Goodness in Theory

Posted on 19 Jan 2019 @ 2:42pm by Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Petty Officer 3rd Class Raine Ni-ya

1,800 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 5, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD -80, 1100 hours

Previously on Star Trek: Galileo...

The music pulled him towards the water. He was dragged along the way by his pointed ears. The middle-of-nowhere trail snaked through the Marina District, leading him to San Francisco Bay, and out onto a nondescript jetty. Hiking across the jetty, he feared he’d reached the raggedy end of the trail, and then he spotted a staircase leading further down. At the edge of the water, he found a ruin of an amphitheater made from sidewalk slabs and cemetery stones. Organ pipes made from concrete and PVC protruded between multiple levels of terraces. Overcome by the music singing out of the organ pipes, Lake ir-Llantrisant strode down the steps.

The bay was at high tide and the space had been designed to keep no clear boundary between the water and the solid land. Lake meandered along the perimeter, along the uncertain edges, engulfed in the orchestra of sound coming from the wave organ.

And previously on "The Terms of a Debate"

"What does it mean to you," Lake asked, "to have me express curiosity about you, because it's my job." --He made a point, obviously, to use Sofie's own words-- "To have Starfleet provide me with room and board in exchange for keeping you company periodically?"

"It makes the whole thing sound rather not genuine." She found some spark of annoyance she'd held deep down finally coming to the surface. "Don't you ever feel that? Like you are just a facsimile of company?"

For half a moment, Lake boggled at Sofie Ullswater with his dark eyes. When that moment passed, his expression turned placid and he let the question hang between them. He took the time to go over that question in his mind, make certain he had heard those words, and all the while he strove to centre himself. "If you really think that, I wouldn't want to know what little you think of me," Lake replied. He made some attempt to keep cool, but his indignation rose up. "This is my career you're talking about," Lake reminded her. "Putting yourself in my shoes, how much of your interest in geology would you describe as artifice?"

And now, a continuation...

[ON]

The chirpy feedback tone of the LCARS system heralded the change. Lake ir-Llantrisant raised his arms, like a conductor bringing his orchestra to life. All around him, the gridlines of the holodeck were hidden by a new reality coalescing into photonic existence. One moment, his duty boots were resting on starship deckplates, and the next, they were being lapped by the waters of San Francisco Bay. He was standing on the edge of a jetty, in a small amphitheater of concrete and PVC pipe. Lake was buffeted with such a breeze that the wind organ came to life; it's music drown out the sound of the holodeck door opening behind him.

Raine Ni-ya watched with the only emotion on her face being mild amusement. She tilted her head to the side, looking around. Yes. She remembered seeing this, yet she had never really left the Academy grounds. She had been surprised when she had been asked to come to the holodeck for her counselling rather than an office. And yet, for her, the very idea of counselling seemed unnatural. Emotions were...useless and irrelevant when the greater picture was happening. "Sir?" she called out, realising he had not spotted her. Sir was safe. It applied to everyone who was an officer, she did not have to worry about names or who was who. They outranked her and that was that. Final.

"Crewman Ni-ya," was Lake's replied. He looked up at her from his stance on a lower tier of the amphitheater. If there was amusement on her face, Lake didn't know Raine well enough to spot in on her nearly-featureless, scaly visage. "Thank you for meeting with me," Lake said in greeting. As Raine's unspoken question had been a common one among his crew evaluations, Lake anticipated it with an explanation. "We only have one office for counseling aboard Galileo," Lake said, "I hope you'll allow me my indulgence -- exploring our ship and exploring the galaxy at the same time." He raised a single hand to indicate their environment.

Raine gave a small nod of acknowledgement, walking over and looking over the view. "It does not matter to me where we are," she finally said before she met his eyes, holding them unblinkingly.

"I thank you," Lake replied with a courteous nod. His eye-contact drifted, as his attention was pulled towards the open air beyond the bay. Lake looked out at the water for a heartbeat, and then he asked, "How have you been settling aboard Galileo?" He looked to Raine to full take-in her response.

"It is a ship," she said before she gave a small shrug, watching him for a long moment. "I have work and a place to sleep. It does seem to be a good thing. The department does some interesting projects too. I am kept busy on duty with cleaning up after it."

Responding to Raine's languid energy, Lake didn't respond immediately. He took a long moment of his own to consider what she had said. Lake angled his head to the right, looking to Raine. "What does it mean to you," Lake asked, "to fill your days with keeping busy to clean up after the department?"

"I have tasks and I complete them," Raine said with a small shrug, her hands at her sides. "Once they are completed I have my routines until the shift has ended."

"Please," Lake said in a preemptively apologetic manner, "Correct me if I'm wrong..." --He shifted his posture to face her more easily-- "Is that how you see your duty? A matter of filling each shift until it's done?"

She considered it for a long moment, frowning before she shook her head. "It is how I see my penance," she said before she smiled weakly. "But...there are other options. I have been asked to consider a specialism. That I can study outside of...my work."

It was probably rude to backtrack, but that wasn't something that often stopped Lake. "Your penance?" he asked, clearly baffled by how casually Raine had mentioned such a thing. "What do you mean by your penance?" he asked.

Raine looked at her for a moment before she smiled, looking down. "For what my people have done to each other, what I was a part of."

Not letting on how little or how much he already knew of the topic, Lake requested, "And how would you describe what you've done?" He looked to her expectantly and then he turned his body. Lake eyed the bay, guessing that it may make it easier for Raine if she didn't have to look him in the eye when she said it.

Raine looked at the view before she tilted her head. "I have killed," she finally said. "And I have experimented outside the ethical guidelines of most species. I have worshipped at an altar of pain." She rolled her eyes at the last words with a chuckle. "I am not a good person. But I am trying to be."

Lake sniffed at that, and finally returned his gaze to Raine herself. Sounding doubtful about the righteousness of her path, Lake asked, "Why do you want to be good?" He genuinely didn't sound as if it was something he wanted for himself.

She met Lake's eyes, holding them for a long moment. "Because I have never been that before and I want to try something new," she said drily, but whether she was joking or not wasn't really obvious.

Whether she was lying or not proved immaterial to Lake, in this moment. He was sufficiently intrigued by Raine's response. Now, he was starting to follow her with his eyes more intently. "How has that been working out?" Lake started to ask, and then he stacked on another question in his excitement for learning more about her: "For how long have you been trying goodness anyway?"

"Long enough to decide it can be boring," she said with a small smile, shrugging weakly. "Two years and some months. In theory. It is a lot of theoretically applied logic, if you consider it. A human might find one thing a kindness, whereas a Cardassian or Bajoran have a different idea of it. And truth is rarely appreciated..." she tilted her head in thought, a frown coming to her. "People are complicated. Your profession is an underrated one."

"Ahh," Lake replied, his gaze shifting to the middle distance over Raine's shoulder. "Yes," he said haltingly, as he mulled over her final observation. "I have been accused of being disingenuous," he said, "because I do this as my profession and not a voluntary hobby."

"I would say that being disingenuous would be if counselling people was a hobby. It would mean the person speaking did not have the qualifications to do a good job and therefore cause more...damage. Also, it would be to make themselves feel better, not others," Raine said before she gave a small shrug. "A job means that you work for others."

Excitedly, Lake waved a hand at Raine as if she were an omega particle that had materialized from out of the ether. "Precise-- Yes, precisely," Lake declared in agreement. "That's what I tried to say. Mere friendship isn't motivation enough to truly help someone when it gets difficult," Lake said. "Having my career and my creature comforts at stake get the best work out of me in the long run."

"Motivation is important..." Raine said and smiled weakly to him, meeting his eyes. "And we all need something to drive us forward. The need for things. Food. Warmth. Water. And then luxuries. The more we are used to, the more we will need."

"Yes," Lake said, and in that one word, he sounded a little abashed. He raised a palm to gesture to their surroundings, their current situation. Here, they had the luxury to ponder their own mental health in a simulated environment. "Yes," he said, "it's a vicious circle that." Again a luxury, he paused before considering what his next question would be. He stopped thinking so hard, allowing his consciousness to flow towards his curiosity. Lake's dark eyes lit up when it occurred to him, when he decided what to ask next, but that would be a whole other story to tell.


[OFF]

Crewman Raine Ni-ya
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

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