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Ship's Lounge - A lunchtime meeting

Posted Nov. 26, 2019, 9:21 p.m. by Ensign Shon Baht (Medical Officer) (Ben Z)

Posted by Ensign Kiama Naim (Scientist) in Ship’s Lounge - A lunchtime meeting

Posted by Ensign Shon Baht (Medical Officer) in Ship’s Lounge - A lunchtime meeting

Posted by Ensign Kiama Naim (Scientist) in Ship’s Lounge - A lunchtime meeting
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“But enough about me,” Shon said as a way of moving on as he stirred his chowder. “I can’t help but notice you seem a little tense. I hope that’s not a symptom of a hard transition to the Manhattan.”

(Ensign Baht, Medical)

Blinking at him in confusion and her brow slightly furrowed, Kiama tilted her head ever so slightly to the left. It wasn’t more than a second or two later, that the scientist felt heat rush into her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I’m not tense at all and I apologise for making you feel uncomfortable and worried. Sitting with a prefect posture at a dinning table and taking only small bites, is something that has been drilled into me for most of my life. I wasn’t even aware of it.” Shaking her head slightly while trying to sit less stiffly, she added, “Some habits really die hard.”

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

Shon smiled in bewilderment. “It’s refreshing to have my attempts at subtlety so immediately seen through. But as you can no-doubt tell, I am very relieved that my assumptions were misplaced. I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m passing judgement on your table manners,” he chuckled with a twinge of embarrassment. “With so many different kinds of people in Starfleet, cultures are bound to have some awkward interactions.”

Kiama nodded and smiled slightly lopsidedly. “Indeed. Even between peoples who have been members of the Federation for a long time.” After a brief pause she added, “But I guess that with the wast number of members plus every other species we made contact with, it isn’t surprising things don’t always go smoothly. And really, not even between two members of the same species does communication always go smoothly.”

“But,” Shon said with renewed energy, “I am genuinely interested about how your experience on the Manhattan has been so far, too! Anything interesting to report? Any juicy drama you’ve picked up on from the science department?” He curled a finger around his upper lip and rested his chin on a hand propped up by his elbow on the table, looking at Kiama expectantly.

(Ensign Baht, Medical)

“For the most part I’ve been working more or less on my own, to be honest. Analysing samples a probe brought back and filing my findings. In general nothing out of the ordinary,” Kiama replied. “Though I did find some interesting micro organisms in one of the samples. They seem to able to adapt to their surroundings and new environments at an incredibly fast rate.” Without missing a beat she went full detail into what she’d tried so far and how those organisms had reacted. There was a glitter of excitement in her eyes and for the first time since sitting down, she wasn’t sitting stiffly any more. While her back was still straight, she was also leaning forward and used her hands a lot. Without noticing it she only just missed her cup twice.

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

Shon tried his best to keep up with what Kiama was saying as she described her experiments, and for a moment he could, given his own training in microorganisms as they related to medicine. But eventually she lost him. He did his very best to nod and smile along.

“Sounds like quite the treasure trove, I’m surprised that they were just set aside like that, but I’m glad you found them! Do you know where the microorganisms are from?” Shon asked, hoping that would bring the conversation back to more layman friendly terms. “There’s so much still to explore out here in the Delta quadrant.”

(Ensign Baht, Medical)

“It is! And I can’t wait to see what else is out there. It’s so exciting!” Kiama beamed. “As for where they are from …” she tapped her lips with her right index finger, her eyes slightly narrowed as she tried to remember. “If I’m not mistaken, they microorganisms were found on a moon in one off the neighbouring star systems. But I might be mistaken.” Tapping her fingers lightly on the table, she added, “I definitely have to look that up. And once our current mission is over and we don’t have other orders, maybe we can have a closer look at that moon. I can’t believe that these microorganisms are the only interesting lifeforms down there.”

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

“For sure,” Shon said with a nod as he swallowed another spoonful of his lunch. “Speaking of the current mission… Have you heard what people are saying? The planet we’re going to help has purposefully regressed their technology, and we’ll have to do the same while we’re on the planet…” He waved his spoon in the air. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s an art to old-school medicine, but why wouldn’t you want to use dermal regenerators, for example, if you could?”

(Ensign Baht, Medical)


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