Card Games Disrupted

Posted on Fri Oct 9th, 2020 @ 11:45pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Jinx Jorasco

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: Unknown
Timeline: MD 01 20:00
1427 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Indigo would never get bored of discovering things on the old T’Liss warbird, but it was the mess area that felt the most boring part of it all, despite the ship being busy with people all full of hope in rescuing people. It felt like every other ship or complex that she had been to with people. “So, this room is boring,” she announced as she flopped into a chair with her usual group of people. It would be not unusual for a statement like that to come out of her lips. It was oh so human, as she was told many times. They had been together long enough to know each other's quirks.

Taev chuckled at Indigo's perpetual complaint. In his opinion, boring was good, as it generally indicated that no one was actively trying to kill you. He set his game of solitaire aside. "Would you prefer I juggle live grenades?"

Indigo leant over and moved a few cards on his solitaire before shrugging. "Maybe you would be entertained just as much? You cannot tell me you are not bored," she offered, thinking it must be as boring for him, as he had resorted to solitaire, of all games.

"I don't think entertained is quite the right word there." Taev rubbed his chin, affecting a thoughtful look. "Besides, a little boredom is nice. Breaks up the monotony of fighting pirates, slavers, Tal Shiar, Klingons, and the occasional Starfleet do-gooders that decide they need to 'do something' about us dangerous vigilantes."

"Or terrorists. Do not forget that," Indigo murmured, rolling her eyes at how thoughtful he looked. She looked at the other occupants. "What about you?" she asked with a smile at them both. Taev knew her. They had rolled around the universe together for a while, but she was inclusive and wanted to know everyone on the ship. Lives depended on knowing that.

“Boring is a state of mind, not a state of a room,” Danica Isei commented from where she lounged on a couch, reading on a padd. Tall and slender, the Betazoid had dark hair and eyes. She wore black combat pants and boots, and a white tank top cut off at the midriff, with black suspenders where she hung her sidearm and knife, though those were currently more comfortably placed off to the side on a nearby table. “There are plenty of things to do,” Danica said. “You just need to pick one.”

"The aft plasma exhaust needs cleaning out again. If you're bored." Kaylin shrugged as she sipped an ale quietly. As the conversation went on, she felt little need to involve herself too heavily. Instead she could just watch and listen.

"I cleaned the port one yesterday. Chief has already said I cannot help them there, as they are too busy trying to rendezvous with that civie ship," Indigo answered, making everyone look at her. The blue-haired woman shrugged. She had truly been growing more bored by the day.

“Yes. The Happy Tulip or something, right?” Danica said, looking up from her book. “What’s the deal with that?”

Indigo raised an eye at what came out of Danica's mouth. "Happy Tulip?" she repeated, unsure where that had come from.

“Yeah, the ship was named after some happy flower, wasn’t it?” Danica confirmed. “Odd choice the Humans made for the ship.”

"The Rose," Kaylin interjected. "It's the Rose, I think it was called." She frowned a little. She'd heard it mentioned by name a couple of times. Not enough to be intimately familiar; the contact had been Taev's. She glanced at him expectantly.

Taev sighed. He was never going to get to finish his game. "Mary Rose, some woman's name from Earth history, I think." He frowned at the card he flipped over; he was just playing solitaire, but he had a rough sense of what the cards symbolized. "All I know is there's a bust of her on the hull, so expect the crew to be a bit ..eccentric."

Indigo looked at Taev and thought that it was hilarious that he was telling them something silly before she remembered it was Taev and that was just not his style at all. He never lied or was humorous. "How do you know all of that?" she wondered innocently before she shrugged. "Cannot be any worse that you fine folks."

"Liha." Taev shrugged, leaving it at what to him was a perfectly acceptable explanation.

"The one that got away?" Indigo said looking at the man before looking at the others around the table.

"Hardly the only one." Taev puffed a short laugh. "She was one of the better ones though. Not a lot of hot pilots out there who're willing and able to strip a disruptor array or get their hands dirty tuning an engine." He smiled vaguely at the memory, then refocused on his game. Discussing feelings or love affairs wasn't his way. He flipped another card and placed it.

"Hmph. Could use someone like that on this ship," Kaylin remarked.

“You act like you do not like us much, Captain,” Indigo commented with a wink.

"Maybe you can recruit her. She was one of us, sort of, back before we got the fancy wolf tags," Taev said, glancing up at the captain. "Not that I think you'd like her much better than Indigo," he added with a teasing smile.

"Don't be so sure," Kaylin retorted, shooting Indigo a mildly smug look.

Indigo just looked at Teav and rolled her eyes at the smile on his face. "Karma will get you, my friend," she told him, wishing she was closer to poke his shoulder.

"Karma? Is that some sort of Human demonic belief or something?" Kaylin wondered.

"It is not demonic." Indigo laughed. Romulans were so funny sometimes, but it was nice to be able to share her beliefs, even if they scoffed and thought it silly. "It is spiritual. It is the principle of retributive justice determining a person's state of life and the state of his or her reincarnations as the effect of past deeds."

"Heh. If that's real, anyone born on Romulus should be paid in full for at least another life or two," Taev replied sardonically.

“So what are we going to be doing with these Mary Roses?” Danica asked. With a quick shift over to his side the woman moved one of the cards Taev had missed into its proper place in the tableau.

"You know I hate it when you do that," Taev groused, tipping a disapproving eyebrow at her. "And I hope this ship will be able to help us find survivors in that minefield."

"I still do not know how you are able to do that," Indigo commented softly, frowning that she had missed the card firstly, and secondly how she had the ability. The card game was fast becoming a group activity that would annoy Taev more than anything. "I am sure they will be more than capable of helping."

"There are desperately few ships left with the capability to track their way through a minefield and potentially accommodate any refugees," Kaylin noted, watching the card move with a keen eye. "They might be outdated, but their navigational sensors were once considered military-grade. They will be fine, especially if Liha is as good as Taev claims."

"You'll see when they get here," Taev responded with a shrug. He had some doubts about an ancient Connie, but he'd seen Liha work with less, and he got the impression she was impressed by the Human engineer she'd been working with, though he expected that she would never actually admit that. "It's an old ship. Just the fact that it's still warp-capable strikes me as a sign the engineers there are pretty good."

“Really old ship.” Indigo laughed. She had looked into the ship, and it was older than any ship she had seen in a very long time. “Anyone want a drink?” she offered, standing up to get a refill with a flick of her long hair.

"Not for me. We'll be rendezvousing with the Human ship in a couple of hours." Kaylin waved her hand.

Taev considered it -- it might settle a few nerves about seeing Liha again -- but shook his head. "Better to stay clear and ready to work."

"Suit yourselves," Indigo said, disappearing into the crowds. She would get her own drink and then go to bed. It was clear she would need a few hours sleep before she got back to the bridge.