Close Encounters (Part 2)

Posted on 11 Jan 2013 @ 8:21pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Ansen Pawlak
Edited on on 13 Jan 2013 @ 10:15pm

3,378 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2, Science Office
Timeline: MD12 1600

[Continued]

Ansen smothered a smile as he arrived at their table with the tray. It was a shame to interrupt their conversation - he would rather have enjoyed eavesdropping a little more - but half the tray was warm and he didn't want to serve them something off temperature. Carefully, he set the glass of wine before Ensign Nicholas. It was a slightly spicy local blend that he'd found quite palatable on his shore-trip. Next, he settled a colorful bowl of fruits he'd collected from the colony. There were lemons and limes in storage, and he'd put a couple mixed in with the other fruits, but the local fruits had held a variety of tart and sweet combinations similar to the limes and it had seemed a shame to give her replicated fruit when she could have fresh instead. He'd also included some slices of a fascinating fruit called i'psom'nul, which had a high ratio of protein and tasted like a cross between beets and oranges. Last, he set out a hot plate of his own specialties made with local ingredients: meatballs with mushroom sauce, lazanki, pierogies, and shnitzel. "Anything else I can get you two?" he asked, glancing between them. "Green tea, Miss Cho?"

Kiri smiled at the the bowl and then at Ansen, had saved her some a rather difficult situation. These were problems she wanted to consider right now let alone with a stranger, "Some carbonated water, but I can get it myself," Kiri still didn't like him doing things for her.

"As you like. It's no trouble, though. Pretty slow right now."

"Okay," She smile again though more forced this time. Rather gingerly she picked up the first of the new fruits, not really sure what to make of them. If she should peel them or eat the skin or hollow them out from the inside like a Kiwi.

"Okay," Ansen repeated. "You know where to find me if you need me." He glanced at Ensign Nicholas with a smile, "In the kitchen." He gave them both a small salute and wandered off to mind his own business for a little while.

Jared was glad for the interruption. he had been sticking his foot in his mouth recently and he was beginning to think that discretion was the better part of valor. He waited patiently for her to start eating before digging in himself.

Tenatively she pinched off a small layer of skin and chewed it. The fruit was a greenish blue with red flakes, long and thin it was a little bigger than her finger. The skin at least didn't taste of anything much but nothing bad either. Moving down she took a small bite of the main part of the fruit, it tasted like cream and sweet limes.

He took a bite and chewed slowly, thoughtfully, letting the tasteof the mushrooms linger on his tongue before taking an equally slow sip of the wine. It's tartness contrasted wonderfully with the main dish.

Meals for her were meant to be silent until afterwards, everyone focused on eating rather than talking. She'd learn that most other people on the ship didn't follow the same norms though, "So, you like Japanese history?" Small talk was still something she was terrible at.

"Yes," he replied as he finished chewing, "Especially feudal Japan. I am fascinated by the code of the Saumurai, Bushido, Ronins, Ninjas, the politics, all of that."

"Okay," She didn't really know what half of that meant other than Samurai and Ninjas, "Have you ever been been there? She looked down at the long fruit again but didn't bite, it still felt rude to eat while talking.

"I have yes, a couple of times. You know I really should start learning that language too it's really quit fascinating and different...." Sorry I'm babbling. I didn't mean to give you such a long winded response."

"I can mostly read it," Kiri answered, still not eating, "It is similar than Mandarin but uses the same design, sort of."

"I don't mean to be rude, or impose but would you teach me?"

"I don't know," Other than explaining a few words to some people she had never even tried to teach it to anyone, "I've never tried." Having spoken it all her life she had never considered how to teach Mandarin to anyone. Or if he meant Japanese, she could pick apart the words and re-order them but that was just the gist. She couldn't speak or truly understand Japanese, no where near enough to teach it.

"Never tried teaching? I bet you'd be good at it. Which language are you most fluent in?"

She had tried teaching, just not languages. It was nice of him to think she would be good, if unfounded, "Mandarin." That was her native tongue, for a Trill she couldn't even read Trillish or speak any of it.

"Well, if you are open to it we could start there, or maybe we could learn Japanese together. But like I said, feel free to decline, I don't want to be too forward."

"Well, it might take a long time," Learning Klingonese and Rihannsu had taken her just over two years, this would at least take several months, "I think you could find a better teacher in a program though."

"I prefer people to programs, immersion cuts my learning time in half, but I pick up languages pretty easily too."

"Well, I can try," She tilted her head to the left slightly, "But wouldn't a holoprogram be more immersive than just me?"

"Holgrams are too perfect, too precise. I want someone that actually speaks the language like the common man in the streets, not like a series of 1s and 0's someone has programed."

Didn't holograms do that? She thought they did. She still didn't really understand, was it that he really wanted to do it with her? Why did that worry her? "Oh," She answered looking into her bowl, "Okay."

She looked a bit nervous to him and he wasn't sure why. He really didn't have any ulterior motives, other than a potential friendship, but he gave her a reassuring smile and decided to change the subject,"So how did you like your food>"

"It is good," She didn't know what it was but the one she had started on wasn't bad. Taking another bite she almost finished it, "And yours?"

"Sensational, the man is quite a cook. I'm so glad you told me about this place."

"It is just the mess hall," She smiled but it still seemed rather odd. It was better to talk to someone while eating but for her it was far less efficent. Alone this meal would have taken her five minutes, with him it could go on for hours it seemed. Was that why everyone was always leaving her first when they came to eat with her. Given her timings for meals she hadn't actually eaten any of Mr Pawlak's food. The one time he had been here when she had, she'd cooked for herself. No one else seemed to have a problem with other people cooking for them, to her it just felt unnatural though. "I think I will try it next time," It was a step forwards for her but not a huge one.

"Good," he replied as he finished his food, "Perhaps we can do this again sometime."

Kiri was rather aghast, she had barely even started and he was finished, how? Swallowing the last piece of her first fruit she met his eyes, "Yes," Though he was strange to her, he was in her department, was this over so soon though?

"I can wait till you're done" he said, "I'm just a fast eater. I'd love to continue our chat as well. Could I get you something to drink?"

The fruits were fairly juicy, "Thank you, but not yet," Picking up a slice of lime she brought it to her mouth and bit into it up to the rind. Her eyes lit up as she did so, the tart, sour taste delighting her taste buds. Lightening slightly she tried to make small talk, "Where do you come from, if you don't mind me asking?"

He gave her a long, measured look. I was born on my parents ship, the Resistence. Just a merchant ship really. Then I spent some time... some time wandering the galaxy no merchant ships. What about you.?"

That was different, she wasn't going to tell a stranger about her birth. Instead, "I grew up on Earth. In China." Pressing her lips together she blinked, "So have you seen lots of places?"

He could not repress his smirk, "You could say that," he replied neutrally

Taking a lemon slice this time she picked out a seed before placing it in her mouth, again she felt better. He had been to lots of place then, did he not want to talk about them, why not? No she was over thinking it, "Where was your favourite?"

"Well, we spent a lot of our time in space, but I think of all the places I visited, Earth would have to be my favorite. So much diversity there. I especially like what they call the Rocky Mountains. Have you ever been there?"

"Yes," Kiri nodded, "I did some training near there in the Academy, it is quite pretty." Crystal clear lakes, tall mountains with trees everywhere. Then the cruel snow that she had to deal with. The nights she spent shivering in a roughly constructed shelter by a smoky fire, wishing to be back home. After that she had no wish to go back to Canada.

"Really?" he asked, "You don't happen to like rock climbing do you?"

Kiri looked confused at him for a moment, he had already asked that that. Pondering if she remembered wrong or if there was something else wrong she answered again, "No, not really."

"Oh, I think I already asked that didn't I. Sorry about that. So has anything interesting happened here recently?"

"Well, yes." Kiri though he would have read about that before joining the ship, "There was a battle with Klingons, we escaped and crashed here and we have been making repairs. There have been lots of system updates and they are almost finished a new bridge," Chances were he would rarely get to be on the bridge, "There are lots of other things as well." It was best not to mention Sienna at all. She didn't want to go into too much detail about the battle, or the crash, or how she had been since then. Now at least she felt a lot better and able to function.

"Ahh well I had read little, but most of it was classified. I'm just a lowly Ensign and a language speialist as well. I'm afraid I'll probably leave a pretty dull life."

Kiri knew what a dull life was, it didn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. At least when her entire life had been about studying and nothing else she could pretend not to be lonely, she could give herself completely over to something. This was a starship though, it wasn't the same, "I'm sure it won't be dull, you enjoy your work don't you?" There would be so many languages he could study as they went on their missions, "I could also arrange for you to take part in supplemental combat training if you want."

He grinned at her remark about supplemental combat training. He wouldn't mind a little extra practice with a phaser, God knew he could use that, as far as the unarmed was concerned he was probably better than most of the instructors. He saw no reason to tell her that though.

"That would fine, I appreciate the combat thing, yes I enjoy my work very much and dull is not bad."

Kiri liked that he smiled and placed down the empty lemon slice, the tip of her tongue wiping her lips clean. "I will make a note for the next session," She picked up something that looked like a tiny dragon fruit, "There will be other duties as well in the department, it shouldn't be boring." Variety was something she put into the plans for her staff, even if it was just inventory or a lecture on different skills she tried to not let things be too similar each week. "There will be a department meeting soon, if there is anything you would like to present."

"Nothing that I can think of right now, I think I'd like to get my feet wet." he said with an effort to keep his thoughts away from he tongue ~God you're bad~he thought to himself. How many laguages are spoken on board?"

"I don't know," She knew that most people spoke different languages but with the Universal Translator active on each person's combadge she didn't have much idea what each person was speaking in reality. To her even right now it sounded like everyone was speaking Mandarin, unless she chose to change it. "I speak four languages though, the computer might be able to search personnel records for you if you wanted to know."

"Thanks, I might check that out. So how long have you been the Assistant Science Head?"

"Ten days, since Lieutenant Panne joined the ship, I was first appointed two weeks ago and shortly afterwards was acting Department Head." She had a wounded department to run with almost no equipment, it had been her job to hold them all together. It was a surprise that the task was taken from her just as it was coming to a completion.

"Oh? Care to elaborate on that?"

"I was one of two junior officers in the department and Lieutenant Barel was the Chief Science Officer. I was a Science Officer and a Sensor Specialist, shortly after she promoted me though she ran into difficulties." She'd married the chief engineer, had him almost die, stress had gotten to her and Kiri had taken over several of her duties even before her official acting head status. "The Klingons had badly damaged the ship and killed several members of the crew," That was enough detail to make her feel uncomfortable again. Two weeks out of the Academy she was running a department and did so without many complaints. "When Lieutenant Panne joined the ship she allowed me to finish my duties and now I am Assistant Chief again." Pausing for several seconds she reflected on that before peeling open the purple fruit, revealing a large spongy mass inside.

"That is an incredible story, I'm glad you were able to pull it off. I'm not sure I could pull it off." He was quite sincere with both the compliments and his doubts. There weren't too many things he was afraid to try or do by himself, even those that would be outside his chosen field, but head a department, or even be an assistant chair, that was a whole other ball game.

"Thank you," She thought about what he said for another moment, "If you wanted to there are command courses you could take, if its a role you would be interested in?" Kiri had taken hers at the Academy and two weeks later she'd had to put it to use. The flesh was very cold, thick with jelly and had the texture of Turkish delight, quite odd but pleasant.

"I might just take you up on that offer thanks. It will be a change from languages. Might be good for me."

Kiri was doing her own best to make herself ready to be a Captain one day, it was a lot of work she set herself each day. "I can talk to Lieutenant Panne about it for you," Swallowing the rest of the pulp she swallowed hard and raised her hand to her mouth, "What are your future goals?"

There were so many things he could have said, so much he could have told her none of which he was going to admit to a stranger. Instead he said, "Some day I'd like to have my own ship. I don't know if it will be in Star Fleet or independent, but hunting down pirates has a nice ring to it."

"Oh," Kiri was a little surprised that it was somewhat like her own, "Are pirates that much of a problem?" On Earth she didn't really hear anything about them at all. They might exist but they never seemed to actually be a threat.

"I guess it depends on your perspective. They are to me."

"Okay?" Kiri was rather confused but she didn't think she should ask further. If it was something he didn't want to talk about, she knew she wasn't that great at picking up signals, "Ships are hard to get." Back to a slice of lime now she looked at him, trying to see if there were any signals.

He noted her confused look. and held up his hands, "Sorry there are just some things I don't like to discuss. Let's just say I've had some bad experiences with pirates and leave it at that if you don't mind.

"Yes I know ships are hard to get, and I am really trying to fit into the way Star Fleet works, I'd prefer going through Star Fleet, but if not, well I have connections."

"Oh," Kiri didn't have any connections but getting a deep space research ship of her own, or on behalf of someone else was no small feat. Something she didn't think she would get even if she worked her whole life outside of Starfleet. Placing her hands together she smiled, "Did you enjoy the Academy?"

"Wel the first few months was Hell for me. I was used to a much, how shall I say, loosr chain of command, with a lot more freedom and ability to speak my mind, though I guess I'm repeating myself as far as that is concerned.

However I grew to love it. I learned a lot, picking up a langauge or two and honing my navigation skills. I actually minored in Flight Control and of course like most people I made a lot of new friends.

I am kind of surprsied that we didn't see each other."

Kiri didn't really remember very many people from the Academy. She had spent almost all of her time actively avoiding them, there had been one or two in a few of her classes she still knew the names of. She didn't make any friends there, she didn't really know how. There was one thing she did know, "It's a big place." Yet it was easy to avoid almost everyone if you knew how.

"I suppose you're right. I hate to do this to you, but I think my space lag has finally caught up with me. I would like to continue our discussion, I've really enjoyed it, but maybe if we could postpone the rest of the tour and you could just show me back to my place."

Kiri was rather disappointed, this was nice. Leaving her mostly finished bowl she stood up, "Okay." She had taken too long, she needed to come up with a way to eat faster without being rude while talking. While she didn't like watching people eat she might have to work this out. Picking up the bowl to take it back to the counter she waited for him. Considering what they had
talked about.

"Lieutenant, I just want you to know I really did enjoy this, that wasn't just BS and I'd like to continue another day."

"Thank you," She bowed her head slightly, "You can let me know when you are available?" His words were slightly crude, were they all like that and she didn't notice or only this one?

"Of course I can Lieutenant. Once I'm assigned my final shift I will let you know."

"Okay," Kiri managed a small smile and nodded, at least it seemed he would be easy to work with. The talk seemed to have gone well even if the tour was rather short.

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

Ensign Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

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