Things that go bump in the day

Posted on Sat Dec 25th, 2021 @ 8:30pm by Lieutenant Myne Redal & Captain Natacha Patani

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: MD08 1100
2102 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

Myne was looking down from the large tree at the arboretum, admiring the view for a moment longer. She had spent an hour or two testing the precision of the transporter system by making one of them she had reserved transport her from a specific branch to a specific branch.

After two hours she had finally finished calibrating that specific transporter and had the data needed to let a subroutine handle calibrating the others she transported herself down to the ground level. With a sigh she stretched her back and turned around, eyes still in her PaDD as she began walking towards... well, actually nowhere in particular. Today she felt like walking and working.

At the moment, to the casual observer, Natacha Patani didn't look like a Marine commissioned officer. Barefoot, wearing white gym shorts and a black sports bra, she looked like any young woman taking her ease in the arboretum.

Natacha had found a secluded spot and began going through her yoga routine. Normally, the marine captain would have never ventured beyond Marine country for any reason outside of duty requirements. But the routine she had learned from the Sisters of the Sangamithra Society worked best in a natural setting. Hence her presence in the ship's arboretum.

Natacha was transitioning from one position to another when, just a few meters away from her, a young woman materialized. The officer in question had her nose buried in a PADD. Tne officer spun around and made a beeline toward Natacha, obviously oblivious to her surroundings. Natacha nimbly stepped to one side, then lightly tapped the officer on the shoulder as she passed by.

"You might want to watch where you're walking, Lieutenant," Natacha quietly observed, as she resumed her yoga routine.

Years of conditioning, intensive training and combat proficiency had led to this one moment. Alright, fine, that would be a complete lie. Instead the following happened as the marine tapped Myne on the shoulder: "GAAAH!!" The Trill screamed and jumped to the side in a panicked motion, before swatting at Natacha with a free hand and her PaDD. After managing to understand she was not under attack Myne bent forward, resting with her hands on her knees and breathing heavily.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Myne asked between heavy, breaths, trembling from every joint before letting herself fall to the floor on her butt. "By the nearest black hole, you scared the symbiont out of me."

"If I had been trying to kill you, Lieutenant," Natacha replied matter-of-factly, as she continued her yoga, "You would be dead. I was, however, trying to assist you from injuring yourself. More than you already have," Natacha amended.

"Really? That quickly? Well, I guess thank you then? At least it wouldn't hurt like being scared to death would." Myne managed to get her breathing under control and looked up at the marine working out. "So, do you have a medical condition or what? Regrown limbs?" She asked nodding at the movements that Natacha made as part of her yoga routine. Something that Myne was completely oblivious about.

"I am seeking escape, and thus unity," the marine replied, her eyes closed as she balanced easily on one foot. "Dissolution, and thus focus."

Natacha opened both eyes, then squatted down on both feet in front of the Trill. "Do you need help, Lieutenant?" she asked.

With a confused gaze, Myne stared up at Natacha and took a moment to reply. "Dissolution and what now? Craaaap, you're having a nervous breakdown, right? I need to call security and a head doc or something. If you are having a stroke or another thingy like that, blink once!" Myne asked with genuine worry for the woman now squatting in front of her.

A hint of a smile tugged at the right corner of Natacha's mouth. Normally, the marine officer was the epitome of standoffishness. Even with her marine brothers and sisters, she was always a comrade at arms, but not necessarily a comrade off duty.

But there was something...endearing about this trill. It was an unfamiliar, if not unknown, emotion to Natacha.

It was also not an altogether unpleasant feeling.

Sitting on the ground cross legged, Natacha asked, "Lieutenant, do you ever meditate?"

A sudden expression of fear appeared on her face, then morphed into worry as she shook her head. "No, no no no. Sorry erm, lady who's name I don't know. Or rank. I have tried meditation before and I am rather tired of having to go to the Sickbay because of it. You could say I am meditation allergic?"

For some reason, Myne found herself unable, or really simply the thought never crossed her mind, to get back up. Especially with this woman that scared her sitting like that in front of her now. Yeeeeep, this day turned stranger than normal really quickly. Not that she was complaining.

"Captain Natacha Patani," Natacha answered. "Marine Captain." There was a pause before she added, "You may call me a Natacha. I'm sorry that you had an...allergic reaction to meditation. Among my ancestors, the story of meditation was that it was a divine gift, to allow a warrior peace."

"Captain and marine? Sounds cool to be honest. Nice, do you get to play with guns and do cool stuff? Atmospheric landings and all of that? Kicking butt and taking names?" Her questions might have hinted at the fact that she had no idea what she was asking. Mostly she was quoting from Earth media really. "Peace sounds good, kinda wish I could find peace like that. Sadly not in the cards. So you are trying to find peace here? In the Arboretum?"

Again, that hint of a smile tugged at the right corner of Natacha's mouth. If she had been peppered by any other stranger with such nonsensical questions about being a Marine, they would have been met by stony silence. There was just something about this little Trill...

"I was taught to practice yoga in as natural a setting as possible," Natacha answered. "But peace can be found anywhere." The Marine paused before she broached her next question. "Would you mind me asking what your allergic reaction to meditation was?"

"A yoga? I heard of that before but no one told me straight what it does. Is it a Earth religion or something like that?" Myne asked relaxing more and more as the two of them kept talking. "Well, I wish I could tell you, but it's one of those allergies where I would not wish other people to know about. Sorry, but we just met and I don't kiss and spill all of my secrets after being scared to death just once." She chuckled.

"Of course," Natacha replied in a solemn tone. From just the few minutes she had known this little Trill, she suspected it would be next to impossible to stop her from telling you all about herself. "Yoga in and of itself is not a religion, though it is, in its original form, a religious practice. It has been adopted --- some might even use the word 'appropriated' --- by other groups, both secular and religious, human and nonhuman. Yoga is first discussed in a sacred text more than five thousand Terran years ago."

"Five thousand years ago? Well that doesn't seem too long ago. So it's a religion about strange body movements? Like dancing and stuff? I can get behind that. You Humans keep being surprised over and over again. Maybe I shouldn't have ignored your culture for so long after all. And here I am thinking back that so long ago I thought that you Humans will get eaten by space monsters when we first made contact."

Myne smiled, letting out a veritable waterfall of words with barely a breath. "So a religious marine, who prays and dances slowly for peace, so she can go kill more efficiently? I love this Yoga thing, such a wonderful contradiction!"

The Marine Captain arched an eyebrow, giving the little Trill a half smile. "I sometimes forget that, by galactic standards, five thousand Terran years isn't really that ancient. It does remind me of the Riddle of the Da'Harkey. Are you familiar with the Da'Harkey, Lieutenant? They're a sentient species in the Gamma Quadrant."

Shaking her head, Myne raised her hand in front of her. "Romulan, Ferengi, Klingon, Breen and Orion." She said as she ticked off one finger at a time. "If you want to talk about them, sure I have stories to tell. Otherwise, my experiences have been limited. Four hundred years doesn't really mean much when one tends to dedicate a century or so per species." The Trill explained while stating her age in a very matter-of-fact manner as Natacha clearly caught her attention and curiosity with the promise of new knowledge. "So please tell me more about the Doohikeys from the Gamma Quadrant."

"The riddle isn't so much about the Da'Harkey" --- there was a slight emphasis on the name of the species" ---as it concerns the application of transfinite numbers to the field of epistemology." As Natacha was speaking, she gracefully came to her feet. "The gist of the riddle is that the acquisition of wisdom isn't a linear process." The marine extended a hand to help the Trill to her feet.

Accepting the offered hand, Myen got up to her now steadier feet. She did put her weight behind her pull, but given her smaller stature and light build, that really didn't mean much. "I do like transfinite numbers, and while epistemology sounds like a type of migraine you really hooked me in with the word 'acquisition'. How does one go around purchasing wisdom? How much is it weight in latinum? Do the Dohackery practice barter?" Her questions do betray that her time spent among the Ferengi might have left a rather deep impression.

"There are other rules of acquisition besides those composed by Gint," Natacha replied. "I have a training course to give. Perhaps we might continue this conversation at another time? Over a meal?"

Her eyes went wide quickly as Myne now held Natacha's hand with both of hers. Closing in on the marine with a bout of intense joy. "You know of Gint and the rules of acquisition?! By the holy ledger how? Why? Folks on Starfleet usually ignore those words of wisdom completely!! This is so amazing!! Yeah, meal sure. oh my goodness, I can't wait to hear which rule is your favorite and why!!" The overexcited Trill had trouble not gushing over the fact that finally there was someone who at least knew the rules.

Internally, the little Trill's reaction was causing the Marine's haphephobia to "kick in." Externally, Natacha kept the hint of a smile on her face as she gently extracted herself from the other officer's grasp.

"The Federation began providing me an eclectic education shortly after my sixteenth birthday," Natacha explained. "I can answer that further at twenty-hundred?" the Marine suggested. "At the Arcadia Bar and Lounge?"

The cheerful Trill nodded eagerly. "Twenty hundred at Arcadia. It's a date then!!" She said reaching down to pick up her PaDD from the floor and after flashing Natacha an all consuming cheerful smile.

"A date," Natacha somberly echoed. "I never got your name, Lieutenant."

"Oh, Myne Redal. Please call me Myne. I am the Assistant Chief Ops of the ship. A pleasure to meet you!" Myne replied as she proudly stated her position. "So I am the girl you call when you run out of phasers basically. I even know the dirty secret of the marine corps. Since I did the inventory on our stocks for you guys last week!" She winked at Natacha.

Again, the non-customary half smile appeared on Natacha's face. "I will see you at twenty-hundred, Myne." With a nod, the Marine officer strode out of the arboretum and back to Marine country. As she did so, her body language transitioned back to that of a no-nonsense Marine officer.

Myne waited for Natacha to be far enough before letting out a deep sigh and turning her back to shiver. "That was intense." She mumbled to herself and let her shoulders slump and relax, bringing a hand to her chest. "Felt strange too." With a shake of her head she placed her customary cheerful smile back on her lips and made her way towards the nearest turbolift. Her mind racing at the thought of their date later in the day.

//OFF//

Captain Natacha Patani
Marine Executive Officer
USS Elysium

Lieutenant JG Myne Redal
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Elysium