Sundae Afternoon

Posted on Tue 30th Jan, 2024 @ 6:50pm by Sundae

926 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: O' the Cardiff Rose
Location: Docking Bay 1
Timeline: MD 1

Having left the welcome ceremony for Captain Francis, Sundae made her way to Orchids and Jazz. It was the place with the best cream, and she needed something nice to take her mind from the personal sting in her heart for being called a “mascot” by the new Commanding Officer.

Sundae looked like a regular calico cat, very nice-looking and inconspicuous. She had to be, to accomplish the various missions given to her and her human partner, Gary Thirteen.

Gary had come up with the code name Sundae upon meeting her, and his reason was clever. She had vanilla-white fur, with large splotches of light caramel-brown and deep chocolaty-black, topped off with a tiny cherry-pink nose. Having had ice cream before, Sundae loved the name. The two immediately got along, and their adventures were always interesting. This one, however, was a stumper for them both.

Gary was currently stuck in linear time, for what reason neither Gary nor Sundae knew. The two had previously been assigned to the Praxis Project, an operation that involved destroying a Klingon moon. Their role in it had been routine, and everything seemed to go as planned.

Soon after, as they headed back to headquarters for their evaluation, they'd been diverted to Starbase 109 with no explanation, and no tools to leave. Even Sundae's collar wasn't working properly, though she did have limited mobility. Sundae's only prerogative now was getting them back to headquarters in good time.

Gary had always been the outgoing type. He had a natural ability to make quick friends, and learn which of those friends he could use. He'd been assigned the number thirteen at the beginning. Humans found that number unlucky, which was weird to Sundae because it was the luckiest number for cats. Indeed, she had been very fortunate when assigned to Gary. The two of them were among the best in the field.

Starbase 109 was not a bad place. They'd been in far worse. However, being lost in a place without tools to do things like replicate money, for example, they were stuck living in a tiny room above a noisy casino, and paying it off by tending bar. But while Gary was stuck way down in Brown Sector, Sundae was still free to roam the station. Most people paid no mind to stray cats, and people especially didn't mind when they saw her nice green collar, which amused her.

Orchids and Jazz was booming that evening. Gary discovered the restaurant with Sundae a month ago. She loved this place, and went back as much as she could. Always great atmosphere, with unique people to interact with. This time was no exception.

The lights had dimmed around the restaurant, save for a spotlight washing over the stage, where a band was performing a nice, jazzy groove. The members of the band were all dressed in vibrant silver suits, save for the woman up front, whose violet, sparkling attire, consisting of a form-fitting top and skirt that exposed her ebony naval and reflected the walls with a radiant maroon hue. She held a transparent electric violin under her chin, with neon yellow that danced the perimeter of the instrument as she gripped a dramatic, neon green bow, using it to caress the strings, as if the bow and violin themselves were caught in a sensuous game of arousing innuendo.

All of that was lost on Sundae, since she was a cat, but smelling the pheromones emitted by the audience, she had a pretty good guess the mood that the music evoked. She drank her cream slowly as she watched. All cats love music. Sundae was no exception.

Not wanting to overstay her welcome, she left after the next song and headed down to Brown Sector to Qaraq's Game Room, where Gary was currently having a conversation with the detective, Renato Solis. Sundae absolutely loved the detective. He was intelligent, compassionate, and had a pleasant aroma. He was also the first person on the base to figure out, more or less, who Gary and Sundae were.

She was relieved the giant man, Qaraq, owner of the establishment, was not there. Qaraq had never been mean to Sundae, but he had an imposing presence, and this made her nervous. She also did not socialize much with the giant's assistant, the one called Criswell. As far as she could tell, Criswell had done his part and thus served no further use to her. But Gary still needed Criswell for some further agenda.

Not all agendas were the same, and their successes sometimes depended on the other not knowing about it. This was why it was always a human assigned to a cat or dog. Close as they may become, their means of communication remained entirely different. Cats and dogs developed telepathy early in their evolution, while the early humans took the laborious other way of speaking to talk to each other. This completely hampered the way the species communicated. In ten thousand years, the most they learned from each other was how to sit, shake, and pee outside.

Seeing as that, Sundae stretched out on the counter and let out a yawn. She had done what she needed to do, at least for now. Feeling accomplished, with a full stomach, she decided it was nap time. Gary picked her up and set her gently in his lap, having subconsciously received the telepathic command to do so. As he pet her, she purred with content, and as she drifted into sleep she wondered what she was going to do yesterday.

 

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