I, Roommate

Posted on 19 May 2014 @ 7:08pm by Cadet Sophomore Grade Alenis Taban & Nesh Saalm
Edited on on 19 May 2014 @ 7:27pm

1,919 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: 04-2522 JO, Quarters
Timeline: 1800 hours, MD2

ON:

After his various meetings an all the general check-in, Taban was finally ready to head to his quarters: 04-2522 JO was his assigned berth. Supposedly there was another Cadet, Saalm by name, aboard and he'd be sharing with them. Finally reaching the door after a short lift in the turbolift he pressed the call button and took a half-step back.

A sweet, pop-like melody wafted through the walls of the room, potentially giving the unsuspecting Cardassian hybrid a hint as to who he would end up stuck with for the duration of his assignment. Of course, it didn't take long for the door to room number 04-2522 to slide open, revealing the young, green-skinned Orion on the other side. She leaned against the door, dressed in a black spaghetti strap and tribble-print pants, and a smile on her face. "Hello there. Oooh, I haven't seen you around at all. Are you new?"

The young man's eyes remained painfully locked at eye-level as soon as he saw what Nesh was wearing - and he was obviously entirely unsure where else to look. An awkward silence ensued as the hybrid tried to work himself up to speaking. "Oh... errr..." was his eloquent opening gambit "Yes... I'm T...T...Taban. I...I'm your new roommate. Just come aboard for f...f...field study." He remained stood like a statue with an incredibly unflinching gaze.

If Nesh noticed Taban's nervousness, she seemed to completely ignore it. "Taban? Oh, I hadn't even noticed Dasha had left." The young Orion didn't have much of a chance to speak with her former roommate, and had only been vaguely aware of her existence. "Come on in! We can get to know each other more once you settle a bit." She took a step back, gesturing for the other to enter, continuing on into the room. "Just let me herd Pip and Pup over to my side. I hope you're not allergic to tribbles."

Stooping through the door the larger Cadet immediately could tell he wouldn't have much of a say on decoration - though that was probably for the best given that his 'home' was a rusty escape pod in the backside of a Xepolite freighter. "Err... not that I know." he mumbled as he looked around. "We had an infestation on the 'Karra a few years' back and I seemed alright." Noticing the tribbles as the girl picked them up "Which is which?"

To anyone who'd spent any time on a freighter the idea of having tribbles as pets just seemed like an eminently silly idea, but then again as long as you kept them away from food they were probably no more troublesome than most other pets. He'd once seen a Lissepian freighter captain with a Tarkalean condor as a pet, which was most impressive, but - as Berant had been quick to point out - very impractical given the amount of exercise it needed and the very limited space on the Groumal-class. The Trill was only just explaining to Taban that with such birds this lack of exxercise tended to cause issues with behaviour problems. At that moment the condor had, for no apparent reason, started pecking the Lissepian's eyes out. Chuckling to himself as he remembered the experience and chaos which had ensued in the bar.

Nesh scooped up the pair of tribbles that were rolling about on the floor, turning to introduce them to her much taller roommate. "This one's Pip." She held the pink one up, then the green one. "And this one's Pup. They're pretty well-behaved so long as I keep them out of the replicator. I have them on the proper feeds too. I don't think we'll have to worry about an overload of tribbles any time soon."

The young Orion had been made fully aware of the fear of a tribble infestation aboard the ship. There were engineers and security types who nearly quivered at the sight of the small, brightly-colored creatures. Tribbles meant trouble, no matter where anyone was, and apparently they came with plenty of horror stories. There were multiple times where Nesh found herself having to reassure certain types that there was no harm done, and she was not only caring for them properly, but keeping a good eye on them too.

They were just a pair of tribbles. What could possibly go wrong?

"Oh. My name's Nesh by the way. I work as a scientist's mate when I'm not studying my bum off." She smiled. "What are they gonna have you do?"

"Operations - I'm here on field study from Beta Ursae Minor II." Replied Taban as he looked up from the tribbles, having been trying very hard to seem interested in and friendly towards them. "What about you?"

"Beta Ursae Minor II." Nesh let the name roll around in her head for a few, potentially excruciating, moments. "... Sounds familiar." She probably should have, if she was recognizing it as something she should have potentially at least been aware of. Maybe. "Oh I'm just here instead of at Academy. I'm lucky, the Commodore's my sister." She was extremely proud of this statement, and it showed in her shining grin. "Mostly general sciences though, until I can find myself a specialty."

Taban's eyes widened, first that she didn't know about the Academy Annexe - although that wasn't entirely uncommon given that it was a tiny facility compared to San Francisco, secondly at the mention that she was avoiding the Academy entirely, and thirdly - his eyes now almost popping out of his skull - at the name drop.

His first word, after a good fifteen seconds' delay, was the incredibly erudite "Er..."

This was followed up with the only slightly better "Wow... that.... that's quite something." Alenis had always been impressed by the number of command-level officers Berant seemed to know throughout the Alpha and Beta quadrants, but even then: they were passing (supposedly professional) relationships. "That's... that's amazing." He mumbled, not really sure how to respond further.

Nesh wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Taban couldn't have been that much older than she was, but age had never stopped anyone from not having something to talk about, not in her experience. He seemed almost painfully shy about something, but there were so many things that it could have been that it only left the young Orion just as painfully confused. Just as soon as she was confused, however, a fleeting thought waved her confusion aside in exchange for red-cheeked embarrassment. As soon as she had her tribbles in their terrarium, Nesh unsubtly reached for the nearest sweater, which was the same shade of pink as one of the fluffballs.

"... So..." In an attempt to recover herself, she flailed for another topic to talk about. Better to talk about something than be aware of any awkwardness. That didn't suit her Orion blood at all. "Uhm... where are you from? Before the field study and Starfleet, I mean."

"Bajor." He replied immediately. Very aware that the awkwardness had become palpable. "Grew up in a war-orphans centre from 4 'til 15. Then got a place on the Jian'Karra for four years. The old bucket is as close to a home as I've got." He paused, peering out of the porthole to see if the freighter was visible, before turning back to Nesh and asking. "What about you? Have you always lived with your sister?"

Nesh mouthed the planet name once, registering it in the back of her mind. If there was one thing she had made herself aware of, it was the political landscape amongst the other worlds. It wasn't something a 'scientist' had to know, but if she didn't keep up with current events, then what was the point? "That's cool, actually. I've never met anyone from Bajor before..." Truthfully, she had never met a Bajoran either. She heard there was one on the Galileo, but she was pretty sure they didn't look like a Cardassian.

She didn't get a chance to ask, however, as Taban proceeded to ask her questions. "Oh! Uhm... no. I was living on Rigel VII with everyone else in the family, until I learned Lirha had graduated Starfleet and was making her way up the ranks. I just... kinda decided I wanted to join her. I mean, the thought of being able to travel the stars and do some good is enough, but I wanna make Lirha proud like she makes me proud."

Taban was acutely aware of the personality clash which already seemed to be inherent between them and found it awkward to think of a way to respond to that. "I'm surprised there aren't more even on a ship this small." He muttered "Bajorans seem to be everywhere in the fleet now.I think the Emissary was inspirational to many, and Starfleet's Bajor's best hope of defending ourselves against the..." He paused a moment before saying the name which he reviled, before finally adding it with a low growl "Cardassians."

The only response Nesh seemed to give, after a long moment of silent processing, was a rapid-fire eye-blink, followed by a realization on some form of fact. She immediately lit up, shaking her head. "Oh no, I hear there's a Bajoran on board, I just haven't gotten a chance to meet her yet. She's the lounge singer down at the Callisto. You're just the first person I've met who's said he's from Bajor." Nesh chose to ignore the last statement entirely, less out of wanting to understand where Taban received his interesting history and more for her own safety. For someone who looked sort of like a Cardassian, he really disliked Cardassians, but who was Nesh to judge? "I think it's great that there are so many on the Galileo. We have all sorts, even just in science. Caitians and Aenar. I think there's an Andorian in Operations. Tons of folks all over."

Taban nodded. "Chief Keval... sorry, Graysan." He replied with a smile. "He was the first person aboard I met." He was about to continue and discourse on the wonders of a multicultural society when he snapped his fingers together and raised his palm to his ridged forehead "Damn it... I left my things in his quarters and he's on shift right now." He paused for a moment to think "He mentioned his roommate was a Petty Officer in Security. Do you know if there's any way of finding out who?"

Nesh perked up, listening intently to Taban's woes. If he was her new roommate, it would have made sense that she at least attempted to help. But, she felt a little silly pointing how she'd help out to him. "... Well uhm... if I couldn't get a hold of him... I would actually... ask the... uhm..." She fidgeted. "Doesn't the Quartermaster know who's in what room? I'd ask him, he's pretty nice."

Alenis' eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "So I keep hearing... I think." he mumbled uncomfortably. "Thanks anyway... I should probably go and try to find out. Otherwise I may not have any clothes to sleep in, or a uniform for duty tomorrow."

He turned around and made for the exit. "See you later," he paused, hardly believing he was using such a cliched phrase "roomie!"

OFF:

Cadet (SO) Alenis Taban
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

&

Cadet (FO) Nesh Saalm
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC Kita]

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