Ensigns and Holograms

Posted on Sun Sep 24th, 2023 @ 1:35am by Emmah (Svidi) & Cadet First Class Pallas

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Conference Room
Timeline: Backpost -- Sometime before "Shuttle" posts
1550 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Emmah moved around the meeting table setting a number of padds in front of each seat. Captain Hawkins would soon have a staff meeting and this time he had some information to provide every one, she'd been tasked with preparing the room. She glanced up when the doors opened and a cadet walked in with pushing a cart of fresh made coffee and the supplies needed for it.

"Hello." she said with a cheery voice.

"Oh, hello," Cadet Pallas said as she walked into the meeting room, seeing the new woman for the first time. She had studied the crew manifest many times prior to even boarding the Gladiator, but she had no idea who this woman was. Which was strange, because she seemed to be working, which meant she wasn't a visitor or lost. She wore a uniform, but no insignia or pips. Even more strange. "I do not think we have met before. Cadet First Class Pallas. And you are?"

"Emmah." she said as she approached the cart and picked up one of the trays and moving it to the table. "I am Captain Hawkins PA, and often a mission advisor when the need calls for it." she said. "I fill many roles, EMH, mission advisor, researcher, PA... I'm rather flexible."

“The Captain’s ‘PA’…” Pallas thought out the acronyms. “…personal assistant… like a yeoman? Wait, did you say ‘EMH’ as in ‘Emergency Medical Hologram…’? You are a hologram?!” The cadet was shocked. It was true that emergency holograms were still technically legal and equipped on all ships; they weren’t synthetics, after all. But after what happened at Mars, having an EMH ‘extend’ their roles beyond their normal programming was certainly unorthodox, if not a breach of some regulations somewhere. “And you are just ‘on’ all the time?”

"I have not been an EMH for several years. I have my own mobile emitter." Emmah said proudly motioning to her torso. "Larger than the Doctors from Voyager, as his tech is far superior to mine. I was part of a special program from Starfleet to Develop more sophisticated emergency holograms. The program failed, but I lived, and my petition for being recognized as a starfleet citizen and sentient being is submitted along with the Doctors. If he is granted person-hood, so will I." she said with hope.

She glanced around, "I was born here... On the Gladiator. So was my brother."

"You have a... brother? Fascinating." Pallas looked closely at the sentient hologram. Really no way at all to tell that she wasn't a human. "How should I address you? Do you have a rank on the ship? 'Captain Hawkin's PA' is... slightly unwieldy."

"I had a brother. Sadly he became... hmmm. Ill, and did not survive." Emmah replied. The knowledge her brother had become corrupt and obsessed with the ships XO, adversarial with the Hawkins, and put the whole ship on lock down, using the ship wide emitters to torment the crew to keep them in line... it was heavy. It could have easily corrupted her as well. She in the end had to help destroy her brother to save every one else.

"I go simply by Emmah. I have no rank. Emmah suffices for me." she said adding a smile. "You are a cadet, what do you think of Gladiator so far?"

Pallas nodded at the woman. Hologram. It was hard to distinguish, which perhaps was exactly the point. She wondered about Emmah's brother becoming ill, and began pondering what sort of illness an EMH could get. Just as soon as she had the thought, she mentally smacked her proverbial forehead. A virus, of course. She filed away the question for now, as it was something she was sure she could ask about later, or find out in some other way. "Yes, this is my fourth year cadet cruise. The Gladiator is... not what I expected it to be. To be perfectly honest. I did not expect to be assigned to a ship in the middle of so dangerous a mission as the one we are on."

Emmah tipped her head and smirked, "It is a misnomer that most ships lack excitement and danger. There may be long stretches of boredom, but there is always excitement and danger. Although the Trinity is extra dangerous."

"Hm. A very astute observation. I suppose when I look back at my time at the Academy, there were many accidents and adventures in places and during activities where it might not be normally expected. So it should be expected to be even more of both aboard a vessel hurtling through the galaxy at warp speeds." Pallas looked at the cart that the hologram had been fussing over. "What is that, Emmah?"

"I have been exploring artistic expression in food." she explained as she arranged a flower at the edge of the tray of small square pastries. "There is baklava, strawberry tarts, pinwheels, and mini cinnamon rolls to break up the monotony of the squares." she said proudly. "I suspect this will be a popular plate." she said hopefully as she pulled out a piping bag from inside the cart. "Cinnamon Cream." she said as she started to add a few drops of it between the bite sized items. "Do you find it pretty?" she asked.

Pallas began to wonder if anyone had done any anthropological studies on self-aware, sentience holograms, whether one could define them as a community with a distinctive culture, or whether their behaviors stemmed solely from those of the ships or facilities within which they worked when they gained personhood. She was therefore slightly distracted, reacting slowly to Emmah's question. "Hm? Ah, yes. I do find it quite aesthetically pleasing. There is a symmetry to the pattern you have created, an homage to fractals, maybe? Where did you develop an interest in art and food? Is this a recent... hobby?"

Emmah nodded, "Captain Hawkins has been encouraging me to find hobbies to ask around the ship what people enjoy doing. A few days ago I was speaking to the chef and he mentioned the beauty in food. The fact you can make a consumable so pretty that its almost painful to eat it and destroy it. I intend to explore this a little further"

"And do you find it painful? When the art that you have spent so much effort putting together is eaten?" It was a slight pause in Pallas's question, as she had momentarily forgotten that Emmah did not eat, and had almost asked her about whether it was painful when she ate the food.

"I do not." she said. "I just find it fascinating to see how those who do eat react when food it art. I find that some people do not appreciate it, others marvel and seem to enjoy it all the more. I've considered taking time with the chef and experiment with creating the same flavors of food and presenting it different ways to gage reactions."

"We have a chef onboard?" Pallas asked, incredulous. "Why do we have a chef onboard? That is quite unusual." The cadet was finding this conversation overall quite surprising. "I apologize, Emmah, if I am interrupting your duties..."

Emmah waved a hand, in a behavior she learned from Hawkins. "We do have a chef onboard. The ship is large enough to need a team of people to handle the nutritional requirements of the crew. Not everyone can or wants to eat replicated food. They also manage hydroponics where fresh food is grown, in partnership with the science teams to observe how foods are impacted by space travel and other environmental elements. It isn't a large team, but enough that should the replicators become restricted they could manage the nutritional needs of all onboard."

"Why would anyone not want to eat replicated food?" Pallas found this idea to be very puzzling. "Certainly, I understand the enjoyment and novelty of eating foods that are self-created, there was a great deal of that on Earth, and the chefs there always seemed to revel in the artistry of their work. But to not *want* to eat replicated food, what a bizarre concept." Given a childhood that began prior to the prevalence of replicators on her homeworld, the cadet could not fathom not taking full advantage of something that made not just hunger and starvation a distant nightmare, but scarcity or blandness of any kind. "Still, I certainly appreciate the fact that the chef is there in case, as you point out, there is some restriction on the use of replicators. Preparedness and back up plans is the epitome of good sense." The cadet smiled. "Well, I think I have distracted you for long enough, and I have my own duties to attend to as well. It was good to meet you, Emmah. I hope I see you again soon."

Emmah pondered the Ensigns questions. He did have a point. "I suppose it is similar to someone not wanting to use a transporter and opting for a shuttle or maybe not wanting to use a shuttle and taking a land car instead?" she mused. "The meeting will begin soon. I appreciate the company and the insights. I would enjoy speaking to you again." Emmah said with a soft smile.


~fin