Did Ya Hear?

Posted on Mon Jan 23, 2017 @ 2:30am by Commodore Michael Aravan & Captain Madelina Weisz & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho & Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Operations
Timeline: MD 3 || 1545 Hours

Warrant Officer Shelby Buchanan moved through Operations after finishing one of the many tasks she had to get through before the end of her shift. None of it was on her list of fun things to do, but that didn't mean she couldn't add her own excitement to the job. She stopped when she came upon two of her fellow crewmen and friends. "I bet the two of you haven't heard yet," she began with a grin. "There's some new gossip on the ship, and I just so happen to be privy to said information. Are either of you interested?"

Petty Officer Third Class Qar Sinagon looked up as he saw Buchanan approaching him and turned his blue head her way. "New gossip?" he asked with interest. "You know you shouldn't be spreading gossip." He paused for a moment and looked around, but didn't see anyone else around before he looked back at her. "So what do you have?"

The young Warrant Officer Second Class looked over from two consoles down. "Did I hear something about gossip?" asked the white haired Andorian. His antennae twitched as KevalRon strolled over to the other two Operations personnel. "I'm not one to go around and spread rumors, but I don't mind listening to them. What's on everyone else's mind?"

"The Captain and XO are sleeping together," she answered with a grin. "I heard it from a friend."

Qar laughed. "Of course they sleep together," he said. "He's married to her, after all."

"The redhead?" said KevalRon. "The Captain and the redhead? No. They're not married are they? I thought his wife a brunette or something?"

Buchanan shook her head. "No... his wife is the blond... former XO. She retired over a year ago for some reason," she said. "I'm talking about the redhead. Super bitch. You know who I'm talking about. She's the one that can't keep her mouth, or legs, closed."

"You mean that the Captain is giving a Captain's Mast in a way that Starfleet never thought of to his XO?" Qar asked with wide eyes.

Shelby grinned. "That's exactly what I'm saying. There was a dinner for the senior staff, and a friend of mine was working. Said the Captain's eyes nearly bulged out of his head when she walked in. The Ready Room is definitely being used for something other than your average briefings."

KevalRon smirked. "Kinda brings new meaning to 'Ready Room,' doesn't it? Or would that be the Red-dy Room?"

"How did you find out, Shelby?" Qar asked her. "Something like this is hard to prove."

"I told you a friend of mine told me, but I'm not out to prove anything. If you want to sit around and spy... try to see what you can find out, that's up to you," she said, looking over at KevalRon. "You're right... it definitely does."

Qar thought for a moment and then laughed as something came to his mind. "Maybe we can say the LCARS table needs maintenance and dust it for butt prints."

KevalRon chuckled. "But how would you compare them? I'm pretty sure that the Captain's and XO's butt prints aren't on file anywhere. Unless...someone can figure out how to get them."

Buchanan shook her head. "I have no interest in trying to get imprints of their backsides. I'm sure one... or even both... of you could get one of Commander Weisz, though. You're male. That means you're in."

"It would be easy to tell them apart," Qar said. "Have you seen Commander Weisz's badonkadonk? Baby got back."

KevalRon thought about it for a second. "You've got a point, Qar. She does have a nice one. Wouldn't a bad idea at all, what Buchanan suggested, getting a butt print from her."

Shelby shook her head. "You two are as bad as the Captain, but at least he had the cajones to act on it. Let's see which one of you gets her butt print first. I've got fifty strips of platinum for whoever does."

"You're on," Qar said with a grin a light year wide. "I could use the extra latinum. That guy Baker is a beast in a poker game and keeps taking it all." He paused and walked around Shelby. "Then again, I could let you keep the latinum in exchange for letting me get a butt print of you."

K-Ron watched as Qar circled Shelby and listened to his proposal. He antennae twitched as he smiled, wondering how she would react to that. "Then I guess that means the Commander is all mine. So, fifty strips of latinum...for the redhead's butt print. You're on."

"In your dreams," Shelby said with a smile, though there was a twinkle in her eye. She looked to the other man. "You're going to give it a try? I wish you luck, bud."

"I'm in," Qar said. "Do we get extra latinum if it's a bare butt print?"

"I'll throw in another fifty," she answered.

"Aw hell," said K-Ron. "I thought the original offer for fifty was for a bare butt print. Now with another fifty..." He shook his head. "I'll get you a damn good bare butt print for one hundred strips of latinum."

"Do we have a time limit to get it in?" Qar asked as he started mentally calculating ways that he could use to get the print.

"I'll give you both two days, and try not to forget what department we work in. Things break... it's our job to fix them. That's all the help I'm giving either of you," Shelby said.

"Two days, huh," said K-Ron. "Okay, it's a bet." Ideas started swimming around his mind. Ideas like, what could he break of hers that he would have to go fix.

"You may as well pay me now," Qar said with a devious grin. "I have it in the bag."

During most of this, Tom had stood quietly outside the door. Originally, he'd leaned against a nearby bulkhead with a cup of coffee to read a report. The scuttlebutt in the other room had quickly grabbed his attention. The Captain and the XO were seeing each other? Tom knew firsthand that wasn't the case, but he couldn't just say that.

Abusing privleges to get a butt print -- a bare one at that -- wasn't just unethical. It would land someone in the brig and cost them a uniform. Before the situation could advance further, Tom turned and entered the room. Standing in the doorway, the only entrance and exit, Tom stood quietly, waiting to see how aware the gossipers were aware of their surroundings.

Shelby caught movement out the corner of her eye, but was too afraid to turn her head to look. Instead, she cast a glance out the corner of her eye and groaned inwardly. Not only were they busted, but they were busted by their Chief. This wasn't going to end well. Still, though, she wasn't going to try to make a hasty escape... not that she could anyway.

The young woman snapped to attention and slowly turned to face Barnes. How much had he heard? Was he going to tear them a new one? So many questions rolled through her mind, but she didn't have the courage to ask a single one of them. Instead, she stood there, trying to keep calm, while she waited for whatever was going to happen to take place.

When Shelby suddenly went stiff and turned, Qar abandoned his mental planning and looked to where she was facing. A distinctly Bolian word echoed in his mind and his blue face went from it's normal shade of Egyptian blue to Carolina blue and he swallowed hard. The Chief of Operations stood there with a disapproving look on his face and he swallowed hard as he waited to be torn out of his uniform.

The Andorian was about to say something else when he noticed the room get suddenly quiet. His first thought was that the XO had walked in. Or worse yet, the Captain. When he turned around, he saw their Department Chief. K-Ron's antennae drooped more than a little. They had been caught. "Um..., Sir..."

"Oh?" Tom said, his tone dripping with disappointment. "Don't stop on my account. Do expound upon your plans. How exactly do you plan to get a butt print, a bare one at that, of this ship's Executive Officer?"

"Well," Qar started and then stopped again. "That is to say that..." He wondered how he was going to dig himself out of the hole given how much the Chief seemed to know. He briefly considered throwing K-Ron and Shelby at Barnes and making a break for it, but discounted it. "We were just joking around, Chief," he finished a bit lamely.

"Joking?" the Chief repeated. "I thought only Ferengis joked about a hundred bars of latinum."

"Strips," Shelby interjected, wishing she'd have just kept her mouth shut. "We were just messing around, Chief. No harm done, right?"

He stared at the three of them for a moment, intentionally letting his gaze affix on them one by one. At least the Warrant Officer had validated the context of the conversation.

"Yes, sir," said KevalRon, "just talking. That's all. Trying to pass the time." The Andorian mentally slapped himself for that one. Yeah, that's exactly what Chief Barnes needed to hear, that they were just trying to pass the time. If they got any extra duty, it was going to be all on him. And Shelby and Qar would never let him forget it.

Finally, the Chief spoke. "I would remind you all that spying on the Captain and Executive Officer is a punishable offense. It will cost you more than a 100 strips of latinum, that I will promise you. And I'll personally see to that... that is if Commander Weisz doesn't completely tear you apart."

Buchanan looked toward her two crewmen. They'd be safer. They had parts she happened to lack. "I'm sure we can forget this ever happened, couldn't we, Chief?"

Qar watched the Chief for a moment. "Does it have to be like this, Chief?" he asked. "We didn't actually do anything."

Tom shook his head, realizing he'd probably come more to the XO's defense than he should have. "Just be sure you don't," he chided before stepping out of the room.

Shelby breathed a sigh of relief. The three of them had just dodged a serious bullet, but now she had to wonder... That was going to be kept to herself, though. "The latinum is off the tables, boys. I'm not risking my career, or the wrath of the XO, for this. If either of you want to get close and personal with her, that's going to have to be on you."

Qar took note of how quickly Shelby dropped the offer and wondered if he could now get her butt print since he wasn't going to get any latinum from her. "It won't happen again, Chief," he said out loud.

K-Ron couldn't believe it, they had been let off the hook, as the humans say. And now with no latinum for motivation, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to go through it. Especially if he wound up in the Brig. Nothing to show for it. He shrugged. "Well Shelby, I guess that's that. Unless...you want to put your butt print on the table, so to speak."

"Meet me at my place after our shifts are over," she said, then made her way out to get back to work.

For a moment, Qar wondered if Shelby were a telepath, but he shook his head and grinned. "Consider it done," he said.

K-Ron called out after her, "I'll see you there." Then he turned to Qar, "This is going to be interesting."

"That it will," Qar said before he headed off to finish up his duties.