The XO's Office

[Fernandez]

Fernandez walked in with a barrel on each shoulder, good the crewman had put the rack on the table like he had asked.  Fernandez balanced one small wood keg on the table and then placed the other in the rack, returning his attention to the one balancing he looked it over, finest Jamaican rum, made the traditional way, and put in 5 gallon wood kegs. He had made a run to Jamaica just before joining the ship so he had a very few anchors of real rum.

He rummaged through his duffel till he found some very old tools, then carefully bore a hole in the head of the keg and inserted a wooden tap banging it home with a wood mallet.  He put it on the rack that held the keg solid and repeated the process with the second barrel.  Water, filled in a creek on the Spanish Main, and only in the cask for a month.

Fernandez replicated a tankard, lime juice and sugar, making his favorite concoction of one part rum, three parts water with an ounce of lime against scurvy and a bit of sugar to hide the flatness of the water.

He had tried to replicate the water, he got the tar, salt, hemp, and general bilge tastes just so but the computer refused to make the water flat, or to allow anything to be living or growing in it, which meant there was still something missing in the drink, so Fernandez worked around that by keeping a keg of water on hand to do as nature intended.  It made the drink more... like when he was young.

So properly moved in Fernandez laid a flintlock double barrel .75 caliber boarding pistol on the desk and sat down propping his feet up. He was ready for work now.

Come on in! 

[sammysincer]

Sammy and the boys had been discussing a situtation that was very common on all starships, the use of real alcoholic drinks, and she had promised to speak with either the captain or the XO in regards to the matter.  She made her way to the XO's office, this being a protocol she always followed, and rang at his door.  She had heard he was new, so this would also give her an apportunity to introduce herself to him.

(Tag XO)

[Fernandez]

With out setting down his drink, or moving his feet off the desk he called out "Come" Then took another pull at the tankard.

<tag  >

[sammysincer]

Sammy walked in to a sight that any other person would have been shocked or taken back with, but being raised by nothing but men this seemed to not affect her what so ever and she greeted the XO

"Hi, I'm Sammy Sincer, your Lounge manager, and I needed to discuss a question that keeps coming up with my employees."  She made herself at home and took a seat across from his desk.  She noted the weapon he had "now where did you find a flintlock double barrel .75 caliber boarding pistol?"

[Fernandez]

Fernandez stood when she walked in. "That?" gesturing to the firearm on his desk, "it's a replica, I used it in the war games back on Earth. I'm part of the Archaic Navies of Earth, we replay famous battles from history and such."

With out asking he replicated another tankard cut off some of the small loaf of sugar and crumbled it in then pouring a measure of juice from a stoneware jug and a healthy dose from the keg of rum, measuring it all by hand and eye. he topped the tankard off with water from the cask and mixed it up setting it down in front of her before taking a seat again himself.

"Lounge manager, well I didn't know we had one, lounge that is. Does it have a name?" He smiled before taking another drink.

[sammysincer]

Sammy, never one to turn down a drink grabbed the tankard and took a deep swallow.  "Mmm very good, yes they have names, theres actually two... the Fore Lounge and the Aft Lounge, my brothers and I run them.  They would get along great with you if you are into replayingn battles.  They were in the Marines, but before that they loved playing in the war games."  She took another sip then set the tankard down.

"I would like to talk to you about real alcohol... and about serving it aboard."  She smiled at the man.  She liked him already.

[Fernandez]

Fernandez took another drink from his tankard then looked at her with a straight face and quoted the rule book, section and verse about no alcohol aboard a Starfleet ship.  "It's a good rule in principal," he admitted, "but... I just don't like synthahol and there are times when a real drunk will clear your head amazingly... the next day."

He leaned back in his chair, reaching behind him to adjust his tunic that had gotten bunched up in the small of his back. "There are two camps and both have a strong argument. On one side is the fact that we are always on duty, even when we aren't we are on call. The other side is we are just people and need to be able to relax, truly relax on our off time in order to continue with peak efficiency." He prosed on more to himself then to this beautiful woman. "There is a precedence, for centuries the navies of Earth would issue spirits to the men, sometimes criminal amounts daily."

His attention came back to her, "I think it would come down to you and your brothers, I can make no promises, but I will go to the Captain about it, but in the end you will have to cut a person off before they get to impaired, and the Fore and Aft will have to talk to each other so that person could not go to the other lounge and drink more." 

[sammysincer]

She listened intently but also watched his body language, and knew he was a man after her own heart.  Nodding her agreement, she reached for her drink, finished it off, and then smiled at him.

"Well sir, I will assure you that the Sincers know when to cut a person off, and the communications are the best in the fleet.  I've been in this business since I was 18, and my brothers have been with me the whole time, so I trust my brothers and they know I don't accept any mistakes, no one will be allowed to go from one lounge to the other if they have been cut off."  She stood up and held out her hand.

"I will await your word on the Captain's decision, and thank you for the drink, if and when you get the chance, please come by and see me, I owe you a drink."

[Fernandez]

Fernandez stood when she did, automaticly tugging and flipping out the hem of his tunic to make it hang straight. He wondered how this woman struck such a chord of compatibility with him, he chalked it up to a Lounge Managers ability to make a person feel at home.

"You know I will, this Texas boy like Margaritas as much as rum, but I have never been able to make one that anyone would want to drink."  He broke out in a boyish grin at that.

"Well Ma'am, I will have to talk to our Captain about it... maybe I will take the pistol with me." He winked.

[sammysincer]

Sammy grinned at his joke about the pistol.  "First, don't call me ma'am, makes me feel old, and I'm not. Sammy will do, and if you like Margarita's, honey I make the best there are... so definitely come and see me, I won't take no for an answer.  And the pistol ... I don't think that's going to impress the Captain, but I haven't met him yet so you never know."   She turned and walked towards the door, and turned again.

"Now remember... I'm expecting to see you in the Fore Lounge for that drink."  and then winked at him, before leaving his office.

[Fernandez]

Fernandez stood looking at the door she had gone out.  He wondered how soon he could go to the Fore Lounge with out looking like a cretin, or a mad stalker...

Well he had the Captain to talk to...  He double checked his uniform and popped a mint in his mouth.  Now was as good a time as any...