Pre-Launch Party 6

Posted on Sat Feb 17th, 2024 @ 4:31am by Captain Remy Johansen & Ensign Charlotte Dawes & Lieutenant JG Thivi & Ensign Cha'joga d/o H'gren

2,133 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Menagerie: side stories & mischief making
Location: Ten Forward
Timeline: The Night Before Launch, After Part 5

[> > > From Part 5 > > >]

Charlotte Dawes, a slender blonde in her early 20's wearing a black and white dress with her hair swept up off her face cut Fletcher off before he could get too far from his friend. "You're just going to leave your friend like that?" she asked. Despite her approach, she didn't come off as confrontational, her demeanor too sweet.

He turned to take a look at her, pausing a moment to appreciate her beauty before responding "Grexx? He'll be fine. Sometimes he just needs a little coaxing but he's one of the most resourceful guys I've ever met. Now me on the other hand, I need some help once in a while. Help that only a beautiful young lady such as yourself can provide. "I'm Cormus and I saved a spot just for you."

Charlotte laughed, "Well, I'm Charlotte, though my friends call me Charlie. And my experience as an ER nurse tells me different when it comes to who can handle themselves when things get frisky with a Klingon partner." Charlotte shook her head. "I can't imagine you are in any more trouble than he might be by the end of the night, but what do you think I could possibly help with?"

"Well then having such an eye would tell you that I need all the help I can get. He can handle the Klingon, I've seen Grexx handle worse. I'm sure being an ER nurse you know find yourself where you're needed the most, which is obviously right here next to me. Besides it would be extremely impolite of me to let you sit down alone. What'll you have to drink?" Cormus flashed a charming smile and gave a side nod towards the bar tender.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes a bit at the forwardness of the guy who was coming on to her. "Vodka lemonade," she said, though suspicion played in her voice just a bit. "And have you been drinking a lot tonight Cormus?"

He shook his head "This is my first drink. Honest. I figured we could share some good conversation together tonight. I've certainly been in dire need of that since coming on board." He looked over at the bartender whom had heard Charlotte's reply "Coming right up" and looked back over at her. "My parents raised me to be quite a gentleman. I grew up in South America on Earth. What about you?"

"Mm, Starfleet brat," Charlotte said taking the drink from the bartender. "A little of everywhere, on Starships a lot. During the war I lived with my grandparents in Maine. After the war my parents took me to Betazed with them, they were part of the rebuild effort there. Probably the two times I stayed in one place the longest that wasn't a ship or starbase," Charlie responded.

"Is that why you joined Starfleet then? To continue the family legacy of sorts? It's not a bad place to be I suppose. My boss is from Betazed, although I hear the lobster in Maine is some of the best in the quadrant. I think Starfleet is the first time I haven't stayed somewhere longer than a couple of years. It's taken some getting used to. It definitely feels quite chaotic at times for sure." He took another drink and scanned around to room to gauge the life of the party. "It looks like we've got quite a good group here."

Charlotte shook her head. "No, not the legacy. I liked being on starships, and looked up to the crew. But I was maybe only 9 when my parents took me to Betazed, and so many parts of the planet were in such rough shape, and to me it seemed like Starfleet knew just what to do. Everyone was working hard to help them rebuild, and I watched the planet go from a really sad place to a really beautiful one. I think that's when I knew." Charlotte took a sip of her drink. "But yeah. A busy place. What about you? How did you end up in Starfleet?"

"A prank that went wrong. No one got hurt but there was enough property damage that it was either I spend some time in a penal colony or join Starfleet. My obligation to stay in expired a year ago but I'm still in. I don't think I want to do anything else right now if I'm being honest, I think I'm getting used to the ships and right now I'm liking the fact that I'm the only one on my team with piloting experience. I hadn't thought about the rebuild of Betazed, maybe that explains him some...thanks Charlotte. What do you say we go find somewhere a bit more comfortable and see if we can deepen the conversation a bit more? Grexx is a great guy but he talks about some boring crap." Cormus saw a pair of soft chairs and a small table over a ways in a semi private corner they could share and be comfortable. "How about over there?"

"I'll never turn down the promise of a good conversation," Charlotte responded, a playful challenge lingering in her tone. "After you, or wait. It's ladies first isn't it?" She said taking a few steps toward the chairs that Cormus had pointed out.

"It certainly is" Fletcher replied, holding out an arm to kindly direct her towards where they would sit and enjoy quite a quite energetic conversation for a good portion of the evening......

The head Shrink strolled in although late wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt and tan shorts with basic running shoes, he had brought a group of people in with him mostly freshers, people fresh from the academy who were riddled with social anxiety, he mostly had to help them pick outfits, introduce them to the heard he had formed then re-introduce them to other members of the crew in the lounge. This was a social event but every social event was a work day to him.

Ensign Kash, an Andorian support pilot breezed in wearing a fitted black t-shirt that showed off his defined arms, paired with stone colored slacks. He slapped a few of the officers huddled around Joey on the back as he came in. "You guys going to stand here like wallflowers, or come in and mingle?" Kash asked. He made a move with his head indicating they could follow him to the bar.

"I'm going to report you for assault," Joey said before a belly laugh erupted. "No, we're just looking around for good lookers," Joey stated which got a few giggles from his troupe. As much as he would like to R&R this evening he still had to work though he was hoping for a moment to let his hair down.

Kash's antennae twitched at Joey's comment. It was an odd comment, all of it, but something else was different about him too. "Good lookers? I haven't heard that one before, but you know get a drink in your hand an mingle a bit, next think you know you may have a friend or two."

"We are just heading for the bar if you'd like to join u-" Before the sound could leave his lips, the Andorian had already been snatched up. "Is this a sex party?" Joey muttered gaining laughter Joey throughout his troupe, "Let's find that bar by ourselves, I guess." before you know it the clump of different races like Human and Boilan pushed forward, losing some along the way to chat or be offered drinks.

S'Niri made an appreciative purr as Kash and his friends passed by her and her group. Now there was a drink of water if she ever saw one - that he was blue and swole and cute just made him an even sweeter deal to close on if she could. "Be right back. Ooh, I just gotta say hi." She sprang to her paws and let them settle down before boldly approaching the Andorian himself. Her father had raised her to go after things she wanted until given a bloody good reason not to and she wanted to try and grab this opportunity before it was stolen from her.

"Hello there." She purred, tail flicking as she approached him and grinned, displaying rows of sharp predator teeth. "I hope you don't mind me coming over - seeing a warrior like you across the room I couldn't help but come over and get a closer look..."

"A warrior you say?" Kash put on a flattered smile and rubbed his eyebrow with his forefinger. "I'm not much of a fighter, truth be told."

"Shush. All Andorians are warriors at heart, it burns at their core and in every fiber of their being. Of course, what they do with that fire really depends..." S'Niri purred. "Besides. You can't tell me you're not even the slightest bit a warrior with arms like these." Her tail flicked up and brushed against his bicep. "What do you do on board, handsome?"

"Support pilot, actually. What about you?" Kash asked.

"Security. And here I thought you'd be a tactical officer at least. Not that pilots can't be tough." S'Niri replied. "I've met a few hardened ones in my day. How long have you been flying?"

"Since I was old enough to reach the controls," Kash responded. "It can be a bit of a thrill. Addicting even."

"Ooh, tell me about it." The Ferasan hybrid purred. Her tail flicked as she spoke. "And about the shenanigans you've gotten up to since then. Surely you must've done something with those impulses..."

Kash chuckled lightly, "They keep us busy enough in the shuttle bays to keep us out of trouble."

"Fascinating." S'Niri's ears flicked. "Speaking of trouble - what say you we go for a walk. I think this party's getting a little too crowded...

Kash looked around the lounge. He'd only just arrived, but didn't see the harm in a little walk. "All right, you lead the way."

S'Niri smiled and looped a furry arm around his shoulder as she walked him out of the bar.

Andrea, one of Shelly's best friends, arrived and first off, went to the bar and ordered double Whiskey neat, something that Shelly introduced her too. Then, she went off to find her closest friend and slyly grinned with joy and approached her and said, "Well, hello sweet salty goodness." Shelly turned around and smiled big time and replied, "Hello, you sweet salty goodness." And, they embraced each other and gave each other a passionate kiss. Then, they struck up a conversation while drinking their whiskies.

Shelly and Andrea got up and got some more whiskey together and as soon as they got their whiskey, they checked out the entire room and Shelly noticed a Female Klingon and said, "Look, you want to meet that Ensign?" Andrea replied, "Certainly." Her emotional feelings towards Shelly got stronger and she immediately held Shelly's hand and Shelly gladly reciprocated. They made their way over to Ensign Cha'joga and Shelly & Andrea both took a sip of their whiskies and they said in unison, "Greetings, Ensign. May we join you?"

Cha'joga blinked, seeming quite surprised. Maybe the two were sisters, she supposed, and so close that they basically thought and spoke alike. She'd heard of it in passing from some of her friends, but somehow she felt that wasn't quite what was going on here. The two looked nothing alike. Adopted siblings, maybe. Which did not make their speaking in unison any less unusual - and just a bit unsettling.

Regardless.

"If Grexx doesn't mind, of course." She grinned toothily at the Bolian seated next to her.

Shelly and Andrea said in unison, "Thanks." Then, Shelly said, "I am Lt. Shelly Godfrey Guevera, the new Chief Flight Ops Officer. May I introduce you too my fiancé Andrea Mitchell." Andrea said, "It is a pleasure." They both sat down and took another sip of their whiskies in unison.

Grexx gave a nod "Petty Officer 3rd Class Grexx, Civil Operations. It's nice to meet both of you."

Admittedly, watching them speak, then drink in unison was still rather unsettling. Maybe they'd been together so long they'd started to melt into each other, Cha'joga reckoned - which was a little weird but not as strange as many other things in the known universe. "Flight Ops? I am a support craft pilot and helmsman. I was just chatting to Grexx here - he's been such a gentleman so far." Cha'joga reached over and drew a circle into his kneecap with her finger.

[> > > To Part 7 > > > ]

Signatures:

Ensign Charlotte Dawes
Nurse
USS Astrea

Ensign Cha'joga d/o H'gren
Flight Control Officer
USS Astrea

PO3 Cormus Fletcher
Civil Operations
USS Astrea

PO3 Grexx
Civil Operations
USS Astrea

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