What's Past_ Many Splendors (Book 6) - Keith R.A. DeCandido [15]
“Sonya.”
“Good. And you haven’t been on the holodeck yet?”
She looked down at her drink. “Haven’t had the time.”
“That’s crazy. Last time I checked, humans only needed eight hours of sleep, and each shift is only eight hours. That leaves eight hours to do whatever you want, and you haven’t been on the holodeck?”
Sonya looked up. “It’s not that simple. I have to keep up with the journals and work extra shifts sometimes, and—”
Duffy got a confused look on his face. “La Forge isn’t making you do this, is he? That isn’t his style.”
She looked back down at the drink. “Not really.”
“Trust me, Sonya, you don’t need to beat yourself to a pulp. La Forge is a good guy, and he’s obviously taken an interest in you. That’s a good sign, really. The lieutenant has pretty high standards—which makes you wonder what he sees in me, to be honest.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Sonya said meekly, though she had to admit to have been thinking the same thing.
“Ah, he’s kinda stuck with me. I was part of the original shakedown crew, I served under MacDougal, Argyle, Logan, and Lynch before La Forge got the promotion, and I don’t really want to go anywhere else. This is a great ship.”
“That’s true.”
They kept talking for a while after that—through another drink each—and Sonya found herself unable to recall the specifics of the conversation, but she did feel a lot better when it was over.
When he tossed back the last of his second ale, Duffy got up. “I gotta go—people to do, things to see. It was nice talking to you, Sonya.”
“Same here,” Sonya said with a smile. “Thanks, Kieran.”
“You’re welcome.”
CHAPTER
5
Captain’s log, stardate 42923.4. Despite misgivings, I have agreed to Starfleet’s request that the Enterprise divert to the Braslota system to take part in a war-game exercise. Joining us as observer and mediator is the Zakdorn master strategist Sirna Kolrami.
“Hey there, HC.”
Sonya gritted her teeth at Kornblum’s greeting as she entered main engineering. For months, the nickname had modulated from “Ensign Hot Chocolate” to “Ensign HC” and now to simply “HC.” Never mind the fact that she hadn’t touched the stuff since her now-infamous encounter with Captain Picard. Never mind the fact that she’d been responsible for implementing Commander Riker’s plan to save La Forge from the Pakleds who’d kidnapped him, thus saving her CO’s life and earning herself a commendation. Never mind the fact that she’d taken up Earl Grey tea, the captain’s favorite drink, as penance. The nickname remained.
Even in Ten-Forward, people greeted her thusly. The only exceptions were the fellow members of the “corner office,” as it had come to be named. Trying to take the advice given her by Lian, Geordi, and Kieran to heart, Sonya had finally taken her roommate up on her offer to join the group of friends in Ten-Forward for drinks. The rest of the group included Tess Allenby, who served as a shuttle pilot and the backup conn officer for both beta and gamma shifts; Gar Costa and Helga Van Mayter, both fellow alpha-shift engineers; and later, at Sonya’s own urging, Denny Russell. They took up the port-side corner table. Guinan, Ten-Forward’s enigmatic host, often had their drinks ready before they arrived—for Sonya it was Earl Grey—and other people generally knew not to sit there.
“You hear the scuttlebutt, HC?” Kornblum asked her now in engineering.
Sighing, Sonya said, “If you mean about Lieutenant Worf and that Klingon emissary on the holodeck, yes, I did hear.” And she wished she hadn’t. Klingon sex was one of those things about which she felt it was better to live in blissful ignorance.
“Nah, that’s old news—I mean about the Hathaway. I hear La Forge’ll be taking some people over there for the war game.”
“Really?” Sonya now noticed Riker was in engineering talking to La Forge about something. “Isn’t Commander Riker commanding the ship for the exercise?”
Kornblum nodded. “Wouldn’t that be great?”
“I don’t see why. It’s an eighty-year-old ship. What possible use could there be in crawling around an old wreck like that?”
“Oh, I dunno,