I crossed my arms, looking out through the window at myself where I was floating a couple of kilometers from the Quick Buck.
This was actually the first real opportunity I had to wear my dress uniform. Black and teal with a slightly longer skirt, it was actually quite nice. I was even wearing both of my rank markings, one for Lieutenant and one for Starship, on each side of my neck.
I even let Rachel do a quick...thing...to my hair. I had no idea what it was called, but it kind of lifted the sides up and across before down on the other side towards the rear into a braid.
What bothered me, was the high heels. Who the hell invented those things and what sort of death was he sentenced to for his crime? Whatever it was, it was insufficiently cruel.
Even so, the dinner had been quite nice. I even ate so I didn't stand out too much. I could, I just normally didn't. It did nothing for me, but at least I had the systems to automatically compact it so I could beam the waste out and into the trash later. There were other ways to get rid of it, but that was the easiest one. Not to mention cleanest.
Say what you want about these Independent traders though, they sure lived in luxury. There was clearly not a lack of space.
Fifty people crew on a ship larger than a Galaxy Class cruiser... even if almost all of it was cargo or engineering systems, they clearly didn't worry overly much about using a tiny sliver of that space for crew quarters.
In this case, a tiny sliver ended up giving each crewmember or family a full sized apartment. The most junior member of the crew, a trainee, had quarters larger than Captain Mason and Commander Janeway.
Combined.
The place was hardly spartan either. Hell, even though this was the 'Messhall' onboard, it was nicely decorated with plants, paintings. Nice murals on the walls and real high quality furniture. Real too, not replicated.
Still, as nice as her living sections might be, the Luna class was really beautiful. I zoomed in on my avatar where I was standing in the window.
Not that my avatar didn't look pretty great as well. Might seem narcissistic, but it was true. T'Ro really knew what she was doing.
I really needed to do something special for her at some point for that. I guess I could get her a new chessboard or something, but that felt really not significant enough.
Maybe some jewelry? Oh, that's a good idea. Like a necklace.
I should be able to pick something up when we visit Deep Space Nine. I didn't want to replicate something. There was something special with actual crafted items and not just replicated copies.
"Enjoying yourself, Star?" Commander Janeway asked as she walked up next to me, looking out at the stars.
"Yes, Ma'am," I answered, nodding. "Though I admit, I didn't quite expect a merchant ship to be quite this luxurious."
"If there is anyone that spend more time than us onboard of ships, it's merchant shippers," she answered, holding a glass of wine in her hand, sipping at the red liquid. "Long routes, no away teams. Very little time actually spent at planets. Several months spent in deep space. This isn't just a ship, it's their home. Just like the Starseeker is ours."
I smiled softly at that, looking at where I was floating in space. Home.
Yes.
"I did get some ideas for my quarters even.... Are we allowed murals?" I asked with a small thoughtful frown while digging into the book on regulations.
Janeway shrugged, "I don't see why not if you can make it fit. Just check that the paint don't have a bad reaction to the life support system."
"Thank you, Ma'am. Now I just need to find somebody to actually paint it. I have the artistic skill of a particularly stupid pumpkin."
She grinned at that. "I wouldn't say that, I have played some of your holonovels."
I shrugged. "That's just story telling and knowing how to talk to the holodeck computer to get it to do what I want. I'm talking about actual artistic skill, like painting."
Seriously, I had computer assistance and I could still mess up stick figures. It was kind of embarrassing.
She shook her head. "I'm sure you will be able to find someone able to do it," she said before she looked to the side. "But I better go see what Alexander want."
I nodded and turned back to the window with a smile.
A mural of a bird with its wings spread against the clear blue skies...that would look nice.
Turning my back to the window, I took in the group. Shran was in the corner, flirting with a woman in her early twenties. Someone who I think might be Captain Stonesward's daughter.
...He is going to get in trouble again, isn't he?
Well, he knew what he was doing. He did look rather smug when he returned from the date with that nurse back on ESD.
...As embarrassing as it was, maybe I should ask him for advice or something.
Captain Mason gave me a small wave to join him, Janeway and Stonesward so I nodded and started to cross the room, moving past the tables when I was stopped. "Hey, Trill girl." A guy in his early thirties with short cut brow hair asked, "While you are up and about, how about you get me another drink?"
I did a check of the crew manifest and got a quick match. Jason Stonesward, cargo master and cousin of the captain of the Quick Buck.
For a quarter of a second I thought about telling him to get it himself but...be diplomatic. Besides, it was four meters away and would take like three seconds. It would take longer to tell him to get it himself.
"Sure, what do you want?"
"Beer. Thanks, sweetheart," he answered with a grin before he gave my rear a smack.
"...!"
AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this part.
freighter
