A Stroll on High Street

Posted on Sun May 14th, 2023 @ 10:40pm by Captain Aloysius Grayson & Lieutenant Commander Rachel Lax & Cadet Senior Grade Caitlin Dimytrik

1,580 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Kriresian Gambit
Location: Starbase 234: Bazaar
Timeline: MD -1 1600

[ Starbase 234 ]
[ Bazaar ]
[ MD -1 1600 ]

Captain Aloysius Grayson wanders through the outdoor bazaar similar to twenty-first-century England Highstreets. In the backdrop were skyscrapers that reached extreme heights into the skies above with some dome-like buildings that were Conservatories of various kinds. Starbase 234 was one of Starfleet's largest planetary bases that pretty much doubled as a megacity. The last census placed it at just under twenty-five million and growing.

The once uninhabited M-class world now had an approximate population of ninety million planetwide. The population consists mostly of Starfleet, support, civilian personnel, and their families whether they are working in orbit at the Starbase 234 Dockyards or the many support buildings on the surface.

During the Hobus Crisis, Starfleet had settled nearly three million displaced Romulans in refugee camps. These refugee camps grew into settlements, then townships and a few minor cities. These areas were mostly agricultural, industry, and resource-gathering to support Starbase 234's massive population and its continuous rapid growth.

His dog, a black labrador retriever, began to tug on the leash. He looked down at the dog, "Hoy! Raffles! Knock it off."

Raffles looked up giving him a quizzical look unsure what she was doing wrong.

"Don't pull that 'what did I do wrong, you hairless Ape' look, you know what you're doing,"

Raffles wagged her tail and barked at him.

Not far away another Starfleet officer was perusing the bazaar. Her uniform had the blue of the Medical division. She had long flowing gold hair that almost shimmered in the sunlight, her big green eyes taking in all the sights around the bazaar. She was young and had the four vertical bars of a senior cadet on her collar. She had a large woven bag on her shoulder filled with an assortment of fruits and vegetables and some other odds and ends she had picked up on her visit.

She paused at one booth, cocking one delicate ear as she hear a near bye dog bark. She glanced about and spotted the black lab and blinked in surprise.

"Raffles? Is that you?!" she asked and wandered over to the dog, not yet noticing her owner on the other end of the leash. "It is you!" she explained in joy and sank to her knees to pet and rub the dog's ears and faces playfully. "What are you doing here?!" she laughed as she reacquainted herself with the familiar dog

Raffles was excited and her body was doing the full-body tail wag. She was making excited sounds that she would make. Aloysius waved his hand to get her attention but it was solely on the dog, "Hoy, Cadet!"

The cadet was hanging onto the excited dog that was trying to wiggle free and lick her face. She looked up as a familiar voice called her rank. "Captain!" she said and smiled as she tried to disengage herself from Raffles and stand, but the dog wouldn't let her.

"She remembers her friends," he remarked. "She's definitely happy to see you. Aren't you, girl?"

Raffles barked and then hopped, "Down Raffles."

She didn't want to but she sat and her body was still shaking with excitement.

The Cadet rubbed and petted the dog a little more, then stood up, tugging her uniform back straight and resettling her grocery bag back on her shoulder.

"It's so good to see you again, Captain," she said and meant it.

"Don't get all sentimental with me. I still haven't forgiven you for talking your Mum into gifting me this pain in the ass." His hand gestured to the dog rubbing up against the Cadet's uniform pants.

The cadet grinned. "You love her and you know it" she said and rubbed the top of Raffles head.

"She wouldn't be a spoilt brat otherwise," he reached down scratching her back. "So you behaving down here? The last thing I need to hear from the base's commandant is a bunch of my cadets pulling an elaborate prank."

"Always! I'm just getting some fruit and other stuff to have later. The real stuff is just so good, nice change after all the time on replicated food" she smiled. "No pranks from me, I'm too busy raiding this place for goodies and getting ready for my first posting"

"You haven't heard that the Haida comes with a galley with fully stocked food stores. Most ships commissioned since 2400 have them. But something to snack on in your quarters."

"Oh I had, but I like to just cook for myself a bit sometimes" she smiled. "You know mom doesn't cook so if i wanted home cooked food I had to cook it" she shrugged and continued ruffling the dog's head

"I remember your cooking when I was on the Agincourt, I hope you finally know how to properly season food these days?"

"Hey, that was a long time ago, I cook pretty good these days," she laughed. "And I had to figure stuff out on my own, you know mom doesn't cook"

Aloysius simply nodded his head.

Walking down a path and knowing she had a few hours before she needed to report, Lieutenant Commander Rachel Lax wanted to find a few more novels to add to her reading list. She was dressed in her uniform, accessorized with an old battered leather away jacket. She had been told there was a bookshop around this park somewhere, but she just couldn't find it. Good thing her job was to shoot things and not navigate.

Rachel was about to give up when she heard the dog barking. Looking up she saw who she was reporting to in a few hours, a dog, and what looked like a Cadet. With a long drawn out painful sigh she decided she better to and at least say hello to her new Commanding Officer.

Straightening her uniform she walked up to the trio and put on a forced polite smile on her face. "Greetings Captain."

The captain looked over to the lieutenant commander that had joined them. Raffles came over and started to sniff at her pants around her knees. Then she looked up and started to bark at her new friend before the captain was able to get a word in, "You must be Commander Lax."

"Yes Sir..." Rachel paused and looked down at the dog and froze a little. "I knew you had a pet, I didn't realize it would be so big." She frowned a little before offering a hand for the dog to sniff.

"She's definitely no ankle-biter," the captain retorted. The dog sniffed excitedly rubbing her snoot against the palm of Lax's hand and then vehemently started licking it.

Fighting the urge to yank her hand back Rachel sighed and gave the lab a pat on it's head. "Good thing it doesn't bite peoples ankles." She looked back to her new captain, then to the cadet. "And who is this? Another non-ankle biter?"

The Cadet raised both of her golden eyebrows at that comment. "Come again?"

The Captain chuckled at the Commander's comment, "Not quite but you're not wrong. This is Cadet Caitlin Dimytrik. She'll be joining us on the Haida for her cadet cruise."

Slowly Rachel's smile changed from a forced on to a genuine one as she thought that this captain at least had a bit of a sense of humor. "I'd say 'welcome aboard Cadet,' but I haven't been aboard either. I just arrived here and was looking for a bookstore before I had to report in."

"Well, let's put that off until tomorrow. I don't plan on being back on duty until 0600 tomorrow morning."

Caitlin shrugged. "I've been here a week, so kinda itching to get up to the ship" she said.

"Ahh I see, well then I don't feel like I am running behind. I was thinking of hitting the book store then heading to the ship myself." She smiled and pulled a small PADD from her jacket pocket. "0600, when would you like me to report?"

"I don't mind checking out a book store before shuttling up" Caitlin said and re-shouldered her bag of produce and other goodies she had picked up while in the market.

"Raffles here has an appointment with a flowerbed or two, maybe a lake. I'll leave you two to it," he began to walk away Raffles looked back over her shoulder at her two friends.

Caitlin waved at the Captain and Raffles as they headed off. "Bye skipper, bye Raffles" she said, watching them go, then turned to Commander Lax, "So, bookstore?"

"It was.. um... Lovely meeting you Captain." Lax said before visibly relaxing and turning back to the Cadet. "Yes the book store, the map I have on my padd says it is somewhere near by."

"Oh, maybe the one over there?" Caitlin suggested, pointing to the bookstore in the row if buildings across the far side of the plaza. "Wanna go check it out?"

"That seems as good as any other Cadet." Lax smiled easily and started for the store in question. "Did you graduate at San Francisco or another academy?"

OFF

A Joint Post by:

A Joint Post By:

Captain Aloysius Grayson
Commanding Officer, USS Haida NCC-42063,

Lieutenant Commander Rachel Lax
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Haida NCC-42063,

&

Cadet Senior Grade Caitlin Dimytrik
Cadet Rotation Cruise, USS Haida NCC-42063

and of course the Captain's Pooch Raffles

 

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