PNPC Ensign Talyra - Why Are We Here?
Renée Chalfant
(( Science Complex, Deck 10, USS Chin’toka ))
As the ship was presently preparing to enter the Sol System and dock with whatever station, Talyra had been kept busy along with others in the Science department putting away gear, closing down any ongoing experiments or preparing them for transport to another lab since it seemed the Chin’toka was due for some upgrades. It was all rather annoying to Talyra, who would much rather spend the time either reading or studying stellar data in hopes of greater understanding. The mystery of the Hobus Supernova wasn’t going to be solved in a single night and she was aware it would require years of study and experience to make a dent in that mystery, but she was determined to be the one that cracked that case.
Adding to that frustration was one of the few things that scared the introverted scientist at this stage of her career: a frankly, in her considered opinion, unnecessary meeting. This impression of its lack of necessity was reinforced by the small number in the room with her and, of course, their illustrious Chief Science Officer. The other she noticed was some other newbie, whose bright green skin made her unfortunately Orion. She was also, like too many people on this ship, annoyingly tall.
Viala: Sooo what’s this meeting supposed to be about?
Talyra: Yes, what do you need, Lieutenant Stapledon?
Stapledon: Hey, how are you doing?
Talyra quirked an eyebrow at the question that did absolutely nothing to explain their mutual presence. Her hope that this wasn’t going to be full of “small talk”, as the humans called it, was starting to fade.
Talyra: I was doing quite well working on backing up the astrometrics data as you asked me to.
Viala: Response
Stapledon: Oh, I'm glad. It's good to meet you. ::Already knowing her field, Kim decided to play ignorant.:: What do you specialize in?
Viala: I don’t understand what more I could say that isn’t already on my record?
Stapledon: Well, yes, but it is always good to get to know--
Viala: Alright, well I am Viala, I specialize in nanomechanics, and I'm an antisocial.
Talyra decided right then and there that she might actually get along with Viala, in spite of her calling herself “an antisocial” as if “antisocial” was a noun rather than an adjective. That meant she wanted to be left alone and the Romulan felt the same way. What better start to a mutually beneficial relationship was there?
Stapledon: Well, I can certainly understand having difficulty in social situations. This is science after all, and–
Talyra sighed and raised a hand, feeling emboldened by the presence of a fellow member of the asocial population.
Talyra: Please dispense with the small talk and get straight to the point, Lieutenant.
Viala: Response
Maybe Stapledon was disappointed with that, a conclusion Talyra came to from the sigh the human let out before speaking. Shortcutting the never-small talk felt like a victory.
Stapledon: Okay. Well what we need to do is decide how much of what's left in the science labs actually needs to be there.
Talyra: I do not believe I can think of anything else we can put away in Astrometrics and Stellar Cartography unless you mean to shut down that section entirely. Should we start taking things apart?
Viala: Response
Stapledon: Well no, not quite that drastic. We want to put it into storage for the rest of the ship to be able to use.
Talyra: Are the biologists being lazy again?
Viala: Response
Talyra: I know what they do to those. I’m not touching them.
Viala/Stapledon: Response
Talyra huffed and shook her head. Why did it seem like humans had such trouble being clear and concise? She had timed her Academy roommate once and it took her close to thirty minutes to get to the point between all the unnecessary small talk and weird segues into seemingly unrelated stories, and that hadn’t even been the worst time.
Talyra: Well, be more specific. Most of what is left is specialist equipment, research data, and whatever they were up to in Lab Three.
Viala/Stapledon: Response
Talyra: Oh, was that it was? From what I smelled when I passed by it this morning, I thought someone burnt their fish while simultaneously trying to sacrifice some poor long dead animal.
Viala/Stapledon: Response