JP: Ens. Morton, LtJG Nis, Koryan - Poetry!

[James]

((The Writers Room, Deck 8,  USS Octavia E. Butler)) 

The Writer’s Room offered a place for the officers to come and relax.  Upon stepping through the doors, one was immediately greeted with a wide window that offered an excellent view of anything that lay beyond.  Currently, that view included stars, millions of them.  They skittered across the heavens, tiny silver specks of dust on a canvas of ebony.  Around the room, tables were accompanied by chairs, sleek and yet comfortable.  Here and there, larger, plusher chairs squatted, some occupied, others waiting for someone to make use of them.  Along the walls, shelves played host to books - actual books with actual print, and though all were replicated, no one complained.  Here and there, on blank spaces of the walls, words were etched out in a clear print, not as written by a computer, but a replica of actual handwriting.  

“So Be It!  See To It!”  One declared, while another exclaimed, “Strive Always - In All Ways, At All Times!”.  As the eyes swept across the other, other sayings came into view.  “Happiness is the progressive realization of a worthy goal.”, “Whatever the human mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” and “No Entertainment On Earth Can Match A Good Story Compellingly Told.”  Above them all, blazoned across the ceiling, a single expression called to the attention of anyone who entered.  

“ALL THAT YOU TOUCH YOU CHANGE” 

Each of these was a fixture in the Writer’s lounge, along with a certain, purple-skinned Kazleti.  He stood off to the right of the door behind a bar where he kept a rainbow assortment of bottles.  Some were replicated, but even in the Gamma Quadrant, he did his best to stock with the Real Thing (™) when it came to drinks.  Generally, it required some imagination and improvisation, but as far as he knew, no one had completed.  With a few people already in the room, but no one asking for anything at that particular moment in time, Korean’s eyes went to the door as it opened and revealed an unfamiliar face. 

Vala approached the bar and considered what she wanted to drink whilst surreptitiously scanning the room for Doctor Nis. 

Koryan: Come on in and make yourself comfortable!

Morton: Hi… barkeep.

That elicited a chuckle from the man, and he offered a grin to the young ensign. 

Koryan: the name’s Koryan.  Feel free to use that.

His eyes flicked to the pips, then back to the woman herself. 

Koryan: New here? 

Morton: Koryan. Nice to meet you. Your instinct is right, I joined the crew recently. Just before that recent business with…

Koryan’s expression shifted and he nodded knowingly.  The most recent mission had certainly been a wild one, and more than one person had come in requesting the ‘stronger stuff’.  

Koryan: The mission with all the doppelgangers. 

Morton: Yes. That. It’s my first time here, but, looks like my kind of establishment. Do you serve Dragonfruit Delight mocktails?

Koryan: I can serve pretty much anything you like.

If he didn’t have it in stock, then Koryan could replicate the ingredients.  Although he could technically replicate the entire drink, that wasn’t fun.  Besides, even if he had to use replicated ingredients, he was a better bartender than the machine. 

Morton: Great - one Dragonfruit Mocktail then, please. ::Cheerfully::

Koryan: Coming right up!

Morton: Thanks, Koryan.

Immediately, Korean turned, and with quick, decisive motions, poured out the liquid into the glass, measuring carefully to get just the right amount of sweet and tang before passing it along to his customer.  

Vala took a sip of the purple drink. It was perfect. Cool and refreshing. She saw the doctor entering the Writer’s Room and waved. 

Nis: :: out of breath :: Hello Ensign! Sorry we’re late. Some engineer got stuck in a Jefferies tube. 

Morton: No problem. Hope they’re not claustrophobic. 

Vala didn’t consider herself claustrophobic, but after getting trapped in a cave system during her gap year while working on a research expedition, she had a lingering discomfort of dark, tight spaces.

Morton: So, is this going to be work or social?

Nis: Mostly social. We wanted to get to know you. We’re coming up on a year on the ship and we wanted to have had a beverage with everybody in blue by then.

That sounded like a great goal, and Vala was pleased to get to know the Doctor informally before she needed to rely on the Trill for healing.

Morton: Sounds great.

Vala took a moment to be present, appreciate the view and the comfort of the chair she was in.

Nis: How did you like the academy? Was it your first time on earth? 

Morton: Actually, I attended the Starbase 118 Satellite Campus. I’ve never been to Earth. Overall, it was a great experience. Very hard at times, I am sure you can relate, but worthwhile.

Thinking of the academy made her think of Ay, and the recent news that he’d been presumed dead, so she decided to change the subject. 

Nis: Earth was meh. We’ve seen better. What made you join Starfleet? 

Morton: I felt it was the best way for me to follow my calling. To protect life, explore the wonders of the galaxy, and be a bridge between species, cultures, and ecosystems.

Nis: What did your parents think about that? 

Morton: I think they thought I would follow in their footsteps and pursue science back home, with them. No one in my family has joined Starfleet before but they were very supportive. What brought you to Starfleet, and what did your family think about it?

Nis: :: laughing :: Noooo, my mom hates it. She thinks we’re going to die at any moment. :: pausing to contemplate, then cringing a bit :: Which we guess is a legit feeling. 

Morton: How long have you been with Starfleet now? Have you always served on the Butler?

Nis: We graduated about nine months ago. We’ll hit a year in August. And yes, it was our first posting. We know some of the people on this ship have been at a few other postings, and some of the folks we started with have moved to other postings. :: leaning her elbow on the table sentimentally :: It’s hard to imagine ever working on another ship, but we’re sure everyone says that. 

Jania grinned. 

Nis: You know, there’s a rumor that the Butler is the hottest ship in Starfleet. 

Morton: Is that so?

Nis: Yeah. We started it. 

Vala chuckled. As much as she was enjoying this conversation, she remembered this wasn’t entirely a social call.

Morton: You mentioned this was mostly a social call?

Nis: You’re right, I did say ‘mostly’ social. We were also impressed with your behavior during the recent mission. You’ve got a good mind for the kinds of problems we commonly confront in the Gamma Quadrant. We like to keep track of the folks we can count on if there is a more complicated issue on the ship.

Compliment aside, which Vala noticed and was grateful for. This seemingly innocent comment raised a number of questions. For now, she decided to hold her questions and see where this went.

Morton: Thanks.

Nis: Well, no, thank you. We couldn’t have gotten back home without you. The quadrant is particularly unknown, which is why we’re here at all, and we want to make sure we’ve got a list of the best science officers in our back pocket.  

Vala squirmed in her seat. That was high praise and she wasn’t sure she was deserving of it.

Morton: Just doing the best I can.

Nis: One last thing. :: turns to Koryan :: You can’t listen. 

Morton: oO What’s going on? Oo

The bartender walked away, but it wasn’t far enough in Jania’s opinion, so she shooed him even farther with her hands. She took out her PADD, typed in an obnoxiously-long password, and opened a document that said POETRY. 

Morton: ::Peering over:: oO Poetry! This is what Sevantha was talking about. But why so secret? Oo

Morton: Sevantha said to talk to you about this… ::Conspiratorially:: 

Nis: Ah, good. Yes, a small group of us junior officers … :: looking again at Koryan :: Hey! No listening!

He clearly was not, but Jania was paranoid because secret-keeping was never her strong point. 

Morton: ::Almost whispering:: So you were saying?

Nis: Yeah, anyway, a small group of junior officers has an organization together. The Butler is really lucky with its senior officers, but there are a few jerks here and there. So we have a meetup called :: whispering :: JOPA. It’s mostly for funsies, but in case someone does start pushing you around, you know that we’ve got your back. 

Morton: This group - do you meet regularly?

Nis: Usually there’s a meeting after every mission. We always meet right before the awards ceremony. 

Morton: Is there anything specific I need to know, or bring? What about a dress code?

Nis: Nope, nothing required. Actually, for this JOPA, we’re going to be celebrating an Orion holiday, so something fancy. We’re not trying to cosplay as Orions, though, so something culturally appropriate for your species. There is one other thing though: You can come to the meetings as often as you want, and if a senior officer is being a jerk to you, you can always let us know. But if you want to be a true JOPA member, you’ve got to prank a senior officer.

Vala hummed aloud. On the one hand this sounded like a thinly veiled social club. What was all this about letting them know if a senior officer was being a jerk. She was pretty sure that they had to make tough, and even unpopular decisions at times. Some of them probably even had abrasive natures, too, but being part of Starfleet meant learning about different cultures and communication styles. Maybe she was putting it politely though - had junior officers had legitimate problems that required some form of banding together or intervention before?

Morton: I have a few questions - but what do you mean prank a senior officer? I just got here, I don’t want to get written up. 

Nis: It’s not as scary as it seems. When we joined, we pranked the captain. Pretty sure she knew it was us, but she never made a thing of it. 

Morton: That was lucky. What was the prank?

Nis: It wasn’t anything big … compared to some of the other pranks people have pulled. A few of us just programmed the captain’s computer terminal to answer any of her queries with Vic Fontaine tunes. 

That didn’t seem so bad, and maybe it was even amusing. A harmless, amusing prank was something Vala could get behind. Maybe.

Morton: Have any of the pranks ever gone wrong? Or been badly received?

Jania had never had to sell JOPA so much, and she suddenly felt a bit silly about the whole thing. 

Plus she had to admit, there was that one time …

Nis: Before I was here, one of the junior officers got stuck in a Jeffries Tube trying a prank, but he’s always doing that. Same one that was in there this time, actually. As for the seniors, we’ve never heard a complaint. Actually, a lot of them were JOPA members in their youth too. It’s sort of an open secret. 

Morton: I see. And if it’s just for junior officers, at what point does someone get promoted out of the club?

Nis: Junior-Grade Lieutenant is the last rank allowed in JOPA. Once you get Lieutenant, you’re allowed one more JOPA meeting to say goodbye, and then you go on to join SOPA, we suppose. 

As far as Jania knew, there was no SOPA, but what did she know about senior officers? (Besides the obvious, who was romantically interested in whom.)

Morton: So who are the ex-members on this ship then?

Jania rubbed her chin and stared at Vala. She wasn’t sure if that was a question she should be answering. She had some evidence for Greaves as the creator, but the evidence was contradictory; there was also evidence it had been around on the 1701. There were the people she’d seen at meetings before they ranked up, but there was no need to share that info. 

Nis: :: in her best serious Starfleet voice :: We’re not at liberty to say. 

That made Vala chuckle. 

Morton: Alright, fair enough. And can you prank an ex-member?

Nis: Oh yes, but they’re the toughest to get, naturally.

Morton: Why all the secrecy? If there are senior officers who know about this - it’s not much of a secret is it? 

At this, Jania tilted her head. It was a good point. 

Nis: We dunno. For fun?

Morton: Sorry for all the questions. ::She chuckled good-naturedly:: I am a science officer… questions are my bread and butter.

Nis: Yes, we understand. 

Morton: There’s just one more thing. What’s this about problems with senior officers? I’m not expecting any trouble, but has there been trouble? Or is that just a thinly veiled excuse to prank officers and have a mess around?

Vala didn’t care too much what the answer was either way. She didn’t plan on getting on the bad side of my of her superiors. It was more that she just wanted to know the true nature of what it was she was being invited into.

Nis: Starfleet rarely promotes bad officers. But the fact that it is so abnormal means that, when it happens, there aren’t always good structures in place to protect the juniors. We’ve had one problem on this ship, and JOPA was able to help. It was a personnel issue, so we shouldn’t really talk too much about it. But we’re a smaller ship, and a pretty tight-knit family, so it doesn’t happen often. The serious side of JOPA is more important at places like DS14. On the Butler, it’s an excuse to meet up and have fun. But we -are- here if you need us, just use the secret code phrase: One hand washes the other. 

Morton: Wait what? 

Nis: Just kidding. You can just tell us and we’ll get on it. No secret code phrases necessary. 

Morton: Hah! You got me there. 

Nis: We’re ready here. :: looking up :: Koryan, you wonderful man, we’re ready for you to come back. 

As Koryan returned, Jania smiled at Vala. 

Nis: Welcome to the Butler. We’re glad to have you. 

Morton: Thank you. I’m glad to be here and I enjoyed our chat. Let’s do it again sometime.

Jania tilted her head, before realizing Vala had misinterpreted the “ready” comment. 

Nis: Oh, we didn’t mean ready to leave. We meant ready for another drink. We haven’t even asked you about your favorite uniform styles. :: whispering again as though she were talking about JOPA once more :: It’s controversial, but we’re a monster maroon girl. We would rock that open-flap look. 

Morton: Ah! Super. Yes you would rock that look… ::Enthusiastically::

Vala grinned and leaned in, glad to continue their conversation and for the opportunity to chat further with Jania.

(End)

****************

Ensign Vala Morton
Science Officer
USS Octavia E Butler NCC-82850
O240205VM3

&

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Jania Nis

Acting Chief Medical Officer of Physical Health

USS Octavia E. Butler NCC-82850

O240108JN2

she/her/they/their (character accepts either); he/his (player)

"Let your heart guide your hand." 

&

Koryan

Bartender

USS Octavia E. Butler

M239008AD0