Goodmorning

Posted on 09 Jul 2013 @ 6:22pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley

1,942 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2, Messhall
Timeline: MD08 0700

[ON]

Victoria walked into the mess hall and scanned the room. She was looking for someone named Kiri Cho, a lieutenant who had asked to meet her over breakfast today. Curious and anxious to get to know the crew, Victoria had accepted her invitation. However, she had no idea who to look for. She was about to go over to a stranger at a nearby table and ask them who this lieutenant was, when she heard someone calling her name.

"Good morning Lieutenant Crawley," Kiri didn't mean to approach from behind but it was ruder to approach unannounced. Given how the last few days had been this was her first chance to meet a new member of the department. At the time breakfast seemed like a good idea but now she was a little less sure. Her uniform was prim and her hair tied back into a tail, "It's nice to meet you."

Victoria whirled around, seeing an average sized, dark-haired girl standing behind her. She smiled at the girl and offered her hand. "You must be Lieutenant Cho. I'm Lieutenant Victoria Crawley. It's great to meet you, too."

"I hope this isn't too inconvenient," Kiri smiled as she moved into step with the older woman, "It has been rather busy lately."

"No, of course not," Victoria said to reassure Lt. Cho.

"How are you finding the ship?" Kiri stopped by the replicator but made way for Victoria.

Victoria smiled at Kiri in thanks. "Green tea, hot." Taking her tea, she stepped back so Kiri could get in. "it's not at all what I expected, but I already love it."

"That's good," Kiri's experiences had been up and down in the last month but, it was starting to feel like home, "Mint, chocolate tea, lemon muffin and a segmented orange," Taking her tray Kiri glanced at how little Victoria seemed to have, "Have you made any friends then?"

Victoria sat down a table and set her tea down carefully. "A couple. I've been mostly just exploring the ship and meeting my senior officers, so I haven't had much time to socialize; hopefully, once things slow down, I'll be able to meet the rest of the crew, though."

"There are lots of nice people on the ship," Kiri was sure of that at least even if she wasn't really sure of who her own friends really were. Setting down her tray with equal care she smiled, "You haven't had any problems then?"

"No, only when I slammed into my fellow crew members. Twice." She grinned sheepishly. "I don't pay attention half of the time."

"I see, but you weren't hurt?" Kiri looked concerned. She had almost walked into people before but it was normally their fault but either way no one had been hurt.

"No, of course not! Just my pride." She smiled again and took a sip of her tea. "How about you? You haven't had any problems, have you?"

"Not from the crew," Her list of deadly situations had all come from other people coming onto or attacking the ship. Starting to pick at the top edge of the muffin Kiri slipped it into her mouth.

"Oh." Victoria wondered at Lt. Cho's words but didn't press the issue any further. "So, do you have many friends here? Do you enjoy your work?"

"I enjoy my work," That one came as a given, the other question though, "I have friends on the ship, Lieutenant Meridian and Lieutenant Kohl, and Mister Kiwosk." There might be more but they were the only one Kiri was really sure of.

"What kind of work do you do?" Victoria took one last sip of her tea and made a face at the empty cup. She pushed it off to the side; she'd deal with it later.

"Lots of things, everything really," Looking rather tense for a moment Kiri pursed her lips, "I specialise in Mathematics, Computer Science, Sensors Systems, Physics and Stellar Phenomenon. I spend most of my time running the departments beta shift though, in normal operations." Picking a little more at the muffin she returned, "Do you have a project at the moment?"

"Well, at the moment, no, but maybe in the next few months. Lt. Kohl seemed very interested in the research I was doing before I came here, so I'm hoping to continue that with him," Victoria explained. "Like I said though, that's a little while from now. I need to get the hang of things here first."

But, Kohl was her friend, her, well somebody. Looking a little sour for a moment Kiri forced a smile, "That's a good idea, do you have any questions regarding that?"

"I don't think so." Victoria flashed her a reassuring smile, noticing the other girl's distress. "Is he...difficult to work with?"

"No, Kohl is very nice," Twinging red slightly Kiri focused hard on her muffin, "You are very lucky to work more with him, he is fairly new at being a department head."

Starting to recognize why Lt. Cho seemed uncomfortable, Victoria rushed placate her. "He is, but I doubt we'll spend a whole lot of time together." She leaned forward and said in a conspiratorial whisper. "To tell you the truth, doctors and nurses make me a little uneasy, no matter how amiable they may be. I always hated going to the doctor."

If it required them to touch her, or look at her in any detail Kiri was the same. Easing back towards a more comfortable state, she seemed a little less startled, "Well, um, I can't think of anything bad that could happen, really." There were lots of things that could happen none of them were that likely.

Victoria nodded in agreement. "No, of course not. I guess it's just one of those things." Excusing herself for a minute, she got up to refill her cup with tea. Returning to her seat, she smiled at the other girl. "I'm curious, do you work with him often? Are you working on any projects with him right now?"

"I'm not working on anything with him directly at the moment," Kiri had demolished half of her muffin and was starting on the orange segments, "Medical and biology and normally outside of my field, but sometimes, normally away missions, I do." Their last one together had been rather, well it was a disaster, they were lucky to make it back at all.

"This is probably kind of an obvious question, but what kinds of things are you looking for, specifically, when you go on away missions?" Victoria sipped her tea, wincing slightly when she burned her tongue.

"It varies depending on the mission but normally it is based around sensor readings and finding resources. It is also a science officers job to solve problems and take account of things other crew might not think of." A good Science officer was able to answer a question before anyone asked it and have the information to elaborate on it.

"What kinds of things would you be tasked with on one of these missions?" Now that she'd started asking questions, Victoria couldn't seem to make herself stop.

"Normally it would be my job to make the discoveries, and use the tricorder," Most of the other things Kiri had covered in her last answer.

Victoria nodded, yet again - she was starting to feel like a bobble-head doll - as she drank the last of her tea. "So, while I was talking with Lt. Kohl, he seemed to imply that the last away mission was somewhat tumultuous. They're not all like that, are they?"

"No, not all, but lately, a lot of them are," Looking rather uncomfortable she really should explain, "I was hurt, so was Lieutenant Liyar, a few days ago, Lieutenant Stone died on an away mission."

Victoria's eyes widened. That made so much sense; she had heard a couple of people on the way down here talking about Stone. "You and Liyar were ok, though?"

"Mostly," Physically she was fine yet, she still had a hard time sleeping. Being chased through caves by creatures that were masses of eyeless muscle, claws the size of her hands and segmented mouths. That wasn't what she had in mind when she joined Starfleet, "It was scary." That wasn't doing it justice, talking to strangers like this was scary, rooms with people in were scary. Caves full of monsters were terrifying.

Seeing the girl's expression, Victoria didn't press any further. "What about when you're not working, what do you like to do then?"

"Um, well, I haven't really had much time," Biting on her lip a little Kiri focused on her muffin but didn't move. The pause was eating at her, "I read, I exercise with Warrant Officer Kiwosk in the mornings and I do mathematical problems." She didn't want to sound boring but, she was and most of the time she just worked anyway.

"Maybe once things calm down there'll be more time to relax." Victoria grinned. "Of course, I've never been very good at relaxing myself. I'm a bit of a workaholic, so I'm told."

"I see, I suppose I am as well," Kiri was starting to find comfort in the fact that there was someone similar to her around. So logically, "Would you like to do something other than work sometime?"

"Yes!" Victoria almost shouted. She had been wanting to get to know some of the crew better since she got here, and this was a perfect opportunity. It might also help her get used to the ship and relax a little. "That would be fantastic."

"Good, um, is there anything you would like to do?" Kiri had planned to do a few things but really time was running so short. She didn't know that much about Victoria yet, did they have anything in common other than work?

Victoria thought about it for a minute. She'd never been really big on the whole kick back and relax thing, preferring work to anything recreational, so she was a bit at a loss as to what to do. "Maybe we can meet up in the observation lounge or something like that and then decide where to go from there?"

"Okay," Kiri was a little uncertain of that. She liked to plan ahead but she couldn't really see any harm in doing it that way. Eating another section of the orange she smiled, "Would you let me know when you have some free time?"

"Sure. I'm on alpha shift, so any time after 1600 is good for me. I can send you a message whenever i have any free time before that, though."

Kiri would know whenever anyone in the department had time off duty but she nodded, "Thank you, I look forward to it." Her breakfast was mostly done now and she felt rather full. It was better than yesterday when she was struggling to force herself to eat anything at all.

A thought struck Victoria. "I just realized, I think I'm keeping you from your work." She offered an apologetic smile. "Once anyone gets me talking, it's nearly impossible for me to shut up."

"It is quite okay, thank you," Kiri didn't mind being the quieter of two people, it actually felt quite natural. Still maybe it was Miss Crawley trying to excuse herself politely? "Thank you for talking with me."

Victoria smiled amicably and stood up. "No, please, it's nice, getting to finally meet someone else in my department. I enjoyed talking with you."

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

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