A meeting in the bar

Posted on Tue Sep 28th, 2010 @ 4:32pm by Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper

991 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Structured Shoreleave - Marchwiel
Location: Ten forward

ON:

Once again, T'kaarch had settled himself in Ten Forward for a large cup of blood ale. He finally got out of the penalties due to the 'borg incident' and had decided to treat himself to a single table and some synthahol.

Zhukov had finished his bridge shift and was mentally exhausted. Subspace fluctuation, loss of warp and thrusters, and a planetary landing. All in a days work. He decided to visit the lounge before heading to his quarters to relax.

Vladimir walked in and went to the bar. The bartender smiled at him. Zhukov quickly shook his head. "No, no. None of the real stuff today. Actually, I think I'll have a glass of Kvass with mint." he said. It was a traditional Russian drink and he needed a taste of home.

"Right, sir. Coming up." replied the bartender.

Vladamir took a deep breath and looked down the bar, only to see the Assistant Chief Science Officer there. Zhukov hoped that the training on the Holodeck had gone well and he nodded to the large feline. "Hello, T'kaarch. How are you this evening?" he asked him.

"Lieutenant," T'kaarch said, nodding. "Tirrred, but you know... I eh... want to apoligise forrr the whole situation earrrlierrr."

Zhukov nodded and took a drink of his Kvass. "No need to. It was just a failure in communication, that's all." he said. "So, how did the rest of the training session go? Did Davizzi crash the ship again?" asked Vladimir, hoping that he would hear positive things about his subordinate officers.

T'kaarch had a long winded sigh. "She did manage not to destrrroy the Rrrangerrr this time... I swearrr, what arrre the odds of flying dirrrectly into the warrrp corrre..."

"Well, as you know, I had my hands full on the bridge. Warp engines went out, main impulse engines went out, then I lost thrusters. Fortunately, I got thrusters back just before we entered the atmosphere or it would have been a much rougher landing." replied Zhukov. "Never thought I would have a triple propulsion failure." he stated flatly as he took another drink of Kvass.

T'kaarch stared into his blood ale. "Yeah, that was a bumpy rrride up therrre... Gave the youngsterrrs a fright too." He remembered how the simulator plummetted, which gave Davizzi the idea she was doing something wrong... Of course, the flight adjustment smashed her right into the shuttlebay ceiling.

Zhukov smiled. "Well, as long as no one was hurt to bad physically, then we shouldn't have any problems." he said as he took another sip of his Kvass. "So, I meant to ask you before, how did you come up with the idea to make a shuttle look like a borg ship?" asked the Helmsman.

"Well, I was making the adjustments like 'general purrrpose'... I just needed something to test it with... I can also prrrogrrram it to resemble Federrration, Klingon orrr Rrromulan ships, it rrreally doesn't matterrr... As forrr the Borrrg, well, it was a bit of a joke..." T'kaarch chuckled - not for the joke, but for the heap of trouble it got him in. "I didn't expect everrryone to take it so serrrious..."

"I understand that, but the Borg is not something that most of us find amusing." Zhukov replied. "I've lost friends, and I know the Captain has lost former members of her crew. There probably isn't a Starfleet officer on this ship above the rank of Lieutenant who hasn't know someone who was either assimilated or killed by the Borg." he said.
"It was just a bad choice. Now, I Ferengi trading ship...that would have been much more interesting." Zhukov said as he smiled and finished off his glass.

"Well, what's done is done." T'kaarch said, putting his also empty cup on the table. "Wherrre the hell arrre we, anyway?" As he hadn't been cleared yet to leave the ship, and the shuttle simulations keeping him busy so he haven't had time to check any scans, or open a window, for that matter.

Zhukov shook his head and replied, "Some Class M planet called Marchwiel. Whatever that subspace fluctuation was, it really through us for a loop. I'm betting it was a baby wormhole because we came out several sectors away from where we started. This place has been on the charts for years, but no one from the Federation has ever come down onto the planet, until now."

"Marrrchwiel? Didn't that used to be an English village orrr something?" T'kaarch remembered coming across the term when researching, though he couldn't remember for the world what exactly he was researching when he found that. "So what does this planet look like?"

"Well, actually, it looks a lot like Earth. It's a little bigger, has slightly more gravity, but nothing that would really hurt us. It's atmosphere is almost identical to Earth, and it has oceans, mountains, beaches, rolling hills, and canyons. We estimate that they are an industrial age peoples, so only about 500 years behind Earth." Zhukov said. He had no idea what they looked like or how they dressed though.

"Industrrrial age? Wonderrr if they have computerrrs.. Earrrth historrry is quite funny, I found this ancient game 'EVE Online' which was about humans fighting humans in spaceships." T'kaarch chuckled. "You've gone soft."

Zhukov shook his head and replied, "I don't know. Computers were a 20th century invention, and I think these people are more like in the mid 19th century, but you never know." he said as he stood up. "Well, Lieutenant, I have to be getting along, but it was good to talk to you."

"Allrrright, good night lieutenant." T'kaarch nodded, after which he also stood up and walked to the bar for a night cap.

And with that, Zhukov left the bar and made his way to his quarters. He was thinking that some classical music and a book sounded like a great way to wind down the day.

 

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