Number Two
Posted on Mon Mar 2nd, 2026 @ 5:52pm by Lieutenant JG Maël "Gideon" Beauregard & Ensign Clementine "Clemmie" Vidamour & Lieutenant Juno Jones
1,017 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Auxiliary Conference Room, Deck 10
Timeline: MD036 (Prior to "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner")
Maël "Gideon" Beauregard clapped his palms together, and it was a sound sharp enough to rattle the chatter that had swelled toward the end of the staff meeting. A dozen gold-collared uniforms shifted in their seats, some smiling, some already in the midst of rising to leave and murmuring.
"Well," he said, voice warm and carrying that slow Gulf Coast drawl, "I reckon I've taken up enough of y'all's morning. Go on--get back to work before somebody figures out I don't know what I'm doin' yet."
A ripple of laughter rolled through the room, the kind of laughter that loosens shoulders. Gideon grinned back at them, shaking his head as though they'd caught him in the act. He dismissed the room with a wave, already bending over the duty assignments on his PADD when a shadow slid across the table.
She couldn't have been taller than Gideon's shoulder, pale and compact, with a face carved like it had been meant for laughter and mischief. Brown ringlets bounced against her cheeks when she moved. Those hazel eyes of hers--gold shot through the green--studied him as though she were waiting to see which kind of fool he might turn out to be.
"Mind if I pluck that from you?" she asked, her little chin lifting toward the PADD. The woman's voice was lilting, musical, touched with something foreign and saltwatery, reminiscent of tidepools and the cries of seagulls.
Gideon blinked. "Oh--no, ma'am. That's my job, gatherin' these up."
She quirked her lips. "Not this time it isn't. That's mine. Assistant chief's duty."
He frowned down at the PADD, thumb swiping across the roster. "Assistant chief?" His eyes caught on a name. "C'Vidamour..."
Her finger tapped the screen. "Not C'Vidamour. C. Vidamour. Clemmie. Short for Clementine."
"Clementine," he echoed, their voices catching on the name at the same time, and for a moment it felt rehearsed, like a line they'd practiced together. His grin came very easy.
He offered his hand. She slid hers into it--small, cool, alive.
"So you're my number two?" he said.
Her brows rose, eyes narrowing with sudden, theatrical skepticism.
"I mean--my second-in-command," Gideon stammered, heat crawling up the back of his neck. "Not--uh--not that other thing--"
She laughed, light and bubbling. "Steady on, Lieutenant. I knew what you meant."
"Didn't see you in the meeting," he managed, still red at the ears.
"That's because one of us has to sit bridge duty when the other's holding a meeting. Regulation three-one-four-point-five, subsection B." She recited it like it was catechism. "Meeting minutes are to be provided to the assistant chief prior, or at worst, immediately after."
Gideon's eyes went wide. He hadn't even thought about that regulation since reading it at the Academy. "Right. Yeah. Well, uh--I'll have 'em to you by the end of the day."
Her mouth curved, not unkind. "No rush. It appeared to be more like introductions than a meeting anyhow."
He found himself watching her longer than he should have. Something about the way she tilted her head, the ringlets slipping forward--so timeless, he thought, like she could've walked straight out of another century. And she was smiling at him like she already knew the next dumb thing he was bound to say.
"Well, Ms. Vidamour," he said, clearing his throat, "I got another meetin' to be at--" He backed toward the door, fumbling his words. "Still plenty of folks I gotta meet, you know, learn the lay of the land--"
He hit the corner of a chair with his knee. Winced. Kept talking. "Can't be sittin' around makin' you do all the work. Gotta, uh--gotta meet everybody--"
A plant caught his elbow, leaving trembling.
"Lieutenant," she said, soft enough to halt him in a mid-stumble. Her hand inched toward the PADD still in his grip. "The duty roster?"
"Oh. Lord." He passed it over, keeping the second PADD tucked close to his stomach like it was some secret journal. "Nice meetin' you, Clementine--Clemmie. I mean. Pleasure."
He bobbed his head, then once more, retreating through the door into the corridor with a string of awkward goodbyes, each one thinner and more ridiculous than the last.
By the time he'd put space between the conference room, his ears were hot. He muttered under his breath. "Smooth as sandpaper, Beauregard. Real damn smooth."
He increased his stride, trying to outpace his own embarrassment. Engineering was waiting and so was a Lieutenant Jones.
Gideon blew out his cheeks as he stepped off the turbolift--he had too much energy, waving the data PADD in his hand like a fan against his face. The doors to Main Engineering parted and the young man from Plaquemines Parish strode through.
"Lookin' for a Lieutenant Jones," he called out. "I've some... antimatter flow calibrator logs." He squinted at the PADD, hoping it was actually what he was carrying.
Juno had heard their name and popped up like a prairie creature. "Looking for me, Lieutenant?" replied Lieutenant Jones cocking their head slightly and proceeding over towards Gideon with curiosity fueling their strut across main engineering.
"Something that I should be made aware of?" asked Juno. They were Chief Engineer and of course antimatter flow calibration was of significant importance.
"Maybe," Gideon said, the smell of ionized metal causing his nose to crinkle at the bridge. "Maybe somethin' that'll tell you 'bout a kink in the lines." He tapped the data PADD, his fingers making a dull click against it. "Flow ain't what it should be, I think. Somethin' shunting power--it came up on a diagnostic." He handed the PADD over to Jones.
Juno looked at the PADD and shook their head. "These diagnostics are sprouting problem after problem. I have been chasing gremlins for while. These small fires are everywhere."
"Well," Gideon said, his Gulf Coast lilt softening the sharper edges of his words. "Reckon I can lend a hand if you need it, Lieutenant."
Lieutenant Juno Jones
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Hecate
Lieutenant JG Maël "Gideon" Beauregard
Chief Operations Officer
USS Hecate
Ensign Clementine "Clemmie" Vidamour
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Hecate
RSS Feed