Catnip "
By: CWO5 Peter Singer , Marine , [NPC]
Captain Marcus Campanili , Marine XO , [NPC]
M'Ressha Ka'Tira, Stellar Cartography, [RNPC]
Miranda, Lounge Manager, [RNPC]
WO Al Beckett , Marine , [NPC]

Stardate: 58208.12 1950

The door to sickbay closed with a whoosh. As if by its own will, her tail swished away from it in an evasive manner.

Ka'tira stood there. Uncertain which way to go. Unconcerned by the absence of any thoughts or plans as to what to do next.

She felt relaxed from the medication that Doctor Dane had given her after her physical.

Vaguely, she became of aware of the fact that she was now walking forward. She paused to look at the LCARS panel near the intersection of two corridors. Deck 11. How did she get there?

She leaned against the wall. It seemed to spin slightly. She yawned. "Hot," she said out loud, "do they always keep this ship so damn hot?"

Her sensitive ears pitched sideways as she heard several men talking in the distance. She heard them talking about going to Deck 10.

She peered around the corner. They were quite a ways away but they seemed close. She lifted herself from the wall and began stalking them, matching her footfalls with theirs. Then they were gone.

When she reached the turbolift they had disappeared in, she ordered it to take her to Deck 10.

When the doors opened she looked out into the annex. It was many times wider than the corridor and lined with what looked like shops. At the end was Miranda's. She walked forward. When she reached the entrance she peered inside. It was a bar.

She tugged on her skirt to adjust it, causing it to ride a little higher on her hips.

The door parted and she stepped in. Her eyes spotted a group of marines. Her heart began to beat just a little faster and she felt a sensation of heat and tingling spread through out her body.

"Kitty kitty," Beck nudged Chords as he watched the Cait, who was dressed in a skimpy skant uniform, saunter over in their direction.

When she arrived at their table she cocked her head slightly, "Hi," she said with a smile on a vacant expression.

"Wh--? Oh... Hi," Chords smiled back. "Don't think I've seen you around here before..." he said.

She shook her head in a wide arc. "Nope, I just got here." Her nose took in their subtle scents. Masculinity. Her nostrils flared some and her pupils dilated.

The other Marines at the table were definitely giving the Cait officer the once-over. Exotic was the word, and they all noticed.

"...And I don't know what to do with myself."

Campi sat at the bar with a half drank glass of brandy in front of him. He'd come to try and talk Miranda out of a bottle of her scotch, but had, as yet, gotten a chance to talk to her. He glanced up at the mirror and his gaze focused on the table where his men were talking to a female Cait. His eyebrow lifted just a bit and he took another sip of his drink as he watched.

"What do you have?" she asked.

In almost perfect unison they all half stood, shuffled chairs around and suddenly produced an empty one right next to her. It was all very synchronized and almost looked rehearsed.

"Why dontcha have a seat and join us?" Chords motioned to the chair. "Beck and I.." he motioned to Beck who grinned and winked at her, "Are drinking whiskey. These other louts," he motioned to the other Marines, "Are drinking beer. What would you like? They call me Chords, by the way. What's your name?"

With slinky cat-like grace she sat down in the seat they offered, taking a moment to smooth her tail which had bristled from the momentary wave of excitement.

She leaned over just a little, just enough, to sniff the scent of the whiskey. It made her eyes water. She put her paw on her snout and giggled, "oh, no, no..."

She repeated the maneuver and sniffed at the beer, "I'll have one of those," she said.

"No problem."

"Here, let me get you one."

"Why don't you take mine?"

The onrush of help offered to the Cait was almost overwhelming as the Marines tried to accommodate the sensuous creature.

Chords raised his hand and caught Trish's attention. He made a motion to her indicating what he wanted. "Stow it, Marines," he told the group and then smiled at Kat. "The girl's gonna bring you one right over. What's your name?" he asked again. "They call me Chords."

She licked the top of her lip with the tip of her tongue in anticipation of some quench her thirst. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was.

"Ka'tira," she said, "but my friends call me Kat."

She leaned her snout close to Chords, "You can call me Kat," she said with a purr.

She shifted a little pointing to each marine in turn she continued, "...and you, and..."

Miranda watched from behind the bar as the new Cait sat down with the marines. She noted that the cat-like creature, while still being rather graceful looks a bit unfocused and stumbled occasionally. This was the way people usually left Miranda's not entered it. She made a note to keep an eye on this one.

Miranda stopped in front of the spot where Campi was sitting. He also appeared to be watching the new crewmember interact with his men. "Trish tells me that you wanted to talk to me?"

Campi pulled his dark gaze from the group of Marines fawning all over the Cait officer and turned to level it onto Miranda. "Marcus Campanili," he told her with a very brief tilt to the corner of his lips.

He glanced at his men through the mirror again and then back to her. It was quite evident that he was keeping a watchful eye on them. "I understand from my TO, Lieutenant Taylor, that you have the finest scotch he's ever tasted," he began. "I'd like to know if I can buy a bottle from you."

Miranda chuckled, "Scott told me you would be coming." She placed an empty glass on the bar in front of him and turned to select a bottle from the bar, uncorking it she poured him a half glass, "You better try it first."

"I should have known he would," Campi's almost-smile quirked a bit more. He thought perhaps the Major had been right and there was something brewing between Taylor and the bar owner. "It's my turn to buy." He explained as he glanced back to his men and then watched her pour the scotch. "Did he tell you that I'm not a connoisseur of good scotch?"

"Who is?" she asked with a smile. "You enjoy this while I get you another bottle." Miranda disappeared into a storage room behind the bar.

Campi watched her go and then his gaze went back to the mirror where he watched is men and the Cait officer as he sipped the scotch.

The server brought Ka'tira her beer, she lifted the glass to her mouth and began drinking. She didn't put the glass down until it was gone.

"Easy there, Kitty Kat," Chords smiled at her and scooted his chair a little closer. "The night's still young."

"Here, let me get you another one.." Beck motioned to the waitress and pointed to Kat's empty glass. He and Chords had managed to put the Cait between them and weren't letting the other Marines have much of a chance with her. "What department are you in?"

"I am.." she said but waited a moment for her brain to catch up. "...A scientist."

"A scientist?" Beck scooted a little closer.

"That's very impressive," Chords told her with a grin.

"Do you know what?" she said with an exaggerated movement of her paw, "I have a tail." She squinted at Chords to make him less fuzzy.

"Do you know what?" Chords leaned in close. "I noticed. And it's a very attractive looking tail too.

"Do you think so?"

Chords grinned and nodded. "Indeed I do. What can you do with it?"

Ka'tira laughed, "oh, wouldn't you like to know..."

Chords laughed with her and nodded. "Oh yes ma'am, I surely would. Very much," he told her.

"We both would," Beck piped up.

"Hell, we all would!" One of the other Marines at the table chimed in.

Ka'tira took a sip of the fresh beer and then crawled up on the table sitting with her backs to the boys. Her tail swished back and forth from beneath the skirt of her uniform. She gave them a look over her shoulder and then got up on the table on all fours. Her bottom wiggled seductively as the tip of her tail tickled Chords on the ear and his chin.

Every Marine at the table was watching that wiggling bottom with keen interest and there was more than one "HooHa!" called out along with a whistle or two.

Chords laughed and tried to grab the end of her tail.

At the bar, Marcus exchanged a glance with Miranda who had just returned with his bottle of scotch. He straightened and looked like he was preparing to move.

Miranda also had her eye on the scene beginning to unfold in the lounge. Something was not right with this situation. She set the unopened bottle down on the take in front of Campi, "Here you go," she said, not taking her eyes off the Cait sitting with the Marines, "Something is not right over there."

"I'm keeping an eye on them." Campanili's gaze never left the table of Marines.

Ka'tira's eyes got very wide when Chords actually managed to catch it.

"Reel her in" came some shouts from some enlisted men at the next table.

Chords grinned at Kat and wiggled the end of her tail at her. "Now that I've caught it, what's my prize?"

Ka'tira snatched her tail from his hand and waved a finger back and forth, "uh-uh-uh" she said with an sly grin.

She leaned forward and used her tail on his nose like a feather duster then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "That's your prize."

By now there were more onlookers, mostly enlisted men. It was their happy hour at Miranda's. Several of the patrons began to cheer on Chords while several others were coaxing Ka'tira on how to keep away from him.

Chords laughed and made to grab her, his intention clearly to get her in his Lap, but the Cait deftly avoided his grasp.

"So you are a good fighter? I can fight too." said Ka'tira.

"We should have a sparring match some time," Chords offered suggestively. "Perhaps later tonight? In my quarters?"

"How about right now?" suggested Ka'tira striking a pose.

"Well, I had a more... =private= setting in mind," Chords chuckled and reached for her again, this time managing to grab hold of the hem of her skirt.

A wave of cheers went up and the Marines scooted back their chairs to give Chords some room to work.

Ka'tira tugged but Chords did not relent. She gave him a defiant look and with a quick wiggle left Chords holding her skirt.

She spun around on the table and faced him with a smile and a "ha!"

Anticipating he'd try to grab her again, she attempted to roll off the table but ended up in the lap of one of the new Marines who looked startled and wasn't quite sure what to do with a lapful of a half clothed officer.

"Hey, your kind of cute too," she said looking up.

"Y-You're more than cute, ma'am," he told her with a wide grin.

"Hand her over, Corporal," Chords tossed her skirt over his shoulder like a bar towel and reached over the table.

"Yes, sir!" the Corporal responded and stood up.

Behind him one of the onlookers grabbed his shoulder to turn him around. "Nono, hand her off to me!"

Campi had been watched the proceedings started to get out of hand and decided it was time to intervene. "Right..." he muttered and sat his glass on the bar top before giving Miranda a nod and slipping off his stool to weave his way through the crowd.

Miranda walked to the center of the bar and slowly reached for her equalizer. She knew that Melissa was going to be unhappy with her if she used it, but she could not allow this sort of thing to happen in her bar. She would give Campi a chance to get control of the situation, but if that failed she had her hole card. Miranda wrapped her hand around the hilt of a Thunderbolt 3010 double compression Phaser riffle and waited.

Ka'tira seemed to be relax as the young marine carried her like a bride across a threshold. But as he was about to hand her over, he tripped on her tail, spilling her on to the floor.

She looked at the lights above which were spinning. She felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

She closed her eyes and rolled over and laughed. When she opened her eyes again and looked up she saw a forest of legs and crawled through them, into a clearing under a table.

She felt very dizzy. It was too hot. She peeled off another layer of clothing and crawled past legs and hands reaching to clutch her.

Under the next table she peeled of the last of her clothing. She was still hot, and short of breath. A face peered from above, she couldn't hear what it was saying. Everything was moving in slow motion. The room filled with the din of voices which sounded like the roar of a river.

She turned and crawled, but it was like she was in a g-force simulator. Each breath was now a struggle. Her eyes focused on a pair of boots which blocked her way.

Campanili was smart enough not to try and grab her as she crawled under the tables. He just simply moved to intercept her. As soon as he showed up on the scene, Chords, Beck and the other Marines, with some prompting from the two Warrant Officers, stopped their horsing around.

The Marine XO crouched down when Kat reached his feet. "You don't look so good, Ensign," he observed rather calmly in that deep voice of his. "Why don't I help you up?" He reached his hand out to her.

"P-please," she said reaching up.

As Campanili helped her to her feet she slumped forward on him, "I don't feel so good," she said.

A brash ensign pushed his way past one of the marines, "hey kitty, you don't want to be with these jarheads," he said pulling persuasively on her tail. "Come and party at our table."

The young man's friends cheered him on, "yeah, come over here!"

The Ensign held up her tail as high as he could so his peers at the other table could see his conquest.

Ka'tira hissed and turned, primitive instincts took over. She snapped into a marital arts stance, her claws flicked from her paws like little switchblades.

Campanili reached an arm around Kat to keep her from lunging forward. At the same time, Beck stepped up and grabbed the Ensign who had her tail. "Dude, leave the woman alone!" Another one of the Marines reached out and pulled her tail free.

"Bugger off, jarhead," the Ensign shoved Beck away from him and Beck stumbled back into Chords. The rest of the Marines all stepped between the Ensign and his buddies, and where Campi was holding onto a struggling Kat.

"You jarheads think you can just come in here and order us around, well, it doesn't work that way!" one of the onlookers called out and several of them started try to push through the Marines, who naturally started shoving back.

"Jarhead? We DO serve a valid function, squid face," one of the younger Marines called back.

A punch was thrown, which lead to another, and then a third.

Campanili grabbed Ka'tira's wrists from behind and pulled her close to him, crossing her arms over her chest and holding the Cait tightly.

Ka'tira struggled for a moment to free herself but didn't have the strength. Now spent of energy, she slumped against him, "Zen.." she said too softly to be understood. Her eyes seemed to roll around in her head as she tried to focus on anything she could.

"Bring her things to Sickbay," Campi instructed Chords, who was fending off one of the onlookers. "Aye, aye, Chief. Just as soon as..." One of the Ensign's fist caught him squarely in the jaw, halting his words.

For an Italian, Marcus Campanili is a big man, so swinging the Cait officer up over his shoulder was accomplished with relative ease. He looked over to spot Miranda with her rifle, and smirked a bit. "I'll be escorting her to Sickbay," he informed her and nodded to her rifle, his smirk turning into one of those almost-grins. "I'll leave this to you..."

Miranda watched Campaneli leave and the fight continued to escalate. She hefted the massive rifle, set it to its lowest setting and fired. The blast sailed just over their heads and connected with the door that Campi had just left from. The door being made for decoration and not security shattered into several pieces.

The marines in the room instinctively hit the deck as their many hours of training had taught them. An alarm klaxon began to screech as soon as Miranda fired her weapon. She knew that security would be here soon. Still holding the weapon in firing position Miranda shouted to be heard over the alarm , "All right, everyone out. We are closed."