A Personal Invitation [Back Post]
Posted on Sun Sep 17th, 2023 @ 2:08pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor
1,186 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Short Treks
Location: Triton Seabase: Cetacean Operations
Timeline: MD31: 1100 hours
Max felt himself pushed through the waters, now warmer than the last time he had swam with his friends in their own environment. It was joyous, but still part of an ulterior motive. Even Tom kept nudging him.
“Yes, alright,” Max finally gave in. He wanted to spend some more of his morning off here.
Max pulled himself out of the water. It drained from his wetsuit and the grating made it worthless to dry himself with a towel. “Lieutenant Aurora, I’ve a question for you. I wanted to ask you personally.
Aurora's head popped above the water an instant before the Captain got her attention.
"Sure, Cap...er, Captain. What's up? SSSPPPPP!!! Charles, Darwin! You goofs! Quit that!" Aurora yelped as the two gave Aurora a shower. Both squeaked back at Aurora before swimming off to do something dolphiny.
"Honestly, those two are such juveniles! Anyway, what can I do for you, sir?" Aurora asked as she got out and shook herself dry, away from the Captain of course.
“Well,” Max said, hoping the Lieutenant didn’t get too upset. “I’ve accepted command of a starship.” He paused again as he thought to himself, ’More like had a command shoved down my throat without choice.’ He was glad neither the Klingon or Aquadian parts of Aurora could hear the essential shout in his head.
“Anyway, the ship has a four deck Cetacean Operations division and I had hopes you and your team might join?”
Aurora's jaw dropped.
"Wwe're leaving the Triton? Dang, what the heck did we do to get booted!?" Aurora asked...then stuck her head back under water so she could scream at herself for being so STUPID!
After about three minutes, Aurora came back up and took a towel this time so she could dry faster.
"Ahem...are the dolphins coming with us?" Aurora asked.
Max smiled at Aurora. “That seems to be the running question, but this isn’t about what we did wrong,” Max felt that white lie slipping out easily. “This is a full upgrade to a starship. And when I said your team, I meant your whole team. Dolphins and whales included.
"YEAHA!! Er...thank you, Captain!" Aurora grinned happily as she twirled around and then dropped her head under water again.
"Charles, Darwin, Bindi, Robert! We're changing ships!" Aurora called, knowing the water would carry her words to the dolphins and whales.
Max smiled. “So that’s a yes then?” he asked, his amusement at her excitement hard to hide. Most of the rest of the crew seemed resigned at best, upset at worst. It was nice to have someone feel excited.
Aurora pulled her head up and shook the water off.
"Definitely! While it's gonna be a little cray cray resetting up in a new environment, we'll get'er done!" Aurora stretched and grinned up at the Captain.
“Well, Aurora, let’s plan on getting‘er done then. Either way, we’ll be glad to see everyone there. And don’t forget to tell Tom to bring his butt too! I’d miss him if he decided to stay. You can tell him that.” Max smiled like a goofball.
"Oh absolutely! Tom's one of our most important members!" Aurora whistled, and a few minutes later, Tom popped up and crawled up onto Aurora's arm, waving one of his arms at the Captain.
"You've become quite special to the Captain, Tom! He said he'd miss you if you didn't come with us!" Aurora giggled as Tom wiggled around, and crawled onto the Captain's arm, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Well of course Tom is coming. That was already planned. He’ll have the only direct access to my quarters. Besides Dani…and Kaydren…and his tree.” Max looked absently upwards as of counting in his head to make sure he hadn’t missed anyone. “It’s not as complicated as it sounds,” he was quick to add.
"Hold up...we've got a TREE that can MOVE!?" Aurora yelped, almost falling back into the water!
Max chuckled. “She doesn’t walk, talk or prepare tea,” he joked. She’ll be transported up once Lieutenant Aukai is happy with the tree bed preparations. “Once he’s happy, she can be transported up and secure her roots. “She, the tree, is mildly empathic…kind of like a mood tree. She’s got a lot to love now, moving in with Dani to keep her company.” He stopped, finding himself talking too much.
"Snicker okay then. Well, we sure got a cray cray crew huh, Sir?" Aurora snickered softly.
"So...what's her name? The ship we're going to?" Aurora asked as she ran a hand lightly over the side of the pool.
“Just a perfect description for her crew, Intrepid. Sound about right for all of us nut jobs,” he chuckled as he emptied a huge amount of water before spitting it on the grates. The salinity of the water her was just wrong. He took a smaller drink to chase the odd salt taste.
"Intrepid huh? Yep, that suits our crew just fine!" Aurora smiled as she grabbed a Blue Ricky, saluted the Captain, and downed it in three gulps.
“That she does,” Max admitted. “I’ll catch you all aboard the ship tomorrow. For the water bound crew, they’ll be expected aboard tonight for adjustment to the new salinity,” Max told Aurora.
"Sounds good to me, Sir! WHISTLE!" Aurora gave a sharp whistle and the whales popped up, chattering excitedly as Aurora patted them and spoke with them about the move coming up before Tom smacked her on the back of the head!
"Oh you squiggly bad boy you! Honestly, Captain, he's been hanging out with Charles and Darwin too long!" Aurora chuckled softly as she retrieved Tom from the Captain's arm and tickled him gently. Tom wiggled his arms and squirted a little ink into Aurora's hand...not making a mess, but enough for Aurora to put into a small ink pot attached to her hip.
"That's for being naughty," Aurora chided as she returned Tom to the pool. Bindi and and Robert each put a flipper under Tom and started swimming in circles, chittering up a storm.
Max laughed. “Sounds like they have a lot to say,” Max indicated the group. “I hope you’ll join us for launch at 0800 hours, Lieutenant. I’m sure it’s going to be something to behold!”
"No kidding! Wouldn't miss it for the world, Captain!" Aurora grinned happily as she gave a few last words to the whales before heading to her locker to grab a change of cloths.
“See you there,” Max agreed as he slipped into the men’s changing and shower room. Standing out much longer and he might have caught a bit of chill. He was happy that most of the crew seemed excited about the change. He found that even he was starting to look forward to it even more!
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