Lieutenent JG Nera Ay - Personal Space? Never Met Her
Jonathan
((USS Magni, Selene, Solace System))
Glancing at the shuttle's readout, they’d soon arrive at the settlement and be able to touchdown and meet the Selenians fully. He still couldn't entirely decide if he should be excited or nervous.
Nera: Anything more we should know before we land? ::pausing:: Oh, does the settlement have a name?
DeVeau: Before we land, we need to get off the ground first.
In all his enthusiasm to get underway and continue discovering the secrets Selene kept hidden under its glowing canopy, he’d entirely missed the fact that the shuttle was still very much on the ground.
He flushed a deep shade of red and began intently studying a terminal readout filled with data regarding the local soil composition.
DeVeau: But let’s take care of that now. Raeyen, if this is your settlement, we’ll head over there and land close, but not too close.
Tam had seemed very eager to get in the pilot's seat. Ay was sure she’d been staring longingly at the controls on their flight to the moon. She seemed excited in the most controlled of fashions, now that the chance to fly was presented to her.
Ay was content to sit and watch the world drift by through the viewscreen.
Tam: I'll start the preflight check.
Raeyen IV: It used to be called Gemini Outpost… but we just call it Gem.
With the course already plotted, Gem was added to the map as a distinct marker of its own, allowing them to slowly build up an image of the local area.
Tam: Gem it is.
Nera: Nice name
Tam: Away we go.
The preflight checks were completed quickly and efficiently, and with a few extra taps on the console, the Magni began to rise from its green landing zone once more. Ay settled into a seat by one of the consoles, gazing at the view screen, enjoying the blend of colours as the world sped by.
The glow from the rain, the luminosity of the forest, spots of orange and white from flying creatures, all melding into one interpretive hodgepodge.
Raeyen continued to study the equipment and controls, while DeVeau went to great efforts to make sure she wasn’t looking at the view screen, much as she had on the flight to Selene. Not a woman fond of flying, Ay concluded. No barrel rolls, or Cuban 8s in that case. Very sad indeed.
DeVeau: Like Ay asked, if there are specific customs we need to be aware of, that would be good to know.
Raeyen IV: Don’t stare.
That could be applied to a lot of people and cultures. Most people didn’t seem to enjoy staring, though Vulcans had somehow mastered the art. Stare at a Klingon too long, and they’d either hit you or try to woo you. Or both.
Raeyen IV: Ask before you touch any of the animals.
Tam: Common courtesy. Got it.
Nera: Like I'd go around randomly touching the animals.
He would, he definitely would. Especially if it was small and fluffy.
DeVeau: We’re close, so only a minute or two. These things go fast.
The distance they’d covered in a few minutes with the shuttle would have taken significantly longer on foot, or even with a ground vehicle of some kind.
Nera: It’s exciting when you think about it. Hurtling through the sky at breakneck speeds, kept going by nothing but a well-designed machine and a skilled pilot.
Ay wouldn’t have been opposed to a little more speed.
Raeyen IV: I am envious of this speed.
While her weapon wasn’t much to go on in terms of technology, it gave some indication. Enough, at least to suggest that the technology the away team had arrived with far surpassed what was on Selene.
Tam: Traveling through the stars, I forget just how we are going.
It really was easy to forget. Tucked away inside a shuttle, or even aboard the Thor, you just didn’t realise how fast or how far you were going. The journey was so smooth, and the distance was unnoticed when most of your time was spent looking at bulkheads.
As the shuttle made a pass of the village, it gave Ay a moment to look out at the collection of buildings and the gathering group of individuals awaiting their arrival.
Tam: We have a welcoming committee.
Raeyen rolled up a sleeve, a tattoo in roman numerals hidden beneath it. IV. Like her name. It made Ay think of a serial number, set to identify one replica from the next.
Raeyen IV: Expect security to meet up, weapons pointed down but on the ready, showing them this will verify my identity and allow us to pass.
Tam: Please take the lead.
That made the most sense, and no one else in the shuttle seemed inclined to disagree with that suggestion. These were Raeyen’s people, and whatever goodwill they’d built with her didn’t necessarily extend to everyone else.
The shuttle touched down gently, and the crew made their preparations to disembark.
((Gem, Selene, Solace System))
Ay, like DeVeau and Tam, opted for keeping his phaser strapped and holstered. It was a requirement for away teams anyway to carry them, but as Selene had already proven, some of the local wildlife was prone to aggression.
The devices were, however, kept holstered. No need to aggravate the welcoming party with weapons out, even though the Nova Terran “exiles” had theirs on full display.
Raeyen stepped out of the Magni first, followed closely by the rest of the group.
The group assembled seemed to mostly be security personnel, dressed in a similar fashion to Raeyen. Two stood out from the crowd, however.
One, clearly a scientist in a stained and torn lab coat that must have been pulled from a long forgotten about box, fidgeted where he stood, eyes darting constantly between the group of arrivals, and the visor he wore, which seemed to provide a constant stream of data across its screen.
Then there was the young woman, who looked so exactly like Raeyen that she was either the most identical twin Ay had ever encountered, or his earlier suspicions had been very much correct.
Raeyen IV: …What the f- GREG!?
She surged forward and grabbed Greg, the scruffy scientist, by the collar, almost hoisting the poor man off his feet. Greg seemed to respond by morphing nervous twitching into uncomfortable squirming.
Raeyen IV: My heart stops for less than a minute and YOU ACTIVATED FIVE?!
Internally, Ay did a fist pump. “Activate 5” rather confirmed it. The human trials had progressed into full-blown and apparently successful cloning. How many of Selene’s occupants fell into that category, he wondered.
What satisfaction he derived from a solved mystery, however, was somewhat overshadowed by the immense problem it would cause should it filter back to the Federation. Genetic engineering was outright banned, medical treatments that involved aspects of genetic engineering were closely controlled and monitored. Full on cloning however? Ay could envision the storm easily enough.
They were, perhaps, luckly that they weren’t in Federation space at this point in time.
Greg: …Ah, I thought… I’msosorryRaeyen.
Raeyen V: Are we in trouble? ::Lookin to Raeyen IV then to the crew:: Hello!
While IV and V were identical in a physical sense, they couldn’t be more different on a personality front. IV was tense and suspicious, while V was entirely open and almost bubbly.
Tam was the first to greet the Selenians, with a little wave.
Tam: Hello there.
Followed by a friendly smile from DeVeau, who was certainly very friendly.
DeVeau: Hail and well met!
She then proceeded to introduce the team, much like one would at a party. Ay hadn’t been to many parties that involved guns, though a surprising number where concealed knives were considered normal.
DeVeau: I’m Alora. That’s Divya.
One had motioned to Tam, then swept towards Ay.
DeVeau: And this is Ay. We’re visitors to your world.
Nera: Hey there! Nice to meet you all :;smiling and waving::
They were a pretty good bunch for these first contact situations, thinking about it; each friendly and possessing a suitably large personality. Tam, presumably still acting with a degree of security in mind, was the first to physically greet the group of Selenians, with a very human handshake.
Ay idly wondered if any of them would be offended if he tried to read their pagh.
Tam: Greg, is it? Nice to meet you.
Greg, apparently nimble and twitchy, managed to extract himself from Raeyen IV’s grasp, took Tam’s hand in his own.
Greg: Oh, yes. Hello. This must look….
This must look what? Ay wanted to know what the continuation of that sentence had been. Greg, on the other hand, seemed more interested in Tam’s breathers, bobbing his head from side to side as he stared at them. Then he poked her face.
Greg: What is the purpose of this?
Pure scientist, through and through. No adherence to social norms. just straight to the “What, why, how”. Tam rather gracefully brushed his hand aside, with a distinctly “please don’t” look. Ay had been on the receiving end of that look from people many times before, when he’d been less experienced with other races.
DeVeau: If you please, Greg, that’s not really polite.
The concept of personal space on Bajor was a little odd, since it was considered entirely normal to squeeze another person's earlobe without asking for permission first. It had taken Ay a little bit of time to adjust to the fact that not everyone else was used to that kind of unannounced physical contact.
Nera: Most people and species aren’t hugely comfortable with being poked and prodded, unless you grew up where I did. Then it’s considered normal ::shrugging::
Raeyen IV: Response
Greg: Oh…yes…Imsorry.
Even the apology was twitchy, a little jumpy. Ay had to wonder how many sample jars he broke on a daily basis.
Tam: And you are Five?
DeVeau: A pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Nera: Hi! So you’re sisters?
It was an intentionally placed question to see how they would respond. Trump up the friendliness, play into being young and charming. Would they outright admit it at this point?
Raeyen IV/Five: Response
The guards were shifting from foot to foot, casting weary glances at the away team; Ay had expected the looks to linger more on himself and Tam, but the mix of curiosity and suspicion was thrown at each of them in equal measure. DeVeau was human, so should have been except…but then again, she wasn’t Nova Terran, which likely made her just as suspicious as a Bajoran and a Barzan.
Greg, of course, showed no form of concern and instead continued to treat social norms the same way most young children did. As if they didn’t exist at all.
This time, he took it upon himself to do his best impression of a dog and started sniffing Tam. Had this been a different situation, where the subtle undercurrent of “weapons hot” at the drop of a hat didn’t exist, Ay would have found Greg's actions utterly hilarious.
Greg: I smell ammonia. Did you have an encounter with the Vampcat?
Tam, to her credit, kept entirely cool under the man’s odd scrutiny.
Tam: No.
DeVeau: I understand that we certainly are a sight, but just as such things would likely not be considered polite and desirable to your people, they are not considered polite and desirable to hers.
The comment was rather pointed in its meaning and direction. If we can’t stare, why can you poke and sniff? Not everyone was comfortable playing things off with a joke or a quip, and while Tam was patient, that patience could only stretch so far.
DeVeau subtly raised an eyebrow, aiming it specifically at Raeyen IV. Greg seemed at least partially scared of IV, if she said something, the scientist might just behave himself.
Playing his own form of conflict resolution, Ay shifted topics.
Nera: Vampcat? Is that the swimming cat with the membrane for gliding? We’d been calling it a batcat. They’re pretty cute. Are they domesticated at all? Wouldn’t mind bringing one back, you know?
Greg blinked, seemingly confused by the question or the string of data on his screen. It was hard to tell.
Raeyen IV/Raeyen V/Tam: Response
And so the conversation turned towards the unavoidable topic of where people were from.
DeVeau: We’re actually from…pretty far away. My friends are from planets of their own. Barzan.
As she had done with the names, DeVeau gestured from Tam to Ay.
DeVeau: And Bajor.
Ay opened his mouth, about make a joke about how creative Bajorans and Barzans were in naming themselves and their planets, only to recall that he’d already made that joke.
oO Thank you voice in my headOo
Instead, he opted for something more bland.
Nera: We traveled a long way to meet you
Ay stepped a little way away from the shuttle, closer to the group, which seemed to do nothing more than incite Greg’s upfront curiosity. His mouth formed into a little “o” as he walked towards Ay, pointing.
Greg: You have ridges! Can I?
He didn’t so much poke them as stroke them, without so much as waiting to an answer to his question. Ay had never experienced someone stroking his nose ridges, and suddenly felt like a cat or a dog.
Having no other response to the odd interaction, Ay indulged in his Bajoran heritage and took hold of one of Greg’s earlobes.
Nera: And you have ears!
Raeyen IV/Raeyen V/Tam: Response
A small group of other figures had begun approaching from a distance, their clothing a little better than what Greg had turned up in, their postures more upright and rigid. They had a certain air of authority to them. The outpost leaders, he suspected, or at least someone in a position of authority.
DeVeau: I am actually from Earth.
Nera: I’ve only spent a few years on Earth personally. Good music
Ay tried to ignore the finger tracing his nose, to pay attention to how the group reacted to the revelation. A human from Earth, the original Earth, no less, here on their little piece of human culture in the middle of a glowing world.
Raeyen IV/Raeyen V/Tam/Greg: Response
With the hope of building a little rapport through shared experience, specifically DeVeau’s, as the only person born on Earth in the team.
Nera: Whereabouts on Earth are you from again? You were telling me the other day..
She had not been, but it was more a way of provoking conversation than anything.
Raeyen IV/Raeyen V/Tam/GregDeVeau: Response
Nera: Most of my time was spent in San Francisco. Never did branch out as much as I really wanted to, to see the rest of the world.
That much was true. With the main Starfleet Academy and Medical complex located in the city, that was where his official education had taken place. He’d been far too wrapped up in his own personal drama to both with exploration or sightseeing, something that he now greatly regretted.
Raeyen IV/Raeyen V/Tam/Greg/DeVeau: Response
The pair of approaching Selenians had reached the group, their arrival somehow altering the mood of the little group. There had been a mix of caution and curiosity, which had been replaced by a quiet sort of nervousness. One dressed in some kind of military garb, more presentation-oriented than what Raeyen and the rest of the welcoming group had worn, with very shiny shoes. The second dressed like Greg…just better. The lab coat looked fresh and pressed, with not a stain or rip in sight.
Ay moved his head a little closer to Greg, muttering a question.
Nera: ::muttering:: You want to introduce us?
Raeyen IV/Raeyen V/Tam/Greg/DeVeau: Response
Tags/TBC
Lieutenant JG Nera Ay
Medical Officer
USS Thor
G240106NA2
He/Him/His (Player/Character)