[Deck 15/Ops]The last incident was behind her. She made sure Doctor Cottle knew this because she wasn't sticking around longer than she should in Sickbay. When she was finally clear, she didn't expect Yates and Anderson to bombard their shared quarters with holographic pop rockets and a PADD that said she was promoted to Petty Officer Third Class. She couldn't pinpoint what earned the rank and when she wasn't bragging about it to piss off Yates, she was secretly developing an inferiority complex to cope with her new responsibilities.
Now her friends answered to
her, though it didn't stop Yates from questioning how the hell she managed it in such a short time.
"Charisma," she had said with a wicked grin.
"And a copious amount of it." Yates made a face, walked away, and probably wished Kali was bumped another few ranks so she could finally move out.
The insecurity continued to eat at her as she finished off next shift's roster. While waiting for the confirmation to come in from Lt. Winters, the ship's comm sang throughout the deck.
"Dismissed, PO Reyes," Winters said. He walked past her and took her PADD before she could open her mouth to respond.
PO. That was gonna take some getting used to.
[Conference Room]Kali betrayed little nervousness sitting down with the rest of them. She felt like she should be back down on the Ops Deck chasing tardy Ensigns than share in the direction of the next mission. Her face was even free of oil or whatever muck she usually got into in maintenance. Anderson did her
hair this morning so she looked the part of a Petty Officer. It still unnerved her.
Her stylus flickered in her fingers as she tried to edge away the nervousness. Was she allowed to speak? They were going into an extremely old ship with their Captain heading the away team. What if he fell through a rusted metal grate and into a vat of acid? What if he was chomped on by space zombies? Kali's expression twisted from horror to courage when she opened her mouth to protest, but Tekin wonderfully answered for her.
"Captain, in the XO's absence, I have to object. Why not have Wu lead the Bridge team, or even myself. We can't have you on board a derelict ship with unknowns around." he said, giving the Captain the look of 'you die and I'm as good as dead'.
He sighted Kali Reyes, and gave a small smile. He, Wu, and the Captain had had a talk while they were at base... and there was a reason why she was now here. If the Captain didn't mention it, he would, as was planned.
Kali viciously nodded and then gave Tekin a shaky grin back. It was a bit hard associating this Tekin from the XO in her hallucination, but there are moments where they'd align and made her wonder. His recent promotion only helped move the process along. At the very least, he didn't seem unwelcoming as she initially thought. That kind of lifted her spirits about the future on the Discovery.
But to the matter at hand. The Captain needed a reason for her siding with Tekin - a good logical reason why this wasn't a good idea.
The words tumbled out of her mouth faster than she could revise them. "Space zombies." It was probably the stupidest thing she had ever said as Petty Officer, but she didn't really want to work under her zombified Captain aboard the Flying Dutchman. She liked him handsome and healthy and not dead, thanks.
