The Human Abstract

Posted on 05 Oct 2023 @ 2:44pm by Ensign Tora Zalos & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater

2,114 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Regula I - Level 16
Timeline: MD 16, 2343 hrs

[ON]

Most of Sofie's first day back on Regula I had not been particularly fun. Long hours in isolation lab two working with the station's staff on the crystalline structures they had detected. It was late evening before she managed to get herself out of there and though she was tired she felt like she could eat a horse.

Level 16 was the closest this station got to being busy, with most of the task force ships docked there were plenty of people around. As Sofie wandered for a bit, looking for somewhere to eat, one of those passers by caught her eye. You don't see many Cardassians in Starfleet, and you're even less likely to see one that you recognise, but she knew that face. "Tora!" She called out as the woman passed her. "Tora Zalos?" For a moment her heat dipped, maybe she'd been mistaken, but it was only for a moment as the Cardassian turned towards her. It was Tora.

Tora had not expected to see a familiar face - at least, not this early on. She'd barely even explored the ship after all, much less meet enough people on board, but sometimes life simply had surprises in store, and this was one of the best kinds. The Cardassian beamed and launched herself at the woman, wrapping her arms round her in an embrace. The same kind of hug she'd always given. Same old unapologetically affectionate Tora.

"Fancy meeting you here." She smiled and pulled away when she sensed that maybe, just maybe, Sofia needed to come up for air. Not everyone could handle her hugs for long periods of time, after all. "Are you assigned to the station? I'm on the Galileo - I've just been waiting here for her to come back. Oh, I'm so excited to get to work-"

Yep, that's definitely Tora, thought Sofie as the all too familiar death grip was released. "I'm with Gal too!" She quickly blurted out, fearing this might be only a momentary reprieve from the crushing grip and lack of oxygen. "I didn't realise you were going to be joining, I must have missed it." She smiled, in Tora's amber eyes she could see some of the excitement she had had last year when she first joined the ship.

"You never told me where you'd been assigned to, silly! And, well, I miiight have forgotten to say so when I was rushing to get to Regula in the first place." Tora seemed almost sheepish. She usually prided herself on keeping in contact with her friends, past and present, and Sofie knew that - this time had been a lapse. "But no way. We'll be serving together? Now isn't that nice!" The Cardassian beamed. "We should celebrate! Drinks at the bar down the corridor?"

"It will, it'll be nice." It was certainly going to be different. The high energy cadet that Sofie had known on Earth would be a shake up to the quiet professionalism she was used to from the other Galileo scientists. "Actually, have you eaten? It's been a long day and I'm starving, we could maybe grab some dinner somewhere."

"Funny you should mention it. I was just about to find some food when you called me! And I have just the place in mind." Tora smiled and nodded at the hallway. "Trust me. You're going to love it. It has everything I know you like." The Cardassian tapped the side of her head. "Eidetic memory. I never forget."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't show off." Sofie felt good to have someone else from the academy days around. It had been a happier more whimsical time and after the events of the last few months she dearly wanted to go back to it. "Lead the way." She gave gestured for Tora and then stepped in pace beside her "You been on the station long? We only left two weeks ago so it can't have been that long."

"About a week. Possibly a bit less than that. Time sort of blends together when you're waiting." The Cardassian complained as the two began walking towards the turbolift. "But wow, am I enjoying it here. It's actually not too bad here, believe it or not. Quite comfortable. After the ship that brought me here put me to work for six months straight I'm glad for the break." Tora giggled as they stepped into the turbolift car together. "Deck seventeen. There's a lounge there. It has almost everything..."

"Huh, was the journey good?" Sofie couldn't help but think of the horrors that Galileo's trip out here had been... and how all of that was classified and she couldn't even bring it up if she wanted to. "I wouldn't have thought that deep space would be the sort of place you'd want to end up. Not too many people out here. So," and Sofie turned to her Cardassian friend with a piercing look as she asked the question "Why Galileo?"

"I was assigned here. Can't exactly control where I'm assigned now can I?" The Cardassian said with a cheerful smile. "As to the journey? Six months of pretty ordinary stuff. I wasn't actually assigned to the ship, but I had a good time helping out around the science lab. Something about the captain wanting me to not sit around all day. Good thing he made me do it, honestly." The doors slid open, and Tora gestured to the corridor beyond. "After you?" She could practically hear the bustling crowd at the lounge just up ahead...

Sofie stepped out of the turbolift and saw the lounge ahead of them. She'd been here before, was it with Nesh and Mimi? She couldn't quite remember, the last few weeks were still blurry – everything before the cold station. "You know, Galileo isn't easy." She remarked as the two of them entered the lounge "I can't say why," she gave the shrug that indicated the word classified "But its been difficult, and I doubt its going to get any easier." She wasn't sure if she said it as a warning or maybe an admission of the fact she was a different person to the one she had been a year ago.

"I don't think any starship is easy. Nothing in Starfleet is as easy as it looks." Tora said with a light smile. "I accepted that when I signed up to Starfleet Academy, and I still accept it now. It's a challenge, that's what it is." The pair stepped through the lounge doors and crossed the room to reach the replicators. "But that's talk for another time. Tonight's a celebration! What would you like to eat? I'm thinking a huge bowl of zabu stew and a a bit of rokassa pie on the side... what about you?"

"Rokassa?" The mention of the fruit took her back to her opera days. Good for the throat, the things we did to sing well.... "Don't know how you do it, to me that will always be the taste of having a cold. I'll go for Earth food, Unadon with knedlíky. You know even after living there for the Academy I still find Earth food exotic. What an experience those days were..."

Tora laughed. "And you still find ways to make Earth food sound like something not from Earth. You know what? I'm having that, too. I have to try it." She seemed quite pleased with the items that materialized in the replicator slot: two bowls of rice topped with a generous piece of glazed eel and some kind of dumpling she'd never seen before. All of it smelled good, though, and she wasn't one to turn down good food. "I hope this is it. I gotta say, Sofie, your taste in Earth cuisine hasn't dampened at all." She laughed as she sat down and passed her a set of cutlery to use.

"Thanks." Sofie said, plopping herself into a seat across from her friend and accepting the cutlery before digging in with a voracious velocity. That unmistakable taste of eel and the soft doughy texture of the dumplings, she just couldn't help herself. "They know how to cook on Earth." She got a few words out between mouthfuls, it almost made her nostalgic for a past life in which the two of them would catch up over lunch in one of the Academy refectories. "And this is exactly what I needed. What do you think?"

The Cardassian's face was one of pure delight. There was something about chewy, doughy dumplings covered in sauce combined with salty-sweet eel with rice that absolutely delighted her. She inhaled another dumpling before speaking at last: "I think I need to order this more often. This is great!" She exclaimed. "I wouldn't mind if I was stuck with this for an entire week! Wouldn't be all that balanced, I guess, but I'd have an awesome time."

"So! Still the same hobbies as always?" She continued, amber eyes gleaming.

Well a few days ago I led an armed assault on the ship's brig with the intent of committing a murder. "You know there's not so much time for hobbies anymore. Life on the ship is... intense." The older ensign prodded at her food a bit, her appetite suddenly diminished "You know we got sold this story about exploration and discovery, that we are going to be scientists. Truth is we're soldiers." Images of the battles at Latari invited themselves into Sofie's head. She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath. Now was not the time to be getting overwhelmed. "What about you? Still play chess?" She pulled it together, back to cheery conversation.

Tora's scaly brow creased with concern. Sofie had never once believed that. Never. Which meant that something had to have happened to make her grab her views and make a hard, hard left. Something truly terrible. "Yes, I am... Sofie. Are you- are you alright?" She asked, amber eyes staring into the human's, searching. Worrying. "Is everything alright?"

Sofie was silent for a moment, just staring down at the table in front of her. The silence seemed to drag into eternity before she took in a sharp breath and shook her head "No." It sounded apologetic, defeated, a culmination of something that was very not alright. "No Tora, things aren't alright. I tried to kill one of my best friends last week." She really didn't feel like explaining or giving the context to that "Seeing you again, it reminds me of all that optimism I used to have. We were so excited to get out here... but it ended up being horrible."

Tora's expression, once jovial, instantly slackened, morphing into something somewhat less pleasant. "Oh." Yep, genius answer for such a huge confession. "I-" The Cardassian looked away in embarrassment. She'd heard plenty of unpleasant stuff as a dabo girl, but 'I just tried to kill my best friend last week' had never been one of them. How do you comfort someone out of that? She definitely had no idea how. "Um... how are they? I hope that they're alright..."

"She was stabbed by a Klingon earlier the same day." Sofie's voice was shaky. For all the bravado and dark humour she managed to keep up when talking to Lamar being here now, with someone from before, it was all falling away. "That part was unrelated." She added hurriedly "She's doing alright now I think, getting married soon." This was absurd, every detail of it was absurd, but it was somehow all true and just as messed up as it sounded. "I got someone else hurt though, one of the doctors."

Without thinking about it, Tora reached over and clasped her friend's hands. When someone genuinely needed comfort she had never been one to shy away from offering it. "You don't need to share more if you don't want to." She said softly. "I can tell it's hurting you already. There'll be plenty of occasions for us to talk."

The touch of her friend's hands meant something to Sofie. She gazed down at those slightly scaly Cardassian hands. This wasn't the first time she'd been held by then and she doubted it would be the last. It had been good to say it all, good to share this with someone who cared but still she was glad to have been offered a reprieve. "Then for now let's eat."

So they ate.

[OFF]

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ENS Tora Zalos
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

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