Hymn for the Weekend
Posted on Wed Apr 12th, 2017 @ 3:12pm by Lieutenant JG Jai & Commander Jonathan Mantell
Mission:
Refined Relations
Location: Vesta, Deck 6, Arboretum
Timeline: MD 03
Tags: Jack, Jai
1874 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure
It might seem strange, but despite living in the post warp galaxy for the better part of the last one hundred years - including having studied on Vulcan and Trill - Jai could probably count on one hand the number of times he had been aboard a starship.
Even less so a Starfleet vessel.
When he had first come aboard the ship, the Tibetan monk had focused his time and efforts at familiarizing himself with the ship's medical facilities. The duty shifts and patients, the doctors and their different personalities or expertise. Over time, he'd begun to explore outward from Deck Ten, the location of the quarters he'd been assigned.
Now, he had begun to venture further. Farther. Walking the halls and winding upward to see just how far the duranium rabbit hole traveled. Holodecks. Astrometrics. The ship's school. The library.
Eventually, he had arrived here. A place where plants and greenery, reflecting pools and the illusion of daylight, created a sharp contrast to the sterile, monochromatic environment of the ship's passages. It made an ideal spot from which to stop and listen.
A strand of nine beads was around the boy's left wrist. As he sat and quietly observed the coming and goings, the bustle of the ship's routine as people passed in, around, or through the arboretum, he shifted the prayer beads around on his arm.
As Jack moved through the ship's arboretum, he spied a curious sight, the bald head of a small figure seated on the ground. There were many bald members of the crew, some entire species had heads devoid of hair, but it was unusual to see it on a being so small. Either this was a new species the Miran boy had yet to meet, or the ship was hosting a Deltan child he hadn't heard of. The boy moved in closer to take a look, and was surprised to find that neither of his assumptions were correct.
Instead, he happened upon what looked like a small Human boy—though from experience he knew looks to be deceiving. The bald boy's neck and top of his head were patterned with an ink, a tattoo of some intricate design, which Jack's eye glided over idly. He noted the other boy's rounded ears and smooth forehead, and nodding to himself, made the cautious leap that the child before him was a familiar species.
Shrugging, the boy knelt beside the bald one, copying his pose. It felt somewhat similar to the meditation stance that Captain T'Prev had taught him during his last assignment. He had fallen out of practice after her departure, and the muscles in his limbs strained against the unfamiliar posture. Ignoring them, Jack brought his face into a similar expression as the boy beside him, trying to resist giving the contemplative boy a sidelong glance, as it would only break his composure. Stilling his limbs, and in a restive position, Jack's mind habitually worked to quiet as well, which was not an easy task for the rough-n-tumble ancient youth.
The movement in his peripheral vision prompted the Tibetan boy to turn his head. At which point, it was his turn to be startled. While children were present on the Vesta, the Starfleet uniform was startling to see. Whereas Jai's was trimmed in a blue-teal, this other youth's was accented in operations gold. It illustrated another series of similarities and contrasts between them.
Not wanting the presence to go unnoticed, Jai brought a hand up over his head as he bowed forward. Now, like Earth, their homeworld was a place of varied language and culture. In testament of which, the two didn't speak the same language. That is to say, Jai's first language was Tibetan. He knew English, along with several other languages, but they were less comfortable for him than his native tongue. So, in everyday conversation, he tended to rely on the universal translator to allow him to communicate as he was comfortable doing and, in so doing, have the listener able to comprehend in a language they were comfortable with.
What he actually said was, "Kyrang kabar phkay," and it was really more of a greeting than a question. Culturally, it recognized that two souls passed briefly when their paths to different destinations crossed. And such an auspicious occasion was worth taking note of. The translation, supplied through the universal translator function of the communicator on the front of either of their uniforms supplied was correct and incorrect as it produced, instead, "Where are you going?"
Jack considered the question posed by the other boy. By now, he was quite certain he was sitting with a member of his own species, though how it was that two of his kind would be in the same quadrant, let alone the same starship, was beyond his understanding. A miracle of technological proportions brought them to the Detla Quadrant, but some greater miracle had thrust two Mirans together upon a single ship. If Jack weren't so sure of the laws of physics, he might have clapped his hands and tried to conjure up a new miracle right then and there. Ice cream sounded good.
Regardless of the circumstances that had brought them to be here, the Miran engineer gave them no comment. Instead, when he opened his mouth, his response addressed his tattooed companion. "Well," he began, doing a quick mental calculation, "We're currently traveling about four hundred times the speed of light at Warp Six towards Sector Eight-Seven-Two, or whatever the locals call it." The boy grinned at his own humor, wondering if the other one would even get it. "But me? I'm going stir crazy just sitting here." He unfolded his legs and sighed, "You and Vulcans, I don't get how you just sit like that for hours. It hurts!"
Drawing up his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, Jack countered, "Where are you going?"
Jai's mouth fell open as he started to say something. The attempt at hello apparently going misinterpreted, as the universal translator handled words intelligently but missed something of the culture.
A wry grin punctuated an otherwise deadpan expression as the Tibetan boy responded, "Apparently nowhere at a speed of four hundred times the speed of light."
To be honest, that number was rather incomprehensible to him. So he'd just interpret it to be very, very fast. Which, wasn't very scientific. But then, biology and chemistry were more of Jai's forte. Physics? Not so much, no. "I'm Jai," the monk offered, remaining in the lotus position even while his companion stretched out. "I survived with the Onlies in Tibet. How about you?"
"Jack," he replied. He didn't offer a hand in greeting, that was such an adult thing to do. The kindred of children, not to mention two survivors of the same holocaust, needed no such formality. Instead, he looked over to Jai, studying his features, as if matching the boy's words to his appearance. Even from the same planet, their lives had been worlds apart. Finally, Jack added, "Yep, I was from Springfield, in America."
With such a rare encounter with another of his species, the blond-haired boy was overwhelmed with the amount of questions. Their shared heritage notwithstanding, Jai was not one of the fellow Mirans he was familiar with during his time at the Federation-run institute after their discovery by the first Starship Enterprise. The unfamiliarity bred a deep curiosity within the boy, and Jack found it bubbling out of him, "What kind of foolies did your's play? Were you at the Institute? Why did you join Starfleet? Ever have adopted parents? How come you shave your head? And what's with that tattoo?"
That was a lot to absorb. Much less keep track of in order to provide a response. "Uh... yes?" Jai uttered, not entirely certain which question in the bunch he was answering with it.
Well, there was one question.
"When I decided to become a doctor, Starfleet Medical seemed like the best option," the Tibetan boy remarked, responding to the question that had stood out among the rest.
Even then, it had been a crap shoot. Getting into Starfleet Academy was a difficult, arduous process through which many potential candidates were filtered out. Truth be told, Jai had been working on an application to the Vulcan Science Academy for his medical doctorate as a back-up plan.
"What about you?" Jai inquired, as he considered the possibilities. Security? Not likely. Operations? Maybe. "Engineering?" the boy opined aloud. Jack seemed like he had a great deal of energy, and perhaps a need to be doing something. Something mechanical seemed appropriate.
Jack nodded as Jai pegged his profession down to a T. "Yep, Chief Engineer, at your service." He leaned over in a small bow, putting his hand against his chest as he did so. "But it's weird," he went on saying, "The Captain and his exec are the ship designers. Sooooo, it's not really my fault when things break, at least not yet."
"Ooh," the Tibetan boy murmured, clearly impressed. He knew he wasn't the first Miran in Starfleet, but he honestly had no idea how how many Mirans there were in Starfleet. Or how long they'd been there. "Have you been in Starfleet for very long then?"
"Since, uhh," Jack tilted his head, thinking for a moment. "When did the Cardassian War start? Just after that started, I think." The numbers blurred in his head, had he been in Starfleet for thirty years or forty? The time went by in odd intervals when there was little to use as a frame of reference.
Jack could hardly remember the last time someone had thrown him a birthday party, the Vulcans on the Seleya hadn't exactly been keen on the tradition and he wasn't even sure that had been the assignment where it had fallen out of practice for him. The boy shrugged at himself and stared at one of the reflecting pools nearby. "Didja know the ship has a real pool?"
"Really?" To anyone else, that turn of conversation might have seemed random. To Jai, it was utterly normal. "That's cool, I guess. We didn't really swim where I'm from. I'm not very good at it."
"Oh." Jack's eyes went wide. "My." He leaned in towards Jai. "God!" Slapping his hands on his knees, the boy leaned back again, giddiness oozing off of him. "We have to go. You, me and, well, there's other kids onboard. None like us, but close enough for a pool party." Thinking for a moment on what the other boy had said, Jack added, "Don't worry, we'll teach you. Or, at least, we won't let you drown."
The Tibetan boy just blinked. "Pool... party?" He knew what a pool was. At least, sorta. He'd seen pictures of pools. And he knew what a party was. So what was a pool party? Swimming around with party hats on?
"Uhh... sure!" the child chirped after another moment.
This probably wasn't a good idea, but Jai didn't really have any other ideas at the moment. That made the suggestion to have a pool party as good as anything.
