Sunday Snippet: Powering Down

Still battling the generalized blah left over from the flu. The good news is that I got lots of sleep with naps and getting to bed earlier. The bad news is I'm behind on work projects but I should be able to make up my lost time this week. Fingers crossed anyway.

Had a decent week with television. I caught two episodes of Chicago Med and the second one made me sad. It's kind of the first time I've been hit a little sideways by one of the plot lines.

Enjoyed a holiday episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries. I always find it cool to see how the holidays look in the middle of summer for shows set in New Zealand and Australia. Also started the fourth season of the show and, once again, I love seeing recurring characters pop up when I least expect them.

Caught the second part of Silent Witness and actually enjoyed how it ended. It's another one I'd forgotten.

Watched another arc of Classic Who. I'll be honest, Teegan rather annoys me but I think the character will end up growing on me. I do like Five a lot.

UFO Conspiracies had an interesting episode focused on fireballs. I enjoy seeing how other countries handle sightings.

Caught two episodes of The Muppet Show. Elke Sommer and Sylvester Stallone were the guest stars. I enjoyed the Stallone episode more than I thought I would.

Skated through the season two finale of Prime Suspect. I'd forgotten how awkward and messy that episode ended up being.

Watched the season four finale of Peak Practice. I'm getting into the new partners and I'm glad Andrew is sticking around. Looking forward to starting season five.

Caught another Master Class with LeVar Burton. He talked about podcasting during this lesson and I have an interest in starting one at some point. I got some great information about how to approach the idea.

Enjoyed another episode of Inside the Episodes: The Witcher. Episode ended up being one of my favorites and I loved the behind the scenes insight.

Watched London Live: Jennifer Hudson. I think I like Berlin Live better, but I enjoyed the music from Jennifer.

Caught some New Rugrats episode shorts and a special cast episode. Oddly, there was some footage from episodes I haven't seen yet so I'm hoping that means new ones are on the way at some point. I'll be starting a rewatch of the classic show in the next week.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Powering Down, a sexy short that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

A little enforced downtime leads to a small power struggle between Nicia Bowen and Jett Vanatta. Nicia isn't thrilled when Jett picks someone else to be his second in command, but once Jett explains his reason—they're too close—she can't argue the point. Instead she decides to accept his excuse and get even more personally involved.

And a sneaky peek…

The sound of ball bearings tumbling and the rattle of the autolock disengaging woke Jett from a light sleep. He sat slumped against the wall with Nicia's head in his lap. She jerked awake, blinking to clear her vision.

Yawning, she sat up slowly. "All good things get ruined." Her gaze met Jett's. "Referring to the nap, to be clear."

His lips twitched. "Good to know." He got to his feet just when the hatch slid open.

Karmony entered. "You two good?" She planted her hands on her hips. "Sorry about the outage. Engineering had a couple of glitches to work through."

Jett quirked a brow. "Did they solve them?" If not, he'd have to issue some off-limits areas.

The XO gave a nod. "For now, yes. I ordered them to give a six-hour notice if they needed to do additional work." She strolled further into the training area. "At least we know the backups work. You had illumination?"

Nicia answered. "Emergency lighting only. But water recycling remained intact." Her words lacked any kind of heat.

Slade shifted her gaze to the CAG. "Good to know." Her arm swept toward the hatch. "We should be back to normal."

Jett lifted his chin. "Good. You'll forward the after-action report?" He reached down to grab his bag.

Karmony turned toward the hatch. "Yes, sir. By shift end." She paused by the threshold, a smirk on her face. "So, you two finally got your shit together, then?"

Nicia narrowed her gaze, but kept her mouth shut.

Slade laughed. "About damned time. I thought it would take at least two more power outages before you'd finally cave." She strolled into the corridor. "It's good to be wrong."

Jett shot Nicia a sideways glance. "You don't think—" He took off toward the open hatch. "Karmony? Get your ass back here."

She responded to his order with laughter.

Nicia moved to stand by his side. "You want the good news or the bad news?"

Jett frowned. "The good." He might have to carefully go over the after-action report for discrepancies.

Nicia grinned. "She's not half bad."

Jett quirked an eyebrow. "And the bad?"

Nicia's lips twitched. "I'm starting to like her."

Jeff blinked and shook his head. "Oh, no. No, no, no. You will not start hanging out with my XO and teaching her your bad habits. Uh-uh." From one headache-inducing scenario to another.

Nicia gave him a wide grin. "Guess you'll just have to keep me busy, won't you?" She turned and dashed out into the corridor. "Hey, Karmony! Hold up."

Jett grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back into the empty training room. "Forget that. I'm giving you an assignment. You need to think of a way to top what happened here." He cocked his head. "Say by end of watch tonight?"

Nicia grinned. "Challenge accepted." She glanced over her shoulder. "Don't let your imagination go into overdrive." With a low, throaty laugh, she wandered out the door.

Jett huffed out a breath. "As if my imagination could top anything she'll come up with."

I'm having a good time writing Jett and Nicia. Karmony is a hoot and I love her acting as a foil to Nicia.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye