The Science of Socializing (Part 1)

Posted on 02 Nov 2018 @ 9:21pm by Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Petty Officer 1st Class Heinu Reteif & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petty Officer 3rd Class Raine Ni-ya & Cadet Senior Grade Jemima de la Coeur & Petra Varelli Ph.D. & Viola Avalon PhD
Edited on on 03 Nov 2018 @ 6:33am

1,605 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Science Office
Timeline: MD -175, 2000 hours

[ON]

Thanks to Sofie's suggestion, Marisa picked an evening to have a casual dinner where the members of the science department could test the food from aquaponics and get to know each other.

She had three different fish dishes. One with fish baked in herbs, a fish casserole, and a fish soufflé. For those who didn't like fish, she chose the time-honored standard of chicken breasts. There were also three side dishes with kale and seaweed. A salad with dark greens, vegetables, and a raspberry vinaigrette served as an alternative. The food was set out buffet-style so that her staff could choose what they wanted.

For dessert, she had chocolate mousse and cheesecake.

Now, she waited for the others to arrive.

Matt arrived first, his duty shift was just ending and so it was just a few doors down from the lab to here. He walked into the lab and smelled the food; it smelled great and he was hungry. He greeted Sandoval with his characteristic buoyancy, "Hey boss! What a great idea this is. A nice spread too. Something smells yum-yum. What's the occasion anyhow?"

"Just an opportunity for the officers to socialize. It was Ensign Ullswater's suggestion," Marisa said. "And a very good one, I might add."

"Ah! I haven't met some of the department members. Ullsworth is one. Well good. This dinner meeting will fix that. How was your day ma'am?" Matt asked as he took a seat at the coffee table and crossed his legs, putting up his feet. "Ohh gawd that feels better!"

"My day has been very good," she said with a smile. "So far, everything seems to be going well. And you?"

"I'm...." the doors parted and he stopped talking.

At just that moment Sofie popped her head around the door of the lab. Having come from her quarters she'd decided to wear casual clothes which (despite Aria's best efforts) meant something rather plain and unremarkable. As she walked into the lab she gazed longingly at the food and also gave a short glance at the Lieutenant with his legs splayed across the departmental table. They hadn't been introduced yet but she thought it best to let him answer the science chief before she butted in.

"Hello," Marisa said. "Welcome. Have a seat. This is Lieutenant Plumeri."

Standing to his feet, he greeted her with warmth and a smile, "Ensign Ullswater. I'm so happy to meet you. I've been calling you Ullsworth for the past two days and it is no wonder the computer kept telling me that, 'There is no such crewman on board the Galileo.' " He laughed. "How do you do?"

"Excellent thanks!" Sofie moved to shake his hand. "Though its interesting," she chucked "Its normally my first name that causes issues - Sofie with an F - at least it did when I was at the academy. Pleased to meet you."

He smiled and chuckled, "I can see where people might make that error; but only one time. Say, I read up on your curriculum vitae when I joined the science department and just wanted to say how impressed I was with your geologic analysis of the Etwo asteroid. I mean, it took guts to stick to the facts that it was a long-period asteroid and the idea that it would have the same constituent layers as the Etwo moon. You stuck to the fact that it was a regular visitor, what was it every 125 years? And that when they finally did get a core sample, it was the same as Etwo's lunar object. You were in the minority of that idea for almost a year, what made you so sure you were right?"

Sofie cocked her head, she'd have blushed if she wasn't so taken aback. He really had been digging through her past - she hadn't even thought about Etwo quite a while. "A hundred and thirty seven years I think." she corrected and smiled curiously "I haven't thought about it in ages and to tell the truth I was more following along with what my supervisor's ideas were. It just so happened that I was right about it. When they did get that core sample though..." She grinned at the memory "That feeling of vindication was just the thing I needed. What about you though? I will admit to not having delved too deep into the records of the Lieutenant Plumeri, all I've heard is that you rather like dead civilizations."

He corrected, "Oh, they're not dead. Not dead at all. They still talk to us, they still share their stories with us. We can talk with them and ask questions and if you know how to listen; they'll speak back with you and you can have a conversation. I don't mean to say that I have no acknowledgement that the people have passed on. But the culture and the ideas; those live on forever."

Jemima and Viola walked in together. Jemima grinned as she saw the food. "Smells like home!"

Viola just smiled.

Matt waved to the new arrivals, "Hey-a! You're in the right place!"

Both women smiled at Matt, pleased with the welcome.

T'Lin came in with that almost a glide style walk. Quiet as a whisper of a breeze on Vulcan. She had little use for such gatherings. While humanoids did have interactions most of the more emotional driven species tended to be chaotic, not the quiet logical demeanor that logic would dictate.

Raine Ni-ya walked in and instantly felt uncomfortable and out of her depth. Officers. A lot of. She glanced around and gave a small nod. She was in her uniform though because it was the nicest thing she owned.

Heinu walked into the gathering, late, of course. "Hello everyone," he said, "I didn't bring anything tonight, but it smells delightful in here." The tall botanist wore a leather jacket over a grey tee and a pair of dark denim jeans. And his characteristic smile. Almost always his smile.

"No worries," Marisa said. "This is more or less for sampling what aquaponics has produced. Welcome."

Petra was the last to arrive. She didn't care. She'd avoided talking to Marisa until now, but it looked like her luck was running out. In a fit of pique, she dressed in a short skirt, halter top, and high heels.

She walked into the room and smiled. "Sorry I'm late," she said.

Marisa looked at her friend and gave her a half-bow. She missed neither the outfit nor the defiant gleam in Petra's eye. "Welcome, Petra. I'm glad you made it. May I introduce Lieutenant Matthew Plumeri and Ensign Sofie Ullswater? This is Petra Varelli, forensic anthropologist."

Matthew took her all in, heels and all and noticed the chip on her shoulder too. There was an awkward moment of silence as he forced his eyes up the long legs, the skirt and meeting her gaze, "Pleased to meet you Doctor Varelli" he added in ancient Rigellian a common enough greeting, "La suno leviĝu renkonti vin ĉiam" (May the Sun rise to meet you always).

Petra's eyes sparkled at the greeting and she gave him a genuine smile. "The pleasure is mine," she replied in the same language. It wasn't the proper response, but it suited her.

He smiled back, "May we all irritate and educate at the same time." He was referring to her ability to be a burr in Starfleet's ass at times.

Petra just laughed in appreciation.

"Now that we're all here, shall we eat?" Marisa said, indicating the table.

"You don't have to ask me twice, I came hungry!" Matt said.

"Good," Marisa indicated that buffet. "Help yourselves. This is from our new aquaponics area." She let the others get their food first.

Walking up to the table Sofie picked up a plate and began looking through the aquaponic food. "This was all grown on board then?" she asked to no one in particular and began to spoon a rather large portion of the kale onto her plate.

Matt looked at all the food and whistled, "Whewwww!! I haven't had watercress in....a long time. Look at all this stuff!" He said as he helped himself to a spoonful, or two, or three of the freshest vegetables he had seen in a while. There was fresh basil, coriander, parsley, lemongrass, sage, red kidney beans, snow peas, kohlrabi, taro, radishes, the hugest strawberries he'd ever seen! Fresh melons, onions, turnips, parsnips, sweet potato, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, and eggplant. The buffet table had a wide variety of foods but it looked like not too much as to waste it. He helped himself to perhaps more than his fair share of broccoli and spinach. On the table, bottles of fresh Altair water awaited them. He sat down and twisted off the bottle top and the released effervescent air was so nice. He took a long drink, "Aaahhhhh!"

To be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Cadet Senior Grade Jemima de la Cour
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

Viola Avalon
Marine Biologist
USS Galileo-A

Petty Officer First Class T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

Crewman Raine Ni-Ya
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

Petty Officer Second Class Heinu Reteif
Botanist
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Ghoc]

Petra Varelli
Anthropologist
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

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