Today was the day. The infamous talent show. People were already inside the meeting room, placing chairs in front of the stage. The 'stage' was usually used to give work presentations.
A total of six people normally attended this get together. It wasn't official or anything. This was just a bunch of coworkers deciding to book the room and use it.
Four people were already inside when Shellington and Peso entered.
"Shellington! Peso! Good to see you!"
"Dashi! Good day to you." Shellington said.
Peso nodded at her in recognition.
Ah Dashi, Chief Operations Officer. The highest-ranking officer attending this get together (well, until this particular one). She was the only person Peso knew that might actually be able to stay close friends with 79 people. She was infamous for coming to see as many crew performances as possible. Peso's little band of ensigns and lieutenant junior grades have held quite a few talent-shows, and Dashi tried to come to watch as many as she could fit into her schedule.
Peso and Shellington walked over and grabbed two chairs to put in their usual spots. They looked at each other. Then they walked over to grab a second set of chairs.
The whole room quieted down.
"Ooooooh." Barrot said. "You two invite some cute girls this time? Good for you!"
"We didn't invite any cute girls." Said Shellington.
Peso hated this.
"Two cute boys then?" Codish asked, knowing Shellington's semantics games.
"I didn't invite any cute boys." Shellington offered.
Codish looked at Peso with an open mouth smile. Barrot and Tomonnow gasped. Gosh dang it Shellington. "That's not true. It's not like that."
"Not true? Well you tell them. Go on then. Have them be the judges." Shellington pushed.
Peso sighed. It was time. "Captain Barnacles and Commander Kwazii are coming tonight."
Codish jumped out of her chair. "Peso! You said you'd never talked to them before!"
"I hadn't! Those checkups really were the first time!"
"Really? Then what did you say? Why are they coming?" Codish asked.
"I didn't say anything! They're coming because… It just kinda happened, you see…"
Tominnow sat down in her seat and started biting her fingernails at this new revelation.
Codish pointed at her. "Now look what you did. Why didn't you tell us?"
Peso pointed accusingly. "I wanted to tell you all! Shellington convinced me not to."
The three other people partaking in the talent show glared at the accused.
Shellington also started pointing. "You're all blabber mouths and you know it! If he told you all, the whole ship might 've shown up. And I'm not doing that. Going from an audience of 6 to 8 is already a big enough leap for me thanks."
Barrot scoffed at Shellington's logic. He looked over at Dashi. "You've been calm this whole time. Did you know they were coming?"
Dashi smiled at him. "Of course!" She worked on the bridge with the captain and commander daily.
"See!" Shellington exclaimed. "She knew and told none of you. That's a person who can keep a secret!"
Dashi laughed. "I don't think you all need to be worried. The Captain and First Officer are nice people."
Barrot scoffed again, and then smile. "I'm sure they are. Right Peso?"
Everyone looked at Peso again. His mind was overloading. He was out of his element again. He wanted to blame Commander Kwazii for this queasy feeling. "…Captain Barnacles is very nice."
Dashi start laughing. Really laughing. "Gosh Peso, what did the commander do to you? You're too funny."
Peso hadn't made a joke.
All the murmurs in the room died down as the captain and commander walked in. Dashi continued to laugh at Peso's omission. Everyone who was sitting stood up. Everyone took their turns greeting them.
Dashi Finally calmed down and greeted them much less formally than the others. "Good afternoon you two. I'm excited you're both joining the audience. Barnacles, I think you're going to especially love Tominnow's violin work."
Tominnow squeaked nervously and the sound of her own name.
Barnacles looked directly at her. That made even more of her nervous ticks come out. His smile never faltered, but Peso noticed the subtle change of look in his eyes. "I am sure It will be an excellent performance."
Tominnow thanked him. She only let go of some tension once Barnacle's attention was placed elsewhere.
Barnacles smiled at Peso as he walked past to find a seat, not wanting to single him out by only initiating conversation with him. Kwazii smiled at Peso too. He clearly didn't hold the same sentiments. He opened his mouth to speak to Peso, but Barnacles pulled him away before he could. Kwazii looked back and smiled at Peso, eyebrows shooting up as if he was challenging him to do something. What? What was he supposed to do?
Peso scanned the room. Everyone was watching him. Some people were rapidly looking between Kwazii and Peso, demanding an explanation for the look Kwazii was currently giving him.
He didn't have an explanation.
"Ok!" Dashi said getting everyone's attention. "Let's do this people. Everyone ready to hear the performance order?"
Everyone nodded.
Dashi spoke again. "Computer. Randomize list 'Dashi talent participants medical bay.'
Shellington rolled his eyes in the name of science. He started participating in this talent show after Dashi had named the file. She told him she couldn't think of a better name for their new group. It upset him greatly that he couldn't think of one either.
The computer randomly selected the order of today's talent show. Going first is Tominnow. Peso shook his head. Poor soul. Fate should have been nicer to her. Then the order was Shellington, Codish, and finally Peso.
Everyone got in their seats. Shellington sat on the end. Peso sat down by Shellington. Barnacles then sat down by Peso. Kwazii sat down by Barnacles. And Dashi sat down by Kwazii. She did this so the other two didn't have to be intimidated sitting next to such a high-ranking officer.
Tominnow walked on stage, bowed, and played a sample of Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: 2nd Movement by Tchaikovsky on the Violin. She was the most talented of the four by far.
Once finished, everyone applauded, and she swapped places with Shellington. Peso patted her shoulder once she sat down. She did amazing and still looks terrified.
Shellington brought out his science kit. Beakers and test tubes all filled with liquids Peso didn't know yet. Shellington started mixing and heating things while explaining the chemistry taking place. He explained the chemical process by which he was able to make a pink liquid turn green. Make foam shoot out of a test tube. Stuff like that. Showing something different every time. Well, he always made sure something caught on fire. That was Codish's favorite part.
Shellington described it as the opposite of a magic show, because he's trying to tell you how he does his trick. Peso loved that. The real reason Shellington was doing this was because all he does (and wants to do) in his free time is learn. So his only talent is explaining what he's learned. He really wanted to be in the talent show when Peso offered, and that's what he came up with.
Once he was done and applauded, Codish went up. She sang a rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables. Peso personally preferred her Funny Girl phase. He couldn't deny she sounded great whatever she picked.
Peso felt like her applause happened in slow motion. He was dizzy. He powered through it and went on stage and nervously set up his xylophone. He played a personally written xylophone rendition of A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles.
He was usually better, more energetic, but he couldn't shake off the nerves. How could he? He full on dropped one of his Mallets. He never does that anymore. The performance wasn't terrible, but it sure wasn't great either.
He sighed while everyone applauded. That was the longest performance of his life. He walked off stage and everyone started putting chairs away. Peso was actively trying to not get close to his two guests.
That gave Shellington a great opening. He walked along side Barnacles. "Hello Captain. May I ask a question?"
Peso's eyes bugged out. No. It was happening.
"Of course ensign."
Shellington smiled. He had no time for small talk or Peso would intervene. "Could you tell us why you made that appointment with Peso? He wouldn't say."
Barnacles looked surprised. "He didn't?"
He was going to murder Shellington. Peso jogged straight into their conversation. "Yes I did captain! Don't listen to him. I told them all you wanted to start a conversation with me."
"That's right." Barnacles said.
"But he said you only wanted to talk about 'marine biology'." Shellington accused.
"That's correct." Barnacles said.
Shellington faltered. No. That couldn't be it. "I see."
Barnacles smiled at Shellington reassuringly. "I very much enjoyed your performance. There was a lot of detail in your descriptions that I much appreciated."
Shellington blushed. It had been so long since someone different saw his little project. "Thank you, captain."
"Well what about the commander?" Barrot suddenly joined in. "Why did you go to see Peso? He wouldn't tell us anything. He said it was all confidential."
Kwazii looked at Peso with surprise, waiting for him to correct this one.
Peso couldn't deny it.
A cheeky grin started growing on Kwazii's face the more time Peso stayed silent. When his smile couldn't get bigger, he started laughing.
Peso wanted to leave so badly.
Kwazii calmed down and smiled at Peso. Another smile Peso couldn't fully read. "You know what? I like that! Let's just keep those details confidential."
Peso paled. No. That's not right. Kwazii was supposed to clear it up! Then it wouldn't be Peso spreading the rumors. This shared secret is going to cause so many more rumors to spread. He's made a grave mistake.
Barrot and Shellington looked stung. Defeated. Now they'll never get to know.
Everyone said their goodbyes and started trickling out the exit.
By the end it was only Barnacles, Kwazii, Peso, and Shellington. Shellington grabbed Peso's arm and brought him close while the other two were in conversation. He whispered "You said the captain planned a talk with you. Why isn't the commander leaving?"
"How should I know?" Peso whispered back.
"Oh you just don't know anything do you? Listen here. You're not getting a wink of sleep tonight till I get thorough details of your talk."
Peso sighed in defeat. Would he himself not get this defensive if Shellington was beating around the bush this much. "Yes. Of course. If I had a writing pad, I would take notes."
Shellington glared in warning that he was serious and said, "Good luck", then headed off to their room.
Peso let go of some of the tension he was holding. That was one anxiety inducing task done, one more to go. He turned around and smiled at the other two. "It's great that you're joining us commander. Should we all move to a more inviting room?"
"Yes of course. Should we go to the observatory or lounge?" Barnacles asked. Those were the only places besides the mess hall on the ship that were made for meeting and talking.
"Observatory." Peso immediately said. The lounge had a bar, and darker lighting, and soft music, and Peso didn't need any help overthinking so, yah.
The three started walking. Kwazii decided to walk by Peso this time, putting Peso in the middle.
"Good performance ensign." Kwazii started. "I've never heard a xylophone live before."
"Thank you commander." Good. Yah right. Peso started thinking about all the times he fumbled the song.
"Yes. Quite the fun song selection. The perfect pick me up after the two more serious songs." Barnacles said.
Oh. That was an actual compliment. "Why thank you captain." Peso glanced at Kwazii, and then spoke to Barnacles again. "Weren't you impressed by Tominnow? She sounded amazing even while terrified."
The other two started reviewing her performance. They reviewed all 3 other performances of the night during their walk to the observatory.
This room was made to comfortably sit and talk or quietly observe the stars. Literally. The engineers made one half of the room completely soundproof after a bunch of scientists kept complaining that everyone was being too loud, and they couldn't think. You can literally walk into quiet when everything got to be too much. Peso used both sides frequently.
The three sat down and momentarily appreciated the stars passing by. All of them looking at those stars for answers, all searching for something different.
The focus came back to each other. "So," Peso began. "How was work on the bridge today?"
Kwazii smiled.
Barncles sighed. "When's the only time sensors will always malfunction? It's when every team needs them at the same time."
"Relatable." Peso said smiling to himself.
Barnacles' mood shifted lighter. "But poor Dashi had to take the bulk incoming complaints. And I don't think I saw her smile break once today. Did you Kwazii?"
"Nope! And I was checking when I wasn't busy!" Kwazii leaned in close to Peso and spoke directly to him, lowering his voice slightestly. "Don't tell the boss this, but we had bets going on when she would crack. Everyone said today was the day except me. They haven't heard the kind of bullshit Dashi's had to listen to. I have. I knew today was nothing, and now I've won big."
Peso looked at Barnacles to confirm that Kwazii wasn't overselling his victory. Barnacles nodded and said, "I would have placed the same bet if I were a gambling man."
"I've gotten you to make plenty of bets once I got enough drinks in yah!" Kwazii said.
Barnacles smiled at that. So Peso smiled too. "Why did you win?" Peso asked. The federation doesn't use money, so it would have to be something else.
"More holodeck time. Been trying to get a huge chunk of it so I can host another murder mystery. Just not the same in the conference room. Now if I can just get enough people who can all get the same time off, then I can host it! I swear you can't schedule any big event with a crew this tiny. Hey!" Kwazii shook Peso's shoulder. "You and your workout buddy should come! Would you two be interested?"
Ok. That was a lot to take in. Commander Kwazii, that man that so thoroughly rattled Pesos psyche this whole week, just invited him to a murder mystery party. In the holodeck no less. That meant the commander was no doubt going to be putting in major effort. Whenever Peso's thoughts wandered to the commander this past week, he guessed that Kwazii spent all his free time doing something like throwing knives.
"That sounds fun commander. I'll come. And I'm sure Shellington will want to come to." Shellington told Peso he's always willing to try anything once.
Wait. Did he just agree to see the commander again? How comfortable was he just feeling!?
Kwazii made a fist and yelled "Yes!" Triumphantly. He leaned in closer to Peso "You wouldn't believe how many boring people are on this ship ensign. It takes a lot more persuading than that to get even one person to agree."
Peso believed it. If you join a science vessel, you'll find everyone's hobbies get a lot more… technical. "Will the captain be going?" He asked, just to be sure.
Kwazii shrugged his shoulders. "Usually, but I bet that will turn into a definitely if you show up ensign. So that's even more reason you should come!"
Barnacles blushed, but he didn't get worked up over Kwazii's comment. They work together every day. Barnacles must be used to this. He looked at Peso and said. "Don't feel pressured. He's just trying to ensure you'll come. If you two join, he'll have finally convinced the 'perfect number of people' to come.'"
"It will be the perfect number!" Kwazii started defending.
Peso understood all too well. Even though he had a big family, it was still difficult to get anyone besides his little brother Pinto to join in any of his boardgames.
Barnacles deflected the comment that was quickly becoming a rant. "How was your day Peso?"
Peso followed Barnacles lead "It was boring. A couple of people came in with scrapes. A few headaches that wouldn't go away. Someone came in with a warp engine burn, and we couldn't have been going more than warp 2, so, how bad was he messing up, right?"
Kwazii and Barnacles looked at each other. Both were perplexed.
"We were going warp 2.2 today. But how did you know that?" Kwazii asked.
Oh! He guessed that was weird to just know. This ship was made so that no one would notice warp engine vibrations until warp 7. After that the ship was too small to offset the effects. Only engineers working in the wall tunnels all day would be able to be that precise. "Theres one spot I found in the medical bay where you can feel it."
Peso stiffened. It was one thing to know about this spot. It was another to be able to notice the slight differences in humming and vibrations of the lower warp levels. Hopefully he didn't just give away just how much time he spent during work in that spot.
"You've peaked my interests ensign. Let's go see it." Kwazii smiled.
Uh. "…Why?" Peso asked.
"Cause I wanna feel it! We're going warp 3.5 right now."
"But, um, don't you usually feel it? At the warp engine?"
"Yeah. But now I wanna know what it feels like at this spot." Kwazii defended.
Peso didn't know what to say. Why does this interest the commander? Under all pretenses this sounds like a boring activity. What was his game?
Kwazii saw Peso's hesitation, and said, "Captain. Tell him you wanna go. Then he'll take us."
Peso blushed at that logic.
"Peso doesn't have to do anything." Barnacles said
"Yeah, yeah. I didn't say make him. Just tell him you wanna see it too."
Peso looked at Barnacles waiting to see how he would respond.
Barnacles looked at Peso and smiled. "If you were willing to show us, I would be interested."
That look but butterflies in his stomach. He didn't wanna say no to the captain. "Ok. Sure. I can't say that it will be very interesting. At all. But let's go."
On the walk there, Barnacles and Peso learned about each other. They talked about their families. What they studied in school. Named various hobbies they enjoy. Kwazii was asked the same questions, but he only responded with vague answers. Peso didn't pry.
Once at the medical bay, Peso took them to the back into a tiny room that was clearly a storage space for medical supplies.
"Here it is." Peso said. He couldn't help but notice how obvious it was that no work got done in here. He pushed the thought back as best he would and took the others into the room.
Peso immediately felt the familiar hum of an engine at warp 3. It calmed him.
The other two waited to feel something. They didn't. Kwazii walked through the doorway a couple of times. "Oh ok. Yeah. I think I feel it." He said continuing to go in and out of the room. Barnacles copied Kwazii and also confirmed that he felt the difference.
…Why did they both want to see this?
The two finally came in the storage room and stayed. "So you can tell the difference between the lower warp levels?" Barnacles asked.
"Yeah." Said Peso.
"You must spend a lot of time in here." Barnacles said.
Peso blushed. He never slacked off when he had work to do. Like this week. But some days were just so darn slow.
"Oh I bet he spends a lot of time here." Kwazii said slyly.
Peso paled. This was one whole elaborate trick set up my Dr. Paani to get him to admit how much time he spends slacking off.
"This must be the medical team's secret spot. You know. The one for playing doctor. Every team's got one." Kwazii raised his eyebrows suggestively at Peso.
What!? Peso started rapidly shaking his head no. "No! I don't use it for that!"
Barnacles glared at Kwazii. "What did we discuss?"
"What!? He just confirmed that's what it's used for. I wasn't out of line!"
Barnacles started rubbing the temples of his forehead.
Peso wanted to end this, but he didn't know what to say to mediate both sides.
"Captain. Officer Tunip reporting. You are needed on the bridge." Barnacles badge suddenly interrupted.
Barnacles sighed and took his hand off his forehead, pressing a finger down on his badge instead. "Copy that officer. Coming now." He hung up and looked at Peso. "I'm surprised it took this long for someone to call for help. Tunip's so dependable, if he asks for help, then he really needs it. I have to go."
"Of course captain." Peso said.
"Thanks for the talk Peso. I'll contact you again to schedule another." Barnacle said.
"Thank you. I'll be waiting to hear. Goodnight captain" Peso said.
Barnacles turn to leave, stopping at Kwazii "Come on."
"What?" Kwazii folded his arms across his chest. "I wasn't called to the bridge."
Barnacles grabbed Kwazii's shoulder. "I'm sure Peso would like to be alone now."
"You're so sure huh? Then let's ask the man himself. Hey ensign, would you like me to stay, or leave?"
Peso looked at Kwazii and thought. He thought hard. He had an excuse to leave. It was late and he could say he was tired. But he wanted Kwazii to stay. He couldn't stop trying to think of an excuse for why Kwazii should stay with him right now. It couldn't just be so they can talk. Peso had no reason to want to talk to Kwazii. It couldn't be because he had things to ask the commander. He didn't really. He wanted Kwazii to stay, but he didn't have a reason for it.
… "It's getting late. I think I should go hit the bed." Dang it. Peso didn't want to say that.
Barnacles didn't look at Kwazii in a I 'told you' way. It was more of a 'sorry pal' kind of look.
If Kwazii felt any disappointment he didn't let it show. "Well that's that then. Call me if you need me on the bridge. Night Captain. Night Ensign."
"Goodnight commander." Peso said.
Barnacles and Kwazii left the storage room together leaving Peso finally alone with the low hum of the warp engine.
He started rubbing his head, messing up his hair. Why couldn't he think of a good reason to get Kwazii to stay!? Why did he even want that?
Wait.
Why did he need a reason? Why on earth did he not just say yes. Tell Kwazii to stay. Peso rejected the guy because of a reason that didn't even need to exist. He was cockblocking himself.
Peso immediately blushed at his own thought. That's not why Kwazii wanted to stay! He shook his head and left the medical bay. Ridiculous.
Why didn't he just tell the commander to stay?