Comparing Notes

Posted on Tue Oct 14th, 2025 @ 11:20am by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

2,248 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Wild Wild West
Location: Planet - Durango City

After looking around the church and graveyard, Deanna and Aaron made their way to the rendezvous with Jon and Kate. While they hadn't had the opportunity to speak with anyone, Deanna had gotten plenty of tricorder data that she wanted to take a closer look at. The church itself was out of place, at least to her and what she knew of this time period. Perhaps Jon and Kate might have information to share that shed some light on this locale. What she feared was they were going to end up in the saloon. She noted three different saloons on this main street they were traveling, which wasn't uncommon from what she knew of this period in Earth's history. But this wasn't like a trip to the holodeck or even like going to an establishment at a starbase. Saloons from this era in Earth history were notorious for being places where all sorts of bad things could happen. They might gain information there, but they'd be in a place that would make Klingons, Nausicans, and Orions blush, and Ferengi envious.


... At the Saloon Kate jumped through the revolving doors without stopping just to see if breaking tradition of stopping dramatically before clearing the entrance caused any problems. Luckily enough, the act of flowing through the doors with zero drama caused for no turning heads whatsoever. She hopped on a barstool and looked around for a Raktajino but couldn't find one, not even a Cardassian Kanar.

"Do you have any... Well..." Kate rubbed her chin as she looked around at the stuff. "What do you suggest."

Kate put a coin on the counter not knowing if it would be enough. The bartender seemed surprised at the gold coin and in turn handed over a large bottle of something called GetPlastered Whiskey 6-7. Kate walked away with it and found a table with Jon.

"They don't seem to have food or anything. Just alcoholic beverages and table games." Kate said as she reached for a stack of cards that looked as if they had been shuffled well beyond their expiration date; alcohol stained, singed edges, odd thumbmarks behind the Aces, the Eights, Kings, Queens and Jacks. She looked behind the cards to see that they all had an abundance of markings all over them. Apparently, people have tried to cheat so much using them that every card had too many marks and made them useless. She shuffled the cards playfully and reached out to pour herself some whiskey.

Her head turned red as it went down her throat and veins could be seen popping out along the sides of her occipital bone. She breathed in for air and wheezed as her eyes watered.

"People drink this crap?"

Jon watched with an amused look on his face as Kate came back to the table with a large bottle of whisky. His amusement grew into a full-blown grin as Kate poured herself a large glass of the stuff and then swallowed it in one gulp. Her ensuing facial reactions were priceless as her eyes watered, veins popped out. he handed her a napkin, "Wipe your nose." and then added, "it is an acquired taste, and you sip it, not swallow it like you did. Are you alright?"

A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead and met with other beads in the race to her chin as she blew her nose with a napkin and wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist. The next words came out of her mouth like a wheeze on the wind as it was all more of an exhale than a form of communication.

"Yeah... I think I'm sanitized both inside and out," Kate's wheeze turned into a full-blown cough as she wiped her eyes some more and fought for air as if she had been in an EVA suit with too much nitrogen in the mixture. She simply raised her thumbs to let him know that life will soon catch up to her and re-enter her lithe body; but for now, the experience was an alcohol fueled exorcism of her soul prior to being rubber-banded back into the fiber of her being. She blinked rapidly and pulled the bottle over to look at the ingredients only to find that there were no ingredients. All it said was 6-7, "50" by the Manfredi Distillery

Deanna walked in with Aaron at stopped just inside, her eyes in a squint as she surveyed the room. While this was a common sight, nobody was aware that she was telepathically scanning the room, seeking out whoever might be a threat to her and the others. She sensed the danger, the cautious suspicion, and the more carnal thoughts from the scarlet ladies. She walked slowly towards the table where Jon and Kate were sitting and whispered to Aaron, "Back table, by the window, the three ugly guys. They have malicious thoughts, particularly regarding Kate. Keep a watchful eye."

Reaching the table Deanna smiled seeing the authentic whiskey. She took the bottle and took a big swallow. She got slightly flushed as she put the bottle back down on the table. "A lot like Klingon bloodwine. I wouldn't recommend you drink too much of it if you aren't used to real alcohol. A couple shots of that would put Kate completely out of commission for the night." She looked to Jon, "Hope you were able to locate lodging. I need a place away from prying eyes, and that includes the desperados that are staring daggers at Kate at the moment."

Jon nodded, "We have rooms at the hotel, and they have bathtubs in them. So, we're good there. As for the three 'gentlemen' sitting by the window, I saw them when we walked in." Jon answered in a low voice, not turning to look at the men in question or giving any indication they were noticed.

"Hope you found someplace we can get some decent food while we're here. The chapel was quiet, though it did have some interesting things about it. Based on what we saw in the attached graveyard, people have been here every bit of 4 centuries. I get a feeling that we might have ourselves something similar to a colony that I remember was discovered by Archer's Enterprise. Haven't seen any indication of alien influence, but that doesn't mean we won't find something" Deanna noted.

Aaron walked to the bar, placing some bits of metal down on it's worn and dented surface. Looking at the selection behind the barkeep he gestured with a smile. "Dos Mezcal por favor, gracias mi compa. Asi dejalo." He took the two small glasses full of mezcal over to his shipmates. "On Earth, these are for sipping, as a warning. Let's see if they've got close." As Aaron sipped it was indeed a proper mezcal with gentle agave notes and a bit of smoke. "Hmm. I will note this level of smoothness would suggest a bit further level of industrialization than what we've witnessed so far." He gestured to the other glass. "Any takers?"

Already feeling the buzz come on from the first large glass of Whiskey, the thought of chasing it with anything else even remotely alcoholic was an aversion to her standards of sobriety. She politely shook her head.

"Are you sure those guys were eyeing me? You got a bunch more to look at than I do, Deanna... Or maybe it's not sexual, maybe they're all racy against the Asian persuasion." Kate slurred the words slightly, but she wasn't exactly drunk. She winked for no reason and giggled slightly through her teeth. "I guess people here didn't get sick often considering their stomachs contain the cure for any microbial lifeform in the history of ever."

Kate pulled out a piece of paper instead of a PaDD.
"I jotted down some notes my findings but really it feels like we've got nothing new to learn. It's like -- going back in time, "Kate mused as she leaned back, letting the paper lie on the table for whoever needed to pick it up.

Jon picked up a glass and held it up, "I'll take some if you please." As he turned toward the mirror to watch and keep an eye on three undesirables at the rear of the saloon.

Deanna shook her head. "It would seem, unsurprisingly, that Kate can't handle this alcohol. Might be best we go back to these room you found. Besides, the thoughts of those men towards Kate is boiling to a critical point. Seems not everyone here has completely dealt with racism." She grabbed Kate's paper and pocketed it. She took another drink of the whiskey. "I think your tequila is made better than this. Admiral Carroll would be ashamed to call this whiskey. So would Aidan for that matter."

"Present, Ambulatory, Functional," Kate nodded. "Just as long as I don't have anything else. And yeah, I figured it would have to be a racial thing. I worry about anyone if they claim love at first sight when it comes to an eighty-five-pound flatness to the point that everyone mistakes me for Jon's adopted daughter. We're too far inland for there to be a Disney Island in -- 'these here parts' Kate mimicked a Southern drawl at the end of her sentence. I'd rather deal with racists than weirdo's... Or weirdo racists. Race-Do's..." Kate playfully poked at Jon. "Thanks for adopting me!" She joked with a silly, playful chuckle.

Deanna gave a look to Jon. "Definitely time to get her out of here."

"I'm right here," Kate reminded Deanna with wink. "... and don't worry, I'm not drunk. Just my normal self. And.. I don't think I'll ever consider whiskey a taste to be acquired. I make words up every day." Kate said. She looked to Jon and shook her head. "I'm your intelligence officer. My job here is just as important as any other. I wouldn't compromise it by knowingly consuming more than I could handle but trying it has taught me it's not for me."

Kate shuffled the cards. "What's the next step in this research venture? Had anyone found any leads to... you know the whole, S.A.R. thing?"

"My pleasure Kate and I am glad to know you aren't drunk." Jon smiled at her before replying to Deanna, "I agree, time to move as to what is next, we'll discuss our next step in our rooms." He stood slowly, "Aaron, you stay with Kate and Deanna I'll bring up the rear."

Kate stood up and smiled happily. She noticed movement near the back of the Saloon the moment she prepared to leave with her crew mates. Kate spun around and danced a bit around the chair, scooting it under the table properly before spinning to leave. In one smooth motion, she pulled the hammer back on her gun and prepped the holster for a quick release in a manner that nobody even noticed as she began to walk for the door. ''

"Easy Kate," Jon said simply and softly as the group walked toward the door.

As the team walked toward the door, Aaron noticed a drunk collapsed over a slightly crumpled newspaper. He gently lifted the man's head and slid out the paper, only slightly smudging the bit where his face was. "I don't think the gentleman is reading this any longer." Aaron noted with a smirk. "We can comb over this to get a more detailed lay of the land." He tucked the paper under his arm, following the officers out.

Kate smiled at Aaron. "Great idea. That's like, the blog tablet of the day only it's on paper."

Deanna sensed what was coming and muttered a few choice words under her breath. She took hold of Kate and tossed her out the door towards Aaron. "Ambush!" she exclaimed as the desperados from the back table opened fired. Thankfully, through strong drink and the natural inaccuracy of the period weapons, the initial volley from the desperados all missed the mark. Deanna drew her pistol and fired two shots in the vicinity of the desperados, hitting one in the shoulder. "I should've known this was going to happen" she mentioned to Jon as she took cover behind a table.

Jon dove behind the table, his gun already out. he saw one of the desperados attempting to get to flank them. He fired and smiled in satisfaction as the man went down in a heap and lay unmoving. "No need for self recriminations Deanna, these gentlemen picked the wrong group to deal with." He peered around the edge of the table", One bad guy down, one wounded and one left to deal with." he looked at the saloon mirror and saw the remaining desperado crouched behind a table and directly under a chandelier. "Watch this." He whispered to Deanna. As he fired his pistol, hitting the chandelier and causing it to fall on the bad guy and knocking him out if not killing him.

Deanna smiled. "Fancy shooting Tex, but you missed the classic trope." She turned and looked up to the upstairs balcony and fired at the desperado that was coming out with a rifle, and he fell over the railing, landing next to the bar with a satisfying thud. She twirled her pistol in a quick feat of acrobatic gunmanship and holstered it. "Suppose we have to speak with local law enforcement now."


TBC

 

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