In Time Gone By...

~ 2 ~

Sergeant Latt proved to be a worthy investment. And though her old co-workers, including the endlessly bitter Sergeant Cross, were beyond the realms of jealousy, she was a useful asset to the general who was finally able to get a moments rest now that she had taken just a fraction of the workload. 

She pushed open to door to the office with her hip, her arms full with her datapad, various note scraps and a coffee in one hand, making her way to his desk where he sat hunched over something or other. 

He looked up at her for just a moment before she spoke. "Alright...I chased up everyone's reports finally, they just need signing off...they'll be in your inbox, I proofread yours for you and your schedule is fixed now so your meetings with the captain and 'general planning' don't clash: I've sent it to your datapad." 

"Oh, thank you. I didn't even know there was a clash..." he muttered, a little disoriented.

She smiled a little as she placed the notes down beside him. "Yes, sir...And I brought you a coffee, I thought you might need it." 

"Th-thank you...Latt. That's...very kind of you." 

"Is there anything else I can help with while I'm here?" she asked with a smile and bright eyes, pushing away the wisps of hair escaping her bun again. 

"Just read through the agenda for tomorrow, make sure everything's ready for the presentation." 

"Yes, sir." 

She went to sit at her own desk in the corner which, even after only a couple of weeks, was equally as stacked with papers and clutter as the general's, though there was a little more reason to the madness. 

They continued with their respective jobs in a slightly awkward silence. She wondered whether she should try and make some kind of conversation to try and build a better relationship with her boss but...had no idea what to say or where to even start, so stayed quiet. He probably wouldn't appreciate the distraction. 

Latt was perfectly aware of how seriously he took his position, everyone did. It was no secret. She had no intention of disturbing that, in fact, she greatly respected it. Every day she saw it first hand, how ardently he tried to keep the Order, himself, afloat, and to be a part of all of that...well, that was enough. Being his friend wasn't exactly in her job description. 

So, she got on with what she had been asked, sorting through all the materials for the presentation which, though a bit tedious, was better than doing nothing. In fact, she strangely enjoyed it. 

After some time of this silence, he left to oversee some things on the bridge, packing up various notepads and files alongside his datapad alongside the coffee, finally relieving the thick tension. The silence was now more calming than awkward. Still...that didn't last long. 

A trilling knock at the door forced her to look up at the cheeky grin poking around it followed by a mess of dark hair that curled into the girl's eyes. 

"Have you been waiting out there all day for him to leave?" Bailee asked as the officer looked about the room then came bounding over to her desk, leaping onto it beside her. "Your hair's a state again."

The girl rolled her eyes, nosing through some papers. "I wanted to see how you were getting on! Can you blame me?"

"It's going great..." she sang, moving the files away. "It's mostly admin and stuff but-"

"Better than back in operations. It's so much more dull now that you're gone, as if I didn't already want to throw myself out of the airlock every time Captain Jayce opened his mouth, now he's doubling down on the performance quotas."