Blue and Company

Posted on 13 Aug 2021 @ 1:22pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Lucy Armitage & Sergeant Major Christopher "Chris" Kildare & Lieutenant JG Thyra Sh'shraaqir & Lieutenant JG Todd Hewitt
Edited on on 19 Aug 2021 @ 10:22pm

3,616 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Lounge
Timeline: Downtime After Phase Two Mission en-route to SB51

[ON]

Thyra walked into the lounge for her break. She pulled her white hair loose. "Well, this is a nice change of scenery after going through padds and such." She said out loud as she put her hairband around her wrist. She ordered a soft drink from the replicator and looked herself a seat up near the window. She wasn't particularly meeting anyone or even looking for someone. But since she left her homeworld she decided she would let things come to her.

She sat down and put her drink on the table. It wasn't all that busy in the lounge. Just a few people here and there. From where she sat she could see the entrance, so she could see who would enter.

Both Chris and Lucy had recently met and had hit it off, she knew he was dating Lieutenant Arderne, but she batted for the other team but was not immune to Kildare's smile although she hid that fact well, both were walking to the corridor into the Tomcats Lounge, where they saw a young Andorian sitting all alone, they had not yet met some of the new additions, so they decided to introduce themselves, they stopped by the table and it was Kildare who spoke.

"Hello Ensign, are you new to the ship by any chance? My name is Sergeant Major Christopher Kildare and this is Master Chief Petty Officer Lucy Armitage" Kildare asked giving his trademark smile.

“Ensign Sh’shraaqir” Todd had walked to meet up with the Andorian Female. He had met her previously and had made a gesture for a time to sit and get to know her.

Hewitt turned to see the fellow officers standing with her in the hallway outside the mess hall. Hewitt had nodded to both Master Chief Armatage and Sergeant Kildare. “Master Chief, Sergeant.” Todd had addressed them.

Kildare looked at Hewitt "Pleased to meet you, Lieutenant, and it is Sergeant Major" Kildare said and made an oof sound as Lucy elbowed him.

"Please ignore him he is Rifle and rarely gets out and about" she playfully said and the look he gave her unnerved her, she simply winked at him.

Hewitt chuckled. "Sergeant Major. Of course." Todd had lent to a scratch at the side of his head. "So are you too?" Hewitt looked at them since they both seemed to be quite comfortable with each other.

Thyra got up. "Lieutenant, Chief, Sergeant Major, nice to meet you. Would you like to have a drink with me? I am here having a little unwinding. First time as a Deputy chief and that Lieutenant Winchester knows how to put his people to work. Pooh." She made a little gesture. "Can I get you something?" A smile seemed to break up her blue face.

Both looked at each other than at Hewitt "no Sir we are not together, I have a girlfriend and so does Lucy, we have worked together some years now so we know each other quite well" Kildare said then looked around as Lucy spoke almost picking up where he left off.

Lucy looked at the young Ensign "we would be happy to join you Ensign" Armitage said as both took a seat and the waiter came to the table "two synth-ales please" Armitage said and the server nodded and with a smile left them to get their drinks. While they were waiting Lucy engaged in some idle conversation.

"Did you hear about the trouble Lieutenant Winchester got into last mission briefing, I think if was for Phase One, he did not endear himself to the Colonel and he did something else that had the Colonel temporarily demote him from full Lieutenant" Armitage began.

“Demotion,” Hewitt replied curiously. He curled his grin in thought. “Didn’t endear himself to her? Is that what you just said?” Todd was chuckling at Armitage. Todd had heard the gossip around the Tomcat about all sorts of things.

"That I did, he showed disrespect, questioned a senior officer from another branch of the service and the current acting CO of the Tomcat, he basically committed a faux pas, but that was the icing on the cake what got him demoted was that the Colonel found out about his disobeying a direct order from Fleet Captain Somers when he was moved from Intelligence to Security, he was ordered to hand over everything intel related to the new CIO and this he failed to do and the Colonel being a Marine and having a strong dislike of disobeying orders to the current action she did, the Colonel was less than happy" Armitage finished.

Kildare was silent in shock when he did manage to finally speak "Alex let him live!! She is getting soft in her old age" Kildare commented and looked up as their drinks were brought over.

Hewitt had paused for a moment. He had no place saying anything really as he was not around when that happened. He just kept to his drink and begun to address his cold tall ale.

Thyra had sat down and taken a sip from her drink. She sighed. "I heard something like that going around. But I had no idea it was that serious. I have yet to see him do some work. So far he has been pushing me to do the paperwork, like schedules and crew evaluations. Mostly on paper. He does the actual evaluations. They're hard, as I just got on board and only just starting to know the crew. Also, I just got out of the academy and this is my first time being a deputy. But drinks seem to smooth the security officers." She just smiled and raised her glass.

Hewitt had chuckled and raised his beer mug in support of Ensign Sh'shraaqir. "Here, here!" Todd had held his cup up and then lowered it to finish it off.

Kildare and Lucy both raised their drinking vessels and joined in the toast, then it was Lucy who spoke up.

"From what I know of Lieutenant Winchester, he has the ability, but he tends to make stupid mistakes, first disobeying direct orders and then during the Phase One briefing he questioned everything the Colonel said and practically accused her of not knowing what she was talking about and insulting her and he is fleet she is Marine and a Lieutenant Colonel he was a Lieutenant it is not done in the same branch of the service, but for a junior Fleet Officer to insult a Colonel from a different branch was essentially bad form," Armitage said and took a sip of her drink.

"I agree. The Federation has no time for these fire heads who can't think, but for the chin of their tongues!" Todd had set his finger down to the table, in an exclamation of his point. "Demotion and a few courses in detailing shuttles and interiors."

"Well, currently as colonel Somers is acting Commanding Officer she can only temporarily demote Lieutenant Winchester and if I am honest I do not know whose temper is the worst, the Fleet Captain's or the Colonel's both are from the same family, a family whose children train in melee combat with Klingon's, the Fleet Captain has not kept up with the training, but the Colonel is current with it," Armitage said.

"As someone who has seen Colonel's Somers temper, I know how bad she can get, but I have yet to see the Captain's so on that I cannot comment" Kildare responded.

Swallowing some of his drink, that it was refilled. Hewitt had shrugged and remarked. "Excuse me if I may be so bold, but who would want to see that temper?" Hewitt had been confused. "Normally, I just go into a hibernation mode. I had learned it as a child, and then developed it in the academy."

"I haven't met the colonel yet, so I wouldn't be able to comment on that one. But I do know most of the people in command wouldn't let a thing like that go over. But that's just my observation," Thyra said with a shrug.

Kildare looked at Hewitt "There are only two women in this entire universe I fear and that is the Colonel and my Mother, I am not qualified to judge the Fleet Captain as I have had little contact with her, where is the Fleet Captain anyway?" Kildare asked.

"She went to see the USS Leto off and had some TFCO duties to do while away, but she should be back before our next mission is due to start, but I have a bad feeling that something is not quite right, I cannot quite put my finger on it, you know it is like one of those Oh crap moments!" Armitage responded.

“No. That’s quite comforting. Please. Thank you, Armitage, for telling us that about the Colonel.” He furrowed and shook his head, looking into his drink, taking it, and swallowing, setting the glass back on the table. He drank and shook his head, holding on to the brew before swallowing it entirely.

“You know. I assume to be positive as the quality of meeting new people. I am sure the Fleet Captain is just into a lot of protocol and around?”

Thyra shrugged. Honestly, she hadn't met the Fleet Captain either. And she wasn't one to judge based on just rumours and hearsay. She instead decided to change the subject. "Perhaps we should talk about something else?"

"The Fleet Captain can be formal and use protocol, but she is easy going," Lucy said, "as for changing the subject, yes please, so what is the new subject going to be about?" Armitage asked.

"As long as it is not women who scare the crap outta me I am five by five," Kildare said taking a healthy drink of his beverage, he was composing himself as he fell silent.

“Sports, ladies. Yes, that’s right, sports.” Hewitt. Had gently played along with his metal bottle beer cap on the tabletop of the mess. He then nodded to Armitage. "And Gents, Yes. See I involved you."

“What is the sport on the Tomcat, here? Who plays what? How did you get your ass kicked today?” Todd asked with a cocky wink.

"I do not think there are any sports teams on the ship is there Lucy?" Kildare asked looking at Armitage.

"No there is none, I cannot speak for the Klingon pilots on the ship, but there has been no sport of any kind happening on the Tomcat unless you call a few marathons in private quarters sport, then there has been none," Armitage said with dry humour.

Hewitt had furrowed his eyebrows in laughter, as he leaned back into his chair. That was a funny comment, Hewitt thought. "The Good Old Bedroom Olympics," Todd stated.

"Well, it is what it is," Kildare said, "but you have no idea what I and Lieutenant get up to when we are together," he said with a rueful smile noticing the looks Lucy gave him, "What!!?" he asked innocently, but Lucy only smiled at the comment.

Again Thyra shrugged. "I just got here, so I don't really know what is happening on the ship. But back home we had a lot of ice sports going on or duelling with the ushaan. I do love the Earth's ice hockey. Maybe we could start something on the ship. I would love to measure up with others on the ship. "

Todd had perked up at Thyra’s comments regarding a league be set up for Hockey on the Tomcat. “That would be the ultimate. If we can get some action going, would you, Thyra?” Todd said.

"Well, there is only the holodeck that it could be done on. the ship is not equipped for an ice rink" Lucy said looking around the table.

"The whole thing and the thought of it give me the chills," Kildare said with a deadpan face, but it was meant as a joke.

Todd had replied to Lucy and Kildare. "Perhaps a photonic rink would be best. Plus that way, we can pause things and we can see slap shots and goals in real-time. Pretty interesting tech."

"A Photonic rink would mean less mess to clean up as Todd said it can be paused and saved for a later time" Kildare responded, he looked over at Lucy who gave him a look of approval on his comment.

Thyra was really excited and she almost squealed. "Yes, let's do this. I want to do some ice hockey. We should set up teams." She stopped and tapped her chin in thought. "Hmmm, teams...teams."

"Well, sport is of not much interest to me, never had much time for sports of any kind, I did some in basic, but unlike some of my class members I did not make sport part of my life," Kildare said and noticed Lucy had gone silent.

Todd had looked, leaning inward, ensuring that everyone had wanted to participate and have a say. He was excited that they might want to play something, anything of sports. “Hey. Suppose it’s hockey that’s awesome! Nothing but fun, nothing too antagonistic to worry about.” He shrugged.

Also leaning in Chris looked at Lucy and both looked at Hewitt, "nope" both said as one but nothing is stopping you from creating such a program Lieutenant" Kildare said looking at the young officer.

"No worries." Hewitt smiled.

"Well, I think having a team sport like ice hokey would be very good for the team spirit building on the ship, don't you agree, Lieutenant." She really hoped this would come off the ground. It would help her get to know the rest of the crew Thyra said.

"Good! I can set up the ice times, and you can ensure that we have a small team to gather." Hewitt had replied and nodded excitedly to Thyra.

"Looks like you pair have something to plan for," Kildare said then out of nowhere Lucy commented.

"It is a shame Ice hockey does not have Cheer Leaders, always wanted to be one of those or at the very least wear one of the outfits," she said blushing shyly oO get a grip Lucy, these are officers, stop making a fool of yourself Oo She thought to herself,

Todd paused a moment. He could have coughed hearing that from Lucy. Cheerleaders wore skimpy attire and often bounced up and down to scandalous and high-energy dance music on the sidelines. oO Get a hold of yourself!! Those tight pants and latex booting and dancing… Oo

“Hockey did not have this… No, it did not.” A drip of sweat formed on the top left of Hewitt’s forehead crease.

“I…” Todd had turned to look at the others. “I. I think you could do us the honour of being our cheerleader for the game, for everyone? Or something.” Todd had nodded oO She… She wasn’t kidding. Oo wanting to involve everyone. He enjoyed being around lots of people, and always doing something, anything!

Gulping hard and visibly, Lucy could not say anything as she was too embarrassed at her openness, so she simply remained silent and continued to eat and drink.

Looking from Hewitt to Lucy, Kildare smiled "A Cheerleader huh Lucy! Whatever would the Captain say?" Chris teased and saw Lucy go as rest as Klingon blood, perhaps redder, oh how he was going to have fun teasing her on this.

Hewitt leaned back in his seat. "I think it is great. What this ship need is some cheerleading spirit. Bring in some sports, have some brawls. It's too stuffy on here." Hewitt let a big smile at Lucy. "I think it would be great."

Looking up like a deer caught in headlights moment with an equally mixed look of surprise and embarrassment on her face "I could never do what a cheerleader does! in the name of the Prophets, I would not be able to do it, so I will just keep that fantasy to myself, you can always program in holographic cheerleaders" Lucy said she looked over at Kildare who was trying hard to keep a straight face.

"Well, they wouldn't be the same now." Hewitt then cleared his tone up as he affirmed to Lucy, Kildare and Thyra "As per Starfleet Principles, we wouldn't want you to have to bend your Religious Beliefs. Blessed be the Prophets." Todd stated. "I know. My parents had neighbours back on Earth who was Bajoran. Fantastic people."

Thyra looked at the other officers fascinated. "I agree, Bajorans are nice people. I only met a few when I was in the academy back on Earth. But don't count out you humans. Some of your cultures are quite fascinating. My roommate introduced me to one of your finest cultures on Earth, Hinduism. It's actually a religion. So beautiful." She smiled as she thought back to her time in the academy.

"What is the religion Ensign? I am half Bajoran so I have some interest in hearing about other religions" Lucy said as she finished her food and ordered another drink.

Thyra took a deep breath as she thought about how to answer that question. "Hinduism is probably the third largest religion on earth. From what I gathered it is preceded by Christianity and Islam. Aside from being a religion, it is also a way of life. It finds its origins in the country of India. It is what my roommate at the academy explained to me. She was a Hindu."

"Well, if we are referring to old religions I would be classed as an Atheist, but I do have a passing interest in hearing about other religions," Kildare said in response.

"I think I died once." Hawksley reached over to grab someone else half-empty glass of beer. He sniffed it, and then took a sip from it. "I have an integrated prosthetic eye, I was hit in the face with shrapnel from a disruptor blast. I bleed. That's when I have seen some tunnels. A light. Then I was back on the USS Sabre, over Melkin IV." He cocked his head. "I don't know what to believe."

"Ah! Then good Sir I would class that as an Atheist, still, despite all events, it is always a good thing to keep an open mind as not knowing something before entering a conversation can end up badly" Kildare said.

"Andorians have their own deities. But I do have an open mind. Ever since the founding of the Federation, it is clear there are many cultures and beliefs out there, always something to keep in mind," Thyra said smiling.

Looking at the Andorian "well, the human religions are not practised so much these days, except for the Buddhist Monks that are keeping their religion alive, but I do not follow any religion, but I respect the beliefs of others" Kildare said as he looked at his table companions before settling on Lucy.

"WHAT!!" She said startled "Oh religion, you better respect others beliefs of I will kick your ass," she said with a playful smile and returned to her food to finish off what was left.

Hewitt grinned cheekily at the others. His cheeks reddening. "I don't know. Religion. I am spiritual. I believe in a higher power... But then, I've seen god in different places." Hewitt had shaken his head and crossed his arms "Like when a date of yours screams 'oh god' in bed."

Both Kildare and Lucy looked at Hewitt surprised "interesting outlook their Lieutenant" Armitage said as she finished both her food and drink, Kildare said nothing as such an outburst was unexpected.

Thyra was also leaning forward and her antennae pointing towards him. "You seen God? Please tell us more. I would love to hear it."

Hewitt had closed his eyes, his face grinning red embarrassed. Every one of his frat brothers and engineering colleagues lower decks had listed on ongoing humour.

"Thyra. It was very... Very ethereal. As if touching the essence of heaven can be transcended through an experience with someone special in a special moment." Hewitt was El-Aurian. Of his 128 years in this Universe, he has spent it seeking the meanings of altruistic intent, one of those found god in love.

Looking around the table as he finished his drink "well, I must be going have some stuff to do in Marine Country, so I felt honoured by the company and the meal and chatting were nice, and I hope at some point we can do this again!" Kildare said.

Still feeling a little embarrassed by her earlier comments Lucy sat back "yes, I have to be going to, I have stuff I have to do for the Captain, it has been a pleasure Lieutenant, Ensign, I will see you around" Armitage said and stood along with Kildare.

Thyra nodded and said, "It's been a pleasure you two. See you next time, maybe at a hockey game." She grinned as she said that. She then looked at her food drinks and noticed it was out. "Well, I guess this party is over then."

With a final nod, both NCOs left the table and returned to their respective jobs which they had to do, it was not only the officers that had tasks to do, but still, secretly both felt out of place speaking to officers other than the Fleet Captain or Colonel for Lucy and the Colonel for Kildare.

[OFF]

Sergeant Major Chris 'Mav' Kildare [P: Somers]
Bravo Unit 95th Rifles

&

MCPO Lucy Armitage [P: Somers]
Captain's Yeoman

&

Lieutenant JG Todd Hewitt [P: Hawksley]
Engineering Officer

&

Ensign Thyra Sh'shraaqir
Deputy Chief Security Officer

 

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