Heated Words

Posted on Sat Mar 18th, 2023 @ 11:37pm by Lieutenant JG Evelyn Stewart & Commander Vianola Paxidor & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant JG William Verhoeven

2,643 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Good Will Tour: Mountain Home [Part Two]
Location: Triton Seabase-Team Room
Timeline: MD13: 15:30

Stewart stormed onto the turbolift and gave the command for the bridge. She was beyond enraged and felt the muscles in her hands begin to ache from the constantly clinching her hands repeatedly since she left Rena’s office. She couldn’t believe that Culver was discussing her private life with the ship’s counselor, especially during his supposed sessions.

When she arrived at the bridge she stepped out and instead of resuming her station, sharply turned on her heel to the captain’s chair. She barely remembered there were others on the bridge and controlled her voice accordingly to avoid a scene. “Can I have a word with you?” she demanded more of Max, instead of asking. Already she was toeing the line of breaching protocol.

Max nodded and smiled. He could tell she was heated without the use of his empathic powers. Engaging them, the word that came to mind was enraged.

He silently signaled to Verhoeven for two on his armrest as he stood. The ensign gave subtle sign of understanding by simply looking up from his station and around the bridge. “The team room? My cabin is barely big enough for one person, let alone two,” Max suggested.

“Fine,” Stewart answered through nearly gritted teeth and followed Culver into the team room. The doors hadn’t fully shut behind them before she turned on him. “Who the hell do you think you are?” She nearly shouted at him, no longer able to hold back her temper.

Max smiled widely. “As far as I know, I’m an El-Aurian male, going through some confusing moments right now that have nothing to do with you, I’m sure. Mostly, though, I suspect the answer you were looking for is Captain of Triton Seabase. Anymore questions, LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE ??” Max drew out the last three words to indicate their differences in rank,

Stewart narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t give me that.” Evelyn snapped, making no effort to keep her voice under control. “Where do you get off talking about me and my personal life to Campbell?” Stewart looked at Max with contempt. “As if you don’t have enough problems of your own to keep her occupied.”

“Captain, permission to speak freely, sir?” Max mimicked. He pretended to turn to himself and say, “Permission granted, Lieutenant Stewart.” Once finishing up his pretend conversation between him and her, he sat his rear on the table. “I’ve had a few counseling sessions, Lieutenant. Many subjects come up and if your name was mentioned, and I can’t think of a single instance where I would want to talk about you, but if I did, it would have been in a passing anecdote where you were hardly of importance, Lieutenant.” Max crossed his arms.

Stewart rolled her eyes off his little game. When he got back on topic she looked at him incredulously. “You expect me to believe that?” She asked sarcastically. “You can’t help but bleed your personal life into your professional one!” She shouted at him. “You nearly got yourself killed because of it. All because some criminal winked at you. Frankly it’s an embarrassment. Just like your handling of this base or the Romulans. ” She added with disgust. She was crossing the line, Evelyn knew it, but her commanding officer was proving to be a liability with his personal antics and it needed to be said.

Max raised an eyebrow as he sat listening to her vitriol spew forth. “And what makes you think that you’re so important, Evelyn, that I even think of you. You’re pathetic, a hungover mess when you’re on duty that we’re all, for some reason, supposed to ignore and a drunk who can’t be ten centimeters from her next drink when she’s off duty.

“You’re nothing to me. Not even worth talking to Rena about, so I’m sure if she mentioned I brought you up in conversation, she must have gotten me confused with someone else. Now, will you see yourself out or shall I have someone from refuse come in to pick up the waste?” Max gazed at her. Half of him wanted her to go and the other half wanted her to come harder.

Stewart openly scoffed at Max’s pathetic attempt at insulting her. She nodded in agreement of his assessment of her being hungover most mornings, though there was nothing he could do about it. “That maybe Captain…” she conceded while standing her ground in his space. “But at least I’m not a pathetic teenager chasing after every pretty boy who bats his eyes at me. Does this one have the command codes to the base?” She asked in reference to Daniel, the man who clearly Max had an attraction to given how him and Daniel left her and Ben waiting for them to finish changing for lunch for nearly twenty minutes before they went on their own.

“I’ve trained first year cadets at the Academy who could keep it in their pants better than you.” She added with annoyed disgust.

Max stood now, feeling a bit of fight building in him. “Yeah? So that’s reassuring. You come in to tell me what a shit captain I am and now you’re telling me you’ve trained a whole new generation of drunks for Starfleet. Lifetime achievement award, Evie.” Max ran his tongue over his teeth. He leaned against the table now, fingers gripping it tightly. “Someone grab me a medal to pin on this bitch, huh?!”

Evelyn glared at him when he chose to call her Evie. She had already told him once not to. But she reminded herself he was busy being drunk and making an ass of himself in front of half the high profile Romulans on the planet that night. She still smirked darkly at him. She enjoyed she was getting under his skin and seeing there was some fight in him.

Stewart shook her head. “Don’t bother. I’m sure you have been enough of a Command bootlicker, there aren’t any left.” She shouted at him as she continued to stand in his personal space, not backing down. “Like such a good captain. Follow orders and kiss enough brass ass and you make captain within a decade. They really do let anyone command now, huh?”

Max laughed at that. “Command within a decade?! Just because your people die like mayflies doesn’t mean the rest of us do. Just because I look younger and prettier than you, don’t mistake that with inexperience. You want to talk about bootlicking? Fine, I’m not the one that tried to fuck her way to the top. Too bad you picked the wrong Ambassador to fuck, Evie.” This time, he elongated her nickname. “But I guess if you can’t fuck daddy, might as well go for his son, right? Can’t keep it in the pants, keep it in the family, Evie.” He was sure his fingers were about to rip the table side off.

Evelyn just clinched her jaw and willed herself not to react to his calling her Evie. That changed when he brought up Gideon Davis and the fiasco that ensued when Desmond was arrested. Gideon's father was a Vice Admiral, which only made the situation worse at the time

Stewart’s posture shifted and changed immediately. Max was showing he had read up on her file, at least once, and misled her. She glared at him, her face getting heated. “You are such an immature child!” She shouted at him, darkly.

“And you are, deep down, a depressed little loser looking to take all of her problems on a bottle of alcohol, a fuckbuddy or her captain, which if I can remember, none of them stick around or stick up for you because you make it so hard to even pity you let alone like you!”

"And you have no business being a captain!" Evelyn shouted right back at the man without missing a beat. Mere centimeters apart, she didn't need to be an empath like him to feel the mutual disdain between them.

Taking a shaky breath, Stewart looked up at her commanding officer, a dark smirk on her face and shakes her head at him in condescension. "You want to talk about about screw ups, let's talk about Daniel Martinez." She said, her tone even as it was cold. "About how he is a failure waiting to happen. Or about how his family, especially his father, are so ashamed of him that his father set him up out here to fail.

“Why else would a young, immature, twenty something be out here in the middle of nowhere, in Romulan territory, trying to setup a hospitality business. And everyone knows that his father tracks his every movement so that when he fails, which he inevitable will, likely, he can disown him and cut him out of the family business for good. And at the end of the day, Dani will have you to thank for it, given how you have screwed up relations with the Romulans here so badly with your antics."

Tit for tat. Insult for insult and maybe she felt that way about him, genuinely. But to bring up Daniel Martinez when their relationship was so fresh as to be barely begun. Max’s eyes lit with fire he didn’t even know existed within him. An anger so dark, he didn’t know he could access such verbal poison.

Max had one last doozy to call her on her bullshit. “You know what, Evie? The reason you’re still a JG isn’t your constant fucking up or that you’re a drunk. It’s because you aren’t good enough.

Deep down inside, you know it, the crew knows it, and so do I. Hell, Starfleet knows it. Just like they knew you were fucking that captain back at the Academy. It’s the only reason you didn’t wash out to begin with. But he’s not here to carry your career anymore is he?” Max shouted back in her face.

The words had barely left Max’s lips before Stewart’s fist connected with his face. It wasn’t even a conscious thought, just pure impulse when she lost complete emotional control. She was nearly blind with rage that she almost didn’t notice the pain radiating through her hand. Breathing hard as adrenaline pumped through her veins, she glared at Max, feeling no regrets for what she just did.

Max took just a step back after her blow landed. “Security!” he called, more out of surprise than feeling threatened. His rank alone should have provided him safety from physical altercation.

Vi sighed, a very audible sigh from her chair on the bridge. She had taken command whilst the Captain had stepped out and Galen was busy elsewhere.

She had hoped the feelings of hate, disgust and anger would dissipate from the Captain's office but they did not. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it had.

She could have gone in sooner, should have. What is the point of having empathic powers, the very powers that gave her the headache she felt before being called in, if she didn't use them to her advantage.

Vianola signalled two other members of security to follow her in and as the doors opened she saw Max with a bloodied lip and Evelyn with a face scarlet red.

It didn't take an expert to put together what happened.

Vi moved to stand between the pair and looked Evelyn in the eyes. A look that said 'take a step back or I'll put you on your ass'. Evelyn was someone she considered a friend, well becoming one, and Max was one already.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place but right now she needed to separate them both. She nodded to her security team who moved towards Evelyn.

The preparation for what was to come in place. Max would no doubt order her to the Brig.

"Are you alright sir?" she asked, her eyes not leaving Evelyn who was now breathing quite heavily. No doubt the adrenaline in her system.

By the time Vi entered with the security team, Evelyn was already calming down. Somewhat. She still fixed Max with an icy stare, but took a step back when Vi stepped between them.

Max immediately felt stupid as soon as Vianola entered the room. “I’m fine,” Max said. “I just got caught up in myself in the moment. I think it’s time Lieutenant Stewart took some time off,” Max said.

“To be fair, I think I may need the same. Let’s have Ms. Stewart take her time in the brig to start. It’ll take some time for emotions to settle.” Max looked at Evelyn and knew he’d just become a mirror for her and he’d played his own part in this battle.

Vi pinched the bridge of her nose. Nothing on this assignment had been easy so far. So, why should relationships between Starfleet senior staff be?

She turned to her two security staff. "Take Lt. Stewart to the brig." she ordered as she looked at Evelyn with apologetic eyes. The 'sorry, but I have to' look. She had to do her job, and to be fair striking another officer and a superior to boot there was plenty of justification for the brig.

It reminded her of that time back at the Academy she'd broke Harvey Bush's nose and spent her own time in a pen of sorts.

Stewart just gave Max a dark look that spoke to how inept she felt he was as a captain, before shifting her eyes to Vi's and she briefly nodded, as if saying she understood. She didn't regret it, but she understood. Without a word she walked with the security officers out onto the bridge and to the turbolift to sit in the brig for however long Culver decided.

Max could see the apologetic look between Vi and Evelyn, followed by the ‘ if looks could kill’ look that Evelyn lingered over Max as she was escorted out of the room. He held no anger toward her, but he needed the crime to fit the assault. “Lieutenant Commander Paxidor, let’s start with three days, shall we?” he asked. “Then we can have a chat after her time served?” he suggested.

Max’s lip started to feel like it was burning, and he touched it unconsciously, looking at the blood on his fingers with with a shrug.

"What ever you deem appropriate, Captain." Vi replied in a quite professional manner. She wanted to scream at him, shout at him and Hells hit him herself for what had happened but she knew they were both going through a rather tough time and she had her restraint and knew that personal should not interfere with professional as best it can.

“Commander… I think it best that these next few days result in as little interaction as possible between myself and the detained,” Max suggested quietly, bereft of feeling now. “Maybe even for a bit of time after that, aside from what is required of work. Hmmm?” he asked quietly.

“You’ll help me see to that, right?”

"I will sir. I think some space is the best idea at the moment. If need be I can have Ev... I mean Lt. Stewart report to either Colonel s'Khev or myself once she is released from the brig." Vianola reassured him. "But... you know you'll have to speak to her eventually."

“Eventually,” Max agreed, unable to think of any other word that needed saying.

 

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