TEST DRIVE #13 - Jefferies Tubes and Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

Option 001 - Jefferies Tubes: A ship like the Enterprise requires maintenance and a way to get at things behind the walls. It also, since there are no stairs, needs to have something people can use in case the turbolifts stop working. A cross between air ducts that are so useful for people to crawl through and maintenance shafts, the Jefferies tubes span across the entire ship like a hidden parallel to the normal, everyday corridors. They come in vertical and horizontal versions.

While most people except Engineering aren't supposed to be in them, people have been known to use them for everything from a quiet spot away from everything, vertical exercise, and a place with excellent acoustics for playing music, to the kind of sneaky trails one might use to get to restricted rooms. Just don't get lost.




Option 002. Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, and now you're on a spaceship, in the middle of a crowded room. It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward a long bar with barstools and a bartender, tables sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but windows out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[magneticxman]

Lorna nodded, sighing softly. "I wish that was the case back home as well." She could have used a little time to clear her head, there. Maybe they all would have made different choices.

"Please, tell me a little about yourself. We're getting off topic and I'm still really interested in hearing about you."

[hesnohero]

Alex smiled sadly. "Your world sucked, if my dreams were right."

Alex settled back and thought. "Hmmm.I left home early and went off to be a marine. Wasn't interested in science at the time. Became a special forces soldier while in the middle east, and led a team of deep insertion specialists, responsible for the acquisition of high profile targets."

He would never reveal his part in the bagging of a certain rogue head of state. That would just be bragging. Besides, few outside of the operation were in the know.

"I wrecked my leg while there, during a mission, and had to be cashiered with honors. On the way out of service, while getting some treatment in Tokyo, I did a tour as a diplomatic attache there, and then headed to Orange County, California to go through surgery and phyusically therapy."

[magneticxman]

Lorna listened with interest, leaning forward to make sure she heard everything he said. As he spoke she studied him, trying to learn more about him from How he talked about his life as well as the story he was telling.

"Orange County is where the craziness came from, right?"

[hesnohero]

"Yes, or so we all assumed. But it never started unless you spent time there." Alex chuckled. "It was after more than a year of living there, being a firefighter, that I started to dream. And met the other you."

He chuckled. "She was a pot store owner, and was my supplier for medical marijuana for awhile."

[magneticxman]

Lorna just laughed at that, shaking her head. "I can only see that going bad places. You're such a nerd when you're-"

She stopped, cringing a little. "I mean, the Alex I knew was a nerd when he was high." This wasn't him. They didn't even look similar. She wished very hard for her drink to arrive because she needed it so much to get through this conversation.

[hesnohero]

Alex chuckled. "I understood what you meant. I do the same thing in my head sometimes." One finger on his hand toyed with the ring on another, something he did without thinking, anymore. He hadn't taken it off. It was his talisman, a denial of the darkness and of the idea he might not get his Lorna back.

"As far as I know, I was mostly just mellow when i was high."

[magneticxman]

She noticed him toying with the ring and it hurt like hell. She wished, for probably the thousandth time, that they'd made it that far.

"That's good. Especially if you're using it for pain management." It was hard for her to focus, but she did her damnedest because she desperately wanted to get along with Alex.

[hesnohero]

He'd wish He could avoid hurting her, if he could. Damn timelines. Damn Q.

"It helped sometimes, but in the long run, I needed other methods."

He was glad this place had better medicine. They'd fixed up his leg within hours.

"Anything new with you, here?"

[magneticxman]

Lorna shook her head. "No. Not a thing." She gave him a fake smile, which turned more real when their drinks and snacks were set before them.

Lorna downed her drink in one go, setting her internal metabolism to a level where it would get her a little tipsy.

[hesnohero]

Alex arched an eyebrow at her drinking, but then grinned and downed his. One only lived once.

He started in on the snacks, though, immediately. A lifetime of being an emergency worker was ingrained into him to never get wasted beyond function, so food happened.

"I'm enjoying the quiet."

[magneticxman]

"I bet!" Lorna said, just a little too loud. "It's pretty amazing." She hated it. Too much time to think about her life. Normally she'd have plenty of distractions from things.

"Oh, uh, just so you know Magneto's here and he knows I broke up with alternate Alex. So. . . maybe make it clear you didn't break my heart if you run into him."

[hesnohero]

"I know. And I plan on being clear." If there was a bit of a stubborn look in his eyes, it was maybe because he had a lot of his Orange County self in him, and he wasn't afraid of Magneto, unlike his Dreamself.

"Hopefully he listens to reason."

[magneticxman]

Lorna shrugged. "Honestly I can't promise anything. I feel like I'm still getting to know him." Probably that was her own stubbornness refusing to let her anger at him and fear of him die. "Let's just say I keep an eye on him."

[hesnohero]

"Relearning a relative isn't a bad thing. Hopefully it goes well." Sometimes a new start was a good thing. He wouldn't mind one with Scott some day, a Scott who wasn't an idiot, that was.

[magneticxman]

She shrugged. "It's fine so far but I can't stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. But let's talk about something else. What kind of dogs did you have?"

[hesnohero]

"Hopefully it wont."

And he smiled as he remembered the dogs. "Two muts. They were strong dogs, and trained as companion dogs, but generally they were strange and friendly."

[magneticxman]

Lorna smiled softly, imagining her Alex with a dog. It was a cute mental image. "What about your house?"