When Two Friends Meet
Posted on Fri Oct 27th, 2017 @ 5:26pm by Lieutenant Commander Katherine Malbrooke & Michael Taggart
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 11:22am
3,042 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 1 - Pioneering Spirit
Location: Empok Nor
Timeline: MD001 1300 Hrs
Tags: SD 71362.1300
Pulling her knapsack higher up onto her shoulder, Patricia approached the front of the shuttle as she placed her hand on the shoulder of the pilot and offered him a slight smile as she watched the station grow bigger through the shuttle window.
Shamrock...adjust your course mark 0.25 and head for landing bay twenty six.
"Acknowledged Empok Nor. We will see you in t minus ninety seconds. Have a cold one waiting." The male pilot sent a wink back to his passenger. "Been a long one Ma'am but just about home now."
Patricia patted the pilot's shoulder as she watched his careful maneuvers; it wasn't out of doubt that he may not know what he was doing, it was more so out of nerves for what she knew awaited her inside. It wasn't that she was not looking forward to see Katherine in the flesh again, it was that both women were sure to have changed...who was she kidding, she was scared of her friend's reaction when Kat would finally see her in the flesh for the first time since all that had happened.
Patricia wasn't stupid...she knew very well Kat would shove her out an airlock if she knew her friend's thoughts but it didn't stop. No matter how much talking they had done over so much time it didn't take away from seeing eachother in person. All the changes...all the differences...they would be so much more obviously.
"Commander...Ma'am...Commander Montgomery!" The pilot was abit forceful in his last words but he found that the woman didn't seem to be listening and seemed to have missed the fact that they had reached their destination. "We have arrived Ma'am."
Patricia felt a blush flush across her cheeks as she patted the man's shoulder once more to try and cover up her lack of focus and having faded out. "Thank you Mr. Cann. Give my best to every body back at Starfleet and thank them again for loaning you to me for this journey. Enjoy your downtime at the station, it is well earned."
"Yes Sir! Already got a dabo table booked and am looking forward it to." The petty officer smiled back at his passenger before turning his focus back to powering down the shuttle and getting her ready for handover to the station mechanics.
Realising that she was dawdling and time wasting, Patricia forced herself to take a breath before moving to step from the shuttle; the limb in her leg barely noticeable unless you were truly looking for it.
Kat stood at the airlock, "Open it up, open it up..." She was practically screaming at the young Cardassian who guarded the airlock. Finally the door spun open and there she was. Patricia Montgomery her oldest and dearest friend. "Trish..." Was all Kat said and ran to hug her, she smiled as she twitched with excitement.
Patricia had to brace herself as the storm she called Kat wrapped her arms around her waist and nearly unsettled her off of her feet. There may have been four inches difference in the height of the two women but it didn't stop the young officer returning her friend hug with a very tight squeeze.
Not usually an emotional woman, Patricia felt tears prickly at her eyes as suddenly it was all so real. Here she was in flesh and blood. "Damn it Kat...you need to give me some warning when you do things like that."
Kat had a few tears streaming as she hugged her friend. "Trish it is great to have you here in the flesh. Welcome to Empok Nor, welcome home. I have to go surprise Mal, but do you want to do lunch and then you can check in with your CO." Kat beamed life would be good from this point on.
As her friend pulled away, Patricia’s hand wiped the woman’s cheeks free of the dampness that the tears had left behind. Keeping her other hand on her friend’s hip she studied the girl for a moment. Only ever once before had she seen Kat so happy...the moment before she walked down the aisle to marry the man that she loved. In that split second, the young woman had known that life was being completed for both of her friends.
“Stop that now...You want Ty to see you with puffy eyes when he sets eyes on you after so long? Give me a shout when you both manage to untangle yourselves and we will grab a bite to eat...you can fill me in on weather or not you managed to make him cry so as I can use it as ammunition when I get to see him.”
"Sure for now, let us go grab a bite I have some time. Or at least I can take you to see the ship if you want." Kat beaming as the two walked the promenade of the station.
That was an idea...she was very tempted to take up the offer on seeing the ship but at the same time knowing now that Kat was meeting Ty soon she didn’t wish to intrude upon the couples first meeting. “If your sure you have the time, a bite to eat sounds great. There’s only so much of a space that shuttle rations can fill on such a long journey.”
"There is a great little pub on the promenade we can go have some lunch and then back to work. The White Stag is what it is called. Come..." Kat said.
The pub was busy but there were two stools empty at the bar. The white stag's head sign hung lazily outside the open door as laughter and cheers could be heard from the inside. Mickey was working the crowd when he noticed two women in Starfleet uniforms come strolling in. He had not seen them before at the station and he prided himself that he knew everyone. So he walked right up to them.
"Good afternoon to ye lasses. I am Michael Taggart but me friends call me Mickey and this be me pub. Welcome, a thousand times welcome. Is dere anything I can get ye." The Scottish accent rang heavy and loud through the crowd.
Patricia was a little taken aback by the thickness of the hosts accent, the above average volume of the occupants voices possibly not helping the situation. “We’ve just arrived for a bite to eat...we can go elsewhere though if the place is full.”
"Ach, dis place is neer full. Would ye like to sit at de bar or a table. Ach ye know what I'll just sit ye at the bar. It will give me a chance to get to know ye. Come..."
Mickey led the ladies to two open chairs at the bar, and he rather lithely jumped to behind the bar. "Now can I get ye somethin te drink. Here be the bill o fare." He handed the two ladies a menu each.
Patricia blinked as she watched the bar tender acrobatics before turning to her friend with a laugh. “Seriously...only you could manage to find the most outrageous place on the station. I’m guessig the food is good at least?”
Kat laughed, "The best or so I am told." She then turned her attention to Mickey. "Well, Mickey thanks for the fine welcome and I will have a greyhound please. Go on Trish live a little, this from what I have been told is a taste of the Scotland of old."
"That it tis, lass, that it tis..." Mickey chimed in. "...And for you Commander."
Sliding her backpack down off of her shoulder, Patricia placed it down at her feet as she slide the strap around one ankle before levering herself up into the stool. “Aren’t you technically on duty Commander? I’m not quite sure what your husband will think if I deliver you to him drunk.” A twinkle and light smile skits her lips as she allowed herself to relax for what seemed like the first time in a very longtime.
"Oh, please let loose you're not officially here for another hour. No order before the man bursts into flames." Kat chided...
"And what may be yer names lasses..." Mickey said.
"I am Katherine Malbrooke, but you can call me Kat, and this one here is Patrica Montgomery." Kat added.
Patricia let out a little breath as she gave a small wave. She loved this woman to bits but the young woman found herself remembering how why at the beginning distance wasn’t such a bad thing. “One...and In deeply serious one drink Katherine. I’ve enough of an issue standing straight as it is.”
"Stop being a fuddy duddy and tell the man what it is you want." Kat replied as she mocked Patricia.
"Fud..." Patricia blinked as she looked at the other woman. "Bloody heck Kat...you don't any corners anymore do you?" Shaking her head with a laugh, the woman turned back to Michael before shrugging her shoulders a little, "What would you recommend?"
"Ach ye strike me as the martini type. How bout a dry one..." Mickey suggested.
“Shaken not stirred?” Patricia couldn’t resist the old joke as she shook her head in almost pity at herself. “Hold the olive would be great.”
"That's my girl..." Kat said.
Mickey made the drink and placed it in front of Patricia. "As ye were commanders." He said with a smile and walked away to go deal with a few other customers.
"So what do you think? Of the station and of the general orders for your ship?" Kat asked as she took a sip of her drink.
Sitting back into her stool, Patricia found the sensation a little awkward with her foot but tried to otherwise brush it off. Looking around her, the woman took in the sights and the smells of the establishment before turning to her friend with a smile. “It’s busy...when your used to sterile environments and medical professionals it’s nice to have a change in scenery.”
The second part of the question posed a more serious answer for Patricia as she used taking a sip of her drink as a means to give herself another few seconds. “I’m intrigued by them...it’s evident Starfleet are using Ty to the best of their advantage. Tasking him with what he knows. The simplicity of manning the Cardassian lines may prove more challenging...in a crew equipped with Marines they aren’t quite used to sitting doing nothing.”
"Aaaaaand that is what worries me. The Pioneer is an exploratory vessel. But I looked up her weapons compliment, they have her armed to the teeth and as you said a compliment of Marines. Why? If it is meant to explore the Cardassian borders. Trish I would be lying to you if I said that I did not think there was some other ulterior motive here." Kat took a sip of her drink, as she stared straight ahead for a moment. A plate of Scotch eggs were placed in front of the ladies.
Reaching out, Patricia found herself feeling ravished as she selected one of the eggs while mulling over her friend’s words. “Does anyone truely understand the motivation of the Federation and how they think? It could just be because they are being overcautious. Surely if there was anything more to worry about you’d have heard it here at the station?”
"The Starfleet personnel are mum about most things pertaining to what is going on in the sector. It seems that the portrait they are trying to paint is that the Cardassians, and Starfleet are happy bedfellows. But, I don't buy it... Not after all those years of animosity." Kat reached over to the plate and took one of the eggs and bit into it.
“Yes but also know better than anyone that Starfleet can only manage to hide so much. They are leaker than a sieve when it comes to bits and pieces doing the rounds and a station full of different races and different people and different ways of life is gonna know more than you or I.” Patricia indicated towards their bartender with a smile. “Isn’t that right Michael?”
Mickey smiled broadly... "Oh, that it tis lass, that it tis... And call me Mickey. We bartenders know just about anyting. What we dannae know we can make up." He added with a chuckle.
“Then do you mind me asking Mickey...have you heard anything that may indicate that my friend’s concerns have a foundation?” Patricia took a sip of her drink as she glanced between Kat and Michael. She wasn’t trying to belittle her friend’s worries, it was more so because she understood Kat and she understood that now her and Ty were reunited her friend would be more scared than ever of loosing him or that closeness again.
"Now, I feel the need to tell you that you never heard dis from me. I have a reputation to uphold. But, Captain Vela has a shiny new starship berthed in the lower pylons. Why? What happn'd ta de ole one. Da Fearless... Well dats just it no one really knows save for da crew and starfleet command. De USS Firebird has been all around the sector doing only god knows what. An now the USS Pioneer is making berth. That sounds like the building of a fleet if ya ask me. An where dere is a fleet dere is bound ta be some trouble. So is Kat right, meh possibly, but wha do I know, I am jus plain ole Mickey." He smiled with a knowing look to his eye. There was definitely more behind those eyes than he was letting on.
Patricia choose to ignore the visual signals and instead turned back to Kat with a wave of her hand and a further smile as the alcohol seemed to hit her head. The smile hid a feeling of concern...her friend could be right...she needed a chat with Ty it seemed. “See...nothing to be worried about. The boys are being boys and gathering up some new toys to play with. Now will you stop worrying?”
Kat gave her friend a stern look. "Yeah, I guess... But you be careful, and bring him home. And while you are out there galavanting among the stars. Those of here will get you a mister Montgomery... What say you to that Mickey?" Kat winked at her friend as she started to laugh.
"Ach, I think we can find a young lad who will be suitable. But now I have a question or both of ye. What are you two doin ere?" Mickey replied.
"I am the new Assistant Chief Engineer here for the station, so I am sure to be your best friend to keep things operational." Kat had not missed a beat.
Patricia could feel her face still white...Kat just never gave up. The endless blind dates, the dropped names, the inadvertent run ins...in shy of 20 years it seemed that she just wouldn’t give up. Another word she needed with Ty....
“Lieutenant Commander Patricia Montgomery. It seems that I’m to be the Executive Officer of the USS Pioneer...do you think you could find ways to keep this woman permanently busy for me?”
"Oh, aye that I can, that I can. I have been trying to get a holographic hearth installed. One that looks like the ole days back home. Ye think ye can get that dunne do ye." Mickey said.
“This woman can do a lot Mickey...hasn’t become a Lieutenant Commander by sitting on her hands doing nothing all day.” Pushing away her glass, Patricia realised that perhaps she’d had enough. “Mickey you can do me a favour...while she has me away babysitting the husband, can you babysit our Kat and keep her out of trouble?”
"I'll do that on one condition lass. Ye come back ere and swap stories with ole Mickey." he responded.
“Deal!” Patricia offered her hand with a grin, before giving Kat an ever so coy look. “See why you shouldn’t encourage me to drink...I get you into trouble.”
"That is something new..." Kat said. She downed the rest of her drink. "I guess we should get moving to face the rest of our lives. Come on..."
Giving Mickey a final wave, Patricia slid down off of her stool, finding her left leg buckled as she caught the seat for support. “Damn it...” The words were said under her breath but it would be moments more before the leg would stabilise. “Katherine...can you do me a favour?”
"Sure I owe you big time... Whatever you need Trish?" Kat's impulse was to catch her friend when she stumbled. However, she knew how proud Patricia was so she forced herself not to reach for her friend.
>tag
“Take a look over the schematics of this leg for me will you? I can ask Starfleet Medical to send you a copy.” Patricia looked over at her friend with a slightly strained smile, l trust you and something is still not quite one hundred percent right.”
"You got it Trish, I should have something for you when you get back from your first mission. Let me go meet my husband for the first time in years. You should get ready to show them who's boss... I will see if I can come aboard tomorrow to say hi and meet this crew my husband has assembled..." Kat had smirked during that whole statement.
A Joint Post By:
Lieutenant Commander Patricia Montgomery M.D.
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Commander Katherine Malbrooke
Assistant Chief Engineer, Empok Nor
Michael "Mickey" Taggart
Owner/Bartender White Stag Pub, Empok Nor
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