Interview Candidate: Raine Ni-ya

Posted on 15 Apr 2018 @ 11:20am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Petty Officer 3rd Class Raine Ni-ya

2,925 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Rigel II - Avondale Production Facility Administrative Complex
Timeline: MD 101, 1131 hrs

[ON]

Raine hadn't taken a seat. Sitting down seemed a bit useless right now as she waited for her slot for the interview. She had arrived early. She hadn't had anything better to do after all. She wore, as always, her gloves with her uniform. These were grey, simply because if she wore black ones to match her uniform she felt like she was about to commit a crime or perhaps become a villain in a holonovel. Her eyes watched what was going around her with interest, her head tilted to the side as if she was listening. And in a way she was. She was listening to the silence. Because nowhere in Starfleet was quiet. But this room was for some reason extremely silent. If she listened hard, perhaps she'd hear her hearts beat. Not that she wished to test that theory. And that was despite the people who she could see through the glass working. Building. Creating. Repairing. Like cells working together, or micro-organisms.

So, perhaps due to a nervousness she did not like to admit or a sense of insecurity, she found herself watching things to distract herself. Watching the people, but hearing nothing. Even if all that meant was that time was going slowly. She had played this in her head already on her trip over. She had pretended to have the interview. She had tested her emotional reaction at rejection. She did not like it. She wanted this chance. Such a ship, with such a long tour? The amount of work she could do, the ways she could help? It would do so much for her. Not for her career, she didn't care about the rank. But more about what she could accomplish. There was a universe of discoveries out there.

And Raine wanted to do something worth while. Or else what was the point?

The door to the office corridor next to the waiting room swished open and out stepped a red-collared yeoman with several PADDs in his hand. It'd been a busy day so far in the administrative complex with many new officers and NCOs arriving for interviews, and by now, he'd quickly fallen into the routine of shuffling people in and out of his commander's office.

"Neee...ya? Raine?" he read off his PADD while trying to pronounce the alien woman's surname.

Raine looked at him before she nodded, moving forward. "Yes, I am," she said before she studied the yeoman with a critical eye that came as second nature for her. "I take it I should go inside?"

"No. You should follow me," he corrected to the crewman who he clearly thought was inferior to him in status. "Then you can go inside," he lightly scolded for no apparent reason except that he hadn't had his lunch break yet. With a come-hither motion of his hand, he indicated for the strange scaly woman to follow him towards the captain's office.

Raine watched him with amusement for a moment before she followed him, falling easily into step. "Maybe you should draw a map. For us slow crewmen," she said to him, but her facial expression was neutral, almost bored.

The yeoman turned and studied her now that she was close. Her appearance was quite striking and she was of a species he'd never seen before. While similar in stature to most humanoid women, her skin was extremely pale and covered in scales. She was also bald with no hair on her face, and her black lips and eyes contrasted sharply against the rest of her face. He suddenly found himself staring.

"Where are you from? I've never seen your species in the database," he half-asked half-blurted out as they approached the captain's office.

"Dereijan," she said before she tilted her head for a moment, watching him. "I'm Cereijan. We're not a part of the Federation, but on occasion some of us leave our Moon and come into Federation space. I'm not the first. Won't be the last. But as far as I know, I am the only one currently serving. Search us. You'll find we're as boring as any other species."

"Oh," he simple muttered while his brain went blank for a brief moment and they arrived at the office. "Well, this is us so...good luck, I guess. I mean, just make sure her animal doesn't eat you." With a motion to the door's keypad, he tapped the chime.

A few brief seconds passed before the reply came across the comm and the door swished open. "Come!" called out Captain Lirha Saalm who was currently between chews while snacking on Rigellian calamari and reviewing the woman's bio on her PADD. Off to the left side of the room, next to the floor plant, sat Snuffles the Targ who was perched on his haunches and stared at the newest arrival with small beady eyes.

Raine walked in, looking around the room before her eyes went to the Targ. She tilted her head to the side, watching the animal with fascination. It was a beautiful beast, strong. Evolution had done well then. She looked over at the woman sitting in the chair. She was an Orion, a beautiful specimen at that. Flawless skin, graceful. But she knew with that grace was strength as well. Orions were resilient. Smart. “Crewman Raine Ni-ya,” she introduced herself, moving to stand in front of the desk. She didn’t look at the targ, but her body was relaxed. Its Mistress was there and it would not attack her.

Looking up at the new arrival from her chair, Saalm quickly surveyed the crewman's appearance. Though she'd seen her profile picture and personnel information beforehand, it was always a fascinating experience to observe someone from an unfamiliar species for the first time. "At ease, crewman. Please sit," the captain replied with a motion to the unoccupied chair across from her desk. "This is Snuffles," she quickly added, her eyes flicking to the targ as she introduced him to her.

Raine looked at the targ and sat down, smiling, but kept her teeth hidden. "Beautiful," she said before she looked at Saalm, meeting her eyes. "Thank you for seeing me, ma'am."

It was always nice for Lirha to meet someone who shared her affinity for the Klingon boars. Most Humans she'd met seemed either indifferent or actively afraid of the creatures for some strange reason. "Yes, of course," she replied. "I was just looking through your personnel file before you arrived. Tell me why you are volunteering for this assignment?" she then asked as she fetched the correct PADD from the pile in front of her.

Raine nodded at the question before she sat back in her chair, her body relaxing. "I have spent enough time on Earth. I want to be out and doing actual work. This specific assignment had a long tour far out, meaning more possibilities for interesting discoveries for a science department to deal with. The Galileo has such a good reputation as a science ship anyway, it seemed stupid not to apply to it. As a first...assignment out of training, it would be perfect."

"Perfect?" Saalm inquired with a tilt of her head. "There is an old saying my people have; translated to Standard it means 'beware the fruit of the unknown...for excitement is only temporary and purgatory is forever'." It was a bit morbid, the captain realized, but appropriate considering the circumstances. "In other words, traveling to the deepest reaches in pursuit of ambitions is shortsighted and dangerous. You agree, of course, yes?" she secretly tested.

"But without people with ambition, who will help all those adventurous people out in reaching their destination?" Raine said as she watched the woman before she shrugged. "Excitement is neither here or there, but if no one has the ambition or guts to go out to the outer reaches of our knowledge and beyond, how will we learn anything? Not that I mean to argue, I am sure it is a good saying with your people. My people have no sayings."

The captain listened and judged, not discriminately but rather with curiosity. "About your people..." she started, happy that the crewman had broached the subject to help the transition. "I have never seen one of your kind before or visited your world. And Starfleet has limited information about the Cereijan. How did you arrive at Starfleet?"

Raine held her eyes before she took a deeper breath. "I came to the Federation seeking political asylum. I was part of a group opposing our...leaders. We wanted our people to go out and procreate with other species to enhance our DNA. Naturally."

Saalm's ears perked up at the mention of genetic breeding. "Enhance your DNA...?" she asked, wondering what that specifically meant. Her notes had a brief mention of her species' biogenetics prowess, but she knew little beyond that.

"By breeding," Raine said as she watched the other woman. "We made ourselves more or less infertile thanks to messing with our own DNA. Now we...artificially breed, as only a small percentage of our populations are able to do it. If those people went out and instead formed relationships with people from other species, then their children would have a stronger chance of producing naturally. It would undo the damage we did...at the cost of our own unique genetics I suppose, but does that really matter? We are not exactly doing anything special being stuck on a Moon with the same twenty people being the genetic makeup for the next generation."

A moon and a genetic standardization of population. It sounded so strange to Saalm, but she could now better understand the woman's desire to explore the unknown. And suddenly, a new question arose. "Is this why you want to join this voyage...? To find new genetic diversity for your people?" the captain candidly asked.

"No, the genetic diversity is already here, they just don't want to do it," she said as she leant closer, holding Lirha's eyes. "I'm done with them. This I do for myself. Because I want to see things that no one from my world have seen."

Saalm studied the alien woman further while taking note of the pattern of the scales on her face and the deep colorations of her eyes. "Even if those things turn out to be terrifying?" There was often no glory in exploration, and many discoveries had historically been inadvertent and resulted in loss of life.

"Staying and doing nothing is worse," Raine breathed before she looked down. "Or more terrifying than what we can see in a mirror. I am not afraid. But I can be cautious too."

A long silence ensued while the Orion captain pondered the crewman's words. So far she seemed grounded and rational with a good head on her shoulders. And privately, she shared several similar sentiments with the woman. "Do you have hobbies and special interests? Things outside of duty you enjoy?" she asked, changing the subject after being satisfied with the previous one.

"I paint," Raine said before she smiled weakly, shaking her head. "Not very well, but I find it relaxing. I enjoy music...but my people cannot sing. Our vocal cords can't hold a note like...others. That or it is what I tell people as an excuse."

"How well do you deal with isolation?" the captain asked in reply. "An honest answer. Personally, it drives me crazy, but some species and personalities can handle it better than others."

Raine watched her for a long moment before she frowned. "Better than I do stuck in a group of people too afraid of saying what they are thinking. Being alone...does not bother me as long as there is a chance for not being alone in the future. If that...makes sense."

Saalm frowned and pondered her words. "You mean to say you enjoy the journey of exploration?" she tried to interpret in a basic way, not fully understanding the meaning behind what the alien woman had said.

Raine watched her closely before she gave a weak nod. "I am less concerned about reaching the destination. It is the journey there that counts," she said softly before she let out a breath. "We are not around for long. We might as well do what we can with the time we have."

The captain let out a light laugh. "Tell that to an El-Aurian," she mumbled to herself, remembering that their species lived to be hundreds if not thousands of years old. "What about your science interests? Your Academy record shows you studied cell biology in micro-organisms, yes?"

Raine looked at the Orion woman with surprise before she nodded gently. "Yes. At the Academy I did a few courses on it. It was...close to what I was familiar with. Genetics. Just on a smaller scale, luckily."

While she replied, the captain continued to take notes. "Genetics....for what purpose? To study, or understand lifeforms? To manipulate? To...enhance?"

Raine looked at her and for a moment she looked uncomfortable. "Manipulate," she said as she held her eyes. "Genetic engineering. Cloning. It's what my people do. We are trying to undo what we did to ourselves generations ago. And truthfully? It's disgusting. What we are doing, morally, to our own to correct past mistakes."

Those were strong statements from the crewman about her own people, statements that the captain wondered more about. "Do you judge your people for their crimes? Or maybe their ignorance? You seem opposed to your government...at least, their methods," she couldn't help but remark.

Raine looked down at her gloved hands at the words before she nodded. "For my people, ignorance and a lack of...question," she said after thinking about it. "For my leaders? I oppose them. I rebelled against them. Of course, we were not very good rebels. Good rebels do not get caught."

The captain waved her green hand with a slight yet reassuring smile. "Nonsense. A good rebel knows the risks they take and fully accepts the consequences. It is, in a way, honorable," she mused out loud.

"Well, the evil Empire still strikes..." Raine said before she grimaced. "Sorry. Earth history lesson while at the Academy. This weird...thing they had back then. War among the stars sort of idea. Very strange. Unrealistic. How the Hutt species could have evolved and still be considered a threat is beyond me..." she shook her head before she met her Captain's eyes. "Apologies. My mind...goes a lot of places at once when I am not in a lab."

"...The Hutt species?" the captain couldn't help but ask. She'd never seen an entry in the Starfleet database -- or Klingon, Romulan, and Orion -- of that name and was now confused.

"I..." she looked at the other woman before she shook her head. "It's...fiction," she admitted after a moment. "We did a week on ancient culture and fiction. I remember it being quite interesting and yet confusing. We do not actually do...fiction where I am from. You cannot learn anything from it."

Saalm frowned at the notion of a purely-non-fictional world. "You do not have fiction? Arts? Entertainment?" she openly wondered. "What do your creatives do with their time?"

"We do not have creatives," Raine said as she shook her head, smiling weakly. "Creatives will not produce food, offspring or scientific advances. That...does not mean we do not enjoy it in secret. Oral poetry is...a movement. A softly spoken resistance frowned upon."

The more questions Lirha asked, the more it seemed like she was venturing down the rabbit hole with the new crewman. She no doubt had many more questions about this new culture and crewman, but realized she'd also have plenty of opportunity to get to know her further down the road. "Secret pleasures..?" she asked with the subtlest of grins.

"Well, as much as I find you -- and your people -- fascinating, it seems you have a good heart and a purpose in life to achieve." The captain leaned back and folded her hands in her lap. "You can tell me more about your culture once you're on board. In the interim, do you have any questions? About your assignment or for me?"

"No...thank you," Raine said and shook her head, standing. Because she could sense that she had taken up enough of the Captain's time. And while she did have questions, all it was were things that could wait. Things that could wait until she was on the ship. "Thank you for this opportunity, Captain."

Saalm gave a curt nod of acknowledgement then retrieved a gold keycard from her desk to give to the crewman. "Welcome aboard Galileo-A, Miss Ni-ya. I'm happy to have you with us," she said with a small smile while handing the pass out for the woman to take. "This card will give you authorization to board and access to all non-restricted areas. You can start moving in your belongings whenever you're ready. Dismissed."

Raine nodded, smiling gently as she took the pass, holding it for a long moment close to her chest. She gave her a slight bow before turning, leaving with her head held high...and a small smile curling her lips. She felt good. And she knew this was the chance she had always needed.

[OFF]

--

Crewman Raine Ni-ya
Science
USS Galileo-A

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

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