Meeting a distant relative
Posted on Tue Apr 2nd, 2024 @ 10:04am by Lieutenant Njalia Sayffier
Mission:
Shakedown Shake-Up
Location: Mess Hall - USS Nelson
1193 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure
Njalia collected her plate and was looking for a table when she saw the new Intelligence officer. Well, this is a good opportunity, she thought and headed over to his table. "Hello, Lieutenant, may I join you?"
"Of course Ma'am.", Quentin said. He was always open to meeting new people. So far, getting settled in had been going surprisingly well. "Say, you're in charge of that Quartermaster right?"
Njalia took a seat across from Quentin. "Quartermastering is one of the many tasks of Operations. Are you referring to SWO Noj?"
"As a matter of fact I am...", Quentin said. "I didn't tell you this, but I have a suspicion something is going on out of that cargo bay he runs. He gave the distinct impression that he might be selling something he isn't suppose to. I had to get a blanket and some other stuff from his the other day.", Quentin said. He figured he might as well let the operations officer know about the issue, although he suspected she might already be aware.
"Well, Noj is a Ferengi so a certain amount of . . . additional trade is to be expected," said Njalia. "It is allowed as long as it does not violate Federation law or Star Fleet regulations and he performs his duties properly and efficiently." She took a sip of Andorian The. "He did provide you with what you needed without trouble, yes?"
"He did... just odd. Say, is that The you're drinking?", he said. Quentin started eating his food and drinking his own cup of The. Just then, he pulled out his PADD and checked it before quickly putting it back. It was a bad habit he had but he knew he was suppose to be paying attention to the person he was talking to.
"Yes, Karulean Blend 3, with a pinch of cinnamon," replied Njalia. "You know you can set those to alert you if there is a problem," she said with a nod to the pad and an amused quirk of her antennae.
Quentin pulled his antennae back in embarrassment. He'd always been a computer guy, but those PADDs always gave him trouble. He pushed it towards Njalia. "Can you please show me how?", he asked. Quentin also prepared himself to try to pick up the electromagnetic signals from the PADD as a bit of practice. It was still a new skill, but he was quickly getting better at 'seeing' what was on computers with his ability. It had taken a lot of dedication to get this far and he was determined to be able to show his new boss his little trick one day soon.
"Yes," said Njalia with a smile. "Do you need to unlock it?"
"Yes, yes.", Quentin said with a hint of embarrassment. Quentin unlocked the pad and passed it back over.
She efficiently ran through the procedure for setting alerts and how you could set up specific tags if you were waiting for news about something, she used reports of Romulan ships on the border as an example, and that you could vary the alert tones or set it to flash or vibrate. "And there you go," she concluded.
Quentin watched carefully, trying to remember the steps, his antennae swirling. "This Nelson ship sure is something. I had no idea that I'd be on it before the Vesta pulled in half melted. Oh, do you know if anyone plays basketball here?", he asked.
"We had no idea either and I am glad the Vesta was only half-melted, it was a very close-run thing. The ice was shattering all around us," she paused a moment, seeing the past. She shook her head. "But we and the Vesta made it though."
"Basketball? The Terran sport?" she asked. "Not that I know of but I stick to gymnastics and martial arts. I can program some of the holograms to play if you would like."
"I don't want you to mess with the holograms on this ship... something will go wrong. I'll play when we get back on the Vesta.", Quentin said. "I'm going to get another drink", he said before he got up and had the replicator make him a cup of The, the same as Njalia was drinking. He sat back down. Quentin hoped that he could try to make friends with Njalia.
"Trust me, the holograms are perfectly safe, I have checked and rechecked the safety protocols," said Njalia. "There will be no Moriarty incidents on my watch. And laying in a personality matrix is smooth skating. I could even build you a team easily enough." She glanced to her datapad. "These Harlem Globetrotters seem pretty interesting."
Quentin laughed slightly and moved his antennae back. He took a sip of his drink. "Interesting they are. Also a total showteam! By the early twenty-first century they weren't even in the league. They have some cool tricks, I'll give 'em that, but they aren't a competitive team. I like where your going on this one, any one teams stand out to you?", he said. Quentin thought it was pretty funny that the Globetrotters would be the first team a person who's never watched basketball would comment on.
"Isi," said Njalia. "Oh, here is one, the Seattle Storm, a women's team. I have been to Seattle and they have a nice logo. I could easily build something from there." She was smiling, flicking through the information.
"Cool.", said Quentin. He leaned over and looked at the PADD. He pointed towards the team name. "I think this could work... just as long as those holograms don't go crazy again.", said Quentin. He got up and put his empty dishes back in the replicator before sitting back down.
By the time Quentin returned, Njalia had two squads of basketball uniform wearing holograms projected on the table (at one-twelfth scale). "Here in my initial mock-up. Storm for me. Warriors for you. The teams should play at the same level of skill and physical ability. You will obviously outclass me on that spectrum but that is fine." She set the datapad down. "And stop worrying about the holograms, the safety redundancies have redundancies built into them and all of the non-Sec/Tac assigned have Asimov's Laws laid in at the base programming level. I will not say that it is impossible for things to go wrong just exceedingly unlikely."
"Whenever a tech person says it's 'exceedingly unlikely' for something to happen, it doesn't put me at rest.", he said, emphasizing 'exceedingly unlikely' with his antennae. "These teams are perfect.", he said pointing to the holograms. "I'm sure we can tinker with the settings to make this a far match." Quentin was very impressed by the holograms and looked forward to playing with them. "These will transfer to the Vesta when we get back right?", he asked.
Njalia pauses for a moment, doing calculations. "Yes, we can make that happen." She smiles. "My schedule is full for today but we could try the teams out tomorrow if you have an hour free."
"Sounds good. I'll see you then." Quentin got up and left for his room. "See you later!", he said with a wave.
