Food for thought

Posted on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 @ 5:08am by Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant Danica Kovitz

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Deck 2
Timeline: DS9 during Hell is a four letter word
1516 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

Walking down the vastly more open plan corridors of deck two S'hib wrestled with his thoughts, He had barely come aboard and already the majority of the senior command staff had vanished off the face of the galaxy. ~Surely it must be some kind of test.~ He thought to himself as his hooves gracefully glided along. ~Why else would a Commodore arrive shortly before this all happened.~ He reasoned with himself naively as he stopped briefly outside a barbershop, Customers from various races sat comfortably in their chairs, clippings of hair gently falling to the floor.

~They've got to stop with these abductions, we've already had one during our last mission.~ S'hib thought as his eyes glazed over, staring at his own reflection in the exterior glass as he quoted Corporal Lott from their brief conversation in the turbolift.

Danica Kovitz was similarly wrestling with her thoughts. She'd just left a meeting of the science division. Unsurprisingly, everyone was on edge. The Commodore's appearance seemed suspiciously well timed. And while that didn't mean she was involved in the Captain's disappearance, it didn't exactly rule her out either. She rounded a corner, faster and more absentmindedly than she should have, and collided with the substantially taller frame of Ensign S'hib.

Stumbling backward, she caught herself, but her pad and thermos fell to the floor and skittered away. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," she said hurriedly.

"Let me get that," S'hib said as he knelt down and stopped the Thermos from rolling any further, scooping it up in his large hooved digits. "You aren't hurt are you?" He added, rising to his full height once more and extending her flask back.

"Only my pride," Danica added, retrieving the flask. "I was too caught up in my thoughts. Forgot there are a few hundred people who I have to share these halls with. By the way, not sure we've officially met. I'm Danica Kovitz, Science Officer." She extended her free hand in greeting.

"S'hib." He said, extending his large hand to gently clutch hers. "I recently joined the Elysium, sadly current events have also left me with a lot on my mind." S'hib said sullenly.

"I haven't been here incredibly long either," Danica said, keeping away from the details briefly. She saw a similar look in his face too. She looked at her watch, noting the time. "I'm actually about to go on lunch break. If you want, we can go complain about stuff to each other. It beats me trying to read through yet another status update."

"I'd like that." S'hib said glancing around. "Did you have anywhere in mind?"

"The mess?" Dani shrugged. That was about the best recommendation she had. "I don't know. I'm still pretty new here."

"You and me both." S'hib said with a slight chuckle. "Well, while we head to the mess why don't you tell me about what you're going to be doing in your role." S'hib added curiously as they both steadily walked on.

"That's a great question," Danica said, scratching her head in thought. Describing her position was strangely harder than she expected. She managed a meandering explanation. "I'm astrophysics and planetary science focused by training, but I have a decent level of general science background too. I'm not used to a position like this, where I have subordinates. I'm Assistant Chief, which I guess means I assist the Chief? Mostly it means I coordinate the department so that we're ready for her orders."

"Planetary science?" S'hib spluttered out as they rounded a corner. "Do you have a favourite class?" He added, cocking his head to the side as they continued walking.

"Of planet?" Danica asked. "If I'm living there, M-Class." She let out a very brief laugh before getting a little more serious. "For actually study though, I've always been intrigued by P-Class worlds. I grew up on Andoria for a while, and I guess the whole idea still appeals to me. Always leaves you wondering what's under the ice."

"More ice?" S'hib teased, letting out a strange but happy sounding whine. "I happen to have a fascination with Class J." S'hib added, seemingly deep in thought for a moment. "I could watch the swirling clouds of a gas giant all day if given the chance."

"That's fair. Class J's are gorgeous. And weird too, which is always nice from a science standpoint. All that gravity leads to some strange dynamics," Danica said with a chuckle. She gave him a quizzical look. "By the way, if this isn't rude to ask, what's your homeworld like? I don't think I've met a member of your species before."

"I'm from Sequella, It's quite a large temperate planet." He replied happily, It always made him happy when someone took an interesting in his people beyond just staring. "It only really has one major landmass, a supercontinent that stretches from pole to pole." S'hib added trying his best to describe its features.

"The equator is mostly Savanna, twenty seven hours of blistering heat scorching the surface." S'hib said enthusiastically, barely looking where he was walking as his gaze transfixed on Danica for any subtle responses.

"Obviously the further you travel towards the poles the more tropical and cooler it gets." He said almost walking into someone. "But the coastline, if you could even call it that...is where I think you would be most interested in." S'hib finished, his eyes and ears still pointed towards Danica.

Danica nodded along, tilting her head slightly and letting her eyes widen a bit. A pole to pole supercontinent? That wasn't something you came across every day. She felt her mind start spinning on the different ways evolution could play out on such a surface. Was it always a supercontinent? If it wasn't how recently had it formed? The questions popping into her head were numerous, but she stayed focused on S'hib's words. "What's at the coastlines?" she asked curiously.

"Well, that's where the majority of the planet is still volcanically active." S'hib said as they boarded a turbolift, pausing momentarily as the previous occupants left. "Main mess hall." He chirped quickly before looking back at Danica to continue.

"And the sands on the Sequellian coastline are a deep orange due to the rich metal elements on the surface oxidizing, but the real beauty is the pot marked islands that stretch out for miles into the ocean." S'hib said, pausing for a moment as he looked around for the right words to use. "I saw somewhere similar on earth, the... Phili..peens." He added with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, I can see how volcanos could be an issue for a day at the beach," Dani said with a chuckle. Molten rock was a bit less welcoming than the soft sands of some shorelines. She allowed S'hib's description to form a mental image of the islands. The mix of color sounded mesmerizing. "But the islands sounds lovely. Are they large enough to be habitable?"

"Oh yes. In fact, most of them are inhabited. A majority of the civilian infrastructure is on the coastline as the further inland you go the less water becomes available, especially just above and below the equator." S'hib added as the lift stopped and they exited, walking slowly down another corridor.

"That's fascinating," Danica said, following S'hib out into the corridor. "And the ocean takes up the rest of the surface area then? I can only imagine what kind of creatures would live in an ocean like that."

"Yeah, I tried not to think about the ocean too much when I was young." S'hib replied, thinking back to his home. "Yet here I am, inside a space boat traveling inside the biggest ocean there is." He added, doing nothing else but freaking himself out at the fact.

She was somewhat entertained by the interpretation he had taken. She'd meant it as a statement of intrigue, wondering what sort of lifeforms such an ocean would produce. But of course, she didn't live there. His response of apprehension told her it might be more interesting to see data on the creatures than have to deal with them in person. She noticed the discomfort. "Yeah, it's a little weird to think about that sometimes. But think about how weird the Vulcans must feel then. At least our worlds had large oceans for us to use as a sort of metaphor."

"You know I never considered that. Then again, I'd never seen snow until I came to earth." He added, his brow scrunching in thought.

"Eh, snow is overrated," Danica said with a slight chuckle. "I'm mostly kidding. I spent a lot of time on Andoria growing up. So I'm perfectly comfortable with snow. But if I never had to see it again, that'd probably be fine too."

"The greatest thing about this job is we can see things that are very familiar to us, but also completely alien." S'hib interjected.

"I couldn't agree more," Dani said, with a smile.

OFF:

Ensign S'hib
Security

Lieutenant Danica Kovitz
Assistant Chief Science Officer