Getting to Know You(r Mask)

Posted on Thu Oct 13th, 2022 @ 7:20am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: Mission Day 25 at 1300
4419 words - 8.8 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Kassandra was hungry and she was dying for something other than an apple that she kept on her desk. So with food in mind for once, she headed for the mess hall, carrying her work on a padd with her. As she entered the mess hall she spotted the chief of Security. Screwing her courage up she told herself to keep walking and to be polite. She had been ok when the woman had been Madeline. As she drew closer she said "Good afternoon Lieutenant Cassiel" politely.

It had only been a couple days, but Lyra was already annoyed by the different shifts she shared with Andrei. It was making things difficult, though she was also quite aware that it was likely because until a few days ago, they had been near constant companions to each other. It would be an adjustment and really probably for the better as they both valued their freedom too, but for the moment it was annoying. She was looking at a PADD in her hand, but her attention most definitely was not on it, she was simply staring at the words not reading them. When the familiar voice cut through to her, she blinked and looked up.

"Good afternoon, lieutenant." She offered up to Kassandra and gave an easy smile. "Care to join me?"

Kassandra nodded as she joined her. "Yes, thank you lieutenant. Have you eaten yet?" Kass asked as she moved join her at the table.

"No." Lyra replied and glanced down at the empty table. "I probably should, though. I got distracted." She gave the PADD a little wave and then finally put it down on the table. "What are you having?"

Kass wasn't sure. "I might go for a salad or a sandwich. Depends on what takes my fancy when I get to the counter. I could get you something if you like." Kass offered.

"Tell you what, let's both go up, shall we?" Lyra didn't wait for the answer and stood up from her chair, stretching her arms and rolling her shoulders a bit. "Hopefully its not that weird watermelon salad again."

Kass wrinkled her nose. "Yeah better not be" she said as she stood to join Lyra. She had not liked that lunch. Whoever thought of that salad needed a beating.

"We didn't really get too much of a chance to talk at dinner. Did you and Johnathan get to go down to Anorra and spend any time there?" Lyra asked as they walked up to the counter. There were several people there, but she found a space where they could both stand and look at the menu. There didn't seem to be anything offensive today as far as the salads went - a cobb and chicken caesar on offer as well as a few varieties of sandwiches.

Kass nodded. "Yes we got down for an afternoon. It was nice to be off ship, I missed the sunshine. Despite it not been Terran sunshine, it was nice to spend time on a beach. What about you? Did you and Andrei get off ship as well" Kass was thinking the Chicken caesar Salad would work.

“We did, yes. Given Andrei didn’t have any duties and I was told to be on minimal duties, we were able to spend quite a while on the planet. We were very fortunate. I do wish it had a night cycle though. As much as I enjoy the sunshine and beach, night has its pleasures too.” She shrugged slightly and looked at the selections. When one of the waiters came over, she ordered a club sandwich and allowed Kassandra to order for herself. “Now it’s just back to normal I suppose, though I hope it won’t be too terribly long before we find somewhere nice to stop again. People going stir crazy is not good for anyone.”

Kass ordered her salad and a glass of lemonade and nodded. "And the holodeck can only give us so much in the way of respite." She commented. "Night time on a planet with such beaches... night time sea breezes. I miss that. My ... home had that when I was home on School break in Summer."

“Where did you call home?” Lyra asked and walked back with Kassandra to the table they had been at previously, taking a seat and waiting for their order to be delivered.

Sitting down, Kass replied "Sidari, Corfu, off of Greece." She gave a lopsided smile. "Though now I wonder where I should have been raised."

That was... a terribly loaded thing to think about, really. Lyra mused to herself. Yana Petrova was a very intelligent, quick woman. Kassandra as she was posed very little threat to her children, but if Kasandra had been a boy or if Ivan had known of her existence beforehand... well things likely would have been very different. "Greece is a beautiful place, at least." She offered up, the slightest undertone of sympathy in her voice.

"yes, I do miss it at times." Kass replied. "As I am sure you miss your home."

Lyra smiled at that, but didn't give an outright response. Home was a convoluted subject for her, in the end. "I take it you miss the place but not the people?"

Kassandra nodded. "Yes. My... family, for lack of a better word, there are not a concern right now. Should we return home, they will be of a concern. My... Stepfather will not stand for me any longer once the truth is known."

"Mm... Artaxes Selinofoto, right? Lord Mayor of Corfu?" Lyra asked, her face scrunching slightly as if she were reaching deep for the information.

"Yeah that's him. Governor, he likes to say." Kassandra shrugged. "Knowing I am not his daughter will be a major issue. More so that I am the daughter of a man he considered a friend... I know what he does to girls who come claiming they are pregnant with his grandchildren, so...Well I have time yet to consider options about it. The Captain will also need to consider his options when we get home."

"What did he do to the girls?" Lyra asked, one brow arching in curious question though she already had an idea of the answer.

Kass looked at her salad. "There is a cliff on which the villa is built. It has safeguards, of course, but they can be turned off. I know at least 3 young women who... have had accidents off the cliff." She shuddered. "Artaxes suffers no such dishonour on the family."

"Oh." Lyra replied with an appropriate frown, her face pensive. Internally though, she was more confused since it seemed like a terribly inefficient way of dealing with the problem. "I'm sorry that you had to experience that." She said finally and pulled her sandwich and glass of water closer to her. "Was he fond of you as a daughter?" This one she was also quite sure of the answer to given what she had both seen and heard about Kassandra, but she asked anyways.

Kassandra considered her answer carefully. "He was an adequate father, he paid for my schooling, clothing, and upkeep. But my mother died when I was little. He had, or has now, three wives, so all the children were cared for according to the wives popularity. My ... half brother Iason was treated very well. I guess now because he is legitimate. But my .. step father was adequate."

"Adequate doesn't really sound like fond." Lyra pointed out, cutting her half sandwich once more so it was in quarters and shoving the toothpick down into one of them to keep it together.

Kass ate a mouthful of salad. Then after swallowing she said "I guess its the best wording I can come up with that would not sound like a total ungrateful person." What was she going to say. That Artaxes was a complete arse who believed she was the devil spawn. "He arranged for my commission."

"Did you want to be commissioned?" Lyra asked in turn and then took the opportunity to eat after doing so.

Kass poked at a tomato and shrugged. "I am a loyal officer of the Imperial Starfleet" She said honestly. "I got a scholarship to a school in Paris though."

"What kind of school?" Lyra asked, watching Kassandra poke at the tomato in her salad as she gave a non-answer, but between that, the tomato, and the lack of eye contact, the answer was quite obviously no.

"The Parisian Fashion Institute." Kass speared the tomato and ate it with a shrug. "Well that's a moot point. I went through the academy, got my commission, and on my first posting end up in the delta quadrant." She gave a half grin. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Lyra asked with a slight smirk and took another bite of food, prompting Kass to be a bit more specific with her question.

"Did you want to join starfleet?" Kass asked.

"I did when I was young and I was told no, then I was told yes and the next week found myself in the Academy." She took a sip of water and tilted her head. "Fashion Institute, hm? Did you make that dress of yours the other night? It really was a very nice dress."

"I did make it, thank you. I use my skills to help with my intelligence work."

"Is that so? How do they help you in your work?" She asked, actually genuinely curious this time.

Kass gave her a small smile. "In the Alpha quadrant every race wears different materials and styles. Even the rebels against the Alliance wear different clothes to regular Terrans. I used my skills to craft disguises for my fellow intelligence officers. And once I have enough examples of Delta quadrant races, I should be able to craft clothing for our away teams. Most Delta Quadrant races clothing is hand made, as they do not have replicator technology like we do. And such things are often noticeable to natives."

Lyra took a drink of water after finishing up one of the quarters of her sandwich while Kassandra explained the matter to her. It made sense, she had just never thought of it before. “That makes sense and I can see where that would be quite useful. Did the trip to Anorra help you much with that? I know it was mostly beach wear, but there were some areas where more normal, day to day clothes were worn.”

"Yes it did help, My team also went down to the planet with scanners and they took pictures and brought samples. I was very impressed with some of the stitching on a couple of the garments."

"I'll give them credit for the Vidiians dressing nicely, they had to make up somewhere since their food was absolutely atrocious." Her face scrunched slightly with distaste at the very thought of the food. Shaking her head a bit, she gave Kass a light smile. "If time allows and you have an interest, maybe you'd like to make a dress for me? I'd pay you of course."

Kass nodded. "Sure, I made Callie's dress for when she married Troy. I would be pleased to make you a dress anytime."

"I didn't see that, unfortunately. Up until a month ago I hardly ever set foot on the bridge much less knew anyone from the senior officers outside of Commander Marshal and we never really spoke more than in passing for assignments." Lyra shrugged slightly. Andrei's climb had been impressive, but so had her own. "I'm sure it was lovely though."

"Ivers did you a disservice." Kass said calmly. 'He is not missed."

Lyra let out a bark of a laugh at that, grinned and shook her head, then picked up another part of her food. “I see the fond feelings between you two were quite mutual.” She pointed out with an obviously joking smirk.

"I should have shot the arrogant arse." Kass replied as she finished her salad. "An opportunity missed. But he is dead by your hand and that is what matters"

Quite amused by the thought, she just looked at Kass a moment longer and shrugged. “He had a way of letting his temper get the better of him, and when men do that they all turn into assholes, really.”

Kass merely nodded at that. She had dealt with her fair share of those types since her arrival on the Vengeance. "You are lucky you know Lyra." She said sitting back.

"Lucky, but unfortunately so. The same for you, I think." Lyra smiled, at ease and charming despite the topic. She finished the last bite of her sandwich and then sat back with her water in hand. "So where did you and Johnathan meet? Here on the ship?"

"Yes here on the ship. He came up to me in the bar. And then we met again when I was being punished by Morrison. And by Lucky I meant you got to kill your tormentor. I merely got to watch mine die."

"Why didn't you kill him?" She asked, her tone simply conversational despite the topic.

"I was planning it. But being pulled into the Delta Quadrant did the job for me. You know he thought I was sleeping with every man on the ship. The XO, the Captain, Andrei, Troy and Johnathan. Every male senior officer I was apparently spreading my legs for. He was stupid and that was a dangerous thing. He deserved to die, I just wish I could have done it before the Caretaker pulled us here. I was looking forward to gutting him. Even if it had earned me agonizer time."

"To be fair, most men think women sleep their way around regardless of whatever the truth may be. Especially women with any sort of rank." She shrugged and thought about Callie and the whole baby drama. "Sometimes they are right. Its unfortunate you didn't get to do the deed yourself, but at least you got to watch him die."

"A very pleasing moment to be sure." Kass grinned. "And I told him the truth as he died. He died in pain so I was extremely pleased."

Lyra smiled and nodded, though she was well aware that there was a good chance the man hadn't even believed the truth in the end. Whatever brought some comfort to her though. "And now you've taken his job. You don't seem very keen on getting a promotion though. Why is that?"

Kass rolled her shoulders. "I had a plan. Do my 10 years and get the hell out." She admitted it freely. "Then it became do the mission and get out of sight from my step father. Now, its keep my head down and work to get us home. I know people watch me they know I am the captains daughter. Before that I was the 'punching bag', the one everyone spoke about in whispers because her chief hated her guts. I just want to do my job, survive and get home. I don't need extra rank for that. And if i got promoted it would be 'Oh her father gave her it' and yes I know its mainly what happens in the Empire."

Ah yes, there it was finally buried under everything. At least now she had more context to put with Kassandra's attitude. One could only be told they were nothing and treated as such before on some level they started to believe it - even if they wouldn't admit it to themselves. She took another sip of her water and just looked at Kassandra with those calculating dark eyes, and then tilted her head. "It is what mainly happens. It bothers you though, it seems." She paused and then continued. "Do you think I got my promotion because I'm sleeping with Andrei?"

"No - You got the job because you followed orders and were the best person for the job. You should have gotten it when Andrei and Marshall got moved up the ranks." Kass gave a shrug. "I read your file Lyra. I know what you are capable of."

Now Lyra found herself curious. Kassandra was probably the only one she had ever heard say that, though Yana had briefly mentioned Ivan and Andrei had been bickering about whether she or Ivers should have been running the show. She had never asked Andrei about it, but now she found herself briefly wondering if he had gone to bat for her and she didn't even know it. "Why do you think I didn't get it?"

"I do not know, I was in medical at the time." Kass smiled. "I am not sure who was involved in the decision process. Ivers may have pushed it himself."

"Best guess." Lyra simply smirked. "You read my file and I'm quite sure you would have read Ivers' file too. You seem like the type who would be thorough, so you know I consistently out performed him in most categories."

"Yes. And he didn't appreciate women doing that. And he definitely didn't like it when someone challenged him." Kass replied. "So now you prove everyone why you should have been the choice to begin with"

"That is all true, but it wasn't Ivers' choice. It was the captain's." She pointed out, not calling him Kass' father. "There's no right or wrong answer here, I'm genuinely curious to what you think."

Kass considered it. "I have known the Captain since i was a child. He and his wife are family friends of my... stepfamily. He does not care if you are male or female, as long as you do the job. I think Ivers may have told him you were not ready for such.. responsibility. Ivers however liked having you subordinate to him. Though he did not know who you really were, he reveled in the power. I think he convinced the Captain not to promote you."

Lyra put her chin in her hand and leaned on the table. Kassandra wasn't wrong, but Lyra wasn't sure that there had been any convincing done despite Ivan's little "interview" he had conducted when he had given the assignment of chief out. "Do you think Ivers had it in him to sway the captain?"

"I don't know. He was smug enough." Kass hadn't liked the way Ivers had acted even before he yelled on the bridge. Sure she took her punishment but she definitely had not wanted to apologise about it. "I only had a few interactions with him. Andrei and You knew him better. I think he may have made sure he was the most visible in the department."

"He was smug." Lyra agreed, still just watching Kassandra, mostly her eyes and lips. "Do you want to know the real reason he ended up as chief?"

"Sure," Kass noted her look.

"Because I wanted him to." She said simply. "I knew when we went into the Captain's office exactly what he was going to do, and I let him. I didn't fight for it, so he got what he wanted and so did I."

Kass studied her. "He was not expecting you to kill him. So by giving him what he wanted, he didn't see you as much of a threat."

"Not only that, but it made him feel like he had actual tangible power over me." Lyra offered up, lessons for Kassandra if she wanted them, but truthfully Lyra didn't much care either way. "You understand how they act with women usually when they have that feeling."

Kass nodded. "I understand that. Tell me, why my brother and you?" she asked curiously. "I have known him since i was a child and still cannot see the attraction, you, Callie, that slave that salivates after him."

"Well I'd certainly hope not seeing he is your brother." Lyra teased and smirked with good nature at the joke. "Don't forget the good Doctor Lamont too."

"And my step sister. Dear darling brother has been around Lyra"

"Mmm no I didn't know that one. A bit before my time, obviously." She chuckled and sat back. Was Kassandra trying to get a rise out of her by pointed out how many people Andrei had slept with. "Is that part of why you are wary of him?"

"No." came the reply "Nothing to do with him sleeping around like he does" And Kass still had that holovid of Andrei and Callie on the captains desk. "Older brothers are... difficult."

"Younger ones can be too." Lyra paused. "Do you actually see Andrei as your brother? You share blood, yes, but that isn't everything."

Kass gave a shrug. "He used to call me Common Kassie with my step Sister Athanasia. Quite the pair of bullies they were while I was growing up. Look, I know what Yana thinks of me, though she puts on a facade. She has made no secret of it over the years. And while the captain would think it best to ignore the circumstances of my birth, it is not wise to. I know where I stand with people and I will stay in that place. Andrei is my half brother, Mika my half sister. And they are probably better than the ones I thought were my half siblings and even my other half brother Iason. I am not going to try to be more than I am in the family Lyra. You have no reason to be threatened by me within the family."

Lyra's lips quirked slightly like she was about to laugh, but she tamed it. "I wasn't asking because I'm threatened by you being in the family. I was just curious on your feelings. Ivan seems to have thrown himself at you, Mika is the type of girl that was always desperate for a sister but had to deal with a big brother. Yana..." She shrugged. "I wouldn't presume to know." She had her thoughts, but she wouldn't theorize out loud about the woman. "I am sorry to hear that you were bullied; I'm not surprised given what you've told me and also Andrei's personality. I'm sure it wasn't easy."

"Mika is wonderful. I have always wanted a sister who liked me." Kass admitted. "As for... my father, he and I are having personality clashes at the moment, his... wanting me to be apart of the family whole causes issues. And I do not want to be the focus."

"Did you want to be part of the family?" She asked in turn, getting a refill of her water when the waiter swung by to take their empty plates.

"Yes, but I know my place Lyra." Kass said softly.

She kept saying that. It was irritating and leaned into that dismissive, self-sabotaging attitude she had seen at dinner. Lyra rolled her eyes internally, but kept her face passively. "So he wanted you to be part of it, you wanted to be part of it. Seems like he sees you as just another daughter. What if he dreams up the idea to legitimize you under the Petrov name?"

"He won't." Kass said softly. "I barely claim my step father's name as it is. And one day, I will have another name. If I can keep Johnathan alive long enough."

Doom and gloom. Always looking down. How terribly boring and disappointing. "What makes you say that about him?"

Kass smirked now. "Oh you have not noticed his ability to trust everyone regardless of what they may be thinking? The man thinks everyone is his friend at times."

Lyra chuckled softly at that. "I did notice he seems quite friendly and chipper. I've never seen someone happier to learn how to cut out a tongue properly."

"Yes well he is eager to learn about things like that. He just needs to survive long enough to put the those new skills to use." Kass said calmly "He can be too eager puppy"

"Yes, some can." She sighed softly, "Unfortunately the only way some puppies learn to stop being so eager to chase after everything is to get bitten themselves." Johnathan really hadn't seemed to know how to act around her now that she had made the change from Madeline to Lyra. She hadn't read too much into it at the dinner though given it was a very nerve wracking situation for him.

"I am sure he will learn soon enough." Kass said softly. "Just have to keep him alive when he does."

"Do try to have a little faith that he can manage that on his own too. It does wonders for a man's self confidence and if you believe he can do it, he won't want to fail you." Where was this woman's fire, she wondered to herself.

Kassandra nodded and sipped her drink. "Oh that reminds me, if I send you my teams files, can you have a look over them? I need a second set of eyes."

"Sure, why not." Lyra agreed easily enough. "Anything specific you are wanting me to look for?"

"Some of them were very eager to help Morrison and I want to make sure it was from wanting to be promoted and not disloyalty to the Empire."

"Not a problem." Definitely not her problem, but she would play along. She didn't buy Kassandra's act completely, she could be a threat if she chose to be, it would just be a matter if she did. Anyone who kept spouting the rhetoric of not being a threat was one in some way shape or form. Still, Lyra smiled pleasantly. Not a mouse, necessarily, but definitely someone who wasn't embracing their potential. Which was probably for the best.

"Thank you, I will send them up to you." Kass said.

"Well, I better get back to work." Lyra stood and stretched, then picked up her glass of water rather than leaving it there. "I'll keep an eye out for those reports. It was good actually talking to you finally, Kassandra."

"Nice speaking with you too Lyra. Have a good day" Kass said, standing as well, and picking up the PADD she had brought with her.

Lyra gave a nod and moved to leave and return to the bridge. It had been an interesting conversation and had her curious about the intelligence officer, but she had too much else on her plate right now to really explore that in depth. There would be time though.

They had... a lot of time out here.

END