[sb118-khitomer] Lieutenant (JG) Ezra Zerva - Uncomfortable conversations

[BC Cooper]

(( Inside the Ouachita, Shuttlebay, Deck 2, USS Khitomer, En Route to Alpha Trionus II ))

Semara: To be honest, I ain't sure how I'm supposed to feel or act. They don't really cover this in the Academy. And nothin' I learned 'bout protocol or manners or Betazoid society life growin' up really helps either. :: A shrug :: My only guides are my head and my heart. ::beat:: And my crewmates. :: A little smile ::

Michaels: I wanted to ask you a question or two about Betazoids, in general. Please stop me if I stray into inappropriate areas. I took the course on Federation Species at the Academy. As I am certain you will agree, it would be difficult to cover all that one should know about Vulcans, or Trill, or Betazoids in a 45-minute lecture. In the case of Betazoids, the session was largely disrupted by the young Human males' ... interest... in Betazoid wedding ... practices. And apparel. Or lack thereof.

Why was Lera turning the conversation this way? With everything happening right now, what made her think this is the appropriate time to make small talk about such a thing? He put that into the back of his mind. He wasn’t some first year human cadet with ranging hormones at the Academy. That was the furthest thing from his mind.

The runabout’s power began to fluctuate. Something was causing more power to be pulled into the runabout as they tried to restore power. The lights inside the shuttlebay flickered for a brief moment. 

Zerva: ::mutters:: Well that’s not good. ::raised voice:: I wonder what caused that?

Michaels: It is not behaviour one usually sees from a runabout. It does appear to have stabilized. Perhaps it was as simple as recharging auxiliary batteries. Still, we should get back to work. Lieutenant. I was about to begin examining the weaponry on the shuttle. I only got a glance, but it does seem to be something unusual. Perhaps even experimental UPSD torpedoes.

Semara: :: Slowly:: U-P-S-D?

Michaels: Unnecessarily Painful Slow Death torpedoes.

Zerva: ::raising a brow:: That is indeed a rather slow painful death. Not one I’d wish upon my worst enemies.

Semara: Sure - just... Carefully, please? Eyes and tricorder only 'til you're sure they're safe. :: Beat :: Meanwhile, we prolly oughta focus on anything that'll tell us more about our guests and how they got here. Zerva, think you can take a crack at the logs?

Zerva: ::nods:: I can do that. ::to Lera:: I second Lieutenant Semara’s suggestion. Please be careful.

Michaels: Those torpedoes are unlike anything I have seen. I suspect they are more powerful than the ones we fired at the probe. Possibly capable of destroying a P.O.W. camp. ::shaking her head. To Semara :: You are the senior officer here. What are you going to work on first?

Ezra took a glance over at where Lera was referring to, at first glance she was right. Those were not standard, regulation Federation photon torpedos. Not a good sign. No telling where they came from.

Semara: I'll see if I can make heads or tails of how they time-travel. :: To Michaels :: I'll take any help ya got after you're done lookin' over the rest. Be nice knowin' we won't overload anything pressin' the wrong button. This place is a tangle...

Lera knelt and studied the underside of the main control console. She was messing with some wires. Ezra paused, hoping that she was careful. As an engineer he trusted her skills and abilities, but a small part of him was worried just the same.

Michaels: "Tangle" barely seems adequate to describe this. :: quick glance at Ezra. :: This almost looks like a Zerva-jerry-rig-special. This has not been carefully engineered by professional technicians. It was patched together by someone who knew what they were doing, using whatever spare parts they had available. Most of the correct parts were unavailable when whoever began these modifications. Some are barely appropriate for their current application. :: beat :: There are so many of these modifications. It implies that Ouachita has not been seen regular maintenance in ... years.

Zerva: I suspected as much. I found evidence of some jury rigged parts, much like my MacZerva device in the back during my initial  investigation. 

Semara: Okay, I gotta know Lera - why did you bring up Betazoid weddin's? Whaddya wanna know? :: A chuckle ::

Lera took a deep breath. It was clear to Ezra she was about to choose her words carefully. Or so he hoped. Why indeed did she bring it up? Was she about to suggest something regarding the two of them? He was not ready for such a conversation. Especially when they were still in the early stages of their relationship.

Michaels: Betazoid weddings are, it seems, a natural consequence of one of your species' distinctive characteristics; telepathy. At the same time, variation is a fundamental characteristic of every species. While weddings sans apparel appear to be traditional, even commonplace, there must be variation there. At some weddings, the wedding party or guests may choose to wear some adornment, such as a necklace worn by an honored ancestor. Some weddings in climates too cold to be comfortable au naturale. Some weddings where the couple wishes to emphasize their love of some common aspect of their lives by wearing costume items. Oddities. Perhaps rare but not inconceivable. Variation.

Did Semara just chuckle? Well at least she found it amusing. That was likely a good sign.

Ezra began to scroll through the logs aboard the Ouachita.

Semara: Variation, yes.  Jewelry, makeup, hair, and so on...  But not so much on the clothes. :: A little chuckle. :: Clothed weddin's happen from time to time, but about as often as a Human bride wears somethin' other than a white dress.  It's real old and real ingrained in the culture.  In cold climates, the weddin' is held indoors - just like on Earth.  In fact, there's a lesser-known theory that the tradition started in colder climates as a way to show that the woman was capable of providin' a home so comfortable clothes weren't needed.

Ezra found himself nodding to no one in particular. That last part about providing a warm home made the most sense, to him at least. He just hoped Lera wasn’t planning that far ahead or suggesting it should another cultures wedding practices.

Zerva: The colder climate wedding, seems like a logical theory.

Michaels: Logically, there is variation in Betazoid telepathic abilities. No doubt, some Betazoids have stronger-than-average telepathic abilities while others are much weaker. It also seems logical that telepathic abilites can be enhanced with appropriate training. An appropriate analogy may be speech. Very young children of all species have to learn to speak and as they mature, their speech improves. They become more skillful; more nuanced. With significant training, they may become truly eloquent. I will admit that this is conjecture on my part. ::beat :: Is that true of Betazoid telepathic abilities?

Semara: It's a bit more complicated than that, but the right idea.  There's a few different telepathic skills, but they intertwine.  It's a bit how readin' and writin' are similar but different to listenin' and speakin'.  :: Beat :: There's a definite genetic component to a Betazoid's potential, but most parents start developin' a child's telepathy as soon as it starts to show to make the most of what the child has. Some folks devote their whole lives to studyin' and practicin'.

Zerva: It is not unlike a Trill who is preparing for the joining in some ways. Mind you, the empathic connection between the two isn’t quite the same as a telepathic connection or rather conversation between two peoples. I find it rather interesting to say the least.

Michaels: It is sometimes said that Vulcans are incapable of lying. I can assure you that is not true. Most Vulcans will not lie because it violates their training and their culture. Selectively telling you the truth is another matter. Vulcans are perfectly capable of telling you only what they want you to know.

Was there a reasoning for all this line of questioning? What was Lera up to and why did it make him a bit nervous. Especially the part about selective truths. What did that mean for the two of them? Was she hiding something from him or not just telling him things? No that wasn’t like her. At least from their brief time together. He couldn’t imagining her holding anything back. They had been open and honest with each other up to this point. 

From his experience, she was always rather blunt about saying what was on her mind. That wasn’t entirely a bad thing. But in Ezra’s mind it could potentially get her into trouble. But she wasn’t your typical Vulcan either. He started to wonder what her initial reaction would be meeting his mother. For now though, such thoughts would have to wait. They had a job to do.

He turned his attention back to the logs. So many to shift through. He debated whether or not if it would be best to type in a few key phrases to find more information that was directly relevant to the P.O.W. camp, the war with the Lattice Alliance, time travel and their three guest. It couldn’t hurt.

Semara: I think any conversation is about decidin' what to say and what not to say.  That ain't a bad thing.  Just a thing.  For example, prolly neither of you want me to know everything you two were up to before I got here.  But I'm happy to not know.

See?! He was right. Being careful what you say is important— wait? What? She knew? He sighed inside to himself. Yeah that tracks. Her intuition was good. He just hoped she wasn’t reading their minds. 

Semara gave out a little chuckle, giving him a glimmering, mischief-filled side-eye.

His face began to flush. He did his best to change the subject. It was his turn to try and steer things his way after listening to all of there conversation.

Zerva: ::face blushing:: So how about those niners? I hear DS9 might make an effort to bring back their baseball team. Maybe we should form a team of our own?

Michaels: Response

Semara: For a Betazoid... Tryin' to lie just makes you seem like a little kid that hasn't learned how obvious it is.  :: Beat :: But a telepath is constantly decidin' what to share and what to hold back; when to pry and when to leave it alone.  Some things are personal, some things are professional, and yes, ever-so-rarely some things are wrong.  Try thinkin' on what each a' those feels like for you.  They're different, no?

Ezra hoped that meant she wasn’t going to pry into what happened before her arrival in the runabout with the two of them. It seemed more like she was trying to warn them of poking the bear with too much prying on another’s personal life. It was a good suggestion.

Zerva: ::nodding:: They are indeed different.

Michaels: Response

Semara: Now take Tori for example.  She's smart enough to not lie to me, even if she didn't think that was wrong.  Even if they didn't need us for their plan, I can't imagine they mean any harm.  We're literally family, and they're tryin' to stop our deaths.  But she was uncomfortable with us knowin' they needed a Hobart Hole to travel back in time, and that ain't a trifflin' matter.  Why do you think she'd wanna keep that to herself?

oO I guess baseball is off the table? Oh well, I tired. Oo

Zerva: ::raising a brow:: If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that Hobart’s Hole is a two way street. It’s quite possible that it could in fact take us into the future. Perhaps there is more to this mystery as you pointed out.

Semara / Michaels: Response

Zerva: I’ve been checking though the logs during our conversations. The number of logs here could take hours to shift through. I’ve typed in a few key phrases that should give us… ::bleep, bleep:: a result?

He wondered if the dates of everyone’s deaths would be recorded and found within the logs. He hoped the answer to that bleeping was a no. That was the last thing he wanted to find.

Semara / Michaels: Response

Zerva: Curious. It would appear some of the logs are incomplete. The computer seems to have found a number of sections that are missing. I wonder if the Sensha radiation or their travel through time or a combination of two might have something to do—

Ezra focused on those logs, typing away on the screen, only for it to start flashing a warning. For the first time, the computer spoke to them. But it wasn’t the friendly Starfleet voice they’d all knew. It was deeper and had a strange, almost robotic like voice. Not unlike the computer voice used by the Cardassians on Terok Nor before Starfleet took control of the station.

Computer: Warning. Those logs are encrypted. They require a level 7 Free Isle Fleet access. Any further attempts could result in computer failure.

Semara / Michaels: Response

Zerva: ::surprised look:: It would seem as though, the computer has a fail safe shutdown protocol. 

Semara / Michaels: Response

Zerva: ::cracking his knuckles:: I didn’t take a full course at the academy on computer hacking for nothing. It’s going to take a little time to get through, without triggering any fail safe security alarms. I suspect our Admiral Lacy has the codes. I am doubtful she’ll give them up willingly. oO Tori might, if she was persuaded to do so, but I would never ask Semara to be put into such a compromised situation. Especially now after our conversation. Oo In the meantime, there are a number of other non encrypted logs to search through, if anyone would like to lend a hand? 

Semara / Michaels: Response

TAGS/TBC

——————

Lieutenant (JG) Ezra Zerva

Security Officer

USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)

A240101EZ2