New Kid on the Block

Posted on Sun Feb 20th, 2011 @ 5:07pm by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Ensign Matthew Lessly

Mission: Episode 1.4 - "Confusion in the Cluster"
Location: Orient Express Lounge, USS Pandora
Timeline: BACKPOST

::BACKPOST::

ON: [[Orient Express Lounge, USS Pandora, BACKPOST]]

Matt heaved a sigh of exhaustion as the turbolift came to a slow halt. It had been a long day of familiarizing himself with the Pandora's laboratory facilities and he was glad to have the rest of the evening off. The way he was feeling, he would have much rather of just replicated something in his quarters and watch something, but John had convinced him that the only way he was going to feel comfortable was if he went out and met some new people. Rounding the corner, Matt found what he had been looking for, the crew lounge.

Greg (PNPC) had just finished serving a table of three in the far corner of the lounge when he heard the sound of the doors sliding open. He glanced over in the direction of the entrance to see a young man in jeans and a button-down shirt entering the room. There had been a steady stream of patrons coming in all evening and Greg really wasn't all that surprised to see yet another newcomer, even if he didn't think he'd seen the young man around before.

The sound of the lounge door opening also drew the attention of Yuris (PNPC), who looked over from where he had been in the middle of a conversation with a young woman seated across from him at the bar. He also noticed the newcomer entering the room and smiled slightly to himself as he turned back to the conversation he had been having.

Looking around, trying to spot one of the (maybe) six people he knew so far, Matt stood by the door for a few moments. Having no luck finding anyone, he gave a slight internal sigh and decided to walk up to the bar. *This would have been a lot easier if I knew somebody here.* Matt thought to himself.

"...will be pleased to hear that, I'm sure," Yuris was saying when he noticed the young man approaching out of the corner of his eye, "Please, enjoy the rest of your evening...and congratulations." The El-Aurian gave the young woman a polite nod before turning away and making his way along the bar toward where the young man had just reached the bar. He must have been a relatively new assignment because, even at this distance, Yuris could recognize the signs of someone who still wasn't quite familiar with their surroundings. "How can I help you this evening," he asked.

Matt, who's attention was still to scanning the crowd, jerked his head slightly when he realized someone was speaking to him. Smiling, Matt responded in a somewhat hushed voice, "Hi. I was just... uh..." He stopped a moment to remember the actual reason he was there. Grabbing the empty seat in front of him, he sat down and continued, "What would you suggest from the menu?"

Being asked for recommendations was something that Yuris was quite used to in his line of work. There were always so many possibilities out there, but the trick was being able to match the selection to the customer's needs as best as possible. It was something that he had become quite accomplished at over the years. "Well, that would depend entirely upon what it is you're looking for," Yuris replied, "however, if I had to say...you seem like the kind of person who would enjoy giving the Ikarian Sunfish a try."

Matt leaned back slightly, thinking. "Ikarian Sunfish... it certainly sounds interesting. I'll go ahead and try it, thank you. And a glass of green tea to go with it, please." he ordered. He had thought about ordering some bloodwine, John had turned him on to it, but knew that it rarely went well with anything that wasn't raw so he decided not to.

As Yuris disappeared into the back to get started on the young man's order, Greg slipped in behind the counter. He set down the tray of empty glasses he'd just picked up from a vacant table and began transferring them over to the sanitizer. "I don't think I've seen you in here before," he said casually to the young man across from him as he waited for the glasses to finish, "Did you recently transfer aboard?"

Having given up searching the crowd, Matt looked up at the man now standing across from him and nodded. "Today's my second day, I got here early yesterday afternoon. I guess you've been here a while to be able to ask a question like that." he responded.

Greg shrugged as he began to take the glasses out one by one and polish them off. "I think it's been about a year since I came aboard," he replied, setting the first glass aside and reaching for the next one, "It was right around the time the captain first took command. I guess the Pandora was having some sort of overhaul or something before that."

Matt nodded, wondering what to say. If one thing held true in the universe, it was that anything remotely gossip worthy told to a barkeep would travel faster than warp ten, and Matt didn't want that kind of attention brought on him just yet. "An overhaul already? Must have taken some damage for Starfleet to want to overhaul a Luna-class so soon." he said, keeping the conversation on something other than himself.

"I'm not sure about the specifics," Greg said with another shrug, "but rumor has it that there were some bugs in the systems or something that they were trying to work out. Sounds like everything worked out, otherwise they wouldn't have let us take her out of dock, right?"

"One could only hope." Matt responded, taking another glance around the lounge.

Now that he was actually interacting with the newcomer, Greg realized that the young man was at least a few years older than he was, probably no more than five or six. He also noticed that this was the second time the young man had looked around the room since he'd come up to the bar. Yuris had often told him how important it was to observe a customer's actions and reactions. A lot more could be learned about a person from what they did rather than what they said. "Looking for someone in particular," he asked.

Matt's gaze returned to Greg and he shook his head. "Just hoping to find someone I know. Between checking in with my department, the Captain, and moving into my room, I haven't really had the chance to meet too many people." he replied.

"Well, you've come to the right place," Greg said with a smile, "My name's Greg, by the way." He raised his hand over the bar and offered it to the young man seated across from him.

Matt gave a sideways smile and grasped Greg's hand and shook it. "Matt." he said. "So, you look kinda young, if you don't mind me saying, is the Pandora your first job?"

"I suppose you could say it's my first real job," Greg replied, making a sweep of the lounge with his eyes to make sure there wasn't anyone in need of service at the moment, "I mean, I held down a few seasonal things while I was in school, but that's about it."

Matt nodded, noticing that Greg had taken a look around the room. "That's cool. I hope I'm not keeping you, you can go check on others if you need to."

Greg was just about to reply when he heard the door to the back swing open again. He turned to see Yuris emerge from the kitchen with a plate in one hand and a steaming cup in the other. The El-Aurian placed both on the counter in front of Matt and said, "One Ikarian Sunfish and a green tea for Mister Lessly."

Matt quirked an eyebrow at the older man and opened his mouth to ask him how he knew his name, but shook it off and simply said "Thank you. It looks delicious." The man had probably looked him up on the kitchen computer or something anyway.

Taking a bite of the fish, Matt smiled and nodded to the older man who had served him. "This *is* quite good. Thank you for recommending it."

"I thought you might like it," Yuris said with a twinkle in his eye. He cast a glance around the room and noticed a couple of table getting ready to leave. The occupants were smiling as they continued to speak animatedly amongst themselves, a pretty good indication that they had enjoyed their experience. "I think I've got it from here, Greg," he continued.

"Right," Greg replied, catching Yuris' drift. Having also noticed the departing patrons, he had a feeling that Yuris was subtly trying to tell him it was time to get back out on the floor. "It was nice meeting you, Matt," he said as he stepped out from behind the bar, "I hope we'll see you around again."

Matt smiled at the gentleman and nodded. "I'm sure you will." he said, still intrigued by the fact that the older man knew his name. Shrugging, Matt went back to eating his fish. He hadn't met as many people as he was planning on, but he had at least met two of the people on the ship that knew everyone else.

OFF:

A JP by

Ensign Matt Lessly
Science Officer
USS Pandora

Yuris Eldar (PNPC)
Orient Express Host
USS Pandora
Played by: Capt Iluvar

and

Greg Letsky (PNPC)
Lounge Staff
USS Pandora
Played by: Capt Iluvar