The View over the Bay (Em and Seleyia)//Closed
(for @221b-enterprise-fan)
December 2158 Starfleet Command Fort Baker, California
Fresh off the shuttle ride from Maine, messenger bag slung across her chest and travel mug grasped firmly in hand, Emily hustled up the steps to the Command campus’s centermost, domelike building. Out from the bright winter morning and into the interior lighting, Em gave a quiet thanks to the gods for a short security checkpoint queue. A handprint, a courteous nod with the MACO sentry, and she was through.
It promised to be a full schedule today, with two meetings at the Unified Combatant Command and another round of eyes-only briefing with Admiral Santiago and Admiral Black, but an hour and a half remained until it all began. There was time to pause and catch her breath. And with the travel mug so light in her hands, there was only one thing for it:
Coffee.
Em squared her shoulders, took a steadying breath, and made for the ground-level observation lounge, passing again from interior lighting into the brilliant daylight that streamed through the lounge’s magnificent, curving, floor-to-ceiling transparent aluminum wall. From here, she could see in an immense arc, from the Golden Gate’s red arches to the right, to San Francisco’s towers and spires ahead, to Alcatraz and the further lights of Oakland. Starfleeters and MACOs sat in sofas or at long, rectangular tables, reviewing files, sipping at coffee, or talking in quiet tones. It’d always been the perfect place for her to pause amidst those big meetings that, at least these days, seemed to decide the Fate of the Universe.
She made for the protein sequencers first. Then with travel mug full to the brim, she found an empty seat at the end of an unoccupied table, and settled in. Before long, her PADD was out, earbuds slipped in, and she was reading frontline after-action reports to the accompaniment of 21st century punk. Perhaps she’d clear through a good amount before the meetings began.
