Awkward Presence

[DJ McKinny 0]

For the first time she'd known Nicolas Lepage, DJ felt a little awkward in his presence. They had pursued a personal relationship and now, they were dealing with the consequences. She was still annoyed with him and strongly suspected the feeling was mutual. Because of their disagreement several days ago, they hadn't spent much time together outside Sickbay. The truth was, they hadn't spent any time together outside of regular business hours.

 

If DJ had her way, she would transfer to third watch. The CMO rarely showed up during the wee hours of the morning. That would certainly eliminate the awkwardness. But there was a serious disadvantage to working third watch. The hours were lousy. And she wasn't about to let Nick think he'd won their little battle of wills.

 

Now that some time had passed, DJ was starting to calm down a bit. She could see Nick's point of view although she still didn't necessarily agree with it....at least not all of it. Drankum was the station's commanding officer or manager or whatever you chose to call it. And he wasn't the stupid little Ferengi a lot of the Starfleet staff thought he was. When he issued legitimate orders, those orders should be obeyed.

 

At the same time, Drankum was a tough nut to crack. DJ seriously doubted anyone had actually "cracked" him. That was probably why the elderly diplomat was still on the job at his advanced age. His current problem was his interpersonal communication skills. He didn't have any. They probably weren't needed when dealing with the Ferengi. But on as station such as Aegis, with a staff from around the galaxy, the ability to communicate in an effective and polite manner was an absolute necessity. Drankum seemed determined to ignore that fact. It appeared he thrived on the chaos created by his irascible personality.

 

But this time, he may have bitten off more than even he could chew.

 

She thought Drankum was in the right. But she was uncomfortable with his decision to incarcerate Commander Chirakis. DJ was firmly convinced all of this could have been resolved had the Ambassador and the XO locked themselves in a room and argued it out. Now that he'd started down this path, he was highly suspicious of anyone who even remotely considered disobeying an order. His attitude was not only self-defeating, it was dangerous....for Drankum and everyone else on the station, especially under their current circumstances. There was a powerful enemy gunning for them. They needed to pull together and stand united against these unknown aliens.

 

And that old troll was the root cause for her argument with Nick. She refused to compromise her principals no matter who was involved. But it irked her that Drankum was the cause of her first real falling out with Nick.