Lt. Commander Foster - Rules of Acquisition
Jamie LeBlanc
((Quark's, Promenade, StarBase 118))
Wyn couldn’t help but chuckle as Fazek gave a side eye to a portion of the bar that was damaged in the recent memory loss event. The only part that wasn’t still squeaky clean and shining. As Fazek muttered something about Klingons Wyn could only imagine what transpired.
Voss: So memory loss, floating Klingons, kidnappings, tornados… I think that officially qualifies as my strangest mission so far, but then again, it’s only mission number two. I imagine it can’t have been all that strange for you, given everything you’ve seen?
Foster: Oh galaxy no, this isn’t the strangest thing I’ve endured in Starfleet. Not by a longshot!
Fazek: Well then! ::he slapped his hand on the counter:: Give us a tale, Mr. Andorian!
Oh boy, now all eyes were on him.
Voss: Yeah! Twelve plus years in the fleet - you must have some wild stories.
Oh did he ever. Some of which were funny, some of which were dark. He decided to go with a funny one.
Foster: Well, this was a couple of years ago now, StarBase 118 hosted the Galactic Antiquities Exchange and Roadshow Convention. And in the middle of the grand gala event one of the presenters uncovered an alien orb – and yes it’s always an alien orb – which knocked us all out and shrunk the audience down to about 10 centimeters tall. Which made it incredibly easy for an accomplice to kidnap a chunk of the senior staff. We woke up on a pirate ship and had to escape and track that orb down while being small enough to be playthings for cats and space voles…
He continued on accounting their daring escape, sneaking on to the pirate’s bridge, getting a commline call through to the Narendra and their unshrunk companions, and assisting from inside as the Narendra tracked the pirates down to rescue everyone.
And then finally the medical mess that followed afterwards as everyone was brought back up to their regular size.
Fazek: You don't say!
Foster: I do say!
Voss: Okay, yeah, that story definitely wins.
Wyn grinned a bit. He might have embellished the vole fight scene a little, but in his defense, he remembered it in nightmarish looming dreamlike qualities and he brought some of that nightmare into his dry, humorous delivery.
Foster: I’m glad I picked that one, then. Maybe I’ll have to start curating stories. But then I’d need more drinks.
Fazek: I think that synthale was enough. I don't want to hear your stories on real liquor. Are you looking for a job by any chance? I could use a solid stand-up act! What can you do? ::he turned around to the woman:: Dance, maybe? Play the pipes?
Wyn chuckled, thinking that unintentionally Fazek was making the perfectly correct decision. A drunk Wyn might tell the really absurdly funny stories… or the really dark stories. Sober Wyn tended to focus on the middle ones that made for the best tale.
Voss: Oh sure. Is this the audition? Once I hit it big as a cabaret singer, I can leave this whole Starfleet thing behind. My parents would be so proud.
He looked towards Lyra, antennae curling forward, trying to figure out how much of that was whimsy and if there was any truth behind it.
Foster: I sense your parents would be anything but… unless you’re a really good singer?
She had a sweet voice so he could see it being true.
Voss: ::shaking her head:: Don’t tempt me. I do love to sing, actually. ::to Fazek:: If you had a karaoke setup in here, I could definitely strongarm some people into coming. Just saying.
Foster: They used to have Klingon Karaoke in the Qo’noS district until it got too rowdy and they shut it down.
Which was probably for the best. But if he remembered correctly there was something of a scandal finding Commodore Taybrim and the then-head of the 292nd marines, Major Tatash in the Klingon Karaoke bar competing against a trio of singers from the house of Var’tesh. There was a lot of bloodwine involved, and the whole thing almost came to blows.
Sol told him about it, so he wondered if she was there, too. Then again Sol ended up knowing just about everything so Wyn didn’t question too hard. Neither the Commodore nor the Major checked into sickbay afterwards and he never had any medical reports so the whole thing felt like it was blown out of proportion.
Either way, several weeks later the Klingon Karaoke bar shut down. Some people were very sad about that. Wyn never went there so he was very indifferent about the whole affair.
Fazek: ?
Voss: ::with a bright smile:: No, no, there’s *nothing* gamblers love more than hearing torch songs at two in the morning. Trust me.
Foster: It’s a scientific fact that drunk people sing better… ::he smiled in a way that clearly said he was joking.:: Or was that drunk people are better audience members?
Fazek: ?
Voss: Guess I’ll just have to start my own bar. Which, actually… I’m curious - why run a Quark’s? Rather than your own place. Just for the name recognition or…?
Wyn turned towards Fazek, curious at the question.
Fazek: ?
Foster: I suppose, Deep Space Nine is a big name that looms in everyone’s mind. The wormhole! The Emissary! The focal point of the dominion war.
Fazek/Voss: ?
Foster: I was a kid during that time. I kind of remember it, because my Dad was in Starfleet. It does still hold that cultural mysticism.
Fazek/Voss: ?
Foster: And is there a Rule of Acquisition that governs this?
Fazek/Voss: ?
~*~
tags/tbc
~*~
Lt. Commander Shar’Wyn Foster
Executive Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
~Julian Beck
E239010ST0