Is this a date?

Posted on 28 May 2015 @ 5:08pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class David Emerson & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen

1,124 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 04 - Hallway
Timeline: MD -03 - 0800 hours

ON:

David rubbed his neck gently. The same geological puzzle that'd been eluding him for the past several days was laughing at him through the screen. Closing the screen, David decided he needed to take a break. "Gonna clear my head Chief" He noted to the duty NCO. "Back in a bit."

Exiting the lab, his mind on the problem, David didn't see the officer leaving one of the other labs under the last second. Plowing into the women from the side, tripping as he tried to avoid her, David nearly fell before he caught himself. "Geez Sorry Ma'am." David remarked, not recognizing Jaana.

Jaana hadn't been paying attention. With her mind she was still with the conversation she just had with the commander about her change in her proceedings and responsibilities. She mumbled a no problem as she bent to pick up her padds that had fallen to the ground.

When she stood up again she noticed who it was she'd walked into and couldn't help letting out a surprised "You!" She removed her hand over her mouth right after and softly stuttered a "Hi David". Why did he make her nervous.

Ever since she'd invited him to have a coffee, in what she now called a moment of insanity, she had been avoiding him. Starting with cancelling their date under the disguise of postponing it. She felt a loser for doing so. She really liked him. She even looked up his service record when no one was watching. But she couldn't effort to date anyone right now. She couldn't afford to open up to someone before she'd removed the skeletons in her closet.

"Oh. Hi Jaana. Sorry wasn't looking where I was going." He smiled warmly at the young lady. "I'm going to grab a cup of coffee before my experiment drives me nuts. Want to tag along?"

"Yes, that would be nice," she quickly said before her brain would kick in fully.

"Cool." As they began wandering down the hall together, David smiled at Jaana. "No worries about a few days ago. I know work sometimes gets in the way."

"It certainly does, although that's kind of logic when you eat and sleep on a flying research facility." She started to relax a little bit. "Discovered anything interesting lately?" she said in the hope to steer the conversation on a save subject. Work.

"I've discovered that I know less about my stellar gravitational research then I thought I knew. The predictive modelling I'm working on is missing some key components and I don't know what. I can't get the model to line up with several observations."

"You?"

"Nothing, unfortunately. I've been working on other stuff now." she said, meaning her new responsibilities. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Could use an extra pair of eyes on the modelling project. But first that coffee." He smiled at Jaana as they entered the ship's mess hall. She was kinda cute and any excuse to talk to her was a good one.

"I'd love to," she said, returning a smile. "Both to help and the coffee."

"Let's get the coffee so we can clear our heads, then we'll tackle the project." Reaching the messhall. David held the door open for Jaana to enter, a habit his mother had ingrained in him since childhood.

"Thank you," Jaana said as she went through the door. Walking to the replicator she ordered both of them the coffee they'd desire an looked around for a empty booth.

As the two sat down together at the table, David took a sip of his coffee, enjoying the aroma of the replicated brew. "So what drove you to become a scientist?"

"I've wanted to study the mysteries of the universe as long as I could remember," she replied. "Just looking up at the stars, wondering what is out there... both my parents were teachers, so they taught me and my sister to really love learning. Even though it can be hard for me sometimes."

As soon as those words rolled off her tongue, Jaana bit her lip. She was always self-conscious about her struggles with dyslexia, and the last thing she wanted to do was talk about it with one of her coworkers. "How about you?"

David shrugged. "I was your typical high school kid. Spent too much time chasing the girls to really focus on my studies. Did okay in most things with no real idea where I wanted to go. Decided to enlist in Starfleet and found I had a knack for the sciences. Took advantage of some work study programs during my first deployment and got my degree in Planetary Sciences."

"That sounds amazing. You had to work to get where you are today as well." she said.

"Well, I'm definitely not one of those pretty boy officers who went through OTC after their degree." David chuckled. "Sounds like you had to work a bit as well to get here. How'd you come to join Starfleet?"

Well, he was definitely pretty, Jaana thought. "I always wanted to be a astronomer. Starfleet just gave me the best options to pursue that dream." she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm still working on my PhD though. I hope to finish that within the year. Only need my dissertation."

"Seems starfleet has the best science facilities doesn't it? A few civilian ones but you need decent grants to get the good stuff." He took another sip. "I considered doing my Masters & PhD but for me at least the effort didn't seem worth the benefit. I get to do my research here, explore the galaxy, meet new people. Works for me."

She understood his reasoning. She however, had more to prove. Although it was only to herself that she had anything to prove.

"So what's on the todo list right now experiments wise?"

"I'm reviewing all the experiment on the ship at the moment and determine which one can be postponed temporarily so we can save resources for the battle." she replied. "I already started by pausing my own research. Not that I had much time with my new responsibilities."

"I can shut down the steller gravity experiment I'm running. It's mostly running off the sensor arrays but the bulk of the data is gathered from external sources in the Federation Data net so I'm not going to experience any serious setbacks if I pause now."

"That would be very helpful," she said, surprised for his willingness to give up resources. "Thank you."

"Your welcome Jaana." David took a sip from his mug.

OFF:

Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

and

Petty Officer 3rd Class David Emerson
Scientist
USS Galileo

RSS Feed