A Drop of Nelson's Blood

Posted on 09 Oct 2014 @ 8:47pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Rixxa Chott & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ardon Zuwtt

2,075 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Callisto Bar
Timeline: MD -15 - 2100 hrs

[ON]

Rixxa sat there with a pitcher full of Margaritas, a basket of cheese sticks and two glasses. She was determined to make friends with this new doctor. She was also dressed out of her uniform, she was wearing a gray shirt that had S.S. Adekio on it and a pair of jeans. She was wearing a warm smile and waiting for the doctor to show up so they could chat.

"Rixxa!" shouted Tuula from across the bar. After a long shift and a frustrating psych eval earlier in the day, she was relieved to see a friendly face outside of work.

She had also changed out of her uniform, carefully considering her choice of clothing and makeup for this little get-together. Tuula loved fashion, and when off duty, was always careful in choosing her clothes. After much deliberation, she opted for a leather jacket over black tank top; black being a theme throughout her entire wardrobe. Though not too revealing, the neckline of her top did expose the tattoos on her chest.

Some simple black trousers would do for her legs, so long as they were accentuated with a studded belt. And knee-high boots. She loved boots, and her collection had pretty much taken over the closet in her quarters, much to Jaana's chagrin.

Her neck was accentuated with a simple black choker, and some red and black striped fingerless gloves -- carefully chosen to match her hair and makeup -- completed the ensemble. With her shift over, she was ready for a night with her new girlfriend.

As she rolled herself towards the table, she chuckled at the pitcher of margaritas and heaping pile of appetizers in front of Rixxa. The woman had clearly planned for them to be out later than Tuula was expecting. Or at least, to drink more than she anticipated. "How late are we planning on staying," she asked, in a joking tone.

"You got somewhere to be?" Rixxa smirked.

"Of course not," replied Tuula with a smile.

"Just relax and humor ole Rixxie. Cause this is real tequila. my whole alcohol ration for the next two weeks. We can do this fast or we can take it slow. It all depends on how willing to talk you are." She leaned in and poured her a glass. Rixxa also pushed the food over.

"So start chomping and we can start to talk about one another and get to be friends." Rixxa poured her glass and took a sip.

Tuula wasn't one to drink to excess, but with at least a dozen hours until her next duty shift and not being on call until then, and with 'ole Rixxie' offering, she didn't see the harm in a cocktail or six.

"Well, I am a harpist and I played Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, I think that's the most interesting thing about me..." Tuula trailed off, knowing that there were other interesting things on display. Her style of dress, her ink, her chair... all these were things that others found curious. "Well, as they say in Penzance,, 'Pour, oh pour, the pirate sherry, fill, oh fill, the pirate glass."

Rixxa smiled, then she said, "A musician, some of my best...friends.. have been talented musicians." She stared off for a moment. She then looked at the Doc.

Tuula smiled; she would have to play at the next shipwide talent show. "S. S. Adekio," she said, reading Rixxa's shirt, as she "Is that a previous gig?"

"The Adekio was my last assignment, a cruise ship that did the Risa to Alpha Centauri run. I was the ship's medic. Best assignment I ever had. I was merchant marine before I got into fleet. How about you? Where were you before this? As for me, a drop of Nelson's blood wouldn't do me any harm!"

Rixxa downed half the glass. Tuula... tried to keep up.

"Starbase 173," she replied, "out near Ferengi space. It was horrible; suffice it to say, my department head was a Vulcan, and the two doctors who were supervising me were an Andorian and a Tellarite." Tuula wasn't sad to leave that assignment behind; at times the constant arguing and the overbearing department head were too much to bear. "Before that, med school."

"Well Ferengis can be fun, Did you pick up Tongo? Its a fun game to play. Please drink some more or else you are going to make me feel like a booze hound." She gave a playful nudge of the glass.

"No, between duty shifts and rehearsing for Penzance, I didn't have much time for games," replied Tuula. Following Rixxa's example, she downed a large fraction of the glass.

"If it helps, I have been on assignments where I was the only trained medic, So I got stuck doing ship's doctor roles. Want to hear a really blue story about a time I was on a freighter? Seriously after you hear it, you will understand that I have seen it all, but be warned its a little racy." Rixxa smiled, this was going to be a great story if Tuula wasn't too shy to hear it.

"Do tell," she replied, reaching for a cheese stick. Looking at the pile, she realized that she would definitely have to hit up the holodeck for some exercise the next day. Perhaps some kayaking, or maybe some swimming.

"Well I was just a fresh recruit, We had a fresh from command school skipper. We were hauling of all things animals, The freighter couldn't do Warp four so we had been in the black a long time and were desperate to hit dirtside. The Skipper refused to let any crew disembark until we had passed final inspection. You try being three months in space with five hundred ranching animals and see how clean you can be?"

Rixxa paused and took a swig. She took a deep breath and continued, "Well the Engineer of the boat was this alpha male kind of guy. He hadn't been laid in months. I had been avoiding him because well being the only woman onboard I was afraid of things getting ugly. Well I had just walked into the Mess when I heard him yell out that, 'I want tang and I want it now!'. I started to turn around when I heard a squeal of delight from the Cook's mate was grabbed. Sanchez was an effeminate weirdo from the start, the fact that he was half Betazoid and very openly gay came to play. Well the Engineer grabbed Sanchez and started to screw him right there on the table screaming out how, 'This wasn't the result of him being gay, but the result of the Skipper's strictness. I stood there in shock and awe as the two just had dirty rotten pig sex in front of half the crew."

She looked at the Doc and hoped she hadn't offended her delicate senses. Rixxa was starting to giggle.

Tuula tried to remain composed, but Rixxa's giggle was enough to get her to burst out in laughter. She leaned over, trying not to bust a gut. "How did you deal with that?" she asked before polishing off her first drink.

"Well I commed the janitor telling him to bring the disinfectant cleaner, He was going to be mopping up more then goat crap off the floors. The skipper then came in screaming about Sodomy this and SODOMY that! How we were all witness to this crime. He had to stun Kolez to get him off Sanchez. The worst was when all leave was cancelled while a hearing went on. As Medical Officer, I was allowed to go ashore to do Ship's business. So I went to a bar, arranged for a keg or two to be brought aboard while the Skipper was sleeping. In the Merchant service things are still a bit ..archaic.. Sodomy is really any public acts of indecent behavior. Well when you are signed up for the service you get a rating and a license to be a Spacehand. But the officers onboard are actual Starfleet Officers, If you commit criminal acts and are caught you can get in a lot of trouble. Well Skipper Weston wanted things done all by the book, I didn't want to see these two get thrown in prison or worse expelled from the service. But Kolez and Sanchez decided after that, they wanted to be married. Which only made things weirder, because we were having a trial and a wedding all at once."

Leaning over in her chair, Tuula was laughing so hard that a few tears began to form, ruining the eyeliner that she had so delicately applied only a half hour before. "Did they at least get acquitted?"

"The funny thing is, legally a married couple can't be compelled to testify against each other," continued Rixxa. "And the prosecution's case fell apart when they realized they had no witnesses. Neither Kolez nor Sanchez would testify against one another, and apparently all 50 crewmen in the mess at the time just happened to be looking the other way. Last I heard, they were happily married and serving together on a cargo ship out in the Beta Quadrant."

Tuula shook her head laughing until she regained enough composure to polish off her drink. "That is quite the story," she said added, barely containing a giggle. As she reached for the pitcher to refill her glass, a server appeared with two tall glasses filled with a blue liquid.

"Romulan Ale for the two lovely ladies, courtesy of the man at the corner table,"

"Lovely ladies? Well, who am I to argue," started Tuula as she raised her glass for a toast, "though the phrase 'lovely ladies' does remind me of a part I was auditioning for in-- shit!"

"In shit?" asked Rixxa, a quizzical look on her face as she clinked glasses.

"Not him, anyone but him," Tuula muttered rubbing her head with one hand and clenching her glass is a white-knuckle grip with the other. Slowly, she turned towards the all too familiar figure approaching her table. Her eyes filled with rage. "Really, Zuwtt, did you seriously think that this would work? That you could buy me one drink and I'd forget about how you treated me? That's not something that is easliy forgotten, not even after six years."

"But Tuula," he started, moving in closer.

"But nothing!" shouted Tuula, loud enough to turn the heads of everyone in the bar. "Ardon, if you do not turn around and walk away right this instant, you'll be wearing this drink."

"Oh come on, a guy can't buy a couple of beautiful ladies a drink?" he asked rhetorically, placing his hands on their table. "Now, what are a couple of gorgeous and intelligent young women like yourselves chatting about, and more importantly, what are you doing alone?"

"I gave him fair warning, didn't I?" Tuula asked Rixxa through clenched teeth, ignoring Zuwtt's yammerings.

"Tuula..." Rixxa said in a cautious voice, trying to calm down her companion. She didn't know what Tuula was capable of, but she did know that anyone who can so quickly go from pleasant and jovial to being filled with such intense rage was not one to be trifled with.

"You're right," started Tuula, turning back towards Zuwtt. Her lips curled slightly, revealing a hint of a smile, one which brought Zuwtt's guard down. Suddenly, with a flick of her wrist, Tuula threw the contents of her glass right into Zuwtt's face.

"What are you doing!" he shouted, shocked at her audacity as he wiped the liquid off his bald forehead. "That was real Romulan Ale!"

"I'm sorry," replied Tuula, sarcastically. "You know, I have to go powder my nose. If you're still here by the time I get back, that Romulan Ale won't be the only blue liquid that is spilled in this bar today. Come on, Rixxie, lets go." The intensity in her voice left no questions: she wasn't kidding. Pushing herself away from the table, she made a point of "accidentally" running over Zuwtt's foot.

As the two women headed for the washroom together, a server returned with a towel for a dejected looking Bolian holding one foot and wincing in pain.

[OFF]

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

PO3 Rixxa Chott
Nurse
USS Galileo
[PNPC duChampe]

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