Every Lounge Needs a Name...

Posted on Mon Oct 19th, 2009 @ 3:16pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant Commander Mark Anderson

Mission: They Arrive on Tuesday...
Location: Crew Lounge
Timeline: MD07 2000hrs

Andrew (NPC) was cleaning glasses when the new XO walked in. He always preferred to have proper glasses on show and ready to give to customers with their drinks in - it showed more of an effort if you had the genuine items than just replicating and recycling them all of the time. He had a large number of different glasses, each used for a different type of drink - whiskey glasses, wine glasses - he even had some old-style beer glasses.

"Anything I can get for you, Commander?" he asked, as soon as the man was within earshot.

"Hmm...got any Birch Beer back there," Mark asked, taking a seat on a stool.

"I most certainly do, Commander," Andrew replied, as he placed the now-clean glass onto the top of the bar and reached underneath for the hose-and-nozzle device rather remnant of bars of 21st Century Earth hotels which he used for pouring soft drinks. Engaging the right option, the flow began to pour from the nozzle into the glass.

"Anything interesting happening yet, Commander?" he asked.

"Well, as far as I know, just the regular surprises of drydock," Mark replied as he watched the carbonated liquid crackle over the ice, "Things like equipment being delayed, things going to the wrong department, crewmembers getting lost. All in all, nothing too difficult to handle."

"At least they got the name sorted," Andrew joked, as he shook off the excess from the end of the nozzle and replaced the hose under the bar before giving the first officer his drink.

"Indeed," Mark said, lifting his glass and taking a sip. He smacked his lips a little as the fizzing drink trickled down his throat. "Delicious," he added with a smile, "Much better than the replicated stuff. It's hard enough finding a place with root beer, let alone birch beer. For some reason, the beverage seems to have been forgotten, I'm afraid."

"I always do my best to keep genuine stock in, Commander," the man replied, smiling at his customer's satisfaction. "Though once we leave Earth, it'll be harder for me to get my hands on some of the rarer stuff without using the replicator."

Mark swished the glass around a little and nodded. "I suppose I'll just have to put up with it," he said, making a face and taking another swig.

"We all have to bunker down and put up with things at some point in life, Commander," Andrew replied. "It's just the way the universe works."

"So...has there been a decision on the name for the lounge yet," Mark asked, setting his glass down and looking across the bar at Andrew (NPC). He knew the commander had been tossing a few names around, but he hadn't heard what the verdict had been...or if there had even been one.

Andrew shook his head. "Not as far as I know, Commander," he said. "You got any ideas?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Mark smiled. "I might have a few," he said mischievously, "I was hoping that you might have some." He glanced around the lounge. It was always a tradition to give a name to the lounge of a vessel, ranging from the famous Ten Forward on the Enterprise-D to the less famous, like Mission Control on the Houston.

"Well I wanted to name it the 'Happy Bottom Riding Club'," Andrew replied, almost indignantly as he lifted the tray one of the waiters brought over and placed it under the bar. "But Captain Riker got the Enterprise's lounge re-christened to that when he took command of the Titan, so I hear."

"On the Houston, we called our lounge 'Mission Control'," Mark explained, thinking back to the last night he had spent there, "It was a reference to one of Earth's leading space programs, NASA. They maintained their center of mission operations in Houston, Texas. The name seemed...appropriate." He smiled, as he took another swig of birch beer.

"The original Riding Club had similar origins," the bartender explained. "It was quite famous in its day in California, near what became Edwards Air Force Base. It was visited by most of the test pilots who worked there, and at the Army Air Corps base before it, many of whom were later recruited into the astronaut program."

"So we'll just have to come up with our own name," Mark said, frowning in thought. They needed something that was aptly named, maybe even reflected the history of the namesake of the ship. Trying to recall what he could remember of the history of the Endeavour namesake, Mark searched his thoughts for a possible name. "Didn't the original Endeavour...the sailing ship, I mean...didn't they do a lot of exploration around the Great Barrier Reef," Mark asked aloud, looking over at Andrew.

"I think they caught a hull breach on it, if my history's correct," Andrew said, chuckling. "It has a nice ring to it though... the 'Great Barrier Reef'..."

Mark smiled. "Indeed it does," he replied, raising his glass, "To the 'Great Barrier Reef'...may she see far fewer hull breaches than her namesake." With a laugh, he finished the remaining drink in the glass in one quick swallow before setting it on the counter.

"To 'the Reef'," Andrew intoned, a smile on his lips, as he picked up another glass to clean.

----------------
Lieutenant Commander Mark Anderson
First Officer
USS Endeavour NCC-86105

&

Andrew (NPC)
Bartender, the 'Great Barrier Reef'
Played by Cmdr. Byrne