Mess Hall - Day 15 - Open

[transwarp_beam]

[AKA the Let's Commiserate Over Stupid Shit We Did While Spored post]

Three days: only three days ago the first team had beamed down onto Bacchus II. It felt like bloody months. And now it was finally over

Comments

[crankychef]

Tony was awoken from his slumber in the storage closet laughingly called the "office" by gentle murmurs from the mess. Well, if there wasn't screaming, maybe they had survived without blowing u the ship after all.

He walked over to the serving station that jutted out into the mess. If Tony had been born a few hundred years earlier, he'd remark how it looked a bit like a school lunch counter.

Ahh, just the man he'd wanted to see, Scotty. Tony picked up a roll from the bowl that was kept on the top of the serving stations. Eventually, they were gonna run out of this kinda stuff if the guy in question didn't get people in there to fix his damn kitchen.

He threw it at the head engineer and simply called out "Yo, Scotty."

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty turned at the sound of his name just in time to see something flying at his head - on instinct he caught it and immediately winced, carefully lowering his hand again. He transferred the flying roll to his other hand and took a bite, munching thoughtfully. Not bad.

He set the roll aside and reached for the bottle again. "Aye, what?" he said, taking a long drink.

[crankychef]

"When ya gonna get your crew in here to fix my kitchen?"

Tony grabbed a roll for himself and vaulted over a counter. He didn't bother to go around into the kitchen and back out the access door. Too much walking.

The chef plopped his unshaven, tired ass in the chair across from Scotty and took a swing from the Scotsman's bottle of hootch.

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty retrieved the bottle and tossed back a good half of what was left. Leaning back in his chair, he slid the bottle back across the table to Tony and tapped his chin in mock thoughtfulness. "Asking," he said eventually, "Askin' woulda been a good first step. What's wrong wi' your kitchen?"

[crankychef]

"Damn, him, I'm gonna kill that kid. Looks like I'll be putting in my own work orders from now on."

He took another good swig, and left just enough for Scotty. It was never nice to finish off some other guys booze.

"The fuckers in spacedock, I think they got goddamn monkeys to install the machinery. Half of it isn't wired up right, I turned on two of my stoves and almost blew a fuse. The refrigeration unit is fucked up. Not to mention, most of it isn't tied down right."

He glared at the Scott. "You work with big heavy shit that can squash you like a bug, I think you understand why I'm not letting any of my guys in there until it's at least tied down according to regs. Which, really isn't good enough but I'll take that at least."

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty groaned. "'Kin'ell, why does nobody tell me these things?" He drained the last of his drink, only to produce another full bottle from somewhere. "Think that's bad, y'should see what they did to bloody life support." No, scratch that. No-one should have to see the mess life support was in. He'd pay good money not to have seen it himself. He'd pay even more not to be responsible for fixing it.

He pinched the bridge of his nose wearily and cracked open the new bottle; he was still painfully sober. "I'll get some people on it. Not right now, but soon. Fuck me..." He grinned, sharp-edged and slightly...off. It wasn't a pleasant expression. "Fuck me, it's been a hell of a night."

[crankychef]

"Well, since I'm still breathing I'll toast to the fact that you've got it fixed." he took the bottle after Scotty was done with it and took a good swig himself.

"One hell of a night, I'll drink to that too." he took another swig and handed it back to Scotty. "I had to bail McCoy out of his own doddamn sickbay last night. I was fondled more times in that half hour than a 20th century choir boy in a Catholic church."

[transwarp_beam]

"Aye, I'll drink to that an' all," Scotty said, glaring darkly into the bottle before taking a drink in a manner which suggested that the alcohol therein had personally offended him. "Nothin' like bein' one'a the only sober ones when the rest'a the crew's out their heads, eh?" Fuck, he needed more to drink. He needed to obliterate the previous night from his memory completely.

[crankychef]

"God, tell me about it. I think I might just look up the guy I used to use as the designated driver in college and send him something odd from out here." he took the bottle back and took another drink, "If I was even half as bad as the guys last night? He deserves it."

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty grinned mirthlessly and held out a hand for the bottle. "Aye, well trust me - you were nothin' like as bad as the company I was keepin' last night."

[crankychef]

He snorted, "Sickbay? Was demented, that's all I'm going to say. I should have just put the sandwiches at the door and pulled a ring and run like some sort of demented 9 year old."

[transwarp_beam]

"I can imagine," Scotty said, taking a long drink. He wiped his mouth carelessly on the back of his hand, catching a stray trickle of alcohol. "Got pretty bad down in engineering too." Mr. Scott, we'd like to present you with this Understatement of the Year Award. "In fact I've no' encountered a a more appropriate time to use the word 'clusterfuck'."

[crankychef]

Tony started laughing pretty hard at that statement. "Clusterfuck, you're right, that's what this whole thing was."

When his chuckles has subsided he continued with the slight game of one-up-mansship they'd been playing. "Doctor McCoy and I? Ended up running full bore down the corridors while being chased by 5 very amorous crew. We finally hid in the diplomatic kitchen. Which, coincidentally," he held up his right pointer finger in a gesture of, well, making a point. "The monkey's in space dock didn't fuck up. Which, says something about Starfleet's priorities does it not?"

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty laughed, an oddly brittle sound. Someone who knew him well would have wondering what the hell was going on by now. "Aye, that it does." He took another drink and cocked his head contemplatively. The question was, just how much was he willing to share in this little pissing contest?

Eh, fuck it. He gestured to himself with the bottle; "You mighta noticed I'm no' a big guy," he said conversationally, "Matter'a fact, it was brought home to me last night that mosta my engineers are bigger than me. 'Specially the male ones. An' let me tell you, when every fuckin' one of them seems to be Spored? Doesn't make for fun times. I spent half the night getting the shit kicked outta me and mosta the rest running like hell."

[crankychef]

Awkward. Quick cover with a joke.

"So, it was like high school all over again then?"

[transwarp_beam]

"Better'n high school," Scotty replied cheerfully, willing to go along with the joke, "Learned to handle a lead pipe since then."