Friendly Rivalry

Posted on Sunday August 26th, 2018 @ 21:59 hours by Alexandria Farron & Mayterial Droz
Edited on on Sunday August 26th, 2018 @ 22:39 hours

Mission: Smugglers Need Not Apply
Location: Stardust Lounge, Starbase 72
Timeline: MD02 - 23:30 hours
2200 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Most of the crowd in the lounge was not paying any attention to what was going on on the big screen in the corner of the room. There were a few that absentmindedly glanced there every once in a while when the cheers or boos from that corner caught their attention. For Mayterial it was somewhat of an odd hobby, she picked it up while incarcerated, one of the few luxuries allowed were the Zero-G Football games. It wasn't long before she was taught to be a fan for the Mars Rovers, and it stuck. If she had the chance, like in a lounge such as this, to catch a Rovers game she would take it. Leaning back in the chair to comfortably being able to view the screen she lazily sipped her drink. "Oh Come On!" She suddenly burst out when the play was whistled dead due to a perceived foul by the referee. "That was clean!"

The woman seated next to May did not appear to be as interested in the game, but she was also watching. And she looked annoyed at the Betazoid, who was swiveling about and leaning back in her barstool chair, trying to find the best view while blocking someone else's. Plus she was being really loud... and had a questionable grasp on proper rulings.

"Clean is relative." Alexandria said, from her stool chair next to May's. "When your team plays on the dirtiest planet in the league." Even after being partially terraformed, Mars' reputation for dust was legendary. The Rovers were a bunch of thugs, and they got away with everything at home because the dust clouded a proper review. Alexandria hadn't really wanted to start a discussion, but some people just had to be put right, even if it came at the cost of some unwanted attention.

Sipping on a tall glass of what appeared to be chocolate milk with a straw, Alexandria looked like your everyday frontier sports-bar patron. Her eyes were hidden behind thick dark sunglasses, and her unruly mane of charcoal hair was poorly stowed under a slouching beanie cap, with most of it spilling down her back and shoulders. Her allegiance was obvious, given her shirt, a purple Venus Valkyries tee that looked like it ought to be retired by its fraying edges and the fact that it really no longer fit. The sporty black long-sleeve compression shirt she wore under looked to be a necessary addition to even slip the thing on. The olive-drab jumpsuit top she had tied around her waist looked like it fit little better, the way the bottom half showed off her legs. Anyone who actually worked for a living would probably see that while Alexandria looked like she might blend in, she'd clearly had yet work a day in her life in those coveralls.

Mayterial turned to look at the person next to her. She had spotted the Valkyrie purple but hadn't thought much of it. The person had been quiet so far except for a few grunts and gasps here and there. "Really? You're going there? Your team was renamed after four of the toughest bitches in the history of the league. They were nowhere near clean!" She took a big swig of the pinkish drink in front of her to give her a moment to observe the woman and take in everything before adding "What do you know anyway, you've never had a speck of dirt on you by the looks of it."

Alexandria looked at the other woman as if she were insane. Most of the effect was lost on the fact that her obnoxious sunglasses hid most of her expression. "Lady you ever try stepping foot outside on Venus? Never even saw dirt until I was sixteen years old. Can't say it has many redeeming qualities, unless you're trying to grow something in it. I know clean. And he ain't it." She pointed to the screen for emphasis, using the improper contraction, as if it were a rite of passage to pass for frontier folk.

"Number 46, unnecessary roughness." Alexandria said aloud, which the referee repeated in an officious tone a moment later on-screen. "That's the 131st flag pulled on him since he started playing in the league. Eighty-four of them for unnecessary roughness. He averages twenty-one of those a season, and just under two a game. Not counting his other forty-seven penalties, and of course all the times he didn't get caught." Alexandria took another sip of chocolate milk through her straw, daring her neighbor to contest those numbers. That was the downside to having a photographic memory. She had the habit of spouting numbers and facts in a way that made half the galaxy want to slap her. And the other half want to use her for personal gain.

"Ha!" Mayterial could appreciate an aficionado of the sport. She finished her drink and motioned the bartender to give her two more. It took a moment for the man to fill two glasses with the juice and put them in front of her. She slid one over to the younger woman. "You've actually been to Venus? What was the population there again? Ten?" She then turned to the screen and pointed, "Number 46 is an absolute legend and they have to throw the flags because of his reputation." She took a sip and leaned towards the blonde. "Plus, be honest, is there truly such a thing as unnecessary roughness in Zero-G?"

Alexandria looked at the drink suspiciously. If it contained alcohol she wouldn't be keen on drinking it. After having multiple organ transplants by twenty, she'd become very cautious about what she put into her body, and alcohol was fairly high on the watch list. She carefully tugged the glass closer and dipped the tip of her pinky finger in, tasting a droplet tentatively. She seemed pleased to find that it was juice, as she slide the glass closer and took a sip. "I was born there. I think the full-time resident population just broke triple digits."

Considering why the conversation was taking place, and the motives behind the offered drink, Alexandria took off her sunglasses, as if to appraise her with her own eyes. They were a bright blue, which seemed to contradict some Asian heritage. She gestured with the glasses as she spoke, accidentally tapping on May's arm with an earpiece stem. "Before we go further... I must tell you. I do already have a wife. For the moment, anyway."

"I'm not looking for a spouse, I'm looking for a crew." Mayterial immediately retorted, wanting to take away any doubt about that. She had mixed the two before and it hadn't ended well for her. "Have any skills more useful than remembering how man flags my man Christensen drew?"

Wow. Alexandria thought. The other woman hadn't even blinked. She half-expected at least a blush at being called out in such a way, but then again... Alexandria was only aware of how such conversations went in the vids. She didn't even really have a marriage. Not a real one, anyway. Just a fake one on a computer file somewhere. But then again, it hadn't been about that in the first place. With her first pass way off the mark, Alexandria didn't do much better with her second.

"Crew? You want me to play football for you?" Alexandria said with incredulity, after very nearly choking on her drink. "Look I'm really flattered, but I don't play football. I just like to watch the players in tight pants." It was pretty embarrassing to admit, but that was the truth. She only knew as much as she did about the game because her memory allowed her to recall the statistics, and just about everything the commentators said. Her father had tried to take her to a game or two as a kid, but she couldn't deal with the people and wide open stadiums.

"Haha, yeah I'm looking to buy a franchise in the League." Mayterial shook her head, this woman seemed to be out of touch with reality. It was in the way she dressed, the way she moved, even in the way she drank. "No. I have a freighter in the dock. I'm looking for able bodies to get us back out in the shipping lanes." She turned and look back at the screen, shaking her head at another failed drive for the Rovers, this season wasn't turning out so well for them. She turned back to the young woman, "Promises of stars and adventures and all that."

Alexandria looked at the other woman for a moment, not really appraising her, just trying to figure a couple things out. Who did their hiring out a sports bar? For all this freighter captain knew, she could be some halfwit criminal on the run. That wasn't exactly an inaccurate description, by the way Alexandria was feeling about herself at that moment. She wasn't exactly a criminal, but she had been asked to leave Starfleet. And though she might have the memory recall of a black hole--nothing ever escaped--she wasn't exactly the brightest star in the sky when it came to things like planning for success.

"I'm not just some... able body, you know, who picks things up and moves them for a living. I have a class six pilot's license, and I'm a member in good standing with the Navigator's Guild." Alexandria was also a former starfighter pilot, and a combat veteran, but those attributes weren't always as marketable, depending on who one was speaking to. The class six pilot's license meant she was qualified to operate virtually anything capable of traveling the stars... any ship design that was a relatively common sight in Federation space, anyway. And the Navigator's Guild was an invite-only institution. They only shared their star charts with those who were deemed responsible. She'd received her invitation after finishing out her first year in Starfleet in good standing.

As if finished with her decision, Alexandria made a show of packing up to leave, as if doing so might prompt the other woman into making a better offer. She folded her sunglasses and tucked one of the stems under her shirt collar. "I'm not uninterested in your proposals, Captain...?" She paused, realizing she didn't even know the woman's name. "But I will need more to work with here than lines off a recruiting poster over sips of fruit juice." Alexandria was a professional. She might be a fool, but this was hardly the time and place to dive into a contract. She tugged at her jumpsuit top, undoing the sleeves loosely knotted around her waist, and made a show of slipping the top half of the garment onto her torso. An awkward show. She tried to hide the fact that she pretty much had to take a deep breath before zipping the thing up.

Mayterial wondered if she should pursue this, then again a guild associated navigator would be an amazing asset to the Fawkes. She put out a hand as a manner of introduction. "Mayterial Droz, S.S. Fawkes." She gave a warm smile towards the other woman. "And you're in luck, we're still in the market for a Navigator. I'll even let you wear that awful purple assault to my senses." She gave a nod at the Valkyries jersey. "Swing by tomorrow and we'll do a proper talk, I'll show you around the ship, you show me your credentials, I show you mine." Another smile, this time a bit more devious at the accidental entendre. "I'll even get you more juice." She finished with a wink.

Alexandria regarded May's offered hand with obvious hesitation, but there was little she could do about such well-established social mores. She simply had to grit her teeth and deal, or risk being labelled as more of a strange fellow than she already was. She took the offered hand, and shook with all the vigour of a wet noodle. But at least the awkward handshake was timed right after the insult to her attire, so perhaps there was seeming just cause.

"Alexandria Farron." The former starfighter pilot replied, totally missing the entendre. The wink was hard to miss though. She couldn't imagine what that was for, and her mind got hung up calculating a reason where there more than likely was none. "I will see you... tomorrow." Alexandria said, obviously distracted by the wink. She was half tempted to say she was prepared for a proper talk that day, but she realised the Captain may have some things to tidy up for her tour first. Alexandria did like to know what exactly she was getting into. She didn't like surprises. But she would also be the first to admit that some things were just better off left unsaid, unseen, or unknown.

After the hand shake Mayterial felt like washing her hand, and she was never one to shy away from physical contact. This one was going to need a lot of work. "A pleasure to meet you, Alexandria. See you tomorrow."

OFF

Mayterial Droz
Captain
S.S. Fawkes

&

Alexandria Farron
Fake Yoga Hipster
Unemployed

...

"Sports do not build character, they reveal it"