A Drink and A Fist Fight

Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2020 @ 4:01pm by Commander Elias Walker & Lieutenant Luke Osswell

1,720 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 3.5 - Some R & R
Location: Starbase

Elias Walker and Luke Osswell decided to take some down time on the station. They’d heard the stations bar had some good quality domjot tables so they wanted to try with out with a few beers.

“Looks like there’s a free table, why don’t you grab it while I get the beers.” Eli said as he began to head to the bar.

"No problem, Commander", Luke answered as he made a way through the throng of people engaged in various gambling activities, some of which Luke was sure were officially banned in the Federation... A Nausicaan bumped into him, resulting in a menacing glare from the alien, even though it wasn't Luke's fault at all. But Luke wasn't one to give way easily, so Luke glared back hard as he passed. Reaching the dom-jot table without further incident, he started to set up the table so that it would be ready to play once Cmdr. Walker arrived with the beer.

Walker arrived at the domjot table just as Luke finished setting it up, a pint of beer in each hand. “Ah, well done, you got it ok?” He asked as he set the drinks down on the table next to the domjot table.

"I think so, Sir. It's been a while since I played", Luke said as he took his pint of beer and took a big swig. "Though I'm sure it'll come back to me." From the corner of his eye he spied the Nausicaan glaring at him at a table further down, but Luke ignored him. "What about you, Commander? Played dom-jot much in the past?"

“In my mis-spent youth, yes, but I haven’t played for a while.” Elias said before taking a sip of his ice cold beer. “Drop the Commander too, we’re off duty.” He noticed something had caught Luke’s eye and followed the line of sight to a Nausicaan. “Friend of yours?”

Finalising the set up of the board, Luke thought to himself what was up with the Commanding officers on the Legacy and their dislike to use their proper rank when addressing them. At least the Commander, or should he say, Elias, didn't make a fuss of it while on duty, like their Captain did. Small victories, Luke mused in his head. To the question about the Nausicaan, Luke replied: "Not really, Elias, a little too hostile for my taste, to be honest."

“Yup, they’re always carrying weapons so best to stay clear of them.” Walker said as he picked up a domjot cue and began examining it. “You can go first.” He added with a smile.

Luke nodded, readied his cue and took the first shot. He hit the ball with so much force the ball not rolled, but flew over the dom-jot table, launching it over the edge, straight into the face of the Nausicaan. Luke froze, a dozen scenarios flashing through his mind, none of them good. The menacing Nausicaan didn't flinch. Instead he gave a deadly stare to Luke, got up and proceeded to walk towards him. Now standing face to face, the Nausicaan brought his clenched fist up, Luke readied himself for the fight that was inevitably going to ensue. "Excuse me, Sir", the Nausicaan said in a surprisingly distinguished fashion, "you seem to have misplaced this." The Nausicaan opened his fist, revealing the dom-jot ball lying in his palm, and gently gave it to the utterly confused Starfleet Officer. "Thanks", Luke said, trying to sound absolutely confident, doubting if he actually did.

“Cheers for that.” Elias said with a respectful smile and nod to the Nausicaan. “My go, I believe.” He said before he started lining up his first shot.

Elias Walker's shot made a mess of the playing field, balls were strewn all over the table, though he did manage to pocket two of them. "Excellent shot, Sir...Elias.", Luke said, forgetting the informalities in his excitement.

"Yes, indeed," a small-sized man said, his head barely reached higher than the dom-jot table. He was flanked by two bulky aliens obviously intended as bodyguards of the little middle-aged man. "Whereas you made me lose my winning shot!", the tiny fellow was speaking directly at Luke, who stood there confused. "What do you mean?", the off-duty Security officer asked. "Why do you think that Nausicaan over there was so friendly to you? Your incompetence ruined my game, son!"

Elias looked at both Orion body guards before looking at the smaller man. “These things happen, sir. It was simply a freak accident, they happen every now and then. We apologise but if you don’t mind moving out the way so my friend here can take his shot, I’d be grateful.”

The posture of the little man's bodyguards stiffened, raising alarm bells in Luke's head. These men were ready to fight on a moment's notice. It was clear the man, miniature though he was, was not the sort of figure people told to move out of the way. The fellow looked at the Commander the way a butcher looked at a carcass, deciding which pieces to cut off first. "I'd be ...grateful..." the diminutive figure stated, ignoring Elias, 'if you reimburse me for my losses!"

Despite the tension in the air, Luke frowned, took a big swig of his beer and stood tall and straight as he told the man: "Reimburse you? I don't think so. You do realise you are harassing two Starfleet Officers? I suggest you move on along before I decide to search you and your companions for any contraband you are undoubtedly carrying on your person..."

“Go about your business, we don’t want any trouble.” Elias warned, though he was starting to wonder if they were meaning to provoke an altercation with them for some reason.

It was the tiniest of nods from the little man, but it unleashed the two guards, or whatever their affiliation with the midget-like person, as if he had shouted the loudest of commands at them. Luke, who had been holding on to his cue immediately lashed out at one of his attackers, hitting the guy smack across the jaw. Unfortunately it did not seem to sway his opponent in the slightest. Luke saw stars as his head collided with the man's fist. Turning, he knew that he couldn't expect Commander Walker's help, as he was fending off the other guardsman...

Elias honestly shocked when the two Orion men suddenly went for both Luke and himself. Even more surprising was how quickly they moved. With the blink of an eye one of the Orion’s was already on top of him with both hands round his neck. A quick glance to see how Osswell was doing revealed he was having a similar problem with the other orion. Elias tried punching his assailant in the stomach but seemed to be made of something a lot stronger than flesh and blood. He suddenly felt his feet leave the grow as he was picked up and tossed over the jomdot table.

From the corner of his battered eye Luke saw the form of his Commander fly over the table, though this gave Luke an idea when he spotted the domjot balls. Pushing his opponent away from him, he grabbed two of the balls with both hands and slammed them against the temple of the Orion who had thrown Commander Walker. Luke heard a satisfying crack, though he couldn't be sure whether it was the Orion's skull or the balls themselves. Nor did he have any time to find out, because his other attacker grabbed him by the hair, throwing his head back and smacked his throat, knocking the wind out of Luke and leaving him unable to gasp for air.

Walker slowly climbed back to his feet, he was part dazed and part surprised which how far the Orion had thrown him. He gave himself a moment to adjust to his surroundings. This was enough time for him to see Luke hit the Orion who had thrown him with two domjot balls. The stunned Orion fell to his knees as his counterpart had another go at Osswell. Elias quickly grabbed a nearby domjot clue and quickly headed to Osswell’s position. He was struggling for air as his assailant was grinning at his own handy work.

With the cue he poked it into the Orion’s stomach at full force making him bend over with pain before bring the cue down hard onto the back of his head sending him tumbling to the floor. He turned to check on Osswell but as he did so, a group of station security burst in with stun batons and stunned everyone involved. Walker hit the deck hard as his body went limp from the stun baton.

Luke, already on the ground panting for air, was fortunate enough not to be a recipient of the stun baton, the Security Officers thought him incapacitated already. Instead, a gnarled Nausicaan hand grabbed him from behind and pulled him on his feet. Turning around, he saw it was the Nausicaan who thanked him earlier. "My name is Jarl Varg, You fought valiantly, Starfleet man, it would be my honour to invite you into my family's home so we can test our mettle against each other." Luke, still catching his breath from the fight and the sudden end of it, had never heard of a Nausicaan inviting anyone into his family home. He didn't even know they had families. But Luke didn't let the huge alien notice that. Instead he said: "Thank you for this honour, I humbly accept. By the way, my name is Luke Osswell." That that Luke could be sure, but he thought the Nausicaan gave him his version of a smile. "I will see a proper invitation is sent to you." And with that, the Nausicaan promptly left. Turning back, the Commander was already being put on a stretcher. "Lieutenant? You seem well enough to walk, please follow me to Sickbay, and then it's the Brig for you." Luke would have protested, but he now realised he had a killer headache. The little man was nowhere to be found... "Lead the way, Ensign", Luke said. All the fighting had left him drained. He'll sort this out later, after Sickbay...

RSS Feed