After-Briefing Dinner
[Starbase Bravo - The Gate Inn]
[Day 04 - 1800 Hours]
The last of the briefings was over. The Osiris Conference was set to end after a closing ceremony the next day, and most of the participants were set to leave within the next twenty-four hours. Most wouldn't be there for meals on Day Five.
During one of the briefings, Juliet noticed a familiar face. One she hadn't seen in person in twenty-four years, but whose file she followed sporadically in the intervening years.
She'd sent him a message inviting him to dinner at the pub, The Gate Inn, which she still hadn't tried. As always, she arrived a bit early, found a table, and waited for Lieutenant Commander Jufv tr’Caemin to join her.
Commodore Juliet St. Clair
Executive Officer, Task Force 93 | Commanding Officer, USS Saturn
Comments
The invitation, when it came, was the most pleasant surprise of the entire conference for Jufv. Reading the message in his shared quarters, he smiled. He had, of course, recognised St Clair at the TF93 briefing, although it had been many years since he'd last seen the human. Despite the tumultuous circumstances of when they'd met, Jufv at least had a positive recollection of the woman, or at least more positive than most Starfleet officers at the time. He was surprised that she'd remembered him.
After changing out of his uniform into more comfortable clothes, Jufv made his way down to the pub. The place was thriving, but nevertheless, he quickly identified the human. She was, after all, hard to miss. No matter what a crowd, it was hard to avoid noticing the woman with shameless blue hair.
"Juliet St Clair," Jufv said as he reached her table, smiling widely. "Commodore St Clair. You have an exceptional memory. To remember someone after twenty four years!" Sitting down, he considered her with a perplexed look. "How have you not changed after all this time? Twenty four years is a long time for a human, isn't it? And yet you look like you have simply time-travelled from the last day he saw you!"
Long used to the peculiarities of Starfleet life, the colour from Jufv's face drained away. "Oh. Please tell me you haven't actually time traveled. Temporal events are extremely complicated."
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Lieutenant Commander Jufv tr'Caemin
Task Force 72
Juliet smiled and laughed at the compliment and the seriousness of the suggestion. She stood to greet him. “It’s good to see you, too, Jufv. No time travel, just years of self care and pampering. And please, Juliet is fine right now. I’m afraid I didn’t have time to change out of the uniform, but neither of us are on duty.”
The last time she’d seen Jufv had indeed been under difficult times for him. She hadn’t exactly been a friendly face at the start, questioning whether he was who he claimed, or was some Tal Shiar mole. But she was also among the first who believed him, and advocated for him to be given both asylum and citizenship. That there was a war on was perhaps the only thing that kept them from becoming proper friends.
She gestured for him to take a seat. “There’s a menu here, but one of the residents here told me that we’d be daft if we had anything aside from the fish and chips and Terry’s IPA. How was the conference for you? Ready for your own command yet?”
Commodore Juliet St. Clair
Executive Officer, Task Force 93 | Commanding Officer, USS Saturn
"It was all very important, but it was a strategy conference," Jufv said with a long-suffering smile, "and I'm a physicist. When Starfleet give me a ship, they'll likely just send us out to some remote nebula for three months at a time, far from any trouble. Saving the galaxy is work for you, is it not?"
Jufv settled back. "So what has happened to you since the war? Is one of those great ships outside one of yours?"
"Not yet," she answered. "My command is still being made spaceworthy after a decade floating around Qualor II. I should get it in a month or so." She grinned widely. "But she'll be mine, all mine. How about you? If they invited you here, it must mean a command for you is imminent."
A waitress came by and stood at the table. "Fish and chips and the in-house IPA, please." The young woman entered the order into her PADD and then looked to Jufv.
Commodore Juliet St. Clair
Executive Officer, Task Force 93 | Commanding Officer, USS Saturn