When DQ Meant Dairy Queen

Posted on Mon Oct 12th, 2015 @ 10:53pm by Commander Louie Rousseau & Lieutenant Commander Cyrus Thorn

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Louie's Quarters

* Louie’s Quarters *

It was late but Louie couldn’t have felt less like sleeping. He and Leto had gone to a place called Lady Ella’s and been serenaded by some fantastic jazz. Over drinks they’d caught up on the past seven years and Leto had shared the story of her identity change. It was the result of something Louie always taught to cadets specializing in Intel during his many years at the Academy. In the world of Intel, no matter how good you are, eventually a mission will go bad in a spectacular way. It had been that mission for Nenita….now Leto.

They had also reminisced about the operation in Chile where it had been the two of them along with Li, Jackson, and Nick. That had been an interesting, sometimes harrowing, time but it had also been an op that didn’t go horrifically bad. They’d been close then and he was glad to find out they were all here. He also discovered that Leto and Nick had finally realized something he’d noticed back then and was glad to hear they were still together. He sometimes thought of them as ‘the kids’, all of them. Despite his appearance, he was far older than they were. It was an ingrained habit and he was still working on thinking like he was the age he looked. So far, it was touch and go, which probably explained why, one hundred and nineteen years after losing Celine, he was still single. The women attracted to him now could be his great great grandchildren. To say it was mindblowing was a vast understatement.

So, here he was. He’d walked Leto home, told her to get some rest and been promptly punched in the shoulder for ‘acting like an old man’. He laughed as he thought of it. He wandered to his nearly-empty kitchen, peeked through the cabinets, then paced back to the living room. He could watch the baseball game he’d had the computer save for him, he decided, and then -- the beep of his terminal cut through his thoughts.

=^= Incoming transmission from Lt. Commander Cyrus Thorn =^= the computer informed him.

“Open the channel,” he answered.

That was good news indeed. Cy was a very old friend, the man who’d invited him to go to DS6 for a trip that ended up with the two of them in the 24th century. He hurried over to the terminal and sat down. The face looking back at him was smiling ear to ear.

“Evening, old man,” Louie greeted him.

"You lookin' in a mirror when you say that?" Cyrus laughed. "Remember, we're only as old as the girls feel."

Louie rolled his eyes. “I’m still working on that one and feeling the girls makes me wonder when their parents are going to come beat down my door.” He grinned back at Cy.

"Just be glad you're not as old as your song, Louie Louie. What are you up to, anyway, my friend?"

”Settling in. I spent the afternoon reading baseball scores to a talking spider.” Louie held up his hand. “Don’t start. I can see a lecture on that being the wrong species now.” He laughed and shook his head. “But speaking of girls, one showed up to rescue me. Remember Nenita?”

Cyrus leaned in toward the monitor. "Yeah, but, hold up, you said the words talking and spider in quick succession as if that's a real thing. How much are you drinking these days?"

“Sober as a judge, Cy. I shit you not. This thing can talk. Well, I talk and it answers telepathically. Get this….it’s a second generation. Just hatched not long ago so he’s still learning. His mother is here and is about this big.” He held up his hands to approximate Iggy’s size. “Long story.”

"You seem to be having issues over there, Lou. One of your hands went off screen when you described the size of this talking spider. Spiders should only be measured by fingers - and then only by fingers on the same hand. Like this:," he held up his forefinger and thumb, the space between was just two inches. "Do not tell me that the Delta Quadrant has spawned giant talking spiders! I will have them turn this ship around!"

“A spider, not spiders. Well I guess it is spiders now. Iggy, the mother, is about a foot across, maybe a little more. My visitor today is maybe three inches across now?” Louie estimated. “But don’t get the heebee-jeebies, Iggy is the only one aside from her three offspring. She’s the result of some strange cosmic waves, at least that’s the short version. The Federation has just recognized her as her own unique species, and with the babies, she’s made history. It should hit FNN soon enough. Hey, I was on FNN, did you see it? A story about the move out here to the Academy.”

"I did see that piece. Your nose looked huge. Didn't you ask them to catch your good side? Though, I suppose some folks would object to a giant ass on their screen. Eh...either way, they had a giant ass on their screen." Cyrus winked jovially.

“You are so good for my ego, Cy, really.” Louie’s tone was dry but he was smiling. “It’s okay, I already have plans to get even. The press will be there to greet you when you step off your ship. After all, it’s news when both Space Cowboys take on the DQ Academy. Surprise.” Louie grinned.

"Oh, c'mon!" Cy grimaced. "Just for that, I'm wearin' a damned mask when I disembark. Or maybe a ten gallon hat. That'll really cement our Space Cowboys reputation. Remember when DQ just meant Dairy Queen?"

“I do.” Louie smiled back at his friend. “I’ll take you for ice cream when you get here, with little sprinkles on top. When do you get here?”

"Another day or so." Cyrus looked a little put out. "The damned engineer on this tub banned me from his engine room! Can you believe that!? Me? He banned me!" He muttered the rest, "And the captain won't tell me squat."

“Engineers are a touchy bunch I hear,” Louie joked. “You can try and sweet talk Chief Jenkins when you get here. There’s a couple of people you have to meet too. One is a cadet who is a computer whiz and the other an engineering officer. I came across the reports of a project they worked on together a while back that made me sit up and take notice.”

“Sweet, I’ll contact Jenkins. What does the cadet’s project involve?”

“Something to do with body armour,” Louie answered. “The hand renderings especially were impressive and the engineer seems able to do math in her head that most people only dream about.”

“Mmm... female engineer? I adore female engineers: their minds, their bodies... so wonderful.” Cyrus laughed. In a more serious tone, he added, “For real, though, I look forward to meeting the cast and characters of SB900, and seeing Nenita again.”

“This particular engineer is an Orion/Betazoid, according her her jacket. She’s offered to assist again if we...if you need her.” Louie smiled, but then it faded. “As for Nenita, well, there’s a story there too. Hang on.” He tapped his console and once it beeped he continued. “Open that file and take a look at the officer there.”

“Whoa..., she’s hot! Tell me she’s sin..g..l..e.... Ah, shit! That’s Nenita? Is that what you’re about to tell me? How the hell did that happen? Did she encounter some body-switching technology?” Cyrus stared at the picture.

“It is.” Louie nodded. “Op gone bad. Very bad. As in change completely or be assassinated. I can fill you in once you’re here. Hands off her, bro, or Nick will rearrange your face. Oh boy you are in for a treat once you get here.”

“I look forward to hearing that story! What’s the other treat?”

“The list is endless. You want official or gossip, Cy?” Louie asked.

“I want it all, Louie! C’mon, spill it. Since I’ve been banned from engineering and from bothering the Captain... things are a lot boring here.”

“Well, Admiral Wegener is engaged, Admiral Hawke remarried a couple of years ago and has another daughter. Speaking of which, his older daughter is the XO here. The latest hot news? The new colony crew has just gone out to move in. A few other things here and there.” Louie was intentionally vague on the last part, just to annoy Cyrus.

Narrowing his eyes at Louie, the engineer frowned, “You know payback can be a bitch, Loucifer.”

That old nickname made Louie laugh uproariously. “Where’s the fun in telling you everything and robbing you of the many juicy surprises once you get here?” He grinned at Cy, then relented. “Okay one more nugget. There’s a former Borg on staff….well she was.”

“Oh! I read about her! I can’t wait to check out her implants.” Cyrus geeked out over the Borg.

“You’ll have to see about that yourself. She’s resigned from the Fleet and living down in the Cherry Pit with the local crime lord. At least that’s what I heard was the reason.” Louie shrugged. “That just scratched the surface so you won’t be bored once you get here.”

“Resigned? That’s so sad. She’d have all sorts of inherent knowledge thanks to her time in the hive mind.” Cyrus mourned that she wasn’t in the Fleet. “Ah, well, we’ll see. I look forward to getting there and being off this ship.”

“I look forward to having you on staff. The instructors are good but engineering has requested to go back to the Beta Quadrant so your timing is perfect.” Louie leaned back in his chair with a sly smile. “By the way, once you get here, you owe Nenita….Leto a drink. I gotta get used to her new name. Anyhow, she said the last time you skipped out and left her with the tab. Granted that was what? Six years ago? She has a long memory.”

“No way!” Cyrus laughed. “That works only if she’s in the same body! And face. Leto... I’m going to have to research that name.”

“Good luck with that.” Louie stretched and then yawned. “Okay Cy, this old man is going to hit the hay. What time do you get in tomorrow?”

“If I knew, I’d tell you,” Cyrus sighed. “Okay, old man, good night. And thanks for the heads’ up on the Orion engineer. I’m going to research her file.” He leered and signed off.

*************
Lt. Commander Louie Rousseau
Loucifer

Lt. Commander Cyrus Thorn
Space Cowboy