Ceremony After Party: Part 3

Posted on Fri Dec 21st, 2018 @ 2:32pm by Captain Horatio Refelian & Commander Abigail Prescott & Lieutenant Commander Catrina (Cat) Tendai & Lieutenant JG Jonah Masters & Ensign Callan Armidale & Rakena Kejaad

2,147 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Into The Breach
Location: Function Room, Diplomatic Hub
Timeline: MD03 - 2030 Hours

Rakena Kejaad had never in her career been one to shy away from a party, but something about her interaction with the Caitian officer before the Ceremony had her in her own head. The Cardassian woman had found a well appointed seat along the perimeter of the function room and perched herself there. Gul Reskat stood to her left and crouched slightly to give the Ambassador his ear.

"We will stay, but I want the skimmer ready at a moments notice." She barked in a hushed tone as the party went on around her.

Catrina had lingered around, her mind distracted, as she had been sipping at a rather strong drink. Normally she didn't drink much, but with everything that was going on, she was going to this time. She caught sight of the Cardassian Ambassador sitting along one edge of the room and shrugged, figuring she could introduce herself.

Going over, she gave a polite nod. "Ambassador. Would you like some company?"

Rakena raised an eyebrow incredulously.

Gul Reskat stepped between the Ambassador and Catrina. "The Ambassador is tired, and we will be making our exit shortly." He folded his hands in front of him.

Taking a small step back as Gul Reskat came forward, Cat gave a small frown. "I apologize, I did not mean to intrude."

"How's everyone enjoying the party?" Refelian asked as he walked towards the group, a glass of champagne in hand. "Lieutenant Tendai, can I have a quiet word with you a moment?" Refelian asked with a smile as he moved towards the edge of the room.

"Of course, Captain." Cat gave a polite nod to the others and followed to the edge of the room. "What is it?"

"You've done an excellent job getting the station up and running. Myself and Starfleet Command have been most impressed with your work since you've arrived. Starfleet has authorised me to promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, effective immediately. Congratulations, Lieutenants Commander Tendai." Refelian said as he added the black pip to the Engineers dress uniform.

Eyes going wide, Cat wasn't sure what to think. This had been the last thing she expected to happen. She stood at attention as the Captain put the pip on her uniform and then ran her finger along the now three pips she had, trying to determine if this was a dream. A smile crossed her face. "I..I'm not sure what to say. Thank you, Captain."

"Keep up the good work, Commander." The Captain said with a smile wink.

"You can count on it," Cat said with a smile before running her finger along the pips one more time. She wasn't sure whether to go back to the group or if he had more to say, so for the moment, she stayed put.

"Enjoy the party, Cat, you've earned it." He said putting a reassuring hand on the Engineers shoulder.

Cat smiled again. "Thank you, I will. You enjoy it too." She stayed for only a moment longer before going back over to the group she was with.

With the majority of his portion of security covered for the ceremony, Jonah mingled among the crowd, nodding and smiling as he sought out his significant other. His eyes landed on Callan, arms folded and leaning against a wall. "Hey there, wallflower," he said with a twinkle in his eye and smile on his lips. "Need some company?"

Callan turned to see Jonah walking up to him. "Hey," he said with a somewhat sly smile. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Good," Jonah answered. He held his hand out for Cal to take. "Let's see what kind of trouble we can stir up."

Callan gave Jonah's hand a gentle squeeze, and allowed himself to be led further into the crowd. He was, of course, normally comfortable with holding hands with Jonah in public, but it was the fact that he was now technically his Chief that made him the slightest bit uncomfortable. A small tension could be felt from him as they mingled amongst groups of people, even if he didn't actually let go.

Jonah paused as they moved through the small clusters of people. Cal hadn't said anything, but he could feel his fiancé's discomfort and he almost instantly knew why. 'This problem again?' he thought, knowing immediately why he was sensing discomfort from Callan. "It's not a problem," he said quietly, in a moment alone. He held up the hand that now had the ring on it, "This means I'm yours and you're mine... no matter where we work."

The younger man nodded, trying to relax, his eyes looking down to the ground momentarily.

Jonah caught Cal's chin and locked eyes with him. "It also means I love you and everyone should know. Got it?"

"Yep, sorry," Callan said, looking back up. Then with a smile, "I love you too."

Jonah smiled easily at Cal. "Good... now that's settled, let's enjoy the party, huh?"

And both young men squeezed each others' hands a little tighter, and began making their way to the bar to order their first drinks for the night.

The Captain smiled as he watched the newly minted Lieutenant Commander head back to the party. He was very proud of what she had accomplished. He then noticed Lieutenant Masters standing with Ensign Armidale, he decided to head over to them. "Lieutenant Masters, Ensign Armidale, enjoying the party?"

Jonah looked to the CO. "I actually just arrived to the party, captain. My better half has been holding up the wall," Jonah said, looking to Cal with amusement.

Cal tilted his head over to his boyfriend whilst looking over at the CO, a bottle of beer in hand. "Having to stay back at work 'cause he's so slack, sir," he said jokingly. "Might need to crack that whip on him."

Jonah quirked an eyebrow at Cal. "Something like that," he responded with amusement. He would wait for Refelian to walk away before adding his follow up comment.

Harry smiled, "How have you both adjusted to life on the Station? I know it's only been a couple of days but I'm guessing you've started to get to grips with the place."

"We're... settling down well," Callan said, having paused briefly to look over at Jonah, as if to make sure that his partner held the same sentiment. "Being moved from intel to security was a bit of a surprise, sir. A nice one, actually," he added, nudging Jonah's shoulder and smiling.

"I'm glad you approve, Commander Prescott and myself thought with your background and security being a little undermanned compared with Intel. The swap made sense." Refelian replied.

Jonah gave Cal a smart look. He would say ‘I told you so,' later. "Don't worry, sir. I'm sure Ensign Armidale will work twice as hard as anyone else in the department just to prove there's no favoritism rumors," Jonah answered with a smirk.

Callan gave Jonah a soft punch on the arm. "Hey! I always work hard!"

"Mm hmm," Jonah said with a smirk.

"Excellent.”" The Captain said with a smile. "I take it your security forces haven’t encountered anything untoward during the ceremony?" His question directed at the Chief of Security.

"Fortunately, this place is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I've not received any unusual reports, sir," Jonah reported.

“Excellent. I’m relieved to hear that, I’ve been quite up tight about this ceremony and the recent problems we’ve been having.” The Captain said. “I was looking at the tunnel network below the station after you pointed it out, seems like there’s only a handful which were installed by Starfleet, the rest seem to be ancient. I’m wondering if they’re Iconian origin. I might send a team down after the Station quietens down.”

Stepping back over to Rakena and Gul Reskat, Cat gave an apologetic nod. "I'm sorry, I know it seemed like you did not want to talk, but...and if that is still the case I will leave you be. However, is it not a good idea to get to know people?"

Rakena laughed. "I am here to serve the Union, not make friends child."

Taking a step back, "I did not mean friends. I will not bother you any further, Ambassador. However, if you do require any engineering assistance, please do not hesitate to ask."

"Insolent child." Gul Reskat said, quickly turning to see if the Ambassador was as aghast as he was.

Rakena kept an even face. " It's time to go Reskat."

Raising an eyebrow, Cat did not appreciate being called in insolent child, but knew better than to say anything. Instead, she walked away slowly.

Jonah watched the exchange from a distance and he could feel the disapproving annoyance from the engineer. Leaving Cal's side for a moment, he walked up to Cat. "Don't worry... Cardassians have an innate sense of superiority even though they got their asses handed to them in the Dominion War. I think they resent the fact that they never would have recovered this much without the Federation's humanitarian efforts. It's not personal... they're just... dicks." He shrugged and offered a smile.

Glancing over at Masters, Cat raised an eyebrow. "I thought I'd try. But, an engineer offering to help with anything you'd think they'd appreciate it." She looked over at Cal and smiled. "By the way, you two look so happy."

Callan, of course, had quietly followed Jonah, knowing he'd get to meet more people that way. His partner would often be more sociable than he could be, and was better at breaking the ice when meeting new people and making friends. "Thanks," he responded to the young lady's comment. "And yes, pretty happy. A lot of positive changes for us since we've come here," he added, briefly thinking back on the events both he and Jonah had gone through on the Archimedes.

"I'm glad. I've been so busy I haven't had much time for anything else besides work. Might be why I'm also failing at the social gathering thing right now." Cat shrugged. "And quite a bit on my mind anyways."

Jonah cocked his head in Cal's direction. “Only pretty happy?” he quipped. Returning his attention to Cat, he continued, "As for social gatherings, you just wander around and drop into a conversation when you see an opening, or when Cardassians are being dicks. They don’t like it when you point out their inherent flaws."

Callan gave Jonah's arm a small squeeze, a rather conservative display of affection. "Very, very happy," he responded.

Not letting on that seeing the two of them was making her miss Sarah even more, Catrina kept herself looking stronger than she felt. So, she gave them a smile. "How have you two been settling in?"

"Getting there," Callan said. "We've only been here... a few days. Our assigned residence is a lot bigger and nicer than we expected, so that was a good start." He decided not to mention the stressors of moving, as well as the sudden transfer from one department to another, even though he knew Jonah had facilitated the latter in a way to make the transition as seamless as possible.

"You missed all the fun then," Cat stated. "Repairs, power shorts, lack of sleep. All that fun stuff that comes with being here before things are properly working.

"Ah," Cal nodded. "Of course. Missed all the fun. Devastating."

Cat smirked. “Well, from an engineers’ perspective anyways. It wouldn’t be fun for any other department.”

Jonah’s face soured. "I heard there was plenty of work in security before we arrived," he answered without directly speaking to the assassination attempt on the CO.

"So did I, actually. But it was before I arrived. Got held up in some research at Starfleet headquarters and ended up late. Commander M’Mira frowned upon that quite a bit." Cat stated with a slight shrug.

"Hopefully not too much work," Callan responded to Jonah's suggestion.

Mint approached the small group, a mug of peppermint tea in her hand. "Evening," she said more cheerily than she felt. "Congrats, by the way," she whispered to Cat, before smiling at the others. "Everyone enjoying the party?"

Smiling at Mint, Cat was glad for someone else to join. "Thanks," she whispered, "Surprised the hell out of me."

"Really? It was due," Mint shrugged but smiled. "But then, most promotions are a surprise unless they've been delayed forever."

"Yes, really. I hadn't been expecting to be promoted for..a while." Cat shrugged. "But I will take it. Doesn't feel real though," she said as she ran her finger along her collar.

"I get that," Mint said with a smile. "But otherwise enjoying the party? How about the two of you?" She looked at Jonah and Callan.

 

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