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Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

[ PO1 Scruffy LeBlanc | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ

As the doors to Main Engineering hissed open and Schubert ‘Scruffy’ LeBlanc slouched his way out of the corridor and into his new home away from home, he couldn’t help but reflect on how massive the Theurgy was. The multi-vector dreadnought was quite the jump up from the intrepid-class Bellerophon, and Scruffy had gotten lost several times just trying to find Engineering. It didn’t help matter that the Theurgy was apparently split apart while it was docked… wherever the hell they were. The Doc who had discharged him from sickbay had said something about Aldea, though Scruffy had hardly been paying attention. The events of the last few days were a blur or new faces, surprises, traumatic memories and information overload. To make matters worse, it had taken Scruffy more than an hour to realize that Main Engineering wasn’t on the same Vector as Main Sickbay and his new quarters, and that he would have to beam over to a different Vector to find his new place of employment. The ship was certainly confusing, though the laid-back Scruffy had taken it all in stride as he ambled his way through the corridors, reflecting on the recent goings-on as he had sauntered his way to the transporter room.

Quote
He had awoken in a strange Sickbay, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, his memory fuzzy and his thoughts sluggish. He had been told to lie back when he tried to rise form the biobed, and the nurse had informed him that he was aboard the USS Theurgy. That alone had been a major shock. How had he gotten aboard the Theurgy? Why wasn’t he aboard the Bellerophon? Where were the rest of his crewmates? He had been told he would receive answers in short order.

As it turned out, Lieutenant Commander Hathev had been the one to provide those answers, the Bellerophon’s Chief Counsellor having visited him to fill him in. She informed him that he had been found badly burned in an escape pod, the he had been in a medically induced coma for several days, and that he was one of very few survivors of the Bellerophon’s destruction. The deluge of information had been overwhelming, though what was to come next made the rest of the news pale by comparison.

Commander Hathev had joined the Theurgy, having taken on the role of Chief Counsellor aboard the renegade dreadnought. So, too, had several of the other survivors. When Scruffy had asked why, all the while staring at the Vulcan officer with a look of utter disbelief, she had gone on to explain that they had been fed misinformation regarding the Theurgy. It had taken some discussion, but Scruffy had eventually come to accept what Hathev told him. Ultimately, he had decided to join the Theurgy. He trusted Hathev. Vulcans didn’t have the tendency to lie. And while he had been offered the option of leaving, of heading down to the planet below to live his life peacefully, the fact that the planet below was heavily irradiated was somewhat of a deterrent. Scruffy didn’t exactly relish the idea of a slow, horrific death from Acute Radiation Syndrome. Aldea was also in Klingon territory, and the big, violent battle-obsessed Klingons scared Scruffy almost as much as the death from radiation did.

So, he’d opted to stay…

Scruffy shook his head to clear the errant thoughts from his mind, focusing on the room laid out before him. He wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there lost in thought, but one of the crewmen working at a nearby console was casting quizzical glances in his direction, so Scruffy decided it was best that he move on. He nodded to the crewman as he strolled past, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he meandered his way through the main level of the Theurgy’s Engineering. He paused and gazed up at the core as he made his way to where the warp core was housed. The swirling colours of warp cores had always seemed mesmerizing to him, like the lava lamp he had had in his old VW Van back on earth, though the lamp had been red, not the vibrant bluish colours of the core before him. After standing there staring at the core for several moments longer than most would consider normal, Scruffy turned and made his way around the core, his eyes travelling over the power transfer conduits, coolant ducts and regulators which serviced the vital-yet-volatile core. Mesmerizing and beautiful as he found the warp cores that always features front and center of Starfleet’s Engineering sections, the fact that it could easily explode, vaporizing everything within range (which usually included him, since he was in fact, an engineer) was more than a little unnerving, to say the least.

And by unnerving, Scruffy meant utterly terrifying.

Just thinking of the core detonating, turning him to mush, then dust in mere moments, made Scruffy’s palms begin to sweat in his pockets, though the ambient temperature was perfectly comfortable. He felt his heart begin to accelerate, his chest feeling tighter as he took in a deep, nervous breath.

Best not to think on that, Scruffs… He told himself, taking several slow, deep breaths to calm himself before things got out of hand. After about a minute of breathing and going through a little ritual in his head to take his mind of the imagined impending doom of a sudden warp core breach, Scruffy glanced around the room to see if anyone had been watching him. As Luck would have it, nobody had noticed his little episode, so Scruffy allowed himself to breath a sigh of relief. With his hands still in his pockets, and with shoulders slouched, Scruffy made his way up to the nearest engineering member to ask for directions.

”Hey, man. Er… sir.” Scruffy said, giving the Ensign a lazy smile to accompany the stumbled greeting. ”So, I’m supposed to report to the Chief Engineer, but I don’t really know my way around yet. Any idea where I can find him, man? Er… sir? Man?”

The Ensign gave Scruffy a sort of amused smirk at the question, then nodded towards the doors at the far end of the room. “Chief Engineer’s office is right over there.” The fellow informed him. Scruffy thanked the man and sauntered his way over to the doors, feeling relaxed, in no particular hurry and happy to be alive, in one piece, and aboard a ship that was currently absent of the screeching sirens that signalled it’s impending doom.

Life was good.

As Scruffy approached the door, he heard the Ensign mutter the words “Good luck…” behind him, thinking that it was rather nice of the dude to wish him luck on his first day back to work. He continued on with a slight spring in his slouch as he made his way to the doors the officer had indicated.The doors to the Chief Engineer’s office hissed open as he approached, and so Scruffy simply sauntered in. As he entered, he raised a hand to scratch at the scruff that covered his jaw and glanced down at himself.

Despite the fact that he was wearing a freshly replicated uniform, he found that it was somehow already rumpled. His sleeves were pushed up to leave his forearms bear, he had neglected to do up his uniform all the way, so his collar remained open down to just below the collarbone. He hadn’t done his boots up, and the legs of his pants were rumpled and tucked into the open tops of those boots, which were somehow already scruffed. He was happy to note that he had, at least, done up his fly. That was something.

Par for the course, man… Scruffy thought to himself, knowing that it was hardly the best first impression to make to his new boss. Nothing to be done about it now, though, and he figured it was best to give an honest representation of himself. His current dishevelled state was, in all honesty, par for the course. He had been given the nickname ‘Scruffy’ for a reason, after all.

Scruffy looked up with a lazy shrug, hands still deep in his packets, to greet his new Chief Engineer.

”Petty Officer First Class Scruffy LeBlanc, reporting for duuuu-“

The last syllable dragged on as Scruffy’s eyes met a pair of all-too-familiar sky-blue orbs set within a pale, all-too-familiar face. Scruffy’s heart skipped a beat before he felt his pulse quicken, his breath catching in his chest. She was there, right in front of him, just as in so many of his dreams… the good kind of dreams…

…And also so many of his nightmares…

”Oh, fuuuuuuck…” He blurted, praying that he was dreaming. This couldn’t be real. He was still in a coma... or dead! Yes, that was it! Please! Please let him be dead…

Re: Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

Reply #1 –
[LCdr Blue Tiran | Chief Bitchengineer | Blast from the Past | Waste of Space | Which Tube Needs New Rivets?]
@Fife




Blue crashed into her chair.  With the force of her body it rolled back a good foot from the desk which was littered with PADDs that were stacked up for shit that she needed to take care.  People that were coming onto her fucking deck, people that weren't, people that died, people that didn't work.  People that deserved medals for lost limbs and keeping this fucking hunk of useless metal moving in a forward motion for so fucking long without an actual Chief at the helm.  There was so much shit to go through and Blue had little time for any of it.  This ship was in such shit shape (say that one five times fast) that she was constantly busy working her ass off just getting it back into position that when they decided to leave Aldea it would be with all engines firing.  If they ever ran into whatever the fuck that Task Force lamely called themselves they could burn them in the wake of the fucking antimatter trails and space dust.  It wasn't that she didn't delegate, she did.  Some of the fuckers that were working for her she could not understand how they got through the Academy.  Her popular theories was they either slept their way through, fucked the right person, or they got pushed out to make room for the people that actually had a brain between their ears.  That or the standards had dropped so severely off and on.  Oh and there was always the fucking cheaters in every fucking class that pawned off of the smart people just enough to pass and get assigned thinking they would learn shit on the way through life.

Wrong.

Blue closed her eyes for along moment and just slumped in her chair.  She was so tired, she was sleeping like shit, and spent most of her time fucking Ducote when she could and they were together. She knew that it was stupid, and it wasn't like they had been apart for all that long but there was something about having thought he was dead for so long that really got her to need him a whole lot more.  That and it sure as fuck beat talking about her experiences. 

Therapy was good though, she liked Hathev and hoped that she could keep seeing the woman because somehow they actually got along and their penchant to murder one another was really pretty fucking low.  Still, she hoped that it would help her either want to talk about it or actually talk about it at some point.  Right now, it was all still pent up in there and she usually crashed right after a good bought with Ranaan or when he was holding her during their favorite movie.  When she was still long enough she passed out, and Ranaan knew it too.  He never seemed upset, and sometimes she had a feeling he put on her favorite movie just so that she would fall asleep.

The door opened, and closed, and no one spoke.  No one speaking was good, but she could hear the small hum of the anti-grav panel on the underside of one Albert Tiran as he entered her office and settled himself down on the small perch that was also a charging station she had built into the wall and the Theurgy's power system.

[Miss Blue.]

“You're on fucking duty Albert, what the fuck.” she sighed, without opening her eyes.

[Commander Tiran, I wished to inform you of an upcoming meeting.]

Blue groaned and tossed her arm over her face as if she could shut out the world.  If she had just five minutes, just five fucking minutes she could fall asleep, take a cat nap, and wake refreshed.  Hangry but refreshed.  She sighed softly.  “Fuck.  No.  I refuse.  I'm off duty.”

[The chronometer indicates you have 6.045 hours remaining on shift.]

“You really need to get a fucking personality.”

[I have already developed admirably.]

“Says you.  Can you just shut the fuck up until my “meeting” gets here?” she grumbled leaving her face covered.

[Your meeting will be commencing in less than two minutes.]

“What?!”  Blue sat up suddenly, boots slamming on the deck plating as she looked over at Albert who was staring at her unmoved by her outburst as he should be.  Not only had he witnessed many of her outbursts in the years he had been her utensil but also since he had gained the ability to experience them more first hand.  They did not bother him in the least, as he did not have the emotional range that could be swayed by her bouts of anger.

She shoved her chair across her office, and replicated herself two energy drinks, four twinkies, and a Snickers.  She rolled herself back across the room and consumed the Snickers in literally two bites before she swallowed it down with an entire can of energy drink.

[Your sugar consumption today has reached it's maximum threshold for what is deemed healthy by healthcare professionals.  If you cannot moderate yourself I will be forced to take my concerns on your dietary intake to the Commander Ducote who could put strict replicating programming into place to ensure you are better cared for.]

“If you touch my fucking replicator, I will recycle you, personality or no.  You can float for an indeterminate eternity out there in the blackness of nothing with a twinkie jammed in your fucking charging port until you fucking die of battery depletion and only then will you realize that you fucked with the wrong fucking human.”

[I see.]

“Fuck right you do.”

She tossed the can and wrapper into the replicator and opened the second.  She sipped it while she worked on her PADD loading herself up on sugar and caffeine was the sure fire way to make sure that she didn't fall asleep.  This was what got her through the fucking day.  The door opened again, and Blue knew that it was likely her meeting.  Whatever this fucker wanted it had better not be a fucking favor.  She was so fucking tired of people asking her to switch shifts from one fucker to another so she told them to figure it out themselves and come to her with the problem solved already and if she found a shift not covered by every fucking personnel needed it would be their asses not hers on the line.

She looked up as the man began to speak, and her brow rose.  Oh fuck me... fucking Scruffy the dog man?  What fresh God did I fuck off this time?  Why is this my fucking life?  First the Versant and the savi fucking around and now I got fucking Scruffy on my fucking deck?!

He stopped mid-sentence after seeing her sitting there and she slowly rose with a dangerous grin on her face.  Looking at him, the Commander sighed.  “Where in the fuck did you come from.” she said before she could stop herself.

[Hardly professional.]

Blue rolled her eyes.  “Have a seat.” she pointed to Scruffy.  “So tell me Lazy, I haven't seen you in years and suddenly you're on my deck.  So I'm trying to figure out what fresh fuck magic or what fucking voodoo priestess I fucking pissed off to make this amazing thing happen.”  she sat down in her seat again and picked up her PADD and pulled up his info so that she could cross reference while they were talking.

Fuck me I have Stevens and now I have fucking Scruffy too?  It's still illegal to airlock people, right?

Re: Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

Reply #2 –
[ PO1 Scruffy LeBlanc | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ

Scruffy swallowed hard as Blue rose form the seat behind her desk, the dark grin painted across her pale features telling him that, however pretty his new Chief Engineer might be, he was not going to enjoy the next few minutes of his life.

Or likely the rest of it.

And, given that the aforementioned Chief Engineer was Blue Tiran, Scruffy wasn’t even sure the rest of his life would be all that long…

As she sighed, Scruffy felt the faintest glimmer of hope, though that was dashed just as quickly as it arose as she finally spoke.

”Where the fuck did you come from.”

”Uhhh…” Scruffy began, though that was as far as he managed to get before his eyes practically bulged out of his head, the wide-eyed look he gave the fucking creepy robot… bird… thing… which spoke next being in stark contrast to his usual sleepy expression.

”What the fuck is that?” Scruffy blurted, his sudden alarm at the obviously cybernetic bird speaking temporarily overshadowing the horror of once again being face to face with Blue. The fact that the metal bird seemed to be reprimanding Blue for her behaviour only added to his confusion. Had they decided the psychotic beauty needed constant supervision? Had she finally crossed some line, or perhaps pissed off the wrong person, and ended up on some sort of probation? Would this bird save him?

Scruffy suspected that that last thought might be too much to hope for as Blue rolled her eyes, though perhaps not, since Blue instructed him to have a seat without the order being accompanied by the usual expletives he had long ago come to expect during his dealings with the engineering officer. Maybe she had mellowed in the last, what? Two years?

”So tell me, Lazy…”

Never mind…

Blue seemed to have recovered herself from the momentary surprise she had apparently felt as seeing him again, the word fuck finding it’s way prominently back into her vocabulary. She obviously hadn’t known he was joining her department since she was now consulting a PADD. After a moment’s reflection, Scruffy decided it was likely a good thing she hadn’t known he was coming. Had she had time to prepare, he would likely be staring in considerable fear at Blue over the muzzle of a phaser, rather than staring in less fear at Blue across the desk.

”Uh, well, I came from the Bellerophon. I was one of the few who apparently managed to make it off… sooo…” Scruffy trailed off then, giving a noncommittal shrug by way of finishing the explanation. It never occurred to him to correct Tiran when she called him Lazy. In truth, it was one of the less insulting nicknames she’d given him over the year he had cowered under her command aboard the Gettysburg. ”As for who you pissed off to get me here, your guess is as good as mine, man. Ma’am.” Fuck. ”But, I mean, it’s can’t be all bad, right? You just said it was an amazing thing, so…”

Scruffy wasn’t truly stupid enough to believe that Tiran had meant the comment in any way other than with the utmost sarcasm, likely laced with well over a lethal dose of arsenic. Rather, he had simply fallen back into his habit of playing dumb around Tiran the Terror, finding it easier to get by under her tyrannical reign aboard the Gettysburg by playing the idiot.

”About a year after you got shit-canned from the Gettysburg…” Fuck. Now he really was an idiot. Foot, meet mouth. ”Or, uh, no, dude, I mean… transferred?” Too late. Pray for Scruffy. ”Yeah, transferred… anyway, about a year after you, uh, left, I got transferred to the Bellerophon. Then we started chasing you guys, and well, then you blew us up, and, like, here I am…” Perhaps not the most eloquent summary of the terrifying time spent aboard the late vessel while it was in pursuit of the Theurgy, but Scruffy had never been described as particularly eloquent. Especially not by the woman now sitting across form him.

And what a woman. She was a fierce as ever, that much was evident. Scruffy studied her as she scrutinized the contents of her PADD, seeing her crystalline blue eyes skipping over the screen. He felt his heart skip a beat, though he wasn’t sure if the beat that his heart apparently forgot to perform was due to giddy nervousness or the stirrings of sheer terror. At this point, it was anyone’s guess. His eyes noted something on her hand, and his was shocked to see a ring on the ring finger of her left hand.

She’s engaged? Scruffy thought, his eyes lingering on the band looped around the pale digit. Blue Tiran is fucking engaged?

Scruffy forced his eyes away from the ring, glancing at the robot bird, though finding it’s glowing blue eyes unnerving, he directed his gaze instead to the surface of Blue’s desk. To say that he was surprised, and maybe a tad disappointed, to find that Blue was engaged would be an understatement. Oh, scruffy had always harboured a crush towards Blue Tiran, even despite the almost constant abuse he's received from the vindictive officer, though that was only a small portion of the reason for his shock. A much larger portion was currently wondering who the hell had gotten close enough to the irritable and often abusive engineer to marry her. Scruffy found himself filled with a mixture of shock and admiration for whoever the man was, the feeling sprinkled with a touch of disappointment.

Scruffy’s head was still spinning when it registered through his drifting daze that Tiran had spoken again, the late realization prompting him to start in his seat. ”Huh? What?” Scruffy tried padding his obvious inattention with a lazy smile, ”Sorry, man… er… ma’am…” Scruffy apologized, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. ”I was miles away. What did you say?”

Re: Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

Reply #3 –
[LCdr Blue Tiran | Welcome to My Deck | Your Life – Is Mine | Get Used to Scraping the Sludge Off of My Shit]
@Fife




When you are standing in front of the most badass bitch you have ever met in your fucking life, you know that you shouldn't stand there saying 'ummmm'.  Because it really just makes her want to reach across the fucking desk, slap you in the face, and remind you that you were born knowing language, and eventually learned to actually fucking speak it and that now would be a perfect opportunity to actually use such a fucking thing, instead of some sort of caveman like grunt.  Her face alone told him that he was not doing himself any favors by standing there in single-syllable land while she waited for the mother fucking answer to her mother fucking question.

Instead of answering her mother fucking question, he further sunk himself into the cement filled shoes of Engineering, when he fucking pointed at Albert and asked what the fuck he was.

“Albert.” she said deadpan as she stared at the fucking asshole in front of her and waited for that to sink in.  Back on the Getty she had Albert them too, only all he did was chirp and keep her shit straight and he didn't go on missions or anything with her.  Now, he was fully capable of conversations and turning into an asshole all on his own.

[Commander Tiran is correct, my designation assigned by my creator, is Albert.  I do not answer to any shortening or derogatory terms when trying to achieve my attention.  I am the Commander's assistant, you will see a great deal of me, if you are to stay on deck.]

Blue didn't care to elaborate.

He had come from the Bell.  One of the few that had gotten off the fucker before it was destroyed.  As for who she had pissed off, he couldn't tell her, but she gave him a grin, a dark one, as an answer of her own.  She sighed softly and brushed a hand through her large mass of black and blue curls as she tried to figure out what the fuck to do with this guy because she was going to have to find him a mother fucking job.  One that didn't sound as shit as it probably was going to be because she didn't trust this guy with any of the actual fucking work.  His Academy scored proved that he was intelligent, but either he had a biscuit can for a dick, or he had cheated off of someone, because she hadn't seen a fucking ounce of actual momentum and drive out of him in all the time she had known and worked with him.

Her brow rose when he mentioned she got shit canned from the Getty, and then he suddenly changed it to transferred, realizing his mistake quickly enough she didn't punch him in his biscuits.  Though she was still tempted to.

“Well you're going to need a fucking job.” she sighed thinking about what she could get him to do for the first thing. 

[Commander Tiran, you have a current new message compiling the still necessary maintenance to the deck.]

“I was just about to check that Captain Obvious.”

[I have not attained the rank of Captain, however, perhaps one day I will achieve a rank not including civilian.]

“You are far too fucking literal sometimes.” she reminded Albert as she thumbed through a different padd thinking about what she could toss at him.  “Where is Stevens?”

[PO Stevens' location is in Jefferies tube 1034-A-bb-11.]

“Of course that's where she fucking is, must be nap and fucking snack time.”

[I do not see that on the schedule.]

“You bet your fucking ass you don't.” she grumbled and sighed.  “Lazy, you're going to be assigned to someone that will show you the fucking ropes of this fuck hole that I'm still trying to piece back together after all the shit this crew has put it through.  So I'm going to get you assigned pretty fucking quick.”

Suddenly, he looked up and seemed confused. 

“Fuck!  Can you not focus for two fucking seconds!  I'm giving you your fucking job!  You will work here you mother fucker you won't get to be lazy here, you will do the shit I ask you to or I will file fucking reports so long that your grandfather will feel it where ever he's buried.”

[Commander, threats are hardly protocol.]

“Don't worry Albert he's a fucking expert at fucking up he needs to toe the fucking line.”

[Is this similar to the addage of drawing a line in the sand?]

“Fuck?  No, no Albert, shush.  You're going to hurt yourself thinking too fucking hard.”

[I do not feel the sensation of pain.]

“You will when I'm fucking done with you.” she grumbled.

She snapped her fingers at Lazy.  “Look here fucker, I'm pairing you with Stevens, and you're both to clean out the Multi-Directional Emitter Assembly.  All kinds of shit residue in there, I want it so fucking sparkly I can see my reflection in the nozzle, you get me?” she looked over at Albert.  “Get Stevens in here, she has a new fucking job, and it's not nappy time.”

Re: Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

Reply #4 –
[ PO1 Scruffy LeBlanc | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ
[Show/Hide]
As Blue informed his that the metallic creature who also occupied the room as named Albert, Scruffy stared at the thing in question.

The thing… Albert… creeped the hell out of him.

As Albert began to speak, addressing him in a very polite and precise manner, which Scruffy though was rather nice. Scruffy thought it less nice when the metal bird with the eerie eyes informed him that he would likely be seeing a great deal of Albert around engineering. It had be somewhere around that point that Scruffy’s mind had began to wander…

Scruffy knew that zoning out while in the presence of the beautiful yet apocalyptic Blue Tiran was likely not the best of ideas, though that was the thing with zoning out; he rarely intended to do it. As it was he had been distracted not only by his own thoughts, but also the glowy-eyed, demon-like avian… thing that sat poised atop some sort of perch as though ready to it might take to the air and claw his eyes out at any moment.

As it was Scruffy realized his mistake when he’d looked up to find Tiran’s eyes focused on him with an expression which could, at the very least, be described as unfriendly. As she cursed him out, asking if he couldn’t focus for a couple of seconds, and that she was giving him his duties, he nodded and tried his best to look apologetic. He was very much aware that he was getting off lightly, given how Blue had acted towards him in the past. Perhaps it was the demon-bird distracting her, the bickering of the two having provided some ambient noise for his wandering thoughts.

Tiran’s brief and rather mild (by her standards) tirade brought another reprimand-like comment from the bird-demon Albert, Which seemed to ignite another brief spat of back-and-forth between the two. This time Scruffy paid attention to what passed between the two, and come to realize that, what not necessarily on his side, the hell-bird seemed to be trying to correct Blue’s behaviours, or at least to introduce some modicum of restraint to the engineer.

Good fucking luck, bird-bro… Scruffy thought, his face plastered with a look of bewilderment.

The snapping of fingers, accompanied by the words ”Look here, fucker” alerted Scruffy that he’d stopped paying attention at some point, and he quickly directed his gaze back at the oh-so-unimpressed Blue Tiran as she informed him that he was being paired with someone names Stevens, and that they would be tasked with cleaning out the Multi-Directional Emitter Assembly. She informed him that she wanted it so clean that she could see herself in the shine. The comment left Scruffy wondering if she’d scowl at herself in the reflection, the expression perhaps just being her natural one? Or maybe she just saved it for him, the bird, and any other poor bastard who happened to wander within visual range. Blue turned her attention back to the blue-eyed devil-bird and instructed it to summon Stevens, as well as to inform her is wasn’t nap time.

Scruffy was tempted to make some remark about a nap sounding like a great idea, just to see how Tiran would react, though something told him he’d better think twice about adding any fuel to the raging inferno of Blue Tiran. Perhaps it was his sense of self-preservation.

Or it could have simply been the fact that the woman was terrifying.

Regardless, Scruffy opted to withhold the comment, instead directing a slightly curious glance at Albert. The bird seemed highly intelligent. Some sort of A.I.? But it didn’t seem to fear Tiran, and Scruffy knew of few people who hadn’t been Tiran’s superiors who hadn’t feared her to some degree, which made him question if the bird was truly intelligent. A little fear was good for a person. It kept them sharp. Made them cautious.

A little fear when it came to Blue Tiran was a basic necessity for survival.

Scruffy stuffed his hands back into his pockets as they waited a for this Stevens person to arrive, the fellow taking his sweet time. It occurred to the very uncomfortable petty officer that this Stevens fellow might well be aboard one of the Theurgy’s other Vectors, which would make it a much longer wait. Deciding to kill some time, Scruffy cast one final glance at the demonic buzzard before focusing on Commander Tiran.

”So, uh… that’s quite the ring you’ve got on your finger there, man. Ma’am.” Scruffy winced slightly and prayed that the slip up, hardly his first, wouldn’t be the one that saw Tiran put him out an airlock. ”That’s definitely new since the Getty, huh?” Scruffy put on what he hoped was a winning smile. Most people would be happy about an engagement, and happy to talk about it. So, Scruffy reasoned that Tiran might be less likely to give him the shittiest of shitty tasks for the rest of his natural life if he nudged the conversation in that direction. ”Who’s the, uh… lucky guy? Scruffy felt an odd mixture of envy and sympathy for whoever the guy was.

Re: Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

Reply #5 –
[LCdr Blue Tiran | Why Me? | Is This Real Life – I'd Rather Fantasy | Can't Catch a Fucking Break | Two Insanes Don't Make a  Right]
@Fife



[Commander Tiran, Stevens responds with her arrival 'uno momento'.]

Blue closed her eyes, signed, and pinched the bridge of her nose with her left hand.  The meteorite bits inside her blue engagement ring glistened in the overhead lighting for a moment as she tried to remain calm, but she could already feel all her anxiety and thus anger bubbling within her at the moment.  “The sheer botching of Spanish is fucking ridiculous.”

It seemed that her ring had caught the eye of Scruffulupugus because he decided to mention it right then.  Her eyes opened and she looked up at him, not harshly, or anything just checking him out a moment to see if he was mocking her or poking at her somehow.  She was farily adept at reading people and thus she would study his facial features for a moment.  He winced, though, and she realized he probably figured out that asking about her fucking personal life was fucking personal.  At least he finally said ma'am.  Her brow rose as he went on saying that it was new since the Getty. 

“Obviously.”

She brought her hand down from the bridge of her nose and grabbed a PADD off the corner of her desk so that she could actually assign Stevens and Lazy something to do.  They would need to be kept busy and she was half tempted to get Albert out of her hair by making him keep tabs on the pair to make sure shit actually got done.  She was hoping that these two would work well together, or at least suffer heavily together.  It was fine with her if they didn't get along so long as the shit she asked them to do got completed.

Every the nosy fucker, Scruffy went on to ask who the lucky guy was.  She smirked slightly, and she plopped herself back down in the chair which moved backwards slightly with the momentum of her ass and chair meeting.  She looked over at Scruff and looked up at the Chronometer on the wall, it had only been a few minutes but Stevens had not appeared in her office yet so she was going to be forced to either make conversation with this fuck face or she was going to have to be the raging bitch people thought she was and work silently while he sat there.

Though, he would probably just take a fucking nap.

“If you ever meet him, you're in serious fucking shit.  Or he needs you for something.  My fiance is Commander Ranaan Ducote, the first officer of the Theurgy.” she said waiting for that to sink in a moment because it always really fucking surprised people just who she had managed to fall for and who had somehow fallen for her.  Many people had said, behind her back of course, that she had better marry that fucker before he realized just what he had gotten into.  But, he knew, because she was never more herself than when she was in his presence.

“You're right, it didn't happen until after I put the Gettysburg behind me.  I went to the Endeavour and that is where I met him, and where we began.  A lot of shit has happened but Ranaan is still here.” she said a slight smile quirked at the edge of her lips just as the door to her office slid open.




[PO1 Kiki Stevens | Playtime Interupted | I Was Working Hard, Honest | Is it Lunch Time? | The Terrifying Tiran]




“Why are you suuuuuch an idiot?  Don't you know how to put the port in properly?  I'm not the least bit attracted to you what so ever, that's why I'm so mean.”  The doll in the young Engineer's hand was slight, pale, wearing a Engineering uniform and had black hair.  The hair had likely once been cury but now it was a frazzled frizzy mess, much like any doll hair when not properly cared for.

“Don't say that.  You know you're attracted to me, that's why  you always pick on me.  You're extra mean because you don't want anyone to know about our secret love.”  The male doll, in this equation was blond, short hair, lots of muscles, and wearing a Security uniform.  The uniform shirt had ripped on a recent 'assignment' and thus some of his broad chest was coming through.

“I'm mean because you're an idiot!  Not because I find your increasing pectoral muscles insanely sexy and you keep showing them off.  Your shirt is allergic to your body!”

“Look.  Look if you want to, my muscles are only for you, Indigo.”

“Don't come closer!  I'm a higher rank than you!” Indi calls out.

“Love knows no rank.” the husky voice replied before the two dolls clashed together and a series of mwah mwah mwah mwah sounds over took the conversation that had once been there.

[Albert Tiran, to Kiki Stevens, report to Commander Tiran's office, post haste.]

“Post haste?  Is that like a post office?” she asked looking own at her entangled dolls and giving a sigh.  Standing up she tossed them into the bin with the others mostly in Engineering and of varying likenesses of the people that she worked with.  Though playing with Indigo and the Security officer was her favorite pair. 

[It means, quickly and without delay.]

“Oh well that's boring.  I want to take the winding road to Candy Land.”

[A Turbolift would be faster.]

Kiki gasped.  “Was that a joke ol' Robotic Grandpa?!”

The silence that answered made her sigh.  There was no one to play with.  She had all kinds of cool stuff in this conduit joint.  She had been sent here some time ago to fix some stuff and found this whole treasure trove of hidden space where several of the lines converged.  She had started moving stuff in a while ago and ended up spending most of her on duty time hanging out in here totally working.  Totally.

Kiki walked over to her bright yellow boots and stepped into them.  They had been replicated again only a few weeks ago after she had been forced to dereplicate them in favor of the standard Starfleet affair.  However, as soon as she could she had switched back out and gone tromping through the decks in her bright yellow boots.  These were even better than the old ones because there was one fluffy ball on the back of each boot like a little rabbit tail.  She really quite liked them, and the just made everything so much more.  She wore her usual collection of no less than seven bracelets in varying degrees of yellow on her left hand.  Shoving her glasses up her freckled nose she looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. 

“Yep!  That's me!”  she giggled happily heading out of the tube and into the corridor.  She skipped down the corridors.  “I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain.  What a wonderful feeling...” she went as she skipped through the corridors taking all the proper turns and heading towards Main Engineering and the Lair of Tiran.

The woman was completely and one hundred percent intimidating.  She didn't like Kiki, Stevens knew this, it was clear in the way she spoke to her, looked at her, addressed her, and the jobs that she got assigned.  Honestly though, she didn't feel the need to ask for any better jobs because the jobs she got assigned were the kind that allowed her to disappear for hours.  Any time she could get away from the line of sight from the Beast it was better.  There was no magical mirror to see home, there was no talking tea pot to comfort her when the Beast was angry, though she kind of hoped there was a magic flower somewhere that would make her be nice once it wilted.

She had heard that the Beast could be nice.  Though, she must have missed Tiran is Nice Day due to something because she sure hadn't seen it.  That woman was Godzilla with a rage on. 

“Hey Keek, ain't seen you in a while, where are ya headed?”

“Oh Jim!  Jim I'm heading into the Liar of a great Beast of a woman that will tear your head from your shoulders and hang it on her wall as a sign to all the other unfortunate souls that you shall not enter lightly.”

Jim stared at her for a moment and then laughed out loud.  “You got yerself a good imagination there.” he said rubbing the back of his head.  Jim was a simple man, the kind of man that was very much in the belief that what you could see and touch was real, and he just came to work, did his job, and headed on off to where he came from.  She secretly believed that he came from some kind of alternate universe where people were just really simple and technology had never been invited.  She had a whole storyline in her FanFic notebook that she secretly carried around in her bag all the time, about his whole world.  It was pretty amazing if she did say so herself.

“Hey!  I'll come by with donuts later and we can have a chat about all of the things that happened to you when you were young.  You know!  Chased by bears!  Abandoned in a cave, raised by wolves, becoming one with the beasts until you found civilization and fell in love with a pretty girl that taught you languages and made you whole.”  Her eyes practically sparkled.

“Uh, what?”

“Oh!  I gotta go before the Beast roars at me!  Laters Jim!”  Kiki waved exuberantly as she ran herself backwards, literally, nearly crashing into another Engineer.  “Oh!  Sorry!  Collision course!  Set to Starboard.” she called as she twisted around the Engineer and finished her way to Blue's office.

All beasts have a good heart.  At least in books, is this a book?  It totally should be.  The Great and Amazing Kiki stands before the entrance to the dark Lair that contains the angry beast.  Never before has anyone gone in, prevailed, and come back out the other side.  What our great heroine is trying to accomplish would save the entire world and yet... can sh-

“GET IN HERE STEVENS I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!”  a Beast screamed from within.

Way to ruin the moment Chief.

Her left hand came up and popped the button beside the door sending it to the side.  Kiki jumped in, her array of hair bouncing around her nearly like a single mass.  She shoved her glasses back up her freckled nose as her dark eyes surveyed the contents of the office.  One angry beast, one odd robotic counterpart, and one poor sap.  Didn't defeat the Beast this time did you Gaston?  He was pretty though, Gaston, he had nice jawline, and cool hair, and he looked like he didn't have time for the Beast.

“Kiki Stevens, reporting as requested SIR!” she popped into a salute like she had seen on a old holo movie once.

“What.. even the fuck.  Sit down Stevens.”  Blue motioned to the chair that was close to, but not too close, to Gaston.

Kiki stepped around the back of the chair and plopped down into it with great dramatics.  Slumping down slightly she waited to see what was up.  She leaned over to whisper, not even quietly, to Gaston.  “I feel like we're in the principals office and we're about to get detention and we can write a bunch of essays about who we are and why we got detention while running from the mean principal who is totally trying to ruin our Saturday.”

“Stevens, this is LeBlanc, he has been thrust upon our Engineering deck.” she said motioning between the two.  “Since you are so gifted with your art of fucking over languages and taking for fucking ever to get shit done, I think you should team up so you can work twice as fucking fast.”

Well that didn't sound like fun.

“What work?” she asked slipping before she could stop herself. 

Blue grinned darkly and that could only mean one thing, the Beast was going to force them to do something that would take forever, be boring, and lack any and all fun.  Because the Beast was nothing short of a Fun-Sucker.  She sucked the fun out of anything and everything that was good in the world.  She was like the black hole of fun. 

“You and Scruffo here will be cleaning out the Multi-Directional Emitter Assembly, until I can see my face in it's shining surface.”

“That could be dangerous, you could turn into stone if you look at the mirror without thinking.”

Blue blinked a moment, confused.  “Fuckin... shut the fuck up Stevens, and get your shit done, you are the lowest performing fucking Engineer I have on my fucking deck, and if you would like to remain on my fucking deck you will get your fucking shit done or I'll transfer you into a pretty purple shirt and you can scrub the fucking shitters for the rest of your fucking career.”

“Wellllllll that doesn't sound very fun....” Kiki said her boot kicking at the deck plating making a pleasant little squeak sound as the rubber brushed against the metal underfoot.  “Although purple is a cool color, it's not yellow.”

“That... isn't even the fucking point.  Do your job, or I'll find you one elsewhere.”  she turned and looked at Scruffy.  “You do your fucking job or I'll find you a job fucking elsewhere?  I'm fucking really okay with leaving both you lazy fuckers on Aldea and letting you figure out how to make a life down there in the heated wilderness.  Or you can do your fucking jobs and stay here on our ship.  Get me?”

“Aye aye, Captain.” Kiki whispered with a sigh. 

“What was that?  I can't hear you.” Blue said gritting her teeth.

“I said AYE AYE CAPTAIN!  Whooooooo lives in a pineapple under the seaaaaaa.” she shot out of her chair with a quick bouce and turned to look at Scruff.  “We better book it before we got immortalized in carbonite.”

Re: Day 04 [0900 hrs.] The Terror of Tiran

Reply #6 –
[ PO1 Scruffy LeBlanc | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @BZ
[Show/Hide]
Commander Tiran sighed, seeming irritated as Albert passed on Stevens’ response to Tiran’s summons. When he posed his question about her ring, the Theurgy’s Chief Engineer regarded him for a long moment, her crystalline blue gaze making his heart skip a beat. He imagined the same thing would happen to any helpless sap staring at the object of their forlorn desires…

Or to any mouse being studied by a hawk.

In the end, the only response she gave him was to his statement that the development was new, at least since he had last seen her on the Getty, and that was simply the word “Obviously”. Commander Tiran followed up her monosyllabic answer by taking up her PADD, tapping away at the screen and saying nothing further to him. Scruffy let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, proving he was more the mouse than the sap.

When Scruffy, with the infinite wisdom of a mouse who didn’t realize the peril he was in, had continued in his attempts to make conversation with the hawk, Tiran smirked at him as she threw herself down into her seat. She regarded him for a long moment, as though considering whether to answer or not, though finally it seemed she decided to humour him.

"If you ever meet him, you're in serious fucking shit.  Or he needs you for something.  My fiance is Commander Ranaan Ducote, the first officer of the Theurgy."

She paused for a moment, and in the silence that fell Scruffy was sure that he could hear the last nail being pounded into the coffin that held any chance he had had with Blue Tiran. He felt sadness sink in for a moment, having held out hope that under all the anger and the scathing comments, often uttered through gritted teeth, and the glared daggers, somewhere under the raging terror that Blue Tiran displayed, she might not entirely hate him. Maybe she’d even thought of him as tolerable! There was, however, no way he could compete with a Commander, let along the ship’s XO. As the realization set in, Scruffy uttered his disappointment in a single word.

”Dude…”

Even Scruffy would later admit that it was hardly his most articulate moment, though he had little time to reflect on it then, as Commander Tiran had continued speaking.

"You're right, it didn't happen until after I put the Gettysburg behind me.  I went to the Endeavour and that is where I met him, and where we began.  A lot of shit has happened but Ranaan is still here."

A slight smile graced the edge of her lips as she said the dude’s name, and Scruffy couldn’t help but smile inwardly as well. It was rare to see Blue Tiran, Tiran the Terrible, cracking a smile, much less one that wasn’t dark and likely accompanied by thoughts involving airlocks.

Silence descended on the room then, with Blue working on her PADD and Scruffy sitting there trying not to doze off for fear of the tongue lashing he’d receive as a result. This went on for several minutes, and Scruffy thought he was doing rather well, not having dozed off…

It was Blue screaming at someone outside the doors that jarred him awake.

Scruffy jolted in his seat, his head snapping up to search the room in alarm. He jumped again as his eyes found a pair of glowing blue eyes staring at him, and again as the found Blue Tiran’s glaring face, though thankfully her deadly gaze was directed past him at whoever was coming into the room. Scruffy twisted in his seat to see who the poor bastard was, and was surprised to find himself staring at a very short, dark haired woman with large glasses and bright yellow boots. The newcomer, who was apparently named Kiki Stevens, snapped a salute at Tiran and sounded off like a soldier in an old holonovel, though her diminutive size and small voice made the gesture seem cute rather than martial.

Tiran seemed less than impressed as she told Stevens to sit down.

As Stevens hopped into the chair next to his, and leaned over to whisper to Scruffy that she felt like they were in the principal’s office, and would have to write essays and run from the principal who was trying to ruin their Saturday. Scruffy chuckled at Stevens’ remark, though he had little idea of what she was actually talking about, still struggling to wake up as he was.

Blue spoke then, introducing them and talking about Stevens in a manner which was remarkably similar to how she talked about Scruffy, leading him to believe two things. Firstly, that Tiran was not a fan of Kiki Stevens, though that was hardly a new development. Blue Tiran was a fan of few people. Secondly, that he and Kiki Stevens would likely get along just fine. At the very least, they would at least have their tormentor in common.

Tiran went on to explain that their task would be to clean the Multi-Directional Emitter Assembly, and that it had better be spotless and shiny. Scruffy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when Kiki made a remark about Tiran turning to stone if she saw her reflection. Scruffy held his breath, waiting for Commander Tiran to begin breathing fire, reducing them both to ashes, but the remark seemed to take Tiran by surprise, the Chief Engineer simply blinking before telling Stevens to shut the fuck up. Scruffy looked on, utterly befuddled, as the two exchanged remarks, until Blue finally directed her gaze at him and told him to do his fucking job. Scruffy nodded mutely as Kiki gave an “Aye aye, Captiain”. When Blue practically growled at Kiki through gritted teeth, Stevens repeated the words, only louder this time, and with some strange exclaimation following the acknowledgement. Kiki turned to Scruffy then, informing him that they ought to flee, lest Tiran do something to them involving… carbonite? Scruffy wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, though if a threat was uttered in the same room as Blue Tiran, he’d learned to take it seriously. Scruffy rose from his seat, albeit significantly slower then the rocket speed with which Kiki had sprung from her chair, and gave a lazy nod to Commadner Tiran. ”Yeah, man. Shit! Ma’am!” He really needed to get better at that. As it was, he turned and fled the office, hot on Kiki’s blight yellow heels.

Once they had emerged from the Dragon’s Lair, the doors hissing shut behind them, Scruffy turned to Stevens with a wide-eyed expression. ”Jeez, man! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” He asked, keeping his voice low so that the dragon wouldn’t be able to hear him. ”Dude! Blue Tiran will fucking eat you like a chicken wing and put your bones out an airlock!” Scruffy chuckled, shaking his head as he studied his new work partner. She was a fair bit shorter than he was, and now that he was looking at her without trying to keep one eye on Commander Tiran, she was pretty cute, if brightly coloured. The yellow boots were a bit strange, though as Scruffy glanced down at his own boots he had to concede that Kiki’s were at least done up. He raised his gaze to meet Kiki’s and gave her a lazy grin. ”Well, I guess it’s you ‘n me, huh?” Scruffy gave Stevens a lazy grin, sticking out his hand to shake. ”She introduced me as LeBlanc, but, well…I’m Scruffy.” He glanced around engineering then, realizing that he had no idea about the layout of his new ship. He looked back to Kiki, his face looking relaxed, if a bit confused. ”So, uh… dude… dudette?... do you even know how to get to the Multi-Directional Emitter Array? 'Cause I got nothin'...”

-FIN
 
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