Of Mice and Men

Who: Jo, Baltimore and Kirella (Steev’s Robot Mice), the usual crowd in
Parrots.
Where: Parrots
When: sometime after the speeding ticket was issued
After being patched up, Jo headed into Parrots for a drink, noticing
the usual barflies looking uncomfortably sober. Looking around warily,
she accepted her drink from the current barkeep and took a seat at the
bar.
“What’s up with them?” she asked him, not quite sure why she was
whispering.
“They had an encounter with 5000 Jays. Some of them are rethinking
their drinking habits,” he replied.
Jo laughed, “Hrmm, yes. I was up in the medibay when they had a run in
with Keto.” The guy grinned.
“Oh, now that would have been interesting. I wish I could have seen
the look on the Doc’s face.”
“No you don’t,” Jo winked at him, “It wasn’t pretty.”
Just then there was a commotion at the other end of the bar. “Oi! What
type of joint are you running here,” someone yelled out, “Seems you
have a bit of an infestation problem on your hands. Better call the
exterminators.” Parrots echoed with drunken laughter.
“Exterminators!” squeaked an outraged voice over the din, “Why I ought
to exterminate you! You big, oafish, overgrown monkey...”
“Shhhhhhh... Kirella!” hissed another high-pitched voice urgently.
“Shut up Baltimore!” the first voice screeched back, “I’m going to
teach this pig some manners.”
There was a sudden silence at that end of the bar.
“Right! That’s it,” said one patron getting shakily to his feet, “First
5000 Chrysler’s, now it’s talking mice. I don’t know what you put in
this stuff, but I’m not taking another drink as long as I live.”
There were a few shaky agreements as many patrons peered dubiously into
their drinks then hastily put them on the bar, alcohol slopping
everywhere.
The barkeep scowled as he hurried down the other end to clean up the
mess, muttering darkly about mice scaring away his customers.
Jo watched the scene unfold with amusement. The little mouse’s temper
reminded her of her former boss, Commander Alexei Kachorikov.
“Great Achernar’s Balls!” she exclaimed. Jo had forgotten all about
Alexei during all that had happened to the Dwarf since she’d been
brought aboard. He’ll be frantic, she thought, the Quasar 4 was
everything to him. Jo winced, picturing its current state: strewn in
unrecognisable pieces across the docking bay floor.
With a sigh, Jo finished the rest of her drink and stood up. Might as
well get this over with now. Gritting her teeth, she turned and left
Parrots.
As Jo hurried out of the bar, she heard a smash and looked back to see
that Kirella had grabbed the first offender by his shirt and was
brandishing a broken bottle in his face in a very business-like way,
while Baltimore was sniffing at the puddle of spilt spirits on the bar.
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