The First Cold
Posted on Fri Feb 8th, 2019 @ 9:01pm by Seshi Macae & Oliver Stone
Edited on on Mon Feb 11th, 2019 @ 8:23pm
1,348 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Deep Freeze
Location: Sumi Saloon
Timeline: MD -07, 2239 Hrs
Since the crash of the USS Io, the small town within Haumea was abuzz with life, both from the civilian and the new Starfleet staff alike. The return of Aarav Macae to the Saloon was also met with a swing of activity in the establishment, mostly due in part to the copious amount of alcohol that survived the aforementioned crash.
But tonight, as the cold air blew and the snow began to fall, the Saloon saw an alarming number of denizens within its walls. Two of which were huddled in one of the back rooms, chatting over a pair of whatever Aarav had concocted for that night. Seshi, council member and eldest daughter of the bar owner, seemed to be forcing it down at every sip.
“Oliver, you cannot tell my father that this is distasteful or we’ll be here all night trying to ward off his fifth attempt at whatever this is. I’m sure he thought it was a good idea to combine Klingon whiskey with whatever wine this is, but I’m not sure this hasn’t gone bad.”
He laughed and flicked back his Stetson, a relic sure from his days on Earth but damn if was part of his family history and he wore it with pride as he attempted to tame a new world. After all colonising a new home was almost being in the wild west when it came to arguments and the survival of a people.
“Darlin’ your father makes the most disgusting drinks I’ve ever had in my life but by God!” he said as he took a drink and slammed his open hand down on the table, “They do put a fire in your belly and knock you on your ass come closing time.”
Seshi’s brow rose, amused. “We should put that on the colony advertisements, if we ever wanted more residents. Between this and whatever the Andorian chef down the street is cooking up, I’m sure we’ll attract someone. But that’s after we dig ourselves out from the snow.”
“Those that come would need to have stomachs of steel I think.” Oliver said with a little laugh. “But I do agree this snow is becoming a worry. Forecasts on the planet didn’t indicate that we’d experience snowfall this early or to this depth. Reminds me of Canada back home, not that I stayed there but the ex-wife was from there, told me the winters there were cold and covered in this white crap.”
“Canada was beautiful in the middle of July.” Seshi said in mild agreement. “Whenever we had the circus roll in, we made absolutely certain it was during a time where the animals weren’t going to die of an extreme climate change, but every so often we would manage to hit an odd bout of fluff.” With a shrug, Seshi continued her thoughts. “Maybe we can rustle up one of those young meteorologists to ramble science at us. I don’t think even they could have anticipated this. We could probably get some of the Starfleet types to help. I’m sure there’s a bored scientist or two waiting for transfer since the crash.”
Oliver shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the mention of Starfleet. “I suppose we better put them to some good use but I’m more inclined to use one of our own people as lead. This is our colony after all and I’d rather we relied on our own people. We’ll put the offer forward to Commander Mahone and see what he says. Is there any word on when the launch of our weather satellite will happen?” he asked.
“That's the question.” Seshi shook her head, pulling herself from the table to look behind her at the giant, yet blank console on the wall. “I've been awaiting an answer from one of our Flight Operations teams on the matter, but they keep telling me something is delayed. They're not sure what, so naturally we have absolutely no idea ourselves.”
“Seems like a lot of unanswered questions.” Oliver replied. “I have half a mind to go and take a look myself but I’m trying to give our people the chance to find solutions without my input or help. “He paused. “However I have ordered that extra care be taken with our crops against the freeze, the last thing we need is a famine to add to our problems thus far.”
Seshi fell silent, sipping the foul-tasting beverage lightly. “The crops are a greater concern than our weather satellite. Maybe we should pick and choose our battles? I know there are a few more handy colonists who’ve found a way to preserve fruits and vegetables from last season, but I’m not sure there’s enough to go around, especially if we consider there are many more mouths to feed than there were before.”
Oliver nodded, “No I agree, it’s getting colder and I do not need a satellite to tell me that. We’ll reappropriate some people to the safeguarding of the fields and crops. I’ll also have someone from the engineers look at the power plant to ensure it’s all functioning properly as this chill sets in. I’d like to keep Lucille warm…” he said patting his baseball bat then wincing as he took another drink. “We seriously need to talk to your father about this before the Docs get on my case through poisoning cases.” he said laughing.
“He’ll say you aren’t used to it yet.” Seshi replied with amusement. She rose her brow at the baseball bat. “You’ll have to tell me the story about how you found yourself so attached to that one day, but preferably when it’s warmer. Until then, we should divide and conquer. And perhaps actually ask Starfleet for help?”
He smiled at the comment about Lucille. “Oh this old thing. Got me out of more scrapes than I can count darlin’.” he said in his southern accent whilst flicking his Stetson back a little as he stretched out his legs.
Looking around the room he let out a sigh as his people enjoyed themselves despite the cold that began to take hold of them. He’d ensured that the elderly that had made the trip were looked after with extra care as this kind of extreme cold could be deadly. “Divide and conquer it is. I’ll sit here and divide the bar over your fathers concoction, you go deal with everything else? No?” he asked as she made a face. “Well damn, sounded fair to me.” he joked. “Fine, I’ll talk to Starfleet, Commander Mahone is usually quite helpful.”
"You talk to the Commander, and I'll talk to the scientists." Seshi's nose turned up in a mockingly prim and proper way, before she waved a hand in front of her face at her own antics. "After that, we should probably make sure we're ready for whatever it is that's coming our way... even if that means more nights like this with more of... whatever this is."
"More nights like this wouldn't be a bad thing for colony morale, should set up a tasting event from your fathers stock and see who survives the day?" he half asked in jest before taking on a more sombre look. "I'm sure the Commander will have a theory about the cold, they always have theories."
"That would be one way to take care of our population," Seshi mused in a similar tone. "He probably will, but I'm sure he'll tell you one way or another. Until then..." She held up her beverage. "Drink up."
"Think of the space we'd save..." he replied with an evil smirk on his face before Seshi spoke once more telling him to drink up. With a swift enthusiastic lift of his drink he downed the rest in one and with a quick shake off of the burning sensation he was done.
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