Girls Night Out X: The Chariot Awaits

Posted on Sat Apr 28th, 2018 @ 8:10pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commander Fiona McCray & Commander Yuna Raza & Lieutenant Commander Selune
Edited on on Sat Apr 28th, 2018 @ 9:46pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Operation: Risa!
Location: Risa, Roma Arcology
Timeline: 2265

Chariot: From Fedepedia, the Federation encyclopedia

The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and were also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC, and examples can be found throughout many of the ancient cultures of the galaxy. The original chariot was a fast, light, open, two-wheeled conveyance drawn by two or more horses that were hitched side by side. The car was little more than a floor with a waist-high semicircular guard in front. The chariot, driven by a charioteer, was used for ancient warfare during the bronze and the iron ages. Armor was limited to a shield. The vehicle was used for travel and in processions, games, and races after it had been superseded by other vehicles for military purposes.

The word "chariot" comes from Latin carrus, which was a loan from Gaulish. A chariot of war or of triumph was called a car. In ancient Rome and other ancient Mediterranean countries a biga required two horses, a triga three, and a quadriga required four horses abreast.



The quartet of Starfleet officers on leave made their way into the lift, rode it down to the lobby level, then they stepped out one at a time for maximum effect. The penthouse lift was situated so that making an entrance or an exit- particularly in the evening- was guaranteed to attract attention. And the four stunners exiting the lift, turned every head tonight.

Fiona was cute and flirty, a bundle of energy and bright red curls in her frilly frock. Yuna looked every inch a regal princess, obviously an heiress or a magnate's wife. Selune represented the very portrait of the exotic alien- from across the room no one could mistake the silvery white fur in stark contrast to the dark cocktail dress she was wearing as her tail switched to and fro. And Charybdis convincingly looked the part of a one-woman alien invasion, ready to plunder, brawl and steal men for her alien breeding purposes.

Adonis met them at the lift entrance. "You all look truly magnificent this evening... it is my privilege to be serving you. Where would you like for me to take you?"

The eyebrow raised and the crooked one-sided grin came up with it. "How about if we start the evening at... the Bacchanal?" Char asked, and Adonis looked a bit distressed at that request.

"Are you certain madame would not prefer to dine and dance the night away in Olympus? It is truly the home of the gods, and most certainly a fitting establishment for noble ladies such as yourselves..."

"Maybe later... but according to what I've heard, we want the Bacchanal," Char insisted, and with a shrug, Adonis acquiesced. "As you wish, so shall it be done. It is my pleasure to serve."

He led them out through the lobby, turning heads as they went. Men stopped in their tracks to look, some tapped their friends to point the quartet out, and at least one man ran straight into a column he was staring so intently at them instead of where he was going.

"I've heard this club has to be seen to be believed... not the tame tourist stuff, but some really fantastic sights and sounds with an amazing dancing experience," Char whispered to her cohorts. "We can go do the big tourist destination later, eh?"

"What could possibly go wrong?" Selune asked rhetorically.

"With us, is that REALLY a smart question to be asking?" Yuna chimed in, blushing at how the fabric from her dress brushed the top half of her legs. She'd never worn something this short- even her duty uniform covered more than this.

Fiona chuckled and gave Selune's arm a little hug. "Och! Sweetie, you've challenged fate!" she teased lightly.

"Oh please..." Char snorted dismissively. "We're four of the most dangerous women in Starfleet. We're young, in our prime, dressed to kill and independently wealthy for a night. We're off duty and on the town... what COULD possibly go wrong?"

"Ooooh laird! A double dose oov doom!" The Scot snorted cheerfully.

"Who says we're dangerous?" Yuna raised an eyebrow, letting the glitter sparkle on her spots.

"My medical chart, for one..." Char muttered.

"Hey I apologized for that," Yuna retorted, swatting Char on the back of the head, though she did have to reach up on her tippytoes to catch the Vulcan's head. "And besides, you SO deserved it!"

"Apologized when? Was I there?" the exquisite officer asked with a quizzical look. "And I deserved it for looking out for you...?"

"You were there... you were just... unconscious," Yuna mumbled, her eye gaze dropping down to her sparkly strappy heels.

"Aye... it was a looverly apology. Angels wept when they heard it," Fiona gave the embarassed Trill a light reassuring pat on the shoulder "Truly they did. It was tha stoof oov songs and legends"

Adonis took them outside, where quite literally, their chariot awaited. He held the door and helped them into the chariot, even as photographers snapped holos of them. No one knew who they were, but they might be celebrities, and they certainly were stunning. Decades later those images would be part of history, though none suspected it at the time.

"Ah... I see." Charybdis had begun to grow irritated over the subject- after all, thanks and apologies were most certainly on her mind today. But as she settled into her seat across from Yuna she could see that the Trill seemed suddenly self-conscious and guilty, and the charming commander realized a few factors all at once. "Sickbay... you found out I was in sickbay that night, even though you weren't supposed to... oh Yuna, I'm so sorry. I really didn't want you to know..."

"Hel-looo... she's chief oov se-cur-i-ty... like ye can keep anythin' frum her when ye canna even keep it fruim me." Fi had tripled her pace to keep up with her leggier friends. It was a bit like have a particularly yappy puppy dancing around the outskirts of the group. The tiny woman never stopped moving, and was now grateful for the opportunity to sit. "And like she wasn't going tae go check on ye. Pffft!"

"You didn't want me to know that I'd given you a grade two concussion?" Yuna's eyebrows rose again " Why??"

"Because she's daft an thinks thet the world is her responsibility... doesn't want anyone tae be poot oot on her behalf," was the half-muttered response from Fiona.

"Well, yes, because... because I shouldn't have let you hit me that hard, I should have been more alert and rolled with it, and the entire purpose of that morning was that you always seem to be so angry or upset and... I just wanted you to be able to vent some of it on me, because I can take it. And I wanted you to meet Fi, because I know how lonely you are on the Bonnie. I didn't quite mean for it to end up the way it did, and I never wanted you to know about it, because you were so happy afterward... it was first time I had actually seen you in a good mood." The ebon-clad executive smiled with a shrug. "Don't feel badly, please... I'm not mad, Siivas took really good care of me, and it worked out for the best, it really did! It was kind of a happy accident."

"Yeah, right, whatever," Yuna grumbled, filing that little piece of information away for future reference.

The mercurial temptress took Yuna's wrist in her hand and pulled herself close to the Trill from across the chariot. "Don't. You do that every time, and I don't like it every time. Don't spurn and deride me when I try to be nice to you. It isn't weakness, and it isn't stupidity. It is a conscious choice that I make, one that you cheapen when you dismiss me out of hand like that. It belittles me. Stop it." The Vulcan scientist's expression was quite serious.

"I'm sorry," Yuna squeaked, catching herself before she berated herself further. "I just feel so badly about it all," she admitted.

Char's expression immediately softened, and she let go of the Trill's wrist. "Don't, Yuna. I forgive you. You're my friend... you wouldn't hurt me intentionally. It was an accident, and I was in command there, so it was my responsibility." She spent a moment looking down, considering what to say next. When she looked up, her nebulous violet eyes were wide and honest.

"It is very hard to trust... I know this better than you might imagine. And letting your guard down is hard. But if you keep it up all the time you can miss so much. I like you, I respect you and you don't have to protect yourself from me. Honest."

Raising eyes half filled with tears, Yuna realized she'd never been this close to any friend before. "I'll try," she said simply, promising herself she would indeed try.

The buxom beauty wrapped her in a mildly smothering hug, and whispered, "That's all I ask."

"I'm not dangerous," Selune pouted, "Just... misunderstood."

That got a snort of laughter from the engineer. "Ease oop on tha hug there Greenie... her spots are tarnin' a shade o' blue thet clashes with her dress!" She grinned at Selune around their hugging friends and shook her head. "Not dangerous... like a baby bantha."

"I certainly don't understand you..." the science officer said as she disentangled from the hug and gave a gentle nudge to the Caitan. It was, after all, mutual.

 

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