A Quiet Drink With The Bestie

Posted on Sun Jan 27th, 2019 @ 7:30pm by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi

Mission: Section 31-B
Location: USS Hera, Deck 10, Ten-Forward
Timeline: 2396

Thex was still a little confused from her appointment at the doctor's, but was feeling good about it. If everything was okay then she didn't have to worry about having lost twenty years off her life. Now she needed a good drink.

Stepping into ten forward she let out a smile at the sight of Rita sitting at the bar. Walking over she slid onto the barstool next to her. " Hello, Rita. Find anything good amongst the Orion cargo?"

"Spices, apparently all used in brewing exotic alcohols of the galaxy. Aldeberran fire gems encased in a lucite coating invisible to sensors but causes them to appear considerably larger, ergo more valuable." Rita teased as she took a long sip of her dirty martini. "A lot, and I mean a LOT of Orion clothing and junk jewelry. I haven't recycled any of it, and you and whatever dance troupe you've started with your engineers- don't look at me like that, I know what's going on. All of you get dibs. There is a lot of crap, a few holdout weapons and a surprising amount of fragrant dirty laundry, which I assume is to keep the pheromones pumping. So descend upon it like bandits. Oh, and a lot of their hair care products. Looked like they were part of a pyramid marketing scheme, science says it's all clear."

"So that's my good news for you. Whatcha got for me?" Rita fished out the plastic cocktail sword with the three olives speared through it as she preferred, and pointed it comically at her sapphire-skinned bestie.

" Well according to Asa she's found a way to fix my life problem. Hasn't told me how she fixed, but I'll take her word at it. Looks like I dodged a bullet there. " The Andorian girl replied as she ordered an Andorian ale before turning back to Rita with a grin on her face. " Oh and most of the girls who've asked for lessons are from the flight department."

"Really? Go fly girls. Squad name, nailed it. Well, make a senior officer decision, because you literally have enough of this stuff to start your own boutique, which I think was the idea. You've got lots of storage space as well. No cultural artifacts, no reason to lug it through space so keep what you want and the rest goes to matter reclamation," Rita explained, then plucked off an olive with her teeth off the plastic sword in her fingers. Taking a spin around in her chair, she looked around for the security officer on duty at the door, who wasn't at his post. She wasn't even sure she knew where he was in the room, she realized.

"Sexton was a psychopath, the security officers I took with me were amateurs and he's facing charges... French resigned to help him with his case, so Herself has put me in command of Security and Tactical. So hey, I have an excuse to wear gold again," Paris grinned, then picked up her drink for another sip of the delicious yet harmless synthehol.

The news shocked Thex, she hadn't heard anything about French resigning. " Sorry to hear that. I mean on the being sent in with amateurs bit. I know you love your gold uniforms. " The andorian replied taking a sip of her own drink. " Breaking out the old gold mini skirt again?"

"What can I say? It advertises my fish out of water status. I like gold better, I'm old-fashioned and stubborn. It's unique, and it marks me as an anachronism, which I think is not the worst of ideas given my lack of technical proficiency in this day and age," Paris rattled off the reasons why she was switching back, but they were all rationalizations for her just being more comfortable in her old uniform.

"As for the sec/tac boys, the EVA armor is quipped with a full tricorder suite, that projects in the visor as well as the helmet interior. They literally weren't using the heads up displays, the sensors... nothing. It's like they weren't aware of the suit's capacity. So yes, I will definitely be training them and whipping them into shape, because apparently the department fell apart while I was trusting French and Sexton's reports. So looks like I get to go back to my first love, blowing things up with phasers and torpedoes." Nibbling another olive off the cocktail sword, Rita munched for a moment before changing course.

"How's things with the nurse? Still going well, still hunting the third and fourth of your quad?"

" Yup me and Tathaa are still looking for a few more andorians. " The andorian said a she took a drink. " We've also been looking at other ways we could get a few kids. Things is artificial insemination is harder for andorians then it is for humans. " She said glumly.

"Your reproduction is complex, that's for darn sure. I thought you weren't in a hurry to breed, you were just looking not to be lonely anymore?" Rita asked frankly.

" It's just pillow talk with one of my quad. It's an andorian thing due to the pheromones and psychic link we have. I love her Rita, I really do." the andorian said taking another drink before turning to look at her human best friend. " In fact, I'm going to ask her to make it official and do the first part of our peoples marriage ceremony. Would you be willing to be my witness? " She said nervously.

"A witness to your happiness? How could I not. You were my maid of honor, how could I do any less for you? Oh Thex, congratulations!" Some might counsel that it was too soon, they they didn't know one another well enough to make such a commitment. But Rita had known by the third meeting that Sonakl fascinated her and she wanted to know him better. By their fifth meeting, she had resolved to sleep with him, and once she'd done that, she knew she was in love, and had never looked back. If Thex had found the right gal for her, Rita Paris was on board.

"So, what does that entail? Do I need to throw you a bachelorette party or is there an ice fishing challenge or very cold swimming involved?" Rita half-wisecracked, as for all she knew of Andorian rituals, they might involve all three.

" Nothing like that Rita. You'll be happy to find it barely has any ice in it. On the day I'll need you to state that the love I hold for Tathaa is true and hand me locket called a Shapla. Then you'll need to cut a lock of my hair and hand it to me." Thex said with a grin on her face.

"That I can do, and I'm flattered to be a part of your ceremony, Thex. Thank you for the honor- say the time and the place and I'll be there with shears in one hand and a shapla in the other." Rita raised her glass to toast. "Here's to your happiness, my friend. May one become two, then two become four, so that four may produce one."

" Or more than one if we're lucky. " The andorian said raising her own glass. It only then did she notice something very wrong with the scene behind them. Mainly the large wet black horse with red eyes which was standing right behind them a large woven bag in it's mouth. " Um, that wasn't there before was it?" She said as other in the bar began to notice the large mammalian animal that had apparently just appeared from thin air.

"Nope, that's new," Paris replied as she produced a cylinder from inside her top, which then snapped it open to reveal itself as a collapsible PaDD. Checking the roster, she tapped her badge. "Commander Paris to Security Officer Burnside, report to your post."

Meanwhile she rose from her seat to take charge of the situation. Inspecting the hooved mammal, Paris cautiously looked for clues as to why it had appeared suddenly. She had experience with terrestrial horses, but those didn't just appear in 10-Forward. "So what have we here...?

The beast tilted it's head as it examined the two women before letting out a gargled neighing as it dropped the bag before turning and before the whole bars eyes appeared to turn to water and fade into nothingness. " Okay, that was not normal," Thex said as she slid off her chair and walked to the replicator. A few seconds protective gloves and a bag had appeared as she approached the bag. " You think that was a Kelpie? " She said as she moved over to the bag.

"A what now...?" Paris muttered, alerting Science to analyze the sensor logs of what had just happened in 10-Forward as Security Officer Burnside arrived.

"You wanted to see me ma'am? You're Commander Paris, right?" Burnside appeared to be a bit out of breath.

"What was your first clue, the uniform from a museum or the three pips on the collar, crewman. Why were you not at your post?" Paris looked the somewhat doughy young Tellurite in the eye, as she had a few centimeters of height on him.

"I was..." he started to say, then read the hardening in the eagle-eyed executive's expression and changed his mind. "The reclamator, I was, I had to go to the reclamator, ma'am. Commander. Sir."

"Commander or ma'am will do, Mister Burnside. What if I were to tell you that an intruder just appeared in this room within a meter of the first and second officers, dropped off a package of unknown composition or capability, then turned to water, splashed apart and disappeared. Would you say that might constitute a security alert? Should a team be scouring this area, bot in person and using the scanners of the mighty starship on which we serve, logs be searched and reviewed, reports filed, officers in the chain of command to be alerted. As a security professional, is that your porofessional opinion of what should be happening right now?"

The young man, who had followed along with the surprisingly intense conversation, making mental notes as she went along got the opportunity to speak, he nodded. "Yes, yes ma'am, I'm, I'll..."

"You were in the reclamator. Not at your post. Not relieved by another security personnel, because there is only one of you assigned here, which is one thing in this scenario for which you are not at fault. That whole not at you5r post thing- this is an easy duty, isn't it? You eat chicken wings, hang out in the lounge all shift and get to know everybody. And that's good. I'm glad. It sounds like an idyllic assignment. Tomorrow there are going to be three of you. Because if trouble does break out in here, I need more that one sailor in the can on duty. Because when we call for security, as a crew, we really do expect Security to show up and handle it."

"So the next time something like this happens in 10-Forward- because this is Starfleet and things like this happen- I expect a much better showing, Mister Burnside. Am I understood?" Never once had she raised her voice, maintaining a quiet private conversational tone for the stiff upper lipped dressing down she'd just delivered to the security officer on duty. It continued to demonstrate that the Sec/Tac department definitely warranted her attention.

At a curt nod from the Tellurite crewman, Rita turned her attention back to Thex, who'd had some time for analysis now. "So what mystical shenanigans are being played out in 10-Forward this afternoon, Miss sh'Zoarhi?"

" Well...." The andorian said as she placed the bag in the protective case only to find a rather soggy letter attached to it. Reading it the andorians blue eyes read the parchment.

Caraidean tha mi a 'toirt taing dhut airson na rudan agam a thilleadh. Tha mi a 'toirt dhut an tiodhlac seo mar chomharra air mo thaing agus mo charaidean. Tha fios agad gu bheil cuideigin agad ann an Nassania. The note read, which Thex began typing in the scanner to translate.

" Friends, I thank you for the return of my artifacts. I give you this gift as a sign of my thanks and friendship. Know that you have an ally in Nassania." Thex said, reading the translation. " Looks like the ginger girl we encountered was telling the truth. Her sister has sent a gift."

"I feel like there is a joke about looking gift horses in the mouth that belongs here, but I'm just not getting there," Paris admitted. "So what is the gift we've been sent by... Nassania?" Paris typed it into her PaDD to have that translate as Nassania is a Celtic goddess worshiped on Earth in Gaul, in what is now Belgium. She may have been a river goddess. Myth Unknown.

Carefully open the bag inside the protective container the andorian was puzzled as what appeared to be two pieces of what appeared to be fish scales and two jewels fell into the protective bag. " No idea, but I'd like to get it down to engineering for testing."

"Back on the clock, Chief," Paris grabbed the last olive off the cocktail sword, tossed down the rest of her martini and tapped her comm badge. "I need a security detain in 10-Forward to escort Lieutenant Commander sh'Zoarhi to Engineering with a potentially dangerous sample."

"See? This is why we never just grab a nice quiet drink together anymore," Rita laughed, clapping her friend on the shoulder. "It's always something, right?"

" Indeed. I think the universe must like us..." Thex said as she stood up and began to make her way to engineering.