For a Good Time Call...
Posted on Sat Oct 25th, 2025 @ 6:50pm by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Captain Edmund Merrick & Sergeant Andrew Shy
Edited on on Sun Oct 26th, 2025 @ 12:17am
1,212 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Going Home
Location: The Quarters of Edmund Merrick - Deck 3 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 1900 hrs
“Aye aye sir, I’ll handle it,” Andrew said to the Colonel.
“Drew,” Neil said from his bio-bed. “Poor Merrick wouldn’t know a good time if it fell on his face and wriggled.” After a few seconds, he amended, “Well. He’s wired just too thraggling tight that he’d dither around and try to date it first. We’re going to have a few days at Empok or Earth. I’m not going to have time to do it and Jayna would likely kill me if she caught me. It’s either you or I get Larta to do it and…”
“And the Ambassador just might kill him with kindness. I get it Gunny…er Colonel,” Shy said with a grin.
Neil flipped his old friend the bird and said, “Go dark and make him have fun or I might have to ask Larta for advice.” Chagrined then he said, “And for fates sake. Call me Neil every once in a while, yeah?”
“No way Neil sir,” Andrew said with a glimmer in his eye. “Code of conduct and all that if someone hears us, it might tarnish that shiny leaf."
Walking up to the Captains quarters, Andrew leaned a shoulder against the bulkhead and pushed his thumb against the annunciator and said, “Sergeant Shy to see the Captain.”
The door opened revealing Merrick with a day's growth of stubble, his hair mussed up, eyelids red rimmed. It didn't look like he had gotten much sleep.
What normally would be a neat and tidy room, had crumpled balls of paper strewn on the floor.
"What's up Andrew?" His voice sounding a bit raspy and gravelly. Edmund stepped back to let Andrew come in. "How goes it?"
Taking in the quarters, then the Captain, Andrew moved to a field rest position and said, "I have a message from the Colonel, sir." Glancing at the floor he added, "Er. Sir. Did Little Jackie Paper get caught in a gamma ray burst?"
Edmund looked at the conditions of his living room, "Apparently so." No glint of humor in his tone, nor even in his eyes.
"What's the message from Neil?" Edmund walked over to pick up some drawings, which had been torn in shreds, crumpled them up and tossed them into the recycler.
"You, captain my captain," Andrew said with humor pushing into his tone, "Are to un-ass your chair and accompany me on a night out. Fraternization non-withstanding, the Colonel thinks you need to be led to a good time and for some reason thinks I, being the career Sergeant of spotless reputation and morality, know where such trouble can be found. Usually to avoid it of course."
Right eyebrow raised at the message from Neil, Edmund made a quiet scoffing sound, turning away from Andrew. He looked down at his current attire, black tank top, pair of knee length dark blue shorts.
He wasn't in the mood to go out and do some RnR. Didn't really feel like it. What good would that do anyway? It never seemed to work out.
In the back of his mind though, there was that niggling feeling, this might be a subtle command from Tremble.
"I take it, he had that do or die tone of voice?" Edmund growled out.
"See there," Andrew drawled again, eyeing the marine captain critically. "You have to be nearly commanded to have a good time by your CO and now you're bitching about the very thought." Pausing for effect, Andrew continued, "The Colonel did comment that in his own experienced opinion, you were more in need of some I&I than just about any Marine he currently knows. And that if you don't get your drahk square before the upcoming session with Games and Recreation on Mars....well. All I know is he mentioned something about your behind being grass and he'd be buying a brand new lawn mower."
Grinning wider, Andrew said, "Which is saying something for a Colonel of Marines serving aboard a starship with wargames taking place on a mostly desert planet."
Rolling his shoulders, Edmund moved his neck just to try to loosen up the muscles. "Right, trying to loosen up a Gordian Knot. I'll get cleaned up and-" he paused grimly looking at Andrew. "Just where are we going?"
"Well," Andrew said, "Empok Nor has some dives worth sticking noses into. But the Battalion means witnesses. But that's easy enough to shake. So probably a casino and a few bars to begin with. My question to you, sir, is how deep a scratch are you open minded enough to scratch?"
Drawing in a breath through his nose, Edmund ruminated upon what Andrew asked. There were two ways that the Gordian Knot was dealt with, one way a legend stated that Alexander the Great had just cut through it to become the Ruler of Asia. The other legend was, the knot that was attached to the ox-cart, the puzzle was solved by removing the linch pin of the ox-cart handle revealing the hidden ends. Either way-it got unraveled.
He met Shy's gaze. "Gotta pull the linch pin sometime, and the timing is just right. With all that has happened, gotta scratch down deep, very deep. " having a wry twist to his smile.
Peering at the Captain, Andrew cocked his head to one side and asked, "Is that a complicated way of saying you're open to most things, including getting your ashes hauled sir? You're not going to overthink all this are you?"
"Of course I am going to overthink things, that is what I am famous for. By the way I twist myself I should have been a contortionist." Edmund deadpanned. "And its been a long time since the furnace has been cleaned. The embers are almost gone out."
"Right. So, first stop will be a shot bar sir. Then I heard a rumor through the NCO grapevine about a little ship called the SS.Enigma. Apparently they have hot and cold running... well. Everything."
A tilt of his head, that sparked a lot of interest in Edmund. "I'll be out very soon don't want to be thrown off the ship, for polluting the air." wrinkling up his nose.
Shy was certainly rather good at-either having selective sense of smell or... just being polite.
"You've forgotten the six P's from boot camp," Andrew said. "Poor prior planning leads to piss poor performance, or variations there of. I'm wearing nasal filters. I'll meet you at the lock in say forty five minutes. No uniforms, if it needs saying."
Edmund laughed, yup Shy had come prepared and disappeared to get cleaned up.
A Joint Post By
Captain Edmund Merrick
Company Commanding Officer Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Sergeant Andrew Shy
Tactical Systems Operator, Team 2, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Battalion Commander, The Cure
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