Posted by Civilian Brooklyn Halsey (Quartermaster) in A Drink With a Halsey Never Hurt Anyone

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Akirel Ros (Chief Engineer) in A Drink With a Halsey Never Hurt Anyone

Posted by Civilian Brooklyn Halsey (Quartermaster) in A Drink With a Halsey Never Hurt Anyone
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Even for a ship this size, there weren’t that many bars, crew lounges or undeclared nightclubs on it. Yet, NE Fletcher had visited them all, even the Parthenon, trying to locate Halsey. Two minutes to 8pm and she hadn’t been in any so Fletch slumped on a seat at an empty table in the last, small nondescript crew lounge that he had visited having second thoughts about agreeing to hunt down Halsey for the CE prior to 8pm. Sure the agreement had been for two days off duty and a bottle of tequila from the CE’s own personal collection, but the last 15 minutes of visiting different bars just seemed like so much effort.

Lifting his head he slumped his chin on the palm of his hand and looked around the room again. He was sure he wouldn’t miss her, she wasn’t someone that blended into a crowd, she was someone who stood out and drew your eyes to her. Scratching at the stubble that was barely growing on his cheek he pondered whether he should ping Ros and tell hi she wasn’t anywhere, or if he should start again and see if she had arrived after he had checked any of the bars.

NE Fletcher, Eng

“Yeah sorry, it is late. I know the rush starts at 8 but Halsey told me she would take over my shift if I delivered this and by 8 pm. You know how she is about on-time deliveries,” the man joked handing the owner of the bar a PaDD. “Just hit me up with a five-star rating,” he pointed to the five empty stars in a row. “She has a contest running with everyone in logistics. The higher the service rating the more stars the closer I get to the off-the-record prize.” Shifting his weight, the man talked to the lounge owner as if they were old friends and not the owner and the delivery guy.

“Off the books as in contra ban,” the owner raised an eyebrow as he tapped the last star and all five stars turned yellow.

“No off-the-books shore leave,” he lowered his voice as if not wanting to be overheard by other officers around. “The Athena is now tapped into the Halsey Haulers network. Ever wonder how that package a Captain always needed tended to get through on some ships while on others it never showed up like the rest of outs? I thought it was captain privilege but nah uh,” he had a slightly stunned quality to his voice. “Halsey is in this convoluted web that I swear to god is run by some ex-section 31 guys. If a ship needs something and is not in range of it, the Haulers take shuttles out into the middle of deep space, meet up and pass it off or,” he held up a finger, “take a shuttle to some planet to pick it up. If that planet is someplace warm and tropical....” he let his voice trail off. “Anyway, Moa has this huge chart up and the destination. Earth. She said some Captain’s wife is pregnant and she is going to want some Baika Caviar that is only found in Lake Baikal. I could care less but the route puts this guy directly passing Risa.”

Fletcher jumped out of his seat and ran up on the two men talking like he was trying to flag down medical help. “Do you know where Halsey is?”

“Where she always is. Down in the cargo bay. I swear to God I don’t know why they gave that woman quarters,” the man replied.

“Thanks,” Fletcher said looking at his watch. With one minute left, he commed the CE. =/\=Sir she is in the cargo bay=/\= he replied out of breath as if he had just run a marathon.

Halsey Hauler (aka operations officer)

“Are you sure?” The voice of the CE filtered back through the line to Fletcher. “That’s the opposite of drinks at a bar. Tell me you know for sure, Fletcher.”

“I am positive. I have searched this place up and down but it was confirmed my the bartender who was talking to the supply officer who was talking to me.” The chain had a vague theme of a middle school girl gossip chain but Fletcher did sound convinced.

“Good enough, take the rest of the night off, by the way. Good work.” Ros didn’t sound convinced, but it was something at least.

“Computer, site to site transport to the cargo bay.” He stood up and stepped into the open space in his quarters, right before the sparkling lights tore him apart and spat him out again in the Athenas cargo bay, where another sparkle of lights and the sound of a transporter beam in operation left Akirel Ros standing in the middle of the large area, dressed casually in jeans and a loose fitting collared shirt, holding two bottles of beer.

For a moment there was no movement from him, then he looked around.

Ros

The room was filled with a sea of boxes, lockers, and barrels. It was enough to make one almost feel like they were going to get a case of vertigo as the aisles and rows all looked the same disappearing for meters back except for a glow that seemed to come from the end of the row and the vague sound of Caribbean music floating in the air. It was quiet and subtle as if the room was one huge turbo but it was definitely present. As Ros followed the music back he would find a space carved out under what looked like a kid’s fort with several barrels propped up on top of each other holding a large locker box on top of them creating a DIY doorway. Inside the doorway was a small space with tacky pineapple string lights lining the ten-foot by fifteen-foot space. On one side of the room was a hammock.

Not quite stepping inside, Ros paused and leaned against the doorway and looked around. It reminded him of the impromptu bars that Dante and Kelly erected wherever they were stationed, but this one had a far cozier and less ‘purposeful’ feeling to it.

Halsey looked at Ros with a smile that grew wider as she watched him lean against the small makeshift doorway. He was easy on the eyes and the way he was half smiling back made Halsey wonder if it was his smile or a faulty thermostat that was increasing the temperature in the room.

On the other side of the room was a small bar created by a plank of wood laying on two more barrels. Several stools were in front of it all different colors with Halsey standing behind the bar. “You are late,” she leaned her elbows on the bar, “but you brought beer so I will forgive you this time.” She gestured to one of the barstools with a grin.

Halsey

“I’m never late,” he smiled. “I always arrive exactly when I mean to, not before or after.”

“You can say that now. Give it a month and then you will be using the excuse when we arrive somewhere…you know how women are.” She used a deeper voice to mimic a male’s sarcasm. Her comment clearly showed her confidence. Halsey was not stunning but she was classically pretty. This paired with her wit made her far more appealing than the icily gorgeous women whose idea of flirting was only accepting compliments.

Ros watched her for a moment, and let his half smile slowly shift to a full smile as he looked at her, taking in her features as he unashamedly let his eyes wander over her face. “I’ve never needed to use that excuse,” he spoke slowly but deliberately, as if wanting his words to be heard and understood instead of as an offhand, throwaway comment. “When I arrive anywhere with a woman worth my time on my arm, the smile on my face and the flush on her cheeks usually keys people in that we both arrived exactly when we needed to.”

Halsey bit the inside of her cheek to control the smile threatening to engulf her face. You are a bad boy Mr. Ros, she thought. The man was showing more and more potential but like all games of cat and mouse strategy was key in winning. “You mean because of that enormous leg span of yours she had to jog just to keep up?” She then allowed her face to take on an expression of pure innocence.

“No, I let my lady ride. No point making her do all the work after she got all dolled up, right? Wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do.” Pushing himself off the doorway he moved towards her at sat down on one of the bar stools, opening one of the beer bottles and sliding it in front of her, then opening his own. “Nice place you got here, took some finding though, maybe we need to add it to the ships location finder? What do you call the place? Halsey’s Inn?”

Ros

“My little slice of heaven,” she hopped up on the stool across from him, “and since heaven doesn’t have an actual address we should keep it that way. So Mr. Akierl you learn to count to five yet,” she pushed a glass towards him but covered his with one of her hands, “or are you in need of a math class. I hear they have some wonderful IFEA correspondence courses and learning annexes.”

Halsey Quartermaster

“Okay first,” he responded by countering her hand cover with one of his own, placing his other hand on top of the hand she placed on his, “it’s ‘Akirel’, not Akierl, say it slowly, it rolls off your tongue better that way but, call me Ros. We’ll have time for more formal names later.”

“I will get it before the wedding,” she quipped back with a smile. “What about Earl in the meantime? Easy to pronounce and cuts through all that awkwardness of nicknames and what should we use. Besides Earl means prince, warrior, and nobleman. Its a good solid name for a drinking buddy to boot.”

“Only if I’m allowed to call you Detroit,” Ros paused for effect. “No? Didn’t think so.” He gave her a small, light wink and then moved that top hand of his to the glass of beer he brought and poured it into the glass she had moved towards him. “Here, I didn’t take you for a beer-out-of-a-glass kinda woman but, you might want to take a drink before I hand that PaDD back. I’m a brutally honest kind of guy you know.” He slid the glass back towards Halsey and then looked her straight in the eyes, lifting the beer bottle with the remainder of the beer to his lips for a drink. “I hear they have some fantastic customer service classes at IFEA, they even do correspondence or one-on-one tuition via online learning.”

Ros, CE

“IFEA can suck geriatric donkey balls that are so long they have been dragging on the prairie trail all day and are covered in sweat along with mud and little bits of grass that got stuck there because of the ball sweat and mud on them.” Halsey might have been trying to act mysterious however her rather graphic tirade about the gigantic shipping and commercial entity IFEA spoke volumes about her opinion on one topic. “Gimmie that PaDD,” she reached out her fingers wiggling them as she picked up the glass of beer Ros poured her and drank it down in gulps as if she had been lost in the desert for a week.

Halsey Quartermaster

“Wooah, how bout you tell me what you really think?” He teased her, but pulled the PaDD out of his back pocket and slid it across to her. On it, only one of the stars was filled in. In the area where his signature was supposed to be though, was the number of his quarters with a single line next to it. I don’t impress easily, so I’ll give you another shot over dinner

Ros

OCC I will post tonight ~ Kate

OOC - Okay

• Dave