<USS Avalon> Dirty Rat, By Ensign Kyle Fenner

You Dirty Rat, You Killed My Brother
By Ensign Kyle Fenner

Kyle lay on the bed, unmoving.  

The door chimed.

Kyle?s head slowly turned toward the door.  It chimed
again.  ?Come.?

Tracy walked in carrying a scale model Galaxy Cruiser.
 Kyle sat up and managed a weak smile.  

Tracy?s eyes misted.  ?When is the service??

Kyle looked off through a wall, ?The day after
tomorrow.?  Tracy joined him on the bed, wrapping Kyle
in a gentle hug.  ?Would you come with me, Tracy? 
Please??

?I?ve already made time.?   Kyle let out a shuddering
breath and turned to look at her in wonder.  ?Kyle, I
couldn?t let you do that alone.?

Time stretched.

Tracy had never looked so beautiful.  Unable,
unwilling to turn away from her eyes, Kyle lost
himself.  For an eternity they danced.  He touched an
arm holding him.  A need to kiss her filled him.  He
reveled in the security in her embrace.

Better.

With her everything would be okay.  He could lay in
her arms forever.  He slowly leaned in.  

Please? I don?t want to hurt anymore.  She would make
everything be all right. 

She tilted toward him, lips parted.  

This isn?t real.  Lips untouched, he pulled away.  Not
out of sympathy.

Kyle turned away.  ?I can?t do this now? I?m sorry.?

Tracy laid her head on his shoulder.  ?Shh, It?s
okay.?

A silence stretched into minutes.  ?I missed you last
night.?

?Oh, Kyle,? she sighed.  ?Why didn?t you come over
then??

?I wasn?t feeling very social.  I wouldn?t have been
very good company.?

?You?re silly, you know that??  

?It?s part of my charm.  Are you hooked??

?I think I?m snagged.?

?Uh-oh.  Any rangers nearby??

?Yep, you just lost your rod, reel, boat, and the
hopper you flew in on.?

?Well shit.  I?m gonna need a sugar mama then.  Are
lieutenants rich??

Tracy laughed.  ?Very.?  She pointed towards her
model, ?Look, I own my own starship.?

?Ooh, you?re definitely a keeper.?  Kyle slid down to
get a better look at the model.  ?Wanna know what I
named her??


*     *=A=*     *

A young petty officer sat in a chair before the lounge
entrance.  Attached to the swinging door was a
hand-made sign proclaiming that for a six hour block,
beginning at 0700, the lounge was reserved by the
Avalon Intraship Simulation League.

The young man looked up from his reading when Kyle and
Tracy reached the door.  ?Excuse me, you two,? he
said, standing up.

Kyle took his hand off the door. ?Yes??

?I need to see your authority to enter.?

Tracy and Kyle looked at each other in confusion. 
Kyle shrugged.  ?Eh??

?Your ships, sir,? said the doorman, with a grin. 
When Kyle and Tracy held up their models he brought
his PADD before them and typed in a command.  Both
ships navigation lights activated and began blinking. 
?Ah, the Curmudgeon and Destiny?s Chance.  Nice names,
very nice names.?  After some scribbling he ushered
Kyle and Tracy inside.  ?You?re added to the league
membership now, by the way.  Enjoy the show!?

The lounge was dimly lit with most of the light coming
from the center of the room, where a holo projector
was displaying a rotating manufacturer?s logo.  An
array of tables along the far wall displayed various
ship models.  

?Hey!?

Kyle and Tracy turned to see a beaming Sara moving
towards them.  ?Hurry up and table your ships, Der?kur
is holding us seats on a couch up front.?

Their models displayed among the others, Tracy and
Kyle were just sliding into the couch when the display
suddenly lit up.  The manufacturer logo faded away to
a large arena filled to capacity in New Tokyo.  The
mumble of the crowd turned to cheers when the
spotlights began sweeping over them.

For almost a full minute the lights swept across the
crowd while floating cameras focused on the various
dignitaries accompanying the Klingon 4th Fleet
Commander and his ships? crews.  Then the crowd was
momentarily drowned out when Event Horizon?s frontman,
suddenly the focus of the spotlights, screamed into
his mic, ?Let me hear some noise!?

The lounge accompanied the arena?s crowd in their
enthusiastic reply.  

The man with the mic feigned surprise.  ?That was
pretty noisy.?

The crowd roared unintelligibly.

The speaker nodded.  ?Could you do better if a guitar
helped you??

?Yeah!? screamed the crowd as a guitarist began
abusing his instrument.

?How about two more guitars!? he screamed.

?The filling lounge and arena audience answered as
one, ?Yeah!?.  

?Okay now, be quiet.?

The crowds hushed.  The drummer began a rat rat-tat
while a ringed observation booth gradually illuminated
above the arena.  The spotlights now dark, the only
light came from the lighting booth.  

With the crowd focused intently on the observation
booth, four people beamed into their own section. 
Instantly, the band tore into an interpretation of the
sport?s theme song.  Then they extended it.  When a
dancing lead singer got the crowd to hopping in their
seats, they extended it yet again.  

Then the guitars faded out to a flurry of drumming
while the singer introduced the players.  ?From
Seventh and Third Fleets, the wildcard entries with
two thousand points each, Kip Thorston and Jenera
Kor!?

The crowds greeted them loudly while in the center of
the arena, two small fleets appeared before each
other.

?Second in overall points, the champion of Proxima
now, for three years running,  with five thousand
points in ships? The Dirty Rat himself, Seamus Fife!?

As Seamus? many Ferengi Marauders appeared in play the
crowd, which also remembered Seamus? double-cross of
an ally earlier in the season, picked up on his title.
 ?Dir-ty Rat!  Dir-ty Rat!?

?And last we have little Polly Perkins from ?? he
began before the crowd went crazy over its local
player.  When the noise died down he continued, ?I
take it you know her.?  Turning toward the display of
the starfield he watched for a moment.  ?Ah yes, here
they come now.?

Even with the capacity crowd of 200,000, the twenty
thousand strong klingons own cheering was noticeable
when little Polly?s fleet of Klingon warships appeared
and did a lazy flyby for the spectators.

The drums slowed to a rat tat-tat again and the singer
lead the crowd in stomping to the beat.  A few moments
of this and the singer began a whispered chant. 
?Fire-fight! Fire-fight!?  

When the crowd had been worked up into the chant the
singer leaped off the stage before the klingon
ambassador and thrust the microphone at him.  The
venerable klingon stood and took a deep breath, ?Let?s
have a firefight!?

Even as the crowd went crazy the four fleets began to
move.  Polly?s massive Negh?var flagship closed on the
Marauders with its Vor?cha and B?rel wings supporting.
 Within seconds the ferengi ships simultaneously
launched a plasma volley towards the Negh?var.  Even
as the smaller B?rels sacrificed themselves, the
klingon fleet responded with disruptors and photon
torpedos.

The crowd made their appreciation known as ships began
taking damage and two or three blew up.  When Kip?s
amber painted horde of frigates began flying into the
mess on one side, and Jenera?s silver Intrepid
destroyers on the other, the camera zoomed in and
orbited the action around the Negh?var.  

Polly?s flagship was, at the moment, the center of the
battle.  Disruptor bolts flashed from it regularly. 
When the frigates and destroyers from the wildcards
made a dive into the melee the klingon dreadnaught
began taking heavy damage, much to the dismay of the
crowd.  But, an excited crowd likes explosions even
more than hometown heroes, and an exploding Negh?var
brought a huge cheer.  After the magnificent explosion
of the Negh?var, the camera zipped back and forth to
various marauders as they were defeated, drawing
cheers and laughter.  At one point, the display
reported the viewed marauder as the last one of its
fleet.  

It blew up.

The singer roared into the microphone, ?Can I get a
hell, yeah??  The crowds confirmed that yes, he could.

Polly?s klingon ships rallied around three Vor?cha
battlecruisers.  B?rels swooped back and forth while
destroyers circled and frigates strafed.  Then a stray
torpedo from one wildcard?s intrepid hit a frigate of
the other.  A fragile alliance crumbled.  A lot of
ships blew up in a short time, and the crowd loved it.

?Round One goes to Polly!?

?Rack ?n stack!  Rack ?n Stack!? chanted the lounge as
the intermission music began.

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