Day Dreams & Malted Milk

Posted on May 11, 2017 @ 12:45pm by Ensign Lynette Ryan
Edited on on May 11, 2017 @ 12:46pm

Mission: In Place of God

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“DAY DREAMS & MALTED MILK"

(Continued from Tiffany's "The Depth of Colors"

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Location: USS Phoenix

Stardate: 2.17.1205.0031

Scene: The Vulgar Tribble

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The Vulgar Tribble, often spoken to be the one and only place to unwind aboard ship, was a hive of activity as crew gathered around tables laughing and conversing over drinks and meals together. Enjoying the companion and camaraderie-ship after a long work shift. A positive aura encompassed the whole lounge of the Phoenix, except for one small corner where a young engineer sat at a small table in the corner far away from the clutches of that positive atmosphere.

Lynette eyes stared down into the half full mug that contained her Milo, a malted milk drink she thoroughly enjoyed as a child and that helped to calm her frayed nerves. The young engineer, both mentally and physically exhausted, watched the ripples that formed and dissipated as she turned the mug in place upon the table.

It had been a long day, the swirling colors and endless sprawls of analytical data continued to inhabit her fore-thoughts long after she had finished her shift. Her brain matter felt like it had started to dissolve into a pile of goo and if she didn’t keep her head balanced and level that would it start to seep out of her ears.

*What a helluva day or two* Lynette thought continuing to play with the mug in her hands. Ever since the incident at the Point Bonita, that fateful day, she had felt herself sliding down a slippery slope that seemed to have no bottom. Nightmares still plagued her sleep, giving her only about 3-4 hours every night and thus as a consequence caused her to be late for work on more than one occasion. This unfortunately spouted the wrath of her boss and in a heated argument he had put her to manual labor re-aligning the nacelle plasma regulators. It was mundane task as it were but to add insult to injury he had demanded that she crawled and climbed her way throughout the ship to each nacelle. Her punishment for standing up to her ass-hat of a commanding officer.

The reasoning from Malin Argo was that she did not meet his expectations in light of her engineering skills and abilities and did not conform to his style of leadership. With anger having consumed her she performed the task she had been given, to show him, to prove to him that she was not going to be intimidated. Lynette wouldn’t be surprised if he had gone straight to the Captain and asked for her to be booted off the ship. He probably did, but there was not really anything they could do while in deep space. Though the thought of being flushed out an airlock did come to mind.

After spending nearly a full day crawling through Jefferies Tubes and climbing up and down access shafts, she had aligned the regulators. Thoroughly exhausted both mentally and physically, she returned to her ass of a boss to report in. Lynette remembered that encounter quite vividly.

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Scene: Main Engineering

Time Index: Previous Day

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Lynette’s appearance in engineering caused a surprising reaction in some of her colleagues as she walked across the floor. Some gasped in shock while others stared at her, watching her every step. The reactions were like that of an undead monster, a zombie, like from those old 20th century horror films that her uncle enjoyed watching. Her hair was a disheveled mess, the collar and underarms of her uniform had visually apparent stains of sweat and her face was a bright red from enduring physical activity as if she had just finished a tri-athalon.

Lynette heard the gasps and felt the eyes watching her, but she pressed on towards the office of the Chief Engineer. A sense of fiery determination in her eyes and in her step as entered the confines of his office. Malin Argo was seated behind his desk, numerous Engineering PADD’s were scattered upon its surface. One of them held in his hand and that had gained his full attention which was only broken by the sudden presence of one of his engineering staff that had stopped abruptly before him.

“Plasma regulators aligned, sir.” Lynette said with a booming voice filled with formality akin to that of being before a marine drill sergeant. Her body straight and rigid, chin held high with a mocking display.

“Ensign! There is no call for you to sneak up and scare me like that.” Malin-Argo snapped back startled.

“Visual inspection of Jefferies Tubes also completed, sir.” Lynette continued rigid, formal, her voice still booming. Malin-Argo stood up abruptly from his desk picking up on the vibe of mockery from the upstart of an Ensign before him. The expression on the Grazzerites face was one of pure discontent as he stood over Lynette.

“I am not amused by your tone, Ensign. I would suggest you cease it immediately.” Malin-Argo stated.

“Sir.” Lynette so much wanted to keep up her wall of defiance and shield of stubborness but after a grueling day it was hard to keep up that appearance. Her muscles ached and she felt the sweat that soaked through her uniform causing her skin to itch. There was no point fueling the flames further and re-igniting another argument.

Lynette watched as the expression on the Grazzerite’s face softened and a smile began to form on his lips. This was the moment where the young woman felt a shiver run along her spine and it creeped her out.

“I have been monitoring the progress of your work and... I am satisfied by your results. That is why I am relieving you of your standard duties and assigning you to a special project.” The Phoenix’s Chief Engineer explained still embracing that smile which continued to give Lynette that creepy feeling.

“May I ask what this special project is, sir?”

“The Phoenix has picked up a series of signal pulses being transmitted from within a micro-wormhole. Each pulse containing packets of anomalous data.”

“I want you to assist the team with help in analysing the data that comes through” Lynette didn’t think that the creepy factor could rise any further but it did as Malin-Argo was actually...being pleasant. It had to be a trap.

*Oh great. Data Analysis. How much more boring could this get.* Lynette’s eyes rolled on the inside. She knew very well that this ‘nice-nice’ composure was a ruse and that he just wanted to inflict further punishment upon her. Data Analysis wasn’t one of Lynette’s strong suits as she preferred to get her hands dirty with more physical work. Though she had seen enough regulators and jefferies tubes today to last her awhile.

“You will join Lieutenants Von and Staavik in analysing any technical data that comes through.”

“Report to them at 0700 hours tomorrow. Dismissed.” Malin-Argo finished as he sat back down in his seat and returned to the Engineering PADD that had caught his fascination before.

“Yes, sir” Lynette said softly, her fatigue clearly able to be heard within her words, her defensive will diminishing. She turned and began to walk from his office wishing that she could simply immerse her aching body into a nice hot relaxing bath instead of the bland and uninspiring confines of a sonic shower.

“And Ensign. Don’t be late.” Malin-Argo added and Lynette’s tired brain couldn’t even come up with a rebuttal to snap back with. She continued walking even though that remark struck a nerve. The engineer continued to walk out of his office.

Lynette retraced her path from when she had entered Engineering before, still getting looks from her colleagues as she made her way to the exit.

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Scene: The Vulgar Tribble

Time Index: Back to Present

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“Hey.” Lynette was slightly startled by the voice that seemed to break her from her moment of day-dreaming. She didn’t know how long she must have been staring off into space as she now looked upon the face of the Vulgar Tribble’s proprietor, Iphie, with tired eyes.

“You alright there, Blue?” Iphie asked as she collected the empty mug from the table, her pig-tails swinging before the tired engineer’s view. Lynette didn’t even react to Iphie’s question or pig-tails as she almost returned to her spacing out state.

“Can I get you another...what do you call it?”

“Milo.” Lynette responded this time but in a drab, single word exhaustive tone.

“I think you need more like a couple of Raktajinos there Blue.” Iphie commented as she watched Lynette imagining her slumped across the table, fast asleep and snoring.

“Ewww. Can’t stand the taste of them or Coffee.” Lynette’s body shuddered at the very thought of a Raktajino or Coffee. Her mum and uncle absolutely adored Coffee and frankly couldn’t even survive a morning without it but she despised the taste and preferred to start the day with a glass of Orange Juice instead.

“Wow. I doubt half of this ship would function without some sort of caffiene flowing through their veins.” Iphie remarked as most of her business came from serving out coffee, raktajino and other assorted kickstart beverages. She had the ingredients to make the real deal and not the sub-standard stuff that came out of a replicator. Real coffee for those starting their shifts, real booze for those wanting to loosen up and unwind after their shifts and synthehol for the unenlightened and unadventurous.

“I manage.”

“Whatever you say, Blue.”

“Why do you keep calling me Blue?” Lynette hadn’t really been much in the way of engagement in the conversation at this point until she was called Blue for the third time. Which kind of seemed strange considering the intrinsic Bolian trait of their blue skin color even though Iphie shared features of both Bolian and Human.

“You look like you’re feeling down...so blue.” Lynette nodded slightly acknowledging Iphie’s point in those few words. Looking at herself with others eyes, she probably did look perhaps a little depressed but it was more physical fatigue and mental exhaustion after a long grueling day that was causing this.

“So...Do you want to talk about it?” Iphie asked the question synonymous with bartenders of ages past. Hoping to bring a smile to the face of depressed figure that was causing a dark shadow to the positive and vibrant air of the room.

“Not really.” Lynette responded. *Nope, not falling for that one* There was only a select few that she trusted in opening up her feelings to and it took alot for that to happen. Sophia was a recent exception to that case as she had witnessed first-hand her at her worst but had been very supportive in her reaction to it. Of course secondly, Sophia was her room-mate so she did have to at least imply some trust there.

The last thing she wanted was to be psycho-analysed by a psychiatrist let alone a bartender. She had so far managed to avoid finding herself on ‘the couch’ as it were and telling the ship’s counsellor her life story and asked questions like if her parents had mistreated her as a child. She was in no mood for her mind to be torn apart piece by piece and inundated with psycho babble bullshit.

“Okey Dokey Blue. I’ll have another out to you shortly.” Iphie said with her usual quirky and cheerful demeanor as she walked away her blonde pig-tails seemed to slice through through the air as she turned.

*Finally* Lynette thought glad to be to be left alone again with her solitary thoughts and to day-dream for a bit longer before she retired to her bed. The first thought once again was her body immersed in a nice hot bath underneath mountains of foamy bubbles listening to calming, serene music. Her thoughts now drove her tired and over-worked brain to slight eroticism as she now imagined a man with a strong and well-built stature slipping into the waters with her. A smile of excitement appeared on Lynette’s face as her thoughts carried her day-dream further.

“Evening Lynette. I hope I am not interrupting.” Once again Lynette was startled by a voice that broke her away from her pleasant fantasy and she looked up to see Eve Dalziel standing before her table.

*Oh no.* Lynette now began to panic as she began to feel like an animal trapped and cornered and Eve was the hunter.

“Asta mentioned to me that I might find you here.” Eve smiled at her.

*Dammit Asta. Tomorrow I’m going to have to kick your ass for this*

“May I sit?” Eve asked gesturing to the empty chair opposite Lynette.

“Ummm..I’m sorry. I was just about to head off back to my quart....” The young engineer, the cornered animal, began to rise from her seat in a hurry. A slight panic displayed on her face that she tried to keep hidden, but to no avail.

“Ensign, sit. Do I need to make it an order?” Eve was forced to take an authoritative tone and pull rank to get Lynette to stop. She was fully aware from her psychological profile of numerous attempts to avoid any form of psychological review or testing. Lynette Ryan...well was a mess which Eve understood from the trauma that she had experienced from Point Bonita during the final day of Richard Edgerton’s regime. Her entire life and her love had been shattered all in that day and she had continued to carry the pain and trauma with her to this day, bottling it up, which later on would end up being disastrous.

*Oh crap. Here it comes* Lynette thought as she slowly sat back down in her seat and waited for it start. The trapped animal about to be put down by its prey.



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NRPG: I want to apologise to all of you for my lack of posting. I have been having a really rough time with RL issues at the moment and haven't had the focus or clarity in getting a post done.



This post is several attempts of several days to try and get at least something done. Apologies if it doesn't have anything to do with the mission.



Also hoped that I gave Iphie some justice in writing for her and now Lynette has a nickname.

TAG: Susan if you want to start applying some therapy to Lynette.

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Phillip Wright

Writing for

A physically & mentally exhausted Lynette Ryan