Favours, Currency of Choice

Posted on 11 Mar 2014 @ 1:34am by Crewman Apprentice Sigrid Thelin & Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson

1,728 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7 - Callisto Bar
Timeline: MD -10 : 1400

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Sigrid paced back and forth in front of the bar. She had decided to come early for her shift and was now scrutinizing a device in her hand as she flicked through page and page of inventory results. It was an impressive list of items, which wasn't the problem. It was the issue of resupply. Currently she was limited by such a frustratingly standardized ordering system. All supplies ordered went to some petty officer so-and-so, which went off to supply command or some such and hopefully what ever station or supply post the Galileo happens to be headed to either has it or can get it in time. There had to be a better way, and at the moment the only thing she could think of was to talk to said petty officer so-and-so first.

She heard someone come in and she looked up from the lists. She knew she was expecting him but she was so distracted it still startled her a little. She flashed him a bright smile, "I'm Sigrid Thelin, thanks for coming, Petty Officer."

Ellsworth laughed and waved his hand, trying to clear the air of formality. "Just Ellsworth, please. When people call me petty officer it makes me think of the bo'sun." He shuddered at mentioning Rayne, then shook his head to clear the thought. "What can I do for you? Trouble with the bar, or did you just need a drinking buddy?" He glanced at the chronometer then shrugged. "It's a little early, but...."

Sigrid laughed and gave his arm a little slap, "I like the way you think. It's happy hour somewhere in the galaxy. You can call me Siri, so less formal than Sigrid" When she said her name she had lowered her voice as if mimicing a fog horn. She suddenly waved her brilliantly painted nails towards the bar, "but seriously, I need help with this inventory."

"Oh, yeah, the bar inventory," Ellsworth looked a little guilty. He reached around and reflexively scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh, probably should have been dedicating a little more time to that..."

Sigrid let out a 'pfft' sound and swatted with her hand, "Don't beat yourself up over it, I had no idea how tightly regulated this whole process was." She stopped suddenly, then whirrled on the man. She was the same height but her bright red heels made her look down slightly. She squinted her eyes as she peered at his face. She looked like she was holding her breath as she strained.

Ellsworth stared back, his face a complete mask of confusion. "Uh... Everything okay?"

She brightened up in what she thought she understood was the problem, surely a Betazoid could hear her thoughts. Though she didn't have a clue how telepathy worked, and just thought a Betazoid would just always be reading her thoughts constantly. Either way, she still misunderstood. "Oh! Those are cosmetic," she said flashing a fingernail at Ellsworth's eyes. "Those are very well done. My mother's a beautician back home on Vega colony. She does those all the time. It's called betazoiding irises. I didn't realize it was so trendy this side of the quadrant. Do you like them?" She smiled brightly.

"Huh? My eyes?" Ellsworth asked, blinking hard a couple of times for effect. "What? No, I am Betazoid. Wait... Were you trying to communicate with me telepathically?" He suddenly let out an enormous laugh than eventually had him doubled over, gasping for breath. "No, wait... I'm sorry. It's just, I thought you were having a stroke or something. I'm a little bit different from most Betazoids." He tapped his temple, finally recovering from the fit of laughter. "I'm not constantly on, you could say. It's just background noise unless I'm paying attention."

As if completely unphased by her error she just pressed on, "Well it might have been faster to just read my mind. But that's okay, I'll just talk faster." She winked at him then turned back towards the bar and sat at one of the many stools. She offered the one next to her with a wave of her hand. "It seems as though we got a set amount of stock sent to us from here," she tapped an address with her finger, "but they didn't base it off any usage statistics. Look here," she scrolled through another list, "we're now over stocked on some of these items by a great deal, and some of these -- if consumption trends continue among the crew that is -- we'll most likely run out before the end of the quarter. Any ideas on what we can do?"

"Oh, that was me," Ellsworth said, pointing to the address she'd indicated. "I'm sorry, Siri, I've just been so busy with...everything. And this is my first posting, so I'm a little unsure what I'm doing sometimes. I just went with the standard requisition recommendations, which definitely aren't based on usage statistics or anything like that. I would have been more careful with something like warp core replacement parts, but the bar didn't seem like a huge priority." He realized what he'd said the moment he said it and his cheeks flushed. "I'm not saying it isn't important. It is. Just, you know, the warp core is kinda more important."

Sigrid thought he came across as a little insecure, but considering how young he was, it wasn't surprising to her.

"Anyway, ideas on what to do," Ellsworth said, tapping his chin. "Well, I think it's easiest just to do a replicator exchange; you know, 'feeding' the replicator the overstocked items and asking it to replicate the things we need. It might be a little energy intensive, so I'll have to ask permission... I'd get a resupply vessel from the Barisa Prime colony to come out and rendezvous with us, but that's way more paperwork. Replicated booze okay with you?"

Sigrid made a gagging noise. "Oh Golden Furies!" She chuckled, but also huffed an exasperated 'ugh' sound as she slumped on to the bar in mock frustration. "Starfleet is obsessed with the replicator." She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "do you know where they get the matter for replicated things?"

Ellsworth smirked. "I try not to think about it. And yeah, I know, it's not quite precise with the complexities and subtleties of alcoholic beverages. An accomplished drunk can tell the difference, and I think we have more than a few on board. We're en route to Deep Space 9, so if it can wait a few days I think I can work out a deal or two with the DS9 logistics officer to get what you need. Who knows what he's going to want in return... Sometimes I feel like I deal more in favors than supplies.

"Speaking of which, what am I getting out of all this trouble, Siri? All this paperwork is a lot to deal with, you know. Sign this, file that, shuffle this, inventory that..."

Ellsworth stood on his toes, trying to get a look behind the bar and wondering if he could manage to snag something to surprise K'os with. Or maybe he could just drink it all himself and show up in the nude; the thought gave him a lewd grin, which quickly faded when he remembered Siri was right next to him.

She shook her head with a smile. "Favours are my favourite kind of currency." She put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically, "I can't just give you something from the bar though." She whirled her bar stool around, and walked to the end of the long bar. She lifted a partition at the end and stepped in behind the bar as she made her way back towards Ellsworth. "What I can do though is request something from my own stock to be transferred to you." She went for the nearest console and started composing a message. "I need to know a few things about you first to try and narrow down what to give you. How does that sound?"

Ellsworth looked intrigued. "Okay... What would you like to know? I'm an open book."

She crossed her arms and studied him carefully as if about to solve a complicated puzzle. "What's your favourtie activity to destress or unwind from a difficult shift?"

He immediately grinned and then began giggling at the same time; every amount of effort he made to stop just seemed to encourage more giggling. Just when it seemed he wasn't going to be able to answer, he finally seemed to rein in his mind but kept grinning. The whole display definitely made him seem his age, maybe a little younger. "Spend...time...with my boyfriend." The grin grew a little bit before he settled down further. "Or read a book somewhere quiet, by myself."

Sigrid rolled her eyess, but chuckled in amusement all the same. "Okay, okay. I don't even need to ask any more questions. I already know the perfect thing." She spun around and continued composing her request to have one 750ml bottle transferred to Ellsworth. She then spun back to face the Betazoid. "It's ice wine, made from the frozen M'naxit berries on Edos. A very good friend of mine, an Edosian, gave me a couple bottles. It's an natural aphrodisiac to many species. Well, so far Humans and Edosians any way. Not sure about Betazoids. But it's as exotic tasting as it sounds." She allowed her mind to wander at the lurid thoughts of her three legged, three armed Edosian 'friend'. She allowed herself a small grin as well.

Ellsworth giggled a little again when he saw her grin. He wasn't sure he really ever needed an aphrodisiac, but he definitely looked forward to sitting down and sharing something exotic with K'os. "That sounds...amazing, Siri. Consider your requests as good as fulfilled."

Sigrid extended her hand. The magenta and amber designs on her polished nails caught the light from the bar as she did so. She smiled at the Betazoid and leaned in conspiratorially. "Nice doing business with you, Ellsworth."

"Likewise," Ellsworth said, shaking her hand in a firm businesslike manner and giving her a wink.

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Sigrid Thelin
Bartender/Server
USS Galileo

&

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo

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