Having Lunch

Posted on Sun Sep 25th, 2011 @ 3:27pm by Ensign Matthew Lessly & Vice Admiral Iluvar

Mission: Episode 2.3 - "Hippocratic Oath"
Location: Promenade, Deep Space 4
Timeline: MD-01, 1253 hours

ON: [[Promenade, Deep Space 4, MD-01, 1253 hours]]

Matt walked onto the Promenade after finishing some last minute reports and making sure all the experiments were running smoothly. It had been a long mission and he was ready for a little relaxation. He looked around and, not seeing who he was looking for, decided to peruse the stands set up along the edge of the corridor.

Elsewhere on the crowded Promenade, Jesse (PNPC) emerged from one of the station's turbolifts and began making his way through the teeming mass of people. He had been rather surprised when Ensign Lessly had stopped by earlier to invite him to lunch on the station's Promenade, not that he didn't appreciate the gesture, but he had honestly been expecting more requests for counseling sessions after what they had just been through with their previous mission. The fact he had been invited for something a bit more recreational was somewhat of a relief.

Coming out of a store selling local clothing, Matt looked down the corridor and was able to discern someone looking vaguely like Jesse. Thanking the owner for allowing him to look through his stocks, he made his way down the hall to where he thought he saw Jesse. As he got closer, he could tell that it definitely was him, so he waved his hand to get his attention.

Jesse noticed someone waving to him out of the corner of his eye and when he turned, he saw Ensign Lessly coming toward him through the crowd. "Busy place," he remarked as Lessly finally approached him.

Matt shrugged and nodded his head. "It sure is." he responded. "At least we were able to find each other." he said over the bustle of the crowd.

Stepping to one side so that he could avoid being run over by people on their way to the nearby turbolift access point, Jesse glanced around at some of the various establishments he could see from where they were standing. "I've never been here before," he admitted somewhat unnecessarily, "Is there someplace you had in mind?"

Matt mulled his head about for a little bit. "There's a nice sandwich shop back down the promenade a little bit. It was pretty good the last time I was there." he said, pointing down the corridor a bit.

"Sounds like a good plan," Jesse agreed, looking in the direction Lessly was pointing to see if he could see the shop that was being referred to, "After you, I suppose?"

Matt nodded and started down the hall. After a little while of walking, he slowed down and crossed to the other side of the promenade. Entering through a large archway, he stopped and looked around the decently sized restaurant. "Any preference as to where we sit?"

In contrast to the busy promenade outside, the sandwich shop seemed rather peaceful and subdued. It was almost as if they had actually left the station and returned to one of the sandwich shop Jesse and his study group had often frequented during the Academy. "I guess it really doesn't matter to me," he replied, "any place seems good."

Matt nodded and chose a table along the wall, about half way to the end of the shop. Taking a seat, he nodded and looked around for a little bit seeing if he recognized anyone else there. Coming back after Jesse settled in, he asked, "So, how are you liking the Pandora?"

"I wouldn't think I have any real frame of reference to be going on," Jesse replied, "I certainly hadn't expected to come aboard in the middle of a close encounter with the Borg, but other than that, I'd say I was pretty lucky to land a posting out here. For awhile there, it was looking like I might get stuck on some desk assignment...definitely not what I was looking for."

Matt jerked his mouth slightly at the mention of a desk job. "I definitely know how that feels. I've been stuck behind two desks since I graduated... not my idea of fun... but at least you don't have to worry about the Borg."

"You'd be surprised how many people were worried though," Jesse said, thinking of the case load his department had been prepared to take on, "I know it sounds like stating the obvious, but there are quite a few people who would not have been happy if we'd stuck around much longer, regardless of whether or not the debris field posed any real threat."

Matt nodded, even he was able to tell that several of the science department members were beginning to get shaken by being around the debris. "I bet. I know one or two people that aren't even on board that were worried about it. If it effects people that far away, you must have been pretty busy."

"Actually, I really haven't had that many cases myself yet," Jesse admitted disappointingly, "Counseling isn't one of those departments you can just dive into a new assignment with. You have to take time to get to know your assignment and the people you're serving with before you can start taking on case-loads and the amount of time it takes you to do that depends on how experienced you are. This being my first assignment, I'm pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole."

"Ah." Matt said. He hadn't really thought about that. Granted, having experience in the sciences was a good help, but all the science was the same no matter how much experience you had and there were failsafes to prevent you from making the science have a meltdown before you. "What did you think about the mission?" Matt asked, thinking that counselors sometimes don't take the time to deal with their own feelings.

Jesse shrugged. Most of what he knew about the Pandora's mission had come from gossip amongst crewmembers he encountered in the messhall or the Orient Express Lounge. While scuttlebutt was one way to learn about the happenings around an assignment, it wasn't always the most accurate way. The stories had a tendency to differ depending on who was telling them and where they were being told.

"I guess I can see why Starfleet Command would have been so concerned about a Borg transponder signal on our back doorstep," he said slowly, "but I wasn't really all that involved in the mission itself...is it true they found a new type of drone?"

Matt nodded. He hadn't gotten a whole lot of information other than what was discussed at the briefing, but he still had a pretty good idea of what the doctors had found. "Apparently it's some kind of field medic. They say it can reanimate dead drones... but they can't do much besides act as fodder."

"Sounds like something out of some twenty-first century thriller," Jesse remarked, shaking his head slightly, "never was much a fan of that kind of stuff. Makes you wonder if it didn't have something to do with humans getting into another world war."

Matt nodded, somewhat unsure of of what Jesse was saying, but before he could respond a waitress came out of the back and walked up to their table. "What can I getcha?" she asked in a bubbly voice.

Matt had been eying the menu since they came in, but hadn't really decided on anything. Glancing at it again, he shrugged and responded, "I'll have a bowl of the soup of the day please."

"Same here," Jesse replied. He had been bouncing back and forth between a good sandwich and the chicken dumpling, both of which seemed like very good choices, but finally settled on the soup. It just felt like one of those days.

The waitress nodded, smiled, and said "I'll be right back!"

Matt looked back at Jesse and a thought crossed his mind for a moment, but nothing came of it. "So why'd you get into counseling, anyway?"

"A lot of people think counselors are the people you go to when you need a shrink or when they're worried you aren't going to be able to keep up with your duties," Jesse replied, "so it's given us kind of a bad reputation, so to speak. People look at us like the Grim...the end of their careers, but that's not it at all. The people who become counselors, really good counselors, do it because they can listen to others."

Matt nodded, he could tell from Jesse's tone that he really cared about his position, which was something he liked to see. "It definitely helps to have someone to talk to."

At that moment, the waitress returned with their bowls of soup and a basket of crackers which she placed on the table. She wiped her hands off on her apron before giving them each a smile. "Anything else I can get the two of you," she asked.

Matt took a quick sip of the soup to make sure it was hot enough and shook his head. "Not for me, this is perfect, thank you."

"I'm fine, thanks," Jesse said as he unfolded his napkin and placed it across one leg. The waitress nodded quickly before heading back toward the counter where the next order was already waiting. "What about you," he asked once the waitress had left, "why science?"

Matt sat back in his seat. His early life decisions weren't generally something he talked about much, but he figured he had to answer at least partially. "I always loved watching the stars, I got my first telescope when I was four years old. There just seemed to be something special about the way the cosmos moved, a certain elegance. Starfleet was my only option to furthering my education... but I'm glad joined."

"Every dream has to start somewhere," Jesse said, sensing there was more to the story than what Lessly was telling him. This technically was supposed to be a recreational outing and he didn't really expect Lessly to be spilling an entire life story just because. There were certainly things about himself not many other people were aware of...some that no one knew.

Matt smiled slightly and had some soup. "So... do you have any kind of speciality?" he asked after a small time of silence. "I mean, in science, there are any number of different areas to go into. Does counseling work the same way?"

"It can if you want it to," Jesse replied, lowering a spoonful of soup he had been trying to cool with his own breath, "The kind of work I'm doing right now doesn't really need a specialty because I need to be able to work with the broad diversity of the ship's crew. People who have spent more time in the field or who serve on larger installations like starbases or planets tend to become more specialized as a result of the populations they serve." He paused and tasted the soup to see if it was cool enough yet. The broth seemed a bit warm, but it wasn't so much so as to keep him from swallowing. "To answer your question, I'm what they call a general or ship's counselor," he continued once he'd cleared his mouth, "my training helps me to handle most of the situations one might encounter on an everyday basis serving aboard ship."

Matt nodded. "That makes sense... I guess I just never really thought about it."

"Like I said, most people don't give us much thought other than to stay away," Jesse said with a chuckle. He scooped another spoonful of soup and lifted it to his mouth. The broth had cooled considerably since his last helping such that he no longer needed to worry about burning himself.

Taking the last few spoonfuls of his own soup, Matt gave a small smile and then looked around the room. Since they had come in, the restaurant had filled significantly, which Matt thought was odd for that time of day, but shrugged it off and looked back to Jesse.

As he looked at Jesse, Matt had a flashback to the last time he was on the base and was flooded with thoughts. Looking around quickly, he began stuttering slightly. "I... um... I... have to go... an experiment I left... I have to go."

Quickly standing from his seat, Matt dashed out of the restaurant and towards the docking port.

Jesse watched as the science officer made his way rather quickly onto the Promenade before disappearing from sight. Perhaps he really had just forgotten to take care of an important experiment, but Jesse had the feeling there was more to it than that...

OFF

A Joint Mission Post by:

Ensign Matthew Lessly
Chief Science Officer
USS Pandora

and

Ensign Jesse Gael (PNPC)
Counselor
USS Pandora
Played by: VAdmIluvar