Intelligent Midnight drink
Posted on Mon Apr 9th, 2018 @ 3:44pm by Chief Petty Officer Leslie Calhoun & Staff Warrant Officer Jennifer Masters - Calhoun & Chloe de la Vega
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 9:30pm
3,493 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Enemy Within
Location: After 11-Deck 11
Timeline: MD004 2100 hrs
Tags: SD 71378.2100
Jennifer had changed out of her uniform. She wore a dark purple dress with black ballerina flats. She hated wearing high heels. She did taken her braids out, but put a hair clip in her hair. She walked in to the bar and pulled herself on a stool. She liked how it all looked like she just walked off the ship. The bartender walked over to her. She looked over the liquor bottles on this display. She tapped her hands on the bar, "I would like a..." It's been some time she was actually in a bar as she was too busy getting back in star fleet. "Something strong and sweet in any case." She said.
Chloe smiled, "How about a Broken-Down Golf Cart? It's Amaretto almond liqueur, melon liqueur, dash of lime juice all in a shot glass? Small, strong and sweet with a bit of a kick." She offered the pretty dressed young woman.
Calhoun usually was not much for social gatherings, don't grow too attached he would tell himself. But there was something about Masters, about this ship and this crew that brought it all back. The reason he enlisted all those many moons ago was to help and meet people. So he donned a plaid flannel shirt a pair of jeans and headed to the bar. His only affectation was a hat that bore the emblem and seal of the US Office of Naval Intelligence. That hat had seen better days.
He walked up the bar and sat down next to Masters. He spoke with his pipe clenched in the side of his mouth. "Wonderful piece of work Masters." He smiled and turned to the Bartender "Give me a scotch that is old enough to buy it's own scotch... Neat please, Darlin."
'Darlin' Chloe thought slightly intrigued by this older gent. Nevertheless she did as he had asked and poured him one of her older vintages of Scotch that would blow most out of the water.
"The broken-down golf cart sounds sweet, let's have it." Said Jen. She turned to Calhoun. "I didn't expect you'd be here." She looked to the shot glass that was put in front of her. She took a sip of it. "Wooh, that's good, I might go for another."
"Just because I am an old man, doesn't mean I need to act like one. I can give you young folks a run for their money." Calhoun's gruff voice was cut short by the arrival of the CIO. "Evening sir" he said and then took a swill of his scotch.
Joran slipped silently into the lounge wearing an untucked black, long-sleeved button-down shirt and dark blue jeans. His eyes wandered around the room for a brief moment before finding the others in his unit and making his way over to them, deciding to lean on the bar instead of sit down just yet. He gave Calhoun and Masters polite nods as he glanced at the woman tending bar and awaited his turn to be addressed. "Good evening."
Jen turned to Joran. "Looking sharp there. You should have one of these shots. They sure are sweet." She finished it and looked to the bartender, "What else you got?" She asked. "I hear you, old man, a fox can loose its fur but not its tricks right." She said to Calhoun. She noticed everyone's 'sirs' rolled out of their mouths easily when ever a higher ranking person walked in to the room. Jen just wasn't the type to call every higher up sir. She just did what she was told. Besides they were off duty.
Joran watched Jen appear to loosen up and despite his reserved demeanour, he liked the enlisted officers. After all, he was one until recently. He grabbed one of the shots off the bar and downed it in one go. "You're right about one thing, Masters: these are good." His expression softened a bit as he slid another one towards her.
Not a hard deduction but Chloe did think these 3 were from the same department. Their mannerisms, familiarity and from the fact that the older one wore a beaten cap bearing the Intelligence logo she was sure from where they came. The younger man seemed to be their leader, at least of that group, and he was handsome but didn't seem to act like he knew it. That'll be the spooks for you... She flashed a smile or two their way whenever they glanced up from their shots which they seemed to be consuming in large quantities. "I can always give you something stronger... but mi capitán may think me a bad influence on his people." she said flirtatiously.
Jen hit her hand on the table. "I don't know your name, miss, but I don't see the captain here, do you? Besides, if I walk out of here and put my uniform on again, he can tell me what to do. In here, my name is Jennifer and I want to have fun. So what do you think fellas, are we getting something stronger?" She looked to her two companions and put her arms around them laughing.
"Chloe, Chloe de la Vega... and I didn't say I wouldn't." she replied with a devilish smile. "In here is my world, not his."
Ever the fleet man and loyal to the end Billy spoke up. "Now, now let us not be too harsh on the Cap. He is a good man and deserves our respect. But I will tell you what, if he came in here and tried to give me an order I would pop him right in the mouth." He said with a broad smile and he turned to Chloe "So tell me little lady what's a classy lady like you doing on a bucket of bolts like this."
"And mess up his pretty face? Shame on you, how would he survive?" she joked as the man turned to face her and asked her why she was here. "Well I get to see a lot of handsome men and women like yourself enter here with the best of intentions of not drinking too much then after some time become wild, loud and uncontrollable... that's how I like my relationships." she finished with a wink and poured some more shots.
Joran's eyes watched the bartender and upon her discussing wild personal relations, he glanced away and used a cigarette as the excuse, slipping one into his mouth and pulling out his lighter. Being intimate was a subject that used to flow easily from his mouth in his enlisted days... before she was killed. Now he tried to be polite and shy away from that subject himself, especially with all her memories carried within himself.
Jen took another shot. "Well, then I must be in the right place. Not good with relationships, but I can be wild, loud and with a couple more of these...uncontrollable." She grinned.
Calhoun turned to his new boss. "Well sir good to see you sharing a drink with your men. I also wanted to say sorry about Beckett he is just pissed that he blew his chance." He took another swig of the scotch.
Chloe looked at the tall quiet man and saw pain in him, not the same as hers but something similar, a loss of something. She caught herself drawn to him, a feeling she'd never really discovered before. Maybe is was his stand-off nature, the fact he wasn't going 'all in' the way men usually did in her company but she found herself not being able to exhibit her usual bravado. She smiled when he looked over and headed up the bar a bit to serve some other patrons.
Thal nodded at Calhoun. The sentiment was appreciated, if misplaced. Joran simply didn't owe anything to Beckett. His own incompetence sealed his fate on the ship. Joran nodded with a curt smile and held up his drink in a mock salute. "Thank you, Mister Calhoun. Your support is much appreciated." He glanced back at Chloe as she milled about with other customers. Something about her struck something inside him.
Jen saw Joran looking at Chloe. She poked him teasingly with her elbow. "If you want to get her attention, you'd probably need some more of these shots." She chuckled as she shoved a few more in his direction.
She took one herself. She turned over to Calhoun. "Becket should lighten up a bit, he's far too tense. Don't apologize for him. You don't really owe him, old man." She suggested. She didn't want to say it out loud, but she didn't had a good feeling about the dude.
Billy harrumphed he knew that times had changed and while the fleet had loyalty it might only be skin deep. However, now was not the time and this was not the place to discuss such things. You know what what the heck. Billy thought to himself. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small pouch of tobacco and filled his pipe. "You got a light..." He said as he turned to Joran.
Joran reached into his pocket and pulled out his trusty zippo lighter and handing it to Calhoun. He knew that lighting a pipe required a specific angle and a little patience. "Will this do?"
Billy puffed on his pipe until the tobacco was fully ignited, the sweet & savory taste of the whiskey blend tobacco filled his mouth. "Thank you sir that will do nicely. Until you came along I forgot how much I enjoyed the sensation of pipe smoking. If you don't mind me asking where did you pick up smoking. It has been quite sometime since I saw a fellow on ship enjoy it as much as I."
Joran took the lighter back and took a drag from his cig, exhaling the not unpleasant aroma smoke before replying, "Thalon Prime. I was sent there as part of a Federation envoy attaché during initial embassy discussions. I tried one in a market of the central capital." He pulled in another hit and continued, "They refined the process for smoking quite well. These are not carcinogenic." He paused to take another sip of his drink. "It still freaks out some people, though..."
A rather loud guffaw erupted from Billy. "Indeed and people freak out everytime I light this pipe up. Which I will admit is rarely. This pipe was given to me by THE General himself, Douglas MacArthur." He said proudly and took a few puffs from his pipe. He swilled the last of his Scotch. "I'll take another Darlin..."
"I personally don't see the appeal in smoking." Jen said as she took another shot. "But I guess if you want to go, why not do it good the first time." She looked at an empty shot glass. "I think I will just stick with my own poison."
Chloe brought them another line of shots and a Scotch for the elder gentleman. "Smoke if you want," she replied, "As long as you don't throw ash or anything on my floor then we're all good." she said with one of her trademark smiles.
Jen took another shot. She could feel she was getting bit tipsy and felt she had a bit more courage. Mostly the social courage, when she was on duty, she had no trouble to speak her mind, but when it came socially, she could be a bit shy. Al her previous encounter were all because she had been drinking a bit too much.
A bit jolly she leaned against Joran and said with a grin on her face, as she looked up to him, "You know, sir... I haven't actually looked at you, but you are quite handsome. Specially in that light." She slid of her bar stool. She gently pulled his arm. "Come dance with me," she said. She took off the clip in her hair and threw her hair up. "This music makes me wild." At this point she would dance with anyone that was willing.
Joran instantly gave Jennifer a surprised look as he tried to exhale in a different direction than her face. "Oh I uh... I don't dance, actually. Though I hear Mr. Calhoun here is quite the expert." He really hoped that he could deflect the dancing festivities onto someone else.
Jennifer laughed. "Yes, old man, come here and dance, give us a run for our money." She said as she remember his earlier remark. She turned back to Joran. "Don't dance?" She shrugged. "Your loss."
Calhoun slugged his whiskey back and looked toward Jennifer and Joran. Handsome woman... he thought. "Well I think these old bones have a lindy or two left in them. Chloe if you wouldn't mind cueing up a nice swing tune." He gave Chloe a wink and took Jennifer's hand "May I have this dance..." He motioned toward the dance-floor as he gave Joran a look that said you're welcome boss and he handed the Trill his pipe.
Joran nodded appreciatively at Calhoun and gently placed the pipe on the bar next to his drink. He took a big sip of his own and gulped it down. Socially awkward is what they'd call his condition but maybe there was something else to it...
Chloe gave in to the older gentleman's request and put the song type on that he had requested. She smiled slightly as he danced with the energetic young woman who seemed care-free on the floor. This is what she wanted for her bar, for people to lose themselves, to have fun and be who ever they wanted to be.
Billy grabbed Jennifer's hand and as he lost himself to memories he long kept stored away he twirled her out onto the dance floor. "Now young lady watch me for the changes and keep up if you can." He said to her as the music began.
As the first notes played Billy closed his eyes and he remembered the USO, the fleeting happy times during that great war and what those times meant, he smiled and thought that those friends, those times would live again. Still with his eyes closed he stood face to face with her and took her hand. In one stunning and fluid movement he spun Masters away and then back toward him. His free hand went up to his cap and he cocked it to the right side in the style of the 1940s. For that was where Billy Calhoun was at this moment, it was 1947, it was the USO, and there was a lindy and beautiful girl.
Jennifer let Calhoun lead on. She was surprised by the moves he was putting out. Even though she didn't know the moves, it wasn't hard to follow the man. She laughed. "Very good, old man. I may even like this."
He was fully in the moment now and there was no stopping him. Billy quickly stooped down and cupped his hands and gave Masters a head nod that said step in if you dare. When she did he catapulted her into the air causing her to do a stunning back flip, he caught her onthe way down and placed her on her feet. Without missing a beat he bent over, "Dive over the back..."
When Jennifer went for the dive he quickly, but carefully guided her over his back, around his hip and pulled her up by her wrists from between his legs. He gave her wink and that eye opened in Calhoun's mind she was a USO girl with her red hair and pin curls. "This is the Lindy toots, show me what ya got."
"The Lindy what now." She loved the drive and the energy in this dance routine. She hoped somehow the dance classes in high school would pay off now. She moved a long now. "You just gonna have to show me, old man. Cause you got me do crazy stuff up here, and it's not that I don't like it, I just have no idea what I am doing here. It's a good thing I was a dancer and gymnast in high school. I do train once in a while."
Joran waved his now empty glass up for Chloe to see as he offered a faint smile that read Hey, just another drink but I'm not that impatient. He then glanced over to where Calhoun and Masters were living it up on the dance floor. He seemed like such a natural. You'd figure that a being on it's third life would have known how to dance by now but clearly that wasn't in the cards yet.
"The Lindy Hop darlin..." Calhoun responded as he twirled her into the next sequence of steps. Masters was a quick study and picked up the steps. The two really seemed to be able to cut a rug. As the music swelled and ebbed Masters was twirled and dipped and their footwork moved in sync with the music and each other. Just before the music reached it's crescendo Billy spoke again. "Alright toots time for the big finish..."
Billy spun her in close and then scooped her up so she was flat on his shoulder. He then spun her around his body from high to low. Over his shoulder and then over his hip and back again. This spin timed in with the music and she went around about five times, ending with a flip to her feet just as the music ended. Billy had and ear to ear grin on his face and looked like the cat that ate the canary as he stood there and caught his breath. After 11 broke into applause for the two Intel Officer's dance routine.
Jennifer was panting heavily as well as she looked at Calhoun. "Right! I need a drink now. But that was great, and that for an old man." She walked to the bar. "Don't mind me," She said as she took one of the shot glasses on the bar. She looked to Joran. "That was fun!" After she finished the shot she started laughing uncontrollably as she grabbed her shoulder.
"I am going to feel that in the morning." She looked to the empty shot glasses. "Yo, bartender, refill, I can still count these glasses," she called out. "And another round for my colleagues, I believe they are still standing straight!"
She hated being called Bartender, least of all with a 'Yo' in it but she kept her face relatively pleasant if not with a sarcastic smile before turning to get more drinks for her patrons. She had doubled them up for good measure, one behind the other as the woman looked rather parched from her dancing.
Billy walked up to the bar an placed his cap on the bar. The sweat was pouring down his face but he was nothing but smiles. "I will take a gin and tonic twist the lime Chloe. Thanks darlin." He turned to Masters. "There is hope for you young folk yet. You can certainly cut a rug."
Jen took another drink and then said, "And let's drink to that." Raising another glass and then drank that one too. She held on to the bar. "How much did I have? I lost count." She asked as she was bouncing a bit between Calhoun and Joran. She then started to giggle and then said to Calhoun, "What's with the cap, old man, were you wearing that before or am I seeing things now?"
"I have been wearing this all night. I think those drinks are getting to you." Calhoun laughed as he sipped his drink. "This cap has been with me on every tour, every mission since it was given to me in 1942 on Earth. That is when I got my start in this business." He tilted the cap to one side again as he took his pipe from Joran and lit it up.
Chloe listened as the 3 before her continued to chat and have a good time, it was nice to see. It had been her experience in bars on Earth, albeit her visits were to dive bars, always ended in aggression and sadness. This was a nice change and for one she smiled at the thought that she helped create this atmosphere. Maybe she was good at something after all.
A Joint Post By
Warrant Officer Joran Thal
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Pioneer
Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Masters
HUMINT Agent, USS Pioneer
Senior Chied Petty Officer Leslie Calhoun
Data Systems Analyst, USS Pioneer
Chloe de la Vega
Owner/Bartender After 11, USS Pioneer
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