Breakfast talk

Posted on Tue Nov 19th, 2019 @ 2:17pm by Patton O'Sullivan & Petty Officer 2nd Class Corvus Hannah
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:06pm

1,718 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Lunch room
Timeline: 2429-12-04, 0600 hrs

Patton walked into the lunch room and looked around for Hannah. He was a little early but that was his nature. He learned a long time ago it was better to be early than late. Sometimes things happened out of your control.

O’Sullivan turned when he heard someone come in and smiled when he saw it was the petty officer. “Good! I am starving, let’s grab some food and have some breakfast." Patton filled his tray, breakfast was the most important meal of the day and also his favorite one.

For Hannah it required he get up much earlier. Normally he'd go to the mess after PT, like most of the Hazard Team/security officers that he worked with. Sure, the funk of PT still hung pretty heavy about them, but since it was all of them nobody seemed to mind anything. Only, this morning, since he'd been given orders to join the HTCO he figured he needed to PT earlier in order to get back to his quarters and clean up, dress in the proper UoD then get to the mess hall before 0600.

Which, given that he was working with one of the HT team leaders as his trainer and, well, today was a surprise HELL day, he wasn't done until later, got caught behind others waiting for the NCO showers and, he'd forgotten to replicate a fresh uniform that was pressed and presentable around a Lt. Commander.

So he had only a few minutes to spare when he got to the mess, hoping that O'Sullivan was the type of officer that liked to dawdle.

Except, as soon as he entered and was addressed by the Commander, he knew he wasn't. Except, he smiled. That was the type of order he would willingly follow all the way to Tuesday and back. He grabbed a tray and began loading up himself. PT always made him ravenous and, despite his mother's best efforts, fasting was never his friend. Though he did try to manage to keep his carbs to double portions of the biscuits and gravy (very hard to mess up, but not like his mother's) and pancakes (his grandmother's were always better but these were better than average) thick with butter and syrup. He moved down to the sausage (links, of course), bacon and loaded up on the scrambled eggs and home fries. A large mug of milk balanced precariously on his tray as he followed the Commander to the table.

Patton smiled as he looked from his own plate to Hannah’s. “It is a good change to share a meal with someone who likes to eat.” He took a drink of his juice. “How did your morning workout go?” O’Sullivan knew it would be an early rise for the petty officer but he had seen something in the medic the day before.

He took a bite of his hash browns as he looked over at Corvus who was swallowing at the moment. He looked a little nervous, something that the medic would have to work out over time. Patton remembered a time when he wanted to hide at the sound of a certain commanders voice.

"Fine," Hannah said, then shrugged. "Would have been fine if some bonehead hadn't staffed all the team leader positions with absolute neanderthalic sadists." Hannah took a forkful of egg and hash and, chewing, seemed to recall who he was having breakfast with. His chewing slowed as he stared at his plate. "I meant...some...extremely...awesome officer hadn't...logically...staffed team leaders with the ... best...candidates for the job."

“You always do that.” Patton replied seriously. “Speak without thinking and then back peddle?” He knew Hannah thought he had messed up and was about to get in real trouble. “I prefer honesty to someone telling me what they think I want to hear.” He stabbed some scrambled eggs on his plate. “I know the bonehead quite well but tell me about the ... Neanderthalic sadists.”

Hannah sighed as he leaned back. "My Ma brought me up with the idea that people should speak their minds. That's been...a bit of a problem in Starfleet, though." He looked at his plate and decided that food was available and, at least, he'd be well fed before being thrown into a dark dungeon. "They're alright though, good guys who are working to bring up their teams right. One is just a bit...intense...when it comes to the physical fitness standards. I shouldn't really complain, I did agree to the training."

“Have you considered why he is so intense?” Patton asked him. “If it is the one I am thinking of he has good reason.” He took a drink from his glass of orange juice. “He watched good men die for no good reason, some because they weren’t trained right. He has sworn that anyone he trains will be the best they can be.”

Hannah set his fork down again, accepting the chastisement. "Yes, sir," he said, simply. "He certainly knows what he's doing, that much is sure. My three kilometer time is a full minute and a half better after just a few weeks. And I'm close to setting a new PR in the deadlift."

“Training is a killer,” Patton nodded. “Just to be fair, I will show up tomorrow and workout beside you.” He didn’t know what it was but he took an interest in Hannah and helping him further his career. “When is your weapons recertification?” O’Sullivan hadn’t heard anything, he wanted this done and over with.

"Classroom at 1300 and range tomorrow morning," Hannah said, chewing on some gravy drenched biscuit. He tried not to worry about the CO showing up for PT. At least not where the others are concerned. Hopefully they won't find out it was because of him. "I have to admit, I'm frustrated with the time frame. Going on those away missions onto the ship without weapons? Nerve wracking."

“Then convince me,” O’Sullivan sat back. “I like to think I am a fair man, tell me why I should change my mind and decide you don’t need the recertification.” He didn’t like the idea of Corvus going without a weapon either but he needed to make Patton believe that yesterday was just the product of unique circumstance.

"No, sir," Hannah said. "You granted my request for this rather than grounding me from missions, another request of mine. You didn't reprimand me for violating policy in sickbay, nor chew my posterior for causing the problem in the first place. To try, now, to duck out of this? That wouldn't be right sir, and it wouldn't be someone you'd want working for you."

Patton sat forward, taking a drink of his coffee. “And this is one of the reasons I wanted to meet for breakfast. I am an excellent judge of character and I see something in you. You have the ability to go far and I intend to see you are afforded every opportunity to get there, to rise up the chain and be where you want to be. What is your long term goal here?”

Hannah shrugged. "Honestly, this is where I want to be. I get to have adventures, sometimes a bit scarier and more dangerous than others, and help those who are making a difference be able to keep doing that. The more I rise up the chain, the less I'm able to do that it seems."

“You sound a lot like me,” Patton nodded. “I hate being left behind but I have learned the importance of it but the command staff is good about taking me here and there.”

"I'm sure being a lieutenant commander comes with a lot of perks as well," Hannah said. "Your own quarters for one. With actual walls. That's gotta be nice, right?"

Patton grinned. “I admit that is a perk I am thankful for. I once shared quarters with someone who snored so loud you would have thought he was sawing down a whole orchard at one time.”

"That's gotta be..." Hannah said, chewing down on more of the breakfast. He still had his physical with Potter soon. "I had a roommate once who was gassy. It was fortunate that I found some problems during a routine physical and could order a diet change for him. Took care of that problem. It was so bad that I was volunteering for gamma shift just so I wasn't in the room at the same time. The last straw came when we had to hotrack due to a ship rescue. My roommates wanted to put me in for the silver star."

Patton sat back and laughed. “I can see how that would be worse!” He had finished his food, years of eating on the run were hard to cure. “Once you recertify expect to be going on more missions and being more utilized. I see something in you and I will not see it wasted.”

Hannah worked hard to suppress the smile that came up. He enjoyed going on missions. Well, maybe not during the missions, but afterward. Not when his side was being hurt and dying. Especially not when someone died. But otherwise, he enjoyed being with the teams much more than the typical corpsman work...helping doctors and nurses in just the Medical setting. Sometimes he got to do real medical stuff, but mostly it was just a glorified nurse/orderly.

Not this way. "I'm one hundred percent okay with that, Commander," he said, looking over his shoulder at the food line to see if there was still much left. He'd loaded his plate but, he was still young and very active.

“Let’s go!” Patton smiled. “I would like some more biscuits and gravy.”

"That, sir," Hannah said, springing to his feet, "is not an order you have to give twice." Though, he did wait for the commander to proceed him, as was right and proper.

Patton grinned as they headed back through the line. “Maybe a few more eggs as well.” They went through the line and sat down. “This is why I do a heavy workout.” Patton said as he picked up his fork. “I like to eat.” They dug in and cleaned their plates.

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