Posted June 28, 2020, 7:22 a.m. by Ensign Oliver Loughty (Science Officer Botany & Ecology) (J Ridgley)
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Nash (Chief Tactical Officer) in Ten Forward: The Past and the Present
Ten-Forward was quiet, many of the usual patrons now visited Mike’s Place and Nash paused as he stepped through the doors and looked around. He didn’t feel like sitting alone in his quarters tonight and less of having the company of one of the women he sometimes spent the night with, so he had changed out of his red uniform of a Tactical Bridge Officer and into more casual clothing of slacks and a simple v-neck shirt under his ever-present high necked black jacket. Having run his fingers through his hair, Nash paid no attention to the fact it was now scruffy instead of the tidy style he wore on the Bridge. Sitting alone in the company of a public room was more appealing tonight.A few of the crew nodded his way and smiled, those who knew him and his work while a pair of men at a far table eyed him with looks far less polite. Nash spotted them almost at the same time they saw him and just shrugged in his mind. Past members of his crew on another ship, another life, they would learn to deal with the hand fate had dealt them all, eventually. Nash had dealt with them enough times by now in the ships boxing ring that he was becoming concerned about their intelligence.
Ignoring them as fast as he spotted them he turned towards the bar. One or two people noted the stub of the cigar jutting out the corner of his mouth, unlit for now but they knew the man by reputation or rumor if not actual acquaintance and none made to point out the cigar or the rules. That suited Nash just fine but he came to a halt as his eyes fell on a man on the bar stool at the very end of the bench. That was Nash’s seat at the bar, and a place that people who frequented the Lounge knew was reserved. He shook his head slightly and stepped forward, the eyes of the people that had marked him previously watching while their conversation shushed.
The man was about Nash’s age but in notably worse shape in Nash’s eyes. Black hair that once was probably all jet black and probably Nash’s own height. Nash reached the bar and immediately the bartender shrugged slightly in an apologetic manner, but tried to be discreet about it clearly. Taking the cold bottle of beer that the bartender placed in front of him Nash removed the cigar for a moment and looked at the man, his eyes conveyed nothing. No emotion, no coldness, no warmth. Just emptiness. Nash said nothing, just picked up his beer, nodded to the bartender and walked away towards an empty table in the far corner of the Lounge.
Reaching the table Nash sat down, then placed the stub of the cigar on the edge of an ashtray that happened to be sitting on the table, in just the right spot for Nash to reach. Fishing in his pocket, he took out the small silver flip lighter engraved with a childish style skull-and-crossbones image and placed it beside it, then as if by magic a coin appeared between his fingers. It was old and slightly tarnished it seemed but as Nash sat, sipped his beer and looked out over the people in the bar the coin flipped idly between his fingers with a relaxed control that made it look as if he wasn’t actually taking any notice of what he was doing.
Back at the bar, the Bartender turned and looked at the man in the Tactical Officers seat. “Today you got away with it,” he said quietly to the man. “You’re in the Lieutenant Commanders seat and he let you keep it. Are you a betting man? You should take out a wager somewhere, Nash must be feeling happy tonight. Beer?”
Lt Cmdr Nash, CTO
Olly had been minding his own business, reading over some of the latest scientific breakthroughs throughout the federation, the reason he sat in this particular seat was because no one else seemed to go near it. He had observed several people looking at him and wondered if he was sitting on some sort of cursed chair or if the civilian attire of jeans, buttoned-down white shirt, and shoes were see-through or something but now with the bar keeps explanation it made sense. “Actually I am,” He said with a toothy smile “I’ll have a beer and whatever the Lieutenant Commander is having, I suppose I should apologies.” He turned and it was not difficult to see who the bartender was referring too, and notably, Olly knew him, not personally but he had heard the stories of course.
The drinks placed in front of him the barkeep shook his head before going to tend to another customer, a group of crewman who had just walked in. Standing he pocketed his PaDD and carried the drinks over to the Commander placing his beer on the table and then the commanders beer next to his own already ordered glass. “I was informed I was sat in your seat, I gathered a drink would be a good way to extend the Oliver branch,” He said smiling, his own personal joke with the age-old saying. “I’m Oliver Loughty, I’ve just arrived here.” Even though he knew the superior officers name he gave him the chance to tell him anyway.
Oliver Loughty
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