USS EXCALIBUR: GAMMA encounters...

[David Suarez de Lis]

Stardate: 90120.1420
Scene: SB GAMMA, Promenade...

Lt(jg) HonaSereah tried to stop laughing, specially to cut off the strong
smell to lemons he was emitting. But the spectacle was really memorable. Some
kind of animal, small and agil, was doing pirouettes in an intrincate
metallic structure and hiding and playing cat & mouse with the owner, from
whom he had stolen a hat. The small Ferengi was red in rage and embarrasment
and a good crowd was peeping the show. After some more try outs, the Ferengi
stopped to take a breath and that moment Sereah moved and effortlessly
trapped the small animal.

"Here you are your hat, sir" em said, giving the hat to the Ferengi and
leaving the small animal back in the scaffold, who was visible angry with
Sereah for stopping the fun, but wasn't agressive at all, just even funnier.
Meanwhile, Sereah was relaying the scene to the mabaliri, who was having a
great deal of fun in the temporary quarters assignated to Sereah in GAMMA.

"Why thank you, young lady" the Ferengi answered, half impressed by the
skills of the woman trapping his rubbir and for the strange aspect of her
face and hair. Sereah, in shore leave, had left the uniform in the quarters
and was enjoying the comfortability of civil clothes. At the time em was
wearing some sort of big and long dark blue shirt and adjusted black pants
with comfortable shoes. The wide belt in the wast give em a feminine look,
added to the skirt effect of the hanging part of the shirt. It was the
closest to be naked, as they were in Baha, em could find. "At least there
are some in this place of ungrateful Federations who still help poor honest
businessmen in trouble."

Sereah chuckled at that last sentence and the lemon was smelled again. "I am
not..." em was going to say that em wasn't a young lady, but it was
pointless, em was starting to accept that most of the races in the known
Galaxy were di-gendered, and language was a way of thinking. So em said
instead "I mean, it wasn't nothing, I did it with pleasure..." Em then
changed the subject, moving to a more pleasant one for em "What an incredible
animal you have here" em commented.

The Ferengi smiled, but didn't grin. "Well, yes... Rubbirs are just that way.
Thank to the gods there aren't many of them..."

"Rubbirs?" Sereah raised an eybrow. "I never heard of them before..."

"No doubt... Go away! The fun is over! Pay for it or leave!" he shouted angry
to the bemused crowd, that started to move on, the fun finished. "Morons..."
the Ferengi mumbled. "Well, no doubt" he said back to Sereah. "they are from
the Gamma Quadrant. I found them in a... mmm... trip I did there a year
ago..."

"Interesting..."

"I could... sell you one if you like. They are great pets and very
intelligent..." In that moment the small rubbir was yawning. It was adorable.
A reddish brown furred small animal, reassembling Terran monkeys, but
different constitution. It had great ears and long arms. It was obviously an
arborean. The tail was long and prensile. In the back the furr got long
in a thick strip that moved from the forehead to the tail, creating a
beautiful 'a la squirrel tail' effect. It was maybe 15 centimeters long and
that contrasted with its big and inteligent looking dark eyes.

"That could be..." Sereah commenting, while the mabaliri, somehow jealous,
was telling him not to do it. "How much would it be?"

"Oh... mmm... let see... Half bar of gold pressed latinum?" the ferengi
asked, full with hope.

"It seems fair... how should I take care of it?" Sereah asked.

The Ferengi made a movement of the arms. With that, the rubbir moved quickly
to the top of the scaffold and jumped. It was an esy jump but maybe 2 meters
long. The rubbir opened its legs and a silky membrane, like small wings,
served it to fly up to the Ferengi arm.

"Oh!" Sereah commented, impressed by the beautiful effect. "That was cute"

The Ferengi grinned "I knew you were going to like it. This is Titi and she's
a young rubbir female. i am sure you're going to be very good friends, she
like beautiful women like you..."

Sereah smiled but said nothing. "How big are they when they grow?"

"Oh! just like this, maybe a couple of centimeters longer maximum."

"Ah... ok, food? Any special care, or illnesses to take care of?"

"Well, they eat some strange fruits only found in they planet, but I have in
this chip a replicator program. They tend to drink lots of water, so always
have a bol with fresh water in it and that's all. They are very intelligent
and will learn lots of tricks and orders, soecially someone as young as Titi"
For the second time, Titi moved her head and ears when hearing her name and
started to play with th Ferengi's ears, thing he didn't like. At least in
public.

"All right, no problem on that" Sereah said.

"They may get sick of the stomach if they eat other things, but I have found
that they don't get poisoned by normal food. They prefer to eat twice a day,
in the morning and in the evening."

"All right. We have a good sickbay, I am sure there won't be any problem."
Sereah smiled.

"Sickbay? Are you Starfleet?" the Ferengi asked, alarmed.

"Yes, why?" Sereah asked, stranged.

"Oh... well... You know, there are some rules you must follow then..."

"Rules? Are they dangerous in closed spaces or what?"

"No if you follow the rules. These they are: 1) she cannot be transported,
that would be... bad. 2) she cannot be hit by a phaser beam, that would kill
her... but the most important of all, the rule you must never forget or
break, for horrible things may happen... she never never must be close to a
subspacial source, like the warp core and such. Meanwhile you follow this
rules, Titi will be the charmest friend youl have. Do you think you can take
the responsibility?"

Sereah doubted. "Well..."

"I am sure you can. After all you are Starfleet, you are trained to be
responsible... I'll give her to you for only .45 bars of gold pressed
latinum."

Sereah smelled to lemons and chilli "All right, you have a deal" em said.

The Ferengi took a small bag and put it on the head over Titi, which
protested for a second. "When you are alone, take the bag out of her head.
This way she will remember you as the one to care for... Have a nice day!" he
said giving the rubbir. "I have to go now... good luck!" And he was gone.
Sereah smiled, the mabaliri still mumbling in the back of em mind. And when
he was about to move to the quarters em had been assigned, em jumped on
someone and only em extremely fast reflexes and the grappling ability of Titi
were between them and the hard floor.

"Excuse me, sir" Sereah started when em glanced the Starfleet uniform in the
person em had jumped on. "Oh! Hello"

The young woman stared at em. "You!" she said after some seconds. "Oh! I'd
never forget you, sir... I mean Sereah" the Betazoid woman smiled, blushing.

"Nor I would, /Yeoman/ Rayanne Belze" Sereah said putting emphasis in the
rank.

The young Betazoid blushed even more. "Yes, I got promoted a couple of weeks
ago..." The she noticed the way Sereah was dressed. "Are you on shore leave?"

"Yes, the EXCALIBUR is under refitting and upgrading to ENDEAVOUR-class...
And you? Where are you?"

"I'm in GAMMA Science. It's a great place, but the study program is rather
strict and boring... Mostly engineering and informatics... EXCALIBUR...
sounds a great ship..."

"Mmmm..." Sereah said. "When the EXCALIBUR upgrading is finished, I'll need
more people for Science, as the total compliment will be 140 more people. If
you like, we could try a reassingment. Science on the EXCALIBUR is an
interesting place, there are interesting people there..."

"That would be great!!" The Betazoid young dirl smiled while her eyes widened
open and shining in happiness. "Thanks! I'll work hard, promised!"

"I trust you..."

"What's that you have on your arm?

"It's a pet I have just adquire---"

"And what a wonderful dress you're wearing! It makes you more slender"

"Well, actually..."

"I have to go now, but could meet later for a coffee and a chat, ok? Let's
say... 1700 hours? In Maxi's? And then I can show you my wardrobe, I have
some wonderful dresses I'm sure you are gonna love! See you later... sir!"
And she was gone, for the time being...

"Oh my...!" Sereah commented. The young Betazoid had been much more timid the
time they first met when em got transferred from EPSILON to GAMMA, in the
D-Warp shuttle. Em then moved to em quarters, to take the bag out of Titi's
head and give her some water, she was probably thirsty.

Enjoyingly submitted,
Lt(jg) HonaSereah, CSciO, USS EXCALIBUR

-------
NRPG:

Hi all! Sorry for my late silence, but things have goten a little busy around
here.

Fred: great post on Gromarr, LOL :)

Ok, Sereah is meeting and recruiting a new science personnel :) After the
meeting with Belze, Sereah would love (even though em will be a bit scared)
finally meeting Wellington and Tarrant (Arthur, Josef?), as they three love
Warp Physics, it sounds logical (and it can be fun :)...

The rubbir are a mixture between a small monkey, a squirrel and a Gremlim...
and some funny things may happen in the future... <eg> If Sereah may look a
bit silly with this, just think the em is a lonely creature used to be in
close contact with others. As usual Federation races may be hard for em, pets
are the next logical election...

Johan, nice post on Shelter...

Ok, I'll post later, feel free to interact with Sereah, em is out there
enjoying a well deserved shore leave (after the emotions with the TESLA and
EXCALIBUR's first mission :)

On the other hand, I offer my knowledge on Rihannsu (Romulans) to refit the
character of Riov Sonarok to a more standard and 'canonical' way, giving him
more depth in the Rihannsu tradition...

Later,
David@

--
David Suarez de Lis
<fafe...@uscmail.usc.es>
http://www.redestb.es/personal/jsuarez/david.htm

ASR:
Enarr Daim tr'Vorhak Rihannsu male OPS/2O DEEP SPACE 12
Lt(jg) HonaSereah Mabaraah observer CSciO USS EXCALIBUR-A

HWF:
LtCmdr Hwyy'rrr Delphinide male CEO USS ATHENE/USS SAGAN

--
In Memoriam: USS TESLA, NCC-66001 - they gave their lives for an ideal...
USS TSUNAMI: Not Yet Forgotten...