Halloween Party

Posted on Tue Dec 10th, 2024 @ 3:05pm by Captain Michael Murphy & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan & Lieutenant Kestra Ral

Mission: Through the Looking Glass
Location: USS Montana mess hall

ON:

The mess hall had been transformed into a spooky hangout. The lights were dimmed, a low fog clung to the floor, and some decorations were hung on the walls. Commander Murphy had looked up old earth Halloween traditions, which had led to him setting up bobbing for apples and a bucket of candies. There was also a table of various appetizers and snacks. The crew had been invited to show up in costume, and he had chosen to dress as an old timey farmer.

Lt Ryan made his appearance on the hall alone. His hair messy and undone, a rumpled beige trench coat, and a loose-fitting light suit. A pale green tie adorning his neck. With a cigar between his lips he stepped in with a questioning look.

"Is this the place of the party?" he asked to Murphy as soon as he closed in.

"This is it! Thanks for coming!" Murphy looked him up and down. "What are you?"

Ryan checked him with a puzzled look "Oh well, this is interesting..." but then he notices the buffet "Hope you won't mind, I haven't eaten since breakfast.." he pointed at the buffet closing in to some sandwiches and quoting his character.

"Well," he scratched his head holding the cigar between his fingers "..what was I about to say?" ... "oh yeah, I'm detective Columbo". He smiled.

Murphy returned the grin. “I’ll have to look him up. Let me know how the food is, I haven’t eaten yet.”

Ryan smiled "oh it's a fictional character from a TV film of the 1970s. He is a detective and solves murder cases" he shrugs "My dad was very interested in vintage TV series and got me hooked on this one." he takes a bite from the sandwich "food is good, I bet there won't be much leftovers by the end".

"I'm glad to hear it," Murphy answered, taking a sandwich. "And I can see why you'd like it. A good mystery is irresistible." He took a bite of the sandwich. Ryan was right, there wouldn't be a lot of leftovers with food as good as this.

As Ryan was about to answer the commander, Ens O'Donnel showed up late at the party and made her entrance. She wore a simple black jumpsuit. Everyone turned trying to understand what costume she was wearing but nobody managed.
She approached Murphy and Ryan and saluted them.

"So we have a farmer" she smiled at Murphy "aaaand...." she turned towards Steve with a quizzically look "...and an old man with a tie" she guessed.

"I'm detective Columbus" Ryan explained

"Oh" she paused for a second "I've never heard of that" she shrugged helplessly.

“Neither had I,” Murphy said. “Glad you made it, Ensign. Who are you dressed as?”

She smiled "I'm a skel..." and only at the moment she realized, watching her jumpsuit, that something was missing "Ah, I see, hold on" she started playing around with a small device in her pocket and in a matter of time the LED lights positioned to mimic the bones of the human body pit up forming a nice contrast with the black of the jumpsuit.

"I'm a skeleton" she finally exclaimed.

“I see,” said Murphy. “Very festive, and appropriate for the original theme of the holiday.”

An expression of awe showed up in Steve's face, but it got quickly replaced by a smirk "Oh, you should eat something, you look way too skinny to be healthy" and he started laughing the moment he finished his joke.

"You, silly..." the blonde engineer came back to him shaking her head "but yeah, the food seems inviting" and she approached the buffet.

{Personal quarters, USS Montana}

"I still have a lot of information to go over to make sure, but there have been a few very small changes to our timeline. Nothing crazy mind you, but things haven't happened the way we remember them very clearly. The Romulans shouldn't have messed with that experiment." She shook her head, annoyed.

Wallace nodded. "So, did you get your invitation to the party?"

Kestra frowned. "Yeah, I did get the invitation, but I am not sure what it is?" She told Wallace Wilson as she took a seat, handing him a cup of coffee.

Wallace laughed. "Halloween party, you put on a costume and have a little fun. We could all use a little fun."

Kestra laughed. "That is true. Costume?" She tapped her fingertip on her chin as she thought about it. Then, an idea came to her mind. "My wedding suit." Kestra told him nodding as she sipped her coffee, waiting for his reaction. It didn't take long.

"Oh no, no, that's not ..... well, I don't think..... yeah, I don't think you should do that. You might get cold." He told her, trying to cover up his shock.

Kestra giggled, she couldn't help it. "Why?" Then she playfully narrowed her eyes. "Is there something wrong with what my people wear at our weddings?"

Wallace held a hand up. "You mean don't wear. I will help you come up with another costume." He chuckled, looking through his PADD. "Ah, here is one." He showed it to her.

"A cat costume?" she took the PADD and showed the photo to her cat. Trouble took a look, then hiss as he ran away.
"Maybe not." she swiped through a few images. "This one!" She told him happily as she handed the PADD back and got up to have the replicator make it.

Willson was a little worried until he looked at the image she had picked. "Very nice," he nodded. Ok, I'll let you get ready."

Later, he came back dressed in a pirate costume and gave Kestra a little whistle as she stepped out of her quarters in an a white Egyptian dress. She had taken the time to add the makeup she had seen in images.
"This ok?” She asked in a little questioning tone.

"Perfect. Let's go see what the others picked."
Kestra smiled as odd as she felt dressed like this, she felt lighter. The crew was more relaxed now that they were in their own universe.

{USS Montana. mess hall}

Walking in Kestra smiled. "This should be fun."

Murphy flagged them down. “Y’argh matey!” He looked at Kestra. “You look lovely, what is your costume?”

Kestra grinned, "Thank you, ancient Egyptian," she told him at the same time Willson said "Isis"

Raising her eyebrow at Willson, "They didn't all dress this way?"

"Nope," he pointed her jewelry. " That's the symbol of Isis. She was the goddess of maternity, fertility, wisdom, and a powerful magician."

Kestra frowned. "All that huh. Sounds like she was greedy." She gave a little shrug as she laughed. "it looked pretty."

Murphy smiled, “It’s definitely pretty. Enjoy the party.”

"Wow" Steve exclaimed seeing Kestra's costume but his enthusiasm immediately left space to a feel of pain in his right ankle as apparently "a skeleton", stepped on it after hearing the comment.

"That is indeed a nice costume, lieutenant" quickly commented Deborah stepping in. "And we got a history teacher dressed like a pirate too" she turned towards Willson.

"Lieutenant Wallace Wilson the Assistant Chief Science Officer, but history is my hobby. " He held out his hand to introduce himself.

Kestra smiled. "We have been going over history to make sure there haven't been any major changes in history as we know it from the Romulans weapon. So far, it seems ok. A few odd things, but the federation as a whole is complete. I hope it stays that way." Kestra told them.

Deborah reached out for Wilson's hand "Very nice to meet you, sir. I'm Ensign Deborah O'Donnel... engineering" she presented herself to then nod to Kestra's remark.
"Indeed" she took a deep breath "We're already deep into trouble without history being rewritten substantially" she acknowledged.

"I am hopeful that the few little things we found are just little glitches, and we can move on. Of course, we have only checked Earth and the federation history. " She frowned for a moment before Wilson moaned.
"You have that look. Are you going to go over all the historic events for every known planet?" he asked her.


Kestra bit her lip as she thought, "Well, that might take a lifetime. I guess if there have been any changes elsewhere, then we couldn't really go around fixing them." Her voice was thoughtful.

Wilson rolled his eyes. "No, its party time. You do remember how to have fun, don't you?"

Kestra grinned at Deborah. Then, she frowned at Wilson. "Fun? what is thing you call fun? Perhaps I need a few drinks and some of that food over there? Then I might remember what this fun is." She laughed as he went to get drinks.

"This is a really nice party. Someone put in a lot of effort." Kestra told them before taking the drink Wilson handed her.

"Oh they did for sure" echoed Steve. "Having fun is the least we can do to thank whoever put time and effort in staging it" he grinned and reached for another drink.

The group continued talking until the party was over, not realizing how long they'd been chatting.


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OFF:

Captain Michael Murphy
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Steve Ryan
Chief Communications and Operations Officer

Lieutenant Kestra Ral
Chief Science Officer