Sometimes its about the boring things in life

Posted on Sun Jan 8th, 2023 @ 4:37am by Lieutenant JG Elijah Carmichael & Lieutenant Myne Redal

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Deck 10, Cargo Bay 1
Timeline: Pre-Depature
4873 words - 9.7 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

One of the things Eli couldn't get over was the sheer size and beauty of the Elysium, compared to the Olympic-class starship he was on before there was clearly nothing held back on expenses when they designed the ship. That was even more exaggerated when he came out of the turbo lift on deck 10 right next to Paddy's Loft, one of the handfuls of drinking establishments aboard the ship.

His visit here, however, was not recreational, in fact, he had a job to do. One of today's less exciting jobs was to do an inventory check on all the medical supplies they had just taken on board, dating them and making sure there was nothing missing. Sthilg ran a tight ship and Eli didn't want to disappoint.

Eli quickly wound his way through the promenade taking in the short glimpses of Koi that swam up and down the stream which cut the promenade into two. Making his way stern he eventually came away from the civilian areas and eventually found himself in Cargo Bay 1.

Besides himself there were a handful of people moving around doing similar checks, it was common practice just to leave the space dock, and Cargo Bay 1 was a shared unit. But in his quiet corner, he waited patiently for the operations officer who would be assisting him.

Myne was already in the cargo hold checking the crates as an afterthought while she waited for her equivalent in the Medical Department to arrive. She could have delegated to a subordinate but, well, she did want to meed the assistant to the dear Gorn doctor. Mostly because a part of her still believed what she had read when she was young and wanted to make sure the good doctor did not monch on his assistant arms or something.

"Oh hey there! Lieutenant Carmichael? Hey there! Lieutenant Redal, assistant to the chief Operations officer. Nice to meet ya!" Myne chirped cheerfully as she offered to shake his hand. And in true Myne fashion she most certainly totally not catch his hand in a proper handshake, but something more akin to a old ancient Roman arm grip.

Eli hadn’t had much time to process before he was gripped into a forearm greeting, “You’re not going to tell me we’re about to battle in the coliseum are you?” He chuckled, having an interest in Greek and Roman mythology he felt the comment made sense. “It’s good to meet you, I figured I’d handle this one myself, given I’m new and need to learn my way about the ship.”

Eli let go of her forearm. “So where should we begin?”

Myne looked at Eli with obvious confusion. "Battle whom in the where? What's a coliseum?" The young-looking Trill asked not getting the reference at all. "Oh, I know you are new, that is why I am here. Always nice to make friends with the assistant of a different department head. Us assistants need to stick together you know?"

He chuckled, her comments were very true one day that may find that they were no longer assistance but chiefs together. Sticking together seemed like a good idea.

"Also, yeah, you're new and I wanna help out before entrusting you can handle the medical supplies for your department on your own in the future." Myne spoke with innocent earnestness, smiling and beaming with a genuine desire to help. "So, do you have the manifest with you? Or do you want me to forward it to you? And we can start with those crates there in the corner."

Elijah didn’t linger on her comment about trust, if anything he agreed. Trust was earned even in a society as communal and socially accepting as Starfleet. “I have it, Sthilg made sure I did before I left!” The blue haired doctor looked to the corner she mentioned. “Looks like a perfectly good corner to start in!” Elijah held out his arm, “Show me the way” he was more than willing to learn from her even if it was just in the most efficient way of inventory checking.

"Good, the good doctor hasn't asked if he can eat one of your arms, right?" Myne asked for good measure before nodding to Elijah to follow her. "No? Good, let's get this cookie crumbling then!" Myne butchered another Earthling expression as she approached said corner. Checking her own PaDD to look at the manifest she nodded. "Alright, you know, usually it is best to simple whip your underlings to do this, but I find sorting out cargo to be quite fun and relaxing. Also it gives one the chance to play a few harmless pranks. I once put in a few of my favorite Ferengi comics in one of the medical supply boxes that the good doctor requested. They were all basically Gorn cook books, well a fun take on them with a happy go luck Gorn teaching you how to cook Romulans, Klingons, the works! I had to sit on a whole lecture from the good doctor for that, but he seemed to have a lot of fun as well at the ridiculousness of it all." Myne chuckled and smiled. "That aside, it is genuinely good to know what stocks you have available in case of an emergency, you know?"

Elijah’s brain was working overtime to keep up with the Trills attempts at Earth sayings and her ability to speak quickly. Still he enjoyed listening to her, it was interesting to see how other people worked and Myne was unlike anyone he knew. “I don’t think the Chief would like the taste of me anyway, all skin and bones though perhaps that is why he’s trying to fatten me up with some biscuits every morning during the morning briefs” Eli paused scrunching his face and then shook his head, he was just being overly imaginative. Going back to the task at hand; “Oh I agree, there’s something about it that makes it therapeutic. Have you been on the ship long” Elijah used his PaDD and matched the shelf ID with what was displaying and readied himself to open the container.

"Ha! I knew it!!" Myne chirped loudly and did the fist pump of victory rather weirdly, clearly not having the gesture learned properly. Snickering she continued. "Just make sure to tell him you don't taste that good and he should focus on someone else in the medbay! Uh oh, if he asks why, just tell you talked to me and I warned you about it! What I wouldn't give to be a airplane on the wall for that to see his reaction! The good doctor is such a sweetheart!" Myne chuckled and popped the lid off the container.

"And not that long really. Been here for a while, say the ship change three Captains in short order, but I still consider myself a newcomer still." Preparing her own PaDD she nodded to Eli. "So let's see what we have in stock here. What fun drugs does the medical department have stowed away for all the fun parties!" The Trill teased with a bright smile.

He made a mental note to take Myne through all of the earthling sayings she never quite got right, human expressions 101. "If you consider yourself a new comer then I'm still a cadet!" He joked taking out the first few items, luckily the way containers were packed it was possible to check the insides by removing each layer like a shelf. "Unlucky for you we keep the controlled medication such as Fentanyl, Morphine, Co-dine, Diazepam, Ketamine and Levomethorphan in the medical lockers in the main sickbay. So there would have to be some sever sucking up for you to get any hands on that stuff." He teased.

This container seemed to include medical equipment, spare medical tricorders, and hypospray cartridges that were still in the clinically sealed bags. "There should be five trays for fifty cartridges, 10 medical tricorders and twenty-two medical isolinear replacement chips." Eli began counting the cartridges, "Check for any signs that clinical bags back been punctured they need to be disposed of if they have, usually one or two slip through processing."

"Oh really now? Well, since you do feel like a cadet and I do teach at the Academy, how can I leverage and stretch that idea beyond its rational limits to convince you give me access to the medical lockers, hmm?" Myne chuckled and tried to be as dramatic as she could for a moment. "Or, or... I have heard Humans have a severe weakness to short skirts? Would that count as sever sucking up to if I wore a barely within regulations uniform skirt? Or do I have to wine and dine you first?"

Myne was enjoying the teasing and banter quite a great deal, and the smile resting on her face was a jovial one. Even as she worked and checked her own PaDD before looking in the crate as well. "Yeeep, one second!" She pulled out her tricorder, which, like her PaDD, clearly had custom work done on it and was barely looking like a standard tricorder anymore. "Oooh boo. Yeah, there is one. There is a bag that is leaking near the bottom of the stack. Fun! See, this is why I always like checking the medical supplies with a doctor. I wouldn't have checked for this. Do you want me to dive in? I can do it like in Earthling cinema and give you a nice view while doing it, but only if it counts as sucking up!" She chuckled and teased some more.

He shook his head, "Some Humans may have a weakness for a trick like that but I am way too engrossed in this inventory readouts to even consider looking up". Elijah said returning the teasing words between them. "Besides It would be very unprofessional for me to let you dive in and not offer myself." Eli smiled and placed the PaDD, he removed a couple of other items from out of the way before bending over the crate, using his hips as a counterpoise as not to end up in the bottom of the crate himself and reached out grabbing the imperfect bag.

Remaining hinged on the box Elijah quickly did a visual inspection in case any of the other vials were compromised but after a quick scan couldn't find any. "Urm, a little hand?" He asked reaching his free arm back out in an attempt to grab the side of the overall large crate to tilt himself back right again.

"Ok, so see, now I am confused!" Myne stated and she cocked her head to the side to stare at Elijah's rear. "Does this count as me sucking up to you, or you sucking up to me? Since you are the show-eeee in this situation. And also darn it, I don't have a rebuttal to the skirt thing. That was my ace in the whole. My other option is now either a dangerously low cleavage or a clown costume. Read that Humans have a unhealthy fascination with clowns, and I simply cannot understand it."

Approaching she put her own PaDD to the side and took his arm in hers. "I don't have much upper body strength so try not to pull to hard. You might pull me in and then we'd be in trouble. If your chief would see us like that, we'd both end up as this Sunday's barbecue!!" Myne tried to brace herself and get ready to pull him back up. She was not joking when she said she didn't have much in terms of strength.

“Oh you’re definitely sucking up to me” Using her as a an anchor Elijah was able to tilt himself back out the box, luckily strength but method was the key here and soon he found himself standing upright again. “I think he’d probably eat us both, wouldn’t be the worst way to go” he joked before placing the damaged vial to one side. “Also, clowns? Where do you do your research?”

The remainder of the box was uneventful and soon it had its lid replaced and was back on the large shelving unit. “So Redal, that sounds very much like a symbiote name?” He asked as they pulled off the next container that contained some emergency medical packs using the telelift.

After Eli was out, Myne snickered and shrugged. "You know, the usual sources. Ferengi newsletters, Klingon documentaries, and the ship's database! Also you Humans have a unhealthy fascination with your 21st century and those before it. But kind of ignore your last several centuries of culture. That is so weird and strange."

"And yeah, being eaten by the good doctor might be one of the better ways to go. Beats getting thrown out a airlock for sure. And are you certain I am the one sucking up to you? After all, you were the one flashing me your rear earlier." Myne chuckled as she checked the container one more time with her tricorder before joining him at the next container. "Also yes to that, Redal is my symbiont's name. Call me Myne if you wish, or Redal, either are fine."

“Ok, I definitely need to take you through real Human history, somehow I don't think the Ferengi and lord knows the Klingon are the best or most reliable sources, no wonder you're butchering some of our most valued sayings!” He teased. “I think I like Myne” he added, “I've met Trill but never joined, would you be ok with some questions?”

Myne groaned loudly and let her shoulder slump. "Why are you Humans constantly trying to give me homework? Captain Taylor already made me read up on Human history and I already learned how the cows conquered the continent of India. And about that Shakespear rock band of Chinapan. Or was it Japhina? Something like that. Boo, I don't see you Earthlings eager to learn about Ferengi throat singing or lobe dancing!"

Pouting for a moment, she chuckled waved her hand dismissively. "As long as you do not try to teach me more weird Human things that do not make sense, like why is the sun always rising in Philadelphia. Since that makes no sense, and I won't even get into it, let's focus on non Earth things. So yes, please ask away, I do not mind answering questions about my people."

“Well maybe you can teach me non-human things and I'll teach you some human things!” he offered opening the lid and pulling out the first tray, placing it next to the crate. “How were you chosen to be joined? From what I was taught its some honor to be chosen right?”

Myne took her tricorder and scanned the tray as she replied. "Fine, deal, cultural exchange and all that. How was I chosen? Well you are partly right. It is kind of a lottery where only those with excellent results are chosen. The point is to offer the symbiont a varied number of experiences over the largest number of host lives possible. And the best of the best are chosen as the lot to draw from. However there are exceptions. In my case I was chosen by the previous host to carry the Redal symbiont due to some, extenuating circumstances."

There were so many inconsistencies with what she had said Elijah didn't even try to correct any, her funny little take on them made it an endearing and cute quality. "Would I be overstepping if I asked what the extenuating circumstances was? Tell me to stop probing if it's not something you want to talk about, I tend to ask too many questions." He explained counting the bottom row of emergency packs.

"No no, you can ask. If something is too probing, I'll deflect by butchering more of your Earth cultural expressions I guess." She offered joyfully. "As for the circumstances, my symbiont requires hosts that fulfill certain very specific conditions. And that is without even mentioning that Redal is considered one of the unluckiest symbiont ever. Like seriously, so much bad luck you can't even, how did that go? Oh right, hit the bull in the back of his eye? Did I get one correctly? No idea why you Humans want to shoot bulls in their eyes, but who am I to judge? Klingons have always said that Earth is a rather savage planet." She chuckled.

"HA! Klingons say Earth are savage, please!" Elijah laughed, "You seem to be doing pretty good with the Redal Symbiote, must have been lucky to have stumbled across such a lovely and charming Trill as yourself" He looked up from the crate and cracked a smile, "And yes this time I am sucking up to you, you're welcome" He bowed into a mocking gesture and rolled out his hands as if he was accepting an encore.

"Hey, I will have you know Klingons have a very rich and vibrant culture. And it is not weird or confusing as Earth culture. Your mating rituals alone are giving me headaches when I try to read about them!" Myne wrinkled her nose at Elijah. "And I am holding on so far with Redal. It's a work in progress. Also what now? Charming and lovely?" She tilted her head to stare at Eli with a bemused grin. "Yeah, you're doing a good job at that, keep it coming!" Myne offered Eli a slow clap to match his bow.

"WOW!" Elijah exclaimed trying not to laugh, "That's because our mating rituals aren't something your read about it's something that just happens, like a date or you know, whatever." He shrugged, "I'll have to take your word for it, never mated with a Klingon." He'd never really 'mated' but he wasn't going to declare that to her. "We all good for this container? Another million like it." Elijah began pushing the trays back in again.

"So your mating just happens? Then why do you have several centuries of literature on mating itself? From your oh-so-famous twenty and twenty-first centuries I found soo many books. Like seriously, you used to have hundreds of books on how to mate. Why would you need instruction manuals on mating? And also apparently your global network was full of mating rituals and pictures and such. You Humans as o weird!"

Myne shook her head, looking at Elijah with genuine exasperation on this topic. "Also, you never mated with a Klingon? You don't know what you are missing!" Shaking her head she moved onto the next container. "Life of a ops officer. Work never stops!"

Elijah was grateful the conversation turned away from their previous topic and back to the work at hand, not that he wasn’t enjoying it but rather his inexperience and he had to admit Myne was easy on the eyes. He hoped his blush wasn’t obvious as the finished packing the second container and moved onto the next. “Why ops?” He asked lifting the lid and after some silence.

Once more using her tricorder to scan the contents as Elijah checked the manifest, Myne shrugged. "Because ops is for generalists like me. Also one has to be a bit crazy to be in ops. Sure the specializations are rather specific, but the higher you climb on the department ladder the more you need to learn and know about all other departments too. You know? I am basically now a back up engineer, tactical, science and even security officer. That's what it means to be ops, to be ready to fill all those roles if needed. Plus, Starfleet has had some amazing operations officers, Data from the Enterprise being one of my role models." Looking at Elijah and noticing his blush, she tilted her head to the side and looked a bit worried. "Everything alright Lieutenant? You look like you might be catching a disease or something. Was that leaking medgel tainted or something?"

He shook his head, "Im good thanks for asking" Elijah smiled, releasing she could see the chemical reaction in his cheeks. "I've never really considered operations like that, or at least I've never had it explained to me so elegantly. Gee, you almost make operations sound like fun" With that he chuckled and winked. "Well seems another container down and a few more to go." He looked along the long line of containers, it was true that despite all their talking the hour had passed quickly, just another hour to go he thought. "I noticed you didn't say backup medic. Have you never fancied learning how to fix somebody up?" He questioned whilst placing a few tricorders back in their spots after checking them off the list.

"Alright, tell me if you're falling sick though, there's paperwork to be done for that! And yeah, operations is fun! If you love being a workaholic, then ops is the place to be! Never a dull moment, well except, you know, the dull moments." She grinned and kept on working. "We're making good time by the way, I was not expecting you to be this efficient. It is endearing to see." Raising her gaze from her tricorder, Myne looked a little bit uncomfortable. "Well, honestly, medical is the exception to the rule. There is no overlap there, so ops officers rarely have the training to be backup doctors. Also, personally, my first host was a surgeon, I do not wish to repeat that experience for varied reasons."

Elijah nodded, a surgeon's job was the most demanding and sometimes the least rewarding. "I understand, being a doctor is at time the best thing, you get to give people second chances but sometimes it's the times that you aren't good enough or the injuries too much that really weigh on you, I have a few of those on my sleeve." As a Starfleet officer and a Doctor it was your mission to save everyone, sometimes that just couldn't be done and every medical professional knows that those are the cases that linger. "We Humans can be proficient and efficient too you know." He teased changing the topics.

"Also, like, medicine has advanced in the past four hundred years since I last practiced it, you know? Kinda long time and waaaay too much reading to catch up on!" Myne says seriously as if reading up would be the biggest impediment. Looking at Elijah for a long moment she approached and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a warm, encouraging smile. "Hey, focusing on those is going to push you down a really bad path. Focus on your successes instead, and those that fell through the cracks, make sure that never happens again. As long as you give it your best, then that is all anyone can ask for. Remember, you are not a god just because you know how and what to cut with a scalpel." Then chuckling she booped his nose. "Awww, fine, I'll let you have that one, Humans are amazing too, when they don't push their culture obsessively upon the rest of us."

The booping of his nose seemed far less annoying than one would consider and he found himself smiling again, “Yes well we wouldn’t be Human if we didn’t at least try to convey our methodology upon everyone, even if it is done as discretely as the Federation does it.” He chuckled, it was true, despite their success in peacefully meeting new civilizations Human always had a unique connection to believing their way was always the best way. “Soooo” Elijah started, “A couple of hosts, how does that work with past relationships and future ones?” He tried approaching the topic as sensitively as a Human could. It was one of the things he never quite understood.

"Ha! Discretely, yeah totally!" Myne couldn't help but blurt out a laugh. Shaking her head she smiled widely and got back to work as she replied. "Completely forbidden, the relationships part. You are not allowed to have any contact with former spouses or lovers. I mean it is not exactly illegal, but it is so very wrong and unnatural, you know? Like you Humans and cannibalism, it just feels wrong to the bone. On the other hand, I can keep in touch with former friends and most importantly my children and grandchildren."

Elijah stopped working and asked rather candidly “You have grandchildren?” It was difficult to imagine the woman in front of him, young and vibrant had children, let alone grandchildren. “Sorry, I get it that the symbiote lives for hundreds of years I guess it’s just odd hearing you refer to them as your grandchildren! I really should be better educated!” He admitted.

Myne tilted her head to the side and rubbed her chin, lost in thought. Then looked at her hand and started to tick down her fingers. "Let's see, four hundred years means, grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grandchildren? If I start off from my first host that is. Yeah, as I said, you Humans are weird with how you view the galaxy through your own lens and nothing else. Most Joined Trills gather quite expansive families over the decades and centuries of existence. It is normal really, well for the Joined at least. But given how we are a minority among the Trill... still, for us it is nothing special."

“Nothing special?” He repeated with a slight chuckle, “But you’re right I should be acting far more enlightened, it’s the Human in me” despite centuries of human experience and spreading its reach across the galaxies humans were after all still remarkably human. “How many do we have left?” He asked not looking at his manifest as he scanned the 4D barcode on the back of the medical replicator spare.

"I mean, do you think it is special that you have parents? It is normal right? Mundane, how the world works. Aside from the whole miracle of life and happy family units and all that. But you get the point, right? It is something that happens naturally, so for me having about almost a dozen generations of grandchildren is normal. Aaaand, we have one more box." Myne nodded and pointed to the next crate and last in their order. "Honestly, we've checked the ones who are the first to be opened. The rest that have the same content, I'll just scan after and compare the scans to the ones we've opened. That way I'll notice if there is anything wrong with them."

"Sounds like a plan batman," Elijah said with a smile and nod, "And I guess you're right when you put into perspective and consider what's normal to one person isn't normal to another." The blue-haired doctor pondered for a moment. "I've really enjoyed our conversation, its be fun and educating." Pausing for another moment to place the lid back onto the crate he pushed the unit back onto its designated shelf. "I wonder if you'd be up for doing again some time." He laughed, placing his hands by his side and looking around, "Well maybe not exactly like this but I don't know a coffee or something, I need to make some friends or so my mother tells me... repeatedly." There was a mocking tone and an eye role. Despite being an adult, an officer of Starfleet his mother still found a way to make him feel like a child.

"Bat man? I am a Trill woman, or was that not obvious?" Myne checked herself for a moment to see her dots, then shook her head in confusion and shrugged. "Oh well, I am glad you liked it. Hope it helped pass the time and the tedious nature of our task much easier." Tapping a few more commands on her PaDD, Myne finished and rested the device against her and smiled warmly at Eli. "Oh? I'd love that! Though I will not be partaking of the poison and torture fluid you call coffee. I'd rather drink a tasty slug-o-cola honestly, I don't understand why you Human subject yourself to that... coffee. As for the mother part, hehe, I do get it, she cares about you so don't give her a hard time by being silly like that!"

"Maybe I'll join you with the slug-o-cola.” He beamed not fully knowing what that meant and hoped that it didn't actually contains slugs. Even if they would provide a healthy nutritional smoothie. “Well looks like we're done hear, thank you for the help.” He slid the lid and then the crate back to it stored position.

Myne offered her hand for a weird not normal handshake, something more akin to a old style Roman shake instead. "It was a pleasure working with you! Can't wait to see you again over a glass of slug-o-cola then! You'll love it, unlike Earth coffee, it is not poisonous or a drug!" She winked and chuckled, turning to make her way out of the cargo hold and set up the sensors to scan the rest of the crates.


//OFF//

Lieutenant Myne Redal
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Elysium

&

Lieutenant JG Elijah Carmichael
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Elysium