[JP] (BACKSIM) Ensign Jocelyn Marshall & Lieutenant JG Tonya Lang - Survivors' Fortune (Part 1)

[thevoyagerists]

((Sto’Vo’Kor Lounge, Deck 9, U.S.S. Gorkon))

:: Sat on one of the comfy chairs opposite the large viewing windows, one foot perched on the end of the chair with her knee bent, Jo rolled the springball around in her hands. She cricked her neck to the side, reaching her hand up to massage the back of her shoulder, hearing a dull crack from the muscle and bone. Being tucked inside a Jefferies Tube for hours on end didn’t do anything for the posture. Now she was just trying to find some peace and quiet in between storms, or at least that’s what it felt like. The dulled light of the brown out and limited replicator use meant the lounge had only a few occupants. Good enough for her.::

:: Stars whistled past the window, a billion specks of white, yellow and red, the flickering light of an expanding universe they were stuck in, trying to get home. Their light lluminated the dark lounge nicely. Jo bit the inside of her cheek as she squeezed the ball between her hands. On the one hand she could never get bored of looking at the stars but at the moment it only made her miss home; her brothers, her parents, her friends. All of them were not only millions of lightyears away, there was the strong possibility that she may never see them again.::

:: And homemade makapa bread. With the crust. With jumba jam.::

:: She blew a heavy sigh and glanced around the near empty dimly lit lounge, coming across the pretty dark-haired Bajoran hybrid she had met earlier when she joined the ship, and shared a drink of springwine with on the casino ship Helease.::

:: Tonya had needed a place to calm down since the past days had been quite stressful for her. She had been to the lounge just once or twice, but she had never seen it so empty as it was now. However, she wasn’t at all unhappy to see that. Casually dressed in a brown t-shirt and comfortable pants, without the usual bright red lipstick she was wearing, she had been sitting in a corner, staring at the stars with some black tea in her hands for the last half an hour. It was one of the few things she had replicated the past days since it was forbidden to waste too much energy.::

:: The universe never made her tired - it was one of the reasons why she had joined Starfleet: to be able to gaze at the stars. She hadn’t much time to do that, but when she had, looking at the shining, vivid spots in the dark made her calm down immediately. She slightly jumped when she heard a voice behind her, but smiled when she saw who was calling. Jo Marshall, the young woman she had met in the Helease at the Dabo table. The only person in Starfleet she had met so far who had been living on Volan III.::

:: Jo picked herself up from the comfy chair she had taken up residence in and crossed the lounge. Some social interaction was necessary before she started talking to the replicators.::

Marshall: Mind if I join you?

Lang: ::Smiling:: Not at all. Have a seat.

:: Jo did so, getting into a similarly comfy position she had occupied just moments ago on an empty chair, placing the ball and her mug of coffee down beside her.::

Marshall: I think we're the only ones to see the benefits of tea and a darkened lounge.

Lang: Oh, yes, it makes me calm down. Pretty stressful these days - how about you?

Marshall: Same. Quiet, peaceful, and no paperwork. It ticks all the right boxes. Have you been busy?

Lang: Quite. We’ve been looking for a planet to get some food supplies. We really have to avoid wasting energy through replicators.

:: The blonde human nodded, picking up her coffee mug.::

Lang: What about you? Have you been busy lately?

Marshall: Operations is definitely feeling the strain. One PO said ::she mocked a gruff voice:: “You'll find, Ma’am, that on the Gorkon, it never rains, it monsoons reactor fluid.”

:: Tonya laughed. She knew what dry sort of humour enlisted crewmen could have - even if that was a prejudice.::

Lang: I’ve got some nice planetary geoscience colleagues too in the lab. They make busy times a little more pleasant.

Marshall: ::smiles:: That's good. How are you doing in all this?

Lang: ::She sighed:: I don’t know, it’s a lot to cope with, I’d say, but I can handle it.

:: Tonya reached for her cup and took a sip from her tea.::

Marshall: Where's the red lipstick got to?

Lang: Oh, that… ::She smiled:: Wanted to look a bit more casual in my free time.

:: Casual seemed to be the way a lot of the crew were going now that replicating uniforms was on the blacklist. Jo had stuck to her jeans and tshirts for off duty, uniform without the murky jacket for on. ::

Marshall: It suits you either way. I would love a freshly replicated uniform. I haven't had one since the intruder in Main Engineering.

Lang: Have you heard more about all this intruder stuff? There was this explosion and some time later they caught her, but I was sleeping right then…

Marshall: We were in the assembly room, taking apart that probe. Outside, the console exploded, there were bits of machine everywhere. ::she held her warm mug to her cheek, it was comforting:: One of the POs was badly hurt to her throat and she… she died while I was trying to help.

Lang: Oh god, that must’ve been really...nerve-racking. I’ve never seen somebody dying actually. ::She paused:: Can you cope with it?

Marshall: ::she smiled, a bit sadly:: I've not really had the chance to think about it. It's been all hands on deck since. She had really beautiful eyes. I keep thinking about them.

Lang: ::Softly:: But that’s a good thing. She will be at least remembered - apart from her family and friends, by a person she never really knew.

:: Tonya watched Jo as she took a sip from her cup. The was slowly getting cold.::

Lang: I just can’t understand *why* this woman had to do such a horrible thing. Apart from the spying, I mean. She *killed* someone. And what did it help her anyway?

Marshall: I assume it was a distraction so she could get away. It was a typical console, nothing out if the ordinary. When you're desperate, you act. You don't think about the consequences.

Lang: Probably. But that shows *how* desperate she must’ve been.

:: Tonya shook her head, then tried to change the subject. She would never understand people who killed others, so she wanted to stay away from this discussion. A discussion in her own head.::

Lang: What do you do about the stress?

Marshall: Run and lift when I need to get angry, then mediate. ::smiles mischeviously:: And a case of springwine hidden in my footlocker helps too.

Lang: Oh, yes, that’s sometimes a useful device. ::She paused:: It’s great to have met a Human who’s interested in Bajoran culture by the way. ::She smiled::

:: Jo grinned as she thought of home, far away, while they were chasing stars.::

Marshall: It’s hard not to be growing up with their bajora, education standards, bajorai, sports. It’s like a second nature to me now, a second skin almost, being integrated into a race that I wasn’t born into.

Lang: You’ve spent your whole childhood on Volan III then?

Marshall: Since I was a pup. My parents were posted there to help with the Federation’s relief efforts after the war. ::she craddled her mug:: You spent time there, didn’t you?

Lang: Yeah, just half a year. I’ve generally never lived on one place for longer than two years.

Marshall: Military parents?

Lang: Mom - Starfleet, dad - Bajoran Militia. But, well, since I’ve joined Starfleet as well I’ve started to understand why my mom has been away so often.

:: Jo nodded, she could understand that feeling.::

Marshall: It’s not exactly the right career to have for settling down and raising a family. Any siblings?

Lang: Two. A brother and a sister - both younger than me.

Marshall: Ah, the older sister. ::she smiled:: What was it like moving around so much?

Lang: Moving wasn’t really a problem for me most of the time, but I hated it when we weren’t complete. Not the whole family I mean. ::She paused:: You’ve got siblings as well?

Marshall: Two. My older brother is flying high in Starfleet and the younger one just joined the Academy. The Marshalls are a long line of Starfleet graduates. Apparently I wasn’t going to be the exception.

Lang: As long as you like it, it’s perfect i’d say. Even if you’re only one out of many in your family.

Marshall: What made you join Starfleet? ::she took a drink from her mug:: Was it the prospect of late night conversations with an Ensign in a dark lounge? Or getting lost in an alternate universe?

Lang: ::She chuckled:: The first one doesn’t seem too bad! No, seriously, I also joined Starfleet because of the people. People who love the universe as much as I do and love exploring and having adventures. I think that’s what keeps us all together. ::She paused:: Well, and because my mother is in Starfleet and my grandpa was.

Marshall: People do make the job more interesting. Other worlds, other cultures, other technologies. ::she smiled:: If I could get my hands on some Romulan tech, or even Borg, it would make my century.

Lang: How come you’re in operations? ::She smiled and shook her head:: Sorry, I’m such a scientist - I couldn’t imagine being in operations or engineering. But what do *you* like about it?

Marshall: Truthfully? I’m an engineer at heart. I majored in it at the Academy, it’s all I’ve ever done. Operations was my sideline, an accompanying minor, to get the credits to graduate. The two go hand in hand - which is helpful, considering in Ops you need to be able to do multiple jobs, sometimes simultaneously. One day I might be helping an Engineer, next I might be hauling out with the Security to an unknown planet, or standing on the Bridge playing the Science role. It helps to know a bit about everything, I suppose.

Lang: I had a minor in exobiology, so I could - roughly - do medical as well. I know biology isn’t medicine, but I would probably be able to use my theoretical knowledge in practice. Hopefully I will never have to test that though…

Marshall: You never know. It would have come in handy in Engineering. ::she smiled wistfully:: Starfleet likes to keep us guessing where the next threat might come from. What made you choose Science?

Lang: I guess generally my love for planets and stars and all that. There are so many different types of systems, different orbits of planets...

Marshall: Now that is a whole kettle of fish I can’t get my head around. I can deal with moving parts, but theoretically moving parts is another thing entirely.

Lang: ::Laughing:: I guess I can deal with them as well.

Marshall: Then the Gorkon is exceedingly lucky to have you, Lieutenant.

:: She held out her mug for an impromptu toast, in the middle of the darkened lounge of a ship lost somewhere in an unfamiliar universe, drinking unreplicated beverages. The absurdity of it was almost tantamount to madness. Holonovels didn’t have plots this intricate.::

:: Tonya smiled both at the gesture and her being called “Lieutenant”. She hadn’t really gotten used to it after all.::

Marshall: To getting lost in space with a good Science Officer and springwine.

:: Tonya raised her mug with a grin.::

Lang: ...a Science Officer who’s confused about the “Lieutenant”. ::She smiled:: You can call me Tonya.

:: Jo smiled and nodded.::

Marshall: Alright, Tonya. I’m Jo. Pleasure to meet you.

Lang: Alright, then - ::She approached Jo’s mug with her own:: - to getting lost in space with a person who loves springwine as much as I do, but is not allowed to replicate some. Like me.

:: The young Operations Officer faked an incredulous look.::

Marshall: You know, as well as I do, that it doesn’t taste the same as the real thing.

::The two mugs made a dull clinking noise, when they came together. Smiling, Tonya took the last sip from her black tea.::

---

Tbc

Ensign Jocelyn Marshall
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Gorkon
G239304JM0

&

Lieutenant JG Tonya Lang 

Science Officer

U.S.S. Gorkon 

G239211TL0