An Unlikely Meeting Place

Posted on Sun May 21st, 2017 @ 5:32pm by Captain Tim Williams & Lieutenant Commander Vincent Holt

Episode: Preparations
Location: Utopia Planetia Recreation Centre, Mars

As much as he wanted to be with his ship during the refit, Tim wasn't going to be one to pass up the opportunity to get some down time in, especially amongst the engineers at Utopia Planetia. He had a lot of friends among the Corps of Engineers, and the place had almost become his second home when he had been stationed at Starfleet Academy and the Highlander had been essentially rebuilt after a crash landing she suffered a few years ago. The Rec Area on the planet's surface, directly beneath the floating drydocks in orbit, was always the best place to go to unwind, and so that's where Tim had headed, leaving his uniform behind to mingle with his fellow engineers in civilian attire, and drink copious amounts of synthehol while he did it.

Having sampled several fine synthehol ciders from Bolias, Vincent was now working his way to ordering another Pint from the bartender. A nice buzz had befallen him as he had a refreshingly cool Synthehol cider from Andor placed before him. His head felt heavier than usual, and sporting civilian attire gave him a relaxed look, overall he was enjoying this state. Vincent moved back to his table, concentrating on not spilling the beverage that was filled to the brim. He acknowledged the fact he wasnt being his usual graceful self, after putting the drink down he slumped into the chair with little to no decorum. Looking out onto the Martian vista, he took a sip of the beverage, before letting out a satisfied gasp.

"...so we inverted his sonic shower, and tied it in with the replicator systems so that instead of removing the dirt from him, it only generated more and more soil and made it cling to him like iron filings to a magnet." The laughter from the group of engineers Tim was sat with easily carried over to Vincent's table, as the group moved to take up seats nearby. "I can tell you he wasn't best pleased," Tim continued, chuckling himself. "Especially once the soil started getting into the door mechanisms. He ended up calling for the transporter room to beam him out." The group roared with laughter as the older engineer finished the recounting of one of his earlier exploits and took a sip from his drink.

The rising din had shattered any serenity Holt had hoped for in the bar. He looked to the ring leader, an older man, potentially an old Warrant Officer. Vincent knew the type, been around the block a few times, practical joker.

"How long did it take the maintenance crews to clean that up?" He asked, remaining seated. There was no joviality in his voice. The group looked to the foreign voice as it intruded on their merry band.

"Not long at all," Tim responded, after a beat or two to size up the new voice into the conversation. "That's the benefit of doing a prank in the sonic shower. Just restore the relays, disconnect the replicator system, and it will clean itself up. Everything was back to normal before he could return to his quarters to get dressed." Another round of laughs went around the group at that, though more subdued than before the interruption. "Care to join us?" Tim asked. "It's rarely a good idea to drink alone."

Vincent shrugged, "Why not, my current company is lousy," He said gesturing to the empty seats beside him. He joined the group, but recieved a couple of odd looks from the guys gathered. The conversations picked back up to the previous din, with multiple conversations criss-crossing, Vincent found himself in a conversation with the older man.

"So Chief, what brings you to Utopia? Did your replicators suddenly start spewing out chicken soup into the mess halls?" Vincent said, being very assumptive when it came to his conversation partner.

Tim chuckled, both at the brilliant idea for a prank and at the assumption that had been made of him. He decided not to correct his new drinking companion yet though. "As funny as that sounds, it's a far less entertaining reason that I'm here. My ship's in for a refit over the next few months, so she's going to have strange engineers crawling all over her hull, each pulling in different directions as they try to work together to get her ready for her next big voyage into the unknown."

"See if you can request the Kukri build team, fantastic group of Engineers, I'd trust them with my ship," Vincent offered before muttering under his breath, "If I had one."

The remaining engineers around them had turned off into their own conversations, Vincent furrowed his brow, "Which ship? I'll can put in the request with Planitia command."

"The Highlander," Tim answered, taking another swig from his drink.

Vincent almost choked on his drink at the revelation, "Jesus, I'm set to take the second seat onboard."

Tim tried to hide the look of glee from his face at the revelation of who his new drinking companion was, and the fun he could have at his expense given the man's earlier assumptions about him. He noticed in his peripheral vision the conversation of the other engineers dying down again, as their attention once again turned towards the two of them. "New first officer, eh? I take it you're not exactly looking forward to it, given that you're here in a bar instead of reporting in?"

"To be honest, no, I was slated for command of the Kukri, but she got pulled out from under me. Desk jockeys told me the day of her completion," Vincent said, realising that besides Chief Davis, this man was the only other person who he had told of his embarrasment. He looked to the half pint of cider and decided that this would be his last. He could feel the effects on his mind. 

"Tough break," Tim replied. He'd seen plenty of officers over the years miss out on postings they deserved, though few times when a command was literally pulled away at the last minute. Someone at HQ had definitely messed up on that one; Tim had seen Holt's reassignment orders weeks ago, so for him not to be told until last minute was a major oversight. "So what's the plan? Drink your time away here and hope the ship leaves without you?"

"Just trying to blow off some steam before I meet this Captain Williams," Holt said, taking a few more swigs. A few smirks had appeared on the gathered engineers, but none said anything, and Holt was too tipsy to notice.

"Ah, the dreaded meeting of the captain," Tim said, in a mock sage voice. "There are some horror stories there, you know. There was this one time that someone ended up hanging by their feet from the upper balcony of main engineering." It was true, too. That time was a couple of years ago, and that person had been Tim; the Highlander had just undergone another, more minor refit, and Tim had been spending time reapplying his modifications that had been reverted to factory spec whilst he waited for his new crew to report aboard. His former first officer and security chief were the officers who had walked in on him hanging upside down working on the innards of the upper level console.

Vincent couldn't help but laugh, "Well now I am definately going to put it off. Well Chief, going to hit my rack and sober up before reporting in, probably better that way. Dont want him thinking I am a drunk, or worse, I cant hold my synthehol. What was your name anyway? I'm Lieutenant Commander Vincent Holt."

"Nice to meet you," Tim said, returning the handshake before responding to the question. "Captain Tim Williams." Surprisingly he managed to keep a straight face.

"Ha, Nice one," Vincent joked, before looking to the smirking faces of the Engineers around him, one of them slowly nodded their head. This had happened to Vincent before, and something instilled in him from decades ago training snapped him to attention, sloshing some of his drink on the floor.  

"Sorry Sir," He said, in as confident voice he could muster, "I should not have assumed sir." 

Vincent felt like a fresh faced 2nd Lieutenant again, being brought up for making a stupid mistake. He knew better than this. 

Tim and the other engineers burst out with laughter, though Tim was the quickest to bring his back under control. "Oh, relax Commander. We're off duty and out of uniform; you'll break your back if you stand like that for much longer."

As the rest of them continued to laugh, Vincent's face started to crack, first with a smile, then laughter, "Acknowledged sir. I am an arse," He joked, raising some more laughter. 

"Well if you dont mind then sir, next round is on me," Holt said, getting a cheer from the assembled engineers. 

"Well you won over the hearts of this lot, so I'm sure as hell not going to stop you," Tim answered with a smile of his own, glad to see that Holt had taken the situation in his stride. It would bode well for their future working relationship if he could take being the butt of a joke every now and then...