Winding Down

Posted on Tue Jan 28th, 2020 @ 4:25pm by Ashe Zachariah & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers

Mission: Dead Moon
Location: The Raging Deity Lounge

It was late, exceptionally late, long after she would normally have closed up, but Ashe was still behind the bar. There was nothing like a fear, dread and foreboding gloom to turn a crew toward alcohol and other inappropriate choices and given their circumstances, the bartender had made the decision to humor them.

The doors parted and a familiar figure entered, cutting a line for the bar. Ashe smiled warmly. "What can I get you?"

"Rainbow Brite!" Buck called out, smiling broadly as took up his usual seat at the bar. "A beer, please."

"You know," Ashe replied, setting a cold beer in front of him. "Anyone else called me that and they'd likely end up with their beer in their face," she said with an easy smile. "You're lucky you're cute! How's things been on the bridge today? Kudos for not crashing us into that asteroid we passed."

"Thanks. " Buck laughed. The joyous sound rattled the sombre atmosphere. "Conn denied me permission for a flyby." He shook his head, dialing back the jockularity for a moment. "Still tense. Everyone fretting over stuff they can't know or expect."

"I've noticed that there's a lot more people stressing at the moment," she said, shaking her head. "We've been keeping some pretty crazy hours trying to keep the lounge open as much as possible for everything. Anything you're allowed to share with this boring old civilian about what's going on?" she asked, leaning forward on the bar. "I'll even throw a basket of wings your way," she said with a wink.

Buck glanced around the bar before leaning forward conspiratorially. "HQ canned shore leave so we can chase a ghost ship in the Charybdis Sector."

"Ughhh," Ashe shook her head. "Because, yes, that's what the crew needs. Seriously, to they have rocks in their heads?" clearly she was not impressed with the decision. "Well, it explains the increase in tension again in the last day or so." She shook her head as she replied. "Lunacy."

"Some things never change." Buck noted with resigned annoyance. He chuckled, flashing a broad grin. "At least it'll take our mind of the Spanish Inquisition poking about."

"I'd heard something about new people from Starfleet?" Ashe queried as she slid a plate of wings in front of him with a selection of dipping sauces and a fresh beer. "I don't know what's going on with that one, but I do know that there's a lot of people who aren't real happy."

Buck nodded his thanks. A generous quantity of the beer disappeared with one swig. "Being thrown under the bus for the Arg'oshian thing'll do that to people."

It took Ashe a few moments to process that statement. "Hang on," she said, surprise registering on her face. "You can't seriously be trying to tell me that the crew is getting the blame for the Arg'oshian invasion?" she was clearly shocked. "What a complete load of bollocks!"

"Dunno what else you can call a complete review of the security procedures and demotion of the old head of security." The big man shrugged, weary resignation shadowing his face. "Political bullshit."

"Well, that certainly explains why there's been so much more going on here," she said with another shake of her head. "Unbelievable. So, they blame the crew for the attack, cancel shore leave and now they're sending the ship into hell? Remind me again why it's a bad thing I didn't join Starfleet?" she quipped.

"Well, you don't get this snazzy uniform." Buck replied, grinning broadly as he gestured to his own with a sweep of his hand.

"Ah, but I can wear what ever I want when ever I want," she shot back easily with a grin. "I can do what I want, when I want. I'm not restricted to Starfleet rules and regulations and I can come and go as I please."

"Not sure you'd get too far just walking off the ship whenever you felt like it." Buck joked before draining the rest of his beer. "Still, can't be all bad if you set up shop on a spaceship, right?"

"Well, put it this way, a Federation starship is a definite step up from the Klingon cruiser I was on. Managed to last six months there, and that was only because we were in deep space and there was no way to get off," Ashe replied with a laugh.

"So you thought you'd give a quiet life a try?"

"Darlin' if I wanted to try the quiet life, clearly I chose the wrong ship!" Ashe replied with a laugh as she set another beer on the bar in front of him. "It was this or a chalet in the mountains. I chose this. So far, no regrets."

"Why did you pick this?" Buck asked, slowing down his consumption of this particular beer and helping himself to more wings.

"It seemed like a good prospect, and it's been a while since I'd been on a Federation Starship. To be honest, I pretty much expected my application to be denied, I mean, I'm not exactly model Starfleet material, but here I am. So far, no regrets. It's a good ship and the crew has been good to me."

"Didn't realise you could just apply to run a bar on a spaceship." Buck admitted, faintly embarrassed by his lack of knowledge. "Figured they just franchised them all out to the lowest bidder like they did in my day."

"Pretty much, but the money side of it works differently, given most no one actually pays for anything." Ashe shrugged slightly. "I had to basically put in a tender to estimate what I thought I could run the bar on. Starfleet pays a stipend toward it each month, the rest of it if I go over if up to me. I'm just lucky I have good contacts," she finished with a grin.

"Figure we all are." He raised his beer in salute to the bar tender.

"Well, I do aim to please." Ashe offered a wink as she removed the empty plate from in front of him and wiped down the bar quickly. "I'd better get back to it, enjoy the rest of your night Lieutenant. See you tomorrow night, yeah?"