Exploring

Posted on 06 Oct 2013 @ 6:22pm by Tarishiana Barel & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley

1,582 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Lab
Timeline: MD 02 - 1600 hours

ON:

She knew she shouldn't....But Tarishiana was enjoying exploring a ship that was once her home. Truth be told it was once again her home but she was amazed by how much she had missed this ship. It wasn't long before she found herself in the labs that she was once in charge of. Her hands came to rest on her belly as she smiled at the memories that came to her.

Not watching where she was walking Tarishiana soon found herself colliding with another female. "I am sorry...I didn't see you there." She grinned.

Victoria took a hurried sip of her coffee and made a face at the bitter taste. Usually, she avoided coffee and went for tea instead. Today, however, was a coffee day; espresso, to be exact. She had been jittery and jumpy ever since her first sip hours ago. She had dropped a tray and several slides earlier and every time she walked away from the replicator with a cup, her shaking hands made the dark innocuous-looking liquid sloshing around as if it was trying to jump out; it was fascinating to watch.

Now, returning yet again from the replicator with yet another cup of coffee, she was staring into the cup once more and didn't see the young pregnant woman who had entered the room and proceeded to crash into her, spilling her coffee on the floor but miraculously missing the other woman.

"Oh, please, it's my fault." Victoria grinned right back at her. "I'm so hyped up right now, I'm shocked I can still see straight."

Tarishiana couldn't help but smile. Her stomach responded to the coffee. She breathed though the discomfort. One thing she couldn't wait for was to be rid of her over active sense of smell. "Espresso will do that to you." She grinned. "Tarishiana Barel." She extended her hand. "I used to be the Chief Science Officer here. I was just checking out my old stomping grounds. Hope you don't mind."

Victoria's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! Hi! I'm Victoria Crawley, psychologist." She offered her hand to Tarishiana. "And please, don't even think about it. I could use a break, anyway."

"Nice to meet you, Victoria." The Betazoid said with a grin. "Psychologist? And you frequent the science department? What are you studying...if you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all." Victoria brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm in xenopsychology. Right now, I'm working on sifting through some data from the Rojarans and a study I had been working on back in California on Vulcan neurology."

"Interesting..." Tarishiana responded with a smile. "I am a Xenolinguistic specialist. I have always been fascinated by how the brain works." She said as she looked over the science officer. "Granted, more how it process auditory linguistic inputs...while I do like the written word as well." She let out a little laugh. "I much apologize I am rambling."

Victoria laughed, too. "I do that too, only I interrogate my victims instead of actually conversing."

Tarishiana laughed brightly. "I am sure some of my subjects feel the same way." She paused for a moment before looking back at the Lieutenant. "I should leave you to your work. I don't want to take up too much of your time." She grinned at the other women.

Victoria waved a hand. "Please, it's not a problem. I needed a break, anyway." She smiled sincerely at the woman. "If you need to go, though, don't let me stop you. We should definitely meet up for lunch or something and have a proper chat."

"I would love that" Tarishiana said with a grin and a nod. "I don't have to go..."She added looking down. "So perhaps a cup of coffee?" She motioned towards the replicator. "How are you liking the Galileo?"

"Coffee sounds fabulous." Victoria got up and followed her over to the replicator. "It's lovely here. I think the crew is brilliant."

Tarishiana put in the order for two coffees one with slightly less caffine then she would have liked. Handing the normal cup to her fellow science officer she grinned. "That was one of my favorite things about this ship." She started as she took a sip of the overly hot beverage. "I do love my one cup a day" she said on a slight tangent.

Victoria thanked her, took the cup, and went back to her seat. "How did anyone survive before caffeine?" Victoria mused, smiling into her cup.

Tarishiana smiled and shook her head slightly. That was a very good question, but not one she had the answer too. She couldn't help the little sigh of pleasure that escaped her as she sipped the piping hot liquid. "So how long have you been on the Galileo?" She asked pleasantly.

"Almost two weeks," she responded. "It's weird, though. It doesn't feel like it's been that long."

"I know the feeling." Tarishiana said as she took another sip of her drink. "I have had some positions in my time where the two weeks seemed like years and two years seemed like weeks."

Victoria nodded. "How long were you here before you left?" She asked, sipping her own drink and looking at Tarishiana. "If you don't mind my asking, that is."

"I don't mind you asking as all...I was only on board about a month actually..." Tarishiana laughed as her free hand drifted towards her belly. "It seemed like longer and shorter all at the same time, but I have missed it for entire eight months I was gone."

"What made you decide to leave? Again, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Tarishiana laughed lightly as she took another sip of coffee. "It is kind of a long story..." Victoria was the first person to ask. It made sense since the only two people she had seen since the borg attack had been Markum and Willis. "To make a long story short, I was engaged to be married, it was an arranged marriage, and fell in love with someone else. I went home to deal with the consequences so that my Imzadi and I could marry."

Wow, Victoria thought, her eyes widening slightly. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but that was decidedly not it. She took a sip of her coffee, trying to come up with an appropriate response, but finding none.

Tarishiana laughed lightly sensing the other women's confusion. "I understand. It is more like the plot to an old Earth romance novel then something that happens to Starfleet Officers." She sipped some more from her almost empty cup. "It really isn't as dramatic as it sounds." That was a bit of a lie...it was more dramatic, especially with Tarish's mother involved.

"I don't think I could ever handle something like that very well. You seemed to have done it all with incredible grace," Victoria remarked. And she meant it. If that had happened to her, she probably would have just gone into a corner and cried until it was over. Unless she tried to fix it, in which case she would probably end up just killing everyone. Yeah, Victoria didn't envy Tarishiana's situation. At least things seemed to be going smoother for her, though. Victoria took another jittery sip of her coffee.

"Thanks," Tarishiana started with a humble bow. "I think you would be surprised by what you can accomplish with the right motivation." She grinned, that was until she grabbed her side. She set the cup down on the desk and grabbed her side. "This baby has a wicked kick. "

A worried look crossed Victoria's face when the other woman grimaced. "How far along are you?"

"Eight and a half months...give or take." Tarishiana said with a grin as the baby became bored with kicking her ribs. "I will be glad when I get to meet him or her and he will stop trying to break my rib." She laughed slightly.

Victoria laughed with her. "I'll bet. Will you stay with Starfleet after the baby's born?"

"In the sense that I will stay on the Galileo." Tarishiana grinned. "I retired my commission and work for the Science Corp, but my Imzadi is on this ship and we want to raise the baby as a family." She couldn't help but think about Markum as she thought about their future.

Victoria smiled at the thought. "That sounds fantastic. It'll be interesting to have a baby on the ship." Tarishiana made the whole thing sound so...cozy.

"I sure hope so." Tarishiana grinned. "I am looking forward to it." She looked around the lab. She tried to stifle a yawn as she turned back towards her company. "Oh my...I hope you don't mind, but I think I am going to go lay down." She smiled at the Lieutenant. "Perhaps we can get a bit to eat sometime?"

"Oh, of course! I'm sorry to have kept you, you're probably exhausted! We should definitely meet up for lunch or something." Victoria held out a hand to Tarishiana. "It was so nice to meet you."

Tarishiana took the offered hand. "As it was with you." The betazoid was happy to have made a new friend. "I will talk to you soon." She grinned as she turned and walked, or waddled rather, towards the turbolift.

OFF:

Lt. JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Tarishiana Barel
Federation Science Corp
USS Galileo

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