Bad Impressions and Worse Impressions

Patricia Maguire listened to Lt. Ringo's spiel.  Ringo... Ringo... That name rang a bell for some reason.  Then... it hit her.

"Lieutenant, bah any chance are you kin to a Joseph Ringo?"

Ringo stopped in his tracks.  He turned, a surprised look on his face.  "Why, yes... he's my brother, actually.  Do you know him?"

Patricia groaned inwardly.  But her face betrayed nothing.  Oh, she knew him all right.  From her stint aboard the USS Montana.  She had been a lieutenant junior grade at the time... and so had Simon Ringo's brother.  He had hit on her repeatedly.  She had done everything short of threaten him with death.  It had taken a restraining order from the ship's legal counselor to finally keep him away from her.

"Oh, yes... Ah know him."  She glanced at her chronometer.  Damn.  She was due on the bridge in less than five minutes.  "Mistah Ringo... mah quartahs will have to wait.  Ah'm due on the bridge.  If you'll excuse meh."

She turned, and ran straight into a young woman.  A cadet.  Brown hair, carrying a PADD.  She had been deeply absorbed in the contents... which was why she hadn't been watching where she was going.

Patricia slowly made it back to her feet.  Getting up off her butt took effort with a bad leg.  She was going to chew out this cadet... but two things prevented it.  One, the look on the cadet's face spoke volumes.  She obviously recognized that she had just run into a lieutenant commander, and was probably in a world of trouble for it.  Two, she now had four minutes to make it to the bridge.

"Cahdet, Ah will make a point of it to speak to your supervisor at a latah time.  What department are you in?"

Neria April said, "Ops, Ma'am."

Patricia nodded.  "Carry on."  She made her way off towards the turbolift.

Neria looked to Ringo... and needless to say, the young woman looked almost ready to cry.  "What did I do wrong?  I just ran into her...."

Ringo patted the captain's daughter on the shoulder.  "Don't worry about it.  That woman's got a serious attitude problem."

Patricia knew she was going to be late.  So she cheated.

"Computah, site-to-site transport, turbolift."

The lieutenant commander vanished in a flash of light, reappearing in the turbolift.  Unfortunately, someone was already in it.

Another woman.  Red hair, tied up... except for one strand that hung down over her right eye.  She appeared of Asian descent.  Yellow uniform.  The woman didn't even appear shocked at the sudden appearance of someone in the turbolift.  She extended her hand.

"Ma'am.  Eve Ordalani, Lieutenant, Chief of Operations, Lake Milazzo, Bartok VII."

Patricia took her hand and shook it.  Good grip, she noted.  "Lieutenant Commandah Patricia Maguire.  First officer.  Where you headed, Lieutenant?"

"Ops, Ma'am.  You?"

"Bridge."

The two sat there for a second.  Patricia turned back to Eve.

"Ah had a run-in with one of your people, Lieutenant Ordalani.  Literally."

Eve's eyes widened.  "Do you know who, Ma'am?"

Patricia shook her head.  "A cadet.  Young woman with dark brown hair."

Eve ran over the roster of Ops personnel she had in her head.  "When you say young, how young?"

"Sixteen, seventeen."

Eve nodded her head slowly.  "That would be Cadet Neria April, Ma'am."

Patricia rolled her eyes.  Joy to the world.  Of all the people she had to run into, it just had to be the captain's little girl.

"Would you please have a word with her about watching where she is going in the corridors?"

Eve nodded.  "I certainly will, Ma'am."

The doors opened on the Ops deck.  Eve stepped out.  "Ma'am."  The doors closed and Patricia made it to the bridge.  With exactly thirty-three seconds to spare.

Limping onto the bridge, she made her way to the XO chair.  Slowly lowering herself into it, she nodded to the captain... and waited for whatever he had to say next.

Eve walked into the Ops department office.  All her personnel had already arrived.  Including Neria... who looked a little shaken.

The meeting didn't take long; just procedure and a warning on people who had been late for duty shifts due to lengthy holodeck programs.  The meeting adjourned, and Eve motioned Neria to her office.

Neria looked ready to cry.  She couldn't help herself.

Eve smiled gently.  "Are you all right, Neria?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Eve sat back in her chair.  "Neria... you know you can't lie to a Bartokian, right?"

Neria started talking a mile a minute.  "I didn't mean to run into her!  I mean, here I was, double checking the inventory from hydroponics, and all of a sudden, there she was!!  I tried to apologize but she just cut me off... she said she was going to talk to you... and then she just left.  Just like that."

Eve nodded.  "Well, I think we can spare the court martial this time."  She winked, letting the cadet know she was joking.

Neria nodded in reply.  "What is going to happen now?"

Eve sat forward.  "Neria... you were just pre-occupied.  This is all you're getting.  From now on, make sure you do your double-checking when you are not moving.  Understood?"

Neria breathed a sigh of relief.  "Yes, Ma'am."