Blues Night in 10 Forward, part 1

Posted on Wed May 19th, 2010 @ 3:03am by Commodore Samantha York & Commander John Sheridan & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Major Leroy Mangalia & Lieutenant JG Erin Tal & Lieutenant JG Nava & Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw & Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe

1,139 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Orion Lounge
Timeline: Current

ON

Kaj had been in Ten Forward for a while getting things ready for the night. Despite that it wasn't his first gig he still had a few nerves. However having Kurtis Straub there as well was a calming influence, and soon enough Kaj was busy with the job of tuning up the three guitars he would be using throughout the night.
After he had done as much as he could on his own he looked at Kurt for a moment, who in turn nodded towards the bar. Kaj grinned, nodded, then turned to shout.
"Hey Ted! Are you done schmoozing the waitresses back there? You do have a gig tonight!"

Ted shook his head and came out with a grin on. "Just making sure there's enough beer."

Walking into the lounge with a case in his hands, Leroy made a beeline for the bar. He needed to drink before getting back on stage, it had been far too long for him. Grabbing the most potent drink they would serve him, he drank several ounces quickly. Turning, he grabbed a larger drink and moved to the set up stage and started unpacking his bass. Kneeling there on the floor, he began the long laborious job of tuning it for blues, with some success.

Kaj looked over from adjusting one of his amplifiers to adjust his tone in relation to Teds'
"Hey, don't worry about that too much Leroy, this is blues, not the Twin Suns Orchestra. You're allowed to be even a little imperfect when playing the blues."

Nava walked in a bottle of water in her hand and a slight smile on her face. Unlike most Ferengi, she liked the Blues "Good evening gentlemen. How's the tuning going?" She asked with a slight smile and a large drink of water.

Leroy shook his head at Kaj then looked at Nava. "It would be going better if someone believed in perfection." Turning back to Kaj, he chuckled. "Always tune the instrument before going on stage to perform. If it be blues or even the Orchestra. Please excuse me Lieutenant." Going back to his work on tuning the bass, he sighed as a cord snapped. Cussing under his breath, he went towards the replicator to grab a new one.

Erin entered soon after Nava, with her guitar slung across her back. Even though she wasn't going to be using it, it calmed her down to have the much-battered instrument near her when she was performing.
''Hey everyone.'' She looked around, relieved that they're wasn't too many people there yet. She smiled widely at Kaj by way of hello and turned her attention to the bass Leroy was tuning before looking around again.
''Nice bass. So how's the set-up going?''

Leroy cussed again as the replicator failed to work and looked at the woman. "Not so well. Need a new cord, and this blasted thing isn't working." Throwing his hands up in disgust, he moved back to his case and started rummaging around. Pulling out the replacement he forgotten he had in the case, he stripped the bass of the E string. "I never remember putting extra's in here," he murmured, ignoring the young lady as he went back to tuning and clipping strings.

Kaj just shook his head. He would have to educate Leroy about the blues someday, specifically about how the imperfections made it perfect. Grinning as he turned to speak with Erin, he put the guitar he was cradling in a bracket next to the other two.
"He'll learn, eventually. Want to tune up before anybody else gets here? I need to work on the Telecaster myself, and I'm sure Nava would be happy to accommodate."

''Good idea, I always find that it helps calm me down." Erin answered cheerfully, swinging the guitar off of her shoulder and propping it up on a table.
"It was a great idea, I hope it goes well."

Trent arrived next with an entourage of Marine's helping him to bring in his drum set. After unceremoniously dumping his equipment on the floor, the remaining Marines headed off to the bar.

Trent was quick at setting up his equipment, testing the sound on each before getting comfortable in his seat. To loosen up, he began playing a triplet feel to work his arms up and find his feet. Satisfied that everything sounded okay, he left his drumsticks on his seat and headed off to the bar.

Samantha had talked Damon into joining her for the Blues night. She felt like she had to make an appearance, and she really didn't want to do it alone. Plus it might turn out to be a fun evening.

They found a small table near the side of the stage where they could have a good view but not be in the way.

Damon was quick to order a couple of drinks from one of the passing servers. Initially he had no interest in going, however, it seemed that Samantha could be very persuasive. It wasn't that he didn't like blues music, quite the contrary in fact, but his nerves were slightly frayed tonight from all of the work that still needed to be done. Who knew, perhaps a night out would be just what he needed to shake away some of the stress.

Ted was tuning his guitar while his two boys played by the stage, giggling. He played a few chords of an old song by a guy called B.B. King, "How Blue Can You Get". He was actually quite good. For some reason he played his guitar left-handed when he was actually right-handed. Unusual, but there it was.

Randy was slightly nervous, as it had been awhile since he had played, and that in front of people. He walked into Ten-forward carrying two cases, and sat down at a table to pull out his acoustic guitar and started tuning it.

Finally done with tuning his bass, Leroy smiled as he started playing "Rock Me Baby" and smiled. He missed playing like this. It helped keep him calm during the rough times. Singing softly to the song, he made sure he couldn't be heard. He played by slapping the bass, something his uncle had taught him. He wasn't bad, but he could have been better.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

Ted Turner
Lounge Manager
USS Orion

Ensign Nava
Chief Diplomat
USS Orion

1st Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia
Marine XO
USS Orion

Ensign Erin Tal
Chief Counselor
USS Orion

Private Trent Kushner (NPC)
Marine
USS Orion

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster (NPC)
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Orion

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Orion

Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

Ensign Randall McGraw
Wing Commander
USS Orion

Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan
Executive Oficer
USS Orion

 

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