The Replacement

Posted on Thu Jul 18th, 2013 @ 8:49am by Lieutenant Raymond Benson & Lieutenant Bajun Julisa & Senior Chief Petty Officer Chelsea May

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: JAG Offices

* * * JAG Offices * * *

“Well it’s about fucking time!”

Ray’s hand rested on the panel where he’d just ended the transmission from Li. His breath caught as he double-checked to make sure the channel had closed before his outburst. Seeing he was safe, he released his breath and smiled.

“Good thing she isn’t in an office nearby,” Chelsea said, smirking at him from the doorway. “What’s about fucking time?”

“Biro’s replacement!” Ray looked positively gleeful now. “Out with the trash and in with....” He stopped and rolled his eyes. “Someone. I closed the channel before she had a chance to tell me who the guy is or what he’s like. Oh well, such is life. We’ll see soon enough.”

“Indeed we will. Let’s hope he isn’t fresh out of law school. Did Hawke at least tell you that much?”

Ray nodded. “Jag Corps down at the ass end of space near the Gorn and Tholians. I wonder who they pissed off to draw that one?”

Chelsea’s face fell, as did her spirits. Already, she was imagining an attorney with a foul mouth and poor social skills... wait, that would be Ray himself. “Oh, lovely,” she muttered, a decided lack of enthusiasm coloring her words, “Can’t wait to meet him. How soon does he arrive?”

“Today, actually. Nothing like a little advance notice. Very little,” he muttered. “At least you won’t have Ivor drooling all over you as if you were a bell and he was one of Pavlov’s dogs. Though the dog analogy is fitting. Speaking of which, are you through with his court martial documentation?”

Staring at him a moment, she furrowed her brow and finally asked, “The dog analogy is fitting? You calling me a dog?”

He raised an eyebrow at Chelsea. “Seriously? Would I do that to you? Notice I said he was one of the dogs. I hope he’s enjoying prison. A pity he’s not sharing a cell with Suresh. I’d pay other people’s money to see that.”

“Uh-huh. Well, and yes, I’m done with the documentation. Didn’t take much, once I knew where to look and who to ask.” She had remained in the doorway during their conversation and now startled as someone cleared her throat behind her. Turning, she saw a brunette female, neatly dressed in uniform, the rank of Lieutenant on her collar.

“Excuse me, I am here to see Lieutenant Ray Benson,” the woman said, coolly assessing Chelsea.

“This is his office!” She smiled and made way for the woman to enter the office.

With a slight frown, the woman patronizingly said, “I already knew that.” She stepped past Chelsea (who gave the woman’s back a jeering grimace) and addressed Ray, “Lieutenant Benson, I am Lieutenant Bajun Julisa, the station’s new JAG Officer.”

“That was fast,” Ray answered. “Please have a seat Lieutenant. When Captain Hawke said you’d be here soon, she wasn’t kidding.” He shot a glance to Chelsea, then looked back to Julisa with a quick smile. “Welcome to 900.”

“Thank you,” Julisa didn’t return his smile; it wasn’t in her nature to do so. “My assistant is setting our workspace so that we can get right to work.”

Behind Julisa, Chelsea straightened up, a look of shocked anger on her face. She glared at the back of the woman’s head then at Ray. “What workspace? Who said she could do that?”

Barely acknowledging Chelsea, the attorney answered, “We checked the schematics from Engineering and reasoned that we would have Biro’s former space.”

“Likely, but that is my call, meaning checking in first would have been advisable.” Ray looked Julisa up and down for a moment. “Monique should have removed all of Biro’s things, but if you find anything, just let her know.” He leaned forward a bit over his desk. “And let’s make one thing clear. This is my department, so what you may need done or changed, goes through me.”

“Duly noted, Lieutenant.” She slightly bowed her head towards him while keeping her eyes on him. “Next time, I’ll be certain to go through you first.” Her words were careful and clipped; a thinly-veiled verbal challenge to Ray’s authority.

“Then we’ll get along just fine. There’s several cases waiting once you get into the computer system, which Chelsea,” he nodded to Chelsea who still stood in the doorway, “will assist with. After you’ve gotten settled into your quarters that is.”

As Julisa turned to look at her, Chelsea shifted her expression from a snarl to a smile and nodded. “Plenty for you to do, Lieutenant.”

“I look forward to it. Good to meet you both. Chelsea, please see that Siri has what she needs,” Julisa stood as she spoke. “Lieutenant, I trust that you will notify me if there are any meetings I should take part in?” She was used to being an ‘independent agent’, out traveling between far-flung colonies and outposts, setting her own schedule. The idea of daily or even weekly office meetings made her cringe. So did the idea of being tied to a particular schedule or shift. Her solution for that: she wasn’t about to ask what shift or hours she needed to work.

As if reading her mind, Ray smiled and spoke again. “I’m not a stickler for shifts and all that. If your work gets done, I don’t care when you do it, as long as it’s in on time. The other thing I insist upon is that when I call, you answer. I won’t take advantage of that, rest assured, but when it’s a case of ‘have to’ I will. Why don’t you check out your quarters, make sure your things are there and then I’ll give you the grand tour later today?”

Answer when he called? Julisa's left brow rose slightly; if this man thought she'd be at his beck and call... that would be something she'd disabuse him of when - if - he attempted that. "The grand tour sounds fine. I'll be back in a bit, then." She started for the door.

“I’ll see you soon. And welcome once again.” He watched Julisa go, deciding to answer any questions she might have later. Once she was gone and the doors to the outer office closed, he looked up to Chelsea. “Well?”

Chelsea was stunned and blurted out, “How the hell did Hawke find a female you?”

Amusement lit Ray’s eyes. “Well, the law of averages would hold that she had a fifty-fifty chance. Assuming you didn’t include Andorians.”

Convinced that he’d misunderstood her, she shook her head and let him remain that way. “I’m going to go find this ‘Siri’ and have a talk with her,” she said, knowing that, often, the only one who could handle an attorney was the attorney’s assistant. Hopefully Siri was that sort of assistant. “Holler if you need me.”

“Oh I will. In fact, I foresee quite a bit of ‘hollering’ in our future. Want to go with us tonight? Get to know our new staffer?”

“Go? Where? And yes.”

“We’ll be taking Lt. Bajun on a tour of the station. Getting to know her, that sort of thing.” Ray shrugged. “Perhaps play referee?” His smile returned. He was going to enjoy her, he suspected. A nice change from that slimeball Biro.

Oh, she could see that causing a very large headache for her. “Uh... no, then. I am not playing referee! If Siri goes, then we’ll see.” At least then the odds might be a little bit better in her favor. “You’ll check in with me before you go,” she told him then fluttered her fingers at him and left his office to search out Bajun’s assistant.

“Women,” Ray muttered, then opened a channel to Li.

***************
Lt. Raymond Benson
Who Has A Tiger By The Tail

Lt. Bajun Julisa
The Tiger

Chelsea
Looking for a Cage