A Bad Place for a Conversation

Posted on Thu Jan 15th, 2026 @ 10:15am by Ensign Zeve Navot & Ensign Ian Milkovich
Edited on on Thu Jan 15th, 2026 @ 10:34am

Mission: A Dawn on Drax
Location: Deck 17 - Turbolifts

ON:

Zeve Navot was feeling nervous. Today was the day that the Pandora was due to launch out of her space dock and begin her first mission. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air - a buzz running through the blood of everyone on board. Launch days were always the most fun part of joining a ship; it wasn't every day that a vessel goes through a total refurbishment and changes their theatre of operation. Even as a newcomer to the Pandora, the young Bajoran knew this was a special moment.

To calm his nerves, he had started the day with his regular routine. Up early in the morning and straight to the gym for a work out. Thankfully, ship operations had retrieved his belongings from Earth and he was finally able to wear his own clothing again. He was yet to meet his department chief, Lieutenant Keith, and wasn't due to be on duty until the afternoon Beta shift. But he had still gotten up at 6am ship-time and ticked off his regular routine for the day to help settle himself. He had pushed himself hard in his workout session - putting in extra reps on the squat racks, increasing his weights on the bench. He wanted to have his body feeling good and nothing felt better than a solid workout. It cleared his mind, gave him the focus that he needed.

Sweat. Strain. Repeat.

It was his happy place.

Now, with the Pandora's launch imminent, he stood at the turbo lift lobby on Deck 17 awaiting for one to arrive. As the doors parted and he stepped onboard, he immediately spotted the Ginger haired Ensign already inside. Zeve swallowed hard as he took up a position on the other side of the lift and he tried to remember his name.

Ian, he thought, his mind searching for the answer. Ian... Ma-something.

For his part, Ian had his nose buried in a PADD. He was due on the Bridge soon, taking the helm position for the Pandora's launch. He was busy replaying videos of correct movements and procedures for a ship launch, the nerves still in his mind for such a momentous moment. It took a second to realise that whoever had just stepped onto the lift was staring at him.

Ian raised his eyes up and saw the dark haired Bajoran staring back at him. Ian gulped hard. Say something! His mind hissed at him. ANYTHING!

"Hello." Ian mumbled.

"Milkovich." Zeve sputtered out, finally the name coming to him. He was relieved to have remembered it, but then immediately horrified that he had said it out loud instead of just in his head, as he had wanted.

Ian blinked, confused by this utterance. "Sorry?"

"Ensign Milkovich." Zeve tried to recover, pretending he had been saying his name as a greeting.

"Oh..." Ian nodded, "Yes, that's me. Ensign Navot?"

"Yes." Zeve nodded also.

A heavy silence filled the space. Neither knew what to say next.

Thank him for finding the luggage, Zeve's mind screamed at him. That's something decent to say.

Zeve put on a smile, "Well, actually Ensign Milkovich, I just wanted to - "

"ZEVE!" Came a boisterous cry.

Unbeknownst to the two, the turbo lift had stopped at the next deck and the doors had opened. Before them now was a squad of Security Officers - the Alpha Shift - a group of ten crew members, including Mack, a bulky Australian man with a thick accent, who began to pile into the transport as well. Mack and his bulbous biceps took up the space of two people in a turbo lift that was already getting full.

"Mack." Zeve politely smiled to his fellow Security officer.

"You on Alpha too?" Mack asked, as the lift doors closed and began to ascend once more.

Ian had been forced to move to the back of lift to make room for the new arrivals, and found himself pressed against the rear wall. He could just see Zeve's dark hair on the opposite side, a crowd of people in between them. Their attempt at a conversation now apparently abandoned.

"No, Beta." Zeve replied. "But I was going to the Observation Lounge on Deck 5 to watch the launch."

"Nice, mate." Mack nodded. "I've got final checks on the docking tunnel. I get to secure the ship for disembarking." He said it so proudly. As a junior officer, it was a pretty good role to play. Of course, everyone wanted the Bridge watch shift. To stand in the command centre of the vessel while the Captain gives the orders to launch, to have the front row view of the Pandora's departure into their new frontier - that was the most coveted role. Unfortunately, it had gone to two other officers.

The tall Australian looked around and saw Ian Milkovich cramped into the corner. He felt bad for ribbing the Helmsman yesterday, and wanted to give a better impression today.

"Hey mate." Mack called over, his booming voice filling the room. "Aren't you on Helm?"

Ian looked up from his PADD, which he had been pretending to read while he pretending not to be listening to Zeve and Mack's conversation. He gave a meek smile. "Uh... Yes. I'm the Bridge Helm for the launch."

He felt the entire room turn to face him and Ian's checks flushed with blood.

"You're flying the ship?!" Mack exclaimed. "That's bloody brilliant!"

Ian tried to give a humble nod. "Yes. I mean, I've piloted the Pandora before but this will be my first time leading her out of space dock."

The Security team looked at each other, nodding in excited agreement. Being on the Bridge was one thing, actually flying the ship was something altogether better and cooler.

"One for the bucket list." Zeve called out, his voice dimmed amongst the crowd of people.

Ian strained his neck to see him again, and found his dark eyes staring back across the lift. There was a faint smile on his face. Ian noticed how the ridges on his Bajoran nose crinkled when he smiled like that. Ian grinned back. "It is."

The lift stopped and a few officers departed, ready for their assignments. Thankfully this gave them a little bit of space again. Ian shuffled to the back and Zeve did also. They were closer together now.

"Just don't crash the bastard." Mack cracked, and he laughed loudly.

"I won't." Ian replied, a mild annoyance in his tone. "It's mostly automatic anyway."

Mack just nodded silently, before he shrugged, "Still, that's great."

Ian looked to his feet, "Yeah." He returned to his PADD, a new set of nerves settling in. He scrubbed the video back to the beginning, starting the launch process over once more for practice.

The lift stopped again and more officers left, including Mack who had announced his departure with a "Here I come!" war cry. A few more stops and finally they were back to just Zeve, Ian, and the two officers who had been assigned to the Bridge left in the room. Zeve looked over to Ian, seeing him studying his PADD with deliberate concentration. Zeve noticed his eyes rapidly scanning over the screen back and forth, as if absorbing the information directly from the device. The Bajoran's gaze went down slightly and he saw that when Ian was concentrating, he slowly chewed on his bottom lip, perhaps entirely unknowingly. There was something endearing about that to Zeve.

Zeve wanted to say something to him. He wondered if this was a good time to bring up the luggage and finally thank him for retrieving it for him. He became aware that the other two Security Officers in the lift were standing very much in earshot in front of them, giving him reason to pause and reconsider.

This is a bad place for a conversation. Zeve thought to himself.

And so he said nothing else. The lift was silent until they reached Deck 1 of the Pandora.

The doors opened and Zeve got his first look at the Pandora's redesigned Bridge. It was sleek, with state of the art consoles, a large panoramic view screen, shiny black floors, and the command chair sitting at the very apex of the room. He felt the breath leave him for a moment as he took it in. As he wasn't on duty, let alone assigned to the Bridge, he didn't have the right to step out of the lift and onto the Bridge. He could only watch from inside with awe.

Ian stepped out, about to head to his console. He realised Zeve was still in the lift, looking out. Ian turned and frowned, "Weren't you getting off at Deck 5?"

Zeve snapped out of his trance and blinked. "Oh! Damn. Yes, I was supposed to do that."

Ian shrugged a little, "I promise not to crash her." He joked.

Zeve straightened up and smiled, "You won't."

The lift doors began to close and they could only give each other a little nod of acknowledgement, a sort of farewell, as it did. Nothing had been said, no real conversation had been had, nothing real or tangible anyway, but he was happy either way.

OFF