Scientists, Ships, Orions, Oh My!

Posted on 17 Jan 2013 @ 9:38am by Nesh Saalm

4,378 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Panne's Office
Timeline: MD -2 0800 Hours

ON:

Alpha. Shift. Sucked. No, sucked wasn't the operative word, here. More like absolutely, positively, utterly blew.

0745 in the morning! That was way too early to wake up and like, do things. Nesh groaned into her pillow as her alarm beeped yet again. Snooze. Five minutes later, it trilled once more, warning her that her impending doom was following shortly if she didn't get out of bed and go meet Miss Panne. Doctor Panne? Lieutenant Panne? Pan? Pan-nay? Nesh groaned. This was going to be a nightmare. She hoped that Miss Doctor Panne was nice, anyway. This was totally like school, except worse. People expected her to do things. Important things! Sciencey things! Nesh had resolved on the shuttle to be the best Scientist's Mate she could, but sitting up in bed and pulling on her socks, pants and shoes, she was starting to second-guess herself. She didn't know if she had what it took to be a Scientist's Mate. Maybe Miss Doctor Panne would hate her. Maybe they'd kick her off! Then she'd have to go home to the disapproving glares of her mom and her stupid not-boyfriend, who wanted to get back together after nearly killing her in his dumb shuttle, and her friends who were now looking at her weirdly because she had pheromones now. Which were, honestly totally cool, but her human classmates found it scary. She sighed again and flopped over, grabbing the hypospray that Lirha had forced her to start taking. She said it wasn't appropriate for a sixteen year old not to take hypos on a ship. Blah. She injected it and then pulled on the blue civilian tunic that the replicator dispensed for her to wear. Almost like a uniform.

She stood up, yanked it down and smoothed out some of the wrinkles. She applied some minimal make-up, a light tan lipstick and some black eyeliner, a hint of green sparkly eyeshadow, just enough to look nice, but classy, dammit. Nesh was classy! So what if all those boys called her names. She didn't care. She was Nesh Saalm, and she could be just as classy as any of her other stupid girl classmates. They couldn't know what it meant to be Orion, anyway. (Not that she does, but she wants to, desperately, because now it's almost painfully obvious that she's just not ready to understand, and she resents this, though she'd tell no one.) She thrust a few of her portfolio pages into her kitbag, something to do when Miss Doctor Panne wasn't ordering her around, flung it over her shoulder and looked at herself in the mirror. Hair up, artfully tied into a classy bun, thankyouverymuch! And, well, she couldn't really get much more ready than this. She took a deep breath and exited her quarters, skipping to the turbolift, jittery with excitement and nervousness as it deposited her onto Deck 4. She approached the office labeled Panne and pressed the chime, standing back and straightening the blue tunic yet again. She could do this. She was prepared. Panne would totally have to like her. Right?

With a cup of tea in her hand and a PADD in the other, Maenad stepped out of the turbolift. She was on her way to her office from the bridge, where she'd been handed Gamma shift's report on all that had happened overnight. By the looks of it, nothing much had happened at all. But then again, their course was pretty simple, well-charted, and highly travelled. If something had happened worth reporting, she would have been woken up by somebody.

Nearing her door, she caught sight of a... of an Orion? Standing outside, wearing what looked to be some kind of backpack. Maenad blinked. She was only aware of Lirha, as far as Orions went on the ship. She got closer, realising that it was a little girl. Well, a teenager. "Hello?" Maenad said to her, curiously, lowering her PADD.

"Hi! Miss - Doctor - Lieutenant Pan-nay! Err, Pan. Uh?" She winced. Wow, this was the single-most horrible introduction of all time. She blushed and fidgeted, straightened up and offered a salute. "Okay. Starting that again. Hello, Lieutenant. I'm Nesh Saalm, Lir-- Captain Saalm's sister. I've been, like, put on this ship as a civilian," she started rambling and then reigned herself in. "Yes, a civilian, Scientist's Mate. Like an observer! To observe, your department. And I know I sound dumb," she frowned, "But like, I totally won't get in your way at all. Captain Saalm says that it would be good, for me to learn this stuff. Because, well, my mom was really mean, and my boyfriend crashed a shuttle, and I kind of really, really need to be here, instead of there, and I'm not that bad at things, really. Actually, look!" she pulled out a PADD with some of the things she'd drawn on the shuttle ride over. They were stellar maps. Not great, but for someone who had never even seen a stellar map, they were surprisingly detailed, copied from the maps in the database. "I'm good at drawing, and I can use computers no problem and... and please don't yell at me?" she looked up hopefully, eyebrows arched and a slight apologetic smile on her lips.

Maenad blinked a few times. She tucked her own PADD under her arm so she could see the girl's drawings. "These are quite good," she said after a minute of examination. "It's Pawn," she corrected her. "Maenad Panne." If she were speaking French it would have sounded more like Punn, but she always said her name in Anglicised Pawn. And because she looked so young and was not in Starfleet, Maenad saw no reason for any formalities. "It's nice to meet you, Nesh. You may call me Maenad, if you like."

She opened the door to her office and invited Nesh to follow. "Have you eaten breakfast yet? Do you drink coffee or tea? Have a seat on the couch." Maenad said politely, moving to set her PADD on her desk.

"Maenad," Nesh repeated. "I can do that. Much easier." The Orion grinned and walked through the door, placing her PADDs back in her bag, looking around the woman's office with unbridled curiosity. "Well, sure. Chai latte, extra foam, cinnamon and chocolate shavings. Best ever." She bent down over the replicator and as she spoke, examining it. These were fancy. The replicator they had at home was fifteen years old! This one listened to her rendition of her favorite drink even though she hadn't intended to order anything, and materialized her a giant glass cup. "Awesome. Oh! Breakfast. Um," She picked it up and poked her straw through the foam, sipping quietly and looking at Maenad over the top while she thought. She leaned over and yelled into the replicator again, obviously used to the one at home, that had to be typed into. "Lemon meringue squares with pineapples on the side!" And look, there it was. And these didn't look soggy. Brilliant. She clutched the plate and sat down on the couch, pulling her bag off and resting it on the side before digging in neatly, after her initial whirlwind of activity, looking surprisingly refined. She glanced up again, green eyes looking about. "They said that I am on alpha shift, and, that I'm supposed to do whatever you say, so," she gestured outward slightly with her now-empty fork, "That's what I'll try to do as best as I can. And I won't get in your way. Or anything." She shut herself up with another piece of square, even she recognized when she was babbling at this point.

Maenad watched the girl called Nesh take a literal spin on the idea of make yourself at home. As soon as, no even before, the doors had closed Nesh moseyed her way over to the replicator, which was behind her desk. The sight of her order was... extravagant, to say the least. Maenad watched, though, not with rage, but with a curious smile. Unbeknownst to her, her body was still circulating with the aphrodisiacs she hadn't known were in Lirha's body oils, making her pleasant to be around despite how exhausted she was. She had maybe a solid three hour sleep over the last 35-40 hours, and under any normal circumstances, Nesh probably would have been snapped at.

Maenad sat down on her couch beneath the office windows, in the corner. She crossed her legs, putting one long arm over the back of the cushions and sipped her tea with the other when she wasn't cradling it in her lap. She watched the girl talk and eat for a moment, not fully paying attention. "Did you say you're a scientist's mate?" she asked her finally. "Assigned to me?"

Nesh nodded. Curious. It felt like Maenad was... well... glittered. She had the exact same look in her eye that her classmates used to get before the nurse made her take her classes in another part of the school. She could feel it, too, the remnants of it. But the only way that could happen... Nesh narrowed her eyes, mid-bite. She swallowed the lemon square. "Are you and my sister a Thing?" she asked, uncrossing and then re-crossing her legs, drawing herself up as if to play the protective sister card. "Like, why didn't she tell me about that..." she sounded a little hurt. Why wouldn't Lirha have told her that Nesh's boss was her girlfriend! This was so awkward!

"What?" Maenad asked. She set her tea down. "No," she exclaimed. What was she talking about? Had she been so loud? No, that wasn't possible. She was always quiet. She liked it better that way. Maenad shook her head, as if to clear her own mind. "She didn't tell you, Nesh, because there's nothing to tell." Was she blushing? What kind of question was that? Who was this Nesh?

Nesh blinked a couple of times. "You mean you guys aren't, like, together? I don't understand. But, I can smell it! I'm sorry I don't - mean to butt in you know, that's fine, it's all fine, I just, thought maybe she'd tell me, you know, my boss was like, with her! Now I'm going to make you mad, and it will make her mad, and I'll be kicked off forever, all because she couldn't trust me!" Nesh began to sound a little more high pitched, and poked some more lemon square in her mouth to avoid looking like a total idiot.

Maenad's jaw dropped. "Nesh!" she shouted through gritted teeth. "What are you talking about?" She could smell her? She had showered not even twenty minutes ago, clean as a button, and had put on a very subtle perfume of her own. There was no way she could smell Lirha.

"Well!" the young Orion threw her hands up, leaning back against the couch a little fearfully. "You know? Pheromones? Orions? I am an Orion. It's like a neon sign!"

Incredulous, embarrassed, maybe both, Maenad sat up like she were about to start throwing things at little Nesh, but she didn't. Was this a fight she could win? She had no idea how potent pheromones were between Orions. She knew that they didn't effect her, anyway. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. "I am not in a relationship with your sister," she declared simply, then sat back. "And Orion pheromones have no effect me. I have never become ill around the captain, or developed headaches, or any adverse side-effects," she twirled the foot of her dangling foot, her arms had crossed. "So, I don't know what you think you mean, but it simply cannot be true."

Nesh stood up and rolled her eyes. "Replicator!" she yelled at the thing again. She knocked on it for good measure. "Give me one of those tricorder things! Ah, here we go. Okay. Opens here. Which one is the on button? Oh, hey," she fiddled around with it and then pointed it at Maenad, making a show of trying to move it and 'scan' her as best as possible. "You're the scientist, you read it." she shoved the thing at Maenad. She hoped it would show her the levels in her body. "If you're not getting headaches from it that means they're affecting you, like, you know," she stammered, and shrugged. "Like, with, you know... sex? You're glittered, not sick! I'm an Orion. Oh my god... what did Lirha do." she exclaimed, eyes bugging widely. "And, wait, she isn't even taking her pills. The pamphlet says that it's against like, regulations not to take them. And how would you know anyway that they give headaches? So, see, you totally are a Thing! But, if you're not, like if you're really not lying, and you never did anything with her, oh my god, then there's something wrong with Lirha because she must be doing it without knowing she is, or something! We have to go talk to her, maybe she's dying." She clutched Maenad's arm. "Are you sure? What if she's sick, and we don't know, and - see? The thing! Says stuff!" she glared at the tricorder. "I hope," she added meekly. She leaned forward and looked at the screen, which read out the name of the pheromones, and the aphrodisiac, though Nesh wasn't familiar with the second one, she could tell the pheromones, since she'd had those scans a billion times.

Maenad took the tricorder, obviously terrified. She gave Nesh a glare of the ages before studying the readings. They were there, sure, but that didn't mean anything. And there was something else on the list that, if Maenad's chemistry was right (and it was), would have served a a powerful aphrodisiac. How was that possible? But somehow this girl knew everything. Well, she corrected, maybe not everything. Maenad held a hand over her eyes for a good ten seconds, thinking of how to correct this before it was too late. "Nesh," Maenad said, finally looking at her again. "Your sister and I are friends who," she stuttered, "We..." Maenad felt like an idiot. She didn't like this at all. "Okay, we sometimes-- Lirha likes me very much, and I like her too, but...." she sighed. "You are right, but we are not together. I would make an awful girlfriend to her. And I don't know if I could keep up." She looked at her reassuringly. "Your sister is perfectly healthy, she is fine, don't worry about her. She is not dying." Her eyes went distant as she began considering what it would mean if what Nesh had said were true, about Lirha's pheromones having an effect on her. There had always been something different about her times with Lirha, after all. But, no. No, these were dangerous thoughts with implications that Maenad simply didn't want to hear. She had enjoyed herself every single time, so there was that. Maenad sighed. "Nesh!" she grumbled.

The Orion slumped and shrugged, looking at her feet. "I'm sorry! I just, well, assumed, you know... Oh wow, you must hate me so much," she gave a sheepish look. "And I bet you're not awful," she reassured with a smile. "Well, if she's not dying, then, I guess that's good." Nesh smiled blandly, sniffling a little and sticking the straw in her latte between her lips again, worrying it with her teeth. She leaned over, eyebrows knitted together. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at the stranger looking combination that she didn't recognize.

Maenad watched Nesh with a frown. What an opening to her day, she kept thinking. She was also justifying and reconciling how this had happened to her, why Lirha had done it. But she also hadn't done anything. It was all in the best intentions. There was nothing sinister going on, she knew it. Didn't she? The back of Nesh's head was blocking Maenad's view of the tricorder screen. She moved it.

"That," Maenad said, pushing her out of the way, "Those, rather, are alkyl nitrites. They are known for being a form of aphrodisiac, and they give off a pleasant odour." Maenad remembered being immersed in a lovely scent, but she couldn't say what it was. Not everything that smelled nice was an aphrodisiac. "The rest I do not recognise, but they appear to be organic in nature. Perhaps from plants and herbs from a world other than Earth."

Closing the tricorder, Maenad gave Nesh a serious look. "I really think this is an overreaction."

"What's an overreaction?" Nesh said, frowning. "I thought you said you guys, y'know," she gave a Look. "Anyway, those are pheromones, look." She pointed the tricorder at herself and pressed the same button as before and then handed it back. "See? But mine are low, because I actually take my stupid hypo like a good Starfleet... observer... person." She scowled. How come Lirha didn't have to take her meds? It was so unfair! She pouted and then shrugged. "Which I guess solves it? Why? Is something wrong?"

Maenad held the bridge of her nose for a minute. Nesh was starting to get annoying, with or without pleasant brain-altering chemicals floating through her system. "An overreaction is when you're overcritical of someone or something, or excessively harsh. And the reason Lirha hasn't been taking her pills for her pheromones is because the doctor told her she can't combine them with her other medications for the time being. So, it's not her fault, and I would really like not to talk about this anymore," she said almost with a sigh.

Nesh gave Maenad a long face. "I'm not critical! It just... surprised me," she huffed with a quirk of her lips downward. "You guys can do whatever you want." She held up her hands in a peace gesture. But she still could have told me! Nesh grumbled mentally, crossing back over to sit at the chair. "So, like, what kind of stuff does a Scientist's Mate even do?" she asked cheerfully, apparently forgetting the entire sequence of events.

Maenad was now sitting back into the couch, staring deeply at the wall opposite, immersed in thought. After a long moment, she looked at Nesh. It was like she had forgotten she were there at all. "They, uh," her eyes darted around the room and landed on the Gamma shift report she'd left on her desk. She stood up and went for it. "They deliver reports," she returned to the couch and handed the PADD to her. "Take this to Lieutenant Cho."

Nesh took the report and stared at it, running her hands over the edges of the PADD. "Yes, ma'am!" she quipped perkily, before she looked around again and tilted her head. "Um. Who's Lieutenant Cho?"

"She is my assistant," Maenad said immediately back to her. "But don't tell her that you're replacing her," she added with a wry grin, standing tall above the sitting Orion.

"Why, is she mean? Will she hate me? Man, I am really, really failing at this." Her first day and she'd already made Maenad mad, and now she had to go deal with some assistant who was probably cranky and mean, and she didn't even know who they were, or what a report even was... she looked down at it. Gamma shift. Backshift, she translated into her head. Sensor... analysis. Laboratory... she blinked. Laboratory things, she skipped over it and tucked it under her arm.

"No," she reassured her. "She's not mean at all. She's not much older than you, maybe you'll be good friends." Maenad knew that probably wasn't true; Kiri was a very difficult person to make friends with for most people because of how unfortunately self-conscious she was.

Nesh gave herself some more lemon square. "Well, you're nice," she announced happily, as if she hadn't just spent the last several minutes pointedly angering the woman. "I'm glad I got you as my boss and not that Vulcan I saw on the way in, he's cranky," she smirked. "And he kept talking to himself... is that even normal?" she mused to herself. "And then there was this security officer, with a dog..." she started thoughtfully.

"That was Mister Liyar," she said pointedly. "And he most certainly was not cranky," Maenad crossed her arms, her eyes drifted to the passing stars as she stood towering above Nesh, still seated on the couch. With a sigh, Maenad sat down beside her again. "I doubt he was mumbling to himself. And if he were, it was probably some complicated mathematical problem related to his economic projections." She hadn't realised that she had taken up the Vulcan's defense.

"He was totally talking to himself," Nesh insisted with a grin. "Something about Yang-Mills? Yangs-Mills? Whoever the poor guy is, his bosons are very discrete! Whatever that means..."

Maenad shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't there. But he's not crazy, I can assure you." She didn't want to tread into that iffy territory of potentially talking behind someone's back. "Before I send you off to meet Lieutenant Cho, Nesh, I'd like to know something about you other than that you're the captain's sister. You said you like to draw?"

"Oh!" Nesh shot up, bobbing her head a little like an awkward swan. "Yeah, I guess... so... I mean, just, you know, well I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I just kind of... drew your map things. Lir-- Captain Saalm says, that I'm supposed to show aptitude and stuff, even though I'm not really, like, well I don't know a lot about this stuff? But ... yes? Don't tell anyone, though. I mean, it's so nerdy. I got an interview for Jmhari Institute, though," she revealed almost shyly, twirling a strand of hair in her hand and staring at the floor.

"Oh," Maenad smiled. "That's fantastic. I gave a guest lecture and attended a conference there once; it's a beautiful school. And being artistic, Nesh, is hardly nerdy. I would love to see your drawings. And, who knows, if you prove yourself I would be happy to write you a strong recommendation letter, if it's not too late."

Nesh beamed in an uncharacteristic display of enthusiasm toward her art. For some reason, being among Maenad's office - she was obviously refined and cultured and all those other things, made her a little less reluctant to admit to her burgeoning artistic passion than usual. "Really? That would be amazing!" the young Orion gushed sincerely. "You lectured there? What was it like?" she asked, a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes. Seeing another world, going to school on another world, was an opportunity of a lifetime.

"I did," Maenad said, nodding. "I was only a guest. It was on some ancient Bajoran pottery work. But the campus itself was stunning. And the faculty is impressive, a lot of really smart people teach there," she listed. "So, why are you really here, Nesh?" she asked with a tilted head. "If you wish to be an artist, why are you following me around?"

Nesh grimaced. "Um. Well. Like, I said before, right? My boyfriend kind of crashed a shuttle and my mom blamed me. And I asked L-- Captain Saalm if I could stay here for a semester, you know, 'til she cools off? And she said I could, if I worked. So, she put me here, and this is like, totally the most important department, which is awesome," she grinned. "But I mean, I'm not reckless, or anything! I didn't even know he didn't have a license! And I wasn't flying! And just for the record, I hate shuttles now."

Maenad just gave a quiet laugh, shaking her head. "Okay, well, I believe you," she told her. "I think you will enjoy your time here."

While Nesh originally didn't agree while they were on the shuttle here, she was starting to think maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. She hopped to her feet, pulling out the PADD. "Thanks! So, uh... where's Lieutenant Cho... at?"

"Her office is down the hall, but I don't know if she's in there right now. Consider finding her part of your first task," it was the best Maenad could come up with with this short of notice. "Once you have finished with her, come back here and I'll find something more substantial for you to do."

Nesh nodded solemnly. "Aye, aye!" she saluted and began to step toward the door, but first picked up her plate and cup and walked back to the replicator to dispose of them.

"Oh, and Nesh," Maenad stood up from the sofa. "Please don't tell anyone about... your sister and I. I'm very private."

Nesh flounced over and offered Maenad a reassuring smile. "I'll keep your secret safe and sound," she promised sincerely. At least, she'd try. Whether or not she'd be successful, was a different matter. She gave one more salute than was necessary before bouncing out of the office and down the halls, in the complete opposite direction to Cho's office.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Nesh Saalm
Scientist's Mate, CIV
USS Galileo

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