Girls' Night Out
Posted on Tue 15th Mar, 2022 @ 6:08am by Crewman Eslin Briga & Petty Officer 2nd Class Shayla Benet & Crewman Catherine O'Rielly & Crewman Recruit CJ Pendleton
961 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: A Good Day to Hunt
CJ was counting down the minutes until quitting time. Her shift ended right at 1600 hours and it seemed like the day had gone on forever. She kept looking up at the chronometer on the wall and the minutes seemed to change so slowly. She thought to herself and wondered if the station had been caught in some type of time distortion where she was in real-time and the rest of the station had slowed down. Finally, the time had come and she was out the door like a rabbit.
In the lowest auxiliary infirmary on the station, Eslin Briga stood in the supply room, running a laser scanner over barcode after barcode on carton after carton of hypospray ampules containing splenojakinamib to treat ... What was it, this time? She paused to read the label: Rigellian polycythemia. Because we are so freaking close to Rigel that, obviously, mobs of tourists from there might come here without their meds and desperately need our ton of supplies. Thank God I'm on the last case of them! A short while later she transferred the last carton to a supply cabinet, locked the cabinet, and broke down the case for recycling. She massaged her lower spine and yawned as she slid the flattened case into the recycler and waited for it to hum. End of the week, at last! Here I come!
Catherine O'Rielly, currently the crewman assigned to Armory substation C4, was bent over a partly assembled phaser as she finished a minor repair. Each Armory had to be manned because leaving weapons unattended was a bad idea. However, when one was supposed to man one of the least used, well, it did not make for interesting times. Though, to be fair, Security didn't want excitement, but it might be nice to see another person once in awhile. She straightened and stretched before testing the connections and securing the weapon. Just then the door chime rang and she checked the camera, "Crewman Smyth. ID 45A Regal," a security man said in a bored tone. Catherine opened the door, "All yours. Reports on the desk. And there's several books on the PADD."
He replied, "Hope it's more spy stuff; I could not get into that medieval crap."
"It's not crap," she replied, heading for the door, "Robin Hood tis a classic, boyo. You don't like, bring your own," ahe joked. He gave a short bark of laughter, heading for the desk as she headed off to freedom.
In Stellar Cartography, Shayla'd spent the last four hours doing minute tweaks on a 3D map. A spatial anomaly had altered the rotation of the outer planet and now the entire sector needed to be remapped. It was tedious work and needed minute changes, but she was pleased to find it done. She looked at the chronometer. Almost time to leave. And she had the next two days off with nothing to do. Going to one of the clubs might be fun, but she needed a shower--and wear something besides her uniform--to make her feel human again.
Eslin saw Catherine as she approached the other woman at the lift platform. "Hi!" she said. "Good to see you here. Got anything fun planned for the weekend?"
Catherine turned and smiled at her friend, holding the lift until the other had entered, and shrugged with another smile, "Plans not as such got as far as going out and not working but that's about it. You?"
"Thanks," Eslin said as she stepped into the lift with Catherine. "Same thing. I want to go out and do something, but I don't know what. I want to eat out, at the very least. After a week of work, I don't want to cook, but I don't want to eat replicator stuff, either."
She told the computer where they needed to go then, "That sounds brilliant. Hows about we change and meet up? Could pass the word and make a group of it?"
"Sure!" Eslin said. "I'll see if I can drag Emmie away from her technical manuals. She's got some big ship outfitting project she's working on. It's consumed her brain for the past week. I've barely seen her."
"I think we need this." Catherine replied and gave the computer their destinations, "Even if we have to bring a bucket for Emmie's brain, we all need to step away. Let's gather who we can and meet at The Usual Place about 1800?" she asked, "Or do we want to try someplace new?"
"The Usual at 1800 sounds good," Eslin said. "That'll give me time to shower and lie down for a bit before we meet up." She tapped her combadge. "Briga to Walker. Come in, please," Eslin said in her most brisk, officer-like voice, in hopes that it would get Emmie's attention.
Nothing met her ears but silence. Eslin sighed. "Either she's dead-dog asleep and doesn't want company, or she's out working on the ship. Do you think CJ and Shayla might want to join us?"
Catherine nodded, "More the merrier, and I know for a fact they could use it." The lift stopped.
A couple more people got on. "Hey, CJ," Eslin said, "we were just talking about you. Do you want to meet for dinner about 1800? Either The Usual Place or somewhere else?"
"That sounds like fun and it gives me enough time to wind down and make myself presentable." CJ grinned mischievously. She was worn down and a nice sonic shower was the prefect pick-me-up."
"Marvelous! We'll see each other in a couple of hours, then," Eslin said as the lift stopped at her and Emmie's deck.
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