Ram's Head

Posted on Sunday 2 January 2022 @ 21:38 by Major David Scarlet & Lieutenant JG Oakham Renn

Mission: First Contact
Location: Cargo Bay
Timeline: MD 8
2246 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Aside from the usual training and administrative work, this mission was thankfully benign and didn't require their services. Yet. Scarlet walked with purpose as he got closer to the smaller cargobay that McPhee had assigned them as the location-to-be of the Ram's Head.

The door slid open and Scarlet walked in to look at the area. When they had agreed to a hole in the wall, McPhee seemed to have taken it literally. It was obvious from the small size why this cargobay wasn't generally used as much as the larger ones. It was empty and sterile. Unpleasantly clean. That would change.

Taking out his padd, Scarlet walked into the area and began taking notes. He wasn't an interior decorator by any stretch, but he did know tactics and terran. As well as having some ideas from the other smaller ships he'd served on to maximize space.

The door of the cargo bay opened up once more with Mathias walking inside, "Think this will work out?" gesturing around the cargo bay. "I thought it would work out nicely." he chuckled. "I sent out an invite to meet here. One of my people will be arriving. How about you? Is someone else from your department coming?"

Scarlet smirked. "More will come later, but right now I'll need the eye of a Princess to figure out what to do here." He looked at McPhee and nodded toward his arm. "How's the arm?"

Gregor walked in wearing an old uniform that had seen better days. " Well I'm ready to work Lads, What the plan of action for the day? " He looked around. " I see that we need to do a bit of cleaning before we get started. "

The young Bajoran followed Gregor in, his time on Merlin had been brief and so far he hadn't made any real friends having spent most of his time supporting in the brig.

"Gentleman, I was asked to report here... Lieutenant Oakham Renn, Security!"

Mathias smiled., "Oh the arm is better, much better thanks to Dr. Kyhl she had to do surgery though." giving a wry smile. He turned to greet the newly arrived security. "Greetings Lieutenant Renn, glad you answered the invite. I'm Lieutenant Mathias McPhee, Chief of Operations and, Second Officer."

Walking to the middle of the room, he motioned around. "Bar in the middle so people have can gather around the whole thing. Clear lines of sight to the entrance, but defensible."

Gregor nodded in agreement. " Good thinking, But since we're making this for everyone, it's being designed after an English country pub. I think I might know a lady or two for some suggestions on how to make it a bit more homey and relaxing. I mean if the three of us designed it, it would look like a barracks bar. We might be happy with it, but not everyone would be. Any objections from suggestions from the ladies? "

Right then a female Marine stepped inside, her Code name Princess, aka Lance Corporal Pearl Bijoux. "What's going on? I was summoned, and you need a female's touch?" her eyes blinking at those already gathered. "Hello, I'm here."

Mathias nodded in greeting, "Glad you could make it."

" Talk about good timing! And welcome lass, I'd like to pick your brains for some suggestions if you don't mind. " Said Gregor. As he swept up the floor and got the area ready for work. " Still a lot to do and decide, but when we're done here it will be a place we can be proud of. "

Pearl's eyebrow raised at Gregor's remark. "Um... just what sort of suggestions are you wanting from me? I don't know much about interior decorating. Just because I am female, doesn't mean I would know anything about that, Sir." she then looked over at Lieutenant Renn, "So Lieutenant Morgan, who is this security officer? Um, Lieutenant....? "

"Lieutenant Oakham Renn.... But, with respect sir," directing the second half of his comment to Lieutenant Morgan. "My given name is Renn and my Family name is Oakham... Bajoran culture has them reversed compared to Human tradition!"

He said respectfully to his direct superior officer.

Gregor smiled. "Well, not all Earth culture, The Asian cultures on Earth go by family name and then given name, Much like the Bajorians." He extended his hand. "It's an Earth custom for greeting." He said. "That and welcome! With the population growing, we're going to need a fair amount of security to protect the station, But we've got that covered."

"We're going to build a pub. And a big part of that is going to be to get people working together. As a team." Scarlet said without really looking up. "Right now we're in the planning and cleaning stage."

"Alright Princess, pick up a broom and start sweeping. If you have any insights or opinions related to the pub, feel free to share." Scarlet took his padd and placed it back in his pocket before grabbing another broom and began to sweep.

Mathias looked towards the door hoping to see Jack arrive. Where was the man? He pulled out his padd and sent a message, 'Hey Jack, where are you? You are needed here pronto, need your input and also help to clean up'. Mathias sent him to the area where they are at.

Pearl had grabbed a broom and started her sweeps, she paused and looked towards Renn. "So... it would be Lieutenant Renn for me to address you or, Lieutenant Oakham?" Pearl wasn't familiar with this sort of custom.

"Lieutenant Oakham... but you can call me Renn off duty!" The young Bajoran said with a smile, still not having made very many friends on the ship by this time. Then again he had been so busy with his duties that he hadn't really left the armoury other than stopping by sickbay for his physical exam with a very prickly Benzite.

Crawling out of a nearby Jefferies tube, Jack gave his somewhat dirty uniform a brush down to try and get some of the dust off of him before looking around for his new division CO. Eventually Spotting him, he made his way over to Mathias, "Hey Boss, you called?"

Mathias grinned at the entrance Jack had made. "Yup, looks like you're already mussed up for this dirty job. We're going to be fixing this up to be a pub, called the Ram's Head. And it's a project that we all will be working on."

Pearl had been sweeping up and had just gotten a dustpan to scoop up the trash when her attention had been caught by hearing a certain someone's voice. She looked down and finished picking up the dirt, to hide the blushing of her cheeks when he arrived. She had to get herself composed before she faced him.

Jack gave the area a quick look around before giving a nod, “sure why not. So have we got a particular theme in mind like an Irish pub or an American milk bar, or are we going for a more general Starfleet look?”

Mathias answered Jack, "This is supposed to be something not standard Star Fleet. Probably more on the Irish or English pubs.

"Ram's Head. English pub in keeping with the theme of the ship being Arthurian lore." Scarlet stated without looking up. He was quickly getting outside his comfort zone with the number of people.

Scarlet did glance at the Princess. He wasn't sure if her behaviour was normal off duty for her or if she was better at maintaining her composure when flustered.

Pearl caught the glance from Scarlet her cheeks going a bit darker. She picked up the trash in the dust pan and took it to the garbage can. Dumping it she turned towards Scarlet. "So, a bar in the center of the room?" she hadn't heard about Scarlet's plan but she was thinking about ideas. "Um right about here and an area for...what else would go into a pub. There was a pub that had darts in the back area but away from the bathroom just in case of a wild dart. Um... but would there be a pool table?"

"Well there is a way we can start designing. I assume the holo-projectors are online?" Jack said, looking to Mathias.

Mathias looked at Jack, "None of those are present in this area." the chief of operations remarked. He looked over towards Gregor and Scarlet. "May bring in those later." looking back to Jack, "Depends on if Scarlet wants to use that as a design tool. In the meantime the place still needs some cleaning up before we get to the next step.

Gregor looked up as he listened to the conversation. " I'm just about done with this area over here, at least the sweeping part. Since we're building a pub, I'd like to use wooden chairs and tables. They'd have to be bolted to the floor of course in case of combat or storm "

Scarlet shook his head. "No holo-projectors. Last thing we want is 'perfect'. We want this to feel as home grown and natural as possible."

He crossed his arms and looked around with a scowl. "Bolted down? I guess. During battle stations no one would be in here anyway. Damages would have to be repaired... it would add character each time."

Pearl looked at Scarlet then at Gregor. "Um why would you want to bolt them down Sir, besides the fact of making sure they aren't tossed around?" giving a bit of a frown. "In truth I think that having unbolted furniture would be better. If they are bolted down, I think it would interfere with the freedom of movement, even the flow. This is supposed to be something that isn't like Ten Forward, and everything in there is bolted down. You can't move the chairs around if you wanted to. To me, it seems too rigid. And wouldn't add to the hopefully relaxing nature of this place. This is where a person can let their hair down, possibly? " she bit her lower lip, giving a questioning look at her superiors. "I honestly wouldn't be able to stand coming in here, if that were the case, having chairs and tables bolted down."

Scarlet shrugged and looked at Morgan as he nodded toward the Princess. "You asked for her opinion, I think you just got it."

"As I said, any damages that occur can be repaired and it'll add character." Scarlet thought for a moment. "A cage around the bottles when the place is closed would be required though. A broken chair can be repaired, broken bottle of scotch, not so much."

Looking around, Jack tried to think of what this place could look like, “hmm, so are we going for booths or proper tables and chairs?”

"Maybe a combination?" Pearl suggested. " I have no clue, some places had booths but most times just had chairs and tables." she responded. Looking at the men there. Taking a deep breath she went back to picking up more of the dust. This was helping her to concentrate.

"Sounds good Prince- I mean Lance Corporal." Scarlet corrected himself and looked over at Pearl. "We need room for a dartboard as well."

Pearl paused and gave a thumbs up towards Scarlet. "And definitely a head as well." she remarked over her shoulder. "Always need something like that." flashing a smile as she looked over towards the men.

Gregor laughed. " Well Scarlett, your right, I did ask her for an opinion and I got one. Fine, I agree. The furniture doesn't need to be bolted down. I was just thinking of the crew if they happened to be caught in here during a storm or an attack and being injured by sliding furniture, that was the reason I suggested it in the first place. "

"Speaking of... does anyone else know how to play?" Scarlet asked quickly. He motioned to Gregor. "I generally like anything requiring aim and concentration, you?"

" As do I. " Responded Gregor. I happen to have a decent hand and eye when it comes to darts. I'm only fair when it comes to billiards though. I could teach newcomers lessons for darts for those that are interested. "

"I do know how to play" Pearl replied, with a smile.
"Then it's agreed. We build the bar and then we have a tournament." Scarlet said with a nod. He looked around the empty space. "There's still a lot left to be done before hand so let's get to it."

" I agree there is much to be done, But with enough time, effort and sweat we'll get it done and it will be worth it in the end. " Said Gregor.

Pearl smiled over towards the men that were there, she was looking forward to what could be an up and coming bit of fun.


○● Lieutenant JG Gregor Morgan
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Merlin


>>>* Chief Petty Officer Johnathan "Jack" MacGyver
Engineering Specialist
USS Merlin


●● Lieutenant Mathias McPhee
Chief Operations Officer
USS Merlin


○● Lieutenant JG Oakham Renn
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Merlin


* Major David Scarlet
Marine Company Commander
USS Merlin


Lance Corporal Pearl Bijoux
Marine
USS Merlin