A New Memorable Greeting

Posted on Wed Jan 20th, 2021 @ 9:53pm by Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia & Commander Ichiko Gail

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Evelyn waited outside the door to the transporter room: She'd been waiting only for a couple minutes, but still was a bit antsy. She'd made sure that anyone on the transporter duty knew that she, Evelyn, needed to be summoned for senior officer arrivals if at all practical. At the very least, when the Captain and Exec arrived she would damned well MAKE the time. And this priority call came in several minutes ago and she was still waiting.

The Trill rocked back and forth on the heels of her boots as she waited when the doors slid open and she straightened up again as a rabbittess stepped through carrying a bag. Evelyn put on a smile as she took half a step forward, "Good morning, ma'am!" She said, definitively with the exclamation point, "Commander Gail, I presume? I'm Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia, the Chief Engineer, ma'am."

The Daughter of Ts'usu arrived as expected, a single bag of her personal effects over a shoulder. Ears perked at the greeting, she turned her pale glance over to Evelyn. After the introduction, Ichiko offered a soft smile to the newest addition. "You presume correct. Evalyn Rozia.... That's a name I don't know, and a face I've never met. Welcome aboard." Another name, another face, another series of events. She remembered greeting everyone on the Astraea the day she came aboard. She remembered every face she didn't see when she did the rounds on the Tantamount.

Another name. Another face.

"Congratulations on the posting. Walk and talk, shall we?" the rabbitess offered as she started towards her quarters. "She's an impressive vessel for you to be the Chief Engineer for. Vast and powerful, a culmination of the Federation's desire to go places quickly, and arrive first." she smirked. "Tell me a little about yourself. You're a Trill, I see, unless I miss my guess."

Evelyn chuckled at that, "The spots kindof give me away, don't they?" She shook her head slightly, "But I've been on board for the last few months, getting the ship ready for everyone, before she even had a name. After all, she's got a Quantum Slipstream Drive and I've got a unique perspective on it." Evelyn gave a sly smile, "I'm not just a Trill, but a Joined Trill, my birth name was Tedahn, but for the last twelve years I've been playing host to my guest, Rozia. He's a bit of a turd, to be honest, but his last host was named Arcturus, who was one of the engineers on the Skipdance project, which was working on the QSD. Starfleet thought that since I've got his memories, I'd be the right engineer to get this ship ready for service." She reached out and slid her hand across the bulkhead for about a meter.

"She's still got a few bugs still and I'm certain that as we fill out the crew and all the systems start getting a workout that we'll have even more that me and my engineering crew haven't ironed out, but that's the nature of a starship." Evelyn smiled, "I'm actually off an Intrepid-class cruiser before here, the Scheherazade, where I had my engineers all tuned up, but I only poached one of them when I came over. Otherwise, a Galaxy and a Nova before then, so I've got experience with several different classes of starship."

Trill. Joined. Tedahn. Rozia. Skipdance. Scheherazade.
This was a mistake.

"I think you and I can connect on a few levels. I hear Joined Trill have a talent for memories." she said, her ghostly smile not even reaching her cheeks, nevermind her eyes. "Starfleet's fascination with the concept of velocity is troubling, but it's something I suppose I'll have to get accustomed to. With all your experience, past and current, you'll make a fine addition to the crew." the notion of the propulsion system still having a few bugs to work out did worry her.

"I'm surprised they'd allow a system that wasn't fully tested to be installed on a manned craft. Even the Dalacari heeded our warnings, and oftentimes they're more headstrong than the Federation." she mentioned. "But I trust your virtues aren't just memory alone." she warned.

"I remember plenty, but I dare say some of it I don't know."

"The QSD has been fully tested on testbed ships and a previous Odyssey-class ship, however I wasn't allowed to perform any actual travel tests aside from a brief hop to Alpha Centauri and back." Evelyn shrugged and chuckled, "And rest assured, the QSD isn't the only reason I'm aboard, just the primary reason. I've a knack for adapting to changing situations and for organization. Creative ways to fix things in a hurry, too." A Lapine, or Lapinesque. Far softer curves than them, perhaps I shouldn't mention that I've destroyed several villages of them in my quests. She thought to herself of the rabbit-folk from her games.

"I should hope not." she said with that ghost of a smile. "You were chosen due to your capacity, not due to a vacancy. Never forget that." she paused, her ears twitching in thought, "A knack for adapting to change, you say? I expect you'll be at no shortage to prove that. We're heading back to the Delta Quadrant. While it's my home, it's your new frontier. I expect you'll be up to the challenges ahead."

"Absolutely, ma'am." Eve confirmed, "But with the Catapult decommissioned, it's going to take us a few weeks to get to our base out there. With the Slipstream, of course, but we have to wait a day and a half between each roughly five hundred light year jump. Still a far faster trip than under warp drive, so it'll seem like it's going faster. I wonder if we'll investigate anything on the way?"

Ichiko gave a smirk, "We'll be taking alternate means. Since you're the chief engineer, I feel you're cleared for this." she stopped, and leaned against the wall of the hallway. "Our allies, the Dalacari, have constructed a great work. A device, combining bleeding edge concepts and technologies together in a project of epic proportions. A megastructure." she started.

"Pathstone. The means to travel from our neighborhood to yours." a pause, "Remember what I said earlier, about the difference between remembering and knowing? I've read the papers on Pathstone. I've read the technical readouts. I remember them." she paused, "I just have no idea how it works." she paused, "You'll have to ask them. When we arrive."

Evelyn felt her jaw try to drop at the revelation of Pathstone and she was intrigued instantly, eyes brightening, "Do you think they'd let me?" She blurted out before she could help herself, "Sorry, ma'am... I'm... One of those engineers who likes learning new things. I've been, at about a half remove, a part of the Slipstream development. Arcturus was, at least, and I've got all of his memories and I get this feeling he's happy with who got Rozia when he died." She smiled slightly, "If you think that they'd let me in on the secret..."

"Knowing the Dalacari as well as I do..." she started with a smirk, "... someone will have to get them to STOP talking about their project." Ichiko offered. It was odd to hear her describe herself as One of those Engineers who likes learning new things. "I must say, I've never heard anyone describe themselves as such. Learning is such a pivotal aspect not just of our job but of life. Regardless of whether we welcome it... or regret it... a new experience can help make us a more complete being, a more adjusted or even more powerful... if you believe the notion of Knowledge equaling Power literally."

"Knowing what I do about the Trill, I'm pleased to be a memory you'll carry with you forever. I know I'll carry this memory around for the rest of my life."

"You are definitely a memory that Rozia will never be able to let go of: The first Ts'usugi I've ever met." Evelyn concurred, "But power and knowledge are complementary rather than a direct one for one. If you aren't willing to learn new things, all you're going to be is stuck in the past. With us finding new species with new technology, learning the capabilities and how they work can be the difference between success and failure, which itself could be called the reason for the Federation's ethos of discovery."

She gave a nod, ears gently wobbling, "I'm pleased to be the first. I'll try not to disappoint." she gave a soft giggle. "Though it's interesting you bring up the notion of learning capabilities. One of the things we dread as we move forward with the notion of an alliance is the loss of ourselves. Our technology is distinct from yours. Vastly distinct. If Federation science decrypts it, catalogues it, and integrates it... what would that mean for the cultural identity of my people? If we stopped being your ally, you'd have an immense advantage over us. We'd, in essence, be required to be your ally under pain of disadvantage at that point." she explained. "I feel that some things should be secret, still, but in everything else we almost agree. Learning new things, new concepts, opening new doors can be interesting." a pause, "Though, personally, it can be exhausting sometimes. I apologize if I ever seem to not share in your enthusiasm. I do. I truly do. I just... I have a condition." she withdrew a little. "I hear it helps to talk about it, but it's awkward."

"I can understand completely." Evelyn smiled softly at Ichiko, "But I don't think it would change your people's identity in the slightest. While we would be gaining more knowledge and yes, more power by integrating your technology with ours, I'm sure your scientists and engineers are busy studying our own and figuring out how to improve your own technology if possible." She gestured to the ship itself, "Who's to say that while we are allied, the Federation won't come out with something groundbreaking that could help your people immensely? Part of how our technology has increased so dramatically since the Federation's inception is the sheer innovative capability that honestly the humans are capable of. Trill technology was improving before we encountered them, then it spiked dramatically. Arcturus spent about forty years right alongside their best and brightest in R and D, so that's also helped my views."

The Trill looked around in some wonder, "This whole ship, the Federation itself is a conglomeration of the roughly one TRILLION people in the Federation. There are nearly two hundred member worlds and well over seven THOUSAND species that are affiliated with us, which is... Mind-boggling. It's the diversity that makes the Federation what it is, the ability to literally look at everything from several dozen different points of view at any time. In less than two hundred and forty years, we went from individual governments to an entity that generally looks out for the betterment of the galaxy. I don't know if that helps to ease your mind about things, but for me as an individual, I think it says a lot about who we are and why I don't think we'd ever be less than allies or at worst, ambivalence."

"It does. It opens new concerns, but it does help with the older ones." she admitted. "Though when you mention it like that, do you know much like an echo of the Borg you sounded like?"

She giggled softly, "Unintentional, I understand. Signing the Three Dawn Accord with the Dalacari helped ease us into the prospect of alliances with outsiders, though we're still dubious about opening our doors immediately." she considered her next words. "Not that the Federation is unwelcome. Just, they're a little overzealous for our collective social comfort."

"Gods.. Not the Borg, definitely unintentional.." Evelyn literally facepalmed this time, "We aren't trying to make everyone into us, we're just trying to make ourselves..." She trailed off, not knowing where she was going with that, then chuckled, "Overzealous." She agreed, "Yeah, probably way too eager to be better than we might ought to be." She decided to change the subject a bit, "Out in your neck of the woods, where we're going, how much of it have you all explored?"

"We're not the expansionists like the Federation can be, and we've warned the Dalacari about the dangerous of unrestrained exploration. So hardly as much territory as the Federation seems to have, though the Federation seems to acquire territory through alliances and treaties, rather than through actual exploration. So a modest amount." a pause, "The Dalacari have explored more of the region then we have, but they also have a knack for unmanned exploratory scouts and probes. Drones are a major, major part of their technology. And society."

"Would definitely put a damper on all the casualties we seem to take from our attempts to meet life and new civilizations and just to investigate interesting natural phenomenae." Evelyn wondered, "Drones would be a very smart way of taking on the risky jobs. I think, don't know, just think that the reason we use sentients to do our exploration is because of adaptation to changing events in case something tricky comes up."

"I'll let you draw that conclusion after you've met them. We requested they never research into Artificial Sentience, which they've abided. They were informed of the danger and the risk, and they agree that it's potentially dangerous." Ichiko mentioned. "They value nothing in the universe higher than life and safety. So every decision they make as a society is weighed accordingly."

"They're a staggeringly fascinating people, literally unique across the cosmos."

"On the contrary, dichotic if everything I've heard is right. Serial twins?" Evelyn again shook her head in wonderment, "I know I haven't seen them yet, but if I heard it right from those who have. And I absolutely agree with AIs, there are far too many examples of potential apocalypses in history to even risk it. We do seem to be a bit like them, we value life and safety, but we're willing to take risks to well... Explore."

"Two bodies, one soul. If you're spiritual. Otherwise, two bodies, one gestalt personality." Ichiko mentioned. "I think you'll get along with them just fine. Though, if you'll excuse me, I think I just found my quarters. Time to get settled in." she paused, "It was excellent to meet you, and I look forward to the next encounter." she offered with a soft smile.

"Of course, ma'am. If you have any questions or problems whatsoever, please don't hesitate to give me a call. It is, after all, what I'm here for." Evelyn smirked and came to a brief attention before departing, giving her new Exec the time she wanted to settle in. Oh yes, yes this would be a good crew, no doubt. None whatsoever.