Welcome Aboard

Posted on Sun Jul 3rd, 2022 @ 7:17pm by Lieutenant Commander T'an & Lieutenant Eve West & Able Crewman Luk Benjawan

Mission: Prelude: The Gathering
Location: Main Bridge
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1700

[USS Proxima]
[Transporter Room]
[1700 hours]

"Secure from Intruder Alert." A voice said over the intercom. It was the first announcement made when Lieutenant Eve West was brought in a singing crescendo and the sparkling lines of light that was the pattern buffer. A young person stood at the ready behind the tilted glass of the transporter control booth. Realizing that might have sounded strange, Luk Benjawan leaned to the intercom.

"Sorry ma'am, that's not you. We had an intruder alert earlier." He stood back up and stepped away from the controls. He was thin and sprightly, probably of Southeast Asian descent, and wore a Crewman's jumpsuit. "Welcome aboard."

Lieutenant West chuckled as she stepped down from the transporter pad. "It's alright crewman. That's not the strangest thing I've ever seen." Truth be told, it couldn't even compare to some of the stuff she had seen before and given her new assignment, there would be far more adventures to be had.

Luke smiled around his plump lips. He had a confident air, yet the inexperience of his age hung on like a veneer of uncertainty. He bobbed his head enough to acknowledge that the Lieutenant had seen stranger things. "Most of the ship's on Condition Gray Ma'am," he reported. "But the turbolifts are online. Do you know the way to the Conference Room?" He asked. His brows popped over his monolid gaze. "Deck two?"

Eve nodded a thanks after the transporter chief pointed her to the correct deck. "Aside from the deck, I have served on these Constitution-class ships before, though it has been a minute. At least five years actually. Either way, I think I can find the way once I'm up on Deck Two."

The Thai youth bobbed his head. "Yes Ma'am. This one is mostly the same. There's some new automated systems to make more space for scientific and technical equipment. But the layout is almost unchanged." He gestured at the door. "Turbolift one is on your left, down a section near the emergency medical response muster station." Luke raised his finger. "Oh uh. The XO is Commander Rhowin."

"Thank you Crewman," she looked at the door and then back at Luk. "I probably shouldn't keep the XO waiting," she began towards the door and looked back at the transporter chief. "Thank you for the directions by the way," she nodded as she left the room.

Eve turned the corner into the corridor. After a few moments, she reached the turbolift and entered it. She quickly tapped the button for deck two and soon enough the lift began to move upwards. In the blink of an eye, the turbolift reached deck two. Eve stepped out and went in the direction of the conference room. Once she arrived, she tapped the door chime.

Eve was met with silence on the other end of the door. It stretched into the awkward until from the short distance to the turbolift there was a pneumatic whisper. A woman, who was not tall, and wore a tactical vest and a phaser on her hip, strode toward the same door. She wasn't Human. Her skin looked like warm caramel, the edges and lack of eyebrows made her exotic. But it was the strange, disks of shattered blue glass appearance of her eyes that was truly strange.

She looked to be wearing twin microphones, curled around her ears but also anchored to ports in her cheeks. Those framed her mouth, which smiled. "You must be Lieutenant West. Please come inside."

Eve entered at the woman's request and stood at ease upon entry into the conference room. While she was waiting for the Proxima on the station she had time to look over who she would be serving under. At least a little bit. She recognized the device on her cheeks and mouth. She learned a lot from her time as a cadet at the Academy, and from teaching at the Academy. Because of this, she recognized the device to be a Barzan respiratory device. At this point she didn't really know of any Barzan in Starfleet given they were affiliated with the Federation. "You must be Commander Rhowin?"

"I am," the Barzan brushed by with a soft whiff of a scent like a swimming pool. The whisper of the doors opened and Rhowin began to process of unlatching the armor on her front. She shouldered it off. "Can I get you something to drink?" She asked. "This probably looks awkward. We just apprehended someone stealing supplies." The Barzan pushed her coiling hair behind the shell of her ear, "From one of the equipment locker bays." She moved to secure the phaser in one of the wall storage panels.

"That explains the intruder alert that the transporter chief was talking about" Eve chuckled. "Just an iced coffee please."

"Coffee in the evening, you must be one of those people who aren't kept awake with caffeine." The Barzan in her blue-gray turtleneck assented her head once and perused the replicator. It felt rude to not drink as well. But she already felt like her kidneys were drowning what with all the meetings today. "Iced coffee and green tea." The food synthesize hummed to life and Rhowin opened it. She returned with the drinks and set them on either side of the table. Then she returned to the synthesizer.

Her electric blue eyes narrowed. Gsturing back with a sway of a finger, she looked at Eve. "Sweet, or savory?"

Eve was silent for a moment while she tried to think of an answer. Either option was fine, but she realized that iced coffee would be best with both worlds. "I think I'll go with a little bit of both."

The Science Officer considered that. "Apple, cheese and thyme pastries. Small." The synthesizer wound up to life. Rhowin had only had the dish once- at a dinner aboard the Ochoa with a visiting Xahean delegation. It was the first thing she could think of that was savory and sweet.

Rhowin picked up the tray and set it between the two of them. There were two small pastries. "Barzans believe meeting a person for the first time should come with food." She sat down. "Please," she gestured. "Tell me about yourself, Lieutenant."

Eve took her own seat and thought for a moment. After she chose her response, she spoke up. "For starters, I was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. From a young age, I had a thing for flight. I learned to fly with my father. My first solo flight in a safe atmosphere was at 15. My first solo space flight was at 17. A year later I joined Starfleet," she began.

The place failed to load an image for Rhowin but Earth itself did. Her face revealed, with a glance, as Eve spoke, that the Commander didn't know the name. But the rest was on more familiar ground. And Rhowin could pull from context that West was a Terran. "You must be a jen-xen to have that kind of clarity in your childhood." The Barzan smiled while Rhowin cupped one of the pastries and tore from it a savory, flaky corner. "Old soul." She clarified.

She nibbled a piece. "Did you do the Titan Run from Mars and Saturn? Or try the Titania approach without astro-navigation?" She asked, hairless eyebrows popping with the amusement of a person being told a good story.

A childish grin appeared on her face. Like she was excited to answer because she actually was. "In my Junior Year, I did actually attempt the Titan run, also known to many as the Jovian Run, multiple times. I attempted that one multiple times because I really wanted to ace Titan's turn. I eventually did. To me, that tops serving on the Enterprise for my cadet rotation that same year. As for the Titania run, I never really got the chance to complete it. After I graduated the Academy I was assigned to the USS Yokohama. After I spent five years on that ship I taught at Starfleet Academy for another five years before transferring here," Eve explained as she took a small bite out her own pastry.

Rhowin proved to be a listener: electric eyes on the speaker, blinking, interested, engaged. She was subtle in how she picked at the pastry cupped in her hand. Pilots were unique creatures. People of action. Scientists were thinkers. Mullers of data, weavers of theory. Her hairless eyebrows rose at the portion of West serving her rotation on the Enterprise. She wondered if they would build another one? Those were some hallowed halls. Rhowin had only toured it once before her own cadet rotation.

It had gravitas and was an enchanting ruin, a beauty that was faded and old. A Grand Dame.

Rhowin's thoughts turned to the knowledge that West was among two officers who had served as teachers at the Academy before they came here. "What made you want a change from teaching?" She asked curiously.

"Teaching cadets how to fly wasn't being at the helm of a starship," she answered honestly. "I wanted to get back out into space."

Rhowin understood that desire through her own prism of context. She wanted to get back out into the field. In the dirt. Discovering ancient civilizations. It had been a while. "Well here you are," Rhowin confirmed. "In four or five days, you and Commander Dusan are in the forward console." She sipped her drink and set it sound with a soft porcelain clatter.

She pushed it aside. "We still have some time to finish the Proxima's shakedown. We've been en route from Earth for several months now. So far no serious issues have come up from Helm control. Around Altair, we had some sensor ghosts from the Altair Cloud causing problems with how the Nav computers wanted to use the deflector data. By the time we reached the Briar Patch it seemed to have fixed itself. Beyond that there were some sluggish thruster controls that have since been worked out."

"Understood ma'am. I'll keep an eye on that just in case."

Rhowin signaled with her head agreement. "Do you have any questions for me, Lieutenant West?" She asked.

"I have only run into a few Barzans in my ten years as an officer. What inspired you to join Starfleet?" she asked honestly.

The Barzan present now raised eyebrows in surprise, caught off guard. "I..." she began. Wasn't aware any of my people were off-world. The loneliness in a room, the ache of uniqueness, crept up on the Commander. She pushed it away- way down along with her remaining appetite. "I left for new opportunities," she said. "I study cultures. I knew Barzan's."

She let curiousness push through. "How did you come to know my people?"

"Mostly through word of mouth. I think I recall seeing one of your people in an astrophysics class I subbed for once. And then I think my father served with one. But honestly, aside from that I only really know stuff from databases and the usual public stuff," she hoped she wasn't overstepping.

Rhowin assented again with a nod of her head. "Barzans focus on family. That's why there are so few of us off-world." A sense of wistfulness still hung over the Commander: but this was hardly a new feeling or one she had no bulwark against. People were always curious. That was natural. Encouraged in Starfleet, even. "So I was surprised to hear there were more." She smiled and genteelly layered her hands.

She changed tracks, "You are second-generation Starfleet?"

"Something like that," Eve began. "My father was also a pilot. He served in Starfleet until I was about 6 or 7. After that, he resigned so he wouldn't be gone from home for long periods of time. But he was my inspiration for joining Starfleet and he is also who taught me to fly."

Rhowin was intrigued though she knew she had to check her interest in other's stories. There was the issue of timeline. "I see," she acknowledged. "Well, you are clear to go to the Bridge if you want to see it. But most of the ship is on low powder standby. I understand Commander Dusan is putting together a gathering. An all-girls night."

"Interesting," she said. "Sounds like fun."

Rhowin's hesitance was only momentarily. "Heh uh yes. It should be a welcome change of pass from Engineering headaches and relative universal time-lag." She rose. "I imagine you will want to meet Dusan. And Dr. Standish will need to see you for an onboarding." The Barzan tilted a smile into a cheek, "She's... quite different as I understand Human doctors go."

Eve smiled. "Noted. Is there anything else that I should be aware of ma'am?"

Rhowin shook her head. "No Lieutenant. But if I think of anything I will send you a message. I should free you to go find quarters." She hesitated, "I had to kick the Chief Steward into high gear a little while ago. He's been slow on prepping the officers' quarters."

"Understood" she nodded and smiled. "I should probably be going now. It's been five years since I've been at the helm of a starship. I need to get acquainted with the helm."

"It'll be right where you expect to find it," Rhowin nodded and smiled too. She put her hands behind her back and agreed. "Dismissed Lieutenant. Good luck."

"Thank you ma'am," Eve smiled and turned on her heel to leave the room. Once she left the room she made her way to the bridge to get reacquainted with the helm of a starship.