Girl's Night Out

Posted on Mon 14th Jan, 2019 @ 7:58pm by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington & Commander Mikaela Locke & Major Haley Sawyer

1,081 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: 'The Red-Shirt Lounge'
Timeline: MD 15, 2030

Wellington settled down at a table at one of Starfleet's bars. Brooklyn often found that many people chose the civilian bars and restaurants, so at the moment it wasn't nearly as full as it would had they been aboard a starship. A waitress came over to her table.

'What can I get you, Colonel?" the young blonde human woman asked.

"Sumarian Sunrise, please. Thank you," Wellington replied.

"Ooh," Haley Sawyer said, suddenly appearing at the side of the waitress, "I didn't realise it was going to be that kind of night. I'll have the same," she added to the waitress. She took a seat opposite Wellington, as the waitress nodded and headed off towards the bar. "So," she asked, a little more measured, "how are things down on the flight decks?"

"Busy to say the least," Wellington admitted with a grin. "These reports of cloaked pirate vessels have been a pain. I hope we get to the bottom of it soon. How are your Marines coming along?"

"There's a lot of uncertainty," Sawyer admitted. "As you know, there's this massive restructure going on. We've got a new colonel on the way, who, from what I can tell, is going to take..." she paused, conscious that speaking ill of her new commanding officer before he even arrived would not be the smartest move - even if it was to a friend. "Is going to take us in a new direction," she finally concluded, deciding to omit the part where that 'new direction' would be significantly more regimented than it had been previously - even by marine standards.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about work this evening," a new voice chimed in. They both turned to see Mikaela Locke standing at the end of the table.

Wellington stood with a grin. "Commander, have a seat. And for the record, she started it," Wellington joked, jabbing a thumb in Haley’s direction.

Sawyer rolled her eyes and shook her head jokingly as she moved up to allow Locke slide in beside her. “So, what are we allowed to talk about then?”

"Pretty much anything else," Mikaela replied, taking her seat and indicating to the waitress that she was ready to order as well. "Boys... Girls... Hobbies... Whatever it is that we do with our lives when we're not being soldiers and scientists and spies."

"That doesn't leave a lot," Sawyer observed, slightly regretfully.

"I guess not." Mikaela replied, suddenly less upbeat.

The waitress returned to the table with two Sumarian Sunrises for Wellington and Sawyer and hurried off back towards the bar as Mikaela ordered a third one for herself.

"Well when I do have time to myself, I usually spend it either working out or on the holosuite," Wellington commented, trying to change the subject. The old Earth saying: 'It's lonely at the top was very true.' "I love old Earth Western."

"Not so much the western aspect," Mikaela said, "But when I lived on Earth, I loved getting the chance to take Honey out."

"Honey?" Haley asked.

"My horse," Mikaela clarified, "My mum owned a stable, just over the back of our house. I used to spend hours riding her - just with my own thoughts." She paused, lost in her own memory for a moment. "I don't know about you," she added quickly to Wellington, coming back to the present, "But I find riding on the holosuite never feels quite the same as the real thing."

"Nothing ever does," Wellington admitted. "What about you, Haley?

"A bit like you, I guess," Sawyer answered, turning back to Brooklyn. "I'm often in the gym or the holosuite. I practice martial art forms quite a bit," she continued, "They're useful, but not really required as a marine, but I like the spiritual discipline aspect of it." She took a sip of her drink. "Helps keep me centered. Focused."

"Speaking of being focused," Mikaela added cautiously as she turned back to Wellington, "How's the recovery going?"

Brooklyn sighed. "It's going," she managed to chuckle. "Rehab's a bitch. So how are things between you and Paul?"

Mikaela paused for a second, as she summed up whether to poke fun at Wellington for immediately changing the subject. She quickly decided not to. While she knew from her own experience that rehab was indeed a bitch, she also knew that talking about it with others could be incredibly useful. But that was not her job - that was Paul's job. Tonight, she was here to be Brooklyn's friend and, if she didn't want to talk, then, tonight at least, they wouldn't talk about it. Instead, it seemed, they were going to talk about Paul.

"Oooh yes," Haley Sawyer suddenly chimed in with the enthusiasm of a giddy school girl, "What is going on with you two?"

"Alright, calm down," Mikaela chided gently, "The very boring truth is that we haven't seen that much of each other recently." She took a huge swig of her drink. "As far as I know," she continued, "everything is fine, but between me being off-station for a while and the counselling department being short-staffed, there's not been as much time for anything to really develop."

"And you're spending time with us instead of him? I'm flattered," Brooklyn chuckled lightly. She turned to Hayley with a smile. "You're next," she pointed with a tease before taking a sip of her drink.

Haley laughed, "You've got to be kidding," she replied, "There is no one on this station that is of any interest to me at all."

"Really? You met all...what? One-Hundred and eighty thousand people on the station?" Wellington pushed.

"Well, of course not," Haley replied flatly.

"Then how do you know there's nobody?" Mikaela interrupted, joining in on the gentle ribbing.

"I don't know," Haley replied, "I guess I'm just not really looking for a relationship at the moment."

"That always seems to be the time when you do find someone," Wellington continued.

Mikaela smiled at Haley knowingly, before raising her glass. "To unexpected encounters," she said with a grin.

Determined for her love-life not to be the centre of attention any longer than it had to be, Haley took her own glass and raised it in the direction of Brooklyn. "To health and happiness," she offered.

The three friends talked, laughed and drank long in to the night and, at least for a little while, allowed their respective weights to fall from their shoulders.

 

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