Wait there's two of you?!?

Posted on Wed Feb 27th, 2019 @ 12:01am by Lieutenant Srash & Captain M'Mira & Lieutenant Shorish
Edited on on Mon Mar 11th, 2019 @ 2:31pm

1,714 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Into The Breach
Location: Quail Eh Tea Cafe, Commercial Hub, Faltan Station
Timeline: MD06 - 0830

M'Mira was tired. She was very tired but she knew that a cat nap was out. She knew that she was the Executive Officer in fact, now. Mint was the Commanding Officer. How did this all come to be. Her parents would be very proud of her, she knew. However, the station was a disaster. There were so many matters on her mind. Several people were announcing that they were leaving with the Captain. There did not appear to be a new influx of crew in sight and to top it all off, Mint was pregnant. She knew that she would be having to bear the brunt of the work. She could not let Mint do as much as she should in her state. M'Mira would be a horrible friend if she did.

She ordered herself some salmon and a glass of milk rather than her normal White Russian with extra cream. While it would be filled with synthohol, she could not take pleasure in it and was worried it would make her more drowsy that she desired. Looking over the crowd, she day dreamed as to what would be the next stage in her career.

These new patrols were going to be the death of Srash. He was exhausted already and now he had five extra miles to walk in patrols every day and to confuse any would be attackers, he had to change his patrol route every day! His tail swished low as he walked his new path through the commercial hub. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Commander M'Mira. Shorish had told him about their encounter during the party and Srash was definitely not looking forward to meeting her now.

He took a winding path through the hub, bringing him closer to M'Mira unintentionally. But he did not speak to anyone, most of them were civilians enjoying an early breakfast anyway. In the distance, he could see Shorish walking toward him. His tail lifted and swished happily behind him as he made his way toward his brother. When he noticed Shorish looking his way, he pointed to his left and made a gesture as though to say Shorish should turn left at the next building. Hoping he'd seen the gesture, Srash turned and made his way down to where Shorish would turn.

Shorish caught Srash coming towards him and the motions of his tail. They didn’t often get to see each other around this area, and he was curious what his brother was doing there. Realizing where he wanted him to go, Shorish nodded and turned where indicated. He had heard about the new patrol routes and felt sorry for his brother and the lack of naps he would receive.

Srash's tail waved lazily behind him. "Brrrotherrr," he purred happily. "Commanderrr M'Mira is sitting at an outdoor table at the cafe," he said indicating with his head the direction of the cafe. "She still doesn't know therrrre arrrre two of us?"

"I do not believe so. I met herrrrr at the station opening cerrrremony." A smile crossed Shorish's face and his tail swished. "Do we want to have a bit of fun, brrrrrotherrrr?"

"I met herrr later, but didn't corrrrrect herrr when she called me by yourrrr name," Srash's tail swished quickly in amusement at himself. "And yes, let's have some fun! I have to patrrrrol this arrrrrea, so I will pass by herrrr severrral times."

Shorish's eyes went wide. "Oh my, farrrrr to fun. We have matching uniforrrrrrms, only ourrrr bands arrrre differrrrent. I can find times to pass wherrre she is at when you arrren't in view."

Tag Srash

M'Mira watched as Shorish walked by. She mentally shrugged at herself. It was such a shame that he was so dull. His lineage had some promise. She continued to observe the scene when she surprisingly watched him come in the other direction. That was odd. He was not looking at her, so he could not be flirting, could he? If so, it was a pretty lame attempt. She shrugged this time, slightly visible now and continued to drink.

A few minutes later, Srash's patrol route began to loop around. He was going to take a different route, but some of his security companions were already walking through the area he'd intended to go and thus was forced to walk past the cafe again. M'Mira still sat there sipping her drink. He nodded his head as he passed her. "Commanderrrrr," he said politely, his gold banded tail waving lazily back and forth still.

M'Mira looked at Srash and noticed that Lieutenant Shorish was wearing gold bands. They certainly were more stylish than the brass ones. Still, the Caitian was boring. There was no reason to be impolite, though. At least he finally made some sort of effort. After all, what was this? The second time he passed. "Lieutenant," she replied, as she lazily sipped her drink.

With an amused look, Srash went back to his patrol, saying hello to a few other people as he passed. Though he hoped none of them said his name in their return greetings. As he walked away from the cafe, his tail swished happily behind him. It was not really a nice thing to do, tricking a superior officer, but it was amusing to him. He hummed as much as a Caitian could hum. It came out more as a deep rumble from his chest and throat than a hum, but he continued to do so as he walked. However, as he made his return loop, he found himself face to face with Shorish not far from M'Mira. The gig would be up if she looked their way. His tail drooped slightly and he gave Shorish a frown as he noticed movement to his right.

Shorish stopped in his path, tail drooping as well. His eyes glanced from his brother to M'Mira. They wouldn't both be able to get out of view before she turned, and even if they somehow managed it, their tails would be visible.

The jig was up. M'Mira did turn. She saw both of the tails: one with brass rings and the other with gold. "Lieutenants!" she growled. "Frrront and centerrr."

Tail lowering, Shorish straightened up a bit hearing M’Mira’s voice. He caught Srash’s eye before walking towards the commander. Standing at attention, he did his best to not let his tail show how worried he was about all this. “Commanderrrr M’Mirrrra.” He stated with a polite bow.

"Have you both had enough fun at my expense? Identical twins, eh? Perrrhaps, some rrreal names are in orrrderrr?" M'Mira demanded.

"I was the one you met at the parrrrrty, Commanderrrrr. My name is rrrreally Shorrrrrish. That was not a lie." He looked down, tail lowering at the same time.

M'Mira gave Shorish a withering look and was pleased when his tail lowered and his head bowed down towards her. She then turned her ire on the other Caitian. "Then you arrre?"

"Lieutenant Srrrash, ma'am. Security," he said inclining his head and lowering his tail slightly, but it still waved as though he was enjoying the situation. "I've only been walking my patrrrrol all morrrning. And I met you the otherrrr day. Simply didn't corrrrrrect you when you called me by his name. I am used to being called Shorrrish, so I often forrrrget to corrrrect otherrrrs. Today was a bit of fun at yourrr expense, to see if you noticed the differrrences. It was my idea, and I apologize if we have offended you."

"Srrrash," M'Mira repeated the name and grinned. "The rrrings tipped me off." She inspected the two of them very carefully to see where she could tell the differences. "Which one of you is olderrr?" she inquired curiously.

Shorish nodded slightly to Srash, “He’s fourrrrr minutes olderrrrr than I am.”

Srash's tail picked up a bit when he saw M'Mira's grin. "Olderrr but not wiserrr," he said with a chuckle. "Most people don't notice the rrrrings," he said, almost impressed that she had picked up on them. "I would guess that most don't notice yourrrr nails either. I don't think I've seen any otherrrr Caitian females paint theirrrr nails."

M'Mira purred in delight that Srash noticed. She held them out for inspection. "Do you like them?" she asked anxiously of the twins.

Finally looking up, having let Srash speak more in case they were in serious trouble, Shorish’s tail raised and he finally smiled. “Yourrrr nails arrrre amazing, Commanderrrrr.”

"Well," she considered thoughtfully. "I suppose I could forgive yourrr bit of fun at my expense if you took me out to dinnerrr," M'Mira purred.

Shorish's tail showed even more excitement at hearing that. "I would gladly take you out to dinnerrrrr, Commanderrrrr. Wheneverrrr and wherrrreverrrr you like."

M'Mira looked over at Srash, wondering what he had to say on the matter.

"I too would gladly take you to dinnerrrr," Srash gave a toothy grin. "And I promise not to pretend to be Shorrrrish in orrrrderrrr to take you out twice," his tail swished happily and he gave a purr like laugh.

M'Mira's tail swished happily at that. "Well," she said turning away slightly, enjoying the attention, "Perrrhaps I should let you boys sorrrt it all out. You both should know how to find me."

"Thank you, Commanderrrrr," Shorish said as his tail raised and showed his excitement. "Apologies again forrrr the trrrrrouble."

"Save yourrr apologies for dinnerrr," M'Mira replied. "I'll leave it both of you to sorrrt out details."

Srash turned to Shorish and chuckled. "Well, that went betterrr than anticipated," he said jovially. His tail swished behind him and his eyes twinkled mischievously. "I should get back to worrrrk now though, shall we discuss dinnerrrr plans over lunch?"

Shorish gave a smirk. "I know that look, brrrrrotherrrr. I am due in engineerrrrrring, but can do lunch laterrrrr."

"See you then," Srash said, giving his brother a toothy grin and a wave. "I'll call you when I get brrrreak!" He said over his shoulder before beginning to saunter off.

Swishing his tail, Shorish headed off to engineering.

M'Mira, on the other hand, headed to her Command Meeting, dreading the possibility of who might be the new 2XO.

 

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