Dreaming Of The Past

Posted on Sat May 1st, 2021 @ 9:09am by Captain Rueben Gregnol

Mission: Mission 13: Stowaway
Location: Freecloud
Timeline: MD -14 04:00
2553 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The evening sky was littered with little specs of light, she knew they were distant stars but in Betazed history all kinds of mythological meanings were given to the patterns that people saw in the random dots of light. Mayterial didn't quite know how to feel about being back on her home planet. It had been such a long time and her departure from there hadn't really been on the best of terms. There was one thing she could count on though, and that was the cocktail night in her favourite night club in Rixx.

The club was relatively quiet, there were tables in the main area of the room, it was a weekday after all, and as Mayterial scanned the immediate vicinity she was immediately approached by an eager, young, hostess, "Welcome, did you have a reservation?"

Mayterial was taken aback a bit, this was supposed to be a night club, where people would come to dance and make merry, it seemed like the original purpose had made way for something much more mundane, "Ehm. I just thought," she looked over her shoulder, trying to figure out if she may be made a wrong turn somewhere, "I'm just here for the cocktails, really."

“She is with me,” a male voice came from behind. David was slightly rough-looking wearing a buttoned-up shirt, dark brown leather coat, and worn jeans that rested on top of black boots, this wasn’t someone that was a normal guest in the area. But as he pulled out a small chip, he nodded to the hostess. “I requested reservations yesterday. Was told there may be some confusion,” he looked at the dark-haired woman and smirked slightly. “It’s under Tebran Dimar.”

There was a second in her mind where she wanted to protest, but she thought better of it, "Thank you, darling," Mayterial never had a problem slipping into a role and rolling with the punches, "I tried to tell them, I swear."

The hostess gave her the stink eye, knowing full well that this wasn't at all what was going on. There had been a lot of people like the Betazoid woman that had approached the restaurant, it had died off about a year or so under the new management, but still, there were some that hadn't been around for some time that would trickle in every once in a while, "Ah, right you are Mister Dimar, please follow me."

Inside a man sat at the bar surrounded by a few empty glasses. He was confused by where he was but when a Q was involved it was best to just go with the flow. He was there for a reason and maybe the reason would show itself soon as he was fed up with not being able to leave and Jeassaho would worry if he did not show up for the senior team meeting. He did not want her worrying so heavily pregnant.

“Welcome to Hotel California,” Reuben said as the pair joined him at the bar with the hostess. “So if you two have been let in you have to be part of this ‘event’” he added using air quotes.

"I really don't know how things have gotten so dire, but I'm just here for the best Risian Sunrise in the sector." Mayterial took up a place next to him. The room was completely different from how she remembered it. There was still a bar and the podium was still there but instead of the high tech sound system, there was now a traditional piano and band set up with a single microphone stand taking centre stage.

“I do not remember it being so dire myself but alcohol seems to be still high-class quality.” Gregnol agreed, his accent pronounced. He turned to look at the pair properly on the swivel chair that barely looked able to contain his bulk.

David took a seat next to Mayterial and nodded along in agreement slightly before he saw a waitress walk by and requested a couple of Risian Sunrises before looking at the woman. “Smooth-talking, Miss?”

"April," Mayterial hadn't obscured her Betazoid heritage but if called on it she'd just say her father was human, "you can call me April."

“Rueben.” The Executive Officer offered up though he was not asked looking over his glass. “So what brought you guys here?” He asked, looking them both up and down trying to work them out.

“Somewhere away from people I may know and a couple of stiff drinks,” David smirked as he looked at the man before looking over at ‘April’. It was obvious that none of them was ready to share their actual names, but there was something about the young woman that seemed to make him feel as though there was something more. And from what it seemed like was that her eyes were very dark, making him wonder if she wasn’t fully human. Though the light wasn’t the best in the club. So all he did was shrug it off as they exchanged their information

“Cocktails,” Material really didn’t want to reveal too much about herself in the company of these two strangers, one of which was clearly Starfleet. She was already in enough hot waters as it stood, “and you?”

“So you haven’t been brought here by a Q?” Gregnol demanded frowning. What was going on with this group of people who clearly were not there by chance? There was no chance when a Q was involved.

“By a what now?” Mayterial didn’t quite know what he was talking about. The Q moniker was something that rang a very faint bell in her brain, but only in the sense of some sort of myth, she might’ve once picked up on somewhere.

For a moment, this caused a slight pause in which he saw April body language which came off as confused. David sighed and took the beer which was dropped off for him, and slowly lifted it up to his lips as he thought about the question. Last he remembered he was on the Arcadia prepping for their support mission. But then he thought he remembered the request of his assistance in a mission. As the cool liquid went down his throat, he mumbled under his breath as he sat the bottle down slightly rough and glared at Rueben. “Balls... So this isn’t an undercover mission, and you two aren’t my informants on the Orion Syndicate?.”

Gregnol grinned as it was revealed the man was obviously in the same boat as him. “Nope, definitely not informants for the Orion Syndicate. I’m the Executive Officer of the USS Victory. And to answer your question April a Q is a being who likes nothing more than creating chaos. I really hoped 2389 was going to be less chaotic.”

"You might want to reconsider that drink, my man," Mayterial looked over at the bartender as he offered up her cocktail, "you're running a couple of years behind," she raised her glass, "here's to '96, welcome." she took a swig and motioned in the direction of the chronometer on the far wall.

Reuben shook his head. It could not be 2396, he was about to get married next week. “It’s 89.” He argued, looking around for confirmation before he saw a chronometer in the corner. “Make mine stronger please.” He requested of the bartender holding up his glass.

Mayterial thought back a bit before she leaned in, "Phoenix by three in the Ad Astra," she took another swig of her drink, "so, the Syndicate huh, I might be able to help with that." She leaned onto the bar and put her head in her hand looking at both men. Starfleet was known to compensate for that sort of information.

“No… She is right, it's ‘96. Federation collapsed under the Ferengi/Orion Overlords, with the Klingon’s as their bodyguards,” David offered up shrugging. He paused for a moment as he looked at their drinks before shrugged. If they were dealing with a Q, it wouldn’t matter if their drinks were spiked or not. The stupid Godlike being would mess with them no matter what. “The Victory you say? I’m the Captain of Arcadia. But it’s not the same one you are thinking of.”

Reuben just shrugged and took a swift gulp of the vodka that the bartender returned with. “I am glad our new overlords have allowed Starfleet to continue then to allow you to be Captain of the Arcadia.” He muttered with a wink and a salute towards the pair with his glass before he drunk someone. Being drunk would help him not punch the Q when he was finally returned to his time. “Anyone know what the point of us three being together is then?”’

“Seems like this Q is bored and wants to make friends but doesn’t know how to. Though it's starting off in the right direction. Drinks aren’t half bad,” David admitted as he looked over at the bartender and started to wander for a moment. “By the way, the name is David Hawkins. And whatever you are hiding ‘April’, you can relax. I am not hunting you down. Besides, if you are from the same time as I am, we may bump into one another and need a favor or two. But your time traveler here, I can not put my finger on what a man from the past being thrown ahead 7 years would be here. What would be the point?”

“Sometimes there is no point, sometimes it’s just running interference,” Material pulled the small paper umbrella from her glass and with a flourish of her hand palmed it, making it seemingly disappear and loading it into her other hand. She slid closer to David, making sure her knee rubbed up against his leg, and using her free hand to push a hair out of his face, to distract his attention from her loaded hand planting the small umbrella in the buttonhole on his chest, “and I have nothing to hide, an open book. I’m not the one in Starfleet after all.” She sat back and looked over at the man out of time and place.

Gregnol chuckled a bit and rolled his eyes. The man had said he was the Captain of the Arcadia where he was only Executive Officer of the Victory. He had a lot less to hide. He did not care what she thought of Starfleet, it was down to him and what he thought, after all, he was the one who served. “We are both Starfleet and Q’s always have a point.” It just was not always a good one.

Raising an eyebrow at the attractive brunette as she rubbed up against him and played with his shirt seemed to make him wonder if she was the Q. Quite honestly, nothing negative had happened and if an omnipotent and immortal non-corporeal entity who inhabited the limitless dimensions of the cosmos wanted to look like this woman and flirt with him while giving him free and endless drinks. Who was he to argue with this god-like species? Looking up at Gregnol, he shrugged. “I have heard of the several reports of this species only to find that they are bored and want to party with a couple of us without hurting or damaging the timeline, I honestly don’t see a problem with it as long as we get placed back into our own timeline. But I guess it's best to find out ourselves. Alright, Gregnol?”

"Now that you're all nice and acquainted, shall we begin?" The hostess interrupted the conversation and stood in front of them holding out a set of keys, "I selected you for your particular set of skills. But since you're just simple mortals I think it's only fair that I give you a bit of an easy start." She hopped up on the bar and dangled it in front of them, "I think it's very popular on Binar, escape rooms they call them." She snapped her fingers and the group suddenly found themselves in a small room, a large iron door blocking their expeditious exit. They saw the keys that the woman had been dangling in front of them hanging off the ceiling, locked in a see-through box, locked on four sides with different coloured locks.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Mayterial let out a heavy sigh, "I guess neither of you has hairpins..." she said looking up at the box. The locks seemed simple enough to pick, were it not for the fact that she couldn't reach it and that she hadn't a single bobby pin in her hair. On the door a countdown timer started to run, twenty minutes counting down. She didn't know why she'd be there, she was a grifter that focused on fleecing people, not scouring through small rooms with two strangers trying to find an exit.

Gregnol shook his head. He had nothing like that anywhere on his uniform. “Afraid not.” He offered in a sympathetic voice looking around for clues. He just wanted to go home and back to 2389.

"Four keys, damnit..." Mayterial was looking around the room, a desk seemed like a logical place to start looking for a key. She sat down on the chair and pulled the top drawer open. There were quite a few scraps of paper in there, she rifled through them but they all seemed empty or filled with nonsense. She pushed the drawer closed and continued in the second one, pushing the papers aside just like before checking the bottom. If she had been in charge she would make sure to put something under a false bottom. She pushed the drawer close again before turning to the other side and pulled open the door. Took a moment to rifle through the documents there, before she looked at the back of the door on which a message was carved, she decided to read it out loud, "I have much to say but never yack, I have no bones but my spine may crack".

“An old fashioned book?” Gregnol offered gruffly. He hates riddles and was really starting to get intrigued as to why he would be there. What would connect all three of them across time and space?

Gregnol woke with a start looking around the room that was the most luxurious room he had been in, in years. He blinked confused by the memory before settling back down against the sleeping Betazoid next to him. She had not stirred and he did not want to wake her and worry her. He had never mentioned the moment he had been kidnapped to anyone but it disturbed him now that the time had caught up. Maybe this was the day he had been taken to and the universe was freaking out over two Gregnol's being in it. Whatever it was left him lying there in bed confused and worried. There was no room for two of them, it was the thought that stayed with him as he finally conceded to more sleep and drifted back off.