Trill of Yellow and Teal (Part 2)

Posted on 21 Mar 2013 @ 8:18pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Petty Officer 3rd Class Kareel Gan

1,401 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo Deck 6 - Industrial Replicators
Timeline: MD3 1400

[Continued]

"Okay!" Kareel headed out once the lift stopped and led them down to the cargobay where the repairs deck was, the source of the only industrial replicator system on the Galileo and looked down at her PADD to her newly assigned security codes. She knelt down over the system and input them. And they worked. Good. At least someone was on the ball around here. She pulled up a schematic of the probe and opened up the programming system, beginning to input value types. Industrial replicators were a little tricky, after each replication, the system buffer was routinely purged to make way for the heavier loads, so the patterns had to be re-entered manually. "So, assistant chief science officer. You like your work?" she asked humming quietly under her breath.

"It's my life," Kiri couldn't really think of living it as anything else. For better or worse it was who she was, more than anything else she had at hand. Watching the probe starting to come together she didn't want to think about it too much, "Do you like yours?"

"It's got its perks," the other Trill said, standing to open out the main buffering center. "Help me with this?" she ducked under and picked up one end of the heavy probe that had just been reconstituted.

Kiri did her best but lifting the probe was right at the edge of her limits, Scanner probes were no problem, class one probes though had rather more mass to them. They weighed only a little bit less than a person.

And Gan was no stellar demonstration of strength, either, but they got it out of the buffer and clunked it down on the floor. "Here, get one of those anti-grav carts, how many of these do you need?" the engineer asked.

"Six for now," Kiri looked around for one of the carts, "They'll need to be transported down to the store room in the prow." Finding one she activated it and it started to drift behind her.

Gan dropped her end into the antigrav cart. Much easier. She pushed her end along as it floated in front of them until it was clear of the buffer and then returned to the side console, entering another sequence of code. "No prob. So what are these probes looking for anyway?"

"Anything that is out there," Kiri answered with a tiny smile, "These ones will be held in reserve so if anything happens or something interesting is discovered we can send more.

"So, you excited?" Gan asked with a grin.

"I suppose so," Given what was going on in her life right now and how hard she was finding her social life it wasn't the primary thing on her mind.

Another probe appeared. Gan stood up and began lifting it all over again into the antigrav cart. "New worlds. New species. Life. Rocks. Storms." She breathed in contentedly.

"Yes," Kiri nodded, "I want to make sure we don't miss anything." Lifted her end of the probe Kiri did her best to help, exercising with Cyrus had left her muscles rather weak.

"With you in charge, I doubt we will," Gan smiled and moved the next one out into the open. "We can just run a transporter beam over all of those once we get them materialized, where are they going?" she asked as she began yet another sequence.

"Yes, they are going to the forward probe storage bay," It was hardly big enough to stand up in and crammed with probes. Luckily there was no need to haul them across the ship.

Where? Gan asked herself. Did they even have a probe storage bay? She shrugged and kicked out the next set. Cho was the assistant chief, Gan supposed. She'd follow the girl's lead. "Alright, last set."

"Okay," Kiri nodded and seemed even a little excited, "I'll contact the transporter chief and check the sensors," Walking to one of the control panels.

Gan clapped her hands together and grinned after the final probe materialized. "All done." She began shutting down the matrix and clearing the pattern buffers to prevent system clogs.

"We can transport in a few moments, after the maintenance cycle is complete," Kiri looked at the probes before the other woman, "Was there someone you were going to meet?"

"Yep, Thanis Rothgra. Little younger than you. You know him?" Kareel asked.

"No, what does he do?" Kiri wasn't aware of anyone else joining the ship but she had been very busy lately.

"He's been here for ages. He's a crewman apprentice, an engineer, like me."

"Oh, I didn't know," Kiri had been trying to remember the name of every crew member to help deal with her new fears. Still there were some that she hadn't been able to make stick yet.

Hm. Kareel nodded idly to herself. "Maintenance complete!" she declared a few minutes later and hit the power down sequence before stepping off of the control platform and swaying on the heels of her feet in a silent dance, waiting on Kiri to begin the transport sequence.

With a final check Kiri sent the coordinates to the Transporter Chief and the probes vanished in a shimmer of blue light. That task done and Kiri still having a little more than an hour left before she shift she wasn't sure what to do. Turning to Gan she watch her dance for a moment, "What are you going to do now?"

Kareel kicked one of her legs forward slightly and stepped up to follow its motion, ending up right next to Cho. "Well, I've got to go get my crabs. For Thanis. I can bring you back some too, if you like. Authentic," Kareel made sure to clarify as though it were a universal necessity, "not replicated. I've got to report to Peers afterward, though, so, it might be a while."

"What do you do with them?" The obvious answer was eating but for all she knew they might be pets.

"Well, you could dress it up and give it a name, but most people prefer eating them," Kareel answered smartly.

"Oh, how are they normally cooked?" Kiri smiled slightly at the idea of a crab in a dress.

"Battered," Kareel said. "Wrapped. Pastried." She paused. "If that's a word. Fried with cheese. They're excellent. If you like crab, that is."

Cheese was something Kiri rarely used when cooking but she had heard of it for battered crabs before, it was something North American? Either way, it was almost like an invitation, "Thank you, how are you storing them? Can it wait until tomorrow to cook?"

"Stasis, for now. My old unit's tailored to Trill food. A taste of home." Kareel sighed happily. Food was great. "I'm sure it could wait," she answered with a small shrug. She couldn't see why anyone would. Kadin Karo were made to be devoured.

If they would keep then there wasn't a rush to use them right away, it seemed a good chance to learn to cook something new though. Thinking for a moment Kiri smiled, "I would like some, I just don't know when I will have a chance to cook them."

Kareel blinked. "Oh, they're already cooked, but I can show you how to make them if you like. The ingredients will have to be replicated, but I'm sure we can come up with something. Do you cook?"

"Oh," She must have misunderstood, "Yes I do, when I have time." Frying battered crab couldn't be that different from battered prawns right? As long as there was a recipe to follow Kiri could cook most things reasonably well first time.

"Excellent. I'll teach you to make them, sometime."

"I'd like that," Kiri looked to a wall panel, "I shouldn't keep you too long though."

"Mmhm. I ought to get down to see Thanis. I'll wrangle up some Kadin for you later. Thanks for the walkabout!" Gan said cheerfully, pressing her hands together and backing away with a wave over her shoulder.

Not really sure if it was some sort of goodbye Kiri half followed suit, "Thank you for your help." Smiling slightly she followed with her eyes as the other Trill left.

[OFF]

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

PO3 Kareel Gan
Engineering Officer, SCE
USS Galileo

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