Parley

Posted on Mon Oct 17th, 2022 @ 3:54am by Chief Petty Officer Julius Law & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Cassiel's Office
Timeline: Mission Day 26 at 1700
2094 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

"Cassiel to Law, please report to my office. No need for uniform if you're out of it."

Lyra sat behind her desk, still in her uniform though her jacket was off and hanging on the chair behind her. It had been two days since their clash in the holodeck; it was time to see if he had cooled down. She didn't particularly want to be at odds with Julius. She respected the man, and they had gotten along well enough in the past. She had been one of his best students and there had been respect there. Hopefully it wasn't fragile - though she supposed if it was, then there wasn't much there to begin with.

She'd mentioned to Andrei that she would be meeting Julius in her office and sharing a drink with him; regardless of the fact her office had windows, she wouldn't just assume things on his part. It hadn't been a problem and he even hadn't seemed annoyed by her letting him know, so she would consider that a positive step. He could also have been hiding his true feelings, but she was trying to trust, so wasn't dwelling on it.

When he got the message, Julius had been in his quarters reading a book from a PADD. He hadn't been into it and had actually dozed off several times in the reading. When he was interrupted, he was immediately annoyed by who it happened to be calling him. Nevertheless, when a superior officer called, one answered. He exited his quarters in gray sweat pants and a matching hoody, opting for the same casual look he had before the call. He walked into Security a few moments later and strode right into her office.

"Yeah." he said simply, closing the door behind him and stopping in front of her desk. His face was stoical. "Chief Law reporting as ordered."

Lyra sat forward and opened the drawer of her desk, pulling out a small bottle and two glasses. "Have a seat, Chief." She opened the bottle and poured a couple fingers of dark amber liquid into both of the glasses.

He stood for several seconds, his eyes fixed on her, a distance challenge still there. Then, after the beat, he lowered himself onto the couch at the side of the room, sighing as he lowered his bulk onto the surface.

"The hell is this about?"

Standing, Lyra picked up the drinks and walked them over to the couch, offering Julius one. "I wanted to speak with you, but figured a drink wouldn't be entirely unwelcome. Its a good bourbon."

He looked at the drink in her hand for a moment before making up his mind and reaching out for it. He smelled the contents of the glass; it had been a while.

"Thanks." he said simply without a smile. He was reserved, masked behind his tough exterior.

Lyra moved and sat on the other side of the couch, crossing her legs and giving him room. "I haven't received any more reports of any incidents with the younger crew, so thank you for that." She began and took a small sip of her drink. It was damn good and the burn was strong. She could tell he was guarded, she didn't blame him, but at least he didn't have murder in his eyes. Yet.

"Maybe I just told them, if they reported me again, I'd kill them." he said. Coming from another's mouth it might have sounded like a joke, but from him it was unreadable. He brought the glass to his lips and took a sip, feeling to the good burn. He lifted his glass to her slightly. "Good stuff."

He had laid of the recruits and started treating them like he would have at the academy. It hadn't been a huge chore, but he knew they understood why he had stopped going so hard on them: because they had complained. It pissed him off to have that way of dealing with problems underlined as effective in their minds.

"Well, if you had, I wouldn't blame you." She replied simply and sympathetically. Lyra knew that it hadn't been the case though. She leaned back into the cushions slightly. "Its a ten year old bourbon, one of my favorites." Not the best one she had in her stash, but one of the better ones.

Sighing, she closed her eyes a moment then opened them, looking across to Julius. "Listen, Julius," she began, choosing to be informal with him as they had been in the past, "I know you are frustrated. I get it. I know you had a lot of big plans all lined up for yourself after your tour on the Vengeance was done."

“Like you said. I’m not the only one stuck out here.” He said, seeming to dismiss the acknowledgment without thought. Even more than being insulted and managed, he hated being coddled and comforted. She was right, of course, about his frustrations. He took another sip, though, and looked at Lyra. “My uncle will sell the business and someone else will run it into the ground. Boohoo, no one gives a shit.”

“You do and I would too in your position. So, I get it.” She noted calmly. “If you were having trouble with feeling underutilized or unhappy with the assignment you were given, why didn’t you just come and talk to me?”

“Because you don’t have an assignment that will make me happy anyway.” He said, shrugging. “I’m just doing my job and keeping my head forward. I don’t do that sadness and depression bullshit.”

"No, you just do the rage and beating people bullshit." Lyra replied flatly but didn't given him a chance to respond to it. "What kind of assignment would make you happy?"

“The kind where I get to fucking beat people up, obviously.” He responded, looking at her over his glass with a somewhat accusatory expression. “Here, all of my fights are fake. And now that you took my holodeck access, I have no damn idea what to do.”

She had to fight not to show amusement at that answer. He had a very one track mind. “If that is the only thing that would satisfy you, then yes, I suppose you’re right; I don’t have an assignment that would make you happy. I have nothing that would let you beat people into the ground just because you want to or think they need it. We need everyone able bodied at all times as much as possible. You know that.” She took a sip of her drink and sighed out over the rim of the glass.

“I’ll give you back your holodeck access sans the ability to turn the safeties off completely. You don’t want to be the idiot that dies in a holodeck simulation and before you say you would never, I’ll remind you it only takes a single mistake.” She parroted the words he himself had often said during his training exercises, warning a single mistake could end everything. She had known that, of course, it was a favorite saying of martial teachers. It didn’t make it any less true.

“Mmm.” He said in response, moving the bourbon around in his glass and watching it rotate. To be honest, he didn’t very much care how he went out right now, he was somewhat ashamed to say. Life had lost all of its savor. He was alone and without everyone and everything he loved; it was an empty shell that kept demanding things from him. “Cheers on the holodeck time. If I can’t fuck people up, though, maybe regular blowjobs would make me feel better. Or chocolate cake.”

He chuckled then, the first sign of a sense of humor, but it was harsh and short.

Lyra smirked. “Well, can’t help you with that first thing personally, but there are plenty of thirsty women on the ship I doubt you’d have trouble if you put your mind to it. The second thing I can’t do either, but the replicator sure can.”

She shook her head and gave a slight chuckle. Julius was a good man, stubborn and more than a little bit of an ass, but he had far more redeeming qualities in her eyes. Besides, what Terran man wasn’t a stubborn asshole? It was perfectly normal. He had known her first as Madeline and she had indeed been one of his best students and he had been a good teacher. When she had killed Christoph and made her subsequent transformation to Lyra, his reaction had basically been to shrug, say okay, and go back to doing what he had been doing. It had been appreciated.

“I’m not desperate for anything like that.” He said, indicating he had been joking before without explaining it or saying so. He looked at her with less coolness than before. He knew that she wished to placate him and repair what had been damaged and he knew that his heart was in different fights far more than this one. He sighed, leaning back and spreading his large frame over her office couch. “You should find someone else to train the newbies, I want to take on advanced fighters.”

“Then who would you recommend take over for you on that front?” She asked, quirking a brow as she looked at him. He’d never had problems with training the younger generation before, but she supposed he also had never had all his hopes and dreams crushed before either; it was making him impatient and aggressive… well, more than usual.

“I’d say Corvus could do the job. Training grunts will be simple for him. You just need to pull his ass out of that closet of his and get him to work.” He said, this time taking polishing off the rest of his glass in one go. He didn’t even wince at the burn. Then he looked at her, serious and focused. “I need a change, Cassiel.”

Lyra fiddled with the glass between her fingers, looking at him for a moment and then looking off and away as she considered her options. She obviously wasn't dismissing his needs out of hand like many might have in their situation; there were only so many "fun" jobs to go around, so some people would just have to deal with their lot in life. This was also a very good example of why having a good relationship with one’s boss was generally beneficial which thankfully Julius had. For now.

“I understand and I’ll see what I can do.” She said with apparent genuineness as she looked back to him. She held his gaze, her dark eyes steady, piercing, and wholly unreadable. “For now though, I need you to do the job you have been assigned and do it well. I know you are capable.”

He looked into those dark eyes, not seeming to care what was in them in the slightest. He was determined to be himself no matter how it made anyone feel.

“Fine.” He said, sounding a bit less disagreeable than before.

Lyra nodded at his acceptance. "I'll let you know within a week if I've made any progress or not figuring out something. Now, is there anything else you need to get off your chest before you accidentally on purpose break someone in half?" Her tone was teasing and she wore a smirk to match.

“I’ve got a lot of things on my chest.” He said, the hint of a smile crossing his face. “But nothing else I need to bitch about.”

She let out a short chuckle at that and shook her head. “Wear the little children down, chief, make them suffer, make them hurt. Be a terror, it builds character. Just don’t send them to sickbay with broken bones.” She looked into his eyes. “Dismissed at your leisure.”

With that, Julius stood, his considerable height and bulk no longer making her couch look tiny by comparison. He nodded to her, an indication they had an understanding, and then moved for the door.

"Ma'am."

Lyra simply gave him a nod and returned her attention to her other work. She would consider what she could do for him, though already in the back of her mind there bloomed an idea. She listened to the door open and close, briefly glanced up, then back to the console in front of her. "Computer..."

END