Fighter’s Mess

Posted on 05 Aug 2026 @ 1:35pm by Lieutenant JG Mako & Ensign Aurilia Moretti & Ensign Peris

1,854 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Acceleration
Location: USS Yorktown

Training for the mission had been brutal, though Peris could argue that fewer things were as brutal as being whisked away from the Black Hawk without warning. The 325th had been removed from the ship before, always for a special mission, but this one had felt different. As they’d been departing, scuttlebutt arose that Commodore Geisler was being demoted and the ship reassigned from the Task Force.

The Deltan ensign had been with the ship for a short while, but it had been long enough for her to develop a rapport with her fellow fighter pilots. It was evident that they all shared the same uncertainty about the future. The mission was just that, a mission. One that required the joint efforts of the only two fighter squadrons in the quadrant. But it was beyond that that concerned her. Would they return to the Black Hawk? Would they remain on Yorktown? Or worse, would they be absorbed into a single squadron and pulled back to Gamma Command where everything seemed to be consolidating too following the multiversal crisis?

These were too many thoughts for one to ponder alone in the Yorktown’s spartan mess hall, filled with pilots, their mechanics, and even some of the Yorktown’s crew. Yet, she wondered if anyone would sit down at her table and save her from her introspective thoughts.

Try as he might to cover, Mako probably had that 'out of place' look about him as he turned away from the replicator with tray in hand. He attempted to look like he was completely casual, that being on a strange ship, among all these strangers, wasn't a big deal. The way his eyes darted around, the challenging lift of his chin as if daring someone to question his presence, the tightness of his jaw, all were rather human-seeming defensive reactions from the decidedly not-human, green-skinned pilot.

Thankfully, as he started to walk to find a place to sit, no one seemed to take much notice, or if they did it was the kind of looks he was used to. There weren't many Orions in a Starfleet uniform, but he could deal with that. It'd be a shame if I head to throw down with someone if they recognized him for anything else. Mako really wanted to eat his sandwich, not make someone wear it. He didn't overhear any half-whispers or get any glares that might hint that someone had heard of him. Yet.

At last his path took him toward the bald-headed ensign a bit shorter than himself, and he relaxed a little. "I saw you on the files," Mako said as he stopped at her table. "You're 325th, right?" Without waiting he slid into the spot across from her, set his tray on the table. "Guess I am now too. Name's Mako."

The copper haired human fighter pilot Aurilia, known as Tango to her fighter pilot brethren, looked up as she saw the new pilot, an Orion, sitting down at the table where the Deltan was. It was an interesting mix of crew, but she had no complaints other than missing Rocco. "We all are," she said with a gesture of her right arm at the others. "I'm Tango, also known as Aurilia."

He looked up and down the table at the pilots with a grin, "Tango, huh? Do you do the ironic callsigns too? Would love to know how you got that one." Mako took a bite of his sandwich and leaned forward, intent and wanting to hear a good story, relaxing. So far, so good!

Aurilia looked over at the Orion and gave a half laugh. "I don't remember," she said. "It was one of those times when my liquid courage overrode memory and a good story. What about you"?"

"Aw, damn," Mako set his sandwich down. "I'm not sure I believe you. It must be really embarassing. Maybe you'll tell me someday." Mako shrugged and said, "They called me 'Strix'. You know, mythology? 'The bird of ill omen'. A joke at how I usually made at least one senior officer angry every time I came in a room. They weren't exactly wrong, I guess."

“The humans have a word for that too,” remarked Peris, shifting in her seat and unknowingly allowing the overhead lighting to glisten on her bald head for a brief moment. “Albatross, I think they call it.” With a nod, she then introduced herself, “My given name is Peris, but the rest of the 325th calls me Cueball.”

Aurilia shook her head. "Maybe I dance the tango when I'm drunk?" she said with a shrug. "It stuck." She looked at Peris and smiled. "Now why would that call you that?" she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Mako laughed, enjoying the back and forth, and didn't just file away their names in his memory, he imprinted them on his soul. He couldn't help that his old team was gone, but he would do all he could to support his new one. "I can't imagine why," he smiled in Peris' direction. Then he bobbed eyebrows at Aurilia, "Noted. Get you drunk and see how well you move."

"That's a negative," Aurilia said. "Alcohol almost killed my career and it was going after me next. I won't even touch syntehol now."

"No drinks then," Mako said with immediate support, she wouldn't hear any pressure from him about that. If Aurilia lived dry, she would have Mako's support on that and he'd do his best not to bring it around her as well. But she'd find him persistent about dancing now that she'd suggested it. "But we are definitely dancing sometime, the whole squadron if I can swing it. Call it a team-building exercise. I know the best nightclub on Risa, maybe can program it into a holodeck wheverer we wind up. Where are we going anyway?"

"We don't know yet," Cueball piped up. "Training sessions have indicated that we're going into tight quarters, which would suggest an asteroid field. We've been locked out of astrometrics, so it's anyone's guess as to what we're doing. My bet though... we're cleaning up someone's mess. Selubassari, pirates, maybe a Consortium or Confederation holdover."

"'Ours is not to reason why', and all that, eh?" Mako paused to chew some of his sandwich, thoughts whirring behind dark green eyes despite the quote. He shook his head though. With what he'd been through recently he had no clue, especially considering he'd been near enough on the other side of the Federation dealing with entirely different situations.

"I'm glad to be flying with you all, whatever comes," he said after swallowing, smiling again even as he spoke earnestly.

"It's always good to have someone watching our six," confirmed Peris. "You watch ours, and we'll watch yours. So, do you have any fun stories from the cockpit?"

"Alright, I got a good one," Mako said eagerly, leaning forward, elbows on the table, ignoring his sandwhich as he spoke. There was an amused gleam in his eyes, and how much of it was a tall tale and how much was true he'd leave up to the others to decide.

"Back on Starbase One-Nineteen, we used to run anti-piracy patrols. Mostly Orion Syndicate, you know, trying to take advantage of the Hobus situation." Mako leaned back in his chair with a grin. "One day we're chasing this raider through an Oort cloud, and he suddenly opens a channel to me. Doesn't say a word to anybody else, just me. He looks me dead in the eye as we fly by each other this close --" Mako held up two fingers a couple of inches apart, "-- and goes..." He lowered his voice into a rough imitation, trying to sound like some dangerous pirate. "'Brother... you're shooting at the wrong people.'"

He paused just long enough for everyone to picture the dramatic moment.

"Then I said: 'Nah,'" Mako said with a shrug. "'You're the one shooting at the wrong people.' And shot out his engines. Wasn't the last time the Syndicate tried recruiting me either!"

Paris blinked in surprise. She hadn’t wanted to assume that Mako had dealings with the Syndicate, especially since it was easy to assume that any Orion in Starfleet was trying to avoid its grasp. Hearing his story just affirmed the otherwise. “Do you get recruitment offers often?”

Aurilia blinked as well. "I'm surprised that Internal Investigations doesn't live in your combadge," she said.

He grew thoughtful. "There's been...4 times? Oh, wait, no, 5 if you count Turkana. Sometimes they get me confused with... someone else. There's not a lot of Orions in Starfleet, and the Syndicate is eager for anything they can steal or learn or whatever. They aren't very creative. But enough about that. Where are you normally posted? Am I right in guessing you aren't exactly happy to be here?"

“Happiness is a subjective term,” Peris admitted. “I’m thrilled to be doing something that doesn’t involve a CAP or escort duty. Missions like that are fairly boring and it’s easy to get complacent. At least, that’s what our usual home has been doing for the last six or seven months. The last time we as a squadron saw some action, we lost a few friends.”

Aurilia gave a solemn nod at Peris' words. "Everything out here is deadly, Mako," she said. "We're in the final frontier out here and it doesn't like us that much."

"Ain't that the truth?" Mako agreed to Aurilia's statement. Whether here or along the old Romulan border systems, or anywhere else on the edges, they lived with the danger in a real and personal way. It was part of what had drawn him in, no doubt them as well, and was the risk they all took. "Sorry 'bout your friends. I know what that's like. Same thing happened on my last mission." His frown was severe, eyes glancing away, that was too fresh a loss for him to want to discuss. That, and he wanted so badly to say something like he'd do whatever he could to keep his new wingmen alive. That'd just come out as arrogant, and foolish.

And it should already be a given.

Peris caught the unsaid statement and affirmation that they'd watch each other's backs. It was indeed a given, and always would be up until one betrayed that trust. "Such is life as a pilot," she admitted, looking down and stirring her fork in her salad. "And I suppose it never really gets easier."

"It may not, but we never signed up for easy, did we?" Aurilia asked.

"Hell no!" Mako declared, raising a fist, grinning once again.

Peris grinned, even if it seemed a cheesy thing to grin for. “If it isn’t easy, then it’s not worth having.” She lifted her glass of water and offered, “To the Black Knights.”

Aurilia raised her as well. "To the Black Knights!"

"To the Black Knights!" Mako began to feel at home.

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