Updates, check-ins and unconventional topics

Posted on Mon Oct 31st, 2022 @ 11:24am by Lieutenant JG Spencer Griffith-Bailey & Commander Raiden Kosugi

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Shuttlebay
Timeline: Before Final Battle
3152 words - 6.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Much had changed in a small amount of time. Raiden realized he hadn't spoken to Ensign Bailey in awhile and he needed to fix that up. Locating where Spencer was, Raiden went there personally. Spencer probably knew about the position change but still he needed to talk to the man.

Spencer was sitting in one of the offices filling out some reports about some training flights that had been completed and was humming away to some tune he'd learnt long ago but didn't know the name of. He was that preoccupied with what he was doing that he didn't even hear Raiden come in until he looked up, "Oh hey boss. What's up?"

Raiden pulled up a chair to sit across from Spencer. "Well wanted to come check on you. We've not spoken since well that last meeting, and well look at how much has changed since then. How is your training flights coming along?"

"Uh, they're going." Spencer laughed in reply. "I know it's not really my place to do so, but I've been making a few changes to the rosters and scheduling the training flights, and it seems to be going good so far." He leant back in his chair, "Everyone seems to be reacting good, I've had no complaints so far, i guess."

"Thanks I appreciate that." Raiden answered then he leaned back in his chair. "Just to let you know we've got a new Chief Helmsman, Lieutenant Obav th’Villos. He's a unique individual. A really good fighter." Raiden mused aloud. "Met him on the Starbase before I realized who he was. He is someone you can count on when in a battle."

Spencer perked up at the mention of being a fighter, "Well I guess I better go and have a chat with him at some stage then, shouldn't I?" He was kind of disappointed that Raiden was no longer the Chief Helmsman but had already heard about the promotion through the grapevine and was happy for him. "You say he's a fighter? Care to elaborate, sir?"

"There's a fight club that is well, underground so to speak in the bowels of the station. You just need to find the people that have the information and then you can go participate. Just make sure you are up for brutal combat." Raiden replied. "And yes, make sure you meet Obav. May have to have all of us go get a drink as pilots, just because I am the XO doesn't mean I don't want to hang out with the others. Unless it makes people uncomfortable."

"You've got nothing to worry about, sir." Spencer waived the concerns off and gave him a loud laugh, "Nothing can be more uncomfortable going on a coffee catch up your ex, not yours specifically, and her new partner.. that's a chick." He shook his head at the thought and memories that popped up. "I guess I will definitely have to have a catch up with him and maybe get in on the action somehow, because I know for sure that I could go for some kind of energy release at the moment."

"Maybe I ought to introduce to you my training programs." Raiden leaned in towards Spencer in confidence. " Each level I take down the safety setting, just to make the training more real. However nothing is more real than being in a ring against other people who fight and you know you can get hurt. No safety measures, winner is the one left standing."

Spencer raised an eyebrow at the thought and smiled his lopsided grin that revealed his chipped tooth, "Whenever you're free, let me know and I'll check out those programs. I'm not going to lose anything by participating because I've now got the XO's approval, haha! A bruise or two never hurt anyone, it might even gain me some sympathy with the ladies." He laughed again.

"Oh is that how a person goes about it. I shall make a note of that in my book of notes on how to woo women." Raiden cracking a smile. "And that may explain why when I was younger, the ladies seemed to want to take care of my injuries. Okay yup I was clueless."

Spencer laughed in response and flciked his hair out of his eyes, "Well, sir, I'm more than happy to be a wing man if you ever need it, no pun intended."

Raiden chuckled "I will definitely keep that in mind. How do the ladies treat you?" the XO was definitely rather curious about that.

"Well... that's definitely a mixed kind of bag, haha." Spencer stood up and walked over to the little replicator to get himself and the XO a glass of water before coming back to sit at the desk, "If they're looking for the 'family man' kind of guy, then I usually get all the attraction when I mention that I'm a father, but other times I'm usually that lucky." He sipped the water and added, "Hence why I'm currently single. How about yourself?"

Raiden accepted the water. "Thanks." he thought over what Spencer had asked. "The ladies seem to be attracted to me, at times i really don't know why they are attracted to me. I'm nothing special I am just me." Raiden had a perplexed expression as he regarded his glass of water watching a drop of condensation gently slide down the side of the glass.

Raising the glass to his lips, Raiden took a drink then looked at Spencer. "That has been a puzzle. I have asked some of my female friends who just laughed, when I asked. They did have answer they just said it was because I was a nice guy, and didn't try to take advantage of the ladies." he shrugged.

"Ah, you're one of those guys." Spencer nodded in understanding. "Doesn't the old saying go: nice guys finish last?" He didn't want this conversation to become a back and forth coaching kind of conversation. "Question though: has anyone here ever caught your eye? Or would that be classified as fraternizing, given you're the XO?"

"Two or three ladies have caught my eye, well make that four. Doctor Svidi, Commander Ziyal, Eira, and Emma." Raiden counting on his fingers. "I don't think that Svidi is interested in me but then again I've not really pursued after her. I've not actively pursued any of them, I just didn't want to string them along, I wanted to get to know them and then if there was any chemistry that goes beyond the first attraction then hey I would have pursued. I simply refuse to play mindgames with the ladies, or string them along. It just doesn't sit well with me."

"I can't say I know much about the first two you mentioned, but isn't Emma the sister of the Marine CO? And I've heard a couple of people mention about Eira, is it? Is she the Ops Chief with white hair or something?" Spencer respected the man in front of him for being as honest as he was but couldn't for the life of him put the names to faces. He, however, didn't have his eye on any in particular at this point in time, probably due to the current issues he was having with his ex-wife.

Raiden had a soft smile when he spoke of Eira. "Eira is the one with hair the color of freshly fallen snow. She is a lovely woman and the Chief of Operations. And yes Emma is Walken's twin sister. She's great too, really knowledgeable of plants. And she is quite the dancer too." giving a bright smile, at speaking of her.

Even if he wasn't exceptionally bright in a lot of areas, Spencer was still rather perceptive and saw and heard the difference in Raiden's tones when speaking about the two ladies in question. "You, my good XO, have a favourite out of those two, don't you?" He admitted to himself internally that what he'd heard about them did sound like the kind of people he wanted to get to know, maybe even move on with, but he didn't dare verbalise it.

Raiden chuckled, "I wouldn't say a favorite? Its just I've spent a little bit more time with Eira than with Emma. Both of them are very lovely." he took another drink of water, then set the glass down. "I can't say I am the best person for either of them to want to settle down with and make a life with either of them. Until I am actually happy with who I am, I wouldn't want any of them to try to be in some sort of relationship except for maybe a friend. Yes, I am putting myself into the friend zone, it's the safest thing for them and for me. At least in my own mind right now."

Spencer held up his hands in defence, "Hey, I'm the last person to judge you on life choices, but you've got some pretty good reasoning there for just wanting to be friends and nothing more at this stage. If I were you, I'd be doing the same thing"

Raiden gave a bit of a shrug. "Its how I am wired, and how I was raised, I suppose. I had a friend that told me that I needed to loosen up, have fun, sow a bunch of wild oats. She even volunteered, I just couldn't, not that I wasn't tempted but I just couldn't. And its not that she wasn't attractive, man, the woman, she just was very, very beautiful. I couldn't take advantage of her. Even though she said I wouldn't be."

"Wow, most guys would jump at that kind of opportunity in a heartbeat." Then Spencer laughed again. "You're definitely one of a kind, that's for sure." Raiden even more so now had the respect of the pilot sitting in front of him.

Raiden wasn't about to reveal that the lady who he referenced to, she had been in a state of undress waiting for him. That was a ticklish situation for him. But their friendship came out of that intact.

"Well, I respected her a great deal." Raiden commented, "I am not going to lie and say I wasn't tempted, I was tempted, its just that I felt that it would have ruined things if we did."

Raiden definitely had a lot of respect for women it seemed, unlike Spencer who had faltered once in a lapse of judgement for a moment and it destroyed everything good he had going at the time. "So. Sir. Have you got anything coming up that would be cause for temptation then, of any sort?"

"As in, well please explain. Or do you mean do I have someone I'm interested in currently? Yes there is. Will it come to pass? Perhaps it will and perhaps it won't. Will I mess it up? Time will only tell." Raiden replied. "I have to be sure, or I can throw caution to the wind and just jump right in and see how things work out. I'm only human, and not a superman." giving a bit of a smirk. "Maybe a once in a lifetime chance comes along and I don't value what is before me. So many factors to even think of, so many choices to make or even there is just one choice, to give it a go and hope for the best."

"Are you sure you shouldn't have been a philosopher, sir?" Spencer grinned. "Those are some wise words you're speaking there! And by temptations, they could be anything that might potentially get you into trouble." He thought back to the previous mention of the multitude of ladies names he rattled off. "Surely you read up on my history before we met, didn't you?" It was an honest question.

Raiden thought back when he first met Spencer, and to be quite honest he hadn't looked up the man's records, he had just listened to the man when they first met. "Spencer, this may surprise you, I haven't looked up your record, not that I can recall. I just accepted you at face value when we had that meeting of the pilots. I do recall from that conversation you have a daughter. I just hadn't dug into your past, should I have?"

Spencer leant in, slightly taken back that he hadn't had his past looked into, so he feigned hurt then held up a finger. "Actually, I didn't mention her until todays meeting, Sir. When we met with Ralen, the girl I mentioned was the Captains daughter that got me into all that trouble, demoted and sent here." He wasn't bitter about it, not even annoyed because he was still friends with her, much to Sarah's disgust. "A lapse in judgement, flirtiness gone too far, and a lot of real alcohol caused one of the biggest upsets of my life, and a ban from flying fighters for a while." He grimaced at the thought of it all. "Long story short, anyway."

Raiden thought for a moment, grimaced at the talk of real alcohoi causing an upset. "Maybe I did skim over your records, so that is why your daughter stuck in my mind. Honestly I thought you had. Anyway, you're showing that you can fly, and that you truly regret whatever happened. You're not a bad man, mistakes do happen. Alcohol almost got me into trouble and caused some pain for a friend. I feel pretty bad about it."

"Here's to real alcohol being the cause to all of lifes problems for us." Spencer picked up his glass of water in salute, "Do I even want to know what pain it's caused for you?" He was coming to realise that Raiden was actually a complicated man.

"Its just that, well, said friend ended up having feelings that I didn't share and I had to let them know I didn't feel the same way they did. I couldn't lead them on, just wouldn't have been right." Raiden rose from his chair to get a bit more water, and came back to sit down, then raised his glass towards Spencer, "Yes, real alcohol can be a big problem if you let it get out of hand."

"I 100% agree with that." Spencer nodded in agreement and acknowledged the first statement as well. "I think as long as help is available and utilized, then alcohol and other substance use can be combatted." He thought back for a moment to one of his non-Fleet mates who had succumbed to this darkness.

"The key point is utilizing what is available, there are those who won't do so, just wanting to let themselves sink into a black hole. And it is sad that happens." Raiden replied, then took a drink of his water. "Now to another subject, are you done with your certification flight tests yet?"

Good topic change. "Ah, yes." Spencer stood up and moved to one of the cabinets behind Raiden and pulled out the padds required before walking back around to sink back into his chair. Thankfully he knew exactly where he'd put them when tidying up a couple of days ago. Ralen's were also there. "Here are the three reports, up to standard for you, Sir."

Raiden took a good look at the reports, then he smiled. "Okay Spencer, I'm going to recommend that we put you to work and you're going to be meeting your new department head, Obav. Both you and Ralen will be needing to get to know him. And I will also be entering it into the records plus inform Captain Hawkins." raising his glass of water towards Spencer.

Spencer lifted his glass as well, "Well that sounds like a plan." It gave him hope that things would start to look up. "Do we know where Obav is, or should I go seek him out?"

"I'd seek him out, he could be talking to Captain Hawkins or doing something else. Best thing to do is send a message and see where he would or could be. Heck maybe you could set up a meeting between you, Ralen and Obav. Just to get things rolling." Raiden responded. "Won't hurt to do so." another drink of his water. "Got to get connections going some how right?"

"Hopefully get into his good books and stay there for a while before I try for anything else." Spencer laughed and thought about maybe trying to eventually go for the Lieutenant pips as progression, but he thought it wise to maybe sort himself out a development plan first up. "One thing I do have to ask though, is what's the promotion structure like here? Say, for getting to Lieutenant?"

"Hard work, being dedicated to your job. it all ends up being up to the Captain and I suppose my recommendation. I've not really been this rank before or even an executive officer before. Since I've not had experience pertaining to your question, I'll have to do some research on that and will get back to you when I get the information." Raiden drained the rest of his water from his glass and gave bit of a smile. "My becoming the executive officer was a huge surprise and definitely something I hadn't even asked for however it was needed for me to do so and the Captain found enough merit in me I suppose to have me be his first officer."

Spencer nodded. From what he'd seen of the XO, he was the right man for the job. "Well from what I've seen so far, you have been the type of person I can come to if I need anything and you've given pretty good advice while still being approachable. You've got to start believing in yourself a bit more, and just know that I'm here for a chat whenever." He shrugged. "The CO has obviously seen something good that made him choose you."

Raiden was a little bit surprised at the observation of Spencer. " Thank you, I do the best as I can." He finished his second glass of water, "I'll be seeing you again, and I will be very happy when this whole mess with the Unholy Trinity is over. Its causing a bit of trouble. I am looking forward in getting into exploration, but at times a person needs to move that boulder out of the way."

He rose from the chair, and scooted it back under the table. "I'll see you later on." Raiden giving Spencer a smile of encouragement. "I've got confidence in you."

"Thank you, sir." With that, Spencer watched as Raiden got up and walked out of the office and went about his own business. He leant back in his chair and finished the glass of water before finishing up the reports he'd put off for a while and clocking out for the evening.

OFF