A Beanpole in a New Pot

Posted on Tue Jan 10th, 2023 @ 9:46am by Ensign Aarva & Commander Raiden Kosugi

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Somewhere
2998 words - 6 OF Standard Post Measure

"Alright, send her in."

The Bolian commander smiled warmly as the young Kelpien girl shuffled into the room and stood before him at attention. She looked like she'd run all the way here in a nervous panic, the poor girl, even though her uniform somehow remained immaculate. She'd changed into her new uniform, single collar pip gleaming on her shoulder. She'd earned it, like everyone else who'd only so shortly ago graduated from the Academy, and distinguished herself while doing so.

"Come on, cadet- or should I say [i]ensign[/i] Aarva, now? How are you getting on with packing? Ready to go?"

"Y-Yes, sir." The Kelpien stammered. She still had trouble looking him in the eye, poor nervous thing - but she made a valiant effort to do so nonetheless.

"Good." Best to spare her the misery, then, he reckoned. The Bolian man smiled kindly and slid a PADD across the table to her.

"The Gladiator is waiting for you, ensign. She's a few hours' trip away by shuttle. I know the people on that ship. They'll love you."

A new assignment. New people. A new environment. An entire swarm of nervous butterflies burst into existence in Aarva's stomach and began to wreak havoc on her insides, flitting about and hammering the walls of her belly - a sort of buzzy nauseous feeling that added on to the twitching and writhing of her ganglia in her head. She wanted to throw up at the mere thought of having to re-adjust - and yet she found it oddly exhilarating that she would be doing what she'd spent the last four years training for at last. Mother had been incredibly proud when she came to her graduation ceremony, and she'd no doubt be proud to know where her daughter was going for her first assignment, too.

"Any last questions, ensign?"

"N-No, sir. I'll be on my way, then. Can't keep them waiting!" She responded with a nervous smile. Good thing she'd packed and gotten ready well before this mercifully short meeting. Someday she'd buy Commander Rix something nice as thanks, she'd decided, for making the meeting so short and sweet for her comfort.

Once more the Bolian smiled kindly, and nodded. "Alright then. Do us proud, ensign. We'll be waiting eagerly to see how far you go. Dismissed."

Aarva smiled a tiny, nervous smile, nodded and backed out of the commander's office - and as soon as the doors closed and she was no longer in his line of sight she squealed with joy, springing about a half foot into the air before practically bouncing all the way back to her quarters giddy with excitement, nervous butterflies temporarily forgotten. Her first assignment! The young Kelpien was practically buzzing as she packed the last of her bags, inspected herself in the mirror and ran halfway across campus to the transporter pad, scaring a few cadets and professors along the way. She barely noticed, however, such was her excitement.

At long last she reached the shuttlebay and found her way to the shuttle waiting for her. Her new assignment was just a few hours away now. She couldn't wait.

Upon the shuttle there were several excited ensigns talking to each other, they paused for a moment, when Aarva arrived.

"Hi there, where are you headed?" one of them asked, a young dark haired male trill. "I'm Ensign Kemar Rovan, what's your name?"

Aarva, having been somewhat lost in her thoughts and excitement over finally getting to set foot on her first assignment, yelped and dropped her PADD - which, thankfully, didn't crack the screen. "Oh. Hi. Hello." She felt her cheeks flush hotly with embarrassment as she bent down to retrieve the device and wipe it off on the skirt of her uniform. She really did need to work on that, she thought to herself. "I'm headed to the Gladiator, and my name is Aarva." She held out a slender hand for a handshake. "Hi. Oh, sorry. I already said hi-"

Kemar smiled, "Oh that's okay, what position are you going to be assigned to? I'm going to be in operations on a station. I don't quite remember the name but oh well I'll remember it later.? he laughed. "So the Gladiator, I heard it's a really cool ship. Though it's been said the ship has had some trouble as of late."

So he wasn't going to shake her hand, then? Aarva felt a little pang of disappointment as she withdrew her hand back to her side. People usually didn't find her that interesting apart from her unusual stature - she was somewhat used to it by now. "W-What kind of trouble?" She asked meekly as they began to board the shuttle.

Kemar realized he had been a bit rude and before Aarva could move her hand all of the way back, he reached out and took her hand in his and gave it a friendly shake. "Sorry I guess I am a little bit absent minded." giving a chagrined grin. "Forgive?"

The others gave a slight laugh at the awkwardness of the situation. They all boarded the shuttle and they were on their way.

"C'mon, come sit by me." Kemar said moving to a vacant seat where they could sit side by side. He had forgotten to let go of Aarva's hand.

Utterly befuddled by this Trill's behavior Aarva followed him and sat down next to him - at which point she meekly withdrew her hand and placed it in her lap. What exactly was this guy driving at? One moment he'd forgotten to shake her hand, the next he seemed to want to hold her hand? Weird. Why was understanding people so difficult, she wondered to herself. Robots and machines were far easier to understand; at least those had programmed behavior and rarely if ever deviated from that - and then she chided herself for thinking that. "I-I forgive you. Don't worry." She said meekly.

"Ah thank you." Kemar replied giving a blush. The other ensigns laughed.

He rubbed the back of his head, giving a shrug. "Cut that out." he said to the others.

"Remember when you go to shake someone's hand to let go afterwards." a female retorted. "don't want you to be labeled a creep."

He looked down at his hands, then a sidelong glance to Aarva. "I'm not a creep."

Once again heat rose to Aarva's cheeks and ears. "No, nonono, don't worry, I don't think you're a creep at all!" She babbled, folding her arms under her chest. "I- It's okay, really, hah..." She seemed to twist a bit into herself then, seeming extremely interested in the PADD in her lap. "Well, uhm. Trouble, you said? What kind of trouble? Is- is the crew okay?"

"The Gladiator was found adrift in space and separated from the saucer section. Well that is what the rumors have been flying about. From what I hear she is back together now. There must have been a reason why that happened but, no one knows the answer as of yet. It all seems like a lot of hush hush things going on."

"Kemar would you just quit going on about conspiracies" said another with a scoff.

The idea sent chills down her spine. She for one knew that ships only seperated in emergencies - or if it brought its crew a tactical advantage to do so. She wondered which scenario it'd been that caused it, and more importantly why there was such a perceived need to cover it up like it apparently was being. "C-Conspiracies? I don't believe in conspiracies. It's all just... just... hearsay! Just hearsay. I'm sure there's nothing unusual going on." She said with a nervous laugh. She only wished she were right - more often than not she'd learned that things were usually the other way round.

The other Ensigns just shrugged. "Not everyone knows what is going on, we just call it a conspiracy since Kemar likes to look for conspiracies and tends to come up with some outlandish ones. Until we know all the facts, we're going to be a little skeptical. Who knows, if you are going to the Gladiator you can find out what is what, and just get the facts." all looking towards Aarva.

Suddenly Aarva felt incredibly self-conscious, tugging at the edge of her skirt and curling into herself a bit. She wasn't used to have so much attention cast undivided on her. "Um... yeah! Yeah, I suppose I will!" She let out a nervous giggle as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "So, um. Where are the rest of you headed? Are you not also headed to the Gladiator?"

"We are heading to our next connecting point, none of us are heading to the Gladiator. So we're kind of envious." Was one of the responses.

The pilot of the shuttle looked back towards Aarva, "Ensign we're almost to your destination, are you ready to make the connection?"

Kemar looked at Aarva, "Well good luck at your new assignment" giving a nod, this time not taking her hand.

"Ready." Aarva nodded and looked around at the gaggle of ensigns she'd been riding with. "Good luck, everyone! Maybe we'll meet again someday. Maybe." Knowing Starfleet, maybe not - but then again the universe was only so big. Just a little while more to the Gladiator and her new assignment! She couldn't wait...

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Gladiator
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The shuttle left after depositing the lone ensign. in the shuttle bay. Next to another shuttle stood a tall, oriental man wearing the color of command, his pips indicated he was a lieutenant commander. He gave a piercing gaze towards the kelpien ensign. "Welcome aboard Ensign, I am Commander Kosugi, the executive officer. Your arrival was a bit of a surprise, you arrived just in the nick of time before we left this area."

The sight of the ship's first officer, along with his choice of words, set off alarm bells in Aarva's nervous little brain. Why was the first officer of all people welcoming her aboard? Had something gone wrong? Was she in trouble, and he was here to take her for questioning? Or maybe, just maybe, he did this for everyone new on board, which would make no sense because he couldn't possibly make time for every new arrival. Moreover, her arriving 'in the nick of time' as he'd put it implied that the ship had run into trouble - which he should've been attending to instead of coming all the way here to get her settled? So many questions. Not all of them were pleasant.

"Um. Thank you, sir. I presume you know my name and all, since you're here to welcome me and all." Aarva said meekly, adjusting the bag she'd had slung over her shoulder. She approached the much taller man shyly, almost as if afraid to get too close to him. "What do you mean by, 'just in the nick of time'?" Well, she had to ask. She simply had to. Best get the question out of her head before it started to bother her more.

"I mean by what I said, that we are getting ready to go rescue people who have been taken, if your connection had arrived much later you would have had to wait back at the station, for our return." his voice matter of fact. "I had come down to check on this area once more, when there was news of an arrival. If you've got your gear, lets get you to where you need to go." He smiled for a moment then it faded away to a concerned look as he cast another glance at the shuttle.

Oh. So it was that kind of 'in the nick of time'. Objectively positive, in reality not really. In short she was about to be part of a hostage rescue mission, and the ship needed an extra pair of hands to help out. Again, not explicitly positive or negative. She considered that an okay start to her Starfleet career. "I have my belongings, sir - though I'm afraid I don't have any engineering equipment with me." Aarva smiled apologetically, though she did seem a bit puzzled. Had he been expecting her to carry around tools and such with her from the Academy, she wondered, judging by his choice of words. "I was told that I'd be given the equipment I need when I arrived."

"Good then you have your personal gear with you, your personal belongings. And yes, you will be given engineering gear as well, the tools of the trade." Raiden heading out of the shuttle bay doors waiting for Ensign Aarva to follow. "We'll get you set up with quarters, give you time to eat and get a little bit familiar with the ship and go from there. I can show you, where your quarters are."

"I'd appreciate that, sir. Thank you." Aarva trotted along besides the man, if not just slightly behind him, clutching her bag to herself as they navigated the corridors together. She made for an odd sight, a short, purple-eyed Kelpien woman with gogglelike glasses and a figure more akin to that of a human woman's than the slender lankiness of her species. She could've sworn she saw at least one male crew member wink at her as she walked by him. Her sensitive ears picked up low murmuring as she passed by - something about weird and kinda short. She tried not to let it bother her as she ambled along towards the turbolift, keeping to herself for the time being. It was all new to her, new people, new environment, new culture.

The lift opened two crew members stepped out they paused when they saw Raiden, "Commander." Was all they said, and he gave them just a nod in greeting. He stepped inside the lift and waited for Aarva. "Here we go, up a few decks, then to your quarters. Do you have any questions you would like to ask while we are on our way?"

Aarva stepped through the door and stood beside the commander, lightly rubbing the strap of her bag, most likely out of nervousness. It'd be a couple of seconds before she came up with an answer: "Um. What exactly is our mission, sir? Who was taken by whom?" Again, she simply had to ask, entirely out of curiosity. She'd probably not be needed on the ground, that was for the tactical and security officers to handle, but she still couldn't help but want to know more. The turbolift paused three decks up, admitting three new crew members, one of which side-eyed the dimunitive Kelpien, making her flinch a bit.

"At ease Ensign" Raiden stated, now whether it was towards her or to those stepping into the turbolift after they left, it wouldn't be evident. He continued down the corridor to where she would be staying. Once they were sufficiently away from the lift and others, Raiden commented to Aarva, "You do not need to shrink away from anyone looking at you, and our people are better trained. We have a varied assortment of races so you are not alone in being different. I am not saying the crew is perfect but you need to match their gazes and don't shrink back, is that understood? If someone decides to give you a strange questioning look you look at them straight on. Or just say hello, and then go on. Right now we are after a cult and they have people that they have taken for some bad reason. People are concentrating on that more than anything else."

"S-Sorry, sir. I'll keep that in mind." Aarva forced herself to straighten up and walk beside him with her head up, giving a shy smile to the much taller human man who raised an eyebrow as they passed him. She'd always felt different on top of being different - while most of her people towered over their humanoid counterparts by at least a foot or even more, she was no taller than the average human woman for reasons even Starfleet Academy's doctors couldn't quite explain. Whatever the reason was, being different had always made her self conscious around everyone she met - most of all other Kelpiens, not that she knew very many outside of her parents and their families.

"Bad cult? That doesn't sound good." She murmured.

" No it isn't they for some reason have drained the blood out of everyone they have come across, so, Ensign Aarva, most people are more concerned with the upcoming battle than really worry about someone new unless they are looking at you with curiosity, as you are new. We are wanting everyone to be concentrating on what they can do to help out in this endeavor. so gird up your courage and even though you are scared, still do your job whenever you are assigned to do what is needed to be done."

"Yes, sir." She said meekly as they reached her quarters. "So, um. I guess... I'll get settled in. And eat." Her stomach chose that moment to growl again, bringing embarrassed heat to her cheeks. "I'll report to Engineering when I'm done, if that's alright. I'm sure the chief engineer would be happy to see me." She stepped through the door and turned back around to face the firsr officer with a shy smile. "I'll see you around, sir. Thank you for taking me here. I think I can handle things from here."

Raiden then flashed a smile, which actually had warmth in it. "very well, and welcome aboard, Ensign Aarva." with that he turned and headed down the corridor to get back to the preparations that was needing to be done.

Aarva watched him leave before sighing and walking into her quarters, the doors sliding shut and clicking locked behind her.