Status Quo-Oh

[Mreh K'hal 0]

Mreh had been looking forward to things returning to the status quo, as quo as it could ever get on the Excalibur anyway, but now that was no longer an option. M'Vess was leaving, and Mreh wasn't quite sure who to claw for it. He hadn't seen her since she quietly gave him the news on the bridge, and he was starting to worry she'd be gone before he had a chance to see her again. Using his contacts and abilities, he'd made sure four times a day she was still around at least, though he hadn't pushed to see her.

 

Things hadn't quite worked out the way he'd hoped. What chemistry they seemed to have had been altered when she'd become the XO. Starfleet had the unfortunate tendency to poo-poo intimate relations between command staff and their crew (though it still happened, of course). Unfortunately for Mreh, JoNs was usually a stickler for the rules and so whatever chance there was dwindled to nearly nothing. Even a close friendship was stalled by it, though he would thank any applicable deity that they'd remained friendly and that she trusted him.

 

Now she'd be off to Bob knows where, doing Bob knows what while he was stuck driving the Excalibur. The fun of that had worn off, which was why he'd been only too glad to leave the flying duties to Betty during their time on the Union. At least during the long, now unspeakable mission searching for the Founders he'd taken over quite a bit of the operations duties that needed tending to. That had helped stave off boredom during the many long jaunts the ship had made. Now however, with Ensign Waters assigned to the position and doing the job well, that pleasure would be denied him and he would be forced to to stare at the autopilot settings for hours on end.

 

Add having to adjust to yet another XO, Mreh already dreaded the next mission, whatever it would turn out to be. With Corizon in command, they seemed to run into trouble more than a boisterous kitten on a poultry farm. Though, he had to admit, Corizon didn't seem to look for trouble, it just had a tendency to find and follow him. He'd come to appreciate and respect the Dameon far more than he ever expected to, but Mreh thought that had far more to do with the counter-force thand JoNs had been. He could only pray that the new one had a sense of humor, or the atmosphere on the bridge would be dreadful. Though again, he had to admit that Corizon did seem to have a sense of humor. Occasionally.

 

With only one day left on their moving leave, Mreh decided that he couldn't put off looking M'Vess up any longer. He'd find her, give her the going-away present he'd bought on Avalon, and at least say a proper good-bye even if she didn't want to talk.