It’s good news right?

Posted on Mon Apr 13, 2026 @ 11:59pm by Lieutenant Commander Ronald Hawk & Commander Caoimhe O'Connor M.D.

1,837 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: S03E01 - Something about Tribbles
Location: Science Department: Caiomhe’s Office
Timeline: MD02-1730

ON:

Excitement and hesitation coursed through Ron’s body all at once, as he made his way through the science department seeking out Caiomhe, marching straight to her office and chiming for entry.

Caoimhe had her arms folded in front of her, leaning over her table as she frowned at the data on the PADD. Something just wasn't adding up and she didn't know weather it was the incompetency of her staff or weather there was something wrong with the calculations of the air analysis. Everything had gone screwed up with the loss of some of her most talented staff in the explosion and her department being down in numbers; the department and it's people were struggling.

As the chime echoed around her office space; the woman growled a little under her breath before getting out her command, unable to hide the agitation. "What?!"

The door opens and Ron steps cautiously over the threshold. “Everything ok? You sound… tense,” he asked seemingly only phased enough to have concern for the irritated woman before him.

It took a few moments for the voice to register; having expected one of her staff to be reporting on the what went wrong, the last person she expected to hear and see was Ron. After the counselling appointment earlier; of all the people she wanted to see she wasn't certain it was him.

Caoimhe rubbed her fingers across the bridge of her nose; finding the transition from business to personal difficult. Her head has been work heavy before Ron's arrival; she had been struggling to rebalance the department after their loss of Megan. The woman's absence was like a black cloud over science; the counterbalance of Caoimhe's energy which she knew so often was negative.

"Lieutenant, my apologies. I was expecting Ensign Seng. I..." Caoimhe closed her eyes as she forced herself to just take a breath and refocus; allowing her focus to turn to the man standing infront of her. "What can I do for you? It's not often strategic ops finds themselves in science."

"I must confess that this is more of a personal nature," admitted Ron being sure that the door was closed behind him. "I have a new assignment." He practically blurted the words out giving not even half as much detail as he would have liked.

Caoimhe hesitated at the words, trying not to draw conclusions on what they might have meant. Her chest grew tight as she couldn't stop the sudden thought of was he leaving the station?

The scientist indicated the the chair in front of the desk as she sat more upright in her own and pushed her PADD to the side; trying to force herself to not jump to conclusion and to give Ron space to explain. "Ok... congratulations?"

Realising his poor delivery, Ron raised his hands apologetically. “They are giving me the Executive Officer posting on one of the Garison ships here. The Fury. I’m not leaving, at least not permanently. I shouldn’t ever be gone for more than a few weeks at a time.”

Caoimhe felt the tightness in her chest loosen a little; but an unease was stuck still in her gut. This moment made her realize that between their personal feelings for each other; in the little time together they were still getting to know each other. She was trying to gage was this good or bad...was this something Ron wanted?

Choosing new words carefully, Caoimhe attempted a small smile as she tried to feel her way through this. "I guess in someways this must help the demotion situation? While the Commodore can't give you back your old position on the station, she's trying to show you she still trusts you in an executive officer role?"

“Maybe,” Ron mused recalling his conversation from just minutes ago with Richard. “But I think there’s something more at play here. They want me to take on this position whilst remaining in my current one here.”

He gave additional thought to what he might say next. “But that’s not why I came to talk to you. I thought the least your deserve is to be told as soon as I can tell you. That, and I want to know how you feel about my being away so often?”

"I..." Caoimhe moved to her feet, rounding the desk before balancing her hip on the desk edge. In a way it brought her closer to Ron but also offered her a chance to pull away from her workload and try to give him her undivided attention. "I mean...Im not sure. You've haven't been back long; I'd never want to place expectations on you when this is your rebuilding your career after all that has happened. What do you think?"

“Haven’t you got it by now?” Ron asked with a look that was half frown half smile. “I don’t want to do a relationship that is half baked. You should be involved in these sorts of conversations. Career be damned, they could send me a million light years away and I’d still find some way to get back to you!”

He caught himself, and grounded himself by adjusting his collar. “As it stands, I think this is a good thing. I’ll still be close by. But absent maybe half the time. Besides we need to adjust to each other, learn each other, and find every part of each other anyway. Short absence isn’t going to be able to stop that, right?”

Caoimhe smiled a little at Ron's words, she guessed that was part of his appeal; his ability to separate and understand his wants and needs and how they would work together. It was harder for her...but she also understood that beneath it all this man didn't know the full truth of her past; how his question wasn't as simply answered as he might have intended. It was easy to be carefree for him; her less so. Hadn't her session with Minh shown that.

"I..." The science officer cut herself short, part of her wondering if now was the right time for this conversation. At anytime anybody could interrupt them and leave the conversation unfinished. At the same time; did she want this to go on for longer. "You know I was married before...but what you don't know is what happened between me and Barry. He disappeared too for a period of time before he returned."

“And it was the long absence that split you apart?” Ron enquired in ignorant bliss, before raising a hand to the woman’s cheek. “I think my fall into a subspace fracture taught us that we don’t have that same issue.”

Caoimhe let out a small breath, her hand raising to take Ron's into hers as she glanced down at his fingers. This wasn't as easy as it needed to be. There was a reason she hadn't spoken about this before; and many never have had it not been for earlier. She still felt so fragile opening up and realising all that had built up inside.

Her thumb brushes across the back of his hand as she tried to find the courage to give him a true answer without just blurting it all out. "Not quite...Barry's absence was due to an intelligence mission gown wrong. He ended up held as a hostage by the Klingons with intelligence refusing to help because the mission was black ops to begin with."

“It’s ok,” Ron responded seeing the woman’s pain. “Take your time, and if it’s too much, then don’t hold it for another time.”

Caoimhe's hand held Ron's a little tighter as she took some strength from him to continue. "It was what happened when he returned that lead to the divorce. When he returned he was obsessed with Starfleet and perceived they'd turned their back on him. He kidnapped me and forced me to go on the run with him in order to try and get revenege; nearly ending my career alongside his own."

“Forced you? Kidnapped?” Ron was trying to get his head around it. Part of him was confused, part of him angry at the thought that Caiomhe might have been mistreated, and yet another was hoping he was getting the wrong end of the stick. “What did he do to you Caiomhe?”

Caoimhe let out a slow and steady breath as she found it difficult to go back to a place she had long left behind before today. She has been overwhelmed after leaving Minh and hasn't envisaged having to confront this again so quickly.

Squeezing Ron's hand a little, Caoimhe made a choice to back off as she got back to her feet in order to move back around her desk. "It doesn't matter. The past is best left in the past right? And our future is..." The woman hesitated a moment as vulnerability flickered across her eyes but was gone again just as quick. "... figuring out if there's longevity to what's between us."

Ron’s head was in turmoil, but he wanted to respect Caiomhe’s space. “I’m hoping we’ll last,” Ron smiled. “But in any case….”

The door chimed interrupting Ron’s sentence dead in its tracks. He quickly straightened his tunic, before any command could be given for the door to open.

Caoimhe noticed the switch in Ron's stance and wondered how it came so easily. Right now her mind was back in termoil and all she wanted was space to sort through it; but that was part and parcel of running a department right? Work first, personal later.

A small smile crossed her lips as she placed a hand on the back of her chair and looked to Ron. "Duty calls...make the choice and decisions that are right for you Ron. You and I are still in early stages so can make things work as we need them too. And where they don't work...we will figure that out too."

Realising he still had a few seconds, Ron simply nodded in agreement and leant over the desk to plant a kiss on the science chiefs cheek. “Let’s talk another time,” he said as he turned toward the door which parted to reveal a cardassian woman standing the other side. “Lieutenant”, Ron nodded, as he passed a disappeared from view.

It took a milisecond more for Coaimhe to stop smiling as she realised the officer at the door was looking at her weirdly. The work armour needed to be put back into place least her staff begin to think that she was getting soft. "Lieutenant...So Ensign Seng has sent you in his place...I hope you can do a better job at explaining what caused the air purication in the arborium to malfunction for 0.0006 of a milisecond and nearly cost us previous flora."

OFF:

Lieutenant Command Ronald Hawk
Executive Officer
USS Fury

Commander Caoimhe O'Connor
Head of Research
Langley Station

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