What Happened To The Lounge? (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Jan 9th, 2022 @ 10:23am by Lieutenant Alisha Reno & Commander Ichika Misono & Lieutenant Terrence "Terry" Johnston

1,281 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Handling the Fallout
Location: Five-Forward Lounge

The door was closed and didn't open as Ichika approached the Five-Forward lounge, but there was something hanging on the wall next it. A large PADD had been adhered to the wall with a text message on it that appeared to be some sort of announcement. Through the door came the sound of a guitar being played, a soft voice as well, though the words were muffled. The 'sign' on the wall flashed once as the Exec approached as if to gather the attention of passers-by.

'The Five-Forward Lounge Is Closed For Renovations!

Please bear with us and be patient as we upgrade to better entertain and serve you!

By order of Lieutenant (jg) Alisha Reno


"What the hell...?" Ichika muttered, her ears twitching suspiciously. "I don't remember granting Lieutenant Reno permission to renovate the lounge..."

The guitar grew stronger as a sound, the voice growing stronger as whoever it was in the lounge got into whatever they were singing, "And fly-yiy-yiy blackbird, soar into the sky,.. When you find where you're going, You'll never say good-bye..." The voice sounded familiar, certainly, but it would be hard to identify just from sound.

Tilting her head perplexedly, Ichika reached out and banged on the door, hoping it would be just loud enough to reach the person on the other side. "Um... hello? Is there someone in there?"

The singing stopped dead and so did the sound of the guitar ended simultaneously for a few seconds of silence before the door slid open, revealing Alisha in her uniform, though sans jacket, “Oh, hi there.. Commander ma’am, it’s just me in here at the moment, I wasn’t expecting you to happen by I, umm…”

"Hold that thought, Lieutenant," Ichika interjected. "Mind if I speak with you for a moment?"

Obediently, Alisha stepped aside into the lounge and let the diminutive Inuto into the lounge which looked… Like a wreck of a work in progress. The original chairs and tables were long gone, the drinks bar was at an uneven angle about fifteen feet from where it had originally been, and items were stacked up, new chairs and tables in shrink wrap, a pile of honest to god wooden planking in a cherry color, a pair of gaming tables in another corner with more stuff laying about and in the single corner near the windows, a stool with a guitar stand next to it, an obviously well-used guitar sitting on it, “Forgiveness is easier to ask for than permission, ma’am?” Alisha answered the question, “I walked in and didn’t like what I saw and… I umm..” She trailed off.

"Lieutenant, I'm sure this question is obvious, but... who gave you permission to renovate Five Forward?" Ichika inquired.

"I did." Alisha reached up and brushed a few blonde hairs back behind her ear with a slight grimace, "I know I should have asked first, but we were on a tight time schedule and if I'd taken the time, we'd have been away from the station and who knows when I'd have been able to get the right equipment on board." She glanced at all of the material and other items in the room, "None of this came out of ships resources, ma'am, well, minimal, but we'll recycle everything that's coming out of here."

"As if we weren't short on resources already..." Ichika muttered. "Lieutenant, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, was there any particular reason the lounge needed to be renovated?"

Then, after momentarily reconsidering her words: "Other than it not being up to your personal tastes?"

"Yes, there is." Alisha said softly, with a warm smile, "I came to the Fleet later than most people go to the Academy, but one thing that happened is that I've made more contacts with non-Fleet people. In fact, I grew up with someone who became somewhat of a celebrity. Have you ever heard of Elena Girardi?" She asked, eliciting an arched eyebrow from Ichika. "Technically she was Alexis Silverstar, an actress who took a role, but I've known her since we were girls and up to when she retired from public life. She and I talk a fair spot, but Alexis has tended to still perform concerts as Elena when she gets the chance."

The human sighed lightly, "But that's only part of it. Alexis/Elena is really big into supporting Starfleet for various reasons and she understands that morale is really important, especially on smaller ships. Galaxy-class ships have a lot of ability to adapt spaces and such for that purpose, along with the energy and material resources to pull it off. A smaller ship like the New Orleans class as well as other, smaller ships really don't have those resources. So what she does, through the Girardi Foundation, is to provide grants for some of those smaller ships to have that same chance as the larger ships." Alisha gestured to the room, "Since I'm really close to her, she gave me access to some funds to use if I found a ship that needed something like this done. I've let her know that I did find myself on a ship that needed something pretty badly and she's even offered that if she's in the area when we make port, that she wants to even give a performance in person for whoever of the crew can attend to it. So I decided that I should give her a place that she'd feel comfortable in, as well as to give the crew a place to relax properly."

"Well, I suppose I can speak with the Command Staff regarding Miss Silverstar's sponsorship," Ichika sighed. "But I will make it perfectly clear that I want these renovations completed by Tuesday, at 0500 hours on the dot; any later and I will personally order that you return the lounge to way you found it. Am I clear, Lieutenant?"

"I... Tuesday?" Alisha's eyes bugged out, "That-that's only a couple days away!" Her eyes cast around all the work that would need to be done, and it was doable, but not by herself, "Kamiyo watashi o sukui tamae..." (God Help Me) She bit out softly, "I'm going to need some more help than just odds and ends of people then." She admitted, "I've got a basic plan on how to make it more modular so that things can be moved around for events or even receptions to give it more space... I'll need an engineer or two basically for the next day, especially since I still have my own duties to perform."

Ichika sighed, but nonetheless complied with Alisha's request for assistance and tapped on her Comm Badge.

=A=Could we get an Engineer over here at Five Forward... or two?=A=

The call came through on Terry's combadge, and he tapped it in response.

=A= "This is Johnston: I'm on my way." =A= He said.

From behind him came another voice, a slight Irish lilt, =A="I'm coming too, did ask for a pair."=A=

Alisha sighed and quickly walked over to where she'd placed her PADD and keyed it to life, already reviewing what she'd had planned, "Ma'am, this is going to be rough and tumble... I might have to 'finish' it and then tweak things later to adjust certain things. The plan is to let this be standalone, self service and all that."

To be continued...


Mission Post By:

Lieutenant (JG) Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Myogi

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer
USS Myogi

Lieutenant (JG) Terrence Johnston
Engineering Officer
USS Myogi

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