Ensign Tho’Bi - The Trouble with Andorians

[Tobi]

(( Main Mess Hall - Deck 3, USS Artemis-A ))

In the mess and the fuss of crewmembers laughing and reacting to the mess and fuss of holographic table top game, sat an Andorian Ensign who wanted anything but mess and fuss. Yet here he sat, and the reason for that, his roommate, Ensign Cole. 

She leaned forward and spun the wheel, getting a seven. As her NX ship moved across the board it landed on SECTION 31 MISSION

Holo-NOT-Grok: ::smiling evilly:: You’re progress has been blocked by an active Section 31 mission. Pay 50 bars of latinum to get them to look the other way or go back five spaces.

Cole: ::exasperated sigh:: Can’t help but feel like you're shaking us down Grok. ::dropping 50 bars into the pot.

Tho'Bi: ::to Cole:: Shake down translates into Ferengi as, business as usual.

Meris: Response

It was Roy’s turn next, and he leaned forward and spun the wheel. It landed on thirteen – of course. He counted the spaces aloud in a mock-dramatic whisper as he moved his tiny Defiant.

Bancroft: One… two… three… temporal nonsense… five…

The final square read TEMPORAL ANOMALY.

The Ferengi grinned.

Holo-NOT-Grok: ::smiling evilly:: You’ve been aged forty years. Pay 100 bars of latinum for genetic reconstruction or lose 3 turns due to back pain.

Roy grumbled and slid the required payment into the central pot.

Bancroft: ::muttering:: Forty years older and still not eligible for early retirement. At this rate I’ll be dead and working overtime.

Cole: Could be worse, could be forty years older and still an Ensign. ::laughing::

K'Wara: Well, pretty sure a temporal anomaly doesn’t hand out pips, so he’s living that nightmare now.

Tho'Bi: ::to Bancroft:: Could be much worse, Ferengis collect debts even after the Captain airlocks you ::beat:: there's no escape. 

Bancroft/Meris: Response

The Andorian’s turn came round with a tiny arc of ten gold-pressed latinum bars zipping towards him. The dabo wheel spun. Twenty one lightyears. A rundown space station was in range. He could increase his profits from the Holo-Suites ten fold.

The Enterprise NCC-1701 REFIT touched down on the rundown space station and lights went down too. A bright white spotlight snapped at the center of the game. The silhouette of a floating throne and figure upon it manifested in the gloom.

The figure broke into the spotlight. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know. Holo-NOT-Q.

Holo-NOT-Q: Sorry to disappoint you Ensign! You won't be increasing your profits this turn…. Oh, I know, the Universe can be so unfair. ::glint in the eye:: …and it's about to get a whole lot less fair! ::snaps fingers::

Flash of white light. A holo-lute appeared in the Andorian’s hands.

Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

Holo-NOT-Q: Sing for your supper, Andorian! …or lose all your money and forfeit the game ::smiles::

K’Wara: Well, that’s certainly a twist. 

Bright flash of light. Holo-NOT-Q was gone, but the spotlight remained. It fell on the lute holding Andorian. 

K'Wara/Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

The Andorian shot an accusative look at his roommate Ensign Cole. 

Cole: Response 

The only songs he knew were old Andorian Engineering Clan songs, he sang with his mother when he was a boy. He had no idea how to play the strange wooden instrument in his hands, but to his surprise, as he started to sing, the Lute played along.

Tho'Bi: ::passible singing:: Vrel’sha’mar, vrel’keth’nor. Zal’norash kethni’del. Kagh! Kagh! Kagh! Vrel’sha’mar, vrel’keth’nor. Zal’norash kethni’del. Kagh! Kagh! Kagh!

The newly arrived Operations Officer started to applaud.

Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

K’Wara: Bravo-

For reasons never to be understood, the Andorian continued on into the second verse.

Tho'Bi: ::passible singing:: Lex’jal’tor, vrel’keth’nor. Zal’krasha kethni’del. Kagh! Kagh! Kagh! Lex’jal’tor, vrel’keth’nor. Zal’krasha kethni’del. Kagh! Kagh! Kagh!

The spotlight clicked off. The regular game lighting snapped back in. And the lute was gone. The words “Challenge Competed” rotated above them. The Andorian sighed a shoulder shuddering sigh of relief. 

K’Wara: Very good! Bravo, Tho’Bi.

The Andorian smiled bashfully and skimmed a touch, but bowed slightly nevertheless. 

Tho’Bi: ::to K'Wara:: Thank you. Sorry about the second verse. 

Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

The turns rolled around the table. Ferengi hijinks, holographic oddities, fortunes and misfortunes, all to the spin of the Dabo Wheel. 

K’Wara: It was a great rendition. I like music as much as the next one, but I wouldn’t dare call myself an adept vocalist. That was an Andorian song, I take it?

The conversation started easily enough for the young Andorian. 

Tho’Bi: ::to K'Wara:: Yes, I sang it with my mother when I was young. She is an Engineer too. It is a song of her clan, the Birev clan…

As the conversation went on, the young Andorian found himself caught up in a swell of melancholy and dread. Melancholy at the thought of his mother and his life on Deep Space 3, dread at the thought of the home world, that was never his home, and could be his grave.

Tho’Bi: ::to K'Wara:: …the Engineer's clan ::smiles::

The clan of his blood, of his birthright. The clan he could never join.

K’Wara: Interesting. Can’t say I’ve heard much Andorian music in my life. ::nods:: I like it.

Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

The Cygnian's turn came round next. They paid a not-insignificant-sum of latinum to the Holo-NOT-Grok as their version of the USS Voyager unfortunately had bought an entire cargo-load of not-quite Self Sealing STEM Bolts, and had to buy replacements for the entire load from the quality-guaranteed stock of the Grok Brothers, complete with a lecturing word of caution from Holo-NOT-Grok about Rule 17: a contract is a contract is a contract… but only between Ferengi.

K’Wara: Sometimes I’ve come to realize since joining up with Starfleet. Despite space travel being such a common thing, not many people actually do it, certainly not civilians. ::looks around as the turn passes:: Did any of you travel much before joining up?

Tho'Bi: Ferenginar, a few times. Places around Deep Space 3. Some non-Federation worlds ::nodding:: which was cool ::smiles::

K'Ware/Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

The turn fell to the Andorian. He had no idea who, if anyone, was winning. The Dabo Wheel spun. Fifteen light years. Cargo Job? Seemed simple enough. The holographic Ferengi appeared above the Dabo Wheel, framed by a 23rd Century Viewscreen, dressed in the garb of a Starfleet Admiral of the same era, and topped off with an ill-fitted hair piece. When he started speaking, the Holo-Ferengi's diction was oddly timed, often with off-beat pauses. 

Holo-Ferengi: Captain… the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 REFIT must ::beat and:: journey to Deep Space Station K7 to! ::beat and:: collect a shipment of ::and:: Quadrotriticale grain and ::beat and beat and:: transport it to Sherman's Planet. Do you! ::beat and:: accept this challenge? ::grins::

K'Wara/Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response?

There was something very familiar about all of this… the station… the grain, and planet. His antennae twitched. He shrugged at the Holographic, hair piece wearing Ferengi. 

Tho'Bi: Challenge accepted.

The Holographic Ferengi cackled with laughter with such force, his hair piece fell off and landed in the center of the Dabo Wheel. Except it wasn't a hair piece anymore… it was a small, fluffy lump that chirped and trembled. 

Tho'Bi: Uh oh.

K'Wara/Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response?

A great thundering holographic mass of fluffy, chirping, trembling, lumps descended onto the Andorian, burying him up to his neck, and spreading out across the table and deck. The room around him echoed with laughter and delight, as rogue Tribbles continued to drop onto the Andorian's head at random intervals.

The Andorian glanced over at Ensign Cole, shook his head, and grinned. He then slung a Holo-Tribble in her direction and laughed. 

Cole: Response 

K'Wara/Bancroft/Meris: Response

The Andorian pointed at Ensign Bancroft. 

Tho'Bi: ::grinning:: look out Doc! You’ve got one under your nose.

K'Wara/Cole/Bancroft/Meris: Response

Tag/TBC

((OOC: ‘The Trouble with Tribbles’

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tribbles_(episode) ))

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Ensign Tho’Bi

Engineering

USS Artemis-A

A240203T11