Posted by Ensign Kiama Naim (Scientist) in Pre-Sim: Arrival on board

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Wynter (Chief Engineer / 2nd Officer) in Pre-Sim: Arrival on board

Posted by Ensign Kiama Naim (Scientist) in Pre-Sim: Arrival on board
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Of course, I’m always happy to help,” the scientist replied with a bright smile, trying in vain to regain something like composure and proper demeanour. Crouching down, she reached for the tricorder and flipped it open. “What should or shouldn’t the readings say?” she asked as she pointed the tricorder in the indicated direction.

“We want the flow rate between 97.36 percent and 98.25 percent, If it goes over that things get touchy, too low and we don’t have the response time or energy needed in case we get into a pickle. Thanks for helping by the way,” pushing up with his legs, Max fed himself back into the hole in the wall with his legs sticking out once more and began to adjust the flow with a phase coil resonator. Once he had adjusted part of the grid, he reached back out to where her foot had been, found it again and tapped it twice. “You can start scanning now, let me know how the flow holds up.”

“Will do,” and with that Kiama pointed the tricorder in the indicated direction and started scanning.

While she kept her eyes on the tricorder readings, Kiama mused, “A Vole? I wouldn’t have expected Cardassians, or anyone really, to keep one as a pet. Then again I never really understood why people keep pets at all.”

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

“It’s the social aspect,” Max said, sounding convinced. “They love you and don’t judge you, or complain when you leave your things lying around. They give you amusement and take your attention away from troubles after a bad day. I think it’s the connection you get from them, treat them right and they will be forever loyal to you. Kind of like how Engineers behave with their ships and machinery.” She couldn’t see his face or he hers, but the sound of his voice would key her in that he was grinning as he said the last part.

“Hmm…” Kiama nodded some even though Max wouldn’t be able to see her of course and pondered that a few moments. Eventually she said, “I guess I can see your point. Though for us Betazoids, pets and animals in general can be a challenge. But I assume that would be rather different when you can’t read them as we do. Shutting out the emotions of animals tends to be more difficult than humanoid emotions.”

“So you’re Science? I haven’t seen you on the Manhattan before. You must be part of the new crew intake from the Station? Welcome to the Delta Quadrant, I’m Max.”

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE

“Yes, indeed. I actually only arrived a few minutes ago. I haven’t even checked in with my department head or anything,” Kiama grinned. She didn’t think that the Chief Science Officer would expect her to come to her office the moment she set a foot on this ship. Not that she meant to put it off, though, but she wanted to arrive first and have at least a brief look at her quarters before tackling her to-do list. “Are you the Chief Engineer?” she continued, drawing her conclusion regarding his position from the pips she had briefly spotted on his collar.

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

“Don’t tell anyone, but that’s what they pay me for yeah,” Max quipped easily. “On that note, that light show you might have seen before I found your foot? It was totally on purpose, I had to make sure it was broken see?” Again his voice held the note of a joke. “How’s the flow rate going? It looks ok from down here.”

“Of course,” Kiama replied with a twinkle in her eyes and a soft chuckle. Hearing the tone of his voice and feeling his positive emotions, multiplied her own excited and good mood. “It’s all in the green,” she added after making sure that it really was; despite the fact that she hadn’t moved her eyes off the tricorder since she took it into her hands.

“Did you have any pets when you were little? I hear that there is a cat species on Betazed that is popular? On Mintara where I come from, it’s dogs. Everybody has a dog on Mintara Prime. When I was a kid, I had one called Kipper. He slept a lot.” Max’s hand appeared and he dropped the tool he was using beside him, going back for the hyperspanner and starting to adjust more.

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE

“No, never. My mother wouldn’t allow it and I never really felt drawn to having a pet. You are correct, though, there is an animal on Betazed that is similar to cats on Earth. But it isn’t always easy to find one that gets along with every member of the family and I don’t think there is a single one that would take kindly towards my mother,” Kiama replied, trying to keep the discontent and maybe even bitterness out of her voice as much as possible. Diverting the conversation back to the chief engineer, she continued without a pause, “So what did Kipper look like? Was he a certain breed or a mix?”

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

Pausing in his work, Max again put his hand on the top of the panel he was working through and pulled himself down so he could look at her. “I know how that mother thing goes,” his face was serious as he registered the sound of her voice, it had changed just ever so subtly but he didn’t know exactly what that meant. “My own mother and mother-in-law are the terrors of the comm line. Being Mintaran means there are certain expectations after marriage and a career in Starfleet doesn’t really go with those expectations.” He pulled himself back up into the hatchway again and started the final adjustments he wanted to make.

“Kipper was what we called a long haired black labrador,” he explained as he worked. “He was relaxed and friendly, the perfect friend to a boy who got himself into too much trouble and was sent outside to play a lot. As we grew he went camping with me a lot. He was my best friend for years till he passed on, but he was 12 when he did, so he was pretty old by then.” Stopping work, he checked over the adjustments and then pulled himself out of the hole properly, sitting up and looking at the Scientist. “How we reading? Are we locked and loaded?”

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE