Frustrated, I decide to go back to my ship for a brief respite. I meander through the Old Gladiator’s Home, saddened by the sight of these crusty mice intermingling with the retired gladiators. The mice haven’t shown any signs of aggression, but they’re obviously disease ridden as some of the old gladiators have already started showing signs of Space Tourrets Syndrome…like the old man in the corner that keeps crying out “Fire phasers!” over and over again interspersed with “Khan!!!”
How the mighty have fallen. And all because of these filthy rodents!
Inside my ship, making sure the doors are firmly locked, my sidekick Kirk greets me.
He brings me a cup of the blueberry tea I like as I curl up on the couch in the ships lounge area.
“How’d the team meeting go?” Kirk asks me.
“Don’t ask,” I reply grouchily.
“Tough challenge, huh?”
“Yeah. I don’t like mice to start with. And these are like the Horta, well, sorta.”
Inside my ship, making sure the doors are firmly locked, my sidekick Kirk greets me.
He brings me a cup of the blueberry tea I like as I curl up on the couch in the ships lounge area.
“How’d the team meeting go?” Kirk asks me.
“Don’t ask,” I reply grouchily.
“Tough challenge, huh?”
“Yeah. I don’t like mice to start with. And these are like the Horta, well, sorta.”
At least the mice don’t leave burn trails behind them…though their waste products are reported to be quite heavy.
“Remember that time with the mouse in the paper bag?”
“Do I ever! If I hadn’t hesitated, I would have had him for sure. Too bad I screamed like a girl when he jumped out at me.”
“Uhm…you are a girl.”
“Thanks so much for noticing!”
“Anyway,” he continued. “You didn’t let discouragement stop you then, did it?”
“Of course not. I kept on until I caught the bugger.” I see his point. Keep on trying to defeat these crusty mice no matter what. I take a deep sip of my tea…
Hmmmmm....
“They have to eat, right? Or drink?”
“Yes,” he answers even as I dart up from my seat and go to the computer consoles. He follows after me and ever worried about liquids near the computers, Kirk takes the cup away from me even as I set it down. “We don’t want another short like last time.”
“Right.” The computers were down for days and we were also stranded as well…although that did have its perks. With one hand, I start my computer database searching for traceable radioactive isotopes, hopefully one that isn’t harmful to the mice or people and call Koma on my comm unit. “Koma?”
There was no reply. I went through the list of the men on my team, and the only reply I got was from HotStuff saying that he was busy and couldn’t talk.
I turn to Kirk and said, “I guess I’m on my own!”
“Looks it.”
“Ok, I need to find out these mice eat. Other than wiring and power couplings.” I link my ships’ computer to the one we used for our initial research. “Hmm, regardless of their silicon base, they’re still mice and they still like to eat cheese. So.” I turn to my small replicator, thinking that I’m about to tax it to the extreme. I type in a recipe for cheese laced with traced amounts of iron and small amounts of Akarian, a rare element that is mildly radioactive and relatively harmless to humans and mice. Even though he’s watching over my shoulder, I explain to Kirk what I’m up to. “What I’m going to do, is feed them this treat, and then lock onto them with my transporter and just beam them out. In the future, we can make a smaller scaled version so a ship isn’t needed.”
“Where are you going to beam them to?” Kirk asked me.
Oh. Great question!
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “I’ll think about that as we’re reconfiguring the transporter.”
“Sounds like fun.”
It usually is…for reasons that have nothing to do with the transporter. But we have a mission so we’re done relatively quickly. Ok, there might have been a little kissing and fooling around… I need to get this place updated
– it still looks like something out of the sixties.
Later, after that’s done, I call up an old friend on the comm unit, audio only.
“Picard?”
“Err, hello, Lieutenant Commander,” came the reply. He only ever calls me that when there’s someone listening. He's probably on the Bridge. “I’ll have you transferred to my ready room.” Yep, he was.
I wait a moment, and then he comes back. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Ciera?”
“Jean-Luc…I need a favor.”
I can hear his hesitation across the light-years. “The last favor you asked for required me to have the ship decontaminated.”
“Oh, yeah.” I’d forgotten about that. “ Well, if you don’t put up the proper force fields, you’d have to do that again this time. We’ve got space mice here on Hacknor, in the Old Gladiator’s Home.”
“Space mice? That does sound like a problem. What is it you’d like me to do?”
“Let me beam them to your ship and then you can take them home.”
“Take them home?!”
“Sure, they have to have a planet of origin. Maybe they’re from Janus VI?”
“Ciera…”
“Aw, come on Jean-Luc. Pleeeeze?”
He sighs deeply. “I’ll be there shortly. In the meantime, I’ll confer with Mr. Data as to a possible home world for the mice.”
“Great!” I answer. “Oh and Jean-Luc…speed is of the essence.”
“I’ll see if I can’t get La Forge to coax the engines a little.”
While I wait for him to show up, I pile my replicated cheese into baskets and fine-tune my remote activation device for the transporters.
I'm glad I locked the doors.
“Remember that time with the mouse in the paper bag?”
“Do I ever! If I hadn’t hesitated, I would have had him for sure. Too bad I screamed like a girl when he jumped out at me.”
“Uhm…you are a girl.”
“Thanks so much for noticing!”
“Anyway,” he continued. “You didn’t let discouragement stop you then, did it?”
“Of course not. I kept on until I caught the bugger.” I see his point. Keep on trying to defeat these crusty mice no matter what. I take a deep sip of my tea…
Hmmmmm....
“They have to eat, right? Or drink?”
“Yes,” he answers even as I dart up from my seat and go to the computer consoles. He follows after me and ever worried about liquids near the computers, Kirk takes the cup away from me even as I set it down. “We don’t want another short like last time.”
“Right.” The computers were down for days and we were also stranded as well…although that did have its perks. With one hand, I start my computer database searching for traceable radioactive isotopes, hopefully one that isn’t harmful to the mice or people and call Koma on my comm unit. “Koma?”
There was no reply. I went through the list of the men on my team, and the only reply I got was from HotStuff saying that he was busy and couldn’t talk.
I turn to Kirk and said, “I guess I’m on my own!”
“Looks it.”
“Ok, I need to find out these mice eat. Other than wiring and power couplings.” I link my ships’ computer to the one we used for our initial research. “Hmm, regardless of their silicon base, they’re still mice and they still like to eat cheese. So.” I turn to my small replicator, thinking that I’m about to tax it to the extreme. I type in a recipe for cheese laced with traced amounts of iron and small amounts of Akarian, a rare element that is mildly radioactive and relatively harmless to humans and mice. Even though he’s watching over my shoulder, I explain to Kirk what I’m up to. “What I’m going to do, is feed them this treat, and then lock onto them with my transporter and just beam them out. In the future, we can make a smaller scaled version so a ship isn’t needed.”
“Where are you going to beam them to?” Kirk asked me.
Oh. Great question!
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “I’ll think about that as we’re reconfiguring the transporter.”
“Sounds like fun.”
It usually is…for reasons that have nothing to do with the transporter. But we have a mission so we’re done relatively quickly. Ok, there might have been a little kissing and fooling around… I need to get this place updated
– it still looks like something out of the sixties.Later, after that’s done, I call up an old friend on the comm unit, audio only.
“Picard?”
“Err, hello, Lieutenant Commander,” came the reply. He only ever calls me that when there’s someone listening. He's probably on the Bridge. “I’ll have you transferred to my ready room.” Yep, he was.
I wait a moment, and then he comes back. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Ciera?”
“Jean-Luc…I need a favor.”
I can hear his hesitation across the light-years. “The last favor you asked for required me to have the ship decontaminated.”
“Oh, yeah.” I’d forgotten about that. “ Well, if you don’t put up the proper force fields, you’d have to do that again this time. We’ve got space mice here on Hacknor, in the Old Gladiator’s Home.”
“Space mice? That does sound like a problem. What is it you’d like me to do?”
“Let me beam them to your ship and then you can take them home.”
“Take them home?!”
“Sure, they have to have a planet of origin. Maybe they’re from Janus VI?”
“Ciera…”
“Aw, come on Jean-Luc. Pleeeeze?”
He sighs deeply. “I’ll be there shortly. In the meantime, I’ll confer with Mr. Data as to a possible home world for the mice.”
“Great!” I answer. “Oh and Jean-Luc…speed is of the essence.”
“I’ll see if I can’t get La Forge to coax the engines a little.”
While I wait for him to show up, I pile my replicated cheese into baskets and fine-tune my remote activation device for the transporters.
I have more cheese than I can carry, so I pull out my trusty hover sled and load that up as well.
“I can carry some,” offers Kirk.
“Naw, I have to do this on my own.”
“All right. I’ll at least monitor the transporters, and keep an eye on you.”
“You’re so sweet.” I give him smoking hot kiss before I go.
With pleasant thoughts of later, I take off and head back to the Old Gladiator’s home. Talk about mayhem. There’s so much going on, I can’t even describe it all! I head out back, dropping bits of cheese here and there. I am pleased to see that the vermin come running for what is to them a tasty treat. It’s going to work!!
Not half an hour later, my comm badge chirps as Jean-Luc calls me back. “We are in transporter range.”
“Did you find their home world?” I ask as I push buttons on my remote device and begin to beam the first batch up. Here and there I see shimmers of mice disappearing.
“They are originally from a lab based on the far side of Hacknor.”
“Imagine that. So, what are you going to do with them? We can’t leave them here.” I beam up the second batch. More mice shimmer away. “We have sick gladiators already!”
“Err…We’re taking them to Janus VI. We’ve been in contact with the Horta, and they’re glad to take the mice off our hands. It ought to make for an interesting mix.”
“I would think so.” I beam up another batch…and another. I end up beaming away several dozen mice, every one that had eaten our tainted cheese. I see no more in the vicinity and all the cheese is gone. “That’s all I can find, Jean-Luc.”
“Thank goodness,” he replies. “Our holds are quite full.”
“I won’t keep you.”
“I think La Forge will be coaxing even more speed out of the engines,” the captain commented. “And Ciera…you owe me one.”
“I have no doubt. Thanks Jean-Luc.” I sigh. I return to my ship, plop on the couch and wonder aloud. “I wonder how I did?”
“I think you were fabulous,” Kirk comments.
“You always do.” Just as we begin to get cozy Jean-Luc calls me again.
“Ah, Ciera… have a small problem.”
“What is it?” I ask. Kirk must have fixed the visual on the comm, because Jean-Luc is on my screen. I'm a little embarrassed to have him see me with my mussed up hair and red face from smooching.
He doesn’t seem to notice as he answers, “It seems that there is a retired gladiator amongst the mice you beamed up.”
The view on my screen changed. It was the gladiator with Space Tourrets that I saw earlier! He looks happy though.
“I can carry some,” offers Kirk.
“Naw, I have to do this on my own.”
“All right. I’ll at least monitor the transporters, and keep an eye on you.”
“You’re so sweet.” I give him smoking hot kiss before I go.
With pleasant thoughts of later, I take off and head back to the Old Gladiator’s home. Talk about mayhem. There’s so much going on, I can’t even describe it all! I head out back, dropping bits of cheese here and there. I am pleased to see that the vermin come running for what is to them a tasty treat. It’s going to work!!Not half an hour later, my comm badge chirps as Jean-Luc calls me back. “We are in transporter range.”
“Did you find their home world?” I ask as I push buttons on my remote device and begin to beam the first batch up. Here and there I see shimmers of mice disappearing.
“They are originally from a lab based on the far side of Hacknor.”
“Imagine that. So, what are you going to do with them? We can’t leave them here.” I beam up the second batch. More mice shimmer away. “We have sick gladiators already!”
“Err…We’re taking them to Janus VI. We’ve been in contact with the Horta, and they’re glad to take the mice off our hands. It ought to make for an interesting mix.”
“I would think so.” I beam up another batch…and another. I end up beaming away several dozen mice, every one that had eaten our tainted cheese. I see no more in the vicinity and all the cheese is gone. “That’s all I can find, Jean-Luc.”
“Thank goodness,” he replies. “Our holds are quite full.”
“I won’t keep you.”
“I think La Forge will be coaxing even more speed out of the engines,” the captain commented. “And Ciera…you owe me one.”
“I have no doubt. Thanks Jean-Luc.” I sigh. I return to my ship, plop on the couch and wonder aloud. “I wonder how I did?”
“I think you were fabulous,” Kirk comments.
“You always do.” Just as we begin to get cozy Jean-Luc calls me again.
“Ah, Ciera… have a small problem.”
“What is it?” I ask. Kirk must have fixed the visual on the comm, because Jean-Luc is on my screen. I'm a little embarrassed to have him see me with my mussed up hair and red face from smooching.
He doesn’t seem to notice as he answers, “It seems that there is a retired gladiator amongst the mice you beamed up.”
The view on my screen changed. It was the gladiator with Space Tourrets that I saw earlier! He looks happy though.
“He must have eaten some of the cheese...maybe I’ve discovered a cure for Space Tourrets?”
“Perhaps. Shall I bring him back?”
“He’s not causing any problems is he?”
“Not exactly.”
“Sweet. Better drop him off at StarFleet Medical then and have him checked out. Would you be able to do that for me?” I make sure to bat my eyelashes at him.
He sighs. “Now you owe me two.”
“I’m ok with that.” I give him an incorrigible grin. “Thanks Jean-Luc.” I sign off before he can say anymore.
“I wonder what he meant by ‘not exactly’?” Kirk commented, pulling me back to the couch.
“He’s probably chasing the nurses.” I snuggle close to him. “Now, where were we?”
“Perhaps. Shall I bring him back?”
“He’s not causing any problems is he?”
“Not exactly.”
“Sweet. Better drop him off at StarFleet Medical then and have him checked out. Would you be able to do that for me?” I make sure to bat my eyelashes at him.
He sighs. “Now you owe me two.”
“I’m ok with that.” I give him an incorrigible grin. “Thanks Jean-Luc.” I sign off before he can say anymore.
“I wonder what he meant by ‘not exactly’?” Kirk commented, pulling me back to the couch.
“He’s probably chasing the nurses.” I snuggle close to him. “Now, where were we?”
I'm glad I locked the doors. 
6 comments:
Hilarious, Ciera! Well written!
Your Kirk is cute...I don't suppose you are willing to bring him to the hot tub are you?
Space Mice created on a lab on Hacknor?
Well I never!
Thanks Jean-Luc.
Hmmm, I dunno Nepharia...maybe -but so long as you just look, and don't touch!! lol!
Jon - I said the far side of Hacknor!
It was a complete story...
it had a beginning a middle and an end...so yeah. Is that a compliment?
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