A Different Way of Doing Things

Posted on 20 Oct 2014 @ 6:19am by Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia Ph.D. & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen

3,069 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7 - Calisto's Bar
Timeline: MD -15. Time: 20.00 hours

[ON]

It occurred to Paul that travelling is never a particularly exciting time for a diplomat. In the interim between missions it's unclear whom the Galileo may contact and so Paul found himself heading down to the Callisto Bar for the third time in as many days. This was a somewhat novel occurrence for him since he didn't drink.

Across the bar, Paul noticed a striking young, blonde, human woman in science teal. It was shocking to him that even after these weeks and on such a small ship there were still officers he hadn't met.

Paul signaled the bartender "Do you have any cream soda, by any chance? I know that's kind of a weird request." The bartender nodded in the affirmative and went to work on the far wall.

Paul nodded and smiled to the young woman. "So, how are you?"

Looking up to follow the direction of the voice, she smiled slightly. She really wasn't comfortable in here. A bar, that is. But with everything that has happened since her arrival to the ship she had made the agreement with herself to make more attempts to meet other people. And a bar seems a good place for that. "Me?" she asked as she looked around for other the man could have spoken to. When it was clear he was talking to her she said. "I'm fine, you?" returning the question.

"Bored." Paul replied. "A little beyond bored, actually. I'm not used to all this downtime between my work. When you're on a planet or a station there's kinda always something to do. In my experience anyway." Paul shook his head to himself and offered belatedly. I'm Paul by the way."

"I know exactly what you mean." she said. "I'm Jaana" She could hear the screeching of her sisters wheelchair and let out a sigh. She loved her sister, but this attempt of hers was to stop hiding behind her sister and meet people by herself.

"Jaana!" called out Tuula, pleasantly surprised to see her sister -- or any pleasant face, given how the last couple weeks on board had gone -- at the bar. She didn't know Jaana to be a social butterfly, and it always took a bit of cajoling to get her to do anything fun. It would be good for Jaana to get out and actually meet new people for once. "What a pleasant surprise! Mind if I join you?"

"Of course not."Jaana said to her sister. "This is Paul, we just met. Paul, this is my sister Tuula"

"Good evening, Tuula. So," Paul smiled broadly. "So, there's, uhh, there's two of you. What do you two do around the ship?"

Pointing to the blue of her uniform she said "Science, watching space mostly."

Paul laughed. "Watching more intently than the rest of us? What does that mean? Cartography?

"I watch star, nebula and planet for a living." Jaana replied before taking a sip of her wine.

"And I'm a doctor," said Tuula, her eyes wandering down to her right arm for a split second. She had the tattoo to prove it.

"And you?" the blond twin said.

"I guess, officially, I'm a diplomat actually. Unfortunately, that's why there's kind of nothing for me to do right now."

"Oh no, does that mean your one of those persons that never shuts up?" Jaana asked with a grin.

"Sometimes." Paul smirked. "Sometimes it means I'm one of those people that never stops listening."

Tuula nodded along. "Well, in that case, I'm sure you've heard the rumours floating around the ship. I'm actually not that scary in person"

"Rumors? No, I actually hadn't. Not about you specifically." Paul scanned the young woman's striking and strikingly dark fashion style. Suddenly the thought occurred to him. "Wait, were you with that dustup involving the Commodore a couple weeks ago? I was wondering who that was. The official report never actually mentioned a name."

"I see news travels fast," said Tuula in a dismissive tone, rolling her eyes.

"Well, yes and no, really. I mean, the good news is I hadn't heard anything about you, specifically."

Jaana chuckled. "I thought you said you were a good listener?"

Paul let out a hearty and strong laugh at that. "Only when I have to be."

"Are you sure you listen to the correct sources"

"Sources? God, I wish I had sources. My source is the daily ship blotter. I really barely know anyone on board, even now."

"Same for me. Even though I've been here for almost 3 weeks now"

"I wish that were the case for me." Tuula shook her head. "Everyone seems to know me. I'm already infamous on this ship."

"That's your own fault" Jaana said looking in her sister's direction.

"Well, you have a blank slate with me at least." Paul offered. He turned to Jaana. "Both of you. For what it's worth that is."

"See, Paul, this is the thanks I get for saving someone's life."

"Are you talking about the Crewman from the report? Again, the report was light on details but I think now I've got a sense of most of the players." Paul patted his hand on the bar. "God, what was her name? She works on my office, too."

"Please, stop. Haven't we talked about it enough by now." Jaana put her hand through her hair. She never wore it loose and kept running her hand through it.

"Sorry, sorry." Paul said in a quick attempt at diffusion. "It's my fault. I shouldn't be asking."

"No, you can't do anything about it. My sister just seems to start about it over and over again"

Paul raised his one eyebrow suggestively at Jaana. "You have to admit, it's an interesting story. I'm ashamed to say, I was snooping around a whole bunch of people in medical trying to find out what the hell happened

Tuula turned away for a moment and locked eyes with the bartender, getting her attention. "A glass of red wine, please!"

Jaana shook her head, changing her empty glass of wine for that of her sisters.

"So, how is it you two come to serve on the same ship?" Paul asked. "Aren't there Federation regulations against that?"

"Fortunately not," said Tuula. "Or maybe there are, but you know how well Starfleet Operations is run."

Jaana chuckled. "She didn't even know I was coming on board here. Even though we arrived on the same day."

"Is that true? Were you in the academy together?" Paul asked.

"No, I graduated a year before she even joined the academy." Jaana said. "I've been working in San Francisco for years, before deciding to choose a starship, instead of the academy"

"Oh!" Paul remarked enthusiastically. "Were you a Professor?"

She laugphed. Her a professor. "No, just a teachers assistant."

Tuula took a sip of wine and smiled. Paul and Jaana seemed to be hitting it off, and she couldn't be happier. Usually Jaana had to be practically dragged out to meet new people. But she had to be careful, the last thing she wanted to do was to be a third wheel and impede Jaana's social progress.

"So, how about you Tuula? You're serving with your sister. This is a good thing?" Paul trailed off in a leading manner. "A bad thing?" Paul chuckled. "If I was in this close a quarter with my sisters I might murder them."

"Oh, I've had that idea myself only weeks ago"

Tuula laughed and ignored Jaana's comment. "It's wonderful! It's just like when we were best friends growing up back home. Though I don't think she appreciated it when I took Gilbert home."

"It's a tribble. Are you really surprised I don't like that"

Tuula shook her head. "Awww, how can someone not like a tribble? Seriously, they're so cute!"

Jaana raised an eyebrow at her sister. "After what they caused on the last mission,..."

"That's not Gilbert's fault!" shot back Tuula. Yes, tribbles breed. But she always felt that blaming tribbles for breeding is like blaming the wind for blowing, or the fish for swimming. "And he might have saved the ship!"

"Oh, my God." Paul huffed with an exasperated sigh. "Those tribbles." Paul arched his eyebrow incredulously. "You don't still have it do you?"

"Yes, she does. She keeps it as a pet. Apparently he is adorable."

Tuula smiled just thinking of her pet. Gilbert was just so cute. "He's probably running in his exercise wheel right now."

Paul leaned in. "How the hell do you keep it from reproducing?"

"We found out that a chemical in a hair growth supplement that I applied to Gilbert so he could grow back some singed fur has a side effect of stopping tribbles from breeding," explained Tuula. "We were able to isolate the chemical and that helped us control the tribble population."

"Really?" Paul asked, surprised. "That's a pretty easy fix."

"Until you need to apply it. You can hardly rub ointment on every tribble." Jaana said dryly. The wine was starting to effect her.

"Oh, he needs it every day?"

"Yes, the treatment is only temporary," explained Tuula. "I make sure to give him his birth control every morning. Because we all know what happens when people forget to take care of their tribbles."

"Jesus, what a pain in the ass." Paul remarked with a wide smile. "We were so lucky to get out of that whole thing as easily as we did."

"Like I said before, Let's BBQ him. Only let me handle the fire this time." Jaana said.

"No!" exclaimed Tuula. "That's horrible! You're not harming one hair on Gilbert's... body?" Paul laughed at the suspicious pause.

"He doesn't have any hair." Jaana said to her sister. Turning to Paul she explained. "When we were on provisions, she burned down our room, trying to heat it up."

"Are you two in the same room?" Paul asked the sisters.

"Yes, but I could have done worse."

"Still in all, Tuula." Paul chortled. "I would keep an eye on your sister around Gilbert"

Jaana, already finished her second glass of wine, ordered a new one.

"Actually, bring the bottle," called out Tuula. She wasn't on duty or on call again until the morning.

"That's a good idea." Paul turned to the bartender. "Another one of these, please." Paul gestured to his glass. "So where are you two from?"

"What, you can't tell by our accents?" teased Tuula.

Paul smirked in embarrassment at his ignorance and scrunched his face in thought. "Earth? Somewhere?" Paul trailed off slightly. "Maybe?" Paul said more silently still. "No?"

"Finland. We were born in the city of Tampere, seven minutes apart," explained Tuula.

"Aha!" Paul exclaimed. "That makes sense, The names Tuula and Jaana almost sounded, like, Bajoran to me. For all I know about other cultures, I never learned much about earth peoples."

"She was older, of course" Jaana said.

"Well, obviously" Paul agreed in mock superciliousness .

"I'm the more mature one," said Tuula before taking a long sip from her wine glass.

"Well, obviously." Paul jokingly agreed again. While Jaana simply shook her head. "How long have you been out of the academy, Tuula?" Paul asked.

"A year. I had been on Starbase 173 since then. Until about three weeks ago, that is, when I wound up here."

"You did your medical work at the academy too?"

"I got my M.D. from Starfleet Medical Academy and did some hands on training, and just finished my first year of residency."

"Are you still in residency now?"

"Yeah... training never ends in this business," replied Tuula before taking a long draw from her glass.

"God, I know what you mean."

"And even if it does, what are you gonna do then?" Jaana took a sip from her wine.

"Same thing I always do," replied Tuula. "Keep healing the sick, taking care of the wounded, and doing surgeries."

Jaana quickly chuckled. "I just keep studying."

"I mean, if you're an academic it's just kinda studying forever, isn't it? I feel like I've been in school my whole life." Paul sighed considering for the moment his life decisions.

"Exactly. Are you still studying?"

"I don't think I ever get to stop." Paul replied wistfully.

"What do you study?" Jaana asked.

"Umm, well my background is in alien administration and economics. My specialty is Ferengi-Dominion relations. Or at least that was the topic of my dissertation. Some of my more recent work has been on the Romulans as well."

"That's a interesting topic."

"So, I guess you know more about Tulaberries than anyone in the quadrant then," said Tuula. She liked Tulaberry wine, however it was hard to get this side of the Bajoran wormhole.

Paul laughed heartily. "Sort of. "Most contact between Ferengi and the Dominion are on gray and black markets. So, it's a lot of weapons, building materials, starships, things like that."

"Why am I not suprised on that." Jaana said.

"That's not even the half of it. There's this whole secret fleet of Dominion destroyers that the Ferengi bought right after the war. We can't prove they have them but they have them. If we ever go to war with the Ferengi you're going to be staring down a bunch of Dominion ships next to the Marauders."

"I'm currently working on my dissertation. But in a whole other field off-course

"Oh, fantastic. What in?" Paul asked.

"The history in the research of prime five Federation planets into the heliopause" Jaana answered with proud.

"Of course. Heliopause. That's when..." Paul hesitated before giving up altogether. "Yeah, I have no idea what that is."

"It's the boundary of a solar system where the solar winds are stopped by the interstellar medium." she answered with a chuckle. He was cute. "Did you know that in the first 20 years of the 21st century they didn't even know if earth's solar system even had a heliopause."

"I certainly can because it's the 24th century and I've still never heard of it." Paul chuckled.

"Earth was very late with proving the existence of the pause" she continued.

"That's incredibly interesting." Paul said with a smile.

"I think so too," she said with a smile,

Paul turned to the young doctor. "So, Tuula are you a general surgeon or do you have a specialty?"

"Just general surgery. Though I am fascinated with alien anatomy." Tuula took the chance to share some fun facts. "Have you ever read about the Bolian digestive system?"

Paul smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Not as often as I'd like." He laughed. "No, unfortunately I wouldn't even know what I was reading. Is there something specific to that species? What's interesting about them?"

"It's incredibly reslilient." Tuula was fascinated by and easily excited about medical oddities, and there were few humanoid anatomies odder than those of the Bolians. "They have multiple stomachs, and how they use bacteria in their stomach to break down foods that we can't possibly eat is quite fascinating."

"That explains why they are always eating." Jaana added.

"That, and their taste buds have ten times as many nerve connections as ours," she explained, matter-of-factly. "For a Bolian, eating must be a very sensual experience."

Paul laughed. "So are you pure practice, Tuula or do you plan to do research as well?"

"I'd like to maybe do some research once I finish my residency. But healing the sick is what attracted me to this business." She pressed a finger to her chin. "Though, I might like to teach sometime down the road."

"Teaching's always something I've kept in the back of my mind too."

"What are you gonna teach then?" Jaana asked. "How to cut open people?"

"I'd love to teach that!" exclaimed Tuula in response to Jaana's comment. "Teaching new doctors their way around a laser scalpel would be amazing, don't you think?"

"Will your students also be with their whole arms in someones guts?"

"If that's what it takes, then yes!"

Jaana shook her head and took another sip from her glass.

"You just don't understand." Tuula shook her head at her sister. "I think you're just embarrassed because you have a queasy stomach."

"Well, I'm just glad I fainted when I did. Or I would be even more traumatised." Jaana said.

"When was this?" Paul chimed in.

"When I was working on Siren, right before the commodore came in and went nuts on me." After two and a half weeks, Tuula was starting to get tired of retelling the story.

"Wonder why?" Jaana intejected.

"Because apparently I'm the only person on this ship who has heard of surgery." Tuula said.

"They invented vascular regenerators years ago." She replied while rubbing her head, in the hope the headache she just got would go away.

"I don't understand." Paul swirled his remaining soda in his left hand. "Do vascular regenerators make surgery unnecessary?"

"Vascular regenerators don't fix everything," explained Tuula for what felt like the hundredth time. "Sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty in this business."

Signs of recognition crossed Paul's face. "I see. So, this is what all the consternation is about."

"Yes, but can we change the topic now. We weren't suppose to talk about this anymore." Jaana replied.

Paul put his hands up. "Sorry, sorry. My fault." He stood up from the bar. "And actually, with that, I should probably get going before any of us get into any more trouble." Paul smiled. "Ladies, it has been a rare and enormous pleasure. Good conversation can be hard to find around here."

As Paul walked away, Tuula turned to Jaana. "He's cute," she said. Suddenly, she gasped, realizing her mistake. "Oh no, are you two... I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't ruin your date."

"I don't date, remember?" she said to her sister.

"Awwww." Tuula frowned. She was going to have to find some way to bring Jaana out of her shell, whether she liked it or not. Sometimes, she felt like Jaana didn't even know what she was missing. "Well, that's going to have to change. We're going to have to find you a quality man; someone way better than that geeky doofus with the glasses."

[OFF]

Lieutenant (J.G.) Wakeham Paul Alasia, PhD
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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