Being the New Kid

Posted on Tue Aug 30th, 2011 @ 2:18pm by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Ensign Jesse Gael & Ensign Matthew Lessly
Edited on on Tue Aug 30th, 2011 @ 2:19pm

Mission: Episode 2.2 - "Resistance"
Location: Orient Express Lounge, USS Pandora
Timeline: Mission Day 04, 2032

ON: [[Orient Express Lounge, USS Pandora, Mission Day 04, 2032]]

Jesse stood outside the wooden double doors leading to the Orient Express Lounge. He had only been aboard his new assignment for less than twenty-four hours which wasn't really enough time to have done much more than unpack his belongings and report in with his department chief. His supervisor had suggested he take some time to familiarize himself with the ship before trying to dive into anything too substantial which had led him to where he now stood just outside the Pandora's lounge.

Matt had been working in the lab for most of the day, analyzing Borg information nodes in an as yet unsuccessful attempt to gain insight into what the ship was doing before whatever happened occurred. It wasn't terribly late, but he had unintentionally skipped lunch and his stomach had begun berating him over it. Having just finished a small plate of nachos, he leaned back in his chair and observed the interactions of others while sipping on his drink.

The doors parted smoothly as Jesse crossed over the threshold into the lounge. He paused just inside like he had done aboard the Orlando and took a brief moment to survey the room. It was much more crowded than the Starlight had been, though he could have chalked it up to the off-duty personnel taking advantage of an opportunity to relax.

Glancing past a couple that seemed to be making plans to visit one or the others parents, Matt noticed the doors to the lounge slide open and then shut again a few moments later. He didn't notice who it was that walked in, but he figured he'd catch them sooner or later as his attention drifted across the room.

"Excuse me," Jesse mumbled, stepping to one side just in time to avoid colliding with another patron who happened to be on their way out. He glanced over in the direction of the crowded bar and quickly decided it wasn't the kind of atmosphere he was interested in at the moment. Instead, he made his way slowly over toward the large viewports along one wall of the room, hoping to find a more quite place to sit.

Matt's view slowly started to swing back around towards the main entrance when he caught someone coming towards the seating area out of the corner of his eye. Looking to see who it was, he was surprised to see it was someone he didn't recognize. While he didn't know everyone on board he thought he had at least seen everyone at least once, which was usually enough to remember their face. Keeping an eye on the new arrival, he looked around to see if he could tell where the young man might sit.

It felt comforting for Jesse to be amongst people in such relatively high spirits. He had sensed an urgency to the Orlando's journey from Earth and, given what he had already heard of their present situation, the tension he had felt since beaming aboard the Pandora was not all that surprising either. The fact crewmembers could take advantage of a facility like the Orient Express Lounge certainly made his job easier by giving people another chance to de-stress from their day. Yet, for some reason, he could not help but feel as if he was being watched.

Eventually, Jesse came upon a small empty table in the corner near one of the viewports. He lowered himself into a chair, rested his elbows on the surface of the table, and turned his gaze toward the countless stars visible from where he was seated.

Matt watched as the young man sat down by himself. It wasn't all that uncommon for people to come into the lounge to stargaze, but given that he had never seem him before, Matt took his sitting alone to confirm that the man was a new officer that hadn't met anyone yet. Not wanting to jump to any conclusions, however, he decided he would stay put for at least a little while longer to see if someone would join the young man or if he would simply continue to stare at the stars by himself.

After a few moments of watching the young man, Matt shook his head at himself and stood from his seat. He wasn't exactly sure why he felt the need to introduce himself, it surely wasn't something that he would normally do, but the man sitting in the corner looked so much like a fish out of water, so alone, so... so...

"Hey." Matt said to the young man before he had a chance to finish explaining to himself why he was doing so. "Mind if I join you?"

The sudden voice caught Jesse completely by surprise. As he turned his attention away from the viewport, he realized he had been so engrossed in the starfield outside that he hadn't even noticed the ensign who now stood near the opposite edge of his table. "Yes," he replied after a moment of hesitation, "of course."

Matt smiled and pulled out the seat opposite the young man. "I'm Matt, by the way." he said, calling the waitress over to get the newcomer something to drink.

"Jesse," Jesse told the young man seated across from him. Just by looking at him, Jesse guessed Matt could not have been more than a few years older than him. They were both ensigns and both of them wore the teal of medical/sciences which meant they at least had those two things in common. It may not have been much, but at least it was a start.

"I'm guessing you're new on the Pandora?" Matt asked as the waiter made it to the table.

"Can I get either of you something?" the Bolian female asked.

"I don't suppose you'd have any kaeo juice, would you," Jesse asked, hoping there might just be some available.

"Hmm... Kaeo? I can look to see if the replicator has it on file, but I don't recall anyone ordering it before." the waitress responded.

Slightly disappointed by the revelation, Jesse knew that it was not a very common beverage for some reason and usually expected it not to be available. "That's alright," he said, giving the waitress a small smile, "I'll just have a glass of orange juice."

"Ok." she said, and turned to Matt. "Same as usual?"

Matt nodded. "Thank you."

The waitress smiled and turned to get the two drinks.

Shaking his head slowly from side to side, Jesse let out a small sigh as he turned his attention back to the conversation they were having before the waitress had arrived. "New to the Pandora," he repeated, "Yeah...just came aboard yesterday from the Orlando. Can't say I was expecting to come into the middle of all this, though."

"Heh, yeah." Matt chuckled slightly. "The Borg... not exactly the best first mission ever."

"Not exactly what I was looking forward to," Jesse admitted. He had been hoping his assignment to the Pandora would have meant exploration on the Federation frontier and a chance to serve aboard what was quickly becoming one of the more recognizable vessels in Starfleet. An encounter with the Borg, quite frankly, hadn't been part of those plans.

Wanting to change the subject, and also wanting to learn more about Jesse, Matt let the last sentence hang for a moment before asking, "So, how many assignments have you had before coming to the Pandora?"

"My first, actually," Jesse said a little hesitantly. He wasn't quite sure how people would react if they knew he was less than a week out of the Academy. On the one hand, he knew he still had a lot to learn about what really went into serving aboard a starship in the field, things that couldn't be taught to him in a classroom. On the other hand, he didn't want people thinking he wasn't capable of doing his job.

"Cool." was Matt's initial response, quickly followed by, "You must have made some kind of impression to get stationed here on your first assignment. What department are you in, anyway?"

"Ship's counseling," Jesse replied, a smile returning to his face as a glass of orange juice was placed in front of him, "Though I haven't had much of a chance to get into things yet. Spent most of yesterday moving into my quarters and this morning was all about familiarizing myself with the department. What about you?" He lifted his glass from the table and took a small sip of the fruit juice. It may not have been as good as kaeo juice, but it still managed to hit the spot quite nicely.

"Science." Matt responded. "My specialty is Astrometrics, but someone had the bright idea to give me the department head position, so I've been doing pretty much everything lately." he added, hoping the last part wouldn't put Jesse off too much.

Jesse blinked. "Department head," he repeated slowly, "Not sure I would be ready to take on a position like that yet...I just got here."

"Oh trust me," Matt started, "I know that I'm not ready for it. If it wasn't for some of the other officers in the department, I'm sure I'd have lost it by now."

Glancing around the room, Jesse slowly lifted his glass and took another sip of his orange juice. "So what's it like," he asked as his attention returned to their own conversation, "serving aboard the Pandora?"

Matt mulled about his head for a little while before responding. "I suppose it's like a lot of starships. Although, from what I've heard, Captain Iluvar used to be an admiral before being stripped of his rank for rubbing the rest of the brass wrong."

"I heard about that," Jesse said, shaking his head again, "Though I didn't understand what he'd done to deserve it. I mean, he's supposed to be the man who faced down the Elyshans at Altorus, right? I don't know...do you think he's really as bad as they've been making him out to be?"

"Not from what I can tell." Matt answered. "Ever since I came aboard the Pandora, all I've ever seen from Captain Iluvar has been good."

Jesse nodded as he took another sip of his orange juice. "I kinda figured as much," he remarked, "Course everyone seems to have dropped that particular media circus now, given what's been happening these last few weeks..."

"Tell me about it." Matt said after taking a drink from his glass. "If it's not one thing it's another. With so much going on, I'm surprised anyone can keep it all straight."

"They've been saying the Hobus Supernova might be the biggest natural disaster in recorded history," Jesse pointed out, "I mean...at least two entire planets devastated, not to mention the entire Romulan Empire being thrown into chaos."

"That's one thing I really don't get." Matt pondered, slipping into his science mode. "No one's ever recorded a supernova of that scale before and by even some of the most liberal calculations, a star of that size shouldn't have produced anything like that."

Jesse shrugged. "Can't say I really know all that much about supernovae," he admitted, "just what they made us learn in astrophysics at the Academy. From the way everyone has been talking about it, though, I'd say you're probably right about it being bigger than expected. I guess the question now is...what are we going to do about it?"

"Hope that it doesn't plunge the quadrant into war." Matt answered, statistical probabilities starting to play out in his head.

Nodding slowly, Jesse looked down at the glass before him and let out a small sigh. He had always been pretty good about taking a step back to see the larger picture. It was especially important during times like these when events taking place on a larger scale affected the feelings and behaviors of individuals on a smaller scale. Threat of another quadrant-wide war was certainly something weighing on people's minds at the moment, even if it did not always show.

OFF:

A Joint Mission Post by:

Ensign Matt Lessly
Chief Science Officer
USS Pandora

&

Ensign Jesse Gael (NPC)
Counseling Officer
USS Pandora
Played by VAdm Iluvar