Crabcakes in the Sun

Posted on 19 Feb 2013 @ 8:41am by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Petty Officer 3rd Class Thanis Rothgra & Petty Officer 3rd Class Kareel Gan
Edited on on 19 Feb 2013 @ 9:28pm

2,742 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 3, Aft Cargo Bay
Timeline: MD01: 1700 hrs
Tags: engineering

MOUSE OVER Trill for translations!

[ON]

Thanis was sitting on a crate of replacement parts with a magnifying lens, going through bolts one by one. It was monotonous work, but after the trouble they'd had just before their departure from Vega IX, he understood the Chief's order that all the new parts they took in should be triple checked. Understanding it didn't make it less boring. Still, he enjoyed the energy of the cargo bay, crew members slipping off and coming back with the energy and smells of the starbase on them. He whistled quietly to himself, trying to make the task of checking tiny metal objects for fault lines more intellectually stimulating than it actually was.

"Aldi'razt sko ezeki ngazukiro dakitar'xale." A head accompanied the words, a splash of bright against the dreary din of the cargobay. It - rather the woman it belonged to - appeared from up top of one of the crates above Thanis, with a shock of red hair framing large spots and immaculately applied make-up. The woman smiled warmly. "Zhial, anaya'gaima."

Thanis fumbled the box of bolts and nearly dropped them as Kareel's head popped up. "Sko mende aldi'dar'kaiyu yagar'xixek." He looked around the cargo bay furtively. "Sko'ezeki duee rekargi redakar- ez. Ez'xek. Sko mende'le linatar." His voice remained quiet and steady as he spoke, though his eyes spoke nervous volumes.

"Zhei, Thanis. Ja'tor mende'le linatar," Kareel said lightly, hopping off the crate and landing on her feet delicately. She was dressed in the standard Starfleet regalia, sleeves rolled up her arms. "Br'orle ja'tor mende iritsiar gar-yagar."

Ja'tor. Thanis blinked. It wasn't as though he hadn't known his sister had been Joined. It had been all his father had talked about for weeks. But he hadn't so much as spoken to Kareel since her Joining. There hadn't seemed to be a reason. She hadn't contacted him before or after... had barely spoken to him at all, really, since she'd moved out of the house. And now she was here. On his ship. In his department. "Damubi. Ureiviz gar da. Zhial. Ashiera'da. Suira hakekar'sko da. Aldi'zeagai rozik jagar'kojuzken besarz."

"Suira hakekar'sko da, anaya'gaima," Kareel repeated softly. It was strange, how much the Joining had changed her, and yet how familiar it was. Thanis had grown, so much, since she'd last seen him. Busy with her Initiate studies, and then under the strict tutelage of the Symbiosis Commission, Kareel hadn't the time. Now, time stretched before her, waiting to be grabbed. She lifted herself up beside him, swinging her feet against the cargo box, and held out a small plastic container with several Kadin Karo crabs, baked and fried with cheese. "Sko da'bogoetar'xi." She grinned and set the box in his lap. "Jetek, anaya'gaima. Ja'tor i'zhial mende iritsiar da. Aldi'dar ja'tor yagar."

"Sko da'oizitekataskaatzviz bogoetar." Thanis looked between his older sister and the box of crabs suspiciously, but in the end his stomach won his internal debate. "Kinazpozi'deku spo duore zuzekar'xi," he asked, crunching down on the first of the fried crabs.

"Sko gar-zikano'xek. Sieya ja'tor da. Darezeki Peers zuzekar da. I'nora ja'tor tazredar. Ezeki'rex Peers da ja'tor segu'zheibehabi'kratoar. Aldi'shee Peers ja'tor haritear gar-yagar," Kareel said, reverent of the peculiar, appreciating the Weird. She snatched up a crab with Thanis and munched happily alongside him.

"Dadu gar nahizar'xi," Thanis asked around a mouthful. It wasn't that it wasn't true. The Chief really didn't seem to have a firm grasp on the niceties of polite society - either that or she didn't care and pretended she didn't get them. She was to the point. That was good in their line of work. And anyway... "A kinazpozi'deku tezerar'duore, ez'xi."

Kareel laughed outright, more lyrical a sound than it had been long ago, when Thanis knew her and she'd been sharp pitches and razor point angles. "Gar detiko'nahizar. Suira ja'tor gar adiar. Siorxela'viz sko xek't'xek da," she asked, raising her hands upward and out before resting them on her knees, "linayagar ja'tor zieyeiar'xi. Mende detiko'gailuararaistekolenisil."

He gaped at her.

She tilted her head, observing him in turn as she realized he wasn't talking. "Ka'xi."

Slowly, he shook his head. "Skozumetoko ez'nazhesegu'zhei da. Sko darlall'zhekiez'nazhezhei, daz gar ez'peritar."

"Ez'segu'zhei ez'nazhe da. Ezeki ja'tor zhan vizar. Tanuskoju Gan zhian nikuz Kareel-koj dezirada'reshatar. T'roa Kareel-koj Kareel-tor tsalalurai." She pondered over it for a while, but in the end that was the best and simplest way she could think to describe it. She smiled reassuringly. "Aldi'lashi gar aldi'zeagai ez'nazhe ja'tor da."

"Ja ez'eznazhe," he said, watching the strangely kind smile on his sister's lips. She'd never smiled at him before, in his memory. Smiled, sure, but never at him. "Aldi'razt gaima'seganayazhitezken. Daz ez'garanaya mende da. Aldi'dar mende ja'hioto segu'da. Kazaren i'norazhian'nikuz ez'kratoar. I'nora't'tadalizo sko adoar'xi."

"Zhei. Duore Ja'tor adiar. Sko ja'tor nahizar. Viz zuzitsei skouz mende. Kinazpozi'deku Peers sko kojistriar'xi. Lina'deku ka'xi." She lifted out another crab. There was so much time. For everything. For awkwardness. For resentment. For forgiveness, she hoped. Youth had a way of making one insensitive, even callous. Now, patience came easy. New. It was still an adjustment, even for her. To have so much time, and still know herself in it all. She leaned back on her hand, regarding him calmly.

"Riyu ni a ez'kojistriar zue'da. Aldi'duore ja linatar'egunigazezpozina a menairar. Jagar'koju reziz'ogazasuse tsalaleriar q'nakastachizoa. Zpyr'deku zhazu'suiraxoarenjizhenvis a da," Thanis rambled on, accepting her statement of understanding as truth without question. There was a lot they needed to learn about each other, in this new place, with the changes they'd both been through, but now that they had cleared the air on that, they could go about actually doing so. He took another healthy crunch of the crab. "Sko-kranoar ni a behar'xi."

Kareel listened to his description in amusement, leaning forward to peer at him fully. Her thoughts weren't easily visible this time around, where before she might have appeared bored and impatient, she now had a genuine interest. "Seiya sko da'xi." She stood along with him, stretching her arms. "Rian sko chieiar, anaya'gaima."

"Ja seiya da, zhei," Thanis nodded, folding the crab box closed and tucking it under his arm. "Ja sko seiya'zheki ni rik'zuzekar. Aima okiya'xale."

Kareel nudged him playfully as they walked out of the cargobay, before stretching and moving her fingers and folding them behind her back, serenely following along while he described the ship and the people they came across.

When they reached Main Engineering, he guided her past the core and to the open door of the Chief Engineer's office. Lilou was just shuffling some PADDs together, looking distracted. "Why are you still awake?" she asked, looking at Rothgra perplexedly.

"I was sorting through the new shipment of bolts, sir." Thanis lifted his chin, stepping to the side. "I thought you might like to meet my sister, Kareel Gan. She's transferring to the department."

Lilou scowled, setting her PADDs down with a thump. "Another transfer? Did they know that Ameen was leaving us?" She looked at the Trill behind Thanis. The woman was older than her. Taller. Trill. Well, obviously, Thanis had said she was his sister. But... "Gan?" she inquired.

"That's me," the redhead said with her apparently usual subdued cheer. "Peace. I'm Kareel-tor Gan. And you're Lilou Peers."

Lilou waved towards a chair covered in PADDs. "Sit down. There's probably a notice somewhere in this mess. I don't suppose you happen to have your transfer orders on you." She looked at Thanis, "Go sleep. Now. That's an order, crewman."

"Sir, yes, sir!" He patted Kareel on the shoulder, "See you later."

"Seeya." Kareel tossed a wave at the door as Thanis left, before she patted her jacket and reached into the interior pocket. Ah. Isolinear rod. She held it out promptly and moved to the chair, picking up the piles of PADDs and stacking them on her lap, crossing her legs. She absorbed the energy of the room and the woman in it with quiet intentness.

"Good, yes," Lilou plucked the rod from Kareel's hand and inserted it into the console on the desk and scanned the information there. Bother. She didn't want to sit here and read. "Look, just tell me - where are you coming from, what's your training, and how you're useful. Then I can give you something to do." She paused, remembering standards. "Well, I can give you something to do tomorrow, anyway. You're supposed to have time to settle into the ship beforehand." Waste of time, in her opinion, but some people liked to nest for some reason.

Great. Nothing like a well-earned reputation. Kareel was happily oblivious, at least to the outside world. "Yes. You're really great, you know that?" she murmured to herself. Fantastic. She held up her hand and went down the list as concisely as possible. "Alright. Leran Manev Institute of Engineering. Warp propulsion. Fusion reaction propulsion. Mechanical engineering. Worked on starships in spacedock. Served on ART Yiran. Starfleet. Starship propulsion, mech. engineering. Leave of absence, Joined. Returned SFEAC. Finished Nova-training. Transferred here."

Lilou looked at her strangely after the compliment, but the information was more interesting than the crewman's reactions to her. "So you've specialties in the Nova-class specifically?"

"Yes. Warp systems. Propulsion systems." She dropped her head to the side in a shrug. "Different ships. Same concepts, different executions."

"What class was the Yiran?" Lilou asked intently.

"Kadez-class, not much bigger than this. Personnel transport ship," Kareel supplied.

"Good. So you're used to close quarters. We could use someone with warp core specialty around. All right. You're with Willis tomorrow Beta shift. He'll be resetting the EPS mains and re-regulating the warp plasma distribution systems, then reinforcing the plasma injectors. When you're finished there, come back to me. Oh." She pointed to the board against the wall, "This is the Fix-It board. You find yourself with nothing to do, you come here, you look, you let me or Hunter, the AC, know, and then you get to it. There's only six of us and we don't have time to dilly-dally about keeping this girl afloat. What else." Lilou squinted at the ceiling. "There's press on from the Federation News Network. There shouldn't be any reason for them to talk to us, but you can if you want. Just don't go telling them stuff about the specific schematics or anything. This is a special rig and we don't want the whole universe knowing her secrets. Did you get a mission outline? Do you need one?"

"Understood." She filed away tomorrow's work in her Work Vault and stretched her fingers. "Hmmmm. Rojar. Moons. Resource deposits. Survey. Speed." Kareel rattled it off, dropping her head to the other side now.

"Right. Good." Lilou crossed her arms, "Any questions for me?"

"Do you like zetkol?" Kareel asked after a few moments.

Lilou stared at her. "What?"

"Zetkol. It's like a kind of fruit juice. I brought my press with me. I'll bring you some tomorrow, if you want."

The chief engineer studied her for another few quizzical seconds. It was entirely in her mind to refuse outright, simply because - why would this stranger randomly offer her juice? But fresh fruit - it had been ingrained in Lilou - was never to be overlooked. "Very well. Thank you. Any Engineering related questions. Are you familiar with the Galileo's schematics. Do you require assistance finding your way around the ship."

"Ah, no. I'm good there. Studied up on Galileo specifically on the way. Similar to most Novas. Eight decks," Kareel grinned. Much better than a Galaxy-class.

"A few alterations, but you'll see those up close and personal tomorrow." Lilou stacked her PADDs together again, tucking a long roll of transparent schematics under her arm and nodded towards the door. "I'll walk you out."

"And out we go," Kareel agreed warmly, allowing herself to be guided away out the door.

OFF:

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Kareel Gan
Engineer, SCE
USS Galileo
(PNPC Liyar)

Crewman Apprentice Thanis Rothgra
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
(NPC played by Lilou Peers)

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