07-11-2024, 09:48 PM
==Promenade, a couple of days later==
Jaein and his wife walked arm in arm through the Promenade. This time, though, it was different.
“Stop brooding,” Mary told him, patting a hand on his arm as they put a little more distance between them and the security office. “What exactly do you think you could do for him?”
“I don’t know,” Jaein replied, sighing as he looked around the place and saw none of it. “I know that we barely know each other, and I barely was able to get even a little information about what he’s been arrested for out of anyone, but I still can’t help but feel like I should do something.”
In fact, it had been even less information than that. He’d heard it was something involving a classified mission, and that the foreign office was involved, but that’s all his contacts had been able to find out for him. What the hell did you get involved in, Ben? he asked himself.
But either way, Mary was right. He couldn’t do anything for him at all, so there was no sense in brooding over it. He blew out another breath, and shook his head. “But alright,” he said aloud. “Any ideas on where you want to go tonight?”
She did, as usual, and he was more than happy to go along with them. Maybe he felt a little guilty that they didn’t spend as much time together as he wanted to, maybe it was just that he liked to see her happy. Maybe a little of both, in reality. But after they were done shopping and were sitting in a small bistro eating, he held her hand and they talked.
“How is your research going?” he asked her. “Any new progress?”
She sighed and sat back, fork on her plate. “Not at the moment,” she said. “I’ve gotten the jumja to grow, but still they’re not thriving. They’re small and withered looking.”
“Hey, the fact that you’ve gotten a tropical fruit to grow that far north--”
“I know,” she said, cutting him off. “But they’ve been hybridized to make it happen, and I’m not sure that it's a working solution. I may need to go back to seed and try again.”
He sighed, squeezing her hand. That hurt her, he knew, and he wished that he had a solution, but growing things was her specialty, not his. All he could do was offer what support he could.
She shook her head away from her own ruminations and smiled back at him. “What about you? Still trying to make this a working holiday?”
“Well,” he said, rubbing his chin with his free hand, “Starfleet does want some kind of return on sending me here on one of their ships - never mind that they were headed this direction anyway and had plenty of space.” He left unsaid his opinions on bookkeepers and accountants, though he knew she was well aware of his opinions on the matter. “I’ve arranged another tour for tomorrow, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Mary nodded, and left it at that. Part of him wanted to keep talking about it, but the rest of him knew to leave well enough alone. He’d talked with a couple of different people on the Artemis to set up the tour, and everyone had wanted to consult someone else before he’d finally gotten it through their heads that it wasn’t an inspection, just an observation.
Unfortunately that only partly surprised him; Ben had always struck him as a brilliant engineer, but very poor at dealing with people. Things had likely run fairly smoothly while he was there, but his abrupt removal could easily have left things in disarray, particularly if there wasn’t a clear line of succession.
Conversation moved on to other, smaller things again, and he left tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow. He’d learned many years previous to focus on today, and enjoy what time he could. Problems always cropped up where they would; worrying about them rarely helped the matter.
==TBC - Artemis Engineering==
Jaein and his wife walked arm in arm through the Promenade. This time, though, it was different.
“Stop brooding,” Mary told him, patting a hand on his arm as they put a little more distance between them and the security office. “What exactly do you think you could do for him?”
“I don’t know,” Jaein replied, sighing as he looked around the place and saw none of it. “I know that we barely know each other, and I barely was able to get even a little information about what he’s been arrested for out of anyone, but I still can’t help but feel like I should do something.”
In fact, it had been even less information than that. He’d heard it was something involving a classified mission, and that the foreign office was involved, but that’s all his contacts had been able to find out for him. What the hell did you get involved in, Ben? he asked himself.
But either way, Mary was right. He couldn’t do anything for him at all, so there was no sense in brooding over it. He blew out another breath, and shook his head. “But alright,” he said aloud. “Any ideas on where you want to go tonight?”
She did, as usual, and he was more than happy to go along with them. Maybe he felt a little guilty that they didn’t spend as much time together as he wanted to, maybe it was just that he liked to see her happy. Maybe a little of both, in reality. But after they were done shopping and were sitting in a small bistro eating, he held her hand and they talked.
“How is your research going?” he asked her. “Any new progress?”
She sighed and sat back, fork on her plate. “Not at the moment,” she said. “I’ve gotten the jumja to grow, but still they’re not thriving. They’re small and withered looking.”
“Hey, the fact that you’ve gotten a tropical fruit to grow that far north--”
“I know,” she said, cutting him off. “But they’ve been hybridized to make it happen, and I’m not sure that it's a working solution. I may need to go back to seed and try again.”
He sighed, squeezing her hand. That hurt her, he knew, and he wished that he had a solution, but growing things was her specialty, not his. All he could do was offer what support he could.
She shook her head away from her own ruminations and smiled back at him. “What about you? Still trying to make this a working holiday?”
“Well,” he said, rubbing his chin with his free hand, “Starfleet does want some kind of return on sending me here on one of their ships - never mind that they were headed this direction anyway and had plenty of space.” He left unsaid his opinions on bookkeepers and accountants, though he knew she was well aware of his opinions on the matter. “I’ve arranged another tour for tomorrow, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Mary nodded, and left it at that. Part of him wanted to keep talking about it, but the rest of him knew to leave well enough alone. He’d talked with a couple of different people on the Artemis to set up the tour, and everyone had wanted to consult someone else before he’d finally gotten it through their heads that it wasn’t an inspection, just an observation.
Unfortunately that only partly surprised him; Ben had always struck him as a brilliant engineer, but very poor at dealing with people. Things had likely run fairly smoothly while he was there, but his abrupt removal could easily have left things in disarray, particularly if there wasn’t a clear line of succession.
Conversation moved on to other, smaller things again, and he left tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow. He’d learned many years previous to focus on today, and enjoy what time he could. Problems always cropped up where they would; worrying about them rarely helped the matter.
==TBC - Artemis Engineering==