Just a Regular Twosome

Posted on 21 Apr 2016 @ 8:28am by Captain Harvey Geisler & Rear Admiral Scarlet Cameron
Edited on on 21 Apr 2016 @ 8:28am

1,681 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Starbase Unity
Timeline: MD 0 || BACKPOST

After meeting his new Chief Engineer and getting the final paperwork on the Scorpio done Jelim left for Starbase Unity again. After recent events and more specifically recent news he could definitely use a drink, or several. Most likely several. Once on the base he made his way to Universe’s End, it wasn’t much of a bar but at least due to Unity being so far away from the regular Federation forces they served real alcohol and they had entertainment. Once there he took a seat at the bar. “I’ll have a whiskey neat, Jack. Actually make that a double” He said to the bartender which he had met on his stay on the Base before.

Harvey swore he was part of a rare breed as he never had a desire to wear something other than his uniform or to do much off duty besides read or sleep. Today, however, was a day he wished for a breath of air that hadn’t spent weeks running through a recycler. No matter how much engineers testified to how well those scrubbers worked, Harvey could always tell something was missing. And tonight was a night he could have used even a breath of crisp, cold air.

Unity was not a planet. The dilithium processing center’s air in fact felt harsher than the Black Hawk’s, but given recent events, a change of scenery, if only for a few minutes, would do him good. He entered the Universe’s End, an appropriately named bar according to Harvey. Finding an open stool at the bar, Harvey caught the barkeep’s attention. “Scotch on the rocks,” he requested.

Just as the new order came in Jack had completed the first one and handed it to Jelim. “It’s on its way Captain” He responded to Harvey. The mention of the rank made Jelim pay attention to the person sitting near him. “Not often there are two Captains in this place at the same time” Jelim said as he extended a hand. “Jelim Mar”.

“Harvey Geisler,” he responded, giving Jelim’s a firm shake, pleased to meet a fellow Captain in the task force that was actually on the right side. “Yours is the Scorpion, right?”

“An easy mistake to make” He joked. “Scorpio, yeah. You are from the Black Hawk right?” He asked as he took a sip from the drink. Meanwhile Jack handed Harvey the scotch.

“Thanks,” Harvey nodded to the barkeep. To the Trill beside him, he replied with a smile, “Yeah. Great ship, and a great crew.”

“I’m sure it’s the second best ship in the Task Force” Jelim responded jokingly.

“If it is,” Harvey said with a smirk after sipping his scotch, “then the best better be pretty damn good.”

“It is” Jelim said as he finished the drink. “I’ll have another one”

Harvey glanced down at Jelim’s empty glass, surprised at how quickly the fellow captain had downed it. “Looks like you had a pretty rough mission too.”

“You could say that” Jelim sighed. “Got a nice hole blown into my ship where a Shuttle Bay used to be, could have been worse if he hadn’t outed the Consortium agents before they could make their move. You?”

“One agent tore up my command structure by jailing my XO. The other shot me, point blank.” Harvey pointed at his left side near his kidney. “Here.” With that, Harvey downed the rest of his glass and gestured to Jack for a refill.

The bartender, hearing the stories, was quick to refill both. “Yeah, your story definitely has mine beat.”

“Trust me, it’s not a contest worth winning,” Harvey said, picking up his glass. “Though if he ever comes near me again, I’ll certainly return the favor.”

“Amen to that” Jelim said, raising his glass. “Luckily I managed to arrest a few before they got away. Should be a nice source of information soon enough”

“One can only hope.” Harvey joined in on the toast, then tossed half of its contents into his mouth. “And hopefully they’ll have something useful. The two in my brig don’t have too much to say.”

Jelim nodded. “So I take it then you are probably going to join in on taking the fight back to them?” He said as he took a sip.

“You better believe it,” Harvey confirmed. “Just as soon as command figures out what the hell to do.”

Jelim sighed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the Commodores right now” He said, finishing his drink again before asking for a new one.

Harvey raised his glass, showing the low level of liquid still remaining inside. “Here’s hoping we never make it that high.”

Jelim laughed while raising his glass. “I couldn’t agree more. Following orders is so much more fun than making them”

“To following orders!” Harvey declared, raising the glass just a hair higher. “May there still be a flag officer to pass the buck to.”

Jelim took a significant gulp. “I mean if all else fails, there is always piracy.”

Harvey took a drink of his own. “Or retirement.”

“I could go for retirement, but I feel having a few hundred people legally obligated to follow my orders has a perk as well” Jelim joked.

Harvey chuckled, taking another drink. “Honestly, I wouldn’t know what to do with retirement. I spent three months out of uniform. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life.”

“I never truly retired but around the time I married my wife I took an assignment at Starfleet Security on Earth. Despite still being in uniform they were the most boring six years of my life. I couldn’t imagine any other place than the frontlines. Though admittedly I did come into the Gamma Quadrant expecting more exploration and diplomacy rather than war and cloak and dagger” Jelim said, himself taking another drink as well.

“You’re married?” Harvey asked in surprise. “That must be interesting,” he commented, knowing how much time Harvey spent in uniform aboard his own ship.

“Yeah, 11 years now, Got a kid too so the whole package, it has been challenging but we made it work. Even took them with me to the Gamma Quadrant when our mission was going to be more peaceful but they’re probably going to stay on Unity now.” Jelim responded. “You have any significant other in your life?”

Harvey shook his head. “I was married, once upon a time. The Jem’Hadar took it upon themselves to end it.” He finished his drink and ordered one more. “Although, it seems I might be getting into a relationship. Not sure if we’re ready to label it yet.”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t imagine going through that. But good to hear you are moving on, dating must be interesting though in these times” Jelim said, before taking another gulp.

“What isn’t interesting in these times?” Harvey commented, taking a drink of his refilled glass. “At least I know she’s not going to kill me in my sleep. That is, if all of the Consortium have revealed themselves.”

Jelim almost choked on his drink. “Yeah I imagine that would be a concern as well” He said after managing to get it back together again. “Sometimes I really wish we weren’t bound by our oaths to Federation law”

He didn’t immediately respond to that. Rather, Harvey took another drink and thought about his approach. “What do you have in mind, exactly?”

“Just this Consortium mess, sometimes I feel our own laws are binding our hands behind our backs” Jelim responded.

Harvey grunted, noting how much an answer that wasn’t. “A huge part of me wants to walk into Terlexa’s office and take her out myself. Getting there… that’ll be the challenge.”

“Her Office has atmosphere, I’d much rather take her out for a spacewalk, and yeah it will be. Eventually we should get there though” Jelim said, finishing the glass and asking for a new one.

“Hopefully sooner than later.” Harvey set his half-empty glass on the counter. “Before the Consortium rallies its resources to come after us.”

Jelim nodded “I don’t disagree, but I also understand why we’re regrouping for now. Their attack left our resources spread very thin. We basically were lucky to get here in the first place with how close to New Bajor we were when everything happened”

“I can’t argue that,” Harvey said, picking up his glass and finishing it. “It’ll have to be a team effort.” As soon as the bartender refilled his glass, Harvey took another sip. “The Black Hawk will have your back, Jelim.”

“And the Scorpio yours” Jelim replied. “Drinks are on me when we get back to New Bajor”

“Deal.” Harvey raised his glass ever so slightly and downed it in one shot. He waved the bartender off, preventing him from refilling the glass. “I wish you luck, Captain.”

“You too Captain” He said, finishing his glass as well but waving for the bartender to refill it still.

Harvey nodded at the Trill before turning to leave. His left foot shifted ever so slightly underneath him as he turned. Harvey blamed the tile, not what was running in his veins.

Jelim chuckled and gave him a hand. “Watch out Harvey, you don’t want to explain to your crew why you went face first on the floor in a shady bar”

There were a lot of things Harvey wanted to avoid explaining to his crew. And, he was determined that one of them wasn’t going to be why another captain was escorting him out of a bar. “Thanks,” he muttered, checking his balance. Fortunately, the nearest transporter room was not far. With that, he nodded his head to Jelim and left the bar by himself, steady as a rock.

JP by
Captain H. Geisler
CO, USS Black Hawk

&

Captain J. Mar
CO, USS Scorpio

RSS Feed