LtJG Jovenan – We're All Broken Within, Brother
Jovenan
((Sensor Pod, USS Artemis))
Like the Astrometrics Lab, the Sensor Pod was a serious instrument used for important scientific and operational functions. It just happened that the Astrometrics also looked cool. Darn cool. The same couldn’t really be said about the Sensor Pod, not from the outside nor the inside. That being said, it wasn’t without its unique features.
Jovenan: This is the TOV suit.
Hiro approached the peculiar apparatus, running his fingers on its surface. Jovenan smiled a little as he seemed to be working out what was its purpose and function. A chair, a helmet with a connected visor and a bunch of cables looked very out of place in the crampy room.
Jones: Ok, I give up. This is gorgeous, but I can't even begin to guess what it's for.
Jovenan: It’s used for controlling probes! The probes visual telemetric data is fed into the visor, so one can see what the probe does. It can visualise other data as well. The operator can also control the probe’s trajectory manually.
Jones: Woah. So let me see if I understand this correctly. We launch probes, which take in huge amounts of data from multiple perspectives. There's a person in this chair who gets presented with those images, data, feedback, etc at the same time the computer does?
She nodded.
Jovenan: Almost the same time the computer does, yes. It’s very efficient in visualising data so that a person can understand it intuitively. The operator could see what the probe sees, and some layers on top of the visual spectre images for data visualisation.
Jones: So they're essentially using the suit as the control center that gives them the perspective of some huge, celestial, multi-eyed space creature? That. Sounds. AWESOME.
She scratched her head. Hiro really made it sound much more interesting than she did. There was a skill in introducing dry facts in a fascinating way.
Jovenan: Yes, I suppose it can be viewed that way… Of course, the readable data sets are more comprehensive than the visualisation, but with this thing, the sentient operator can quickly decide which part of a large scanning area is the one needing more detailed focus.
To think of it, maybe it would be more efficient to let him experience how it was used first-hand. Show, don’t tell. Mark it down as a training exercise and getting permission wouldn’t be difficult. But for now, Hiro had questions remaining.
Jones: So, what kind of range can the user see?
She thought for a moment. It wasn’t as much about the range of the probes themselves, but about lag and what the communications technology the probes were equipped with.
Jovenan: Uh, it depends by the probe, I guess. New interstellar probes with proper subspace communicators can be controlled, uh, some five lightyears away without significant delay. After that it gets too laggy and it’s better to just wait the telemetry by a console. Older probes and those only for planetary studies have much shorter ranges, maybe not even across the system.
Jones: Not quite home then, huh?
She had to process what Hiro had said for a moment. The turn from technological facts to personal issues had been sudden. Not unexpected, however, as this entire meeting had begun when he had caught her watching the stars, and she had babbled something about the long way home. He must have sensed something was in her mind. The subject of the conversation was all on her, but it didn’t make any more palatable. She sighed, involuntarily, and turned away, pretending to check something on a wall a few steps away. Not saying a word, she let Hiro to carry on.
Jones: Sometimes the distance between wherever our orders take us and Chicago gets to me. It's a comfort to know I have friends around if I feel lonely or homesick.
He was right. He was always right, and always found the right words. She wasn’t the only Starfleet personnel to feel this way, this wasn’t some sort of a new and unique experience. She turned back to Hiro and tried to smile a little.
Jovenan: I… I’m also comfortable with you and many others of the crew. When I joined, I was truly terrified of everyone, especially those with more than one pip, but now… Now you’re all my friends. I care about you all.
Jones: That was one of the things that frightened me most last mission: the thought of people I care about in danger. Aside from the selfish aspect they make me feel like I'm not so far from home, if any of you were terribly injured ... or worse ... I don't know. I don't like the prospect.
That… that had been something he had said in the lounge mere minutes ago. Something about bursting metaphysically, about the difference of “do not harm” and “help people”. It hadn’t been a particularly private place, but here they were all alone, at the moment. She felt selfish for thinking Hiro would only want to talk of her, when it was also him who needed a person who would listen.
And yet, she didn’t have the words to say.
Jovenan: Starfleet really is a commitment. We all know what we signed for, and we have all chosen this life. ::pause, ponders:: Actually, that sounded awful. Let me… try again.
Jones: Response
She had a deep breath. It wasn’t easy to her.
Jovenan: I know how you feel. In my home region, communal families are the norm. If you grow and live with the same people, they are your family, regardless of blood relations. Everyone in your community was a sibling to you, or a child, parent, or grandparent. And that’s what we are. Losing one of you or seeing one of you get hurt would hurt me just as much as losing a sibling or a parent.
Jones: Response?
Jovenan: ::holds back tears:: You… You all have become a family to me. At this point, maybe more so than my old family. I am with you every single day, have been for months now. Meanwhile, I haven’t… I haven’t… ::wipes tears, difficult to speak:: I haven’t seen my family back home… back on the home planet for… for more than five years now! A fifth of my life!
Jones: Response
Jovenan couldn’t help the crushing feeling within her any longer, but leaped towards Hiro and grasped him in an embrace. Wrapping her arms around him, her teary eyes wet his uniform where her head rested against his shoulder. She wept for them both, for they both were a little broken on the inside. And she felt safe.
After a while, she wiped her eyes and spoke again.
Jovenan: Ugh, sorry for being such a cry-baby, brothe―
Suddenly, she froze.
oO You have crossed the line Oo
She quickly released her hold of him and paced a few steps behind, her eyes widened with realisation what she had just done. It had been a hard lecture for her when she left the homeworld for the first time. It wasn’t explicitly written in the laws of the Edo nor of the Federation with the exact same words she had had to learn to know the rule, but both those legal codices knew the principle.
oO NEVER. Touch. An Offworlder. Unless. They. Initiate. Oo
And the rulebreakers deserve an…
Jovenan: ::shocked:: I… I am… sorry, I didn’t mean… It was a force of habit… So sorry… I was being inappropriate!
Jones: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Jovenan
Science officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11