At The Bar of Infinite Delights

Posted on Fri Apr 9th, 2021 @ 4:48am by Lieutenant Commander Finley Chu & Siany ZyMach

753 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 0: Everybody Has A Story
Location: Bar HRH

Business had picked up a little, but Siany still found herself twirling her thumbs most of the time. It wa so let her first day, but already, she was glad that her livelihood didn’t depend on the patronage of the bar. Otherwise, she’d be homeless within a week.

However, her sanity may suffer if people didn’t start talking to her.

A patron near the end of the bar signaled for a refill on his rum, but did not stop talking to his companion even to say thank you. She sighed and went back to polishing glasses. Something had to give.

She was surprised this place existed. She had just stepped through the sliding doors into the bar, and looked in awe of it. A top secret SFI installation orbiting a lifeless hunk of spacerock in a literal space wasteland. And there was a bar?! She stepped up to the counter and nodded at the barkeep.

“Hi!” said Siany cheerfully, huge smile on her face. “Siany ZyMach, barkeep. What can I get for you?”

"Oh, hi." Fin smiled, "Finley Chu, resident spook-expert. Can I get an old fashioned?"

"Coming right up," announced Siany. "Spook expert," she repeated as she began making the drink. "I take it you don't mean ghosts."

The grey-collared officer mounted her barstool and looked around at the small bar. "No ghosts. But you know, spooks? Spies, intelligence operatives. They're kind of like ghosts."

“Oh!” said Sophie, dawning realization coming over her face. “Oh, I see. That’s clever. Humans always come up with the most clever nicknames.”

"I take it you're not human then?" Fin asked curiously.

“Telino,” replied Siany simply.

"I'm not as educated as my fellow officers. Mostly because I didn't go anywhere near the Academy, so I feel inclined to ask, where are Telino from? Because I don't think I've met any before you."

“Really?” asked Siany, astonished. “We’re all over the place. Well, we do tend to blend in, so I suppose if they never told you you wouldn’t know. Anyway, Beta quadrant. We’re located in the beta quadrant, on the fringes.”

"Then let me ask another question, it's a proper Earth cliché too. What is a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" Fin grinned at the amount of corn in that line.

Siany giggled, a cheerful bubbly sound. "I enjoy bartending," she explained. "You get to meet all manner of people and you find out some really juicy gossip. It's great fun."

"I've spent a few lost nights during my bootcamp days bartending. It was good fun, but I didn't end up in one Starfleet's top secret spacestations because I could make a proper mojito..."

“And I did,” laughed Sophie. “Life is wild, isn’t it?”

"How though?"

"They wanted an actual flesh and blood bartender and my people are notoriously loyal," replied Siany. "I still had to undergo rigorous vetting. The number of times they swore me to secrecy about the same things was unbelievable! I mean, honestly! How many times to they think is necessary to make a promise permanent? Nineteen? Thirry-six? Nine hundred and seventy-three? If you know, tell them because I-" she cut herself off with a deep breath. "Never mind," she finished, perma-smile returning to her face. "That's a story for another day."

"Guess you can't trust Ferrofax to not spike a drink I guess." Fin nodded in agreement.

"I have no idea who Ferrofax is, but if my knowledge of literature is to be trusted, nobody whose name ends in fax is trustworthy," replied Siany. "In fact, Anne McCaffery simply used Fax for her bad guy."

"Big mean AI, seemingly runs a lot of the station." Fin looked around, waiting for the hologram to materialize. When it didn't she continued. "Looks like a foppish gothic man?"

"I don't think I've met him, yet," Siany said. "But he sounds like a hoot. Too bad AI doesn't drink."

"So, about that old fashioned?" Fin enquired.

"Oh!" exclaimed Siany with a start. She set the completed Old Fashioned in front of Fin. "Sorry! We got to talking and I forgot to deliver it."

Fin appreciated the scent of the bourbon. She was never entirely sure if she could tell it was real Earth-made or not, but it smelled of caramel with some vanilla. A smile graced her lips as she tasted it. Then a sigh of appreciation escaped her lips.

"That sounds like a satisfied customer," said Siany, extra cheerful.

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