
"Another plate would be wonderful. I haven't had much curry in the past. but I do love spicy. You sure you don't mind?"
Juli nodded to the waiter, "Plate and table settings please." She looked at her new meal companion, "It's always too much food. You might want something to drink though."
"That is a great idea," he said with a nod before turning to the waiter, "I'll have a glass, no a bottle of Pinot Grigio, please."
"When I first moved to Earth I was looking for foods I could that weren't Orion, but still had a lot of flavor. It was a bit of a culture shock. My tastes have broadened since, but it's definitely a comfort food. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. Or were you hoping to go down in my personal history book as Starbase Kok's Scandalous Stranger," she inquired.
He gave a good natured chuckle at her remark. "Sorry," he said lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "You can call me Wyatt. Just not too loudly."
"I'll keep it to myself," she promised. "My friends call me Jules."
The waiter returned with the extra plate and the bottle wine and two glasses. He opened the bottle and poured a small amount into a glass and handed it to Wyatt for tasting. "Is it to your liking?"
Wyatt eyed the contents swirling it around the glass He sniffed it then took a sip.
"This is quite good," he answered with a smile as he sat the glass down on the table.
"Jules, is a nice name. It suits you."
The waiter finished pouring Wyatt's glass, and started to pour a second, but Juli stopped him with a smile. After asking if they needed anything else he left them with the bottle and the extra glass.
"Thanks. That's nice to know," she smiled and shrugged somewhat bashfully. "Anyway. Now that you have a plate, should we dig in?" Juli reached over and started taking the lids off of the different dishes.
"We should," he agreed as he took the plate closest to him and began to eat.
"I believe we are on the same transport."
Juli had just finished spooning more of the curry sauce over her food when he had said that. She put the serving spoon back into the main dish and gave him a look of acknowledgement. "I see, so that's why you sat down. I haven't memorized the crew coming along. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."
"It's not the only reason he replied with a coy smile, "But yes. There is no need to apologize. My memory is too good sometimes. Perhaps when we are on board we can share how we were recruited to the ship."
"If that can truly be figured out," she commented almost flippantly. "I'm ready to be busy. Right now I don't know what to expect and this may be the weirdest limbo of my life."
"Given the nature of what we're tasked to do, I'm still not sure of the details either, that makes sense to feel strange. Is there something specific you're referring to?" He asked.
Juli leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Limbo is always weird right. Being uncertain of your future is the worst. But to not have anyone to talk to about it with. Starting completely from scratch. I think about my best friend. Will I ever even find another person like that again. Our circle is about to get very small."
"Did you want to talk about Will? Or is that too personal for someone you've just met?" Wyatt asked.
"Will?" Juli asked confused for a second and then she realized the confusion. "Oh no, my best friend is Ashley. There is no Will. My ex is Tyler. I don't care if I never find anyone like him again." Realizing she didn't even know Wyatt she backtracked on the statement, "I didn't mean that - that was mean," she added. Though, she knew she'd be okay never dating another Tyler.
"Anyway, I just meant that with so few people to interact with. I don't know have you ever just had a connection or a bond with someone and you could go months and not talk and just pick up where you left off? Or be stuck with them on lockdown for weeks, and you wouldn't pick anyone else you'd rather be stuck with?" She let the question linger. "I was just asking, hypothetically, you know will we find those kind of connections on such a small ship," she finished.
Wyatt did a facepalm. "Oh damn, sorry about that. I misheard what you said. "There's no need to apologize. I'm sure I'll never meet Tyler, and I know something about toxic exes."
"I don't know if we'll find connections like that, though it's more likely on a small ship rather than a large one. But to answer your question, no I haven't experienced anything like that in real life, but I've written about it."
Juli's face lit up. "You write? What sort of stuff?" She asked.
Wyatt shrugged. "Nothing published. Mostly romantic fiction. I could let you read some of if you like but I'm not sure it's any good.
"That's sounds fun. I'd love to actually," she replied with a smile. "I'd love to have that skill. I have ideas sometimes, but I don't know how to put them down."
"Well, I will let you read them on one condition. You tell me honestly what you think. Don't sugarcoat it if you don't like them."
Juli laughed warmly. "I'll do my best. I mean, what would I get out of lying? You keep giving me more stories to read that I don't like?"
"Fair point," Wyatt said with a chuckle of his own.
After taking a sip of his wine he added, "this is really good food, if I haven't said so already. I don't really like replicated food, but I suppose I'll just have to get used to it."
"Do you spend much time in the holodeck?"
"Yeah, some. Save the world kinda stuff," Juli admitted. "Do we even have one on the ship though? It's kind of small. I didn't see one in the schematics. I was planning on downloading a lot of books, music, and movies."
"Looks like there is two," he offered after checking his PADD.
"And, we'll not only be saving the world, we'll be saving the universe, or at least the universe we know and it will be for real."
"Safety off," Juli smirked. "May I?" She asked, gesturing to the bottle of wine. Maybe cutting loose wasn't such a bad idea.
"By all means," Wyatt replied, pushing the bottle in her direction. "But, if we're going to get drunk, we should get another bottle."
Juli giggled as she took the bottle and the spare glass. "Why not? What better way to get to know each other. I get a little chatty after a few. You?"
Wyatt didn't laugh, but he did smile. "I'm much the same way. Which is kind of a relief, I've seen people who are angry drunks. They're never fun to deal with."
He signaled the waiter who brought another bottle even though they had barely touched the first. After he had drunk his first glass he asked, "I'm not making a move on you, I'm not that kind of guy. But, our getting too chatty in public might not be the best idea. Do you want to go someplace more private?"
Juli nodded as she swallowed a drink of wine. "Sounds good to me. Let's grab a couple, I don't think it will hurt to have a nice stash on board if we don't get to them."
"Before we leave the station, maybe we should pick up a case or two. Maybe get some whiskey too," Wyatt suggested
"I wonder if we'll be able to start a bit of a collection of spirits from the exotic places we will go... Have you been to the Captain's Ready Room yet? He has quite a collection. I'm pretty sure it's all wine, but I take it he has more than what was even in there," Jules commented. "The stuff I drank with him was stronger than I was expecting for wine. I'm glad I didn't start drinking it right away." She giggled. "I think I might have been not drunk, but you know, if I had just drank it like normal wine and tried to answer his questions. I would have regretted it."
"I haven't been there yet, but I'm sure I will soon. I'm pretty sure you're right about wine being most if not all his collection. He was drinking wine when he recruited me too." Wyatt took a sip of his wine. and with a sly smile continued. "When he first approached me, I thought he was hitting on me."
"Hitting on you? What? Why? He's got to be like hundreds of years old?" Jules commented with some interest.
Wyatt shook his head. "I didn't say he was hitting on me. I don't even know which gender he prefers, nor is it any of my business. I just said that I thought he was. Turns out that it was an entirely different kind of pick up he was interested in"
"I said yes to his offer, of course, or I wouldn't be here. I can't say what I would have done if my first assumption had been right. I'm okay with older. Kind of into it if I'm being honest, but not thatmuch older."
"So, how did your recruitment go?" Wyatt asked.
Jules shrugged. "I didn't meet the Captain until I arrived here. I'm sure he was playing naïve, but when we met, he seemed to not know a lot about me. I received an invitation to apply without knowing much about the program. I did not know it was... well you know," She stated. "Honestly, I thought he was thinking twice about whether or not to even keep me for a hot minute there."
"I don't know any more about him than you do." Wyatt replied. "But, I'd bet you he keeps his cards pretty close to his vest and plays that same game, though maybe with a slight twist with everyone. Kind of testing everyone so he can get to know them."
Jules certainly had wondered if she was being tested when she met the Captain, but she kept that thought to herself as the pair walked.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Junior Grade Wyatt Spencer
Chief Operations Officer
Communications Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant C'amila Juli
Chief Science Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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