JP - PNPCs Sherana & CPO Shedet - With Knives Out (Part 1)
Jess
(( Arboretum ))
Sherana had returned from the surface and was pleased with her ‘loot’. After several fruitful conversations with Endaasi gardeners, she had acquired various plants that were at home on Endaasi for the Arboretum. She would inform Saavok of her mission’s success knowing he would be interested in it, after all, he had been to the surface as well and had suggested it. Right now she made sure to store all the plants in a place that was in the correct climate and then plant them together with the Vulcan boy.
She had still some time left before she would have to return to her part-time work in Security so she now focused on her other passion, the Arboretum. Dressed in bulky cargo pants, an oversized wool sweater and heavy boots she gathered her hair and pushed it through the opening of the back of a baseball cap that had been a gift from her mentor on Earth. She always wore it during her work here. She grabbed her gardening tool belt and fixed it around her hips as she began doing her rounds to see where she needed to turn her attention.
Shedet had decided a visit to the Arboretum was due. Though she never had any real love for plants or anything like that, the colours and the smells were what attracted her the most. In her time in Starfleet, she found that each arboretum she had visited on any ship always smelled and looked unique. For her delicate nose, the Orion was sure she could pick up smell combinations lost on most other humanoids, a byproduct of her species reliance on pheromones.
That was something she was happy to not have to deal with. Her monthly injections of Ordivolus, the pheromone suppressant, made sure that the males of the species did not wind up forming a cult around her or becoming seriously aggressive. Unfortunately, she found out that due to her genetic rarity of being a blond Orion, meant her own pheromone was much more potent. Thank the goddess for Starfleet drugs.
The smells struck her hard as the doors swished open and the girl closed her eyes to absorb all the decadent sensations that washed over her. This was an absolutely gorgeous place just by smell alone. She was not yet ready to open her eyes but just stand in the doorway and bask in the emotions and feelings pouring all over her.
Sherana meanwhile had found an area not too far from that entrance that needed some extra care. The bushes had a little too much water and the leaves turned dark and soggy. Now that the water was at a good level she removed the affected leaves to make it easier for the plant to recover. She carefully raised a few of the unaffected leaves, revealing a bug crawling over the branches.
It made her think of Pepper who had introduced the Arboretum to bug life and ever since the plants grew even better. The Scientist now worked on Starbase 118 but she had left extensive manuals on how to care for the bugs. She heard the doors to the Arboretum open. Nothing unusual; it happened a lot, which was the reason that she had worked with Engineering to install force fields that would allow people to come through but keep the bugs inside. But when the doors didn’t close again she lowered her hands, her eyes still on the plant in front of her, and with a slightly annoyed tone she called out.
Sherana: Come in or stay out, but close the darn door.
Shedet started out the voice and opened her eyes to try and locate it. All she could see was a bunch of green and other colourful flowers. Stepping in, the door swished shut behind her.
Shedet: Sorry. Was just taking in the smells.
Sherana shook her head and cut another leaf from the thicker branch. She collected the leaf and dropped it in the small container she carried on a hook hanging from her hip as part of the tool belt.
Sherana: The smell is more intense if you stand amidst the plant life where the ship air won’t filter it out.
The Orion approached the sound of the voice and as her eyes made contact, something inside her made her uncomfortable.
Shedet: Gisjacheh morl.
Hearing the strange words, Sherana finally stopped what she was doing and turned to look at the other person. Another Orion, most likely a _proper_ Orion because Sherana didn’t see herself as one, after all, she was raised by a Klingon as a Klingon on the homeworld. Other than her mother there had never been another Orion in her life, other than crossing the one or another in her life outside the Empire. But none had actually approached her before, especially with words that were unfamiliar to her.
Sherana: nuqneH?
What the other could do, Sherana was able to as well. Speaking different languages was not such a rare skill.
The Orion girl was shocked at herself for slipping into Orion and speaking with what was a pretty rude comment.
Shedet: I’m...I’m sorry, I just slipped into my own language for a moment.
It looked like the other Orion woman across from her did not speak Orion.
Shedet: So...pretty flowers?
Sherana raised her brows. So that was Orion, the language her mother had not spoken ever since she’d been found by Grawn. It sounded weird. But what really baffled her was the last comment.
Sherana: As is common in an Arboretum.
Shedet: Ah. Yes. That seems obvious now. Which ones that?
A strange feeling came over Shedet as she looked at the other Orion across from her pointing out the plant. There was something...alien about her. She looked like one of her species but the mannerisms, the movement, and something else just felt wrong. It irritated the blond girl.
The Klingonese Orion turned her head to the indicated flowers, To her surprise, it was one of the not growing in the open air behind in a tank. They were of a shimmering purple flowing into a blue-greenish centre covered in bright yellow streaks. The shape of the petals was unusual, as they were bent in a way that made the whole blossom look like a twirling maelstrom in which the colours moved into each other. Bubbles moving upwards in the tank touched the algae-like leaves and then the petals, and upon the impact of the bubble the petal unrolled into large petals with an intricate pattern that was usually hidden, that looked a lot like scales before the petals coiled once more and rolled up into their resting maelstrom position.
Sherana: It is a Deep Sea Barin from Pacifica. The Selkie call it a’rhen’tir which means ‘One with the storm’.
TBC
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JP by:
Sherana
Botanist / Part time Security Member
simmed by
Commodore Jalana Rajel
Commanding Officer
USS Constitution B
A238906JL0
&
PNPC Chief Petty Officer Shedet
Science Officer
simmed by
Senior Commander Nugra
Intelligence Officer
USS Constitution-B NCC 9012-B
V238008N10