The News Watches Me

Posted on 17 Feb 2013 @ 9:30am by Nesh Saalm & Warrant Officer Evan Kell

4,031 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Mess Hall
Timeline: MD3 0900

ON:

"Ha!" Nesh crowed, eyes alight with mirth as she set the PADD down on the table and had a hearty laugh to herself. She waved to Rothgra and smirked. "Wow! What a weirdo! He just sat there! And look at that eye! Hey, Mr. Crankypants, did you see this?" she shoved the PADD toward the dull intelligence officer and his friends who had now become her new breakfast companions since the extra seat at their table was rapidly becoming the only one left.

Kell wasn't interested in gossip, but according to Coleman, he had a new interest in the lives of these reporters, so he looked over at the Orion who had commandeered the extra empty seat at their table, took the PADD and switched it on.

"So, what was all your heart bleeding able to accomplish? A few phone calls and I get a company back in the game. Do you know how much I'm personally responsible for raising for various galactic charities last year alone? Fifteen billion credits. That's a billion with a BILLION. Yet here you sit thinking you're so great because you get a few people to weep. I make a few phone calls and manipulate stock prices. Why? Because I understand the way the galaxy works far better than you ever will. People don't care about feeling good about themselves. They care about what's in it for them," the PADD recited in Jool Fenta's low, threatening voice.

Kell peaked his head to one side, and then the other.

"I know, right! She's brilliant!" Nesh gushed gleefully, poking a fork into one of the jellied gree-worms. Many people didn't like them, but Nesh thought they had a bad rap. Just because they looked like worms, didn't mean they weren't tasty! Don't judge a food by its cover, she always said. Funnily enough, the chef that made them had just left them there. They weren't exactly bad as leftovers, but she wondered where the cheerful Pole had gone off to now. She replayed the scene once Kell handed her back the PADD and grinned to herself. That woman had cluros, damn!

"So, who are you guys?" Nesh asked, leaning forward in her chair and studying them one by one. Crankypants Kell, who probably took lessons in mean from the Vulcan, the silly security chief, and Darwisch, who was way cool.

Sidi sniffed at the table and the good food the smell-pup had. It looked good and delicious and much better than Alpha-kibble. He snorted at Alpha-kibble. He put his head on the table and stared at smell-pup using what he was coming to understand were cute-eyes that made people want to give him things.

"Oh goodness, Nesh!" Tiffany said over her tray of spinach egg scramble with gouda cheese, hash browns and cut melons. She was eating healthier because she was In Training. If she wanted to join Jeremy's response squad she had to make sure to get into better shape. "That is so cool! Have you actually met her yet? She's so beautiful! I've only seen her from a distance but that hair, so cool! Can you believe how red it is? And her skin, oh my! I would just die to have gold skin like that! I wish, oh, I wish I could have her interview me but I'm not anything on the ship, just an Ops petty officer but wouldn't it be cool! Maybe she'll need something fixed and I could volunteer for the assignment. Oh! NESH! You're the captain's sister don't you think she'll maybe want to interview you? I could be there for that. And Jeremy! You're the chief of security, of course you'll have to talk to her!"

"Oh, my god," Nesh beamed, a flush creeping up on her cheeks as she crossed her legs and shrugged. "I know, right. And she's so badass," Nesh crushed her hand into a fist and rose it heartily, "I understand the way the galaxy works far better than you ever will!" she mimicked dramatically, and grabbed a couple more bites of Gree-worm. It turned into a lengthy, relaxed sigh. "An interview... could you imagine? But I don't know, I mean, there's that memo, right? The one Mr. Crazy sent out? We could totally put in requests. And if one of us gets in, we'll have to mention the other!" the Orion babbled excitedly.

Jeremy scowled as he scanned the room, trying to figure out why he was getting the angry glares this time. He heard some mumbling about breakfast service delayed while replacement crew had to come in to cover for Mister Pawlek, but how was that translating to people glaring at him.

"Talk to who?" he asked, staring at his breakfast tray before nodding. Sausage egg scramble with cheddar cheese, hashbrowns. That seemed right. No bacon. Bacon was verboten after his trip with Sidi to Medical. Dr. Dhuinn didn't say the bacon made him sick but Jeremy wasn't taking a chance with it.

"Reporter," Kell filled in, sliding Nesh's forgotten PADD over to Jeremy while she and Darwisch cooed over the pretty reporter lady. "Group of 'em. Raifi Zaren, Jool Fenta, Justin Baker and the AP Trija Natyal. From the FNN." The Capellan forked up a few blueberries in the small glass fruit bowl set aside from his toast and waffles.

"Jool Fenta," Nesh repeated dreamily.

"I know about the press corps," Jeremy said. "I was at the staff briefing but..." he turned to the green girl. "Who are you and why are you sitting at my table?"

"Jeremy!" Tiffany scowled.

Sidi edged closer to the good-food smell, green. And slimy! Slimy! SLIMY! He liked slimy! It wiggled as it went down his gullet. He still used cute-eyes but they weren't paying much attention to him. Good. Alpha-kibble. Blech. He wanted SLIMY!

"I know those feels," Nesh spoke sympathetically at the dog. "I'm guessing you shouldn't feed him Gree-worms, huh?" she asked Jeremy, switching one leg out for another and crossing them again. "I'm Nesh Saalm," she introduced, holding a hand out. "Nice to meet you. I'm in the science department? Sort of. An observer. Scientist's Mate. Very professional," she said in her Serious Voice.

"She's Captain Saalm's sister," Kell filled in.

Jeremy sighed. Of course she was. He should have guessed. Orion female. Why else would she be a civilian on the ship. Yet another thing to add to the lengthy list of things the command staff failed to inform him about. He glared at the hand and then her for holding it out.

"Sidi, down," he said automatically. "Nothing on this table is on your approved dietary list." He shook his head. "Why should I have to speak with the reporter? From the video it is a discussion between the two of them, no Federation laws were broken, no one complained about being disturbed. The opposite seems to be true, since people felt the need to record it for entertainment. I see no reason for Security to be involved."

"Well, not security," Nesh said, tipping her head sideways. She dropped the hand and busied it with collecting more worms. "You. Ya know. 'Cause she's awesome. See?" Nesh held out the PADD and pressed replay. The sound of Jool Fenta's voice filled the air once again.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "No, Jeremy, she'll want to talk to you! You are the Security chief after all and she'll want to make sure that she gets all the information and you're such a Really Great and Wonderful Person," she completely missed the scowl at this, "that she'll want to show the entire galaxy what a great guy you are and how you're doing your best to Serve and Protect the ship and all the great things you're doing here, like the tactical response team!"

Jeremy rubbed his head. "I don't speak with members of the press. That's what my attorney is for." He said it as if rote, as if something memorized after much practice. He turned to Kell wondering about this fascination. "Why are they so excited by the idea of this woman? She's a journalist."

At that, Kell shrugged. "Fame, glamor, I guess. Jool Fenta is well known. The Federation's equivalent of a celebrity. They're starstruck."

"Am not," Nesh grouched, glaring at Kell. What a Crankypants Liferuiner.

"If not for my position, what would make me worthy of her attention?" he asked, watching the video again. When he was as brusque with people as this woman was, people didn't like him. They didn't get starstruck over him.

"Oh, boys!" Tiffany said, rolling her eyes in the direction of Nesh. "They never understand anything important."

Nesh smirked and handed Stone her PADD, wrapping her fingers around a large mug of coffee with her other hand and blowing on it to cool it off. "You should totally submit a request. You can tell people what security is really about. Do like a, cop-procedure reality thing. People love that. And, plus, if you go on the holovids, you will get famous! It's perfect."

"People don't care about the reality of security, which is normally not very exciting. They want the fiction of what cops do and act." He scowled. "I have no desire to be 'famous'. Just the opposite, I would rather people stopped talking about me so much." He scanned the room again, wondering why the looks were still directed at him. "Should you be drinking coffee? Caffeine is not good for juveniles."

"Yeah, but if they say good things, you know, then it will make you feel good," Nesh theorized, putting her hands palm-out in a gesture of peace. "Being famous would be great..." she trailed off into her own fantasy daydream and then abruptly came back to reality. "Uh, coffee, ehh, yes? Coffee, good for the soul," she insisted. "Builds those synapses. Go, brain go," she tapped her skull with a smile.

Jeremy grabbed the cup from in front of her and moved it to the other side of him. "Negative, Miss Saalm. Coffee is full of caffeine which is not just a diuretic but also has an adverse action on blood pressure and flow. I am unaware of caffeine having any positive effect on building neural synapses. As your age requires the ability to continue building and forming synapses for full adult functioning, you are no longer allowed to have stimulants. Your beverage choices will be limited to water or fruit juice - fresh, not from concentrated and not additionally sweetened. You may also have whole milk."

"Ha- hey!" Nesh glared, crossing her arms and furrowing her eyebrows. "My coffee," she lamented, watching him lift it up and away. "You," she pointed a finger at him, "Are responsible for the shriveling of my soul, and when it cries out in the poisoned cage of my heart," she threw her arms out, "The only fault is yours," she slumped. He didn't seem very concerned with the sanctity of her soul. How could she make him understand? She needed coffee. To live! "It's a life or death situation," she insisted, hand on her chest.

Tiffany tried to get Nesh's attention to get her to stop because she knew that was the worse possible argument to give for wanting coffee.

Jeremy glared at Nesh, then checked his chrono. "How long will it require for you to perish from lack of coffee?" he asked. "I have to get back to duty and I would not wish to miss witnessing the first recorded death - ever - of coffee withholding. Also, as a law enforcer, I'm often responsible for the 'shriveling of souls' and turning a deaf ear to the 'crying of hearts in poisoned cages'. They are so numerous that yours will be unremarkable and go unremembered."

"Well," Nesh floundered, pressing her lips together in a tight frown. "Well, shortly. You'll see! I'm dying! There's much death! And Chaos. And misery. Woe, much woe was had." She arched her eyebrows. "Okay. Crankypants, hand me one of those, uh," she swirled a finger in the air. "Zix, that'll do. The chef had them out for Orion cuisine day but he seems kind of... gone? But nobody's drank them."

Kell stood and leaned over, grabbing two boxes of the prepacked juice. He poked a straw through his own and handed Nesh hers before sitting back down. "Not bad," he declared with a nod. "Kind of like almonds. Pawlak's in custody," he filled in for Nesh. "They took him yesterday. To the brig."

"The brig? Why? Ansen is nice. There's like, totally no reason for that. Who took him in?"

"Commander Holliday. I'm not meant to discuss details." Kell shrugged apologetically.

"Which makes me wonder how you are aware of details of the circumstances as they are...confidential," Jeremy said, shaking his head. Suddenly it was making sense why others were glaring at him. If he were the type to gamble, he'd wager he was bearing the blame for Pawlek's arrest.

Kell nodded. "Mm. It's my job to keep tabs on the ship, though." Kell often thought he was a little like a glorified rumor information processing unit, but it had its uses. "Holliday wasn't subtle. He came right in at shift switchover. He had a crowd. Crowds talk a lot."

"Do you think they blame you?" Nesh suddenly asked, staring at Stone aware of all the eyes on their table.

"I don't think that, no," Jeremy answered.

"But they do, don't they?" Tiffany asked, looking around, biting her lower lip. "Because they're a bunch of poohpooh heads!" She was only marginally guilty for using such bad language in front of the impressionable teenager.

"Poohpooh heads?" Nesh asked dryly.

"Very Bad People," Kell answered dutifully.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't be using such bad language in this company but these people are just so....so..." she had the bearing of someone who should be stomping her foot, "upset over their stupid treatment of other people. If Jeremy arrested Mister Pawlak then it was for good reason and they shouldn't be going around questioning everything he does all the time because Jeremy is a Good and Decent Person who Does What Is Right and Just all the time! Not some petty tyrant going around trying to oppress people!"

Jeremy frowned at the outburst of the red haired woman. "Thank you, Mister Darwisch but people are going to think what they want until their own ignorance comes back to haunt them." He finished his breakfast which just left his juice. He glanced at Sidi who continued to stare at the table as if holding out to the very last hope of getting something not approved.

"No, Sidi, I promised Dr. Dhuinn to carefully restrict your diet so you don't get sick again." Sidi gave a low whine while licking his chops once as he continued to stare at the table.

"Poor guy," Nesh lamented. "Does he have stuff that he can eat that he likes? Maybe you should bring some with you when you go to the mess hall, so he doesn't have to look at everybody else eating the Good Stuff," the Orion suggested, biting her straw and worrying it between her teeth.

Jeremy scowled at the young Orion. "He gets served an approved dietary supplement when he gets up and before we go for his morning run in the arboretum, again when we return which he enjoys while I prepare for my day and complete any duties I may have in my quarters, then again when we return at the end of our duty shifts. His dietary needs are by no means neglected, nor is he 'hungry' now. Like everyone, he would rather have what he is not allowed. I'm not happy with his silent 'begging'."

Nesh tilted her head. "Of course they're not neglected. Not what I meant." She continued biting her straw. "I just meant if he's constantly begging at people for food, maybe you should bring some of his dietary supplement when you go to the Mess?" She frowned. "Is that bad? I don't know much about dogs really." She shrugged.

"It's important to have a schedule," Kell filled in from his spot in front of his pancakes. "That way he won't bark, beg or steal food when it's not appropriate."

"True," Jeremy said, "It's a form of attention seeking behavior. In packs, dogs find the gift of food to be attention from alphas or better - and to give food the function of an alpha to favored members of the pack. It is a way for him to increase his status in a 'pack'." Jeremy turned in the chair, catching Sidi's attention and double patting his chest. Sidi rose and put his paws on Jeremy's waist, his eyes locking with Jeremy's, fully revealing the new vest that Jeremy had replicated and put on him.

"What do you think?" Jeremy asked the table of the mostly black 'vest' with gold trim. "It's also functional in that it provides a measure of protection from phaser fire and serves to identify him better as a member of security. He's not quite used to wearing it yet and..." Jeremy frowned. It covered his coat somewhat and, to Jeremy at least, was less attractive.

"Sharp," Nesh peeked over and gave a solid nod. Much better than something bright yellow anyway, in her opinion. "It covers up all that nice fur, but it gets the job done, right?" she asked obliviously.

Kell leaned forward. "Hm," he pronounced with his usual enthusiasm. High praise.

"Wait. You said it protects against phaser fire? Do you really think someone would fire a phaser at him? Oh my god," Nesh cried. "Who would do that? People suck."

"Probably the people who would rather not meet the business end of his teeth," Jeremy said, with something approaching dark pride as he ruffled Sidi's fur. "That's right, boy, who's a good bite dog? Hrmmm? Who's a good bite dog then? Who's the galaxy's best bite dog ever?"

Sidi barked, once, as he dropped from Jeremy's lap and spun a circle around, his ears pricked forward and tail wagging furiously.

Tiffany leaned forward on her hands, watching Jeremy and Sidi together, feeling warm infuse through her body as she imagined the day that was her he spoke to in such a loving manner - or...better yet...their child!

"What's a bite dog?" Nesh asked uncertainly.

"I could use some training volunteers," Jeremy said absently, "If you'd like to find out."

"I would!" Tiffany said, seeing a chance to spend more time with him. It was too bad their schedules were so busy at the moment that they didn't have time to really get together. But Tiffany heard Jeremy had a lot of training he had to accomplish in a short amount of time, then there was the uncertainty of this region of space and he was tasked in protecting them all. "I'd love to help! That would be so great and maybe it'll help because you know I want to try for the tactical team thingee that you're putting together because I like the idea of really helping to protect the ship!"

Kell and Nesh both shared a Look. "Training for what?" Nesh asked.

"For Sidi. Like all Starfleet officers, he needs training to keep his skills up." Jeremy scowled. "Well, for him and me. More for me. He's extremely advanced for what he does and I...I'm still trying to muddle through the learning process." he shook his head. "I've still got a lot of work to do."

"So you have to learn how to work with him, basically," Nesh twisted her lip downward curiously. "What kind of stuff does he do normally? Like search people? Or what?"

"He's tasked as a security canine, which means apprehension and protection work, as well as contraband detection and cross tasked with search and rescue operations." Jeremy gave the chest double pat again and Sidi put into his lap again, lowering his head against Jeremy's shoulder. Jeremy looked at the security vest Sidi wore and sighed. He didn't like it, but Coleman was right, if he wanted others to accept him as 'crew' and not 'pet' then Sidi needed to look the part as much as act it.

"Normally he patrols and carries out duties with me, thus far his only apprehension work has been conducted in training. Regretfully." Jeremy reached into a side pocket to remove one of the treats he kept in his pocket. Sidi took it and then laid down, putting the treat between his paws and snacking on it. "But, maybe soon he'll get the chance to go full out."

"Well if there's any, like, pirates or whatever here," Nesh said uncertainly. Pirates. Romulans. Klingons. Cardassians. Being on a starship, in her opinion, was very scary. Was that what Lirha had to deal with? What if people hurt her? She frowned, remembering exactly why she didn't like Starfleet. "I guess he will," she muttered quietly.

"And they have to get through me before they can get to anybody important on the ship," Jeremy said to the young girl, guessing from her facial contortions and tone of voice she was worried about safety. "As the Captain's sister, that includes you."

Nesh smiled at him, and nodded. "I guess so. So do you really need volunteers to help train with him?" She looked over at Tiffany and in a purely Orion gesture of solidarity, said, "Tiffany looks pretty tough, I bet she could totally help out."

Tiffany sat up straighter and made a 'muscle' out of her small but toned bicep. "Totally tough! Completely tough! I'd love to help of course! Especially if it means I get to play with Sidi. He's so cute and such a good...security officer!"

Jeremy frowned. "Of course, I'm not willing to turn down volunteers. I get enough and we can even work on his search work." He glanced at the chrono display on his wrist PADD. "But, I've got to return, my break is just about up."

Nesh and Kell waved in unison, the Capellan raising his fork in farewell, before snatching off the edge of pancake he'd collected. "Seeya," he said as Jeremy prepared to leave.

Nesh began cuing up several broadcasts by Fenta, along with the video Thanis sent her. The reporter's voice blurted out of her PADD again, and Nesh smirked happily. "Such cluros. One day," she sighed serenely.

"Oh, hey!" Tiffany said, turning to Nesh "Did you see that one episode of All In the Transport she did? I've got a copy of it if you'd like to see it! But we'd have to go somewhere else to watch it because Crabby Tabby is on the rag this lifetime."

"Oh my god. Totally! No idea who Tabby is, but we can use my closet-- I mean, quarters, if you like. It's not that bad, really. Cozy?" she tried for reassuring, smiling awkwardly. "I've got a decent holo projector, for my projects. How cool is this?"

Kell, recognizing when he ceased to exist in the minds of preoccupied girls, contented himself by drinking more Zix.

[OFF]

LTjg Jeremy Stone
Chief Security/Tactical Officer/K9
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo

PO2 Tiffany Darwisch
Ops Crewmember
USS Galileo

Nesh Saalm
Scientist's Mate, CIV
USS Galileo

Sidious MWD7223
Security Canine Unit
USS Galileo

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