Gains

Posted on 04 Feb 2019 @ 12:41pm by Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

2,291 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 7, Gym
Timeline: MD -41, 2127 hrs

[ON]

The treadmill in the starship's cramped gym whirred softly and was accompanied by quick repeating thuds from Lirha's footsteps while she ran in place on the exercise device. Clad in a simple red uniform vest with black pants, her exposed green skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat while she jogged on the machine. It was a rather monotonous form of PT, she thought, but it'd been proven by medical science to be one of the most efficient cardiovascular routines for any space-faring person. And, if she were being honest with herself, she could stand to lose five pounds.

Hearing Lieutenant Plumeri talking about Parrises squares for the millionth time the previous day Ensign Ullswater had finally caved to the concept that keeping in shape is not a worthless task. Back in her university days she'd been quite the rower but this being a starship and thus distinctly lacking in rivers she had decided instead to don her grey shirt and tracksuit so as to seriously investigate the gym for the first time.

The ensign confidently walked through the doors only to be caught slightly off guard by the presence of the CO. She still wasn't quite sure what qualified as an informal context and even then how to talk to the captain in such a context. She bounced back from the surprise though and went for a mid-range cheerful greeting of "Afternoon sir!"

The Orion's attention was diverted when the door swished open, and she was greeted by the familiar sight of one of her junior science officers. Slowing her jog ever-so-slightly, she regarded Ullswater with a polite smile. "Good evening, Sofie." They were each on opposite duty shifts which meant their schedules differed most of the time.

Feeling not just a little self conscious Sofie unslung a light bag from her shoulder and deposited it by the wall and began doing some warm up stretches (taught to her once by an angry sounding cox). Seeing that the captain had slowed herself down a bit Sofie felt a gnawing obligation to at least try to make conversation. "You know I haven't had much of a chance to use the gym yet, or rather," she paused, biting her lip "I hadn't got around to being bothered to use it yet. Do you find yourself down here a lot?"

"Oh yes," Lirha replied in between breaths. "Quite often. The decks are too small to run laps," she shrugged while her black ponytail bounced across the tops of her shoulders. Then curiosity got the better of her. "If you don't exercise often..." she jogged, "...what do you do in your spare time?"

Sofie grimaced, it was unclear if it was from a particularly arduous stretch or the thought that she was now also felt obligated to talk about what she did in her spare time. "I practice my," a brief pause as she held a stretch "singing a lot. I used to be professional and I'd like to think I still have it in me so I try to keep it up." The ensign relaxed for a moment and leaned against the wall "I suppose we were all someone before we joined Starfleet."

The captain's ears perked up and she turned her head. "You sing?" Being raised in an orthodox Orion family, Lirha'd always appreciated the art of performance - in all its forms. She was, especially, an enthusiast of dance, but rarely found the time to practice anymore.

Sofie grinned the memories of a life left behind stirring up again "Yup, mostly operatic stuff from the Cardassian and Romulan traditions." She shook herself down, feeling she had sufficiently stretched for the moment. "Are you musical at all?" It almost caught her off guard when she noticed that she was asking out of something like genuine interest and not just to make conversation.

"No," Lirha answered with the sound of more jogging footsteps. "Nothing but the occasional melody, at least. I prefer dance and theater. Not that I'm prolific," she grinned over her shoulder.

Sofie tried to picture the Orion captain dancing but she was having a hard time putting such a figure of authority into that place in her mind, though before today she would likely not have been able to picture the captain at exercise in the gym either - things change. "Was that on Rigel then?" She asked absently "The dancing and the theatre I mean."

"No." Lirha slowed her pace and began a short cool-down walk to signal the end of her workout. "My mother and father were traveling merchants. I...grew up aboard a trade vessel," she revealed with unceremonious glory. "But when I was not selling or prospecting, I used to watch all the new Orion and Klingon theater and learn the dances. The movements, the essence of dance and song."

"I know what its like to have entrepreneurial parents" Sofie replied with a smirk. She wandered over to a rowing machine that occupied a small space of the room. Someone somewhere probably once said that if you closed your eyes you could almost imagine yourself on a river - this wasn't in the least bit true but as Sofie sat down on the sliding seat she at least could console herself by the fact that rowing was in the name. "Thankfully I have a big sister who's rather business savvy, so I never had to get too involved with things."

"It helps to have a good family," the captain agreed. "Strangely, my mother is quite wealthy on my homeworld yet insists on spending her days on Earth. With the San Francisco Orion community." She walked over to the towel rack where she wiped the sweat from her face and arms, then took a seat on the nearby bench to watch Sofie in more detail. "And my youngest kin wants to be an artist." Lirha wasn't sure if Nesh and Sofie had crossed paths yet, but it was hard to miss one of the only two Orions aboard the starship.

If Sofie had been conscious of the relation she showed no signs of it despite having seen another Orion round about the ship a couple of times. "I have a younger brother," she smiled and turned to face to where the captain was sitting - she felt a tad self conscious of having the Orion looking over her as she exercised. "Last I spoke to him he was considering becoming an artist of some sort too. Knowing him he could change all of that on a whim at any moment though." Thinking of the family as it had been - herself with Natálie and Klement playing together as children - she felt a pang of regret but didn't let any of that emotion cross her face, after all this was the captain she was talking to and the last thing she wanted to admit was any home-sickness.

"Yes...such is often the way with 'artists'," Lirha acknowledged to both Sofie and herself with a strong degree of personal frustration. "The creative mind is different than the scientific, yes?" she then asked Sofie, wondering what her casual and professional opinion was.

Sofie gazed of into the distance for a moment before shrugging and responding "I really have no idea. I suppose you do really need to be at least a bit creative to find success in any field though."

Lirha stood and went to the nearby replicator to get a bottle of water. "Perhaps. But is a life of art any more or less satisfying than a career in Starfleet?" She took a long drink from her bottle then closed the cap. "That is the question I struggle to answer."

Sofie shrugged again but now with a bit of suspicion. Had that counsellor been talking to the captain? Was the captain trying to get her to admit to some of the unsatisfactory she felt with her life in Starfleet? Sofie tried to brush these concerns to the side and answered "I don't really see any benefits to what if questions like that. I just try to find what fulfilment I can with whatever I'm doing in my life. You don't regret joining Starfleet do you?"

The Orion's eyes snapped over to Sofie with a suddenly-cold gaze. "No, of course not. I wouldn't be here if I thought so," she answered. It was a lie. At least, a half-lie. Despite her current position as ship's captain and the accompanying prestige, she was still a convicted and disgraced captain who'd cut a deal to get released early. Lirha couldn't betray any of her private feelings to the ensign, of course, because it was her job to project strength and guidance to her subordinates both on- and off-duty. Not necessarily to open herself up to the newest science officer, whoever they happened to be. "How is your research progressing?" she then asked to change the subject.

I spend every day languishing in a lab doing inane tasks, I haven't seen so much as a puddle of mud in months and as the days of endless monotony wears on its become very clear to me that I am clearly not a very good scientist."Things are slow," Sofie responded diplomatically, noting the captains quick change of topic and respecting the implicit status difference between them. Then, sounding slightly brighter "I hope things will pick up when we get to this colony though - solid ground once again will give me something to look at." She adopted a slightly jokey affectation on that last bit - hoping to make the captain feel a bit more at ease after her earlier rather bleak question.

"It will be a welcome break," Lirha agreed, her thoughts now turning to the unknown adventure they were preparing to face. "And I hear Latari A III has elegant bioluminescent algae along on its beaches. A great place to relax...and reflect on our journeys." Even if it seemed like a months until they arrived, it was often the small motivators which kept everyone chugging through the boredom.

"That is something to look forward to." Sofie said nodding. She knew that to bring up any of the many rumours that were circulating among the junior officers as to the actual state of the colonies was perhaps not what one aught to do when talking with the captain so she decided instead to try and pry a little more information, if any was available. She put on a mask of innocent curiosity and asked "Do you suppose we'll have much time to relax when we get there?"

Lirha took another long drink from her bottle then looked back to Sofie. "Doubtful," she answered with honesty. "I'm afraid our vacation at Regula I will have to wait. We're being sent to investigate two of our colonies near the Tholian border. They stopped transmitting comms several months ago for unknown reasons."

"You don't suspect Tholian involvement do you?" The young ensign continued to pry, asking the question that surely every member of the crew wished they had a chance to pose to the captain.

"It is possible," Lirha acknowledged with a slight tilt of her head. "But as of now, we lack enough data to jump to conclusions," she diplomatically answered. "The ship must be prepared but we can't let our assumptions or predictions cloud our analyses. You're not looking forward to meeting one, are you?" she then asked with a tiny grin.

"I've heard stories..." Sofie replied. The academy had not been short of ghost stories with Tholians in and as a person with a great affinity for rocks and minerals she'd always found the crystalline aspects of Tholian biology rather unnerving. She glanced over to the captain and found herself looking at her superior's green skin. "But you hear a lot of stories about a lot of different people."

Nodding in agreement, Lirha stretched her arms and torso to work out any tightening muscles which lingered. "They appear to be a very private species," she acknowledged. "But we must remember...they are not carbon-based lifeforms. Their silicon biochemistry has little in common with ours, yet we judge them by humanoid standards. Their culture and motives, their entire civilization, could be for a purpose we still don't -- or can't -- understand," theorized the captain.

"Or maybe one we just don't want to understand." The ensign responded facetiously as she rocked side to side on the sliding seat, quite content at the distraction the captain was providing from any real exercise. "Thinking of how different ideologies have clashed in the histories of carbon life - how little we've tried to understand each other - the thought of encountering something so alien, it does worry me."

Saalm smiled in concession to Ullswater's deep thoughts. "Perhaps our presence worries the Tholians, as well." She then took another sip from her bottle and tossed it into the nearby replicator along with her sweat-soaked towel. "Well, no matter the outcome, we will solve this mystery together. As a crew," she reassured.

"As a crew." The ensign repeated. She was beginning to learn that a crew wasn't the perfect sort of family that she had envisioned it would be when she left the academy, but something about thew way the captain spoke gave her some confidence. "And for all we know," Sofie mused, now feeling a bit reassured "Its just some communication problem and all those colonist are just fine."

Lirha gave Sofie a tiny nod to indicate her own hopefulness. "Yes. Perhaps just a communication problem..."

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

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