Fear and Loathing on the Washington

Posted on Wed Nov 15th, 2023 @ 6:04pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr & Lieutenant Inara Senn & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono

Mission: Hard Earned Peace
Location: USS Washington

Shran quickly exited the lounge after his talk with Inara. It had been an interesting discussion with his new science officer, a talk that started off so promising but quickly delved into an uncomfortable subject. It wasn't his fault; he couldn't know about Inara's personal history. He should've though, which is what upset him. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts about what had just happened that he nearly walked right into Shon and Kate. "My apologies" he said, his voice nervous and his face showing a preoccupation of thought.

Kate giggled and waved with her left hand; she was dressed in a 21st Century Flight Suit complete with a helmet in her right hand and geared up with an inflatable G-Suit. She was obviously off-duty and taking a break from the holodeck. The short black hair had obviously been in her helmet for quite some time. Behind Shon and Kate was another Ensign, who looked as if he had probably entered that Holodeck at just the wrong time.

“Greetings, Captain. This is — Ensign Mitchell.” She introduced him to a man about five years older than her, and about six feet tall, with bright blue eyes, yellow-blond hair at eye length, and slender. His hair was all over the place and he looked like he had just been through a wind tunnel, but he was still in his Starfleet Uniform despite it being a little dirty. “He walked in on me while I was trying some goofy stunts with an old airplane in the holodeck.” She giggled.

Kate looked to Mitchell and back at the captain. He was either shy or nervous, or both… He nodded and walked to the bar. Kate spun on the balls of her feet to face the captain and grinned a big toothy grin from ear-to-ear.

“The Arch was programmed to allow entry onto the holodeck under the southern apron of Nellis… Eh, right when I was using it to try and fly an F-16 Viper through it. Even though the holodeck safeties lowered the decibels and shockwave to a survivable level, he still fell over. Not the best way to say hello to your Computer Systems Tech and Infiltration Specialist.” She rolled her dark eyes and shrugged her bony shoulders. Her giddy grin turned serious as she looked him up and down a moment as if using it as a segway into a different subject of more serious manner; “How’s Jon and Ayana?”

Shran looked at the trio, almost as if his mind was elsewhere. "Um, yes. Well, Sam cleared them both medically, light duty for a few days, not that I expect them to follow those orders." His mind was still occupied with the backend of his conversation with Inara, and something else was nagging at him, something about the bartender. "I do believe the ancient flying vessel you were referring to was known as the F-16 Falcon. It was the mainstay of the United States Air Force for several decades." His dace remained pensive. "Hello ensign Mitchell, welcome aboard." He looked at Shon, "I hope your conference went well Shon. You were missed."

“Thank you Captain, the conference was very interesting and I took the chance to take Seth and Shasta to meet my grandfather in Yellowstone.” Shon was silent for a moment, the back of her neck had begin to itch with uncharacteristic fervor, almost as though there was something hiding, something she needed to know. She shook her head and looked back at her Andorian Captain. “I’m glad to be home Sir.”

"Good to have you back Shon. I'm sure we'll talk more later. Remember, the Kilrathi delegation will be coming aboard in the morning. Enjoy your evening." The Andorian offered a smile and began to slowly walk off, leaving the officers free to enter the uncharacteristically quiet lounge.

In the lounge, Inara remained seated reading her book. The lounge was still largely empty, only staff were present, which as the captain had noted was strange considering the time. The wait staff was huddled at the end of the bar gossiping amongst themselves, but the bartender was uncharacteristically standing alone behind the bar, directly in line with Inara, staring at her intensely.

Inara got the impression that someone was staring a hole through her. She was quite familiar with that. She closed her book and turned to stare at her for a few seconds before she got up and stared at a woman she didn't quite know. Inara smirked wickedly. "See something you like?"

The raven-haired bartender smiled wickedly at Inara. "Indeed, I do. You have yourself a very dark aura. You've been damaged, betrayed in the most intimate way. Such is how it can be for females, and you very much want to make the whole world think you are unaffected by that pain. I like that, and I like you. I think you will make my visit here quite worthwhile" she said as she glanced over at the door, seeing Shon and Kate entering.

In the background Kate and Kevin Mitchell were chuckling over how thick they could pack a cooler with drinks and having a friendly argument over the finer popularities over soft drinks; mainly, why Root Beer became more popular than other drinks of the time when there were so many to choose from. They stopped and looked over when they heard Inara ask the bartender an interesting question. It was one of those unfortunate moments where the ambient noise of a loud space lowered at just the wrong second to let a sentence through. The surrounding chatter raised back up again following Kate's patented giggle again.

"Are you some kind of empath?" She noted. "I warn you not to go too deep, my dear. You may find things you don't like." Inara noted. "Are you taking orders? Wine, and none of that Californian stuff. It tastes like children's grape juice." This woman was honest, blunt, and pragmatic. Inara was beginning to like this raven-haired bartender.

The bartender grinned wickedly. "I have just the vintage for you" she said as she poured a glass. "I assure you, you will never have had this before, nor will you ever encounter it anywhere else. My father and his kin all favored this wine. I must admit I became partial to it as well" she said as she passed the glass to Inara, a dark twinkle in her eye. She glared at Kate as she and her companion approached.

Kate walked over to the Bartender and Inara, "Nice to meet you too," Kate took a look back at Shran. She had no idea what the problem was, but she didn't have to be an empath to tell the room had changed. Still, Kate kept her smile. She looked over to see that Kevin had already jotted something down on his PADD and smiled at the group. Kate wondered what he had written.

"Kate, when we're done with the holodeck today, I want to run a serious question by you."

Despite the heavy atmosphere, Kate, being the Chief Intelligence Officer in the room, knew what that question was about. She scratched her head and took a nervous, deep breath.

"I think I know what you need. I --," The slender Asian looked toward the windows out into space in an uncharacteristically stoic manner. "... yeah. The answer is yes."

Kevin's shoulders relaxed but he still blushed.
"Thank you, Ensign."

"Now that that's over with," Kate whispered. "... Let's get back to the room and then check back to the Holodeck before someone else steals that Viper."

"Shran said it was the Falcon."

"It is!" Kate said.

"But you said it was the Viper."

"It is..." Kate stopped and looked at the group with wide dark eyes and a shocked smile. "Holodeck stuff," Kate waved her arm and gave a nervous giggle.

Inara continued to converse with the bartender. "So, what made you want to serve drinks to Starfleet Officers on a Federation Starship. Looking for some fleeting excitement in life?" She sipped her wine. "You won't find any excitement here, The Excitement ended about a year ago."

The bartender smiled. "Oh, I don't need to serve drinks on a starship to find excitement. I make my own excitement" she said with a grin. "Give me a moment" she said as she stepped away and towards Kate, "Ensign, I don't believe you need to go back to your fantasy room. Plenty of excitement here for you, I assure you. Just ask your friend" she said as she looked at the door where Shon was now entering.

Kate raised a brow and smiled at the new bartender.
“We just came to fill the cooler with drinks and we’re off to Nellis again. I was going to teach my new friend here how to be a Weapons Systems Officer in the Strike Eagle.” She explained as happily as she could without giving way to her other fears that involved a little situation between Kevin and herself that nobody else yet knew about.

There were secrets on-top of secrets that needed to be transferred to just the right people and the middle of the lounge was no place for any of that; however, it did give her a chance to talk to Shran — in order to tell ‘him’ that she needed to talk to him privately too, about an Investigation that Starfleet put her on. It was a case that might take months so she was in no hurry, but the longer she went without telling the captain, the harder it would be to tell the captain. For now, Nellis called.

She turned to Kevin who was dragging a cooler through the room toward the door. He stopped halfway and sighed.

“Thanks for the help, Kono,” Kevin sarcastically said to Kate.

“Oh, you’re welcome. I knew that my expert knowledge of what beverages you should be carrying would be vital to completing Red Flag…” Kate joked.

“What’s red flag?” Kevin asked. “Oh, and there’s this new invention called the wheel…” Kevin said as he focused his effort on dragging the cooler across the carpet. Kate giggled some more at her new friend and then turned back toward the Bartender.

“Just showing him the ropes!” Kate nodded while walking backwards. “Thank you for the offer though!”

"Hmm. She didn't give me her name, how very inconsiderate." Inara walked to a replicator. "How dare you be so dodgy. Computer, PADD." She went back to the table in the corner of the room and began to look up this raven-haired woman. "Now, let's see who you are, said the spider to the fly."

The bartender walked out from behind the bar, past Kate and gave a wicked grin to Shon as she walked past her. "Hello again. I did tell you I would come to claim payment for that favor." She laughed wickedly as she walked away and towards Inara. She approached Inara and place a hand on the PaDD, making it shut down immediately. "You won't find me with that device, though I am not unknown to some of your comrades aboard the vessel. You should know one thing though, you aren't the spider here, I am" she said darkly as she began to laugh sinisterly.

Shon felt as though she had been hit, rocking back on her heels she stared at the woman. “Hela!” She hissed. Shon’s fear turned immediately into rage as she made to grab her in order to squeeze the life from her.

Hela stepped away, avoiding Shon's attempt to grab her. "Now, now, that is no way to act towards someone who did so very much for you" she said in a vile tone. "Perhaps you'd like for me to take back what you had me give you?"

Inara shook her head and downed the last of the wine in her glass and put it down. "So, you can shut down PADDs without touching them and to think you were interesting to me before you made that lame laugh." Inara folded her arms. "Lieutenant Commander, are you alright?"

Shon grabbed her as though trying to find an anchor in time and place. Memories best left buried flooded back to the surface and she shook. “Lieutenant …. she has come to collect what is owed. Her name is Hela, and she is life..and death.

"The Nordic Goddess of Death?" Inara noted. "And what do you owe her, Lieutenant Commander?"

Hela laughed with vile glee. "Yes, yes, do let your little friend here know who I am and what you owe me. I did do as you asked last we met, did I not? I did say that it would come at a price. Well, payment is due." Hela looked back at Kate, "You, malnourished one, take a seat or watch me end your budding romance instantly."

Hela looked back at Inara, "You are a bit of a kindred spirit aren't you. Tell me, how long do you think you can keep your secrets from those you serve with, that might be willing to call you a friend? If I told them the truth, how would they react? Would you like to relive those events yourself?" Hela seemed genuinely gleeful at the prospect of causing such pain to Inara.

Inara's arms remained folded. "I don't know. You seem to amuse yourself greatly by allowing us to squirm in some kind of divine comedy. If you just collected the debt, that wouldn't be very fulfilling to you. No... you're not here just for the Commander. You want to see what will happen. Besides, the past is the past and they do not need to know it. Let's focus on the here and now. What do you really want? Some kind of grand display of your relevance?" She smirked again. "Is divinity that dull?"

Kate crossed her arms when Hela talked to her in such a demanding tone.
"Hey!" Kate said. "I'm not malnourished and there's no budding romance." Kate turned to Kevin. "... Is there?"

"If there is, you're not trying hard to win me over." Kevin confirmed.

With that Kate nodded to Hela. The irony that an Omnipotent being such as Q brought her into this reality only to apparently run into a not-so-funny one not long after was not lost on Kate.

"... Anyways I don't even understand what's going on. Why is the Bartender being so crass?" Kate asked. It was a perfectly normal question for someone who didn't know the backstory of whatever was going on. To Kate, questioning the odd behavior of a member of the Washington crew was not only understandable, but part of the Starfleet manual that was dumped into her head during her transference to her reality here as an Intelligence Officer; always question strange behavior. 'Well,' Kate thought, 'this constitutes 'strange''. The other officer seemed to know this bartender named Hela, Hela seems to know a bit about everyone, and didn't seem to be doing her job as a bartender very well.

Inara looked at Kate and Kevin. "Love is overrated..."

Hela laughed. "This one wants to play the game. She thinks she understands the rules, but she will be surprised when things go wrong." Hela laughed; her eyes still trained on Inara. Slowly she looked back at Kate, "Love will only bring you trouble little one. Just ask Shon" she said with a wry smile. "I'll be collecting soon but do let your captain know I have returned. I'll be around, you can be certain. New toys to play with and all that." With that she slowly faded away, her words lingering in the minds of those she planned to torment.