The Beach; Stirrings

Posted on 30 Dec 2012 @ 6:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Warrant Officer Evan Kell & Crewman Athlen

2,982 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Various
Timeline: MD9 0630

[ON]

"You have to come," Athlen wheedled for the seventeenth time, leaning over Liyar's desk.

"That is a falsehood. I am not required to do anything." Liyar was looking down at his PADD, making adjustments to whatever he was working on. Once more he shut out the eager Rigelian across from him.

Vulcans. "Remember all that talk we have had about integrating and figuring out how to handle the crew here? This is literally the best way to do that. They are off duty, they do not feel pressured by work and circumstance, and maybe you will even have fun. You can't tell me that you'd prefer to stay on Galileo when there is a perfectly reasonable Class-H below," Athlen pointed out with a grin, crossing his arms.

Liyar didn't break his concentration. "You are attempting to appeal to personal preference."

"Yep, kind of the idea." Athlen wasn't sorry.

"Then I feel I must remind you that as a Vulcan--"

"You definitely prefer it here on the Galileo where it is a very warm and reasonable, oh, 15 degrees Celsius. Right. Because that's believable." Athlen smiled wider, sarcasm not diminishing his good cheer. He was a very good wheedler.

"--As a Vulcan," Liyar maintained, "I am not susceptible to preference over practicality. It is impractical to complete my research on a beach, surrounded by others in a casual atmosphere. It is not a logical use of my time."

"I see. And, finishing your economic report is logical."

Athlen's voice took on that flat, dangerous quality it sometimes got when he was hitting the home stretch. It was Liyar's least favorite tone of voice. He flicked his glance up mildly. "It is."

"So, in terms of value to time, you maintain that completing this little report right now when it can be completed at any time to be of more... significance, than attempting to foster good relations with your shipmates?"

Liyar did not sigh. He was very good at not sighing. This was beginning to resemble just about every waking moment of his life so far. "Prioritizing relationships in this way has been detrimental to my professional efforts, yes." There were many unfinished reports.

"All right," Athlen said, sighing and deflating. "I hope you will reconsider. I think it is an important use of your time. The economic analysis can be done later, or even during the event. The event is unique, and I think it makes a statement about you, even if it is unconscious, as to your willingness to participate with your other crewmembers. It doesn't sound logical at first glance, but it is important for species who rely on external empathy to maintain personal connections outside of their work. To lack a connection with you in this way suggests that you, do not care, and have no interest in them. This is bad, because it basically makes you unlikable."

"I am unconcerned with being liked." That wasn't exactly true. He suspected being liked would increase his productivity by 54.67 percent.

"Which is a falsehood," Athlen cinched. "Because you're a sentient being and therefore prone to automatic subjective analysis no matter how hard you engage C'thia."

"Which is irrelevant, as C'thia is how I make my decisions, not subjective ratio."

"The fact that subjective analysis is a natural trait of sentience means that in return, you must regard how others subjectively analyze you in order to," he's excited and his inflections are getting bizarre, gestures now, "In order to better fully cognitively understand your place in your environment. You aren't an economist anymore, Liyar. You are a diplomatic officer. Go be... diplomatic!" he burst out with a roll of his eyes.

Liyar realized that this was, perhaps, going to be one of those things that he pushed. He stood up. The report really didn't have a chance. It was especially irritating to admit that the Rigelian's points had merit, but he realized it would be a lapse in logic to deny. He tucked the PADD away in his clip, determined to complete it at some point, and followed the Rigelian down to the gathering near the transporter pad.

***
0700 hours

Tiffany found the Capellan sitting in his usual spot and sat down with him. "So, you ready for the big bash on the beach?" she asked, never once presuming he wouldn't be going. After all, he was in intelligence what duties would he have during shore leave?

"Yep," Kell replied, because he was ready, in the widest definition of the word, just not ready to participate. He mentally smiled to himself, his odd sense of humor coming to play again as he waited for her to inevitably pounce on him with questions and arrangements. He lifted his cup of hot green tea and sipped at it mildly.

"Great!" she said. "Say, you don't happen to play an instrument do you? We might stay there all day and a nice cozy singalong around a fire after dark would be fun!"

Kell tilted his head.

"That reminds me, we have to make sure to bring marshmallows and chocolate, gotta have s'mores! It's not a beach party without s'mores!"

She glanced at him. "So, how about it? Do you play an instrument?"

"Nope," Kell said. He patted his hands on the table a little. "Drums," he compromised leniently. "Wasn't actually planning on it," he revealed with a small smile. "Reports... diplomat has me doing reports... diplomat is on the beach," he added, and the smile grew slightly. "Vulcan hypocrite," he said without any ire.

"What?! He's so not your boss and it's shore leave!"

"Yep," Kell agreed blithely, interjecting here and there on what he knew was a good rant coming.

"What kind of reports would he have you be doing anyway!"

"The economic status of Talar Prime juxtaposed with Cardassia Prime's reliance on Ferenginar assistance," he droned with an approximation of a Vulcan arched eyebrow.

"And it's not like we don't have several more days at Vega colony, but not several more days where we can all get together." She grabbed his arm and pulled. "C'mon! You have to come. It wouldn't be a party without you! I mean, other people are just so chatty and have nothing to say...at least when you go on and on and on,"

"And on," Kell added for good measure. He was so talkative.

She rolled her eyes and smiled, but wished the Capellan would let her get a word in edgewise, "and drone on, it's somewhat interesting! Tell ya what, tell Mr. I'm A Vulcan Diplomat," she said while moving her arms and upper body around parodying a robot, "you're going to the party and I'll let ya see me in my new bikini. Don't think I didn't see you checking me out yesterday while I was getting breakfast."

"Well, when you put it like that," Kell hedged innocently.

"Great!" she said, punching his arm. "So, bring your drums and you can stop by my quarters to escort me down to the bash about, about 1000 hours? I have to work on some things in the security office before I can take off from duty, but I should be ready by 1000. But mind you, Kell, this is not an invitation to come into my quarters."

"..."

"I'm not that kind of girl so you just keep your thoughts prim and proper. And then maybe later we'll see where the mood strikes! I'm just kidding! Sheesh!"

"......"

"Okay, I have to go find a chief warrant officer who thinks he's 'oh so much a gift from a deity' and set him straight on a few matters. But I'll see you at 1000. Don't be late!"

She got up to leave, her smile bright and happy. That was one more for the party, and DRUMS! Now if she could just find a guitar player maybe she could arrange a little singalong after all. Starring her, of course!

However, she looked back at Kell. "And boy, here's a bit of advice for you. When you're trying to woo a girl, let her speak sometimes! Stop being such a Chatty Cathy and try to find out about her!"

Kell lifted his mug in farewell. "Advice noted," he responded dryly to her retreating form.

***
0845 hrs

Lirha's eyes fluttered open as she began to slowly wake up. The sun was shining brightly through the window above her which caused the captain to groan in annoyance, then cover her head with a pillow. As she adjusted herself beneath the covers, she felt a warm arm wrapped securely around her waist, and suddenly remembered her adventures with Maenad the night before. "What time is it?" she mumbled, "...don't want to be late for Kiri's event..."

Maenad woke up instantly. She went from deep REM sleep to immediate awareness; being woken up by someone else's voice had been a recent first, and the sudden change had at first startled her awake. She withdrew her arm and rolled onto her back, like a plank, and stared up at the sky through the arching window. "Quarter to nine," she replied a few seconds later, after a glance at the clock on her side of the bed. The night before started coming back to her and so did the panic; she remembered slamming three generous glasses of brandy, though. Then, she remembered that she wasn't wearing anything under the covers. Despite all that had happened between her and Lirha the night before, she was suddenly very self-conscious to get out of bed.

"I don't think she had a set time," Maenad mumbled toward the drifting clouds. "I wasn't going until after lunch," she added.

Lirha let out a deep yawn and rolled over onto her belly as she turned to look at the science chief. "After lunch?" she repeated curiously. "I'm sure there will be some food there for us to eat..."

Still staring at the clouds, Maenad remained neutral. "I know," she then smiled and turned to face Lirha. "I can't pull off a bathing suit," she confessed, but didn't sound all that convincing.

A mischievous grin spread over the Orion's lips. "Who said anything about a bathing suit?" she replied with a wink, then playfully pinched Maenad's butt beneath the covers. "Either way, I'm going to get ready for some fun." she added as she slipped out of the covers and stood up to stretch her arms and back. She quickly located her dress from the night before, then slipped it on and collected her jewelry from the nightstand. Planting a kiss on Maenad's forehead, she turned and headed for the door. "I'll be in Transporter Room 2 in an hour, if you want to come with me." she offered, then headed out into the living room and out of the front door.

Maenad watched the captain climb out of bed and was about to say something when she got distracted. The greenness of the captain's skin, her body's curves - everything about her was so much different in daylight. Lirha had disappeared as Maenad propped herself up on her elbows, leaving before should could reply - the only trace of her being there was the sting of her pinch, and Maenad grinned as she fell back down into the pillows.

***
0945 hours

Looking at the terminal infront of her, Pola was still trying to readjust to the news. Placing her head in her arms, she found that she couldn't get her eyes to focus on the words swimming in front of her. In a sudden rage, she grabbed a PADD and hurled it across the office, watching as it hit the far wall before dropping to the ground. It all seemed to happen in slow motion as the realisation dawned on her what she had just done.

Slumping back in her chair, Pola rubbed both hands across her face as she forced herself to have some cop on. She realised that she was getting out of control, this exhaustion and lack of appetite was starting to get to her, alongside the news she had received.

Pushing her hands against her desk, she slid her chair as she realised what she needed to do. She needed to get her mind off of work, even when she was sick it was still work and she needed something to take her mind off of it all. Shutting down sickbay as she walked through, she clipped her commbadge to the belt of her civvies, her mind on getting back to her quarters and gathering a number of items together.

***
1000hrs

Although not strictly on duty yet, Holliday had wasted no time after waking up, and had gotten himself ready for his shift and to his office much quicker than might have actually been necessary. Settled in behind his desk, John pulled up the shift rota for the rest of the day and noticed that there were some substantial blocks missing as far as crew aboard ship would be concerned.

Sighing, he quickly swiveled in his chair to face the wall of computer terminals behind him and brought up the shore leave records, scanning through until he found the stardate and names that he was looking for. It seemed that there was going to be some kind of mass exodus to the planet...which included even their Captain.

"Strange...that's a lot of people off duty at one time...."

Turning back to his desk, Holliday accessed the cultural database and referenced exactly where the coordinates recorded in the shore leave files matched up to. Flicking through a few pages, he quickly ascertained that it was a beach of some sort.

"Hmm...interesting...."

***
1015hours

Dressed in a swimsuit with a flowery dress thrown over, Pola wore her hair down in a gentle wave which fell down her back. Over one shoulder she held a beach bag with a towel and change of clothes thrown in. Uncertain how she had managed to end up here, she hit the chime on the door of the office belonging to the ship's executive officer. Leaning her shoulder against the archway, she waited for him to answer.

As the door chime suddenly bleeped into life, John closed down the information screen that he had been staring at, still trying to figure out exactly where half his crew were deciding to disappear to en masse. Scrabbling to bring up a systems report so as to hide exactly what he had been doing only moments ago, John called out to his visitor.

"Enter."

Pushing away from the arch, Pola stepped into the XO's office, smiling as she predictable found him behind the desk, knee high in paperwork by the looks of it. "You do realise that shore leave extends to the command staff as well right?"

"Good morning Doctor - what can I do for you?"

"Well Jonathan. I figured you need a day out of the ship, get some fresh air. And if you even think about arguing with me, I will just make it an order from your Doctor." Pushing her bag up on her shoulder, Pola realised that she still felt tired but maybe this was just what she needed, the XO as well given the paperwork he was surrounding himself with."

"This wouldn't happen to have something to do with the large volume of crewmembers off-ship today? And also your choice of attire would it?"

"Well the best way to answer that would be to just follow me right?" Trying her brightest smile, Pola wasn't certain why but she batted her eyelashes. Realising what she had just done, she suddenly laughed as she shook her head. "Sorry...I'm in a bit of a funny mood. Will you please join us?"

John took a moment to think on the offer. he really wasn't much of a beach lover, but similarly it would be a long while until they got a chance to be off-ship and outside of the confines of duty once Galileo was repaired and back into space. Similarly, as much as he might have wanted to knuckle down and clear out the backlog of reports from his time off-ship, that would be extremely difficult to do with the bulk of the senior staff not around.

"Well....I'm not going to get much done here with everyone out there. Very well Doc...but...I have a feeling I'll need to swing by my quarters first. The uniform is extremely durable, but not built for beachwear."

As a big grin passed her lips, Pola stepped back with a flourish. "After you mon Capitan....well I guess you're not Captain but Commander or Executive Officer just doesn't have the same ring."

"All in good time Doctor...there's still enough life in me to get that fourth pip eventually remember."

John retorted with a smile as he headed towards the doors of his office. A quick change into something a little less formal, followed by a short trip to the transporter room and he would be ready to explore this strange new world of shore leave.

[OFF]

-----
CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SCC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

PO2 Tiffany Darwisch
Operations crewmember
U.S.S. Galileo

 

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