The Set Up

Posted on Mon Dec 4th, 2023 @ 11:47pm by Ensign Charlotte (Charlie) Washington & Lieutenant JG Astrja Kyan & Ensign Kateyo Fenn

Mission: Character Development
2257 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

"So, we have a few options. We could program his sonic shower to produce sludge, replace the tools in his engineering kit, or rig his replicator...what do you think?" Charlie rattled off a few ideas as they exited the bar. She was sure there could be other more creative ideas too, she just hadn't had a chance to think it all through yet.

"Well, the sludge would have to be cleaned up by someone else and that is not who we are targeting," said Astrja. "Replacing the tools in his engineering kit could get him into real trouble and, vanishing possibility, risk the ship. Though maybe we could put something in there to jump out and surprise him?"

"All fair points, we don't want to get anyone else in trouble." A lightbulb went off in Charlie's mind. "How good are you with programming? You know how the computer recognizes who orders from the replicator? What if we dropped in an extra line of code or two? Something simple, like every time he orders a coffee it comes out as sparkling grape juice or something ridiculous."

"Programming is not my best skill," said Astrja, "but I know my way around a replicator. If we could get his access code . . . doing all that would be easy. Without it, very tricky indeed." She pondered. "Do you know his cabin number? I could spoof that, get him to use his access code, with that, I can layer in a set of requests for his food that, unless he specifically countermands it, will up the complexity level of his food."

"I do! Then we just need to see him use his access code right?" Charlie looked at the time. "It's about dinner time so that part, should be easy...let's go!" She dashed down the hallway to a local station, located Fenn and then headed in his direction. "Fenn would never say no to dinner with two beautiful women, or men, or anything really," she chuckled.

"Nothing wrong with that," Astrja says following behind.

A few minutes later and Charlie spotted Fenn down the hall. She set her sights on the target and 'accidentally' bumped right into him. "Oh, sorry Ensign Fenn. I wasn't paying attention," she concocted an innocent story paired with a smile.

"Ensign Fenn?" Teyo repeated when he saw who had bumped into him. "CJ, do we have to be so formal? And who's your friend?" He asked, eyeing the Andorian up and down. He hadn't seen her around before but he clocked the Lieutenant pips on her uniform and made sure to act accordingly.

"Lieutenant Astrja, new assistant chief of ops. We were just about to grab dinner in my quarters, care to join?" Charlie's smile looked genuine and not at all menacing despite her secretive plans.

"Astrja Kyan," the Andorian said, offering her hand. "Nice to meet you, Ensign Fenn. Charlie tells me you are a trouble-maker, is that true?"

Teyo took the blue hand and shook it gently. "A pleasure to meet you," he said flashing a smile. He considered her question as he let go of her hand and watched as her antennas moved. "Not the exact words I would use, but also accurate I guess." He then turned his attention back to Charlie. "You are inviting me to dinner?" He asked as he pointed at her and then himself in turn. "What's the catch? Where's dork boy?"

Astrja's antennae quirked in amusement at Tayo's answer. She watched to see how things played out.

"Henry is working late," Charlie said right before realizing that they now had yet another resident in their quarters, Moose. The fluffy golden retriever mix was supposed to stay under wraps and inviting the biggest loud mouth on the ship was not going to aide in that mission. "But now that I think of it, Henry probably wouldn't appreciate having you over without him present. He'd be entirely too paranoid about his collectible puzzles that he has on display." Charlie sighed. "Oh well, maybe next time?" She hated the idea of abandoning the prank but she couldn't lose Moose.

"We can use my quarters," said Astrja. "They are clear and boring right now, I barely have had time to unpack. I don't have anything collectable in any case."

"You sound like one of dork-Henry's collectables too," Teyo said, quickly correcting himself. He smiled at the Andorian and then back to the human. "You still haven't answered my question, what's the motive for such an impromptu invite?"

Astrja eyes narrowed a bit and her antennae took a more aggressive bent as she tried to work out if that was an insult.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure, but I am sure I'm starting to regret it. I felt bad about running into you and then thought you might enjoy hanging out. I must've been wrong. Have a good night Teyo." She turned and started to walk away. If he did join then great, if he didn't, well she was sure it'd still be a good dinner even if no pranks followed.

"No, no, I'm down," Teyo called after them. "I can never say no to two beautiful women, or to food," the Trill said with a smile. "So what's on the menu?"

"I was going to originally suggest alligator, but since we're headed to Astrja's place maybe we should try something Andorian? I love a good redbat noodle bowl," Charlie smiled and looked quizzically at Astjra.

"I am more a bluefish girl," the Andorian said, "my family lived on the coast. But we can do noodles too. Maybe a nice casserole?" She began cycling through various menus in her head.

"At this point, anything will be great, I'm starved." The trio arrived at Astrja's quarters just a few minutes later. "Hey Teyo, why don't you replicate us all some drinks while we set the table?" The request was smooth and logical. Teyo would likely be the most experienced with drinks so it made sense and it was the perfect way to get his replicator code for the future sabotage they had planned. "At least, I assume you have things to set the table with? On that note, maybe we can help you decorate or unpack after dinner..." Charlie offered upon noting the clear lack of almost anything in her quarters.

The room was indeed bare and devoid of anything showing the personality of its occupant, except, of course, that the light was slightly bluer and the air chillier than in the rest of the ship. Her bed was made to Academy standards and whatever clothes and other gear she had was stowed away.

"We will have to replicate those as well, I rarely eat in my room," said Astrja. "I really do not have much to decorate with. I did not bring much with me"

"I have the perfect drink for the occasion," Teyo said his eyes lighting up. "Xav's ex is Andorian and he is somewhat of a genius mixologist, he made the perfect blend of... actually I won't spoil it," he added as he moved over to the replicator. He was about to activate this when Charlie's word rang in his head. "We?" He repeated, stunned. "Please don't sign me up for grunt work, I get enough of that in engineering." He punched in his replicator code and accessed his personal database. "You wait until you try these," he said as he carried the three purple-pink drinks back to the others.

"They look delicious," Charlie set hers on the table and quickly replicated some tableware for the three of them. "I think we're all set once you pick the main dish," she looked to Astjra before taking a sip of the drink that Teyo had produced. "This is amazing."

Astrja held hers up and inhaled. "Interesting." She took a sip. "Isi," she said as she pondered. "I think this would pair well with macaroni cheese, Stardock-style, grilled Joj kabobs, and a nice, green salad, Karulean variant. Does that work for you?"

"It sounds delicious, I'm in," Charlie replied with a smile. They had Fenn's replicator code now, good company and a delicious dinner upcoming. What more could she ask for?

"Throw in some Andorian kret'ku nuts into the salad and I'm happy," Teyo said after taking a mouthful of the drink. It was better than he remembered, the right blend of sour and sweet, hitting different areas of his tongue in succession; the perfect cocktail.

Astrja got up and ordered the meal for three, with a side of kret'ku nuts, and brought it back over with utensils. "May the goddess bless this meal and guide us all on a safe path," she said setting it down.

"So, Teyo, aren't you going to entertain us with stories of your recent misadventures?" Charlie chuckled. She hadn't worked with Teyo too much, but his reputation proceeded him in almost every manner.

"Yes, please, I always like learning more about the people I am serving with," said Astrja taking a bite of salad.

"Well I did save the entire away team from pirates recently," Teyo said as he threw a kret'ku nut into the air and caught it in his mouth. "Conrad was there too, but it really was me doing all of the work. Kinda wish I was here though, Pax fought a gorn, that would have been sweet."

"Pirates? Where was that?" asked Astrja. "Fighting pirates seems very early exploration, seems like it should be a great story."

"As much as I'd love to tell the story, I have a feeling that Teyo's version will be much more entertaining," Charlie smirked and looked to their guest.

Astrja nodded before tearing a piece of Joj kabob off the stick with her teeth.

"Well me and CJ were sent out to find some pirates, along with Conrad and Xav," Teyo said, leaning closer to the Andorian to dramatise the story. "We were attacked and I did everything in my power to stop us from being overrun, but Conrad's flying wasn't the best and I couldn't get clear target locks." Teyo took a sip of his drink in the hop to build more suspense. "Xav and Charlie were captured and I led the away team that got them back. We had to fight like 30 pirates, it was wild!"

"What sort of pirates were they? Orion? Terran renegades? Ferrengi? Did they have cutlasses? Old Terran pirates always have cutlasses," asked Astrja.

"They were a mixture and no cutlasses, just regular phasers and disruptors," Teyo answered with a grin. "You seem rather excited at the idea of pirates. Are you some kind of adrenaline junkie?"

"Oh, goodness no!" laughed Astrja. "Any combat I intend to do will be from a ship's weapons board. Close combat is for specialists who have some mass, a mere brush from a disruptor and I would be dust. It is just pirates are just so unusual unless you are on the far frontier. I think it has been over thirty years since the last time the Imperial Guard were on a pirate hunt."

"Can we back up for a second? You said Pax fought a Gorn? You mean George Paxton? The engineer that flips out in the jefferies tubes?" Charlie asked, now finished with her salad and making her way onto the main meal. Teyo's stories were fascinating, if not a bit embellished, but it made for good dinner entertainment anyway so who was she to complain?

"You look like you can handle yourself," Teyo said to Astrja with a knowing wink and cheeky grin. "That's the one," he said to Charlie as he threw another kret'ku nut into his awaiting mouth. "The dorky one, not to be confused with your husband," he added with a laugh. "I don't want to take the credit but he became much cooler after we became friends."

"A Gorn? Really? How?" asked Astrja before taking another sip of her drink.

Charlie shrugged. "I have no idea, that seems out of character for Paxton, but then again I don't know him very well," she turned towards Teyo, "and why do you keep raggin' on Henry? He may be nerdy or dorky but he is a good guy. Why don't you like him?" She more challenged than asked.

Astrja leaned back to remove herself from the conversation and watched. Obviously, this was a continual point of conflict between the two and it was not her place to get involved.

Teyo was a bit taken aback. "Who said I didn't like Henry?" He asked, confused about how she had reached that conclusion. "I rag on everyone equally, I don't discriminate."

Astrja got up to get another drink, pausing to make sure that Teyo's Code was stored. "Can I get anything for either of you?"

"Well you certainly seem to rag on Henry more than others. Must just be hard for you to keep him off your mind," Charlie shrugged with a smirk. "I don't need anything else," she looked to Astrja. "Thanks though, I'm pretty full. This meal has been fantastic!"

Teyo smirked but didn't reply, he was too full to argue and it didn't matter what people thought. He leaned back in his seat and patted his bulging stomach, "I don't think I could eat a bite more. It's been lovely."

Astrja smiled. "Thank you for making me feel welcome. I think it will be good serving about the Athena."