Circle

Posted on 04 May 2013 @ 6:36am by Naskisem
Edited on on 04 May 2013 @ 6:38am

2,011 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: CIV Naskisem's Quarters
Timeline: MD7 2130

ON:

Isolinear rod in hand, Liyar exited the turbolift onto Deck 2 and made his way to Naskisem's quarters. Neo's words were still ringing in his head. Pregnant. Shen. Of course, he supposed, it would have no practical effect on his life, but she was part of his family. New points. New connections. They were important. He blinked and shook his head. Neo might have been the most stable person in his immediate family, but he was still a Vulcan. He had shown up, challenged Liyar to a fight, accused him of - Liyar did not even know what - of nonsense. Utter nonsense. It was nonsense. He did not think that way, he had never thought that way, not ever. His feet fell heavier, storm-clouds. He looked down at his hand where the amber rod rested. One foot in front of the other / one foot back to counter it. Layers, wooden pieces. He would see what was in front of him, he would deal with it one small step at a time. He pressed the chime to Naskisem's door and waited until it opened.

Naskisem was sitting in her quarters at the kitchen table, reading an English/Vulcan vocabulary screen. She might as well; there was little else she could do. There was so much to do, but she was a guest. She had to be introduced; Liyar had told her not to speak to anyone about him, which would be impossible. She was here to help him. That was her answer. She was not allowed to say that, however, so she remained cooped up in here like an animal. When the chime sounded, she looked from the PADD. "Enter," she said easily.

Liyar gave a small, awkward nod and held up the isolinear rod. "I have brought you the comm frequencies for Lilou Peers. Captain Saalm has been notified of your desire to speak with her, and she will contact you at her convenience."

After a few seconds of hesitation, Naskisem frowned. "Thank you," she said, sitting straighter. "I would have preferred you to introduce me to your friends. I think it would be indicative of our friendship," she carefully explained. "That is, if you intend befriend me; I appreciate the gesture nonetheless."

"I am unable to comply with that request," Liyar answered her. He wasn't sure where she got the impression that he intended to do anything, but he decided not to contradict her. He did, after all, intend to repair the damage he'd caused. He wasn't sure what precisely that was, but - one step at a time. "The majority of my colleagues are scheduled on various SETs and ATs, which has made their schedules somewhat erratic," he said truthfully. He paused for a moment as a realization hit him. "With the exception of Kestra Orexil. I will take you to visit her, if you wish. I believe she would appreciate it. She is Galileo's former security and tactical officer. She was injured and remanded to stasis in the sickbay. She is recovering now." He leaned over Naskisem's computer terminal. "I will show you how to input the proper frequencies to communicate with Ensign Peers. This will work with most of the personnel on board. Each have two frequencies, private/work and public/open." He regarded her sideways, looking first to her, then to her PADD. It was the middle of the day. Surely Federation Standard could not be that interesting. "You are aware that you are free to leave your quarters?" He quirked an eyebrow. "It should be outlined in your datapacket. You do not need an escort. There should be a list of restricted areas, but for the most part, civilians serving in shipboard science positions are typically granted similar freedoms to crew personnel."

"You told me not to speak about you to anyone. One of my primary reasons for being here is to assist you," she replied. "If I were to explain to your shipmates why I am here, I would have to talk about you. To honour your wish, I have not left my quarters since my arrival." It made sense to her. She wondered whether Liyar remembered the threats he had made. Naskisem's face suddenly looked ponderous and she moved her head to one side. "By 'I am unable to grant that request,'" she said slowly, "did you mean you cannot befriend me, or did you mean you cannot introduce me to your... friends?"

"I cannot introduce you," Liyar clarified. He slid the datarod into the computer terminal and focused his gaze on the screen. "At least, not right now. You access //request, here," he showed her, "and then copy in these numbers." A list appeared at the top from where he had entered the datarod. He quickly typed in the numerical code and another screen popped up. "Then you are free to type your message. These consoles are embedded with a universal translator. You access //translate: standard-golic," he typed, "you can type your message in Modern Golic and it will send to Ensign Peers in Standard. My preference is that you do not tell others about me," he said quietly after a moment. "It is not common knowledge, and I do not desire it to be." As a Vulcan, he thought, surely she could understand.

Naskisem watched and absorbed Liyar's instructions. She did not need to be shown twice. "Then I will try my best to avoid the subject." She sighed, "But I will not be comfortable lying."

"I would not ask it of you," said Liyar. "I would only ask that you do not initiate a discussion about it or bring it up. As the diplomatic officer aboard, I must be regarded with some degree of respect and trust from my colleagues. If they were aware, that would be less likely. For the same reason that it appears my parents did not properly inform you," he noted. "Had you known, I doubt we would be here." Liyar straightened and watched as she went through the protocols with ease. "I apologize that you were put in an untenable situation."

"It is not necessary," she flicked her wrist to dismiss the apology. "Why do you think that I would not have come?"

"If you knew," Liyar said. "That I was riyeht." He folded his fingers together thoughtfully.

"I do not think that would have mattered. The hypothetical is irrelevant." She inclined her head. "Have you considered allowing my help any further?"

"I am a mathematical scientist," Liyar replied dryly. "Hypotheticals are always relevant." He squared his shoulders. "I have considered what I am willing and unwilling to accept. I am unwilling to have a pyllora. I am willing to have a friend. That is all I can say on the subject. Beyond that, I do not know."

Naskisem remained silent for a moment. Why was Liyar doing this? If he had considered her assistance with an open mind, he would have accepted, she thought. "You should reconsider," she said, "but if that is your wish then, for the moment, I will not persist."

Liyar blinked and nodded. "Thank you."

Naskisem returned to her translations on the PADD, but after a few moments realised that he was still there. "You are still here," she reminded him.

"That is so," Liyar noted, and retrieved the isolinear rod, placing it at the side of the computer. "The comm frequencies are all located there. I shall leave you to it." He bowed his head and turned to leave.

Naskisem looked up and watched Liyar make his way to the door. "Would you like to assist me with my translations? I find Standard rather difficult. You do not." With a hint of humour, she added, "It would seem that I could benefit from your assistance."

Liyar turned, swiveling on his heels. He slowly made his way back across the room. "My knowledge of Standard is somewhat subpar," he said, looking down at her translations. "But I will do my best." He leaned on his elbows casually across from her, on the other side of her desk. "What do you have there?" he asked, indicating her work.

She pushed the PADD across the table. "Syntax and sentence structure. Their use of verbs and conjugations are puzzling to me." Naskisem cleared her throat. "I have exceptional difficulty with the pronunciation of this particular adage. The logic of which eludes me," she paused, and switched to English. "How much caramel can a canny cann..." she stopped. "How much... caramel can a canny cara...." Naskisem stopped again. "How much... caramel... can a canny... cannonball cram... in a camel if... a canny canonball... can cram... caramel... in a camel?" She sighed.

Liyar blinked, a mildly puzzled look on his face. "I fail to comprehend the meaning of that sentence. However, it is pronounced cannonball. It is round-shot ammunition for an ancient weapon called a cannon." He took the PADD and tapped into its searching mechanism, bringing up a list of common FASL exercises. "These may benefit you more," he said, sliding it back across the desk.

"Why would a weapon be filled with caramel?" she asked, puzzled, as she took back the PADD.

"It is likely a metaphor or a joke," answered Liyar. "Federation Standard does not lend itself well to literal interpretations."

Naskisem frowned, then shook her head to dismiss q'omi oration. "My difficulty is with syntax and pronunciation. Could you help me to improve?"

Nodding, Liyar took the PADD again. "You may also wish to make an appointment with Crewman Athlen. He is a sociologist on board who deals specifically with interspecies relations. He assisted me when I first came aboard." For all of Athlen's quirks, he could be a professional when needed. Liyar was counting on that. He scrolled down to a specific page and held it out for her to see. "This is called the Interstellar Phonetic Alphabet. It applies to all known Federation languages, Federation Standard, and has transcriptional codes for languages such as Golic, Klingon and Romulan. Each letter has a specific mark above, below or to the side, which indicate the orientation of the letter. That is, the way which you pronounce the letter in a word. For instance, the word caramel would use one of these." He brought up the small æ. "The vowel sound is pronounced with the same emphasis as the beginning vowel sound in the Golic word parish." His own pronunciation of both words was off, but not butchered. He switched to the final sound. "The last part uses one of these." The screen displayed a ɛ marking. "It is pronounced the same as the word telvan. Each code has instructions which explain how it would be pronounced. You can use this to gain a better understanding of dictation."

"It is the sounds that I find hard to replicate", she said, looking over the PADD. She tried to do as Liyar said, but still had significant difficulty with j, certain combinations of dj with other letters, and some of the diphthongized vowels. She thought the language was ugly, convoluted, and its use of metaphors and similes was especially difficult. Nevertheless, she wanted to try, and she wanted to prove to Liyar that she could. He had already managed to find her undesirable in many ways, and she wanted to fix that as quickly as possible. Neo thought she could, or at least he hoped. She glanced up at him as he explained something to her, as he enunciated words that she could not, thinking that he was very different from the way he was before. She liked this Liyar. Maybe he too could like this Naskisem.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

Naskisem
Archaeologist, VSA
USS Galileo
(PNPC M. Panne)

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