Bad Habits and Pixie Pranks"
By: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:41:06 -0500
, Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:41:06 -0500
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Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
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Bart "Burner" Reed, Fighter Pilot, [RNPC]
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:41:06 -0500
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M'Ressha Mikaht, Fighter Pilot, [RNPC]
Maxine Lucinda Tapert, Computer Specialist, [PC]
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Stardate: 58208.08 1000
"I =told= you. I need to find out 'ow Rahw and the Pegasus did," Maxine reminded her. "Now 'ush Pixie, while I get the call through," she shushed the hologram as she put in a call to Blitzer and Burner on QulTuq.
Blitzer sat up in the pilot's seat when the com signal went off. It was Max. Blitzer smiled and was ecstatic to hear from her but kept his composure In his voice as he tapped the comlink, "This is the USS Pegasus."
Maxine was just as excited to be able to talk to Blitzer, only her excitement bled through to her voice when she greeted him. "Blitz! 'Ello!" She had to pause and take a breath because at the sound of his voice, she momentarily forgot why she was calling. 'Oh... Uh.... 'ow are you?" She'd get around to Rahw and the Pegasus in a moment or two.
Blitzer's tail swished anxiously as he conversed with Max. "Everything is good here. Where'd you guys take off to in such a hurry?"
"Oh... Uhm.. I'll tell you later." Maxine wasn't sure she should be talking about what the Zion had been doing over a subspace channel. Not that she really knew all that much, but still. Caution was better than not.
"'ow'd the Pegasus do?" she asked him. "And Rahw? Is she doing what You need 'er to? She's behaving 'erself?"
"Oh heck yeah," blurted Burner who had been listening to the Conversation from his spot at the co-pilot's station, "She's doing just fine. I'm teaching her how to play strip poker."
"Oh no...." Maxine groaned softly and covered her face with a hand, visions of Harry's reaction dancing through her head. Krystal could be heard giggling in the background.
Burner chuckled. "She never pays up though," he said, his voice full of mock confusion, "Every time she loses, something goes wrong with the warp core, and she has to go find that new engineer to fix it."
"Bloody good for 'er!" Max exclaimed. "She doesn't need t'be getting All naked and stuff. And stop corrupting my AI, Burner!" The laughter in her voice was quite easy to hear. "Next you'll have her drinking and playing Dabo. That would be bloody awful."
"I think having a well rounded education is important, even for AI holograms," replied Burner trying hard, and failing to suppress a chuckle.
"'Well rounded' doesn't include 'ow t'lose your clothes to a bloody pilot!" Of course she rather obviously didn't mention anything about losing some of her own clothing to a certain pilot.
"Drinking? I wonder," said Burner pondering an idea. "Can she get drunk?"
Maxine rolled her eyes and shook her head, causing Krystal to giggle and bounce around as she worked tiny braids into Max's hair. "Not if I don't bloody well program it into 'er," the computer specialist pointed out.
"Ah," said Burner with a nod, "but she is an artificial intelligence, she can learn for herself. I'm thinking that this might not be a bad assignment after all."
"I can't imagine you as a teacher, Burner," Max eyed him. "Actually... The thought's a pretty scary one. Don't go teaching 'er all your bad 'abits now."
Blitzer always felt like Hard Luck Harry was standing right behind him. Feeling a little guilty he piped up, "The Pegasus is a great ship. It handles very well," he said bringing the conversation back from the brink of bawdiness.
"'aving fun, are you?" Maxine laughed. "I know 'ow you like t'fly."
Blitzer looked over at Burner who was also smiling, "We are having fun!"
"I knew you were," Maxine laughed. "Do I need t'make any adjustments t'Rahw?
Blitzer shrugged, "I don't know, Burner has been monopolizing her."
"Hey Blitz, I've been wanting to test this out for a while," said Burner. He reached out and tapped a few keys on his console. The room darkened, and shimmered for a brief moment. Standing before them was a 3 dimensional representation of Max, complete with baggy pajama bottoms covered in rubber ducks and a topped off with a skimpy camisole. "It has a 3D view screen."
Max quirked a brow and grinned, turning her head to get a full picture Of the bridge. "Awesome. Still checking out all 'er systems, ey?"
"Not bad eh Blitz? This is a really cool gizmo," said Burner.
Blitzer leaned back in his chair, his eyes glancing about, "...yeah."
"I love the view," Max piped up and grinned at first Blitz and then Burner in turn, going back to the big Cait and waving at him Then she watched as Rahw shimmered into view sitting cross-legged on the console in front of Burner dressed in one of those harem outfits she'd adopted and began wearing at the oddest times.
"I see we have a visitor," the Pegasus' AI smiled at Maxine. "Come to Check on me?"
"Aye, and a good thing too," Max eyed the hologram with a critical eye.
Burner eyed the latest hologram up and down, "Nice duds!" he said with a smile. Turning back to Max he said, "I had nothing to do with her choice of clothes."
"Rooiiight... I know you turned 'er onto some weird twentieth century Media that expressed women wearing next to nothing..." Max eyed Burner and then turned her gaze back to Rahw. "Better not let 'arry catch you in that," she motioned to the AI's choice of dress. "'e likes a neat uniform."
On hearing Max's pronouncement about Burner's hand in Rahw's clothing, Krystal's eyes got huge and she looked like she'd just gotten her hand caught in the cookie jar. She covered her mouth and rolled over, giggling helplessly. Maybe her little data bank suggestion to Rahw would finally get the Pegasus' AI in some trouble.
Rahw snorted softly in a very un-human like manner and more reminiscent of her original dragon form. "He appreciates the view though. He just can't say so like Burner can," the AI pointed out and grinned back at Burner.
Burner now found himself in the middle of a situation that he did not want to be in. It was all well and good to have some fun with Max and Rahw, but he had not desire to be on either of their bad sides. "Max, we are all on our best behavior when Harry is around. She has a uniform just like the rest of us." He looked at the Peg's AI, "Rahw, where did you find that getup anyway?"
"I Dream of Jeanie..." Rahw turned to grin at Burner. "Did you know that the data banks on QulTuq are full of the most fascinating things? And some of the ships that dock here.... If I could just get inside them. Why there's a *wealth* of knowledge out there just waiting to be gobbled up."
(I didn't know if Rahw could access any of the ships that hooked up to QulTuq, so I made that something she was trying to do rather than doing. Let me know if it would be different.)
Krystal broke out into a new wave of giggles, giving away her involvement. Maxine turned to eye the pixie suspiciously. "Seems I owe Burner an apology...." She reached up and flicked the pixie hologram, sending the little creature tumbling off her shoulder with a squeal and a spray of golden dust particles.
"There's a definite advantage to 'aving field generators in my room," Maxine had a rather smug look when she turned to Burner. "I'm sorry. I accused you unjustly and I shouldn't 'ave. It seems I 'ave a traitorous minx as a sidekick." She watched as the pixie crawled back up onto her shoulder and shook like a dog, looking pretty ruffled.
"That was not fair," Krystal accused and perched to begin putting herself back in order again.
Blitzer stirred in his chair, grunting a little and making a sound as if he were clearing his throat as he sat up straight, "Harry is bound to be back any moment. We should get back to work," he said giving Burner the look. The last thing Blitzer wanted was to get in trouble with Harry and get thrown off the project.
"Roight then," Maxine nodded and got back to the business at hand. "'We'll be at QulTuq soon enough. If you guys 'ave found any bugs in Rahw at all, let me know so I can work on them when we get back," she told them. "And also let me know if there's anything you've found that you need 'er t'do that she's not doing. Okay?"