Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

Posted on Mon Jan 16th, 2023 @ 7:15pm by Ensign Tobias "Toby" Dienstag & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & Lieutenant Thraxina & Ensign Avis Larant

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Fool’s Errand
Location: Deck 5: Officer's Mess
Timeline: M1 MD08 (2268.23.05) 0700

It was morning, the day after the Midway found U.S.S. Detroit, the Ptolemy-class colony ship, derelict its crew and colonists missing, seemingly abducted by Orion Pirates. The Midway was hot on their trail but it wasn't the only thing that was hot this morning, the cheery breakfast buffet was set up in the mess hall. Although mostly synthesized, it was a friendly morning greeting.

Ensign Dienstag had finished loading his plate and grabbing his mug of strong coffee and sat down at one of the empty tables in the mess hall. His face was still rather banged up from the previous day but thankfully there had been no lasting effects from the concussion, at least none that he could tell.

Senior Cadet Larant was up early and hungry too. Yesterday's boarding party on the Detroit had been exhilarating really. A part of her was disappointed though there hadn't been some real action but the Orions had long gone. Well, it was good to know the Midway was in pursuit.

Satisfied she'd picked out her favorites from the buffet and also a cup of iced coffee to wash it all down, she then looked for an available table. There was one with only one person sitting at it. She headed straight for it.

"Mind if I sit here? I promise I won't beat you up, looks like somebody already did just that?" Avis did not wait for him to agree to her request but simply set her tray down opposite of him and seated herself.

"Word of advice, politely decline if the Captain asks you to play a pick up game of hockey in the cargo bay," Toby responded with a smile, "It wasn't a fun night. Ensign Dienstag, Toby. I'm not sure if we've met outside of the away mission."

"While hockey looks like fun sadly I do not know how to skate," Avis sighed.

"Oh I did see you, yes I'm Avis ....Avis Larant," she was wearing her uniform so didn't see the need to identify her rank and department.

"I don't really know either to be honest," Toby responded with a chuckle, "Pleasure to finally be introduced." He took a sip from his cup of coffee.

Thraxina loomed from nowhere with a tray full of, well, everything. How that girl kept her figure was a wonder. She plonked down next to Ensign Dienstag, who she apparently knew well.

"Hey!" Avis responded with a quick acknowledge. Yes, they'd fought and almost got in trouble for it, but Avis respected the woman for it all.

"Budge up, Tobes!" she commanded.

"Good Gods, Avis, the absolute dearth of decent man-crumpet on this ship is a disgrace!" she declared at Cadet Larant, sitting across the table and who, apparently, she also knew well.

"Welcome to the final frontier," Avis shrugged and started eating.

"Present company excepted, of course!" she laughed, clearly not really meaning that: Toby was not exactly a hunk, even if he had been in any sense 'available'.

"The compliments are always appreciated," Toby responded with an eye roll, "I take it your latest exploit failed to pan out?" He asked before having at his breakfast. He had to report to the ship's psychiatrist this morning and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Thraxina was not unaware that Toby was antsy about something, he so often was. But she believed the best way to calm him down was to carry on as normal, just being her own blasé self.

"Well, I eventually got to talk to that dishy Andorian communications officer I was telling you about and, oh my Gods, it was like trying to get blood out of a stone! Talk about unresponsive. He just sat there like a potato. By the end of it I was just like 'Ship out, Freak!'"

"Oh him, I was jogging down a corridor and almost ran into him. He was rather wooden, true," Avis remarked.

"No running in the corridors!" the girl in gold chided, like a school hall monitor.

"At this rate I'm going have to start snogging Avis." she complained languidly as she moved her food around her plate.

"Out of luck there, I like the guys," Avis quickly pointed out.

"And you know I'm not on the market," Toby responded with a content, boyish smile.

"What a crushing blow to womenkind!" Thraxina wailed. She was about to ask if he was 'not on the market' to men as well, but pulled up short. There was something nervous about him every time she invited him to check out a good looking crewman: maybe he was just shy, or... hmmm. Anyway, she left it.

"Eh, the Captain is available and he's got bravado, strong chin and good hair," Toby offered, trying to move things away from his love life.

"Duh! Everybody knows that Captains are in love with their ships, silly. Even me, when I'm zooming around in my little F Class Shuttle, dear little Number 2, I don't want anybody else in the whole quadrant. I need to give it a name though. I suggested to the Quartermaster that we name them after Ardana's four most famous artists, but it didn't seem too impressed with the idea."

Nobody seemed quite sure what gender the Quartermaster was, or even if its species had genders.

"He always seems a bit lonely. He surrounds himself with friends all the time," Toby responded, "I know it's because he lost his best friend this year... Mike's brother."

Thraxina frowned.

"Wot? 'Big Nose' Mike Kaminski in Auxiliary Control?!!" she queried.

"Dr. Amato," Toby corrected, "His brother was serving on the Defiant when it was lost. Both him and the Captain have been taking it rather hard. From what Mike... Err Dr. Amato tells me the Captain served with his brother during the Four Years War."

Thraxina, never exactly the overtly sympathetic type, staged a pretend yawn. "Oh boo-hoo, some senior officers we don't even care about had a sad time, so what? Oh and you, Tobes, Mike this, doctor Amato that, Gods, why don't you just marry the g..." her mouth gaped and her eyes slowly swivelled to the cute little Ensign.

"NO!" she hissed, as the scales fell from her eyes.

"Well that was... Direct," Toby responded, his eyes were extremely wide. Thraxina was always an odd duck to him but that was even more unusual.

"I'll give you direct!" hissed Thraxina, threateningly. She looked appealingly to Avis "He made love to me three times in the rec' room and now I find he's already got a boyfriend!" she was about to say more but suddenly saw a flash of braid.

"Shhhh, brass coming! But we're going to have this out later, Toby Deinstag!"

The doors opened to the messhall as Azrel walked in. She headed straight over to the food synthesizer and got herself a coffee, just the way she liked it, or was it how Torbin liked it? Aze was still having the odd issue, now that she had the memories of another person's lifetime. She took a sip of the coffee. She liked it, so did it matter if it was her style or Torbin's? Probably not. She made her way over to the group and took a seat. She looked around the group, sipping her coffee, feeling the caffeine start to wake her up.

"Good morning lieutenant," Toby croaked, trying to change the subject, "I hope your coffee is better than the one I got."

"Yes Ma'am" agreed Thraxina and looked daggers at Toby "And I hope it's better than what I've got!" Poor Lieutenant Vox, she'd walked in right in the middle of a bizarre 'domestic'.

"It tastes OK. Not bad for a synthesized Cortado. Still not as good as a freshly made one in a quaint little café in Madrid. " Aze commented.

Avis took a sip of her own iced coffee, "Madrid? That's one of the many places on Earth I did not go to during my Academy days."

"Yes, capital of Spain. You missed out by not visiting." Aze replied.

"Gee thanks," Avis glanced at her then resumed eating.

Thraxina now started comfort eating with a vengeance, shoving a whole waffle into her mouth. That didn't stop her adding "Well I only went to San Francisco, and it was rubbish!" which, as she was speaking with her mouth full, came out more like "Wumph Wumph Wumph Wubbish"

"That's a waffle not a chip," Avis waxed dripping in sarcasm.

Being from Stratos City, any conurbation that didn't float in the sky of its own volition was strictly infra dig.

"Are you alright?" Toby asked Thraxina, "Your mood continues to shift." To be perfectly honest Toby was intimidated by Thraxina especially without Mike around. She certainly was interested in him in some capacity but he didn't understand how or why.

"I'm not not talking to you!" she replied coldly with her nose in the air. Then, looking from her empty plate to his half eaten breakfast added "Do you want that sausage or not?"

"Have it then," Toby responded before standing up, "I have an appointment to keep, enjoy your day folks." He headed towards the door. He blinked and shook his head, trying to shake the feeling. He felt even more unsettled after breakfast due to Thraxina's behavior, this appointment with the ship's psychiatrist was unsettling enough.

Aze watched the kerfuffle unfold between Thraxina and Toby. She sat back and sipped her coffee. She thought it best to stay out of, whatever this was. She was still getting to know the crew at this stage.

Thraxina shrugged and speared the sausage with her space spork and shovelled it in.

"Don't mind Toby, Lieutenant" she said to the new officer "He's got his knickers in a twist because of this 'Ship's Counselor' fellow he's got to see. We're going to see him too, later, cause we were fighting in the gym, weren't we Aves?" she asked Avis, rhetorically.

"No, we were not, we were sparring. Vigorous exercise til somebody called security on us," Avis tried to enlighten the lieutenant.

"Thank you for the heads up. I will sit back and observe at a safe distance." Aze replied.

To Be Continued

 

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