Magically Delicious

Posted on Tue Aug 9th, 2022 @ 10:44pm by Lieutenant Commander Yana Petrova & Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Security Office
Timeline: Mission Day 4 at 0900
2431 words - 4.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Were these people always this useless? Or had the month of relative peace after the incident with the Caretaker really made them all this soft?

This was the question that was currently fueling Madeline's obvious irritation as she stood over the chief's desk, thirty some PADDs spread out in front of her with evaluations of each individual security personnel. There were a few that were not useless, they had been moved off to the side, but to the others she stared down at the PADDs as if she were trying to bore directly into their heads and figure out what made them the way they were. After another long moment of simply staring, she let out a long sigh and collapsed back in the chair behind her and rubbed her face. She was tired and restless, her dreams had been fitful but oh so very vivid. So... very vivid. For just a moment she was distracted long enough to smirk, but it didn't last long as she leaned forward and began to sort the PADDs. Between herself and Christoph they'd bring everyone in line again. Daddy and Mommy were in charge now.

Too bad Mommy was a bitch.

The doors to the Security Office opened and in walked three slave women carrying closed containers. Behind them entered Yana Petrova in uniform, a smile on her face which matched those of the slave ladies. It was a rare thing to see a slave smile, but it seemed Yana and Andrei Petrov had both mastered some art which eluded everyone else: being loved and respected.

"Good morning, everyone. The women and I know how hard all of you work and we wanted to show our appreciation in a small way." Yana said, smiling, her eyes meeting those of the alpha shift security personnel one at a time. "Chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter...the skies the limit, boys and girls."

The slave girls giggled in concert and unfastened the containers, taking care of the lids quickly.

Currently, Madeline was the only woman in the main office area and when she looked up and saw the "boys" showing interest in absolutely everything but the cookies, she rolled her eyes. "Behave." She reminded them firmly which actually seemed to snap them out of their gawking quickly this time. Her eyes moved past the slaves to Yana and she smiled pleasantly while she stood up. "Commander Petrova, thank you. This is very kind." She didn't approach and instead let the children move up to get their cookies and flirt with the slaves.

Meanwhile, Madeline was just amused. She was three for four in less than twenty-four hours.

Yana's smile was warm and looked very genuine, but it didn't match her eyes. Her gaze fell on the only other female officer in the room and she took a few steps forward.

"You're Madeline Cassiel, aren't you?" she asked, her tone expressive and almost bubbly. "My husband and son were bickering about whether you or your boss should run things down here just a few days ago. It was the first time I'd heard your name, but I'm always glad to meet a capable young woman."

She crossed the distance between them, her smile softening into something more casual.

"I hope I'm not interrupting. I just like to show my appreciation for our crew. You all work so hard and you carry a huge weight. Cookies don't solve your problems, but I think its always nice to know that you're cared for."

"You're not interrupting at all. Who doesn't like cookies?" Madeline smiled pleasantly at Yana. Her eyes briefly touched the other woman's for just a moment and she saw the smile didn't reach. She didn't care, of course, but it answered an immediate question for her.

"It is so strange when men bicker, I think. It rarely suits them."

"Better when they fight instead, right?" Yana said, some of her youthful demeanor shining through. She was young compared with her husband and, even though Maddie was her son's age, she was perfectly capable of communicating on any level she chose. But the mother figure was limited, so she seemed limited. "They always get along so much better after they actually fight, I find."

"They do." Madeline agreed genuinely. It was a simple truth. Usually. Unless it was something like Andrei and Christoph. Though that held its own allure. "Christoph is a good chief, though." She deferred with a sweet note as she spoke his name. "He's well respected."

"Hmmm, that's good." Yana said, her eyes staying even as her brows raised in acknowledgement of what the younger woman had said. "It's good of you to be so big about losing to him. So many people are ruled by their ambition. I'm received to see that you're a real team player. Good for you."

Most people would have identified that statement as a genuine statement of praise for some moral virtue Yana saw. There was nothing in her tone to suggest otherwise.

Madeline took it at face value, but was already quite intrigued and suspicious of Yana, though not in any sort of hostile way. She simply gave another sweet smile and shrugged. "Well, given our situation it is important to play as a team and not get hung up on such things, hm? Besides, if for some reason Christoph isn't up to the task, I am sure Captain Petrov will address it."

Yana's smile grew into a genuine one that did reach the eyes. Something in that statement had amused her.

"I'm sure he will, yes." she said in an engaged way without a hint of dismissal. "Though, I did hear that Lieutenant Ivers had a bit of an accident on a training assignment, isn't that right?"

"He did." Madeline confirmed. "Unfortunate, but such things do happen." Her expression was still pleasant, but her dark eyes moved up to Yana's in a searching way. Madeline was curious now and couldn't help the inkling in the back of her mind that perhaps the fact she had spent a number of hours yesterday with this woman's children may have finally drawn her interest. She had plenty of opportunities to come down here before the change in command of the department and never had.

Yana's eyes were cold and communicated nothing at all. Her face, however, was turned in a convincing frown.

"Poor boy. What a shame." she said. "And... forgive me, but I heard that you two are very close. Is that right?"

"Oh gods," Madeline flushed and looked away in embarrassment. "Is it that obvious? Ah... well, yeah, I guess. We are friends. Pretty attached at the hip since we launched from Terra."

"it's not obvious, no." Yana said, watching her behind her cool gaze. "I've only met you just now. But I stay well informed. If he's your friend, you might want to help him avoid accidents like this. This job is dangerous, we have a long journey ahead with many enemies, and just now...officers are falling like flies."

The last part of the sentence was uncharacteristically flat. She had abandoned the lilting optimistic tone she normally used and adopted a much more sober one.

"I intend to, though sometimes accidents just seem to find ways of happening." Madeline sighed sadly and shook her head. "It is always a tragedy when true servants of the Empire die." She paused then and gave a small smile, "Though such serious topics when there's cookies to be had."

"Just showing concern. It's what I do." Yana said, turning to the room and watching the man ogle the slave girls. She shook her head. "Hands off, soldiers. My slaves bring treats, they don't serve as treats themselves!"

The comment had been good humored, but decisive and unapologetic.

"Men..." Maddie let out a long suffering sigh and shook her head as she sat on the corner of her desk and just watched as her personnel backed off from being so outright with their attentions to the women, but apparently they just couldn't help it. "Hopeless."

"Boys will be boys." Yana said with a smile. She looked over the group and raised her brows. "Now, which one of you is the strongest?"

The group of men looked at each other for a moment and then in unison to Yana. "In what way, ma'am?" One of them spoke up. Maddie meanwhile now just smirked in amusement and crossed her arms, interested to see how this was going to play out.

"Strong in the way a man is strong." Yana answered, no less vaguely than before. She stepped closer to the group, her eyes moving over them with an appraising glance. "1,000 crowns to the strongest man."

There were seven men there and four of them instantly stepped forward, which in turn made them start eyeing each other up and puffing out their chests. They were obviously ready to prove it. The other three knew they were beat, but they had other skills... and were much more interested in the slaves and cookies.

"Gods help me..." Madeline muttered just loud enough for Yana to hear but not the men as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Yana looked back at Maddie, a curious look in her eyes.

"How shall we solve this riddle, Lieutenant?" she asked, a smile playing at her lips. This was her mountain-top. She had always loved making people jump.

Madeline knew the exact answer she would like to give because she was truthfully just that confident especially after staring at all of their records for the past hour, but she was also acutely aware that there was still a very dangerous bacteria in her body that was unfortunately weakening her while it hung around. She thought it over for a moment and then tapped the desk. "A little old fashioned king of the hill?"

"A great idea!" Yana said with a bright smile. She walked over to a raised platform in the far corner of the room where access to various consoles was found on a slightly raised level. "First man here is King. We'll start a timer and the man standing here at the end will be declared strongest."

From the moment Yana had stepped into the room, the formal military setting had been shattered. Not only was it the cookies and the women, but it was also the way she dealt with people. Proposing a rousing game in the middle of the work shift now seemed normal to most of the room's occupants and there wasn't much questioning going on.

The Captain's Wife moved down from the place and stood next to Maddie.

"Starting in three...two...one...go!"

It was weird, this whole thing, but it was in the same breath a morale booster. The four men instantly took off though only moved about a foot before they were all on each other in a pile, pulling, tugging, punching. It was a mess. Madeline just shook her head and looked at them with an expression very much resigned to letting them figure out their own idiocy. She moved over to where the slaves were standing and picked up one of the peanut butter cookies to have for herself. She looked to the women then and gave a smile and nod. "Thanks."

"Fuck you!" One of the men yelled.

Maddie's head turned and she narrowed her eyes at the group. "Hey." She commanded, her voice projecting easily, like someone who was used to speaking to large crowds. "Don't break each other."

The men heeded her warming in a way, trying to win without being outright murderous with one another. In the end, they were all starting to tire, and Yana's grin was starting to wain.

"Twenty seconds left on the clock." The Commander said, leaning back against the desk in a reclined position. as she watched the climax of the entire event.

Madeline's expression shifted, darkening as she watched them flop uselessly on the floor. "If none of you get there, that's not going to end well for any of you." Her words seemed to succeed in motivating them to try harder. They had the option of just allowing one of them to win, but their respective prides obviously weren't going to allow that.

When the time was up, an alarm went off in the room and one man, bruised and breathing heavy, stood alone on the raised platform. Yana and the slave girls all clapped. She went over to assure him that the money would be transferred to his account and then she returned to Maddie's desk.

"Now you've seen everything in security, right?" she asked with a humored expression.

Madeline, for the briefest of moments, actually looked slightly disappointed but it cleared quickly and she smiled. "Guess so." She said with a good natured note in her voice. "Good job. I had my doubts, but happy to be proven wrong." She said as she looked to the group of men.

“Doubts about what?” Yana asked.

"They cut that very close." Maddie replied and shrugged, not looking to Yana but giving the group a smile. "But I won't doubt you again." She assured them which they seemed to appreciate coming from her. She was after all known as standoffish and not overly social except with Christoph, but she had promised to try and be better.

“Then the cookies did their job.” Yana said, waving to the slaves. “Girls, gather the containers. It’s time for them to get back to work and the same applies to us.” She turned back to Maddie. “I don’t make cookies all day, after all. We should speak again soon, Lieutenant. I’d be curious to learn more about you.”

Madeline’s brows lifted in slight surprise as she looked back to Yana again. “Well, Commander, I can’t say I am the most interesting person, but I’d be happy to speak again.” Maddie smiled. She made it sweet.

"The ones who say they aren't interesting are often the most interesting of all." she said, and then moved to the other side of the room where the slave girls were standing, having closed their bins. They no longer retuned the gazes of the security officers, focusing on Yana instead. "Bye, now."

The faintest of smirks finally touched Madeline's lips at Yana's comment but she brought it under control quickly. "Thank you for the visit and treats, commander. Take care." She bid the woman and her slaves farewell with a warm smile and nod.

Definitely Andrei's mother.

END