JP (BACKSIM) Cadets Tahna Meru and Ico Ena - Shezara Pt. II
Alieth
((Starfleet Academy, Presidio Campus, Earth, 2395))
Tahna: We’ve gotta get out of here.
Ico: …. And quick…::Looking around:: B-but how, everybody is going to spot us.
On the stand, ignorant of their troubles, Duvall carried on with the lesson.
Duvall: Darma! Family! One of the foundations of Cardassian society is the family and, as such, much of their vocabulary and the way they, or we in this case, refer to or treat others has to do with the familial or patronage connections established between the speakers. This includes the different varieties of " you " such as…
The lecture faded into the background as Meru tried to come up with a way to leave without causing a scene. They certainly couldn’t sneak out unnoticed, so maybe…. Meru frowned. Maybe a scene was just what they needed. They could pretend to be sick and leave for medbay -- no, who would believe a Bajoran had suddenly come down with a flu in the middle of Cardassian 101? Then again, there wouldn’t be much acting involved as every time the professor enthused about Cardassian culture Meru felt her stomach churn. There had to be something…. Something like an urgent communication requesting Commander Duvall’s presence elsewhere. She’d learned how to have the computer page someone in another class, she could do this. It just had to be anonymous.
Tahna: ::Whispering to Ena:: I’m going to have him paged, asked to join a meeting in another building immediately.
Ena paled for a second.
Ico: A-are you sure?
Tahna: They’ll never know it was us.
That might not be true, but surely it would take them long enough to figure out who did it that the women would be able to fix their registration and never face Commander Duvall and his off-putting fondness for Cardassian linguistics ever again.
Ena looked at her new classmate with dazzled doe eyes, swallowed hard, and glanced around the class. Professor Duval was still passionately recounting Cardassian social intricacies, and most of the cadets seemed transfixed on him, caught up in his fascination. The serpentine symbols of the Cardassian language covered much of the screen, connected with lines that intersected each other. The only thing missing were the pictures to make him the spitting image of one of those conspiracy theorists that she had seen in her classmate Sol's holonovels.
Ico: O-okay, but ..... hurry up.
Meru nodded and set about making the call on her PADD while the professor prattled on about Cardassian values. Ask the computer to page him, encrypt her identity, type in the message, and- she paused before hitting send. This wasn’t an expellable offense if they caught her, was it?
Ena, meanwhile, pretended to take notes dutifully, but in fact mainly tapped her fingers on the surface of one of her PADDs rather nervously, as her eyes darted around the room in search of the most likely candidate to catch them red-handed. The rattle soon drew the gaze of a short-haired, dark-eyed human boy in the front row, who stared at Ena longer than any other. The young Bajoran blushed, thinking she had been caught, but the human finally did nothing more than put a finger to his lips and point to the PADD in his own hands, asking for silence. Ena blushed ever more red and nodded, looking away as she hid her hands in her lap to continue fidgeting there, but silently this time.
Meanwhile, on the podium, Professor Duvall went on with his lecture.
Duvall: ... These words will come up frequently in your readings: federavah1 and bajõuvah2. Can anyone guess what they mean?
Ena looked at her classmate with a frantic glance in her green eyes.
Ico: ...i-i-is it done already?...
Oh Prophets,they had to get out of here. Barely a second later, Meru triggered the communiqué on her PADD without a second thought. At first, she thought it hadn’t worked, but a few seconds later Commander Duvall’s combadge chirped.
Duvall: Excuse me. =/\=Duvall here.=/\=
The class began to hum with a restrained murmur as the cadets looked at each other, their expressions divided between curiosity and confusion in equal parts. Meanwhile, the combadge emitted the robotic and familiar voice of the Academy's computer.
Computer: =/\=Commander Duvall, your immediate presence is required in Meeting Room 233, Archer Command Center.=/\=
Duvall: =/\=Acknowledged.=/\=
The man frowned, and a soft whisper began in the classroom. Meru stowed the guilty PADD in her backpack and stole a hopeful glance at Ena who returned a far more worried gaze. Despite any doubts that might worry the two women (more probably to one of them than the other), it seemed to have worked.
Ico: ::in a hesitant whisper:: you've done it :: glancing at the podium to see Duval begin to quickly gather his belongings and then look back at Meru with admiration:: you've done it.
The screen with all the Cardassian typography flickered before turning off, as the human professor gathered his belongings in the crook of his arm and hurried towards the door.
Duvall: Make sure to do the readings in the syllabus, don’t forget the grammar practice. I expect you all in tutoring tomorrow since today was cut short. Class dismissed.
He left abruptly as the whispers among his students crescendoed to a full chatter. A wave of relief washed over Meru, and she grinned at Ena.
Tahna: What did I tell you? Let’s go fix our registration.
Ico:::nodding:: Y-yeah
They both gathered their things and slipped through the group of cadets closest to the door, dodging clusters where there were bets on the reason for the abrupt summons to the professor or simply discussing what to do with their unexpected free time. Before long, their footsteps led the two Bajoran women away from the building and into the well-maintained gardens of the Academy. Birds chirped lively in the trees and a pair of runabouts passed above their heads, probably taking a group of cadets on some extracurricular outing or, perchance, leading a group of new graduates to their first destination, one of the numerous ships that were stationed on Starbase 1, invisible well beyond the planet's atmosphere.
Ena remained silent for much of the way until, finally, her footsteps slowed and her hurried escape from the classroom became a leisurely jog, almost a stroll.
OOC:
1 Federavah→ Cardassian: “Federation person,” someone from the Federation
2 Bajõuvah→ Cardassian: “Bajoran person”
As simmed by:
Cadet Tahna Meru
3rd year Science Cadet
Starfleet Academy
G239801TM4
&
Cadet Ico Ena
2nd Year Cadet
Starfleet Academy
E239702A10