Reed had spent the better part of the evening standing in the observation area over the transport bay looking out the windows. Below, personnel ran around to make fixes or prepare the Cormus class ships to take Blackwatch teams out to destinations very few would be aware of. Hopefully they would all make it back.

Ever since he’d signed his agreement, there was something in the back of his mind he couldn't shake. After a few conversations with Jessica, including a rather rigorous combat drill in the training holodecks after dinner, he was appreciating the peace and quiet at the moment. Still, part of him longed for answers and was desperately trying to find i just about anywhere he could.

Dressed in a pair of dark comfortable lounge pants and a grey long sleeve shirt, the top couple buttons open on it, he leaned forward against the window to see a little better down below.

Though Oksana generally preferred the escape of solitude, her new rank and position demanded a more public, available face in her off hours considering how difficult she could be to reach while she was secluded in her office and actively working – which was often. Instead of returning to her quarters immediately after a late dinner, she decided to make her way down to the transport bay to have a look at the Cormus class ships. She would have a proper up close look at them once all of their preparations were complete, but curiosity at least demanded a glance.

She walked up to the window and saw Nitro standing there as well, but she wasn’t inclined to disturb him so gave him room while she peered down at the ships below. She was out of uniform dressed in a deep navy cowl top that dipped not too low, but just low enough to entice; it was made of what looked like some sort of silk material, and the long sleeves covered her arms. Comfortable, form fitting black pants complimented the shirt, and the look was finished with a simple gold chain around her wrist. Her hair was down, and her blue eyes were intensely focused on what she was looking at below.

Reed had certainly made a habit of being aware of his surroundings. It was evident he was no longer alone when he saw her figure out the corner of his eye. The sleeves at first got his attention, then her figure. For a split second he wondered who she was. Then, quickly the man realized it was Oksana. She was beautiful. Part of him couldn’t figure out how he’d missed that before, but then again at times their uniforms weren’t exactly flattering.

Being in a mood of sorts the last few days, not quite brooding but just enough for him to lose his edge, he knew he needed to find a way to address it, and fast. Their first mission wasn’t going to wait for him to magically decide that he felt better about the situation. There was also a curiosity as to why she was down there so late.

He walked over and leaned against the railing right beside her “Evening, Lieutenant. You’re dressed nice for being out so late. Did you just come from dinner?” It was an honest curiosity, a line attempting to both compliment and be interrogative all the same.

Oksana smiled genuinely at the compliment, turning her body toward him to show he had her attention. Her sharp blue eyes took in his face; she saw the signs there, but wouldn’t press. “I did, yes. Well, sort of, I suppose. I had dinner and I took a walk around part of the ship just to familiarize myself with her more. I decided I’d come down here and have a look at the transports before I went back to my quarters.”

“Sometimes it’s good to get out, I would imagine it can be tough at times in your line of work.” Their line of work now, it would seem. For Blackwatch anyways…. “I had dinner a bit ago myself and more or less just found my way over here instead. I’ve been running a lot of drills and when we get the call, I’ll be more than ready. I should be able to blow a hole in just about anything needed, without losing any fingers.” The words he spoke gave indication of lightheartedness, but with something hidden deeper and more so behind everything, an attempt to hide something else if you will. How well of a job he was doing at it, he couldn’t tell. But he doubted it snuck past the woman next to him remotely.

She listened intently, and those piercing eyes seemed to go right through his evasiveness. She offered a nod at his words, but then her head shifted just slightly, her hair tumbling over her shoulder. “Being confident in what you bring to the team is very important, but how are you feeling about everything overall?”

“I’m happy to be here and part of all of this. Those transports are quite something to look at, I mean knowing what all their capabilities are. But if I may be honest about something, this is the first time in Star Fleet I’ve struggled with taking on an assignment. I understand the impact we have, at least as well as I can. There’s just something in the back of my mind working to comprehend the possibility of just disappearing from everything, like I never existed” Reed said.

Those were doubts she was familiar with; she was a number of years from the fresh feeling of them, but she still remembered them perfectly. She considered what to say and leaned slightly against the railing. “What made you want to join Blackwatch?”

“Well” he began “Let’s start with the obvious. I like to blow shit up. It’s not like you get much of an opportunity to do that to begin with, and to have it matter much aside from clearing debris or being on a salvage operation. I wanted to be somewhere that utilized the full experience of my career to this point, the understanding, precision, and patience that I’ve learned. A cool, calm precision in play that, no offense towards you, gets shut down by some damned junior officer that doesn’t know their head from their ass, and decides they are going to stop me from completing my job because they don’t want to look bad on an operational readiness report.” He found it ironic in his complaints to someone younger than himself, but he also considered her level of experience, and it was truthfully the only reason he respected her. Sure, her rank held weight, and being Second Officer, but over time that meant less and less to him. “I want to be part of something that isn’t the day to day monotony of yes sir, no sir, thank you sir, while you eat a shit sandwich."