Let the feathers fly

Posted on 20 Sep 2025 @ 2:00pm by Nesh Saalm & Ensign Mimi

1,289 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 21 - Helix
Location: Mess hall - Deck 2
Timeline: MD 07 - 0730

ON:

After hearing about an interesting new addition to the Galileo's compliment but having no chance to investigate it until now Mimi headed into the Mess hall looking for Nesh, she could tell the woman was around somewhere; to a species with a sense of smell more than ten times as sensitive as a human the heady scent of an Orion woman was easily trackable anywhere on the ship. "Nesh?" She called out.

There was a cacophony of animal sounds in response. After a delay, a voice of an Orion woman could be heard over the sounds of the bawks. "Come on back! My hands are a little full right now."

Mimi's ears twitched at the strange noises coming from the galley, most definitely curious she headed inside.

Nesh was moving in a predatory fashion in an attempt to herd the small feathery 'dinosaurs' that were called chickens into the small travel crates on the far wall. "They won't go back into their crates! I have to get them out the galley before they destroy everything!"

"Wow, I did hear it right, these are real life chickens." Mimi said after a few seconds of watching Nesh chase the small animals around the room.

"Wanna help, Mimi?" Nesh asked as she dove and managed to snag one of the clucking, feathery hell-beasts. This was a joke. She knew she had ordered eggs and NOT chickens...and if and when they got back to Regula 1 there would be reckoning.

"Where do I hold them?" Mimi asked, one of the chickens leapt in her direction its wings flapping vigorously and she quickly took a step back. "I do not want to injure them."

"You can grab them under their wings..." There was an irate tirade of clucking as Nesh turned around holding the perturbed chicken up like a prize. "Like this!" She couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of this current scenario.

A buff colored chicken jumped up on the stainless steel worktable next to Mimi as if to taunt her.

Mimi turned to face the chicken, her nose began to twitch, her tail gently swished, she shifted her weight slightly as she calculated the right moment to leap forward and grab the chicken that now strutted back and forth on the worktable.

The chicken stared at back at Mimi, sizing her up as if she (the chicken) wasn't a small feathery creature, but rather the predatory dinosaur that she had evolved from. This tail-swishing creature didn't frighten her. The buff-colored animal stepped forwards and turned her head so that she could eye up the creature more effectively.

One last slight adjustment of her feet and Mimi struck, she dashed forward, closing the distance between herself and the chicken in a flash. Her nail-less fingers slipping under its wings and gripping tightly, she quickly pulled it towards her holding it tight against her chest. "Got you."

And then holy feathery hell was unleashed. The chicken, highly vexxed at being removed from her shiny perch and being restrained, lashed out with an unholy squawk and began flapping and kicking and pecking at Mimi. The chicken's war-cry was heard by the rest of the flock and they fearlessly took off towards the operations officer with Tyrannosaurus-Rex energy.

"Oh shit, Mimi - what did you do?! AAAhhh! Ouch!" Nesh's exclamation was cut short as the winged creature in her hands lost it's ever-loving mind.

Mimi's ears shot backwards at the sudden chaotic noise filling the galley. She vigorously grappled with the chicken she was barely holding onto, managing to grab one of its legs before one of the others flew straight into her head knocking her off balance for a few moments and letting the chicken loose again.

It was poultry pandemonium. The tiny raptors, having finally tasting freedom after months cooped in over-crowded pens, were not about to let the two women incarcerate them again without resistance.

Nesh, recognizing their collective peril, tossed the chicken over her shoulder and took off running. As she passed Mimi, Nesh hooked her arm around Mimi's and jerked her along with her. "Drop the bird! We are in mortal danger!"

Pulled somewhat violently by Nesh, Mimi gave up on trying to re-grab the chicken that had escaped her grasp and quickly followed her. The door was only a few steps away but each step was doggedly pursued by the gang of chickens squawking and flapping their wings with vigour.

The chickens had chosen this moment to rise up against their featherless overlords. They were hungry and irritable, and rather menacing in large groups when riled up. The moment for gentle 'herding' had passed.

"Oh come on!" Nesh cried, trying to push them both forward out of the galley into the mess hall proper. "I just wanted eggs for Captain Tarin! Why does life have to be so hard?!"

"How did you even get hold of real life chickens all the way out here Nesh?" Mimi asked as mercifully the galley door started to close behind them before any of the chickens could get through.

"Your guess would be as good as mine. I work through a broker - there is a pretty robust market for real ingredients. It would be a good sector to invest in...ah...I digress." Exhaling through pursed lips, Nesh's mouth made a raspberry sound as if to reset herself. "So, to not bore you with the minutiae, I have been requesting eggs for months. Broker hit me up the last time we were at Regula 1. He could get me the eggs, but it would be a last minute delivery. I didn't suspect anything until I started unpacking the stuff and one of the crates started clucking."

"I did not see anything in the cargo logs about packages of eggs or live animals." Mimi told her, either she'd missed it, Lt Serran had approved it or more likely..... "Did you even log it?" she then asked, her tone had a hint of accusation in it, it wouldn't be the first time.

Nesh laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

"You hid yourself in the ship for a long time before someone found you, I bet there is other stuff hidden around here." Mimi replied, even her extremely sharp sense of smell hadn't picked out the Orion when she'd stowed away.

"You're painting my picture with a very wide 'Orion' brush, there, Mimi." Nesh countered - her smile less natural but more strategic now. Mimi would get nothing out of her. She then looked back to the door that housed the mess hall and the galley and she wondered how this new feathery problem was going to get solved...

Mimi flinched, her ears moving downwards slightly. "I did not mean it like that Nesh, I apologise." She said hoping she'd not offended her friend.

"No worries, Mimi...thanks for coming to visit, I'm just a little pre-occupied at the moment...um...do you think I could borrow a phaser...maybe settings locked to low stun? I gotta get the chickens secured..."

"I would check with one of the security department," Mimi replied. "stunning live chickens might make for some interesting target practice, and a lot easier than us trying to catch them all."

Nesh put her finger up to her lip and tapped thoughtfully, thinking hard on her next steps. "Now who am I going to butter up to get a phaser, I wonder..." As if sensing the potential outcome, a loud chorus of 'bawks' were heard answering through the messhall doors currently closed to the feathery menaces...


[OFF]

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Nesh Saalm
Sous Chef
USS Galileo-A

&

Ensign Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

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