Wild Weekend in Vega - Part One

Posted on Tue Aug 20th, 2024 @ 3:02am by Lieutenant Tequila Dreik & Lieutenant Skot Ryder

The expression on Tiki's face as she entered the hangar bay did nothing at all to hide her unhappiness at the situation she found herself in. The last thing she wanted was to spend the next two days with Skot. Despite the fleeting moment of gentleness he had showed her, his behavior toward her had almost immediately lapsed back to his normal self the very next time she crossed his path, something that made her even more irritable than usual. As she entered the shuttle, she dropped a bag and pushed it under the seat before sliding into the co-pilots chair, almost immediately holding her hand up in a 'stop' motion in his direction. "I really don't want to do small talk, let's just get this over and done with then we can both get on with our lives, okay?"

"Well good morning to you to," Skot half laughed as he handed her one of the cups of coffee he held in his hand. He had yet to fully process what had come over him the last time the two of them were alone together, and the only thing he could think of to get his mind off of it was to go back to business as usual. He sat in his seat, sipped his newest coffee blend and began the shuttles pre-flight checks. Skot could feel the tension in the room and it was starting to annoy him. He quickly turned to face Tiki, "You do know that we ARE going to have to talk to each other right?"

"Yes, we need to communicate, we do NOT need to make small talk and be all buddy buddy..." Tiki sipped the coffee then held it in her hand as she ran through her own share of pre-flight checks. "Are we ready to go?"

"Sure thing," Skot smirked as the shuttle began to lift off of the the landing pad and their journey began. As he finished setting the course to Vega, Skot's "evil grin" grew on his face as he began to scroll through the music library. "I guess I get to have my pick of travel music. We can always come to an agreement on what music to play, but that does go against the no talking rule you've established."

"You are such a child," Tiki shot back. "The sooner we get this over and done with, the sooner we can get back to K17, and move on with our individual lives, ok?"

"Very well," Skot said as he turned back to his console. After a few minutes of complete silence he keyed up his console and brought up the music library. Scrolling through he found what he was looking for, selected the artist and hit play. All of a sudden the compartment was filled with the sound of music.

Tiki cringed as soon as the assault on her eardrums began. She scrambled for the control, trying to subdue the ‘music’ before it caused permanent physical or psychological damage. As the sound stopped suddenly she rounded on him, dark eyes flashing angrily as her gaze bored into him. “What the hell was that?!” She demanded.

Skot burst out into laughter in his seat, "That was Klingon Throat Singing, and you cut it off at the best part." He turned his seat back to the console, "Well since music is out of the question conversation is the only option we've got to fill the void." He sat back in his chair for a moment, "You know for as much as we antagonize each other we've really not gotten to know each other."

“That is by choice Lieutenant,” she replied acerbically. “I am not your best friend, I am not even your friend. Keep your eyes on the stars and let’s get this over and done with, ok? Trust me, I don’t want to be here any more than you do.”

"Oh I'm having a blast I don't know about you. But if that's truly your wish I shall abide." Skot got up, ordered a snack from the replicator and sat back down. Not once looking in her direction or acknowledging her existence.

Tiki remained quiet, leaning back in her seat, stretching her legs out and resting her small feet on the console in front of her. She swept her hair up high on her head with her hands and closed her eyes, a soft sigh escaping as she parted her lips, visibly relaxing.