Ensign Morro Caras - What kind of Orion?
Morro Caras
((Senior Officers Mess Hall, Deck 2, USS Octavia E Butler ))
Caras arrived at the same time that Lahl had. If anything it felt like he was slightly following her since they had just gotten off the same duty shift and had enough time for a sonic shower and a change. Caras saw Lahl was not in uniform for this dinner. It didn’t strike him that he should wear something non-uniform. Not that any of his Orion clothes were appropriate for dinner with StarFleet officers. When he had gotten back to his quarters he had simply just changed into a new gold uniform. The one he was proud to wear, but after the last mission, that shine had started to dim.
Morro Caras hadn’t eaten since breakfast before his shift, and that was after a workout with Lhandon in the Gym. With all that he had come very hungry.
He followed Lahl in after she rang the bell.
Promontory: Come!
As they entered Caras noted that it wasn’t a large area, but it was a nice area, and had more than enough space for them. Caras looked to see Dr. Nis. She was in a normal uniform as well. Morro felt a little better. It was clear that she was not on the same shift as Caras and Lahl, she still had her coffee in her hand.
Nis: Hello! We're super happy to be here!
Lahl: Good evening sir. Thank you for inviting me.
Caras: Hello, sir. Guess we weren’t the first one here.
Caras hated appearing late. He liked to be first, even though he knew he was on time.
Promontory: Welcome! Sit anywhere. We have the whole space reserved just for us!
Caras sat down with the other. This was an interesting space for the handful of them. Morro felt it was kind of discordant. The three Ensigns were not senior officers, they didn’t normally belong here, and then it was cleared out for all of them. Not that it was that large, but it still felt strange to him.
Nis: Oh, wow, how impressive.
Morro wasn’t sure it was. Maybe it was to Nis? Maybe she was easily impressed. Maybe there was something that Caras didn’t know about this mess hall.
Lahl: Sounds great sir.
Caras: So this is where the Senior officers dine (beat) huh?
Morro looked at the food. He was glad it was a large spread. He didn’t know what a lot of it was, but that never bothered him before. Most of the earth stuff he kind of knew. His roommate in the academy was human, but he preferred a lot of regional dishes to a certain hemisphere
Promontory: Dig in! After you have some food, maybe we could do formal introductions.
Moro looked at Kimonzi and Jania’s lead. He didn’t know the food but they looked like they knew what they wanted. Morro also went for a lot of the green stuff that Jania took. He then picked a handful of the things Kimonzi had picked. Even before Jania had finished swallowing she began speaking. Morro almost laughed…Almost
Nis: Oh, mhmph :: She swallowed and cleared her throat :: We mean, we're Jania Nis. I'm the . . . ::counting on her fingers :: ninth host of the Nis symbiont, and the first doctor. Two hosts ago, Nis and Lahl were . . . familiar. We were friends, right?
We? Did Jania Nis speak for all of her previous lives as one? Morro was astonished at this development.
Lahl: Some people might have called us that. However, I’m surprised you didn’t choke on your food, your palate never was that refined. ::with a playful tone::
Nis: Well, friends is how we remember it, anyway. it's a privilege to serve in Starfleet, and thank you for having us at this event. What else should we share?
Promontory: Response
Nis: Oh, well, you see, Nis's host before me was in an accident, and she . . . and she . . . :: Jania rubbed her mouth. :: She died in front of me. I was a little young at the time, but Nis would have died if I hadn't let it bond with me. And once we were together, we both thought, you know, we never wanted to see that kind of thing happen again. Because we think--it's not worth dwelling on this kind of thing, but maybe, had we known the right skills, we could have saved her. And now we do know the right skills. Anyway, what about you? How did you get into Starfleet?
She had seen herself die? Ensign Caras hadn’t even considered that a possibility. That seemed like it was its own horror holo-novel in that one sentence.
Promontory: Response
Lahl: Oh that’s interesting.
Caras: ::stuffing his face an nodding enthusiastically::
Lahl: Anywho, I am Ensign Kimonzi Lahl, sixth host of the Lahl symbiont, but first in Starfleet. And yes, Lahl and Nis had a playful rivalry when Lahl was joined with Timorzin Lahl, and Nis was joined with Mibahm Nis. Hopefully this host has better taste buds and can properly appreciate good food. ::again in a playful tone::
Caras: It’s very hard not to enjoy whatever… this is ::taking several ravenous bites::
Promontory/Nis:Response
Lahl: I ultimately joined Starfleet because I wanted to see the galaxy and had always been interested in taken apart and fixing the coolest technology, and Starfleet had that in spades. However, I did get started in the Academy late at age 20, and I also took a two year sabbatical because…I sought out a symbiont, and then I received Lahl. My personnel file makes note of my previous name “Nedan”.
Caras: Came back with even more knowledge than StarFleet could have given you in those two years.
Caras thought Trill were neat, even though he barely knew anything about them. He had read the summary of their species page in the StarFleet Database, and that was all he had time for
Promontory/Nis: Response
Lahl: And that’s about the basics for me.
Caras was digging so hard into the delicious spread that he didn’t realize that all eyes were on him to be next.
Caras: ::swallowing:: Ah, I’m sorry, It’s just I haven’t eaten anything all day. Busy shift and all.
Caras was also lowkey attempting to see if he would get passed over, but this wasn’t a big table. This question always made him kind of uncomfortable in intimate settings. Plus it was extremely difficult to follow up one Trill, let alone two.
Promontory/Nis: Response
Caras: I’m Ensign Morro Caras. I’m an Orion ::looking down at himself:: and I joined StarFleet because they really helped me out and granted me asylum. They protected me and my sister from some people who wanted us dead. They did it all for free and they did it with great loss to themselves. I’m not sure If I joined to pay them back, or If i joined to make sure that there were more people like them in the galaxy.
When all of that fell out of his mouth, it sounded like a mess to Caras’ own ears. He had even managed to put it out of order. He didn’t know about the destruction of the intelligence officers until his second year at the academy. But the statement was true in the fact that it outlined that he didn’t know fully why he had joined. It was as good an answer as any, the real answer was more personal, more intimate, and more selfish, but even Morro himself hadn’t fully figured it out yet. It was still something he was processing even now that he was an Ensign. He must have had a dumb look on his face or looked like he wasn’t finished because even after he was thinking about all of this, it was still quiet.
Then the silence was finally broken.
Lahl/Promontory/Nis: Response
Caras: Ah yes, I didn’t mean to make it sound so grave. I’m honestly very glad to be here and glad to have the vocation that I do have.
Lahl/Promontory/Nis: Response
Caras: What about you Commander? Why did the Captain tell you she picked you as her first officer?
Caras was hoping that was an appropriate question to ask. He actually didn’t even know why they were here. He had assumed that it was a “getting to know you better” kind of scenario and not that they had been picked for some secret mission. If it was, Promontory had learned that Caras required way too many calories and might not be great on survival missions.
Lahl/Promontory/Nis: Response
Tags/TBC
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Ensign Morro Caras
Engineering Officer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240106MC1