Planned Social Interaction, Yellow Leaf (Part 1)

Posted on 06 Jan 2013 @ 10:20am by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin

3,022 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: Vega Colony, Central District, Yellow Leaf
Timeline: MD 05 1107 hours

[ON]

Transporting was far safer than a shuttle trip, tapping into the colonies network meant it was even safer. Stepping down from the public pad Kiri took note of several different races all around her. It was like being back home really, at least in a busier city. Several departure pads all operating and sending people all over the planet and into orbit, replacing most of the mass transit the colony ever had. Though she had to take note of a monorail line that stood high above her. If it was in use or not she didn't know, she'd never been on a train. There was no option but to keep moving, other people would be beaming onto the arrival pad every ten or so seconds. Following the channel she felt rather alone, even with the noise and heat of people all around her. Until she found a space to wait in, just outside the terminal.

It was a nice day, it was warm, maybe even hot. It was maybe, twenty six degrees-ish, a few wispy clouds that looked very far away, further than clouds on Earth were. The city, tall silver and glass buildings that didn't seem all that different from most on Earth. The sun was bright but small, it was quite far away, there were eight other planets between it and them. Quickly her eyes were turned away though, trying to find her friends in the crowd. Being alone here, on a strange world seemed rather horrible. Though the emotion other than anxiety she had right now was excitement. Her first real alien planet, sort of. A new world.

Following behind Kiri, Pola let out a breath as the beam finished materialising around her. She wished that they had just walked it, just as herself and Cyrus had last night. Being mid-Autumn, their walk last night had been at dusk and than at night so she hadn't been able to appreciate the landscape of the colony. At least she'd gotten to spend it with Cyrus though, that meant more then anything.

Smiling broadly for no apparent reason, she moved to try locate Kiri, feeling that nothing could effect the mood that she was in, she could honestly say that she had never felt any happier.

Materialising into the bright sunlight burned Maenad's sensitive green eyes. The pain shot right into her forehead and then to the back of her skull. She parted her lips, revealing her tightly clenched teeth as she stomached the pain, but she made no sound. Slowly, she reopened her eyes into a squint. After a few seconds more was able to open them more fully, becoming used to the light.

She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't frowning either. Maenad followed the group, taking in the bustling city around her, looking up at the tall skyscrapers and buzzing cars and shuttles overhead. A slight breeze caught her and she thought it was pleasant, taking a deep breath of cool autumn air into her lungs. She walked along the pavement with her fellow officers, idly wondering how far they had to go.

Dea took in her surroundings after they materialized. It felt very strange to be grounded on foreign soil. Walking along with the rest of the group she remained lost in thought for a moment.

As he stepped down from the transporter pad, it was the heat that struck Andreus Kohl. The glorious, glorious heat. The sights and sounds of the cityscape were lost on him in those first heartbeats. The heat felt like home and only now did Kohl recognise just how cold it was aboard Galileo. Kohl loosened his shirt at the neck down past the clavicle and he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. Looking upwards, he strode over towards Maenad to keep from falling behind from the group.

As Kohl sided up with her, Maenad smiled with her teeth. Keeping her pace and looking ahead while she spoke, she whispered loud enough for him to hear, "Thanks, I was starting to feel a little by myself,"

"Can't have that," Kohl said with a brisk shake of his head. He spoke in matching undertones, as they walked slightly behind the rest of the group. "You're new to Galileo. We should be making you feel welcome."

Rhodes was the last to step off the pad there in the City. He had seen cities before; to him this did not seem much different from others. He just hoped everyone had a good time, especially Kiri.

Dea soon joined Maenad and Kohl. Introducing herself to the new officer, "Welcome to the Galileo. I don't think we've had a chance to properly meet yet. Dea Mialin."

"Pleased to meet you," Maenad smiled and offered her hand. She thought Dea was lovely name. "Maenad Panne," she introduced herself. "Chief science officer."

Shaking Maenad's hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I see you've already met Kohl here."

Maenad looked at Kohl beside her with a bright smile, then back to Dea. "Yes," she replied.

"I've become familiar with the good Doctor Panne on a molecular level," Kohl said. He grinned slyly, and sounded far too amused with himself for that bit of lame medical examination humour.

With a slow shake of her head and a sarcastic smile, Maenad cringed. "What he means is that he gave me my mandatory physical the other day." It then occurred to her that Doctor Ni Dhuinn still hadn't contacted her with her results. Was that a good thing? Her heart skipped a beat as she began thinking about all the things the doctors could be doing with her results, maybe they didn't know what was wrong with her and were waiting for diagnosis before calling her. Maenad wished that she had not been reminded.

Dea nodded, "I see. Recently I made a short trip to sickbay as a result of Galileo's rough landing. However its not a place I try to visit often."

"I don't blame you," Kohl said dryly, with an irreverent shake of his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kiri, and he found his gaze wandering over to her.

Kiri waited for a few seconds before she saw Pola, catching her eye with a small dip forwards. Waiting for her to catch up she asked, holding out her right wrist, "What do you think?" The pearl bracelet with its silver swirls was something that Kiri liked very much, one of the few items of jewellery she owned.

Taking Kiri's hand gently in hers, Pola smiled brightly, her mood only intensifying. "It's perfect...It's suits you even better then I could ever have imagined Kiri."

Kiri couldn't hide her blush, Pola reminded her a lot of her mother right now. While they looked completely different, Pola's brown hair, Holly's firey red locks, to her they had the same eyes at that moment, the same tone of voice. Flattery turned to sadness almost at once, a small smile dropped at she bit her lip. Her voice became meeker, "Thank you very much, thank you." Stance drifting slightly Kiri met her eyes, looking rather lonely.

Seeing the look in Kiri's eyes, Pola wasn't 100% certain how to react. She knew that the young woman was a nervy person, the Doctor had known this from day one but now she was seeing a vulnerability which did take her by surprise. Squeezing the hand she held gently, her smile softened. "You've done a great job with all of this organising Kiri. You should be proud of yourself."

Managing a small smile Kiri found a way to banish those feelings, at least for now. Having her hopes affirmed helped a lot, it was the sort of words she craved lately. Trial and error was fine for mathematics, with people though she just wanted to have the path made clear. There was no wish to discover it for herself, "Thank you," Her hands felt warmer now, her pink face fading back towards slightly sickly pale.

Holding the hand for a moment more, Pola took in the people who had arrived with them, her eyes finding the chief of science once more. "I must say...you've invited a good group of people. You'll have to introduce me to your new boss at some stage though. I don't seem to have met her yet."

"Oh, okay, thank you," Kiri had assumed they had already met, there was only one department head she hadn't talked to yet, he had only just gotten on to the ship as it was. Waiting for the others to gather round Kiri smiled towards them, forgetting about her hand, "It is just over there." Across the street at the bottom of a tower was a faux wood fronted restaurant, a yellow holographic sign floating over an open door.

"It looks clean," called out Kohl. Smiling with satisfaction, he looked over to Maenad to guess at her opinion as well. He added, "Solid choice, Cho!" and tossed an expectant grin to Dea.

"Looks good to me," Dea replied with a smile.

Theron stood at the edge of the street looking both ways to make sure there was no traffic headed their way. "Things are clear for us if we go now." Theron said then realized that he was acting like he was still on duty; protecting the crew. It probably did not help that he had a Type I phaser in his boot.

Smiling at the compliments Kiri made sure they were all present before slowly taking the lead towards the restaurant. Taking care to avoid getting too close to any other passers by, rethinking the relationship she had with Pola. They hadn't gotten along very well at first, or at any point regarding her health. Yet, outside of work, she was nice.

Leaving Kiri's side for a moment, Pola moved across to Theron's side with a smile. Keeping her voice low, so their conversation private, she took in his posture. "Theron...how's your back and knees?"

Theron surprised by the question, glanced at the Doctor and smiled, "Doing better. Thank you." Then looking forward to where Kiri had moved off to. "She seems to be doing pretty good with all this."

Following Theron's gaze, Pola smiled softly as she clutched her hands behind her in a casual gesture. Studying Kiri for a moment, she found herself admitting that even though the scientist was usually very strung up she seemed somewhat more relaxed today, it wasn't by much but it was still there. "She is...I'm suddenly glad now I nudged her to take it on herself, she seems to have relished the challenge."

"It appears so." Theron replied. Theron motioned for Pola to see Kiri walk toward the restaurant.

Kiri entered tentatively, glancing around the inside. As she had planed they were here before the lunchtime rush, at least back on earth it would be in an hour. Stepping over the threshold there was a flash of light that almost made her jump back. Flickering slightly as it built its image was a young Betazoid woman with black hair. The flickering never really stopped as the woman raised her right arm, "This way please." Turning the hologram lead the group towards a large empty table in the centre of the room. Her moments were not quite fluid, not quite natural. Kiri hadn't really interacted with a lower quality hologram before, it was a little strange. It saved her trying to find a table though. Turning the Betazoid smiled, "I will return when you are ready to order," Then promptly vanished.

The inside was similar to the front, everything was in varnished hard wood, tables and long benches, booths around the edges of the room. It was a little dark even with floating lighting orbs hovering near the ceiling. At the back of the room was a small window behind which forms could be seen moving in florid activity. There were only a few diners inside one being served by a copy of the same hologram with a large steaming bowl of something. The room smelt slightly smoky and was quite warm, Kiri liked it. Moving round the table she didn't move to take a seat, waiting for everyone else to do so first.

Maenad was reminded of a restaurant she had visited on Risa several months ago. She preferred this one already; the one on Risa had better holograms, but the atmosphere was terrible and its holograms had rotten attitudes. Yellowleaf had a smokey atmosphere that she found pleasant. Their table was large and the chairs, she found, were quite comfortable. Their server was cheaply designed, but at least she was tastefully dressed and friendly, even if she were entirely artificial.

Dea took a look around as they entered the restaurant. Finding a seat after they were shown to their table. As Lieutenant Mialin reflected on it, this would be the first time in a long while she'd eaten someplace other than a starship or starbase.

Pointing at the space where the holo-waitress dematerialized, Kohl remarked, "I want to ask if she has a favourite thing on the menu." Once he padded over to the table, he pulled out the chair between Panne and Dea, and he sat himself down.

"I don't think she eats," Maenad told Kohl, a little sarcasm in her voice.

"Exactly," Kohl replied with a a little bit of humour. He pointed to Maenad to emphasize his agreement. "That's how we'll know if we can trust her."

Maenad only laughed quietly at that. It wasn't even that funny, but something about Kohl made her smile. She pulled a menu from the centre of the table and began looking through it.

Theron bringing up the rear and last to enter, stopped just inside the door, closed his eyes and tilted his head oddly to the side and up a little. He took a sniff.

Having been infront of Theron as they entered, Pola turned to look at him with a quizzical look "Is everything ok Theron?"

Theron sniffed again, "It is a scent or spice that I recognize, but have not been around for years. I can not quite place it."

Kiri watched as Rhodes approached the table, there were lots of smells it could be. Picking them from the mix wasn't easy, most more than likely weren't from Earth, those were the ones she knew. Her voice didn't carry very far over the others, "Liquorice, maybe or Fennel?"

"Yes, possibly . ." Theron replied. Then looking at Kiri, "But not quite."

Smiling slightly as she took the second last empty seat, finding herself seated beside the chief of science. Looking over at the woman, Pola smiled softly. "I don't think I'm getting it..."

"Not getting it?" Maenad asked quizzically, looking up from her menu. She had not yet been introduced to the woman, but judging by her Irish accent and appearance, she imagined her to be the Doctor Pola Ni Dhuinn from the senior staff manifest she had studied.

Smiling as she picked up her menu to glance through it, Pola made a gesture towards Theron. "Theron says that there's some sort of specific smell which he is picking up. Personally I'm not quite certain that I am picking it up myself. I should also apologise for my lack of manners, I'm Doctor Ni Dhuinn, Pola on general though."

Maenad sniffed quietly, agreeing that she didn't smell anything either. The place smelt differently, but she didn't find it unpleasant. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've already met your Lieutenant Kohl," she tilted gestured toward him with a tilt of her head.

"I wouldn't call him mine now...Andreus is definitely a man of his own mind." Running a finger down along the menu, she shook her head gently. "You know...I don't have a clue what I'd like to order. Do you ever get those periods where you honestly think that you really just aren't all that hungry?

"Yes," Maenad said with a nod. In fact, she was having one now. "Right now, in fact," she replied with a frown. "This chicken parmesan looks quite good," she said after a minute.

Wincing slightly, Pola reviewed the rest of the options. "For some strange reason I've never been a chicken woman in all honest...I might try the warm bacon salad...mysterious dressing sounds like a challenge to me."

"Bacon salad?" Maenad asked, unaware that such a thing existed. She was reminded of the horrifying image of her breakfast with Cyrus; she was never a huge fan of bacon to begin with, but whatever taste she had had for it was killed by the amount he could stuff into his mouth at once. "I love chicken," she said.

Laughing at the woman's reaction, Pola turned her head to look directly at Maenad. "It's not as bad as it sounds, promise. The bacon is what's called lardons, little miniature pieces. Means the salad is warm but still actually light."

"Oh," she replied. "I think I have lost my appetite for bacon after a... less than pleasurable breakfast I had with one of the security personnel a few days ago," Maenad explained.

Making a slight humming noise, Pola continued to scan her menu, trying to see if anything else caught her eye. The mention of security officer had her mind flashing back to her date with Cyrus last night. As a smile softened her lips, she looked across to Maenad, "Those security officers can be a handful sometimes."

"That's an understatement," Maenad breathed.

[TBC]
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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Theron Rhodes
Assistant Chief Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer, SFM
USS Galileo

Cadet Senior Grade Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Intern
USS Galileo

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