Wining, Dining and Talking - Part III

Posted on Fri May 30th, 2025 @ 9:13pm by Captain Robert Burke & Lieutenant JG Gianna De Luca

1,614 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: USS Hecate - Gia's Quarters
Timeline: MD032 1830hrs

::ON::

[And now the continuation ...]

Chuckling at the professional slipping through, Burke nodded, 'I have to agree there. It was a much easier decision to make knowing my parents were supportive of it - particularly as I'd never been offworld before. Earth was a distant speck, and without that lifeline back to Titan, the Academy would have been much harder.'

'I can imagine it's much more difficult for a father to let go of his daughter enough for her to go out into the world, nevermind the wider galaxy. I suppose protectiveness is a De Luca family trait?'

Gia nodded quickly, "Yep. That's an understatement. It used to be that my sister or I went to meet a friend that's a guy, there was always a brother or family member not far behind. Kind of made it hard sometimes to just.. be myself, if you get what I mean. It got even worse when I moved out until I snapped at Marco to back off." She remembered that day well: she'd finally had enough of everyone being overprotective, especially Marco, and he'd just laughed at her but promised to back off.

"Lifelines though! Do you regularly keep in contact with your family, or is it a bit more distant now that you're busy with being the Captain of a ship?" Gia asked in earnest as she remembered Burke was, after all, still her CO at the end of the day.

'As often as possible. I've managed to have at least one subspace call with them a week since we set out,' Burke replied, quietly pleased with himself for the effort. Family was important to him. 'After we cross the border, it'll probably be letters sent home via subspace packet, once a week, so it will get more difficult. If you're the same, I'd advise you to have a conversation before we leave orbit tomorrow.'

"It'll be a long and teary conversation with them, I know that for a fact," Gia said, suddenly slightly apprehensive about calling home later on. Her parents wouldn't see her for at least a year or so and the longest they'd ever been apart was two weeks. "But it is what it is, and they'll just have to accept that fact like they did with Nico."

'Like they did with Nico?' Burke asked politely. He sympathized with the long and teary call. Although he had been in Starfleet for a long time, his parents did occasionally struggle when communication would run scarce.

"Yeah," she admitted, "He's the Marine, remember? First time he was about to leave, my mother cried and my father acted like it wasn't a big deal him leaving but he moped around the house for a while afterward." Gia sipped the wine before putting her elbow on back of the lounge and twirled a piece of her hair through her fingers, "It was a weird time for a while, indeed."

'I'm sure it was tough for them, the rest of the family's stuck close by,' Burke said, trying his best not to be distracted by Gia's hair twirling. She was his subordinate after all, no matter how attractive he found her, allowing himself only the admitting of that fact. 'It must have been tough on you as well, no?'

"Of course," Gia admitted with a slow nod, "But is it not tough to leave the nest regardless of where you go? Whether it's moving out, going on a long holiday, joining Starfleet, etcetera?" She wasn't oblivious to the fact either that Burke had focused his attention on what she was doing with her hair. In fact, she found it amusing. Maybe she could try something else and see what his reaction was.

'Sounds like more Counsellor talk,' Burke teased gently, with a wide grin. 'But, yes. Leaving home, never mind your home planet is difficult enough. When it's from a smaller place like Titan to somewhere like Earth, it can be quite disorientating. Moving to a ship was much more manageable in the end.'

Gia laughed and held up a hand in defense, "Okay, that's fair. I made you promise no shop talk, so I'll stick to that too." She gave him a warm and friendly smile as she rested her head against her closed fist and just looked at him with curious eyes, "I'm still getting used to ship life, i must admit though."

'It's a tough transition to shipboard life for some,' Burke admitted. 'I remember on my first assignment, it was to the USS Perth. A small Miranda class ship. It felt cramped, claustrophobic for a while. But I soon got used to it - I'd spend my time off-duty in places with as many viewports or large windows as possible. I was caught out more than once sneaking in to the Briefing Room to be able to look out at space. It had the largest windows on the ship.'

"This is back when you were an Ensign, yes?" She asked as she suddenly wondered what he was like back in his younger years. "I can't picture you breaking the rules like that."

'Way back when I was an Ensign, yes. Twenty years or so,' Burke chuckled. 'It wasn't the biggest rule to break, but they didn't really like the junior officers wandering around upper deck areas too much - the Perth's captain ran a tight ship. But I needed to see something other than a bulkhead every so often. So I broke a minor rule.' He smiled conspiratorially, reflecting that her eyes looked beautiful, 'to let you in on a secret, most Commanding Officers have broken rules like that in their time.'

Gia dropped her mouth open in faux shock and laughed before she set herself upright and moved to cross her legs under her, leaning forward so her elbows were resting on her knees and her hands were clasped in her lap, and she said in an incredulous tone, "I can't look at you the same way now!" The wine had finally started to kick in, clouding her thoughts. "But I won't lie and say I don't appreciate seeing the stars from time to time too..."

He shifted, so he was leaning more against the back of the sofa, arm laid out on the back of it. 'No? Well, I suppose losing some of my authority was worth it,' he chuckled. 'I encourage everyone to use the Observation Lounge as often as possible, no matter their rank. You can't all stay cooped up on the lower decks without a proper outlet. The stars are just ...' he paused trying to think of the words, 'something else,' he finished, a little lamely. 'For someone who didn't see them so long there's still something thrilling to be able to look up and just see them out the window.'

A thought raced through Gia's mind and left as quickly as it came: she hoped she'd be able to share that view with him one time after a shift. Resting her chin onto her hands, she kept looking at him and listening as he spoke, "If we ever get a chance to go back to Sol, then you need to see Brooklyn. There aren't any stars there either due to the light and air pollution. I hope being on board will be different though."

'Brooklyn? Now that's definitely a place I've not visited before,' Burke replied. He was curious as to why she'd mentioned it, but put it down to friendliness. 'I suppose that there's a lot of good food, good culture and the like to be seen there?' He added coyly, 'I might need a guide to show me the best places though.'

Gia gave him a raised brow in response, "Sorry, I should've clarified where Brooklyn is for you. It's on the opposite side of the country to where San Francisco and Starfleet Academy is, and is a suburb of a city called New York. It's where I'm from." She relaxed back to a smile, "I'd be happy to show you the best coffee shops and pizza places, no problem at all."

'Seeing as you grew up there, you must be quite the expert on all the best sights to see,' Burke said, a little flutter of excitement rising in his stomach. Perhaps she was interested in him after all. He let the thought pass, and reminded himself he was still her commanding officer. 'Pizza is always great - there was this place just a few streets away from the Academy. It was cheap, cheerful, and I swear the slices were as long as my forearm.'

"Oh, I'd believe that!" Gia responded enthusiastically with a nod, "Doesn't quite compare to New York or the local pizzeria down the road from my parents place, but I quite like San Fran pizza, something about the base is different." There they were again, talking about food. "I do have to ask though, what did you think of dinner?" She was highly curious to know the answer.

'What did I think?' Burke asked, incredulous. 'it was one of the best Bolognese I've had in a long time. Cooked to perfection, sauce thick, and not too sweet. And your garlic bread is to die for. When I cook for you - if you want me to cook for you, that is - I'll have to up my game significantly.'

[To be continued ...]

::OFF::

Captain Robert Burke
Commanding Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant (JG) Gianna De Luca
Chief Counsellor
USS Hecate

 

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