It was the middle of the night ship-time aboard the Hornet. The ship's chronometer had been adjusted to match that of the Supply Base's when she docked a few days ago, but not everyone had managed to adjust their own internal clocks yet. Sam and Jo were among those suffering. As far as they were concerned, it was still the middle of the afternoon.
They sat at one of the tables in the Banshee wardroom, chatting quietly and watching the activities outside the window. There was always something going on inside SB-901's huge spacedock facility: cargo ships coming and going, loading and unloading, shuttles buzzing back and forth between docking ports, countless work-bees zipping around everything else.
"So, you seen Kimmie lately?" asked Jo idly.
"Yeah, a few times," answered Sam. "Sometimes here and sometimes over on the supply base."
"Was she alone?"
Sam looked over at Jo and cocked a bemused eyebrow. "What do you think?"
Jo chuckled, and replied, "I think that Garek's friends have seen as little of him as we've seen of Kimmie!" then laughed.
Sam joined in with a laugh of her own.
In the middle of this merriment, Max walked into the room. "What's so funny?" she asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down.
"We were just talking about Kimmie," explained Jo.
Oh...," snorted Max. She leaned her chair back so that it's legs creaked and put her booted feet up on the table. Her friends didn't mind of course -- such unladylike manners were typical of Max. She clasped her hands behind her head and relaxed. "If I were the boss," she drawled, referring to their commanding officer, Lee Carter, "I'd start putting ads in the papers for a new Banshee pilot...."
Sam and Jo looked at each other, then back at Max, not quite catching on what she meant by that. "What do you mean?" asked Sam.
Max looked genuinely surprised. "Oh come on! You can hear the wedding bells from ten parsecs away!"
"No way...," said Jo, but not with a whole lot of conviction.
"Trust me," said Max. She slid her feet off the table and straightened her chair. "I'm an esper, remember?" she finished, winking slyly.
Jo gave a mock snort at that. Sam decided not to comment.
Max straightened her tunic and said, "Fine. Don't believe me then." She stood to leave, then remembered why she'd come into the wardroom in the first place. She sat down again. "Say," she said in a more conspiratorial tone. "I don't suppose either of you has heard the latest rumor going around the ship, have you?"
"What rumor is that?" asked Jo.
Max lowered her voice even further, and said, "I've heard that there's a moonshine still aboard somewhere...."
"So?" said Sam.
"So.... I'm going to go and find it!" said Max, standing again. She favored her two friends with one of her trademark evil grins, then turned and walked out of the room.
Sam and Jo were silent for a while, each lost in her own thoughts. Finally, Sam ventured a comment. "She gonna get in trouble."
Jo nodded and replied, "It's what she lives for...."
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