STF

Upper Docking Pylon

Posted Sept. 16, 2020, 9:35 a.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) (Gene Gibbs)

Posted by Captain Mathias McGarrett (CO) in Upper Docking Pylon

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in Upper Docking Pylon

Posted by Petty Officer Benjy Yousefi (Operations) in Upper Docking Pylon
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

On the one hand the Iotian didn’t like to be caught short, but on the other he hadn’t any cause to dissemble. “I’ve not been on the Lancer, boss. There are regular teams who rotate onto the wee ship fer maintenance and an emergency crew there just in case.” Indeed that had been a noted scheduling ploy for him to schedule the ‘ladies’ to be working on there and out of his hair. To think that ‘all’ of his residual senior people were all women was surely a scheme from hell to torment him. “I know the ship by what she can. Benjy and i will make sure all is in order.”

McGarrett’s glance at Benjy found him nodding an acknowledgement alongside an energetic nod, his frown totally dispersed.

Benjy Yousefi - Ops

Nikki

“Excellent,” said Mathias, who was going to say more. But just then someone ahead of them caught his eye.

Ahead of them in the hallway a large figure came into view walking in their direction. Dressed in his black leather layered armour and with his stapled eye patch standing out on his bald head, Khain noted the trio and raised his hand in a pleasant greeting, nodding at Brako as he walked.

Benjy visibly jolted as he turned to face forward and took in the form of Khain towering over him.

“Greetings Starfleet!” his deep voice rumbled in seeming good humour, while his other hand rested on the belt that held the Kut’luch dagger where a pistol would usually be. It wasn’t an aggressive pose at all, by now most people recognized his stance as casually alert. “Fine day for some exercise, it seems?”

Captain Khain of the I.K.S. Khazad’hea

“Well hello, Captain Khain. And it is indeed. I love a good long walk and there’s nowhere on the Outpost you can take a longer one,” responded Mathias in a pleasant tone. He saw no need to voluntarily answer the implied question. “Funny we should run into you. I was just mentioning your fine vessel to Mr. Yousefi here. He’s never been on a Klingon ship.”

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

“Ah she is indeed a fine ship,” Khain spread his arms in agreement, “the Khazad’hea brings honor to the House of Kholl. She is the only ship of her class you know, one of a kind so far!” Khain stepped to one side, to allow the trio to pass if they wished but his grin was wide. “Mr Yousefi would be welcome to join us on a Pirate hunting expedition one day, as long as he is not squeamish about burying his dagger into the belly of a P’takh raider, of course! Sometimes you simply cannot reason with those kinds of people!”

Captain Khain of the Khazad’hea

“Pirates? Hunting! Pirate Hunting?!” Benjy squeaked. “Aha, yes, I would be… honoured Captain.” He rotated slightly to look up at his own captain. “If Starfleet would allow that sort of thing, of course… I’ve never seen a Klingon ship up close, I would love to come and look at yours sometime Captain Khain! Perhaps I could even do some extra repair work for you.” A cheesy grin covered the full length of the lad’s face.

Benjy Yousefi - Ops

Nikki was just behind Benjy and couldn’t help hold back a small smile as he watched the interaction between Khain and him. Not that Nikki had been on any kind of pirate hunting expedition, nor did the Iotian think that it was all that ‘messy’ as was being described. But it was good drama. He leaned in. “Watch out for the first officer, lad. She bites.” He winked at Khain as he did so, amused at the idea of ‘reasoning’ with a Klingon.
- Nikki

Benjy swallowed an uncertain reaction to Nikki’s comment. He was far from totally unfamiliar with the banter, and occasional vulgarity, of more worldly folk. He was, however, quite unsure as to how to dicipher such a layered comment. “Sounds like… a fun lady?”

“Ha!” Khain laughed from the belly, just once, sharp and powerful. “Fun? She is deadly when crossed and Klingon to boot. She is more than Fun!”

Mathias returned Benjy’s smile with a modest one of his own. The young man’s enthusiasm sure was impressive. “I don’t see why there would be any problem with it. Just don’t do anything that lands you in a prison somewhere and don’t let it interfere with your duties.”

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

‘Now he’s just takin all the fun out of it,’ Nikki thought. Sure there was a factor that Iotians were more into ‘white collar’ hits now than the ‘blue collar’ hits of old. But there was a place for everything. And a good old fashioned hit got the blood going. “One can make it a ‘educational cross cultural field experience’ in gettin te know the workins of a Klingon ship.”
- Nikki

“Well, in that case, I would be honoured to join your crew on a… cultural exchange some time, Captain Khain!” Feeling increasingly out of place among the older, more experienced and simply larger men, the lad receded a few steps into a dim shadow. “I don’t suppose I’ll be likely to miss it if and when you call for me.” He looked to his fellow officers. His adventurous self was about worn out; the rest of him was ready to fix a conduate or two.

Benjy Yousefi - Ops

“Then it is settled! We will find ourselves a few pirates and relieve them of their plunder! I will send someone to get you when we have a suitable target in mind,” the big Klingon said, then glanced at McGarrett. “Lovely station you have here Captain! We should catch up some time, drink some bloodwine to the health of those aboard her! Mr Brako, it is good to see you again but, I will leave you all to your duties! I’m sure you have more pressing needs than dallying with me!”

Captain Khain

“Indeed, lets,” replied Captain McGarrett. “I haven’t had some proper bloodwine in quite some time. I’ll look for to it. Farewell Captain Khain.” It had been quite some time since Mathias had had bloodwine. It wasn’t exactly his go to beverage of choice. If ever there was a drink with an acquired taste, bloodwine was probably it. But it was easier to get used to than their cuisine.

Captain Mathias McGarret, CO

“I like your enthusiasm, Captain!” Khain grinned as he made sure to step back enough to let them all pass. “I will make sure a whole barrel out of my own personal supply gets delivered to you soon.”

Captain Khain of the IKS Khazad’hea

Nikki nodded and let the boss do the talking. He never exactly saw the attraction to blood wine. He ‘got’ the naming and the color of it was like blood floating on a murky mug of water but it tasted less like wine or port or anything and more like a mix of beer, turpentine, and bad moonshine. Though together mixed it was still palatable. Strangely enough.

When Khain was gone he clapped Benjy on the shoulder. “Let’s have a gander at the Lancer shall we?”

“Please!”

Then to the Captain, “Unless ye had more for us there boss,” he added.
- Nikki

“I’ll accompany you to engineering. I want to stop by the Lancer bridge myself before I head back. Let’s go,” he said, resuming walking.

They walked along. Nikki was quiet, listening to the story. He wondered if it was a bedtime story told to Cadets to put them to sleep with dreams of space adventures toddling through their heads.

As he walked the captain continued to speak to them. “The Lancer, as Nikki certainly already knows, is a Pendragon class battle cruiser. The Lancer was among the first produced in its class nineteen years ago when the Pendragons were originally commissioned. Back then Starfleet had just come off of a couple of major military conflicts, including the attempted Borg invasion, when they decided a little more fire power in the fleet was warranted.” Mathias then pointed ahead at the ship just coming into view. “And there she is.”

The ship was a sun rising over its horizon, illuminating first Benjy’s eyes- they widened and glew glowed- and soon his lips- they widened before curling into a grin- before he had to hug himself to contain the excitement paramount in the rest of his body.

Young compared to the station Nikki did have to admire her. She was the ‘cat’ that got away from the home to wander the stars and leave her mark on this and that locale.

Mathias continued speaking as he kept walking with his long strides towards the docking port. “The Lancer started off as any other ship in the fleet, no doubt completing a couple of five-year missions before retiring to the Outpost, if you can call it that. But just because they are churning out Pendragon class vessels like they used to, don’ t let that fool you. It’s fully loaded with both quantom and photon torpedoes and has eight phaser banks. Out here on the edge of both Romulan and Klingon territory is no place to be unless you’re very well-armed.” The captain abruptly stood still, pondering what he had just said.

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

bump

“Aye the lass could make some good hits with those heaters aboard,” he commented.

The young engineer rested the full weight of his attention on each of McGarrett’s successive syllables. He gulped before releasing himself; he could no longer restrain himself to the more formal words he had tried to stick to with the CO. “So you’re telling me that this ship is both cutting edge and an aging rust bucket?!”

Benjy Yousefi - Ops

OOC: Apologies for my absence!
OOC: And mine! Holidays. Ugh. They do nothing for my posting! .. Gene

Mathias breathed a sigh of relief that his slip of the tongue had seemingly gone unnoticed by them both and he resumed walking towards the Lancer.

“Oy lad, are ye talking about me or the ship?” Nikki replied with an obvious smile. “Though I’ve been called worse.”
- Nikki

The captain let out a bit of a laugh and then answered the question. “Well, the Lancer may not still have that new starship smell, but I can tell you it packs a punch anyways. Back when I was first officer of the Outpost I got the best of a Romulan Warbird using the Picard maneuver on it with the Lancer. That was a crazy day, with the mutant killer tribbles and all. But anyhow, I’d take her into a fight any day.”

Captain Mathias McGarrett, CO

Nikki was following that up until the mutant killer tribbles at which point his head swung about to the boss. He had been about to say that he thought that what the Lnacer needed was a bit of a tobacco smell to make it feel lived in, but that was short lived. “What was the story behind those beasties, boss?” he asked, both intrigued and a little repulsed by it.
Nikki, COO


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