Lt Herrick, LtJG Nilsen, 1LT Maxwell, Ens Lahl, Ens Caras, Ens Qurgh'Loq, Nurse Miash, Ens Nis, Ens Kovacs, Johnson - JOPA Bridgerton: Part 5
Lhandon Nilsen
((Holodeck 2, USS Octavia E Butler))
(Table C)
At this time, the champions, as Lhandon somewhat egotistically called themselves, had their own table, the members that had pulled off at least one prank as a part of JOPA. He was lent back in his chair, arms crossed and a huge smile on his face.
Zarah specifically positioned herself next to Yinn and sat down. Although they hadn’t really had the opportunity to talk much since the joining, she knew that Yinn was Yinn and always would be and she would never not be her friend. Loq might have, at one point, been a different person, but now they were both one person, and she simply accepted it as a matter of course. She did, though, want to actually sit and talk, to really figure it out. For the moment, though, she did her best to simply accept.
Loq: An old Bolian toast:
They raised a glass of blood wine in a Klingon hand and a rum and fish oil in their Bolian one.
Loq: May the bottom of your boat stay dry, and the back of your throat stay wet!
They drained the drinks together.
Max was leaning back in his seat, a glass of scotch cradled in both hands as it rested gently on his belly. His eyes were shut, and for all appearances he was dozing gently. He was in fact, simply resting his eyes and taking in everything going on around him. Opening his left eye, he glanced around the others before raising his glass.
Maxwell: Cheers.
Knocking the glass back, Max opened both eyes fully before sitting up and putting his glass down.
Josh took a sip from the root beer, which somehow tasted ‘fancier’ in the small floral teacup with matching saucer. As he looked to his left, he noticed the grin on the assistant ops chief’s face.
Herrick: (raising his eyebrows) Something to share with the class Lhando?
Nilsen: Oh nothing, I’m just happy with this you know. We’re all together, I’m not dead, and everyone is happy.
Herrick: A reasonable bar to measure against given what we’ve survived so far on this newly minted ship.
He punctuated the end with a smirk, but it was becoming more and more common to scrape by on the skin of their teeth.
Zarah: Here here! And the program is really neat.
Even if there were some slight historical inaccuracies, Zarah wasn’t about to bring them up then. Besides, this wasn’t about being accurate anyway.
Maxwell: Aye, its no bad at all.
Max took another look at their surroundings.
Yinn: Honestly, I’m relieved we’re not doing the murder part. After that last mission, I think we could all use a few days where no one’s trying to kill us.
Nilsen: Yeah, this was meant to be like an ironic murder mystery thing but the program didn’t work, so Mo :gesturing towards Caras:: and Lahl ended up fixing it, and we got this.
Zarah: Then thank you Mo and Lahl!
She lifted the glass that was full and saluted the newcomers. She hadn’t had the opportunity of really getting a good introduction, but they were part of JOPA, which automatically made them part of the family.
Nilsen: Yeah, they’re good folks. I owe ‘em both a lot.
Loq: It’s strange how quickly I went from being fresh out of the ocean to sitting by the fire with the elders.
Herrick: Hey now, ‘elder’ might be pushing it… let’s say you’re just quick on the draw to prank!
But it was a fair observation, he himself had only been aboard for just over a year and was running a department. As he looked at the pair of them scheme and plot a prank for some poor senior officer, he wondered how long it’d be before they made their way to chief-dom.
Herrick: And ::looking to Zarah:: How’s your progress on officially joining the ranks?
Even though the Butler was larger than the ‘Oumuamua, news still spread as quickly.
Zarah: Eh, I have to get my application to the Academy submitted in a month.
That got Max’s attention and a broad grin split his scarred face as he looked over at the youngest of those assembled. It made him think of Milly for a moment, sat at home with her head in a book and the two cats sprawled across her.
The normal confidence Zarah had dissipated when she thought about the exam. It was hard. Although she knew many people who had been accepted since she lived on a ship surrounded by officers, she also knew that a great many of them had been rejected at least once. She didn’t want to be rejected, she wanted to be accepted so she could move forward with her plans. If she was rejected, she’d have to wait a whole other year.
Nilsen: You’re doing it? Heck yeah, that’s awesome!
Lhandon almost launched out of his seat in joy for Zarah.
Loq squeezed her friend in a bear hug, pausing momentarily to make sure it was their Bolian body. Didn’t want to crush the poor girl to death. They folded their Klingon arms and beamed approvingly.
Yinn: I’m so proud of you! You’re going to be amazing.
Maxwell: Aye, you’re gonnae smash it lass.
Max reached out a hand towards her for a fist bump, honestly believing in the kid before him. From what he’d seen and knew of her from their JOPA adventures and one or two encounters about the ship, she was a smart girl that would go far.
Herrick: Your experience here on the Butler, along with having Sasha for a mom, you’ve got it in the bag — you don’t have anything to worry about.
Zarah: I’m trying not to worry about it. I do need a couple of reference letters, though.
She’d already thought about who she was going to ask, including Rouiancet and Arlill, but if any of those gathered with her were willing, she would definitely accept.
Nilsen: You got nowt to worry about. I think all of us here are willing to write something.
He looked to the others to confirm that they would. He needn’t worry about that.
Maxwell: Aye, the wee man’s right. You’ve no a thing tae worry about.
The fact that the “wee man” was a good six inches taller than Max was irrelevant, surely? Max nodded across the table at his pal.
Herrick: Of course! We’re your champions!
Zarah beamed again. Perhaps she’d just hit them all up for references and inundate Starfleet with them. Surely that would score her some extra points, right?
Zarah: Thanks everyone. Don’t be surprised if you receive a request from me!
Grinning, Zarah lifted her glass again, took a sip, and then formed her own question.
Zarah: Now that shore leave’s in full swing, what are you guys going to do?
Nilsen: Sleep…for like 18 hours a day. They’ve afforded me some R&R to recoup after what happened on Port Coray. Then got a conference I wanna attend at DS14.
Just a few months ago, Loq marvelled at DS9. Now DS14 was old news, and even the Dyson ring the ship had docked with felt like just another station.
Herrick: I’ll be meeting up with someone that I met on Starflirt — Just hoping I haven’t been subspace spoofed and meeting up with someone that seems to be too good to be true.
He wondered if he’d shared too much with the group, he’d often kept these things to himself, so he quickly advanced the topic onward.
Herrick: And yourself Max?
Maxwell: Aye? ::A slight pause.:: No plans so far myself, beyond keeping two eyes on that wee lass ae mine. She’s a mischief-magnet that one.
Which was a very accurate description of his highly curious, very intelligent and forever adventurous daughter.
Herrick: Well at least now that we have DS14, you won’t have to worry about her get mixed up into some of the less than savoury areas of DS9. ::grinning::.
There was a brief moment of silence as cups were refilled and folks munched on their finger foods. Then the man that no longer had curly locks spoke up.
Nilsen: Alright, only a couple of people know this so you folks keep this to yourself, I might be trading in the gold ::beat:: for purple.
For someone who’d had their brains quantum entangled, nearly been enslaved in an alien mime, and been beamed out of phase and back, Loq should have lost their capacity for surprise a long time ago. But this was a surprise.
Loq: I thought you loved ops!
Nilsen: I do, I’d been thinking about since our last mission on the Oumumuma, but stuff recently had got me thinking. I fell into ops because it was the last thing left that I was good at…but then, me and Tox. ::beat:: you know.
Even Zarah was taken aback. Of all the people on the ship, she couldn’t imagine Lhandon switching colours. Carefully, she eyed the man.
Zarah: Actually, I think purple would look really good on you.
Maxwell: Ambassador Nilsen is it, aye?
Max gave a short laugh, but there was a veneer of pride written across his face. Nilsen and Max hadn’t known each other long in the grand scheme of things - especially compared to the likes of Sil, Mirra so many others - but he was quietly proud of how the young Gaultian was turning things around after his little meltdown.
Josh wore a smile but beneath the surface he was surprised at the potential career track change the man was considering. Given how quickly his emotions rose to the surface, it could easily end up in a diplomatic incident. He had some rather big successes of late, but that shouldn’t overshadow what had happened. Then again, maybe he was working to increase his discipline in that area.
Herrick: I do think that having someone that has the lived experience of both Starfleet and being out here in the Gamma Quadrant with multiple first contacts makes sense — regardless we’re lucky to have you in either capacity. oO And maybe you’ll stop trying to poach engineers. Oo
Nilsen: There’s a diplomatic path ahead of me if I work at it. Maybe even the diplomatic corp itself, or some kind of role here. It ain’t going to happen right away, I’ve got a lot of training to do, but I’ve already done a couple of modules from the academy, and had some help from Martinson and Taggart along the way, they taught me a few things and set up me going to this conference.
Yinn: Lt. Martinson is a good man. I’ve enjoyed working with him. And now we’ll get to work together!
They hugged Lhando, while again keeping their Klingon body at safe distance, just putting a firm hand on Nilsen’s shoulder. Lhandon smiled and felt the love, after the hug, he put his hand on Loq’s and looked up
Nilsen: That we will be epic ::beat: that is if I go through with it.
Max pointed a casual finger at Nilsen.
Maxwell: I know Taggart, and he’d no have wasted his time if he didnae think you could do it. ::Max flashed a smile.:: Never know, he could be your protection detail one day.
Nilsen: Wait, you know Taggart? Bandanna and everything? How do you know him? If I’d know I would have let you know when he was aboard.
Max nodded in the affirmative, cutting out all the details with a simple response. Tales of their (mis)adventures could wait for another time.
Maxwell: Aye, we served wi each other back on one-eighteen. ::He paused a moment:: No tae worry though, he pinged me after your wee meeting.
Lhandon was almost in amazement that Maxwell and Taggart knew each other and had their own stories to tell, he wanted to know all.
Zarah: Oh, that sounds like a real story! Come on, I want to hear about it!
They were all there, what better time to tell it then right then? Zarah nudged the Bolian’s body playfully and winked at her friend.
Zarah: You’ve got a captive audience!
Nilsen: Yeah, you can’t leave us ‘anging like that!
Loq: This ship runs on dilithium and gossip!
Maxwell: Aye, true. But no the now.
Zarah: Fine, but I reserve the right to hear it later!
Zarah lifted her glass and pointed it at Maxwell, then downed the rest contained within.
Zarah: One of the nice things about being an officer is that you actually get shore leave. Even when I’m on break, I have to study, but it’s worth it.
Some day, she wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore, and if she was even luckier, she’d get to explore the Gamma Quadrant like she was then, but as an actual officer that time.
Herrick: I mean you are getting a break from being chased around by hallucinations, which is probably giving you a rest in some fashion ::smirking:: but I take your point. To be honest though, I do miss those days — less fly by the seat of your pants; things were more concrete.
Maxwell: You’ve ne’er been in a shuttle wi’ me lad.
Max chuckled to himself.
His shuttle-piloting skills could probably best be described as heavy-handed. Oddly, he was far better at piloting much bigger vessels.
Zarah: I do fully intend on having some down time though. Yinn, we haven’t done anything together in ages!
Ah, the life of a Starfleet officer. Between the deadline for her application and all the missions, the two had been passing ships in the night.
Loq squeezed her shoulder, taking care to use their gentler Bolian hand.
Yinn: You're right. I've been too busy studying, well… [each body gestured towards the other] …myself. You should come down to the lab and see what I've done so far! I feel like I'm finally doing really important work!
Nilsen: Why you think I go so hard on these things?
Snorting a laugh, Max grinned at his taller pal.
Maxwell: Because you’re a big dafty who’s glutton fae punishment?
Zarah grinned and nodded to her friend. Yeah, she would do just that, head to the labs and study something kinda weird, kinda cool, but at least it would give her more time with Yinn.
Before Nilsen could articulate this though, Morro tapped him on the shoulder.
Caras: I think you owe me a dance.
Nilsen: What? Now?
Caras: Is there a better time for it? I know you’ve been practising.
Nilsen: I mean, yes…I guess…I said I would. I just wasn’t expecting we do it now.
Caras: Isn’t this a dance floor? It is for dancing right?
Morro motioned to the area reserved for dancing. His voice dripping with sarcasm
Caras: Who is ready for some dance?
Morro was always ready for dance
Loq: I am always ready to dance.
Their Klingon and Bolian bodies both held their arms up, and began to move them imperceptibly in the traditional Bolian style.
Maxwell: Rest ae you getting up, aye?
Zarah: I need a partner!
Zarah laughed, quite happy to participate in the dancing, even if her style didn’t really fit Bridgerton.
When it came to dancing, Max had a whopper of a secret unknown by a single soul aboard. And the battle-scarred Marine fully intended to keep it that way.
Nilsen: Alright. Alright okay. ::Whisper:: it’s just us now, I mean…can it be,,,erm??
Caras: Doesn’t have to be just you, the rules were I’d try rugby and you’d try some dance. ::Clapping:: music please
The Classical violinists at the edge of the area cordoned off for dancing began playing lively fiddle music. More in line with the American west than the Regency era.
Nilsen: That…yep it’s what we agreed.
Caras: This Is called a square dance. It’s from this era, I’ll teach it to you all
Lahl: Ooh, haven’t done this since the Academy with Jennifer. ::assuming the proper position as she remembered from before::
Josh had remained sitting until one of his fellow lower-deckers linked arms with him and hauled him outta his chair. The joke would be on them with his two left feet, but regardless, he felt good about his last JOPA meeting — one for the memories.
Maxwell: Wheyyy! ::Max called after the engineer:: Aff you go lad!
Zarah: Count me in!
Square dancing might be from the era, but she had a feeling that people dressed like that probably didn’t participate in that style. She didn’t really care, because they weren’t there to keep to the era, they were there to have fun, and that’s just what they were going to do.
(END)
Lieutenant Josh Herrick
Chief Engineer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240005JH3
he/him/his (player/character)
&
Ensign Elijah Kovacs
Engineering Officer
USS Octavia E. Butler
&
Lieutenant JG Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
Assistant Chief of Operations.
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)
&
Senior Chief Petty Officer Miash
Head Nurse
USS Octavia E Buttler NCC-82850
Writer ID.: O239910TA4LT
&
Ensign Kimonzi Lahl
Engineering Officer
U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler
O240107KL4
&
Ensign Morro Caras
Engineering Officer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240106MC1
&
Ensign Qurgh'Loq Yinn
Science Officer/Diplomatic Corps
USS Octavia E Butler
O240011Y12
&
1st Lieutenant Arturo Maxwell.
Marine Officer, 4/73 Marines.
USS Octavia E Butler: NCC-82850.
O239311AM0
&
Zarah Johnson
Civilian
USS Octavia E. Butler
M239008AD0