An Evening Off Part Two – Dinner and Stories

Posted on 01 Aug 2026 @ 2:07pm by Lieutenant JG Douglas McDougal & Lieutenant JG K'Rin "Tiger" C'Tinu & Ensign Sh'asi M'Rori & Master Chief Petty Officer Harrison Madrie & Master Sergeant Candice Laramie

3,822 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings

ON:




The buffet was attacked with all the tactical precision one might expect from Starfleet personnel who had survived a twelve-hour duty shift.

Which was to say...There was absolutely no precision whatsoever.

Candice had somehow managed to balance three different entrées, two desserts, and a bowl of soup on a single tray.

Douglas eyed it skeptically. "...Need a hand?"

"I've got it." Candince said, the tray wobbled in disagreement.

Douglas instinctively reached out instinct kicking in despite her attempt to ease his worry.

"I definitely don't have it." Candice corrected a moment later.

Harrison caught the edge before disaster could strike, steadying the entire precarious arrangement with one hand. "There."

Candice looked down. "...That was closer than I thought."

"You were one degree of inclination away from creating modern art." Harrison stated in his usual tone.

"It would've been delicious art though." Candice declared her smile never wavered.

K'Rin snorted and then broke down laughing. “"Okay, It’s official I like her."

"So do I," Sh'asi agreed with a smile.

They settled around a large circular table tucked beside the panoramic windows overlooking the stars.
For a little while... No one hurried. No one checked a duty roster. No one answered a combadge. Just five officers enjoying the luxury of nowhere else to be.

For several minutes the only sounds were quiet conversation and the occasional appreciative hum whenever someone discovered a particularly good dish.

Douglas leaned back in his chair. "So..." He looked around the table. "I have a proposal."

Harrison immediately pointed his fork. "I don't trust that tone."

"Good instincts Harrison, You shouldn't," K'Rin said in agreement.

Douglas ignored them both. "One story."

Candice's eyes lit up. "Oh, I like this already."

"One embarrassing story about yourself." Douglas finished.

Harrison slowly lowered his fork. "...Absolutely not going to happen."

"You don't even know the rules yet." Candice looked at Harrison with amusement.

"I've heard enough." Harrison stated flatly.

Sh'asi merely giggled into her drink.

Douglas smiled. "No making fun of anyone."

Candice raised an eyebrow. "...That seems difficult."

"No judging." Douglas added

K'Rin nodded thoughtfully. "I can manage that."

"And," Douglas continued, "the story has to be something you've never told before."

A thoughtful silence settled over the table. Harrison was already shaking his head. Defiance was clearly written on his face. Candice was the first to crack.

"Oh!" She laughed. "I've got one." Candice declared.

"Of course you do," Harrison muttered.

Candice pointed at herself dramatically. "First demolition exercise."

"Oh no," K'Rin whispered.

"I was so confident." Candice continued.

"That's usually how these stories start," Harrison observed but a tiny smirk was playing at the corner of his mouth now. It was exactly how ALL his stories tended to start.

"I had everything calculated." Candice went on as she stirred her drink.

Douglas smiled. "I suspect you didn't."

"I absolutely did." Candice declared then she paused. "...Mostly."

The table laughed.

"I wired the charges exactly according to the manual." Candice said before taking a sip of her cocktail.

"So, what happened?" Sh'asi asked.

Candice buried her face in her hands. "I umm, I pulled a NASA. I forgot the manual was written in metric."

Douglas blinked. "...Please tell me that's not where this is going."

"It is." She confessed shaking her head, "I made the blast twice as powerful."

Harrison nearly choked on his drink.

"The instructors weren't even angry." Candice stared into her empty glass and shook her head softly. “They were too busy trying to figure out how I'd accidentally excavated an entirely different hill."

Even Harrison burst out laughing.

Candice groaned dramatically. "I had to spend three weeks filling out safety reports."

K'Rin wiped a tear from one eye. "That's magnificent."

"It was humiliating." Candice stated as she accepted a fresh drink from the waiter that came by.

"It can be both." Harrison assured her.

The laughter lingered until Douglas looked toward K'Rin. "Alrighty, Your turn."

The Caitian pilot smiled knowingly. "Ok, here's mine involving yours truly. My first combat landing."

Douglas leaned forward. "This sounds promising."

"I was trying very hard to impress our flight instructor." K'Rin nodded. "Beautiful approach. Then the landing."

Candice frowned. "...That's the easy part though isn’t it."

"Not when you forget to lower the rear stabilizers." K’Rin said with a chuckle.

Douglas stared. "You landed an armed Raider without lowering—"

"I noticed." K’Rin said "...Eventually."

Harrison shook his head and sipped his drink "I bet you noticed."

"About three centimeters before touching down." K’Rin said looking at Harrison who was snickering now. He knew this story when he had been there. They never talked about it though.

Sh'asi covered her mouth. "Oh dear..."

"I corrected." K’Rin shout back

"You bounced." Harrison corrected the smirk was now a smile that reached his eyes.

"Gracefully." K’Rin growled.

"You skipped." Harrison pointed out.

"It was controlled." K’Rin took a sip from her own drink now.

"The instructor described it as..." Harrison adopted a remarkably accurate impression. “Like watching a brick discover interpretive dance.”

The table exploded into laughter. Even Harrison couldn't keep his straight face for long. "...He really did say that. And he wasn’t wrong, it was a beautiful mess.”

"You were supposed to be supportive." K’Rin huffed.

"Oh, I was!" Harrison smiled innocently. "I supported the instructor."

That earned another round of laughter.

Douglas finally caught his breath. "I don't suppose that story ever made the official report?"

"No." K’Rin smiled. "Thankfully."

Douglas looked toward Sh'asi. "Okay darlin, Your turn."

She thought for a moment. "My first morale event."

Everyone leaned in. "I organized a cultural appreciation dinner."

"Sounds lovely," Candice said.

"It was." Sh’asi smiled warmly at the memory. "Until I accidentally seated two Tellarite chefs beside one another."

K'Rin winced. "Oh..."

"They spent the next hour arguing over whose grandmother made better stew."

Douglas smiled. "That sounds fairly normal."

"It became competitive." Sh’asi recalled her tone was regretful.

Harrison already knew where this was going. "...Didn't one of them challenge the other to a cook-off?"

Sh’asi nodded. "Yes. I almost forgot you had been there Harrison.”

“Reform classes, it wasn’t that long ago.” Harrison said softly.

Candice blinked. "A cook-off! That's adorable."

"It spread." Sh’asi said burying her face in her hands. Harrison reached over and rubbed her shoulder automatically.

Douglas frowned. "...Spread?"

"By the end of the evening..." Sh'asi looked down sheepishly. "...twenty-three different species were defending family recipes."

Harrison laughed loudly. "I remember! There were judges. There were trophies. The captain declared a temporary culinary ceasefire."

Douglas shook his head in disbelief. "You accidentally started an interdepartmental food war."

"I did." Sh’asi nodded still looking down at her plate

"...I'd call that a success." Harrison consoled her his hand had moved between her shoulders and he could feel her start to relax.

"So did everyone else." Sh’asi agreed, finally looking up, she smiled at Harrison then at the rest of them.

The table fell into comfortable laughter again.

Douglas smiled, the expression carrying just enough mischief to make K'Rin immediately suspicious. "Okay, my turn."

The table fell respectfully silent.

Douglas leaned back in his chair; one hand loosely curled around his drink as he considered where to begin. For perhaps the first time that evening, he looked almost sheepish. "I should probably start with the fact that I was not exactly what the Academy admissions board would have called a promising physical specimen."

K'Rin's ears perked.

Candice immediately looked intrigued.

Harrison, sitting nearby, glanced over at Douglas with the faintest hint of amusement already touching his expression.

Douglas glanced down at himself and gestured vaguely at his lanky frame. "Apparently, I was too tall, too thin, had terrible upper-body strength, and possessed the natural athletic grace of a malfunctioning cargo loader."

There was a beat of silence. Then Candice snorted. Douglas pointed at her. "That is an accurate description. I assure you."

Harrison's eyebrows rose. "I've seen malfunctioning cargo loaders with better balance."

Douglas turned slowly toward him. "Thank you, Harrison."

Harrison lifted his drink innocently. "Just contributing to the story."

K'Rin's whiskers twitched with amusement.

Candice was already laughing.

Douglas smiled into his glass before continuing. "The funny thing was that my academic recommendations were apparently spectacular. Instructors loved my technical aptitude. My mathematics scores were excellent. Engineering theory, navigation, systems analysis..." He shrugged. "All apparently wonderful."

He paused. "Then they tested me physically."

Candice winced sympathetically. "Oh no."

"Oh, yes." Douglas's smile widened. "I barely passed the entrance exams."

K'Rin blinked. "Barely?"

"Painfully barely." Douglas admitted with a nod.

Harrison leaned back slightly, his attention sharpening.

Douglas caught the look. "Don't."

"I haven't said anything yet." Harrison remarked.

"Your face just did." Douglas pointed out.

Harrison's mouth twitched. "Carry on."

Douglas shook his head. "I believe one of the examiners actually checked my identification twice to make sure I was the person who had submitted the academic portion."

Candice covered her mouth. K'Rin was openly grinning now.

Harrison gave a quiet chuckle. "That bad? Damn."

Douglas looked at him. "Worse actually…And then came hand-to-hand combat." Douglas's expression changed just slightly. Not dramatically. Just enough to suggest that whatever came next had become one of those memories that had been polished by years of repetition.

"My first instructor took one look at me and announced to the entire class…” He raised one finger, adopting an almost perfect imitation of a stern Academy instructor. Douglas paused for effect. "Congratulations. Today you'll all learn how to defend against someone who clearly loses every fight."

Candice gasped. "They said that?"

"They did." Douglas said with a shake of his head.

"To your face?" Sh’asi asked horrified on his behalf.

"With considerable enthusiasm I must say.” Douglas chuckled.

Harrison's eyebrows climbed. "That's a bold opening statement from an instructor."

Douglas looked toward him. "She was not known for subtlety. Klingons usually are not on most occasions."

K'Rin's ears flattened as she tried not to laugh.

Harrison took a sip of his drink. "I have to admit, I'm curious how this ends."

Douglas gave him a long look.

Candice leaned forward. "Okay so what happened?"

Douglas took a slow sip of his drink. "Well..."

The corner of his mouth lifted. "I lost the first fight."

Candice's face fell. "Oh."

"The second one too." Douglas admitted taking another sip.

K'Rin's grin disappeared. Douglas nodded solemnly.

"Third?" Candice stared at him.

"Also lost." Douglas said with a nod.

K'Rin's ears slowly tilted backward. "How many did you lose?"

Douglas looked toward the ceiling as though doing complicated mathematics. "Depends on whether we're counting the instructional bouts."

Harrison lowered his drink. "Oh, this is going downhill fast. I love it. Keep going."

Douglas pointed at him. "You're enjoying this entirely too much."

"I am beginning to." Harrison agreed but there was no smile not even a smirk now.

Candice groaned. "How many, Douglas? How many did you lose?"

"Seven." Douglas confessed.

K'Rin's eyes widened. "Seven?"

"Eight if we're counting the one where I technically didn't get knocked down because I was already sitting."

That broke the table.

Candice dissolved into laughter, K'Rin's shoulders shaking as Douglas sat there with the expression of a man who had long since accepted that this particular story was never going to improve his reputation.

Harrison tried to maintain some semblance of dignity. He failed. A laugh escaped him, and Douglas immediately pointed across the table. "There. That's exactly why I have never told anyone about it before."

Harrison shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not." Douglas returned his cheeks pink.

"Not remotely." Harrison agreed honestly.

Douglas sighed. “It took time, more time than I care to admit. But I learned.” Douglas's smile turned almost nostalgic. "I learned how to evade. How to redirect. How to use leverage. How to get someone bigger than me off balance without actually needing to knock them down." He paused. "And I learned that the fastest way to win a fight is usually to convince the other person they have already won."

K'Rin's ears rose. "Oh."

Candice's expression remained pleasantly interested. A little too pleasantly interested.

Harrison noticed. He didn't say anything. Not yet.

Douglas continued. "You'd be amazed how confident people become when they think they've got you cornered."

Candice tilted her head thoughtfully. "And then?"

Douglas's eyes flickered with quiet amusement. "Then you move." He demonstrated with a tiny shift of his hand, barely enough to illustrate the motion. "One step. One change of direction. One mistake on their part." He shrugged. "And suddenly the person who thought they had you pinned is staring at the ceiling wondering what happened."

Candice's eyebrows rose. "That's clever."

Harrison's eyes flicked toward her. Just for a second. Candice caught it. There was something in that look. Not suspicion exactly. More like recognition. Harrison knew she knew. And Candice knew he knew.

Neither of them acknowledged it.

Douglas, completely unaware of the tiny exchange, continued. "My instructor eventually figured out that I wasn't going to become the strongest person in the room. So she stopped trying to teach me how to fight like one. Apparently, my instructor had decided I was either going to wash out or become an exceptionally irritating student."

K'Rin nodded slowly. "So, she taught you to fight smarter."

"Exactly." Douglas said. “Only after I refused to wash out though.”

Candice smiled. "That's generally the better approach."

Harrison's gaze moved to her again.

This time Candice noticed. She gave him the faintest innocent smile.

*What?*

Harrison's expression said very clearly:

*Nothing.*

Candice's smile widened by approximately half a millimeter.

Douglas looked between them. "Did I miss something?"

"No," Candice said immediately.

"Nothing," Harrison answered at exactly the same time.

Douglas narrowed his eyes.

K'Rin's whiskers twitched. "That sounded suspicious."

"It wasn't," Candice replied.

Harrison lifted his drink. "Absolutely not."

Douglas stared at both of them for another moment before deciding that, apparently, this was not his problem.

"Anyway..." Douglas continued. "I stopped losing. As much, or as easily. Not all at once. Just enough. Not because I suddenly became good at fighting. I didn't.: Douglas said with a shrug, “I simply became difficult to hit."

K'Rin chuckled. "So you passed then?"

Douglas lifted his glass. "Yes."

Harrison laughed softly.

Douglas looked at him. "I am beginning to regret inviting you to this evening."

"You didn't invite me." Harrison reminded him. “You Order ‘ished’ me.” Harrison pointed out.

That earned another round of laughter.

"Never judge a book by its cover." Sh’asi said with a soft applause.

Douglas pointed at her. "Exactly."

Harrison looked him over once. Then again.

Douglas noticed. "Don't."

Harrison's mouth twitched. "I'm just recalibrating my opinion."

"Your opinion was already unnecessarily insulting." Douglas shot back but he was smiling.

"I hadn't said anything." Harrison stated the eyes looked innocent, but the look was ruined by the smirk he couldn't hide.

"Your face did though." Douglas retorted as he accepted a refill of his beer.

K'Rin's whiskers twitched.

Candice was still staring at Douglas. "And you barely passed the entrance exam?"

"Correct." Douglas looked at her.

"After losing seven or eight fights?" Candice asked.

"Correct. I had glowing recommendations.” Douglas pointed out.

Candice stared at him for another second. Then she slowly looked toward K'Rin. "I feel like we've been lied to."

Douglas looked offended. "I have never lied to any of you."

Candice pointed out. "You conveniently failed to mention that you were apparently some sort of terrifying Academy combat prodigy."

Douglas sat back looking baffled. "I was not a prodigy."

Harrison gave a quiet snort.

Douglas turned toward him. "Don't you start."

Harrison looked incredulous "I didn't say anything."

"You were about to." Douglas stated.

Harrison raised both hands. "All right. Continue."

K'Rin's ears perked. "You graduated though."

"In defensive tactics. Yes." Douglas sighed. "Fine. I was a moderately competent defensive tactics student who spent an unreasonable amount of time getting thrown onto mats."

Harrison nodded solemnly. "That sounds considerably more believable."

Douglas narrowed his eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Harrison tilted his head his eyes betrayed the amusement he felt at watching Douglas’s discomfort.

Candice smiled. "And your instructor?"

Douglas's expression softened. "She was proud of me."

That changed the mood just slightly.

He looked down at his glass, turning it between his hands. "She pulled me aside after the final evaluation. Told me she'd been wrong about me."

K'Rin watched him carefully.

Harrison did too but said nothing. "What did she say?"

Douglas smiled. "She said, 'Congratulations. Apparently, you don't lose every fight.'"

Candice burst out laughing.

Harrison's head dipped as he chuckled.

Douglas laughed with them this time. "That was her way of apologizing, I like to think."

Harrison's expression softened, and he gave Douglas a small nod without interrupting the moment.

Douglas looked around the table and then shrugged gently, letting the weight of the memory settle before allowing the humor back into his voice. "I kept the lesson, though."

Candice smiled. "Which was?"

Douglas lifted his glass.

Harrison looked at him. Then answered before Douglas could. "Never underestimate the lanky guy sitting quietly at the table."

"That sounds suspiciously like a compliment." Douglas remarked with a gentle smile.

"It was." Harrison admitted.

Candice lifted hers as well. "To Douglas."

Douglas raised an eyebrow. "Why do I feel like this toast is going somewhere dangerous?"

Candice grinned. "To the malfunctioning cargo loader."

K'Rin's ears went forward. "Who apparently knows how to throw people through walls."

Harrison added, completely straight-faced, "Apparently while looking like he should be the one getting thrown through them."

Douglas stared at all three of them. "I have never thrown anyone through a wall."

Sh'asi added with a grin. "Not yet."

Douglas slowly shook his head. "This is why I don't tell stories usually."

Harrison lifted his glass toward him. "And yet, this was all your idea."

Douglas stared at him. Then, despite himself, he laughed. "Drink your drink, Harrison."

There was only one person left.

Every pair of eyes slowly turned toward Harrison. He had suddenly put his drink down and had continued eating. "...No." He said simply. getting a fork full of potatoes.

Douglas smiled. "Harrison."

"No." Harrison repeated taking a sip from his drink.

Candice leaned forward. "Please?"

Harrison eyed her, the suspicion was still lingering. She didn’t add up. Something about her didn't add up and Harrison didn't like when things didn’t add up.

"No." he repeated then took a deliberate bite from his potatoes.

Sh'asi rested her chin in one hand. "I already know most of yours anyways."

Harrison looked at her his eyes hard, He swallowed. "So, let's not revisit them."

K'Rin's whiskers twitched mischievously. "Oh...I know one he won't tell."

Harrison froze a moment and considered his company with a sigh."...Tiger. Don’t."

He picked up a bite of potatoes totally invested in not responding anymore to their pokes and prods.

"The Academy talent show." K’Rin said each word slowly deliberately.

Harrison's fork stopped halfway to his mouth. ‘Shit’ Harrison immediately pointed toward the ceiling. "I suddenly hear an emergency alarm."

"No, you don't." Sh’asi giggled and poked him.

"It could happen." Harrison spoke looking up a beat longer in hopes that the stars would give him this small mercy.

"It didn't." K’Rin said shaking her head.

Douglas blinked. "...Talent show?"

Candice's eyes widened. "You were in a talent show?"

"It was compulsory." Harrison went into damage control mode immediately.

Sh'asi was smiling far too innocently. "It was."

Douglas looked genuinely confused. "What did you do? Stand on stage and insult everyone?"

Harrison looked down at his plate. "...Nothing worth mentioning."

"Harrison. Come on.” K’rin urged.

"No." Harrison said more into his plate than to the people with him at the table.

Candice leaned farther across the table. "What was it? We all told our stories. Come on, give us something. "

“Fair enough.” Harrison sighed. "I played a song."

"On what?" Candice asked

Silence.

"Harrison..." Candice said exasperated. “Elaborate please.”

K'Rin's grin became positively feline. "...Tell them. Or I will."

Harrison closed his eyes. Let out a string of curses under his breath. "Fine” He said to the table, “…on a Guitar."

Candice blinked. "You play guitar?"

"A little." Harrison admitted picking at his food now like a petulant child.

Sh'asi laughed softly. "He's lying."

Douglas raised an eyebrow. "He is?"

"He plays very well." Sh’asi stated giving Harrison a gentle side hug.

K'Rin nodded. "Exceptionally well."

Candice looked astonished. "Seriously?"

Harrison suddenly found his mashed potatoes fascinating. "It's just a hobby." He muttered.

Douglas smiled. "What else are you hiding?"

Silence.

"Come on Harrison..." Candice urged again, her smile was intrigued.

"No." Harrison felt like he wanted to fall through the floor. He hated this.

"Harrison." K’Rin said her tone said everything, talk or be talked about.

Another sigh escaped Harrison and he silently spoke again. "...Drums."

Candice slapped the table. "You play drums too?"

"A little. On occasion" Harrison admitted bitterly. At least they were not asking about the damn talent show anymore.

"A little?" K'Rin barked a laugh. "He kept rhythm for our squadron band for nearly two years."

Douglas blinked. "There's a squadron band?"

"There was." K’Rin nodded, “Not enough folks are interested in it now.”

Sh'asi's smile grew warmer. "He sings, too."

Harrison looked genuinely betrayed. "Sh'asi. What the hell?"

"What?" Sh’asi asked innocently.

"I trusted you." Harrison put his elbows on the table and rested his face in his hands.

"You still do." She smiled sweetly. "And you'll forgive me." Sh’asi said softly as she rubbed his back now like he had done for her earlier.

Candice stared in disbelief. "You sing."

"...Sometimes." Harrison's voice was muffled from under his hands. This was simply killing his reputation and he knew it. It was like a shuttle crash that you couldn't control. Watching the ground coming up fast.

"Oh yeah and dance too. " K'Rin added.

Douglas looked between them. "Dance?"

‘Fuck my life.’ Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose now. "I dislike all of you." He declared after letting out a deep breath.

"You love us," Sh'asi corrected gently.

"...That's unfortunately accurate." Harrison admitted through gritted teeth.

Candice folded her arms triumphantly. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" K’Rin asked.

"Nobody who moves around a fighter that gracefully has two left feet." Candice remarked “The rest though, just wow.”

Douglas laughed. "So, our sarcastic Raider pilot is secretly a musician."

Harrison muttered some very unkind words into his drink. "...This dinner has taken a deeply unfortunate turn." His face burned. Still, they had let the talent show thing drop. Thank the stars for that slice of luck.

"Speaking of singing. It's Karaoke time, isn't it?" Sh'asi announced.

"I only came for the food." Harrison stated.

"And you'll stay for the fun." Sh'asi returned without missing a beat.

TBC- Part 3

 

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