She's Baa-aack! (Part 1)

Posted on Tue Jul 20th, 2021 @ 2:36am by Lieutenant JG Nozomi Kusuda 'Gemini' & Lieutenant Iowa Riverside 'Grey Ghost' & Lieutenant JG Mika Fujimoto 'Pickpocket'
Edited on on Tue Jul 20th, 2021 @ 4:45am

1,559 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Operation Romulus Return
Location: Pilots' lounge
Timeline: Roughly 0300 hours

Mika sat at the usual table off in the corner of the pilots' lounge, strumming away on her Kantele. At such an early hour, the pilots' lounge was almost deserted. There were some still lingering about, but the place was by no means crowded. Mika often came here to play on her kantele because she viewed her bunk as little more than sleeping accommodation, and at such an early hour, she'd be hard pressed to find someone wanting to kick her out for playing. Besides, deep down Mika believed that the folks who frequented at this hour secretly enjoyed the calming ambience of a Kantele player in the corner.

During one of her folk songs, Mika heard the door swoosh open, and knew that a certain someone had stepped through those doors, for her personality was so big, Mika could feel the air shift whenever she entered the room.

"Hot damn, Fujimoto; you still going at it?" A familiar sassy voice asked her.

Mika stopped playing and looked up into the twinkling eyes of Lieutenant Iowa Riverside.

"Boisterous as always, Riverside:" Mika responded before plucking up the strings on her Kantele again. "Finding it hard to sleep again?"

"Man, how can I sleep?" Iowa responded as she sat down across from Mika. "I'm one step closer to being recertified. At this point, all I'm waiting on is the CAG's approval."

"Best of luck with those two..." Mika muttered, recalling Iowa's disastrous appeal.

"Hey," Iowa said, dropping her voice to a whisper in case anyone overheard them. "If they try and object to remedial training passed with flying colors, than they're basically admitting a bias against me."

"But, one can never be too sure." Mika added in a similar hushed tone before clearing her throat. "Anyway, since you're here; there's a question I've been wanting to ask you and Busujima lately."

Mika suddenly realized Saeko's absence.

"Is Busujima coming?" She asked.

"Oh, dear;" Iowa responded. "Nobody told you? Busujima took an LOA. She opened up to me a little during shore leave, and admitted that she needs a little time to put her ducks in a row. She put in her request not too long after we talked. How long is it going to be? I don't know, but she ain't going to be coming with us, wherever we go next."

"I see;" Mika said. "Quite unfortunate."

"Anyway, what was this burning question you had for me?" Iowa asked, bringing the topic back around.

"Ah, that one:" Mika said. "So, the old air boss is gone now-!"

"The scary dude?" Iowa asked.

"Yes, him." Mika clarified. "But his actions leave us a lasting impact: After all, it was he who vouched for us to come aboard, and then he turned around and stabbed the whole crew in the back. That's not going to make us look good at all."

"Hmm... Interesting: Haven't really stopped to think about that." Iowa muttered. "Well, I tell you what we're gonna do in regards to that: We are gonna break the stereotype scary dude has cast over us. Rise up, and prove ourselves better women than the man who vouched for us!"

"That bad, huh?" A pilot seated just across the way from them remarked.

Mika looked over Iowa's shoulder at the pilot who had just spoke before returning her gaze to her kantele.

"You know, Riverside; I think you may be suffering from dementia:" She said. "Busujima's right behind you."

"What the-!?" Iowa stammered, her head snapping around to see what Mika was talking about.

While the pilot in question certainly resembled Saeko in a few ways, including the purple hair and the fairly close eye colors, there were plenty of factors that set her apart from Crazy Horse:

"No, that ain't Busujima!" Iowa responded as she turned back to Mika. "Her face is all different! Besides, can't you tell dyed hair from naturally occurring stuff when you see it?"

"Honestly, I'm surprised you can." Mika replied, plucking a single string on her kantele, intending her remark to be a sarcastic burn.

"Very funny." Iowa scoffed. "Anyway, Busujima also wouldn't be caught dead with her hair tied like that! It's gotta be somebody else!"

"Rest assured, I'm not this 'Busujima' you speak of," the pilot clarified, flashing the two of them a cheeky smile. "But I could be if it'd make you happy."

Iowa found the pilot's remark somewhat amuzing.

"No; trust me, new girl: You look and sound way too nice to impersonate the truly off the rails individual Pickpocket here and I know so well." She explained.

"You know, I'm not certain whether or not I should take that as a compliment," the pilot chuckled.

"Whatever, new girl;" Iowa muttered. "You do you, and I'll do me. Just a friendly word of advice, though; if you gonna eavesdrop on conversations, eavesdrop on the whole damn conversation."

Iowa turned back to Mika to see an obvious look of disgust on her young friend's face.

"What??" She asked.

"Is that the way you greet the new recruits?" Mika asked.

"Come on, now;" Iowa whined. "Givin' the new recruits a hard time is how ya welcome 'em to the club."

"Maybe in your navy of old, but not here in Starfleet." Mika responded. "Here, follow my lead..."

Mika then looked out at the other pilot.

"Hey, new girl!" She called out. "You're obviously interested about us in some way, so how about you come over and have a seat?"

"Sure, why not?" the new girl shrugged as she got up and moved over to where Mika and Iowa were sitting.

"Whoa, now wait up there just a second, new girl;" Iowa advised as she noticed the ensign slipping in next to Mika. "I wouldn't sit too close to Fujimoto if I was you, not unless you got nothin' of value on you; because let me tell you; Pickpocket may look all baby-faced and innocent, but trust me when I say she's one mean ass. Fujimoto; why don't you tell new girl here of all the shiny stuff you've nicked?"

"This month or since I started?" Mika asked.

"Stick to this month." Iowa responded. "Ain't nobody got time for all that shit."

"It's been a good month so far..." Mika said as she eyed something sticking out of the Ensign's pocket. Something rare-looking, and thus, likely highly sought after: The partially-obscured band name on the label indicated that it was likely an Astral album, and those things were shooting way up in value lately.

"Nice try, Sweet Cheeks, but I'm afraid that's not yours for the taking," the Ensign laughed, quickly moving her hand to cover up her pocket. "Though, if you're terribly heartbroken about it, I suppose I could see about getting you a copy from the replicator."

"Replicated copies of Astral albums don't fetch as much as authentically-printed copies." Mika responded. "But I digress, why do you bother carrying something so valuable around like that? I mean, Riverside here doesn't walk around with her vinyl records."

"That's because vinyl is too big to fit in one's pocket easily." Iowa remarked. "Besides, some things just aren't worth toting around everywhere you go. I mean, unless I actually played in Glenn Miller's orchestra, it's just not worth it. It could get damaged, lost, something could happen to me, it's just not worth the risk!"

"Consider it a "going-away" present, if you will," The ensign explained with a smile. "And if you're all that concerned about aftermarket value, I could always sweeten the deal with an autograph."

"Well, autographs can certainly boost the value of either kind of copy." Mika muttered. "But only if it's a convincing forgery. If you can't forge their signatures, then forget it."

"Who said anything about forgeries?" the new girl winked, gesturing to herself. "I got an authentic signature for you right here."

Mika's kantele fell silent.

"You mean to say you were actually a member of Astral?" She muttered, her blank expression indicating that her brain had been broken.

"In the flesh and blood," the ensign smiled.

"Well, that's cute." Iowa said, catching onto the new girl's former celebrity status. "But let me tell you something, sweet cheeks: Fame don't mean shit 'round here. Trust me, I know this firsthand."

"No, but I figured that offering her an autographed copy was at least a better alternative than having her steal mine," the ensign clarified.

"Hey, I was just tryin' to tell you what a bad motherfucker Fujimoto is, and how it's not the smartest idea to sit close to her." Iowa responded. "Just sit across from her like I'm doing, and that won't be an issue. She ain't figured out how the reach under tables yet."

"Sometimes, it's best to relocate to someplace out of the wind..." Mika said.

"Well, if you both insist..." the ensign shrugged as she got up and moved over to where Iowa was sitting.

To be continued...

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