Tales From The Lonely Nacelle - Vol. 1

Posted on Wed Feb 19th, 2025 @ 4:40am by Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Tatsuo Shimada

1,087 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Younger Years
Location: Arizona desert
Timeline: 2377

The Lonely Nacelle was a small dive bar located in a small town smack dab in middle of the Arizona Desert. Though, to call its location a 'town' would be severely overselling it, for where it was actually located could be best described as glorified subdivision, populated by only three intersections; two at its northern end and one at its southern end, and the only kinds of businesses were either small mom and pop shops which the owners lived directly above, or hotels and motels which lined the main highway that ran through the town to cater to Grand Canyon tourists.

The origins of the bar dated back to the 2250s, when Christopher Pike was still in command of the USS Enterprise, and allegedly, the namesake of the prestigious Medal of Valor had visited the bar and carved his initials into the countertop for posterity. Though this claim was disputed outside of the community, as more recent studies had unearthed information stating that carving was never one of Pike's strong suits. However, discussing this new evidence had been written into the bar's rules as a prohibited subject, punishable by expulsion from the premises.

Having been to all the hot spots in San Francisco for cadets, Tatsuo Shimada much preferred a better kept secret; something that "real Starfleet officers" loved to frequent, as his new shipmate, Kisad Vuyi, had told him. And The Lonely Nacelle certainly delivered in that regard. Not only did they serve delicious chicken wings and the best Coolant Leak he'd ever tasted, but the bar was often lined with some of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Once his reputation had been built up as one of the regulars that the bar staff recognized and greeted by name, Kisad had furnished Tatsuo with a list of all the "regular cuties" that could be found at the Nacelle on a given night, some of whom were even Starfleet Captains. Tatsuo had been told that they were "way outside his league" but Tatsuo was one to keep a more open mind. Perhaps one of these Captains would remember him and want him on their ship after graduation?

It was this list, stored on an otherwise inconspicuous PADD, that Tatsuo had with him on this particular night. He was already chattering with Kisad on his plan A's, plan B's, and even plan C's that he was going to look for tonight. However, as the small bell on the door clinked to announce their arrival; on instinct, he always glanced over to see who was sitting in "Pike's seat," the most famous seat in the house. Normally, it was occupied by a motherf**ker that Tatsuo wouldn't dare mess with. But tonight, something far prettier was sitting there: The brown hair and damn near perfect ass sitting on the same vinyl that Pike did had caused Tatsuo to trail off and fixate upon it. He barely heard Kisad, and the older Bajoran man had to quite literally give him a smack in the arm to take him back to reality:

"Our normal table's open, Tiger:" He said, indicating that he was moving to claim it.

Silently nodding, Tatsuo fought the urge to walk up to this woman and talk to her and instead followed his friend to their 'usual' table, which had a great line of sight to the bar. Unfortunately, Tatsuo's fixation had meant that Kisad was taking the seat with the better line of sight to the bar, and Tatsuo would have to sit with his back to the bar. As he drew up the seat, he once again looked back towards Pike's seat, and he could get a better look at the woman's face: Asian features for sure, but she also had an aura of delicacy to her...

"Welcome back, Kisad; Tatsuo:" The waiter greeted them, once again snapping Tatsuo out of his trance. "Will we be having the usual tonight?"

"Yes, that'll be fine." Kisad responded.

"So, 12 pc. matter-antimatter reaction wings, a Cardassian Sunrise and a Coolant Leak, got it. I'll be right back with your drinks."

When the waiter walked off, Tatsuo stole another glance over his shoulder before leaning in closer to Kisad.

"So, who's the cutie with the million dollar booty sitting in Pike's seat?" He asked in a hushed tone.

Kisad leaned over, looking at the woman that seemed to be capturing a great deal of Tatsuo's interest.

"I don't know:" He shrugged. "Never seen her here before."

Tatsuo sighed. He was hoping to get a more definitive answer from Kisad aside from 'I don't know.' And as Kisad quickly changed subjects to pertain to Tatsuo's upcoming security operations test- the main reason they came here, the Bajoran man's advice was in one ear and out the other. At this moment, he really didn't care if he flunked a stupid test; he needed to know more about that girl.

Even when the food and drinks came, Tatsuo kept looking over his shoulder, hoping the woman didn't decide to leave before he got his chance. As he finished off his third wing- a drumette that was one of the mild "matter" wings, Tatsuo observed his current situation: Kisad seemed to be interested in eating the wings and not letting them get cold, and hadn't said another word of their current conversation since "Hold that thought." When the food arrived. The smoothness of the Coolant Leak, coupled with the spicy "antimatter" wings, had nearly drained the slim glass that the beverage was served in. As he ate the last piece of meat off the wing and set down the bone, he downed the last sip of his Coolant Leak to take care of some residual heat from the "antimatter" wing he had eaten previously and set his drink down.

"You know, Kisad;" He began. "These wings are on fire tonight; I'm going to go up to the bar and see if I can get another drink..."

As he stood up, he moved over to Kisad and leaned into the Bajoran man's ear.

"If all goes well, checkout time at the motel is at 1100 hours." He whispered. "Pick me up then, yeah?"

Kisad nodded. He could tell that the younger man's mind wasn't at all on test studying ever since they walked in, and Kisad understood and respected the want to "live while one was young." All the older man did was give Tatsuo a look of encouragement that read 'go get 'em, Tiger.'

To be continued...

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