[VIP Quarters - Starbase UNITY]
Channer woke with a start. Beads of sweat fell from his head as he bolted upright in his bed. Taking his usual thirteen second sweep of his immediate surroundings, checking corners first then working inward, he deemed that yes, it had been yet another nightmare. He exhaled, and visibly relaxed in the quite comfortable bed. Sitting back just a bit, he began trying to remember how he had gotten there, and whose leg was draped across him. First, he had been on the Franklin, en-route to UNITY.
* * *
"Captain, don't forget your duffle!"
"Got it," Channer said dryly, waving the over-eager Lieutenant off, and indicated the duffle strapped securely over his shoulder.
"So, stay in touch?" he asked with a little too much enthusiasm to Channer's back as he walked through the airlock onto the promenade. Making another attempt at professionalism, the pilot stook out his hand. "It was an honor to fly for you, sir, and I greatly enjoyed your stories."
Channer had an uncharacteristic twinge of guilt as he turned, shook the man's hand, and agreed; all without remembering his first name. "Sure thing, L.T."
First on his agenda was a whiskey. Cooped up in a shuttle for a day and a half with a proud member of the Dominion War Veterans Honoring Squad was enough to drive anyone to alcoholism. The promenade was clean, but Davis had hopes of finding a nice, quiet spot to have a nice, quiet drink. He started off in search of just such an establishment.
Pausing at the holodecks, he considered renting one for a run, but decided he wasn't up for exercise. Just the drink. Davis passed the arboretum, various merchant shops offering a wide range of treats and trinkets, the Quartermaster's promenade station, and a Security office before he found it. Bluenote Bar offered jazz and blues, comfortable seating, and (most importantly) imported Jameson whiskey, with an H.
Ordering a bottle, and taking a seat with a clear view of all the exits out of habit, he poured the amber liquid into a shotglass. Channer looked down at his drink, and swirled it, causing a minute amount to spill out onto his thumb. Raising his glass to the band as he had no one to drink with, he tapped the shot on the table, then threw it back in one gulp. The pungent taste of the alcohol hit him at first, filling his throat and nostrils with a burn like no other. Then the syrup-like sweetness of the drink doused the fire. At the very last, the spiced wood barrel in which the drink had been distilled provided a rush of warmth to his entire body.
Davis poured one after the other, drinking to friends lost and battles won, enjoying the soft, swank sounds of the muted jazz trumpets. Jaron, his best mate. Jem'Hadar had taken him. Gerry, the first kid he had trained had been in a runabout when a warship decided to start knocking off defenseless opponents. His ex-wife, knocked up when he got back; knocked up by his then superior officer what's more. War was so pointless. But here he was, in another one. Eyeing the bottle for the first time since he started pouring, Channer suddenly realized with a sinking feeling that he had about twenty minutes to get to bed. Bottle was two-thirds empty. He stood and left, leaving the rest of his bottle with some Security guys.
The quartermaster's promenade office was staffed with a young, blonde Lieutenant that looked about his type. Always good to make nice with the person who was in charge of how big your quarters are. The concave office with a long table that struck out into the promenade for dispensing had a total of four desks, indicating that she was the only one that had been stuck working the grave. She looked completely and utterly bored. Channer sauntered over to her desk, a mental countdown on how long before the whiskey hit him running. Would have to work fast.
"Excuse me, ma'am."
She turned to face him, but didn't smile. "Good evening, Captain. What can I do for you?"
He hid a smile. "My first time on the station, awaiting deployment in a day or so. Not sure where I'm supposed to bunk. Figured you would be the lady to talk to."
She nodded. "I'd be the Lieutenant, yes. What's your name and deployment? They may have already registered you some quarters," she explained, grabbing a PADD then looking up expectantly at him.
"Davis, Channer. Chief of Security, USS Chimera."
With eyebrows raised, she input this into her PADD, and it beeped negative. "Seems they were a bit too occupied to have made the usual niceties."
"What a shame," he said with a smile. "Think you can find me something?"
"Standard procedure is assign you a guest suite or give you a crew bunk. Let me see if I can find anything."
"Okay," he said nodding. "Or you could book us a VIP suite for a night, and we could get your vacation started right." His voice was deadpan, and he didn't flinch when she looked up with wide, glaring eyes.
"Excuse me? How dare you?! I don't know what vacation you're talking about.."
"Yes, you do. Everyone gets the 'leave jitters.' Work like mad so you can get done early and take off. Work ahead to impress your senior into giving you an extra day. How about it? Do something crazy, then go off with your girls?" he suggested again, indicating the empty desks where he correctly assumed they usually sat.
"Absolutely not. This is... way out of line. You want to get me fired?" Hesitation. That's good.
"Of course not, I just want to give you a jump start on your relaxing. And my last night here on the station.. all alone in a crew bunk? Before I go to war?"
"I'm sorry.. but that's the way it's going to be."
Channer started to think this wasn't going anywhere, but his liquid courage egged him on to try one more time.
"Well, if you don't want to, I understand. Nothing to brag to your girls about, because you were too scared to take the plunge."
She bit her lip. He had hit a nerve. Sometimes, you just had to appeal to a woman's desire to brag. "There's an unoccupied Admiral's chamber up three floors..."
Channer grinned.
* * *
Davis pushed the leg off of him and got out of bed, went to the lavatory, and washed off his rough face. He would have to shave if he was going to meet his CO today. Run first. He went back into the enormous room, and turned to see that Lietuenant Michelle Burnside had woken up and turned to face him. The honesty in her eyes made him uncomfortable.
"Will you comm sometime?" she asked.
"Absolutely." Not.
Channer walked out into the corridor, the lighting still set to dim in observation of station morning time, and decided to get ready. His first real post since his recall.. he would want to be ready.
=/\=
M. Capt Channer Davis
Chief of Security
USS Chimera
=/\=
