[Officer's Lounge]
Ash chuckled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, remembering how she must have looked in sickbay. "Yeah, that wasn't exactly a good first impression for either of us I imagine."
At the suggestion of bolting things down, she got extraordinarily excited. "I've been trying to work on that actually!" Her hand slid into the pocket of her dress to feel the designs she had gotten into the habit of carrying with her. Unfortunately they were a bit worse for wear, stained with blood after taking a ride in her apron last mission. She decided to leave them be for now. "I mean, I had some ideas, but I didn't know how or even if I should go about making modifications."
Ash looked uncertainly at the bar. "I've never really had a drink before, so it's probably best if now isn't my first time." At his mournful comment about food, she broke into a full laugh. "I don't know how you're dealing with THAT hardship."
Ash felt a blush creep up her face at the mention of the mess hall brawl with the crew of the Tuscon. Does the whole crew know? "It was a frying pan actually." She corrected with a laugh.
"Ah, yes, of course. Forgive me." he said, smiling and in a very informal mood. "Frying pan it is." he said, a thoughtful smile on his lips. He was planning something, but she didn't know it yet. The Engineers liked to do weird things for the rest of the crew sometimes, from sending Waring a coffee machine to... other things, gifts were their specialty. "And if you ever have any ideas on what you want done with those bolts, just let me know. We'll work something out."
[Lounge]
"You did good work," was all Stafford said. "Sorry I wasn't around to help. That bastard DuPont...what became of him?"
There was considerable venom in his voice. A hands on conflict, a declared war, righteous combat in honorable battle...these things Stafford had experienced before. They were established. There were rules. No true officer would jury-rig a console to explode and cripple his enemy.
"It is a hardship." Stafford smiled at the young lady. He was glad she was there. Though he had asked, Torngate was bringing up some painful emotions. Still, they had to be dealt with, and he was never one to coddle himself or others.
Dylan watched as the Captain came over to them. He nodded to her, and kept out of their conversation, not wanting to step on anyone's toes. He looked at Luke, a wistful grimace. "Suicide in the Brig." he said succinctly, not wanting to talk on the subject. He also didn't know many more of the details.
He glanced at Ash when the captain began to break down, surprise evident on his face. The captain never,
NEVER broke protocol or formality, and definitely not like this! She was, surprisingly, showing her humanity to the light of day. Dylan attributed it to the long hours spent in the isolation chamber, which still had all of his supplies. The machine shop had expanded to cover half the unused space on the Engineering deck, and it could pump out almost anything like the ancient NX class ships.
He was still listening when the Captain mentioned his name and that of the promotions. At that he took interest, looking over at them. When he heard that he was being made 2nd Officer, he looked with the "are you serious" eyes and then his expression became one of surprise as he was pushed a box of rank pins, with the new insignia of Acting Lieutenant Commander. His jaw went agape just how so ever briefly, as he tried to comprehend. Not too long ago he had still been an Ensign, and now, now he was a Lieutenant just turned Lieutenant Commander!
"T.. Thank You Captain..." he stuttered, trying to form complete thoughts as he tried almost in vain to process that. There was no doubt in his mind, however, that he was making a complete fool of himself.