Drinking With Ghosts

Posted on Fri Dec 8th, 2017 @ 8:51pm by Lieutenant Commander J'Loni Mo'Bri & Captain Michelle Bartlett & Lieutenant Cor Cordale

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Lounge
Timeline: The Day After "Awards and Nominations"

ON:

"Yeah, she's a Sovereign."

Cordale stood by the windows of the lounge, a table next to him and a glass of scotch in his living hand. On the table by him, there were a number of glasses of similar booze. Two of them were proper scotch tumblers with a finger of scotch in each.

Spoiler alert, Thux fingers were thicker than human fingers.

The other eleven glasses on the table were shot glasses, each containing one shot of scotch. The occasion? Same as always.

"Yeah, yeah, bigger than she looks. I guess she gets that a lot. Though, this is pretty much the top of the line without going to those silly ships they built after. The Lego Prometheus, the always silly Vesta... just crazy ship designs but in the end, Sovereign means king. So that's the top of the line. That's where we are." he commented to his reflection as he took a slow pull off his tumbler. He turned to the amassed glasses, and gave a nod, "We've got a lot of company today. Fallen brothers in uniform, that deserve a proper Thux funeral." he motioned to the shot glasses.

"Captains, Lieutenants, Commanders, Colonels, heck even an Ensign. Nicely done." he raised his tumbler in salute. "You'll be happy to know they failed, and we're stronger allies with the people out here because of their actions. So, yeah they screwed up good." he took a swig, "To friends."

J'Loni walked in to see him standing there looking a bit lonely and decided to grab a glass and lift it up as well when she heard him toast. "To friends, may they live in peace", she said and raised it and drank. " Drinking alone are we ACEO?", she said, looking at Michelle at the same time shaking her head. "Michelle he is hurting and I know it", she added.

Michelle noticed Cor and heard only part of his statement. "To friends." she said as she raised the glass she was holding before noticing other glasses on the table. "Not planning a bender all by yourself, I hope?" she asked, more innocently confused than anything.

He gave her a hollow smile. Just one to let her know that he was alright, "Folks like you and me, ma'am... we never really drink alone." he motioned to the two other tumblers. "Sil, and Cal. My brothers." he motioned from the glasses back to Michelle. "Sil was the Thinker, I was the Do'er. Cal was just the goof off." he chuckled. Then the chuckle died.

"Well.." Michelle said. "It's nice to meet you both." she said, acknowledging the empty spots.

"Cor, what is going on son?", she said softly, as she walked up next to him. She could sense his pain and was sympathetic. "We all miss them Cor and I think I miss Meru more than you think. She was like my mentor in a bunch of ways. Maybe I didn't know her like you did and some of the others but I came to admire her in a way most people could not understand", she said softly.

"Michelle, I meant what I said back there when I got up there. I could never hope to know them like you did but I did admire each and every one of them in their work and they way they did their jobs. When I joined the ship I pulled teeth to get my crew here and I pulled a lot of strings to get the Musketeers here and had a hell of a job in doing it. My old CO on the Pathfinder had a fit and so did Starfleet Command when I requested...no...let me rephrase that...when I demanded that they be transferred en-masse here. See I knew that the Wellington was a Sovereign class and that she needed a crack engineering team. All I did was add to what was already here and gave everyone a purpose in doing what I knew that they could do. They all responded with flying colors and all they needed was a push in the right direction. I wasn't going to take that away from Meru or any of the other engineers that were already here. All I did was give them that extra push into doing what I already knew they had in them. The drive and the will to see the job through and give them the positive attitude that was needed. Now that this crisis is over, and the awards were given, it is my opinion that all of them do deserve a well needed rest to get them selves back into shape for what ever awaits for us out there. We all need a rest to digest what has happened and what awaits us out there in the Delta Quadrant. I need to know exactly what we will encounter as we go on with our missions. This ship needs a genuine shake down cruise where we can get all the bugs out and the systems running smoothly after this fiasco with the Starbase and its foul up. I still believe that we need time to finish all the systems and the new ones that are going to be implemented from the talks. I know it is going to take time to adjust and it will be difficult, but I have faith in my department and in this crew's ability to adapt", she said looking at Cor.

"Cor, you still up for the job of ACEO?", she said, "The spot is yours you know, and I know you are the right one for the job. I could have given it to someone else but you showed me that you know exactly what you are doing and you are right in that you are a Do'er", she said affectionately, holding out her hand to him.

Cor put his prosthetic hand in J'Loni's offered hand. "Just bringing my brothers up to date." Cor motioned to the two larger glasses among the...

(Graveyard)

... Collection of shot glasses on the table. "Sil Cinban, and Cal Mondalle. Back in the mines, the three of us were inseparable. We worked the same shifts, we worked the same tunnels, hell after a while we told the same jokes. Though, we couldn't laugh in public. The Ferengi Overseers we umm, well... were sub-contracted out to... charged us a fee if we had too much fun on the job." The word he wanted to use was Slaves. "The pay was shit, and they took most of it back, but looking back with what I know now, I think they paid us something just to keep themselves out of trouble."

He took another swig. Slow, moderated consumption. He wasn't looking to get drunk. Just looking to drink with ghosts. He took his prosthetic out of J'Loni's grasp, just in case. When you're an Engineer, you always look out for 'Just In Case'.

"That's where I got this." he brought his prosthetic into the limelight. "Got caught in a cave in. Most of me made it out, but my arm was pinned under a few tons of rocks. Cal got some cheap booze from our stash, held me down. Sil brought the shovel down." there was the tiniest of flinches from the Thux as he relived that moment. His emotions peaked at the moment the proverbial shovel came down, just a twinge of a pained memory... but he felt no pain. Literally, all it was was scar.

Bringing that ancient prosthetic into the focus brought attention to a pair of Ferengi numbers carved into the forearm plate. Carved, as they were too rough to be there by mechanical process. Sil. Cin. Ban... Cal. Mon. Dalle... Ferengi numbers, which meant that even Cordale's name itself was just a series of numbers carved onto his dog tags that hung from his ever-present collar.

Cor. Cor. Dalle.

"I keep them up to date with what I've been up to. What their brother's been doing with the freedom he bought. We ... we were all planning on squirreling away some of our pay, in secret, to buy out our work contracts. That was the dream." he paused, and finished his drink. "When they were taken away to ..." he just stopped, and shook his head. "Sorry, being a Mopey Thux here." and he put on a smile for the ladies. As fake as a thirty slip strip. "Yeah, yeah I'm still good for the job. Just, letting my bros know there's some new arrivals in the After Thux, and wanted to let them know to treat them right. You know, before they head off to wherever it is Humans or Klingons or anyone else goes when they're done paying their dues here."

He switched his empty tumbler for one of the others. "Sil's not a drinker." was his excuse.

"Well...I am not sure how to answer that Cor, but I believe that your ghosts would be proud of you now. We all have ghosts that we carry around with us. I have one very dear to me that I will always carry in my heart. He was my old skipper on the Triton. His name was K'Vas, and at that time, he was the love of this Klingon's heart. I know that he is watching me and he is proud as hell of me to s÷ where I am today", she said. "Isn't that right Michelle?", she asked

"The people we cared for always watch over us. Or so I'd like to think. As strange as it seems, I can still feel the presence of Captain Ross in the ready room at times. I'll be sitting reading something or reviewing things and for as much as I've tried to make that room my own... It feels like he's still there. I'll get ideas of something he's said or that he would say." she said, taking a drink.

Cor gave a nod, before turning towards J'Loni, "Remember when you offered me the Assistant job before, and I asked a few questions and you brushed me off? This. This is why those questions were so important to me. This is why I didn't jump up and down for joy when given the option." he paused, to collect himself. He didn't want to start yelling at his boss, and this Thux's temper ran quick sometimes.

"The whole workforce was other Thux. Every now and then one of us would be called to become a foreman. They called it a pr... a promotion." he stumbled, "We got letters from the other foremen, but after a while they all sounded the same. We knew. We..." he took another swig to give him some time to collect himself. "If they hadn't had to get me a new arm, maybe we'd all have enough. Maybe we'd all be here. Together."

A lie. If Sil and Cal were alive, he'd have never joined the Fleet.

"I went back, oh I don't know how long after I got out of there... but there was nothing. Barely even signs of the operation at all. Gone, like smoke in a hurricane." he finished Sil's glass quick. "That's why I asked. I do my best to live the life my brothers can't, I don't take promotions over the bones of the dead."

He calmed himself for a moment, "Sorry.."

" Cor,", she said, holding on to his shoulder, "Cor I think I understand what you and your friends went through. It was humiliating to say the least and I am sorry if I seemed to come out on the wrong foot with you. It has been hard for me to get used to all the new species and personnel changes. However, I am trying and it is difficult to get used to. I picked you because you still are the go to man when it comes to certain jobs that most of the Musketeers have not the faintest idea of how to get it to work. For some unexplained reason you seem to just know how to fix it in that precise moment. All your experience on other ships and other areas gives you the most experience for the job of ACEO. I am proud as hell to have you in that spot. I am sure all your friends would agree with that choice. Now lets raise a glass to their memory and your new position right Michelle?", she said hoping she would agree.

"Agreed." Michelle said... "I think that they would be incredibly happy for you." she added. "When I came aboard, i remember that Commander Bowman.. That is, the real one... said it was between you and Commander Meru to replace her as Chief Engineer. I was rather surprised, but... I quickly learned why."

Cordale gave a nod as he listened to the pair, then held his glass up a bit. You could eat bread off the Thux he felt so buttered up, but that just made him chuckle. A Thux Sammich.

"I can't argue with that." he admitted with a smile on his muzzle. "Friends and family alike." he looked over the field of shot glasses, "Old and new."

OFF:

Lieutenant Cor Cordale
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wellington

Lt. Cmdr. J'Loni Mo'Bri
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wellington

Captain Michelle Bartlett
Commanding Officer
USS Wellington

Commander Johnathan Wade
Bartender
USS Wellington