A pathway to something

Posted on Sat Sep 17th, 2022 @ 4:59pm by Lieutenant JG Eira Cortez & Commander Raiden Kosugi

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Holodeck #3
2475 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

The time was 1800hrs and Eira had been working on some of the maintenance reports she'd gotten from Engineering regarding the Gladiator before she realised it was finished time and she was hungry. The reports would still be there in the morning. Now it was time for food.

Before heading to the mess hall, she thought it might be worth going to check in on Raiden and see how he was doing with all the new responsibilities he'd been given. Plus there were also a few things she wanted to discuss with him. Stepping up to the door, she pressed the chime and waited for the soft whoosh of the door opening.

Raiden's eyes were sore from reading over the different PaDD's he had in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and then went back to reading. He was in a room, his own makeshift office which was a bit daunting and had a cot in the corner of it as well. 'Ugh!" he groaned out leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes for a moment. When the door chimed, he sat upwards and tried to smooth down his hair which was sticking up all over the place.

"Enter!" he called out, wondering who was on the other side of the door. When it revealed the white-haired Eira, he smiled. "Hi, how's it going?" standing up and moving from behind the desk. The makeshift office looked like it was a bit in disarray.

"What can I do for you?" Raiden asked.

Eira looked around the room and didn't have to feel out to know that Raiden was feeling stressed and tired, so she just smiled slightly and leaned up against the doorframe, "More like what can I do for you?"

"I was coming here with the intention to give you some updated reports on how things with the Gladiator are going, but then I realised it was getting late and could do with some food and was wondering if you could spare some time to get away for a bit?" Pushing off the door frame, Eira walked in and shifted the padd in her hand around to be a bit more comfortable.

"Food sounds rather good, I need a break from this and I don't remember the last time I've eaten." his stomach gurgled loudly. "And seems my body is being rather accusatory of my neglect." Raiden glanced at the desk and then gave a slight stretch to get rid of the kinks in his back. "Let's go eat." giving a half-smile. "I never thought I'd be made an XO, Eira." he swept his hand towards the door, "Shall we?"

"Of course. I never thought I'd be Chief of Operations either, yet here we both are. " Eira nodded and smiled as she exited the way she came in only a few moments earlier. As they walked down the corridor to the turbolift, she glanced his way and said "It suits you, by the way. Just don't dive in head first and burn yourself out, okay?"

"I am doing my best not to do so. Much to do. here I was a devil may care helmsman and now poof, I am an XO." Raiden stepped into the turbolift, and leaned his back against the wall. "Much to do and so little time." he joked. "I think I will be okay, I hope." he gave the deck that was needed.

The lift doors closed and went on its way to the level where the mess was located, when the door opened, Raiden stepped out. "And you need to make certain you don't burn yourself out either." Raiden gave Eira a sidelong glance as they walked towards the mess hall.

"Well, you know where I generally am if you ever want to talk about things that are going on." The pair entered the mess hall and set about getting some food. Eira got herself a chicken noodle soup with a roll and juice. "And I'll be fine, don't worry about me... What are you going to get?"

Raiden chose a comfort food, an Asian chicken soup which had chicken, bok choy, ginger, and other spices. carrots, onions, and ramen. To drink, he ordered some chamomile tea with lemon grass.

"I am going with this, just a touch of comfort food, and also healthy," Raiden responded. He nodded towards a table in the corner and said, "That looks like a nice spot, shall we?" walking over and placing his food down, and took a seat. "There we go, nice and cozy." giving a slight smile and taking a seat there.

He picked up his spoon and scooped up a spoonful, blowing on the soup, before he took a tentative sip. Another cooling blow on the soup then he ate his first bite. He gazed at Eira for a moment as he chewed, and when he emptied his mouth Raiden remarked, "Most of what I have to converse about is just trying to ease my way into the position of XO. It's going to be weird if I am thinking correctly moving into the XO's quarters, just so mind-boggling."

"Talk to me then." Eira nodded in response, savouring the taste of the soup. It wasn't quite the flavour she was expecting, there was something missing but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Do you want to go to one of the holodeck and we can go for a walk or something once we're finished here?" She didn't know how one would classify what they had going but there was definitely a special friendship.

Raiden nodded, "That sounds like a great idea. Maybe a walk in nature even if it is on the holodeck, would be a good idea. Give my brain a chance to leave things behind just only for a moment or three." smiling softly. He spooned up more of his soup and decided to tuck into his food and get it eaten, and be on their way to the holodeck and be in nature so to speak.

Outside of the Holodeck Raiden turned to Eira, "The nature walk is it a place that you love going to?"

"Just wait and see." She smiled and entered a few commands onto the access padd before walking onto the holodeck and motioning for Raiden to follow. The scene materialized to show them standing at the edge of a river with brilliant emerald green, red and gold-leafed trees lining the banks that signified it was summer and slowly transitioning into autumn. "Abisko National Park. Right in the heart of it and one of my favourite places, especially around this time and in winter."

The sound of the wildlife and the rushing river was just the right amount of ambient noise: not too loud so you couldn't hear yourself think but also not too quiet that one would think something is wrong. "Have a guess what time it is right here and now." Eira gave a bit of a grin as she hoped he wouldn't guess it.

Raiden looked around, taking in the scenery, the songs of the birds, the soothing sound of the river, and the trees. For the life of him, Raiden wasn't certain what time of day it was. He's not been here before so was unfamiliar with how the seasons ran here. "Um, Lunchtime? Second breakfast time? A relaxing moment time?" a slow smile coming to view.

"I'm not familiar with what second breakfast means?" Eira cocked her head to the side in mock confusion and blinked a couple of times at him, "It's currently 0130." She smiled again, this time hoping she caught him off guard with the answer.

"O130?" Raiden looked around "No way! I wouldn't have known this" giving a grin to Eira. "It is beautiful and peaceful. It would be someplace I would and could just sit down and meditate." looking around a bit more.

"Midnight sun occurs throughout summer because it's so close to the north pole. And you're right: it's extremely peaceful." She sat on the ground with her legs folded underneath and looked up. "You can use this program any time you want if you'd like?"

"Thank you," Raiden replied, lowering himself to the ground. "I may well take you up on this offer." he sat cross-legged and looked around, picking up some gravel and playing with it in his hand. "Definitely very peaceful. How are you liking being in your new role?"

Eira traced a finger through the gravel and then looked towards the river, "To be honest, I feel out of place. Like I'm some kind of imposter that is place holding this role until someone else comes and takes it over." She then turned her head and fixed her blue-eyed gaze on Raiden, "I enjoy it enough, but it's still something to get used to when all I've known and done over the last seven years in Starfleet is Intelligence work and mind you, I was good at it too."

"Please stop me if I start to ramble on, by the way. This change in position, this mission, and basically just everything is starting to get to me. Sleep is almost non-existent at this stage, I can't stop the stench of death and decay smell from what we found when we secured the Gladiator, and I feel like I'm just faking it til I'm making it by putting on the smile and happy face."

"Sorry, that's probably a bit overboard and something I should actually probably see the Counsellor about, not you." She breathed a heavy sigh and went back to tracing her finger through the gravel.

"Its okay that you are telling me this, from what I've observed, XO's tend to be someone who are to also listen." His blood froze and there is an expression in his eyes when she mentioned she had been in intelligence. In fact he shivered, as if someone had walked over his grave. There would be a slight emanation from him, could it be some fright, some worry? A brief sensation of something truly troubling him.

He blinked then Raiden came back to focus, to the present. "I too feel out of place being in the position of being XO. It's truly a strange position to be in. I never once thought I'd be one. Not for a long while, to be honest." Raiden played with the gravel in his hand, dropping pebbles from one hand into the palm of his other, one at a time.

Eira looked back at him and raised her eyebrow in more of a quizzical statement, "Wait a second, I felt that change," she shifted her whole body around to face him properly, "What's going on?"

Raiden abruptly stopped his pebble dropping and looked at Eira, "What change. I had forgotten that you had been in Intelligence, before you arrived on the ship." His mind flashed back to when they first met, and some feelings were developing there, including a kiss or two they shared, it seemed so long ago that had happened, and he felt a pang of guilt.

Raiden dropped his handful of gravel and blew out a puff of air looking out towards the scenery, before he looked Eira in the eyes.

"Look, Eira, something happened between me and an intelligence officer recently. It wasn't pleasant, and I wouldn't want to wish it on anyone. It is something I am dealing with, and I am talking with a counselor, figuring out how to move forward. This incident has caused me some personal doubts, and I seriously don't want to drop it in anyone's lap. We've got to deal with these zealots, and rescue our people, and what happened to me pales in comparison to what is going on right now." Raiden had a rather earnest expression in his eyes.

Eira shrugged lately, "I get it, I honestly do. What we're dealing with with these zealots are at the forefront of everyone's mind. Just know im always here to talk, and I keep odd hours because I can't sleep usually, so you know where to find me." She didn't think either of them wanted to open up Pandora's box at this point in time so she sat there with a close-lipped smile.

"I do, you looking towards the stars." Raiden answered quietly. And he didn't want to go down that dark hole right now. It had changed him though, he could feel that it had, to what extent Raiden had no idea. "To another subject, would you like to work out a schedule for training after this whole mission is finished?"

"Whenever that will be, maybe some shoreleave is due and we can book it in for then? I'd like to continue it for sure, as long as you're up for it." Going back to Starfleet HQ was a bit of a priority for Eira and only one person knew why. "If we do get shoreleave though, I do have to go back to Starfleet HQ for a few days but I'm free after that."

Raiden gave a nod, "I will be looking forward to that. And I won't even inquire as to what will be going on at Star Fleet HQ as it is your business." giving another smile which was warmer than his previous one. He felt he could actually relax around Eira.

"Ha, you'll find out soon enough if it all goes to plan." She gave him a grin and stood up, stretching her arms out in front of her. "So you've seen this absolutely amazing part of the national park now, and I know it's easy enough to forget this is simply a simulation but is there anything, in particular, you'd like to do before we have to give this up to the next person who wants to use the holodeck?"

Raiden shook his head, looking up at Eira, leaning back on his hands. "Nothing comes to mind right now. This was amazingly beautiful, and helped to put my head into a better place than it was before." He then adjusted his position, rising up from the ground and dusted himself off. He grinned at Eira, gave a little bit of a stretch his arms going upwards, and giving a slight yawn. "I will most certainly need to show you a favourite spot I have loved to go to."

"There's always a next time we can do this, may book it out for a little while longer?" She smiled at him, feeling the easiness between them both returning.

"That sounds like a great idea, we can do this at another time. And thanks you helped a lot." Raiden gave an impulsive embrace. "I'll see you around then."

Eira nodded, "Absolutely, I'll see you around." With that, they both walked out of the holodeck and went their separate ways.