Bacon and Scrambled Officers

Posted on 11 Apr 2026 @ 1:57pm by Lieutenant Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant Nicholas Miller

964 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Arawyn’s Itchy Trigger Finger

///Mess Hall///

Ryan arrived at the mess hall to grab a plate of food to take back to Engineering-bacon and eggs, from the look of things-when he noticed Nick sitting down at a table. He joined him for a minute. "Hey, Nick. How are things going?" He imagined the counselor was busy with everything going on.

"Oh.... hiya Ryan. How are you holding up?" Nick asked. He was still a bit out of sorts, having spent as much time as possible doing what he could to feel like issues were being handled that sleep was starting to elude him. Going through the funeral rites had taken a toll certainly but everyone handled loss differently. The Arawyn had taken a serious blow to both the vessel itself and her crew, there were officers dealing with some serious conflicts that could only be processed with time and healing.

It had been a busy couple of days. Dr Emerson had done her best to keep his schedule manageable but with Arawyn being so fresh to the front a large portion of the crew had never experienced a situation like the one in which they currently found themselves. Lives had been lost. Vulnerability had been made real and tangible.

In front of Miller lay the remains of a much needed breakfast. Alongside were several notes on medical first responder training aids. He'd felt like an asset for a brief time and wanted more, not for himself but perchance to take the burden off another. "Aw hell.... I'm really making a mess here aren't I?" he said with a smirk as he tried to organize the table in front of him.

"I did manage to hand an Engineer a tool yesterday. That counts as helping right?" Nick snickered a bit as he grabbed another piece of bacon. It was a simple breakfast, some scrambled eggs and a sizeable black coffee to get the day started. "Thankfully it was the right one, only took me seven minutes to figure it out."

"Seven minutes is impressive," Ryan said.

Nick laughed quietly. "She didn't seem to think so....." he trailed off, taking a sip of coffee.

"I won't be staying long," he added, putting his plate to one side on the next table. He had purposefully not answered Nick's question about how he was doing, but the circles under his eyes were a good giveaway that sleep also escaped him. Even now he felt the familiar pull of needing to go back to Engineering. The worry of what would happen if he didn't.

He could clearly see on the table the first responder videos. "At least that's better reading than your anxiety study," he pointed out. "Thinking about a career change?"

"Finding more ways to do what I can better." Miller replied.

Nick took a generous chunk of his eggs before responding. Between the damage Arawyn herself had sustained and the emotional toll of live lost he had been pushing himself to respond. Dad had always been keen on phrasing. " Out of all of us I'm probably dealing with it better." He'd volunteered for extra shifts, covering those hours that were less favorable despite the fact that any ship ran 24/7 and at some point required rest for both machinery and man. He nodded to the tutorials and smiled. "I still have my medical training and if that helps anybody, then it's worth a little less sleep."

Ryan was in no condition to lecture the counselor about the importance of sleep at this point. Not when he was missing a great deal of that himself. "I hear you on that. I can't even remember the last time I've been off duty," he said. "I was released from punishment detail maybe about two minutes before the attack. And since then..." He sighed. "I'll rest when I see the lights of Starbase 369," he finished. "Not before."

"Tricky thing about rest. One has to allow themselves the luxury." Miller nodded, smirking to himself. It was something he told himself constantly but would always resist just based on the way he was wired, much like any other machine or vessel. The difference was that he could intend and strive to make such a change. Whether or not it happened only time would tell. He was curious about why Ryan had been assigned extra duty but didn't ask, it really wasn't his business to pry.

After a few more bites he looked back to Collingway. "Yeah I'll be relieved as well. We've all been through a hell of a ride recently. It will be nice to stop, let the dust settle and figure things out from there." Nick had only been on the Arawyn for a short while but already had seen more intensity than years aboard Zetari had prepared him for. 204 had possessed a much larger Medical department and as a fortified Starbase rarely faced the sort of challenges he'd seen on Arawyn already. Miller had gotten the best of training and time to ascend in rank but already his new assignment had proved one thing for certain; he needed to step up his game.

Nick was enjoying the fact that he kept running into Ryan, these were conversations where it wasn't a doctor and patient exchange. At the bare bones level it was just two people with their own jobs to do. He started cleaning up his scattered notes and muttered to himself. "I'm gonna get organized one of these days I swear."

"I believe you," Ryan said with a bit of a smirk. His food was growing cold. Bacon and eggs certainly weren't designed to be eaten that way. "I'll leave you to it. But good luck with the extra training."

Lieutenant Nicholas Miller
Counselor
USS Arawynp

Lieutenant (JG) Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

 

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