The Early Bird & The Yellow Toad

Posted on Monday, 6 July 2020 - 2:40pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Lieutenant Talarn Zilth

Mission: Operation: Jabberwocky
Location: Starbase 118 - Promenade
Timeline: MD 1

No sooner had the USS Standing Bear arrived at Starbase 118 was the red carpet rolled out for him and his crew. The Starbase itself was a gorgeous Copernicus design station, excellent for launching scientific driven missions of exploration and study. Still, not a place one would expect to be treated like a foreign dignitary or a member of Admiralty yet nonetheless, it was as though a red carpet had been unraveled for Commander Barret Stillwater and the crew of the USS Standing Bear. He had been out of the loop on Starfleet logistics and personnel shifts for the past few years; so, connecting the dots was no simple task. He knew that he had been invited to a meal by the Starbase's Commander, but their heading to Starbase 118 had been unplanned. It was their damage that had forced them this way and to Starbase 118 to handle their repairs. What he had not done was investigate the details and fine print.

He walks through the prominent head with a steady pace not knowing exactly where he was going but still having a keen sense of direction that he was going at least in a general sense. His husband had already departed from the docked Starship and had ventured out on to starbase 118 on a sort of reconnaissance mission To see what kind of life what is a board and what there was to do unstart base 118. the two men were kind of homebodies they stuck to their quarters went off duty as had always been the case between them. Stillwater was a bit more closed off than his husband but being a Cardassian and an ex-Borg meant that to Talarn was on a much higher guard than anybody else. Even aboard a Federation Starbase such as 188, Stillwater did worry for his husband’s safety. This was perhaps no truer now than ever. Talarn was still not technically crew as he held no official position aboard the Standing Bear as far as Starfleet was concerned nor a rank.

Commander Stillwater had begun the paperwork process and it was pending action and hopefully positive results to get Talarn issued a rank of warrant officer. It was not the pips he was used to, but it would still give him some reassuring safety. The Commander was crossing an overpass across the merchant area below when he heard it: The sound that caused a Pavlovian response to pick up pace and hurried across the overpass and seek refuge at the nearest establishment even if he had no intention on actually being a patron.

“YOO-HOO,” like a rumbling of rolling thunder on a hot, dry, desert eve. Adelia Dashwood, thought Commander Barret Stillwater has he fled as quickly as he could, hoping…. praying that old yoo-hoo was not directed at him. Fortunately, it was not. Stillwater breathed a sigh of relief as stood by an observation area and carefully watch from above. Surely enough though it was Adelia Dashwood in the flesh. The woman was still in Starfleet after all these years, and of all places… she had to be here. As if the cosmos had not dealt him enough punishment already. He listened to the conversation happening below near a boutique:

The clearing of her throat had a similar appearance of certain frogs preparing for a deep throaty mating call. “Uh-hem I said YOO-HOO, dear. That means I am here” Dashwood said to someone in the boutique, out of sight from Stillwater’s vantage point, but he was fairly confident that it had to be the proprietor of the boutique.

A man’s voice responded to her, pleasant albeit forced. “I am sorry, but we are not open yet Miss. We are still setting up. Our grand opening will be tomorrow morning.”

“Not open?! Oh well, what nonsense is that? Now, come along now and open up. Surely you have a few minutes for me?” Some people never change, thought Stillwater. He had met Adelia Dashwood many years ago. She was much younger and not as rounded as she was now, but then again, he was no dashing long jet-black haired Adonis these days either. Some things do change, he reprimanded himself for that.

There was more of the conversation that went on, but Stillwater got lost in thought until he was rattled by the next few words that came from the boisterous woman’s mouth:

“Yes, I know. I know everything there is to know on the promenade of this starbase, dear. This is my starbase.”

Stillwater felt the life force just draining from his body. Sure, enough he approached the balcony to get a better look. His eagle eyes had missed it before, but one… two… three… four! Four pips were there on her uniform. They made her a Captain. THAT Woman, he thought to himself, and no sooner did he have those thoughts did she immediately turn herself and looked upward at him. Their eyes locked onto one another and a confident smugness was on her face as she tousled her hair.

“Oh Commander, how about you come down here and stop gazing upon me from above,” she called up to him. “And what was that? Something about ‘THAT woman’ did I hear?” she shook her head like a mother playfully scolding their child.

You heard nothing, you invaded privacy like you usually do, he thought but anticipated she would be ‘listening in’ as she had a nasty habit of doing.

“Privacy?! Who needs privacy? What is this…. privacy you talk of? There need not be privacy among friends, now come down here! I need help picking out a dress for one of my officers, it’s her birthday and I need something that just is grand,” she replied. “By the way, I did not get a response from you to RSVP for our brunch later this morning. I am a remarkably busy woman you know… I have a station to run and ships to oversee, and really now? Where on Earth have you been?!”

“Not,” he replied. “I’ve been on Prairie,” he added.

“PRAIRIE?!” she shouted and let out a bellyful bout of laughter that rivaled the late Klingon High Chancellor, K’mpec. “WHO goes to Prairie. There is absolutely nothing there. What a sad little planet.”

Stillwater reluctantly came down, ascending a nearby staircase where he saw his husband nearby. “Talarn!” he shouted to grab the man’s attention and gestured for him to come over and ideally help save him from this insufferable woman with the vocal range of a foghorn to one that could rival Montserrat Caballé depending on what she was saying and the energy she put behind her voice.

“WHO is that?” she asked before Talarn could reach them.

“That would be my husband,” he replied in amusement as her mouth hung so far ajar she could have caught flies, fitting for her nickname of ‘the yellow toad’ which was always amusing, but Stillwater tried his hardest not to think about it. She certainly did not wear the golden-yellow uniform these days, but he had to admit that she made one of the damn finest operations officers he had ever met.

Talarn, glad to see Barret, headed that direction but slowed when he saw the woman Barret was talking to. He knew immediately that what Barret wanted him for was saving, mostly out of whatever unpleasant conversation Stillwater had gotten himself into. He put on his most awkward smile and approached. When he arrived he slid an arm into Barret's and stared at the woman, the light on the panel above his right eye, blinked quickly. "Hello there. Are we making friends?" His eyes slid over the woman in a way that said he was sizing her up as a potential enemy and definitely not an attraction.

The woman chuckled more softly this time and her smile broadened. "Just a meeting of old friends, now married you two are? How quaint is that," she commented and then looked at Talarn. "Your husband here was invited to a brunch with me and my First Officer when she returns," she said. "You, of course, as the Commander's husband would be more than welcome to join us and... oh dear... I forget who you're XO is, Barret."

Stillwater silently groaned internally. "Lieutenant Commander Soral, but he will be unable to attend," Barret Stillwater responded. "He and several others of my Senior Staff have plans to disembark on one of the transports heading off to various planetary locations. So, you'll have to forgive me if I decline."

"Oh, hogwash and taffy!" she shouted. "You'll come have brunch with me and I am not taking no for an answer. Both of you, and if you find any of your crew that you wish to bring along, then 'the more the merrier' as they say." She looked at Talarn once more. "Make sure he is on time will you dear?"

Talarn's expression didn't change, flat and emotionless as usual. "You say that as if I have some sort of control over his time schedule. We have several things that require our attendance, I'm afraid that impromptu brunch is not one of them." He held back the part about her not introducing herself to him at all. He also held back the part where he punched her in her way to perfect teeth.

"Well then," she said in a breathy voice. "If you do find the time to come to brunch, I and my XO will be there," she added. Adelia reached for a PaDD on the proprietors' countertop and began typing away, inputting data before handing the PaDD to Stillwater. "Here, be a dear now and find a dress for my Security Chief. There are her measurements. I have official station business to attend to and the Standing Bear..." she wrenched her head to gaze out at it, though not much of a vantage point to do. "Well, it does not look like it is going anywhere this morning at least. Have the dress sent to her quarters and I'll have mu Station's Chief Engineer have a looky-loo at that little ship of yours," she said.

Stillwater didn't have time to argue or hand the PaDD back.

"Toodles!" she shouted as she scurried off leaving Commander Stillwater and his husband standing there in her wake.

Barret looked at Talarn. "She's an insufferable woman."

"I can tell," Talarn replied flatly. He leaned over quickly and kissed Barret's cheek. "Let me have that PaDD. I'll pick the ugliest dress I can find..."

Stillwater rarely cracked a laugh, but his husband's no-nonsense quick wit and cerebral humor made him guffaw in amusement. "This is why I married you," he replied as he handed the PaDD over. "Just remember, it's not for her. It's a birthday gift for one of her officers."

"Well, then..." Talarn replied as he took the PaDD from Barret. "We'll show that officer just how bad her tastes are."

 

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