Velvet Vaudeville - The First Meeting - Part I
Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 8:24pm by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Chief Petty Officer Biv Th'shrolneq & Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel & Lieutenant Commander Zuub & Lieutenant Katya Davi & Lieutenant Amy Gordon & Ensign Nyx Calder & Lieutenant Mira Jayde & Lieutenant JG Ruby Rojas
1,868 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Post Cards from Past
Location: Cargo Bay Annex
Timeline: Between missions, After Kalkori
Katya set a time when everyone who agreed to be part of Velvet Vaudeville could get together and discuss what acts they wanted to do or get help deciding. She knew what some were going to do, and she had ideas of what she wanted to do herself, but she hoped that by the end of the evening, everyone would know what everyone else was doing and they'd have a rough idea of where to go from here.
The tall lanky Andorian walked into the cargo bay. She casually flipped a knife while she walked, catching it by the handle, each time, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
Nyx arrived a few seconds after Zuub, pausing in the cargo bay entrance just long enough to clock the knife.
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Well,” she said, stepping inside with a slow grin, “I was gonna ask if this was the dance meeting or the murder meeting, but apparently we’re keeping our options open.”
She drifted farther in, hands tucked into her jacket pockets, neon-tipped hair slightly mussed and eyes already bright with interest.
Katya set a time when everyone who agreed to be part of Velvet Vaudeville could get together and discuss what acts they wanted to do or get help deciding. She knew what some were going to do, and she had ideas of what she wanted to do herself, but she hoped that by the end of the evening, everyone would know what everyone else was doing and they'd have a rough idea of where to go from here.
The tall lanky Andorian walked into the cargo bay. She casually flipped a knife while she walked, catching it by the handle, each time, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
Nyx arrived a few seconds after Zuub, pausing in the cargo bay entrance just long enough to clock the knife.
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Well,” she said, stepping inside with a slow grin, “I was gonna ask if this was the dance meeting or the murder meeting, but apparently we’re keeping our options open.”
She drifted farther in, hands tucked into her jacket pockets, neon-tipped hair slightly mussed and eyes already bright with interest.
“Velvet Vaudeville, huh?” she added, looking around the annex. “Cute name. Sounds like trouble in lipstick.”
Daynah stepped into what up until recently had been Cargo Bay three. She sipped an earl gray tea with lavender, it was something the replicator called a London Fog and it was absolutely heavenly. She blew gently into it to cool it off. Her presence here was not for her to perform, but she did agree to help organize things to some extent. At the moment the Doctor being flippant with a knife troubled her. But, as the saying went this was not her monkeys and not her circus. She leaned against a bulkhead for the time being.
Zuub's antennae leaned forward towards Nyx and writhed. "If you would like to play with my knives, I am happy to accommodate you. I assure you that I am quite precise with my placements."
Jayde wasn't sure why she was here, except that she was now part of the crew and wanted to fit in. It was going to take her a bit to fully integrate, but she was willing to try. When she heard the doctor mention knives, though, it caught her attention. "You throw knives, doctor?"
Zuub turned to Jayde, her antennae leaning forward, "I do. It used to be basic training on Andor but is starting to fall out of favor. Why?"
"I've been throwing knives since I was a child. It's a sport I thought had gone out of favor," Jayde replied.
"It has. However, my family had unique needs and so I was trained more traditionally," Zuub answered. "Why did you learn to throw as a child?" Zuub asked, her antennae leaning more inquisitively towards Jayde.
"My sister and I grew up on Bajor during the occupation. Our parents thought it would be a good skill to have if we needed to defend ourselves." Both liked it enough they continued, although Jayde wasn't sure what Jayna was doing now...except hanging out with Tremble.
Zuub's antennae started to warble. "Correct me if I am wrong, but you are not Bajoran. What were you and your parents doing on Bajor? Certainly, it would make sense to learn to defend yourself during that time, but the rest I do not understand.
"My father was Bajoran. My mother was Vulcan. She chose to stay on Bajor and fight by his side. They were killed by the Cardassians," Jayde replied, her voice cool and almost emotionless.
"I am sorry for your loss. Although I am not a counselor, I expect that you would have some rather strong negative emotions about Cardassians," Zuub observed while her antennae leaned forwarded and wilted slightly.
"Yes. Which is why I was happy to accept this particular assignment. Although I don't blame all Cardassians. I've worked with a number over the years." But Jayde did have problems with those who either helped the Cardassians during the occupation or turned a blind eye to what they did.
"I see," Zuub replied, making a mental note. "Well, hopefully this assignment will not continue to harden you towards all of them, but I'm certain that your skills will come in handy."
Jayde just raised an eyebrow in response.
Ruby slipped in and nodded to Kat before finding a seat. She'd agreed to play her guitar, but apart from that, had no idea what else was planned. Still, it sounded like it would be a lot of fun.
Another person arrived and that was Amy, she gave a bit of a smile. "Hello everyone." then she looked towards Zuub, "I see you came prepared." looking at Zuub's knife.
"Nothing pleases me more than throwing knives in your direction," Zuub answered simply, her antennae twittering happily. "Shall I have you spin now or later?"
Nyx’s face lit up in a way that probably should have worried everyone.
“Wait, hold on,” she said, straightening from the crate. “You mean the spinning part involves someone standing there while Doc Delightful throws knives at them?”
Her gaze snapped to Zuub, bright with immediate, terrible interest.
“Because I’m not saying I volunteer…” She paused, grin widening. “Actually, no, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I volunteer. That sounds amazing.”
She stepped forward with a little bounce in her heels, already far too pleased with the idea.
“I mean, obviously we do safety checks and boring responsible things so nobody loses an ear. But come on. Knife throwing? Spinning target? Dramatic lighting? That’s not a rehearsal, that’s a love language with sharp edges.”
"Doc Delightful?" Zuub asked, her antennae leaning towards Nyx. "I think I like the sound of that. I like barely missing you with thrown knives even better." Her antennae started to slowly writhe at the thought.
Amy gave a shrug, if that was what Nyx or even Zuub wanted then by all means, it can be taken care of.
"If that is your idea of a love language then by all means the two of you can have that fun. I can work on the costuming, and work with the two of you." Amy turned to Nyx regarding the eager woman with a bit of a smile.
"It can be daring and exciting to be on what some call the wheel of death. It is an interesting feeling to have one's fate in another's hand." the intelligence officer responded.
"I'm certain that we could make it as interesting as you would like, Nyx," Zuub answered, her antennae writing more obviously.
“Amy, sweetheart, I’m gonna say this with love, because you seem nice and you’re probably very good at the scary classified stuff,” she said, one hand lifting slightly. “But you just made getting strapped to a wheel while an Andorian doctor throws knives at me sound like a team-building seminar. ‘An interesting feeling to have one’s fate in another’s hand.’ No, no. That’s brochure talk. That’s what you say right before someone makes us sign waivers.”
Her grin snapped back towards Zuub, bright and delighted. “Doc Delightful gets it. Barely missing me is the fun part. The audience should be holding their breath, someone should be questioning every career choice that brought them into the room, and I should look amazing while pretending I’m not having the time of my life.”
She stepped closer, eyes glittering. “So yes. Wheel of death, knives, costumes, lights, the whole terrible idea. Amy can make it pretty. Kat can make it functional. You,” she pointed at Zuub, “can make it dangerous. And me? I’ll make it worth watching.”
A slight laugh from Amy which drifted to a secretive smile.
A momentary flash of a memory, Amy having been strapped to a wheel of death, with knives being thrown at her. She wasn't upset, and Nyx did seem rather enamoured of having that chance.
"Oh yes I can and will, make the costumes" Amy stated her eyes dancing with mirth.
She moved over towards where Jayde was at, "Hi, I'm Amy, welcome aboard."
Jayde nodded. "Hi. I'm Jayde. I'm not really sure why I'm here, though. I was just told to come."
She turned her attention to Jayde, the woman who Rhu had approached to join the crew of the Valiant.
"We're working out details as to what we can do as being part of the crew disguise for gathering information. And what better way, is to be a performing troupe."
Richard entered the room with a mug of Yorkshire Tea and quickly found a seat.
Stepping into the bay, Rhu leaned a shoulder against a bulkhead and listened, wanting to see how his people ran with this new concept, but knowing he wasn't the one to drive it.
Amy's eyes flashed over toward the entrance of Rhu, she gave him a nod of greeting.
When everyone had arrived, Kat asked them to gather around. "Thank you for coming. We're forming up a vaudeville team. If you don't know what vaudeville is, there are vids in the computer. Basically, we're going to put together a number of acts and perform them on some starbases. Everyone should prepare at least two acts so we can rotate them a bit. And we'll have some group numbers. For now, I'd like to know what you can do or what you'd like to do, either solo, with someone else, or in a group. And, since this is my idea, I'll start." Yes, there had been some discussion while people were gathering, but not everyone heard about the knife throwing.
(To be continued...)
Lieutenant Katya Davi
Chief Operations Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant JG Mira Jayde
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant JG Ruby Rojas
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Valiant
Ensign Nyx Calder
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant Commander Zuub
Chief Medical Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant Amy Gordon
Chief Science Officer
USS Valiant
Commander Rhupert Tyree
Master and Commander
USS Valiant
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