The Good Ship Lollipop

Posted on Thu Jul 14th, 2016 @ 5:45am by Colonel Damian Highsmith M.Eng & Master Chief Petty Officer Tanner Willeg

Mission: Zero Week
Location: USS Lollipop Room, Deck 68, Starbase 328

ON:

Damian stood in the Federation Museum- one of the many scattered across the galaxy staring at a massive scale model of the Ronin Class USS Lollipop staring at it intently, analyzing it's every curve and line. It had been Damian's dream to command one of these ships ever since before his posting to the Valhalla but alas the line was discontinued after a few catastrophic power failures that Starfleet Engineering could never pin down. Resisting the urge to grab a ladder and climb up to run his hands across it, Damian continued to stare, transfixed with an almost childlike wonder.


Tanner had climbed up the back of the ship, gaining footing on the back nacelles and making her way to top of the ship. Sure, it was a museum, but Tanner didn't take to the same concept of historical degradation as most people did. Some things were meant to be explored, discovered, touched. The concept of preservation was bullshit. What was the good of keeping something, if it wasn't so that people could gain a better understanding of it, and learn from it? How do you understand, learn or gain a better knowledge of something without being able to examine, touch and feel the object in question? She'd made her way up the saucer section to the front of the ship, at which point Tanner gripped the edge, kicked off and flipped over. She hung over the edge for a moment before doing a tuck-and-roll into the forward embankment. This was the controversial "forward weapon bank." Tanner had never believe it was a phaser bank, phaser banks weren't that big, weren't that open, even a torpedo launch point wouldn't require such an inset, not unless there was other aspect in play. She wanted to see what it was really meant for, and ....well... if museum security came and hunted her down, she'd spend the night in the brig and deal with it. It'd be worth it. She was already too far along for them to keep her from finding out the truth.

Hearing a metallic pinging sound above him, Damian looked up and saw a pair of boots disappear into the scale phaser turret. Shaking his head, Damian already knew who it was. "Damn it..." he grumbled as he scrambled up the ladder towards the model and peered into the massive phaser port. "Damn it, Tanner! Get down from there!" he yelled, his voice bouncing from surface to surface. Sensing that his quest was one of futility, he slid back down to the deck and looked up, perplexed.

Janet had walked through, catching sight of the whole scene unfolding and the exchange between a man and a woman. "Honey, you have things to learn" commented the Xenexian Lieutenant Commander as she joined the scene, taking a place by the man's side. "Nothing you say is going to get her down when you are shouting at her like a cat" she said shaking her head. Janet gave a long look up and crossed her arms and studied the situation further. "Girl can climb" added Janet with a small smirk forming on her face.

"So...." began the woman looking at the man beside her. "Lover's quarrel or Engineer on the loose?" asked the former Security Chief as she pieced together the dialogue she had heard and the sights she had been seeing. "Or both?" she then added not wanting to assume separately.


Damian chuckled slightly at the compliment and looked over to officer now standing beside him and stroked his chin, wishing he still had his beard. "I'm honestly not sure, Commander. She's an inquisitive one, to be sure. That's why she's such a damn good engineer." he said begrudgingly. Adjusting his uniform, he crossed his arms and waited. "She'll have to come down eventually."

"You really don't know women then" she replied shaking her head. "If she wants to stay up there...she will stay up there for however long she wishes" said Janet as she watched the woman. "The question really is how long does she want to be up there and when will you go up there after her?"

Crawling headlong into the apparatus, Tanner tilted her head back, making note of the panel ahead. Control hatch, wiring systems. They didn't put that type of hardwiring in place for phasers. Phaser power was an operational/tactical system, the wiring was all internal, very covert. Putting the power bank in the same area as the firing bank would be.... Stupid, nobody does that.

Tanner stretched out, laying on her back, head hanging out of the array. "It's brilliant and beautiful. Anyone who didn't know would see it as a torpedo launcher, and back off because of it, or just because of the threat... Her back arched and she once again gripped the edge of the ship. This time she was grasping the edge of the nacelle rather than the hull.

"Hey, you! You're not allowed to touch the displays!"

Tanner hit the ground, took two steps back, raised her hands and blinked at the museum security officer. "Not touching anything."


Janet sighed and shook her head. She put on her stone cold bitch face and glared in his direction as she slowly approached with a commanding strut. "Excuse me...." she began not knowing the man's name. To which he started to open his mouth and respond by supplying it "It doesn't matter what your name is!" she interrupted. "Does museum security now get involved in the affairs of Starfleet Security Officers? No, I most certainly would hope not. Do you see this uniform...look at my collar" she demanded as she tugged her collar down a bit. "Count those pips. Lieutenant Commander J'n'e't Gl'yn'dr, former First Officer USS Challenger and USS Adelaide Chief of Security" she added.

"I commend you on doing your job, but these two are with me" she said sharply. "Now my associate here will not be touching anything further, so I do not expect to need your presence any longer in my vicinity, so clear out" she said crossing her arms. "Unless your superior wants to have words with me and interrupt my business here. In which case, let me contact the Admiral...or are we finished here?" she asked.

The security officer looked bemused and perplexed at the woman in front of him. "N- no, ma'am." the rather short and skinny fellow turned on his heel and walked out in a huff.

Damian laughed hysterically at this display of as he climbed back down yet again from the ladder. Walking over to her, he put his hand on Tanner's shoulder and whispered in her ear. "You know, you could have asked before you climbed into the guts of a model starship." he said, struggling to contain his continuing laughter. It was hilarious to see Tanner's face as she displayed her expression of faux surprise and shock at the mere suggestion that she was doing something wrong.

Tanner's eyes lit up, "I don't need to ask before climbing into a model ship because... I've always been able to talk my way out of it." Looking over her shoulder, she made eye contact with Janet, and with a slight lift of her chin indicated her gratitude. "But it's always beneficial to have backup." Tilting her head to the side, Tanner sighed, and with that outward breath, her hand drifted from Damian's shoulder to his chest.

"One day, we're not going to be there to stop some overzealous security guard from catching you rummaging through his ships, regardless of how ridiculous it is." Damian responded. Feeling Tanner's fingers running over the chest of his uniform, he paid no mind as he figured that it was just one of her many sweeping gestures. Looking over the history of the ship, he couldn't help but snicker a little. He began to read from the plaque. "The USS Lollipop, commissioned in 2382 sailed for only two years under Captain James Merritt, who took her on such voyages into the Azure Nebula and the infamous Smythe Ion Storm field. She was tragically destroyed in 2384 when Captain Merritt crashed it directly into Tranador IV, where it was lost with all hands."

Lieutenant Commander Janet Glyndar looked at the woman that she was coming to learn was named Tanner. "Didn't mean to step on your toes and steal your show" commented Janet with a nod in Tanner's direction. "Thanks, I was hoping for a history lesson" added Janet scoffing. "One day we're not going to be here? Did you really just say that to her? She doesn't look the type to really need our help."

Damian turned to Janet and shrugged. "She gets herself into situations that she almost always manages to talk her way out of. Doesn't matter if it's a barfight, a Court Martial, or a relationship..." Damian trailed off as a bad taste entered his mouth as soon as he uttered the last word. "Hence my statement, Commander. One day, she's not going to be able to talk herself out of something and backup simply isn't going to be there." he said ruefully before he walked into the adjoining room where another group of golden ships were displayed.

Rolling her eyes, as she watched Damien leave the room, Tanner glanced up at Janet. "Thanks." Her eyes focused in on something in the palm of her hand, her thumb moving across the surface of some unknown object as though she were popping the cap off a bottle. "Really, I don't give out gratitude often, and apologies even less, but..."

Looking them over, he thought solemnly of the many people that these ships immortalized- those that had come and gone in the constant quest for exploration and peace. One name stood out in particular- Hammersley. Reading over it's history, he noticed that it's crews over the years had earned their place as explorers and peacemakers but were ferocious fighters when their time came to do so. They had taken on over 70 Dominion vessels over the course of the war and eliminated them with extreme professionalism, earning them more commendations than most ships in the fleet. All things considered, it was rather impressive. Checking his chronometer, Damian released a silent curse- he was slated to head to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers detachment to deliver a briefing in less than 15 minutes. Reaching up to his chest, he realized that he didn't have his commbadge. The realization that he had been played by a fool dawned on him- Tanner had stolen his commbadge when she decided to cop a cheap feel. Fighting the urge to release a silent curse, he stormed back into the room and stopped in front of the Lollipop, his face red with anger. There were points in their time together when he tolerated her insubordination, blatant disrespect to her superiors, and her antics but he could no longer turn a blind eye to her flouting of the rules.

Cocking her head to the side and lifting a brow, the engineer pressed her hands together. "I mean it when I do. So thanks, for seeing that I don't need help, and for giving it anyways, and sorry for what comes next." She tossed the comm in her hands to the woman she was speaking with, just as Damien walked back in the door....


"Master Chief Petty Officer Tanner Willeg, I believe you have something that belongs to me." Damian said with a hint of a growl in his voice.

Tanner blinked with faux innocence. "I have nothing that belongs to you." One corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk, "lest that which was freely given." Raising her hands in the air like someone caught, she turned a three-sixty, took one step forward and blinked. "Were you planning to frisk me? Over what?"

Janet shook her head. "If he doesn't frisk you, then I might" said the Xenexian. "I used to be a Security Officer. Frisking and interrogations were my favorite" teased Lieutenant Commander Glyndar with a small smile at the woman.

Tanner shook her head and laughed silently. "Go for it." She glanced at the other woman and tossed a glance at Damien. "Major?" She knew he was already irritated at the fact that she'd confiscated his comm. And now she was, in no uncertain terms saying it was his call as to whether he wanted to call her bluff or let her walk away. She also knew that he'd known her long enough to know whether or not she was bluffing.

"You'd do well to address me as Colonel, Petty Officer or should I make that Crewman?" Damian shot back. He was in no mood for disrespect and he wasn't going to allow himself to be publicly insulted in front of another officer.

This woman, however, this Janet, who Tanner had met only moments ago, could change everything, if she so chose. Still, Tanner hadn't gotten where she was in life by playing things safe... She'd spent half a lifetime waiting for people to call her bluff or place a bet. She did the same here, waiting to see who would act next.

Janet looked at the man "What is it exactly that she allegedly has, Sir?" asked Janet as she stood put. "I'll frisk if you deem it necessary, but if you want something more invasive of a search, I'll take her somewhere private for the squat and cough" added the Xenexian flashing her purple irises in Tanner's direction. "Now now, don't get too excited. He might cancel the special occasion on us" she continued.

Damian smirked slightly at this and flashed a look of slight disapproval to Janet.


Tanner glanced back and forth, noting the exchange, and laughing at the both of them. "The Major is looking for someone to stroke his ego." Throwing her head one direction, and then back, cracking her neck in the process, "for surely if he was assuming disrespect, he would understand that I didn't mean any. I was merely referring to him in the same manner he introduced himself." The Betazoid's raised brow was both a clear question You did get that, right? If you really thought I was trying to be a bitch... Shame. And also a challenge. Go on, push me. Try to win the argument. Whether or not I see it as reasonable, I will not lose with an audience. Your rules will lose to ridiculousness, to fun and charm and stupidity that sounds reasonable.

He could see that the two were becoming fast friends and it was slightly irritating but at the same time, humorous. "Well, she appears to have my combadge, Commander. So frisk her but let's not get into the cavity searches today, it's too much paperwork for both of us and I have to get to a briefing that is drawing closer the longer that we stand here." Looking Tanner over, his smirk grew as he inched closer. " You can either give me my badge back or I can have the nice Commander here frisk you. Your call, Chief.." he said, with a tinge of dark humor in his voice.

"Appreciate the pleasantries, Colonel." Tanner lifted her chin, blinked and stared up with nothing less than serentity, "but I still don't have your comm. Thanks for the free feel-up, though."

Gnashing his teeth together, Damian reluctantly realized that Tanner was telling the truth, despite her constant resistance. "Fine. I'll replicate another but should it turn up, my office in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers detachment on Deck 72."

Damian turn on his heel and walked away, his footfalls echoing on the deck as he exited the museum or rather attempted to as he slammed into the door, which failed to open at his presence. A meaty thump echoed through the museum space as he bounced off of the tritanium doors and slammed on the deck. A rapid stream of curses flowing from his mouth, he picked himself up and touched a hand to his nose, which he could feel a slight sting and taste the metallic tang of blood that was now trickling from his nose. Hearing a loud snickering, Damian wheeled around and saw a mother standing with her small child poorly attempting to stifle a laugh as he dabbed the blood away on the sleeve of his uniform. Tapping the door control, the doors finally slid open. Without his combadge, this day was going to get a hell of a lot harder and there wasn't much he could do about. He was now at the mercy of a woman who loved her humor and wouldn't relent unless he surrendered and today, that was not on his agenda.

:OFF