Personal Intervention

Posted on Tue Aug 23rd, 2022 @ 2:47am by Commander Raiden Kosugi

Mission: The Goddess
3748 words - 7.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Raiden dry washed his face, trying to wipe away the exhaustion he was feeling. He didn’t want to go to sleep, it would mean he might be plagued by the dreams he was having. This in turn made it to where he’d been drinking a bit more coffee than he liked to. Raiden had even gotten into drinking Raktajino. It helped some in keeping him awake, but Raiden knew living on hardly any sleep and drinking coffee was taking its toll or would be taking a toll very soon. He glanced around, feeling like the walls of his quarters and office were closing in on him, and Raiden knew that wasn’t a good thing. He had to do something, he didn’t feel like going to talk with Liala or even Lydia at this moment. His nerves were still feeling a bit raw after his session with Doctor Whitlock. He needed to let loose, to just step outside of himself, step away from his inner thoughts. Raiden’s eyes stopped on the bottle of Saké tempted to drink it, he shook his head. He may end up being interrupted in drinking it, with his new position. That is when Raiden remembered something Liala had told him, making boundaries between personal life and work life.

His padd in hand, Raiden entered in something he never thought he’d ever do, entering in his own personal day, as an XO. Was it legal? Well, if he did something wrong then, Captain Hawkins would set him straight, but after Raiden got back.

An hour later Raiden stepped foot upon the station, dressed in civvies, something casual. He had booked himself a room, set his overnight bag in the center of the bed, and Raiden set out to see what the station offered. From what he had noticed on the station, there was a karaoke bar, a night club, other sorts of places he could just lose himself in and no one would know who he was. This caught Raiden’s attention, and since he had a little bit of time to kill, he was going to take advantage of it. He was dressed in what would be termed dressy casual, long sleeved red shirt, black slacks, and black slip on shoes which were comfortable, and easy enough to dance in if the mood struck. He had on his right ring finger a ring made of green jade and about his neck was a small dragon medallion made of green jade, hung by a gold chain around his neck. These he wore when Raiden felt a bit unbalanced in his Chi. And right now, the circumstances called for it.

As he walked through the promenade, there was music that caught his attention and Raiden was drawn to it. The faint music of a song drifted to his ears, a classic song, with a beat that would make the heart beat strong. It was one of his favorite songs, a power song that he’d do his kata’s with and also would fly in the simulators as well. The song was Danger Zone. He stepped into the bar which seemed to cater to pilots and those who liked the genre of days gone by.

On one side of the decent sized bar/ night club was a small dance floor where there were people dancing to the high octane tune, with others singing along with the words. Raiden grinned, this looked like a great place to just enjoy the carefree energy here. He went up to the bar, which looked to be like real wood carefully cared for, Taking a seat upon the barstool Raiden looked to see what they had. He thought for a moment as to what he’d have. There was a really good selection, then his eyes settled on one.

The female barkeeper was wiping down the top of the bar, glancing over toward the man who had just come in. She’d not seen him before, he must be new.

“Welcome to The Airfield, what can I get you?” the dark haired woman asked. “My name’s Marilyn, what’s yours?” her dark brown eyes picking up on some signs of stress on the man’s face across the bar from her. At the moment, there was a lull before Marilyn resumed making drinks, so she decided to take the time and chat with the man at her bar.

“I’d like a whiskey neat, for starters, if you have Sassenach.” Raiden responded, with an easy smile. “And my name is Raiden.”
Marilyn smiled, as she poured the whisky, then slid it over towards Raiden.

Raiden picked up the glass, and held it to his nose, taking in the scent of the scotch. He swirled it around catching how the light played upon the golden hued alcohol. Then he took a sip of it, letting the whole flavor roll about on his tongue, then swallowed. Raiden smiled, it was really good.

“Let me know if you need another one.” Marilyn remarked, before moving on to the next customer.

Raiden lifted up his glass in a salute towards Marilyn, before taking another sip, just listening to the other music that was cued up in the jukebox that was there. The songs varied, a mix of some back in the 1930’s to the 1980’s. One such song was the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company C. Raiden turned around when he heard the sound of a bugle ring through the air. The lights went down except for an area where three ladies came out, dressed in costumes of WW2, reminiscent of the Andrew Sisters. They moved to the jungle beat at the beginning of the number.

Raiden picked up his whisky glass and moved to get a better view much like the other patrons of The Airfield, and he couldn’t help himself; he moved along with the music, much like the others as it was a catchy tune. While they sang, the ladies easily moved through the crowd, pausing in front of several onlookers, then continued on. They even stopped in front of Raiden, all three giving a flirtatious wink towards him. Raiden grinned and gave them a nod, then they moved on. The number came to a close and amidst the cheers,and applause they gave a wave of farewell and left the dance area.

Raiden chuckled, and headed back to where he had been seated at the bar. He needed a refill, he found that the original stool he had been seated in was now occupied, but a space had opened up near the middle of the bar, and he sat there instead.

“Hi, welcome back.” Marilyn greeted Raiden. “Ready for a refill?” nodding towards his now empty glass.

Raiden nodded, “Sure why not.” grinning. “That was some little number those three ladies had put on. They were great. Is this a regular performance here?”

Marilyn nodded, “It's part of the ambience of The Airfield. Part of this is just a lot of good fun, with the eclectic variety of music people seem to like to come and well, hang out with pilots or just to pretend to be one. Just to dress up.”
Raiden nodded, picking up his whisky and took a slow sip. He did like this bar, it was great and he had seen some familiar looking photos from history. This took him back into some memories of his uncle and the planes Raiden had helped to restore.

There was a gentle clearing of a feminine throat and a touch of his hand which brought Raiden out of his thoughts. He blinked and turned to the left to see who was trying to get his attention, finding himself looking into a pair of beautiful dark brown eyes. “Er can I help you?”
The owner of those dark brown eyes, a brunette appeared to be of Spanish descent, she grinned at Raiden’s reaction.

Another female voice then spoke on the right side of him, “I think he’s lost that loving feeling.” Raiden glanced to his right to find himself looking into another beautiful pair of green eyes belonging to a tanned girl with dark blonde hair.

“Yes I will agree, he has lost that loving feeling.” The blonde woman replied, smiling as well.
“Wait, what?” Raiden was slightly confused, then he and his barstool were swiveled around to where his back was to the bar, with the help of the two women.

Then a spotlight was shone upon Raiden and some vocalizing came with the beginning beat of a rather familiar song. A woman with mocha colored skin, sounding much like Dionne Warwick as she sang, a soulful version of You’ve lost that Loving feeling. She was dressed in a long red dress, a slight slit up her thigh. She smiled as she sang, and the other two ladies added their harmonies to the song as back up singers. The back up singers were wearing blue dresses which sparkled as much as the lead singer’s did.

Raiden could scarcely believe this was happening, becoming mesmerized by this number, the gorgeous woman moving towards him. She ran her fingers along his shoulder and down his arm, as she sang. And then with one hand, she gently tugged at Raiden’s hand and he moved off the bar stool and found himself in the middle of the three ladies as they sang. Raiden felt rather bemused at this happening, but he also was enjoying this, it was definitely a distraction he truly needed.

As the song came to a close, the ladies drew close to him, then when the music faded away, Raiden received a kiss on both cheeks and the main singer, the lady in red, planted a rather sensual kiss upon his lips. Raiden’s eyes widened, and he slightly blushed, much to the delight of the lady in red and the ladies in blue.
Another kiss from each of them and then the trio left, amidst cat calls, whistles, good natured laughter and applause. Raiden could only gaze after the ladies, having a goofy grin. Raiden started to follow after the ladies then felt a hand on each of his shoulders and heard
“Alright my man! Here, finish your drink, come with us and let's go to an Izakaya! You seem like a fun guy so what do you say? Besides, this lady here is interested in you.”

The two men gestured towards one of the ladies who was part of the group. She was blushing, her hair a glossy black, with a slight amount of curl, her almond shaped eyes peeping at Raiden through her long eyelashes. She shyly waved towards Raiden, peering out from behind one of her female friends.

“This is Ichika” the broad shouldered man gesturing towards the girl, in introduction. “And I’m Adam and this is Rusty.” pointing with his thumb towards the ginger haired man who was on his left side.

“I’m Raiden, nice to meet you.” Raiden looked at the group; there were nine of them, five ladies and four men. It looked like they were wanting to get a date for their friend. “Sure, why not, you had me at Izakaya.” Raiden grinning broadly. The girl was pretty and he mentally shrugged why not.

“And there will be karaoke as well, wait until you hear Ichiko sing.” Adam remarked.

“Oh? I would love to hear her sing.” Raiden responded, “Okay let's go!”

With some laughter the group pulled Raiden along and headed for the Izakaya.

Now the Izakaya was a popular form of nightlife activity in Japan, it was a place to eat and drink, getting good group rates. You have a two to three hour time allotment, with plenty of food and drink to choose from. At the end of the time, the bill was settled.

They arrived at the Izakaya which was the name of the place and Raiden’s eyes widened, it was reminiscent of the ones he had gone to in Japan and back home while on shore leave. Long tables were dotted throughout the place and in a far corner was a karaoke stage. There was an empty table not far from there and that is where the group that Raiden was with went to.

The menu was varied, Edamame – boiled and salted soybean pods Goma-ae – various vegetables served with a sesame dressing, Karaage – bite-sized fried chicken, Kushiyaki – grilled meat or vegetable skewers, Salads, Sashimi – slices of raw fish, Tebasaki – chicken wings, Tofu, Agedashi dōfu – deep fried tofu in broth, Hiyayakko – chilled silken tofu with toppings, Tsukemono – pickles,Yakisoba – grilled noodles,Yakitori – grilled chicken skewers.

Drinks they had a variety, Beer, Sake, Shochu, Fruit wine among those was a favorite, Plum wine. They even had whisky on the menu. The group settled at the table and the food and drink were ordered. The first drink though was sake, a flask was brought over along with the small cups. Each served each other taking turns to pour each other's drinks. When all had sake in front of them, at a signal from Adam, all picked up their sake cups and raised them in the air shouting “Kanpai!” Then they all took a drink of their sake. It was considered rude to not do this before the meal began, and the group had their cups slightly lower than Adam, as he was the one who pulled this group together. He was being treated like the senior person in this group.

The food arrived, and the meal commenced with plenty of food and alcohol. During the course of the meal, Raiden found out the names of the rest of his brand new possible friends. Besides Adam Blackburn and Rusty Gilbert, the names of the other two men were, Hikaru Tanaka, and Chang Yuchan. This group worked on the station, Adam and Rusty worked in engineering, Hikaru was in security and Chang was in medical.

The ladies present, a tall leggy blonde with bright blue eyes, named Lita, she was part of the command staff at the station, working in operations. Another blonde who was shorter than Lita, with a hint of red in her hair, her name was Peggy, her eyes a dark shade of brown, she worked in Medical with Chang. Next of the ladies was a brunette with pretty green eyes, her name was Lydia, she worked in the shuttle bay area. Then there was Ichiko. Her last name was Azuma. She was part of the diplomatic corps. And as it was, tonight was her birthday, Ichiko turned 26, and this was her celebration.

Food was brought and the eating began, those at the table were curious about Raiden and asked questions. Some of the questions that were asked were what ship he was from, what he liked to do on his off times of which Raiden responded with his answers.

They had heard of the Arcadia as well as the Gladiator, and he liked to go camping and Raiden did let slip he loved martial arts. This struck Hiraku’s interest.

“You’ve got to tell me more about it.” Hikaru stated to Raiden.

“Not right now.” Ichiko firmly stated, getting over her shyness where Raiden was concerned. “This is my party and you can talk to him later.”

Hikaru laughed. “Okay, okay.” he responded, raising both hands up in surrender.

The table went quiet for a moment as they stared at Ichiko for a moment.

She looked around realizing they were staring. “What?” she queried her friends.

They busted up laughing, “You were being rather assertive there, Ichiko.”

Ichiko blushed furiously. “Well, he’s my date and not Hikaru’s date.” giving Hikaru a bit of a glare. “ You can start your bromance later on.”

Raiden’s eyes darted between Hikaru and Ichiko then around the table at the others, who were intently watching this exchange, all of them trying to hide a smile. His eyebrow raised up, in an unspoken question and Adam just shrugged and laughed, and turned towards the others.

“Hey take it easy on the new guy, don’t want to chase him away do you?” Adam remarked with a smirk. “And Hikaru quit teasing Ichiko, even if it is way too easy.”

“What?!” Ichiko spluttered,glaring at Adam, her face going an even darker red and she buried her face against Raiden. “Sorry Raiden.” her voice muffled, by his shirt.

Raiden could do the only thing he could think of, and put one arm around Ichiko, and pulled her close to him, which met with approval from the others. Then they went back to eating and drinking, telling jokes and there was laughter. Ichiko snuggled up to Raiden, waiting for her blush to subside, slipping her arms around his waist.

Raiden leaned in and whispered, “Are you going to be alright?” catching the scent of the shampoo she was using. It smelled rather nice.

Ichiko nodded, “I am right now.” she answered softly.

Rusty leaned forward and addressed Ichiko. “You’ve got to let him get something to eat, don’t want him to pass out while you are doing your singing.”

Another chimed in, “Yes, please do. Then a few started to lightly beat on the table, chanting, “Ichiko, Ichiko, Ichiko”

Ichiko laughed, and was blushing once again, “Okay, okay, point taken.” Moving away so that Raiden could eat more.

Dinner progressed and soon it was time to do Karaoke, Raiden had a good buzz happening, and he was feeling pretty good, relaxing. In fact, Ichiko would from time to time lean up against him, even taking his hand in hers, running her hand along his leg, Raiden was guessing that her shyness was going away and he was feeling flattered too. He was taking a bite of chicken and almost bit his tongue, when Ichiko suddenly jumped up from the table, and shouted “Dancing Queen!” and headed for the small stage and cued up that very song. And the other ladies got up and followed her. Getting into position. It was obvious that they’d done this before.

Raiden’s eyebrows rose when he saw this and the other men whistled and clapped and cheered.

Adam looked at Raiden, “You’re gonna love this.” a smile going from ear to ear.

Ichiko was in the forefront, whilst the other women were on either side of her. When the rhythmic beat to the music started the ladies moved in time, their shoulders shaking, their hips moving. Ichiko was focused on Raiden, making eye contact with him. They turned in unison then looked over their shoulders at the men with inviting eyes.

Raiden could scarcely take his eyes off of this performance. There was just something about watching a woman dance, especially when she danced so well, and seeing the sparkle in her eyes when she was caught up in the music.

When the number ended the men whistled and applauded. Then Lydia said to Ichiko. “ I think you need a hero.”

“ I what?” Ichiko responded. “Oh I need a hero.” Then she giggled and looked right at Raiden, then smiled.

As the leading chords were played, the drum beat kicked in, Ichiko’s back up singers vocalizing, Raiden could feel his heart pick up speed, then the goosebumps hit hard as Ichiko belted out the first phrase. Oh her voice was strong and it was great, and she sang her heart out. Ichiko on the second verse, along with the others, moved from the stage to where their dates were, and rocking away in time to the music around the table, the men spellbound.

At the end of this number, Ichiko slid into Raiden’s lap and pulled him into a rather fervent, passionate kiss. His arms wrapped around her, becoming lost in the moment. Raiden came back to the present, when he felt a nudge on his shoulder and heard a voice as if from a distance.

“Hey, you may want to get a room, buddy.”

“Hunh?” Raiden broke the kiss, and turned to see who had interrupted them.

It was Hikaru, who had a lopsided grin, and the others were laughing and grinning at both Raiden and Ichika. “Hey, your birthday cake is here, Ichika. Make a wish and blow out your candles. Though, I wager I know what your wish will be and I’m sure it will come true.” Hikaru, giving Ichika a rather salacious wink and then a subtle thumbs up to Raiden.

Ichika’s eyes went round as saucers and buried her face in Raiden’s shoulder, blushing furiously once more. This brought out another round of good natured laughter. With gentle urging from Raiden, Ichika left his lap and walked over to where her cake was. Closing her eyes as if to make a wish, Ichika then opened her eyes and blew every candle out with one breath. There was applause, the cake was cut, and passed around. Ichika only ate a few bites, her eyes wandering over towards Raiden, watching as he ate his piece of the chocolate birthday cake.

Raiden noticed her watching him, and deliberately teased her with his last bite, she stole it from him and Raiden rose from his chair, reached out and took Ichika by the hand giving an inviting smile.

Hiraku walked up and quietly slipped something in Raiden’s pocket. It was a slip of paper, then he walked off.

Ichika tugged at Raiden’s hand and led him away from the group. They arrived at his room, Raiden sweeping Ichiko up into his arms, and stepped inside, the door closing behind them.
A few hours later, Raiden woke up his hand reaching out for the woman who had been in his bed, to find he was alone. There was a note left on his nightstand, which said, “Thanks.” and next to the note was the slip of paper that Hiraku had slipped into his pocket.

Raiden reached over and picked it up to read what was there. Raiden could only shake his head then threw back his head and laughed.

The note read, “You, me, fight club, be there.-Hikaru” on it were the coordinates.

Raiden tossed it back on the nightstand. It looked like he had another place to go, and Raiden was looking forward to it. He swiftly rose from the bed and went to get ready.