Running Blue

Posted on Mon Feb 11th, 2019 @ 4:18am by

Mission: Run Afoul
Location: Arcana bar/lounge
1053 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

In between shifts it was quite quiet in the bar lounge. Tarria looked around the bar and imagined what it would be like once the changes were implemented. The chairs, the couches, the pillows, the light. There would be couples every time of the day. People sitting in groups, or the lonely officer in a corner of the room, making out with a tonic and gin. And a piano playing in the back ground setting the mood.

Tarria sighed. She wasn't just a carrying person, she was also a romantic at heart. She always had a wild fantasy. Her adoptive parents and her aunt and uncle still wondered why she wasn't hooked up yet. Tarria wasn't really looking for someone. Even though she liked to day dream about romantic locations, settings and scenes.

She was pulled from her day dream as the doors to the messhall opened. She looked up to the doors as she took up the cloth and continued wiping the bar.

Shev walked in, feeling pretty useless at the moment. What good was a biologist in an engineering problem. So all he really could do was monitor. Needless to say it got pretty boring.

He was in the mood for just some straight up company. He figured the ships lounge would be a logical place. Hearing the doors swish he walked in. His face lit up seeing a fellow andorian. "Hello!" He said.

Tarria smiled to Shev as he walked to the bar. Her antennae moved in the direction of the Andorian commander. "Hello, commander Shev Th'aziavak, welcome to the Arcana. I am Tarria Sh'ezhinnir, your bartender." She looked around the empty lounge. "Well, it isn't much now, but Patrick and I have plans for this place." She then went down under the bar and pulled out a bottle of Andorian ale. "How about a taste of home?" She offered.

"Sounds lovely!" He said.

Tarria took two glasses from a shelf and put them on the bar and poured them both a glass. She picked up one of the glasses. "To Andoria and the Federation." She toasted and hit his glass and took a sip from it. She put her glass down. "So what brings you down to the lounge, commander?" She asked smiling warmly, and pouring another glass for him.

"Hear hear" he said, klinking his glass with hers. He returned the smile. "I was out roaming the ship, dodging engineering types." He laughed as he took a sip. "Wish I could help, but I'm not what you'd call "handy"

"Ah," she nodded. "I can understand. I am not that handy either. I have great ideas for this place, and so does Patrick, but when it comes to the technical stuff. He is the cook and I know my drinks. But other than that..." She took another sip. "Well, you have been around, what is the status of the ship? I have sensed that the morale is a bit on a low side."

"I know mine is" Shev said. "Engineers were griping I heard. And there's a general feeling of people pointing fingers I guess." He said

"Well, I believe that's what you get when engineering blows from the inside," She grinned and then shrugged to Shev. "Everyone talk, and when they talk, they talk with their bartender." She giggled. "So if you want to talk..." Her antennae pointing at him.

"Shosi" Shev said. "Or as they say on Earth, Cool. Our planet in a nutshell" he laughed.

Tarria laughed back. "But I am serious. I did a therapy course alongside bar tending on Earth. Well bar tending was just a side job, but I found that people are more inclined to talk to their bartender than their counselor. So I kind of combined the two. Yes, I should a counseling office in the lounge." She giggled. She took out the blueprints and looked over it. She then pointed to them. "Where do you think we should add that? Maybe a little private corner. I don't know."

That's just what Shev needed, work."Now that you mention it, that's true."Shev said. 'Private would work best. It's well...private." he couln't help but grin at that. "Maybe over here? Convert this storeroom over here. A nice sitting area and a replicator. All you really need."

She looked at the plans. And then nodded. "Yes, that could work, we don't really use, I was even unsure if we were ever going to." She pointed to an area on the plans. "And this place outside could be like little waiting room. Access from the lounge, near the bar. Maybe we use a little curtains and drapes here, what do you think?"

'Sounds like a great idea. Maybe a nice green or something."

"Yes, a soft green. Works calming. Although I am personally about the white. One of the positive sides of our home world." She smiled. "The icy, calm white landscapes."

Shev smiled and nodded. "What is that line from ancient Earth film. "There's no place like home"?"

"Great line," She said as she rolled up the plans and put them away. "Another drink, commander?" She offered.

"Sounds great." He nodded.

She poured two glasses for the both of them. "So, commander, what made you join starfleet?"

"It sounds corny. I think that's the expression. But, to see the federation. All of it" shev replied.

Tarria shrugged. "Well, I am prove you don't need to join starfleet to do that." She grinned. "Look at where I am. I am a bartender on a star ship. With a psychology degree. I could've joined starfleet, become a ships counselor. But I became the next best thing. Also saved me from going through the academy." She giggled at that. "No offense, commander."

"None taken" he chuckled 'And you don't get angry Orion's shooting at you either" He sipped. "That's annoying." He laughed.

She giggled and said, "That sounds like a story I would want to hear." She said, inviting, while picking up her own drink.

"And so you shall" Shev grinned. "But I really should finish my patrol." He chuckled. "But I won't be a stranger.'

"I am not going anywhere," Tarria said smiling. "At least, not that I am aware off. "

---

Lieutenant Commander Shev Th'aziavak
First Officer

&

Tarria Sh'ezhinnir
Bartender/Loungemanager