Introductions To The Fray

Posted on Sat Oct 12th, 2019 @ 10:01pm by Liha t'Ehhelih & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Captain Rueben Gregnol & Jeassaho Kea (*)

Mission: Mission 10 - Temperance
Location: Daucine - Commence Area
Timeline: Back Post
2348 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Jeassaho slid into the booth where her husband was and grinned at him. Reuben smiled back at her glad to see her looking happier than she had in months. He was at a loss on how to reconnect with her after the Mirror Universe and what had happened with his alternative version. “You are never going to believe what is happening at the bar.” She murmured giggling as she passed him strong-looking drink. “A woman has just jumped the bar and is serving everyone as they aren’t serving the drinks strong enough.”

Reuben found himself laughing as he turned to look at the scene that was happening in the bar area of the underwater bar that he had found to have a date night with Jeassaho. “Oh, I am believing it.” He chuckled seeing it clearly now.

The crowd had split between those drawn to watch the excitement (and maybe get free, or at least much stronger, booze) and those deciding that being far away from the crazy Romulan lady was the better option.

"Look, lady, you can't just -" the bartender's objection was abruptly cut off by a hand pushing him into the back wall as the 'lady' - a deceptively wiry woman he had initially mistaken for a Vulcan, spun to glare at him.

"What I can't do," she corrected pointedly. "Is let you keep taking good credits for drinks that are... How do humans say it?" she glanced at her companion, "...'like copulating in canoe'?"

Her remark was met with guffaws and some applause from the crowd that gathered for her stronger drinks. Burnie, however, only looked up from the hand that had been covering his face. "Close enough." Giving up on any hope of staying out of this, he hopped over the bar too - somewhat less gracefully than Liha had, but also without the air of potential violent intent. "Let the poor guy go, Liha. He just serves what the system spits out and I'd bet he's not allowed to drink to the job so he couldn't know if it was glitching," he explained peaceably, while catching the bartender's eye and signaling 'it would be a really good idea to agree here' with a small deliberate nod.

"Yeah, absolutely," the bartender agreed, nodding emphatically. "I'll, uh, call maintenance."

"No need for that," Burnie said, sensing that 'maintenance' was likely to arrive carrying phasers. "I'm an engineer. I'll get it sorted out - no charge, to make up for your," he shot a 'let him go' look at Liha, "trouble."

With a sour look Liha relaxed her grip and stepped back, but not without muttering, "Serving anything that weak would earn a public flogging in the Empire."

"Good policy!" someone in the crowd agreed.

"What about our drinks?" another patron demanded, which was quickly seconded by others disappointed by the interruption in spectacle and/or alcohol. Which would have been fine, if one of them hadn't unwisely grabbed for Liha.

She grabbed the hand, twisted and slammed his wrist down on the counter. "If you want a drink in your hand - ever again - keep it off me."

Burnie suppressed a sigh. That move had more or less saved his life when she'd decided to step into what he still thought had been a perfectly rational technical argument with a Nausicaan, but he was beginning to despair of his original plan of relaxing at the bar while looking for the next ship to sign onto. "Liha, why don't you keep making acceptable drinks while the bartender collects payment?" he suggested, ducking under the counter both to get a look at the drink system and get out of the way of a potential bar fight. "I've rewired a warp field generator with one hand in a sling, so this should be a piece of cake..."

"Jeassaho...Leave it" Reuben called but the grinning woman was already moving across to where the man was moving to fix the drink system. So much for a quiet drink to talk and have a moment without the rest of the crew around them. It only made Gregnol move to assist just encase it did indeed start a bar fight like he suspected was going to happen any second despite the human-looking mans venture into the fray. "Do you need any help?" The Betazoid asked brightly carrying her strong drink with her just encase someone decided her drink looked better than what the bartender had been issuing previously.

"No, thanks, I've got this," Burnie replied, glancing up only briefly as he opened a panel.

"If you don't I'll never let you live it down," Liha snarked, as she filled glasses from one of the real bottles on the top shelf. Looking at the Betazoid, she nodded to her drink and lifted the bottle slightly. "Want that topped off? He used to hold a record for restarting warp cores, so drinks will be back to the cheap booze soon."

"Why not," Jeassaho said holding out her glass looking down at the panel open. It was not complicated but it certainly did look broken. "You might want to be careful with that red bit," Jeassaho warned a second before the power failed and the underwater club plummeted into darkness.

"Frak..." Burnie pulled a small utility light out of his jacket as Liha snorted a laugh.

"Pleased to have your assistance. I'm going to enjoy reminding him of that for weeks," the Romulan announced and topped Jeassaho's glass to the rim. Then, obvious to the chaos ensuing around them in the bar, she shot a glass herself and grinned down at Burnie. "Figures Starfleet never taught their engineers how deal with real alcohol. Maybe you should make the drinks and let me fix that?"

"And have it spit some toxic version of Romulan ale? Nah." He tinkered a bit, getting partial power back. Then examined the red bit more closely and frowned. "Huh. I'd say what the Academy never covered was Ferengi-level profit skimming. Kinda ingenious really... this chip changes the mix to alcohol ratio, based on how late and how many drinks sold..."

"WHAT?!?" a burly man at the bar yelled, knocking his stool backward into another man, as he jumped to his feet ready to hit someone. "They've been cheating us!"

"Oh dear... let's get the power on and then exit this place." Jeassaho was already kneeling to help the other Engineer handing off her drink to Reuben who stood there looking less than impressed as she watched the scene start to play out. Every time he tried to do something nice, something like this happened. In the Marine Bazar, he lost her and she discovered him a Security Chief and now she was involved in what was fast descending into a brawl.

Liha was also assessing the scene with a practiced eye. She wasn't that worried though - past training and experience immediately suggested that she had bottles, alcohol, and could create a spark... She sighed, realizing that despite his love of fire and explosions, Burnie would almost certainly object. And technically he'd have a point since there was potential for arrest and some authorities might try to send her back to RSE. Noting the bartender making a break for an employee exit, she reached down and pulled connections with one hand while yanking Burnie up by his jacket collar with the other.

"Hey!" he objected. "I can fix this."

"The power, sure. The fight? You're lousy at hand-to-hand." Picking up a couple bottles, she threw them over the crowd, yelling "Free booze!" and shoved him by main force in the direction the bartender had bolted. "Out is that way," she called over her shoulder to Jeassaho since Romulan honor wasn't completely dead to her, and the attempt to help deserved something in return.

Gregnol knew the signs it was going to get out of hand and quickly grabbed his wife's hand tugging her towards the door. Jeassaho smirked as she stopped dead and took the drink from his other hand downing it before finally conceding that they did need to leave. "Well, I guess that was one of our better date nights." Reuben murmured as they got into a glass corridor that would lead them eventually out.

They reached the door a second after it closed, but the security on the lock was so standard and trivial than Liha could've hacked it in her sleep. Within two beats - just long enough for Burnie to open his mouth to object and think better of it when a bottle crashed into the wall near his head - it was open and they were running through the back room and into a lift to the surface. After the lift doors closed and Burnie caught his breath, he looked over at the woman who had tried to help him and the guy with her. "So, uh, thanks for trying, and sorry for the trouble." He flashed a slightly awkward grin. "I'd offer to buy you a drink, but I think Liha here kind of provided that already."

At the awkward grin, Jeassaho burst into laughter as she caught her breath. She glanced at Reuben but he just stood there silently watching the situation barely looking out of breath or disturbed. "Trying is all that matters. Quite the dodgy set up there. Surprised they got away with it for long." She admitted crossing her arms. "I am Jeassaho by the way." The Betazoid introduced herself.

Liha inclined her head fractionally in acknowledgement. "Liha."

Seeing that she had reverted to cautious tight-lipped Romulan, Burnie gave a friendly smile. "Mike Burnstein. And I apologize if my friend's high standards for alcohol ruined your evening."

"Not in the slightest. Reuben Gregnol." The Captain held out his hand to the other man, "One of our better date night I suspect." He did not want to say it but it was normally someones high standard over alcohol that ruined overs. It was nothing new.

"Pleased to meet you," Burnie replied, taking the proffered hand, and ignoring the mildly disgusted eyebrow tilt the gesture always elicited from Liha. No matter how long she lived around humans the idea of touching a strangers' hand - in public, no less - still struck her as quite unseemly. "And if that's the case, I'll do my best to avoid any future date nights," he joked.

"Please. We do not get many nights away from our crew." Jeestroyet looked between the pair. "What about you too? Date night?" The Engineer asked the burning question that she had been wanting to ask for a moment while her husband did the whole human male ego thing.

Burne and Liha had exchanged a glance at the mention of the couple having a crew, at the question about 'data night' it shifted to appalled. Liha's brows lifted nearly to her hairline at the idea that anyone could imagine that her standards were that low. Burnie just laughed. "Definitely not a date night. We've been traveling together while Liha comes up to speed to take the UFP engineering exam -"

"You mean, while I spend enough time working with an accredited engineer to be allowed to take it," Liha corrected pointedly. "And in exchange, I keep him from getting beaten senseless when he doesn't pick up on situations like the one back there."

Burnie cocked an eyebrow at her, 'a situation you created' plain on his face even if he didn't say it. "In any case," he continued. "We were just in there to see if we could pick up any leads on ships looking for crew."

Gregnol grinned at the horrified look on both there faces. Yeah, really not a date night, that kind of emotions could not be faked at all. "Engineers?" Jeassaho glanced at her husband for a second, almost a silent communication happening between them which was entirely possible with her abilities but it was Gregnol who spoke up.

"I have a ship needed Engineers." He said pointing up to where the Starbase was. "I have a lot of crew who have UFP engineering qualifications." He added temptingly.

"Ha!" Liha exclaimed. "Maybe I'll pick up a new 'supervising engineer'."

"You'd be starting the clock over, but, hey, if any of them are willing to put up with you..." Burnie shrugged. Turning to Reuben, he smiled. "I've been fully qualified for some time, and I've had onboard and shipyard design experience. What class of vessel have you got?"

“Constitution Refit.” Jeassaho said excitedly as she knew any engineer worth their qualification would jump at the chance to work on such a classic.

"Constitution..." Burnie gave a low whistle. "A real classic. I've only been on one before, the old prototype 1700 they keep around for training cadets." He shook his head quietly quietly, recalling Professor T'Sel restraining an eyeroll at all the human cadets remarking on the age of a ship that had been new when she was a cadet. "Yeah, I'd love to have to chance to be on a real working Connie."

"Well, we are here until Sunday," Gregnol said simply taking his wife's hand. "You have my name and I have yours. We always need an Engineer or two on Mary Rose, so the offer I guess is there." He looked at Jeassaho pointedly as if telling her to drop something.

"We shall consider it," Liha said non-committally as the lift doors opened. She did not take Burnie's hand, but everything about her manner suggested that he should shut up and follow the lead of the person whose nature and background were better suited to negotiation. For once taking the hint, he simply said, "Have a nice rest of your evening," and followed Liha out.

OFF::

Rueben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose

Lieutenant Commander (LOA) Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Michael Burnstein
(soon to be appearing as) Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Liha t'Ehhileh
Engineer/Science Tech
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Cam)