Familiar Faces

Posted on Mon Feb 8th, 2010 @ 2:13pm by Lieutenant JG Hannah Andeti & Ensign Velia Moretti

Mission: Episode 1.1 - "Now Boarding"
Location: Outside the Orient Express
Timeline: Immediately following 'Brief and to the Point'

"Velia!" Myrin (NPC) called, as he followed the intelligence officer from the lounge. He wasn't annoyed by her treatment, in fact it was exactly what he expected. That didn't, however, mean that he was going to be letting her off that easily. He easily caught up with the young woman and fell into stride beside her. "Sunny little officer, aren't you?" He grinned. "I don't suppose you'd have any desire to look around the ship together? You know, you're alone . . . I'm alone . . ." He wheedled with what he suspected was his most charming smile.

Oh for the love. "One of us is alone by choice," she pointed out, refusing to look at him. "But I suppose that's not going to to sway you is it?" She sighed in defeat. "Okay fine. We'll snoop around together. And stop looking at me like that. You know it doesn't work on me." She let a few paces follow her words. "Have you met your department head yet?"

Myrin chuckled, continuing to smile but dropping his attitude of self-satisfied charm. "I haven't. I'm not even sure what she looks like." He eyed Moretti, allowing her to lead them wherever she wanted to explore. Somehow he thought he knew what their first destination would be. "I don't suppose you've ever met the Counselor, have you?"

"I have actually." Velia nodded. "She's a very pleasant woman." He would know what that meant coming from Velia. "I don't think your brand of bs will work with her either. She seems easy to get along with, but I think she's got a tough side." It almost made Velia smile to think about.

"Ah," Myrin nodded, considering this. With superior officers he almost always maintained an attitude of polite eagerness, but if that wouldn't work on her . . . "That's definitely something to think about." He said passingly, but he would be thinking about it.

A woman brushed by them with a hurried "Excuse me," and disappeared down the hall ahead of them as they continued.

"Aaaaaaaaaand, that would be her," Velia nodded in the direction of the hurried officer.

"Oh," he acknowledged and considered catching up with the woman to make his introduction, but she looked like she was in a hurry and there would be plenty of time for that later. "She's . . . tall." Was the only thing he could think to say but then turned almost at once to Velia. "So what are your impressions of the rest of the senior staff?" Asking Velia's opinion on anything was almost always entertaining and instructive.

"Somehow, I feel like that's a trap," she told him dryly. While having no compunction about voicing her opinions, they generally weren't received with appreciation.

Myrin laughed. "You might be a bit . . . harsh," he chose the polite word for it. "But you're usually pretty insightful. For an intelligence officer I mean."

"Well, I really haven't had the chance to meet too many people." Honesty was the best policy right? "I like the Admiral. I feel at ease around him. My impression is that he's straightforward and conscientious. I respect that. And of course, Commander McNeil. He's my department head. I don't know that I'd describe him as approachable, but he's not unpleasant." Velia scowled, thinking of one or two of the crew that she would describe as unpleasant. "Dr. Evans has a decent bedside manner," she added.

Ensign Nezar hadn't met any of them yet and he nodded, this insight was appreciated. Instead of telling her this, of course, he changed tack. "For an intelligence officer you're not too keyed into ship intelligence," he teased.

"I'm brand new to the functional side of Starfleet," she reminded him. "And our last mission is still a little ... well you would have had to have been there." Let him make of that what he would.

"What about local gossip?" On Deep Space 4 he had had a bit of a reputation as the station gossip and although he hoped to avoid that tendency on this ship it didn't mean he didn't like to hear what was going on.

Velia stopped walking, turned to Myrin, and stared at him. "There are so many things about you asking me that, that are wrong. First of all, I don't deal in gossip, and you know it. Secondly, you do remember to whom you are speaking right? People don't open up to Intel officers, regardless of rank. And thirdly, even if they did, I'm not about to make your job easier by telling you anything." She shook her head and continued walking.

Myrin was chuckling at her outrage, but when he spoke it was quiet and there was little humour in his voice. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to demean your position, Velia." His face had become serious and he hoped that she accepted his apology as genuine.

She sighed. "I know, I know. It's just ... well, it's a little hard Myrin." A rare moment of insight was off and running from her lips before she could stop it. "It's easy to be ... avoidant ... in the Academy. Just a bunch of starry eyed fools planning on how they're going to help shape the universe, ya know? But on a ship, it's harder. These people have spent years, for the most part, in their places and know exactly what box they fit into and how they're going to carry out their orders. It's very real, and a team dynamic is essential. Unfortunately, I'm bad at it." Her face darkened red. "And if you tell anyone I said that Myrin, we will have problems." Velia threw her mantle of pride back on.

Myrin was surprised by the sudden incite but didn't laugh at her threat. He knew it was very real. "I'm not trying to play counselor here, Velia, but you make it difficult for yourself." He hoped his honesty wouldn't be badly taken. He hadn't yet figured out how to couch his advice in the compliment sandwich that one of his instructors had always recommended. "You don't have to be so afraid that we're all out to hurt you."

"I said nothing about people wanting to hurt me," she said stubbornly. "And while I appreciate your flexing your light touch therapeutic skills here, I think we should probably not pursue this line of conversation." Her fingers curled into her palms without her conscious consent. "What about you. Past posts, how you ended up here ..." Redirection would be the only saving grace for this encounter.

Ensign Nezar was well aware that she was deflecting the conversation and wondered if he should let her. He would let her this time. "I was just on Deep Space 4 before this. I was assistant counselor there for a couple of years actually," he frowned, bringing up something that had been bothering him for a while. "I was surprised that they didn't promote me to full counselor when I came over here."

"Well who did you ..." Velia stopped herself. She wasn't looking for a war of words today. So she switched tactics; she couldn't help herself. "And how does that make you feel?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Myrin threw his head back and laughed. "Very subtle, Moretti. How about if I don't get to talk about your feelings, you don't get to talk about mine." He grinned.

"Fair is fair," she replied with a shrug and a sense of victory. She stopped walking and looked around. She hadn't been paying very close attention to where they were going, or where they'd been. "What deck is the library on?"

The counselor laughed out loud again. "How did I know that's where you'd be heading?"

"Because you have excellent skills of deduction? Because it's the one place that you have to have a measure of discretion? Or maybe because it's the only place I'd be interested in seeing aside from my quarters?" ... and she definitely wasn't going to lead him there. She didn't think Myrin would ever show up there on a whim to bother her, but she knew enough to know not to put it past him if he was truly bored. "Unless you have something else in mind that you'd like to scout out?"

"Oh I'm dying with curiosity to see the antimatter storage pods," he replied with obvious sarcasm. "But the arboretum seemed like a nice place for some late afternoon trysts, if you're ever in the mood." He winked, knowing she would shoot him down but not hoping for any less.

"Myrin!" Velia's eyes flew open wide. She denied him a reaction beyond that though, since that was what he was after. "The arboretum would be interesting, I guess. Maybe we can find the library on the way there." She shook her head at him. Men.

Myrin was laughing again. "Oh don't worry, Velia." His voice was tinged with good humour. "I think I should take a pass. I wouldn't want to get chased around by a humourless librarian as you ignore me for one of the books." He explained.

"As if anyone could ignore you," she replied with mock seriousness. "Then I suppose this is where we part ways." She hesitated but then spoke anyway. "It will be nice to have you aboard. See ya." With that she made haste toward a lift and the comfort of unspoken words.

OFF

by

Ensign Velia Moretti
Intelligence Officer
USS Pandora

and

Ensign Myrin Nezar (NPC)
Assistant Counselor
USS Pandora
(played by: Lt. Andeti)