Meet and Meet and Greet

Posted on Sun Feb 12th, 2023 @ 12:20am by Lieutenant Commander Mel Torma & Ensign Aarva

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Lounce
3320 words - 6.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Having heard that there was an influx of new crew, the curious and social Dalacari started to check the crew roster. Hmm... Hmm... Hmm... Ooo, something piqued at the notion that not only was there a new crewmember to meet, but they were an entirely new species! This got the Dalacari excited, she was always up for meeting new friends, or at least meeting new people and hopefully making them a friend.

And the best part was the new person was in the lounge! The perfect combination of 'Make a Friend' and 'Have some Food'. With that, the Dalacari made her way to the forward lounge. Once there, her binary form started to look for the Ensign. No. No. No. No. Wait... there! With the destination in sight, the binary form of the science officer padded her way over to Aarva..... correction, padded her way to the replicator for something to eat, *THEN* she made her collective way over to Aarva.

"Hi." she started, always a social grace. "I was wondering if I could join you? I've never encountered your people before, and I was wondering if we could talk and..." and that was it. The conversation ended. Over. Done.

It was picked up instantly by her twin sister, standing next to her. Effortlessly, smooth and flawless, as though she were the initial speaker all along. "... get to know each other. If I'm being too social just let me know. Dalacari can be a bit overwhelming, I get that."

Aarva hadn't expected to be approached from behind; the Dalacari's voice from behind her startled her, causing her to squeak and nearly fall off the lounge chair she'd been sitting in before. When she'd put herself sufficiently back together she looked behind her to find... well, she couldn't decide what she was looking at. Two exactly identical feline women stood behind her, obviously twins, possibly sisters. She'd have never guessed there were two people behind her from what had been said, seamless as it'd been. "Uhhhh. Hi." She mumbled, settling back into the lounge chair. "Yeah, you can. I don't mind."

"Excellent, thank you." one said, and they both sat next to each other. Each had a tray, each had the same options of food and drink. It was almost eerie how identical and similar their platters were, their tastes were. Their resemblance to each other was uncanny, almost impossibly similar. Their mannerisms, their steps, their gait... everything about the pair almost seemed to indicate that the pair weren't twins...

They were the same person.

"My name's Mel, Mel Torma, it's very nice to make your presence." one said, while the other took the moment to enjoy a nibble or two of something like meat. Lots of meat, not so much in the way of other, plant'ish foods.

God, even their orders of food were exactly the same. It was mind-boggling to Aarva, how identical the two were. "My name's Aarva. Hi." She replied meekly. "Uhhhh. Forgive me - but what did you say you were? A Dalacari? I've... never heard of a Dalacari before." She turned to the other twin that hadn't spoken. "And you? What's your name?"

"I did, yes." she paused, and then realized the rest. "Oh, oh you've never met a Dalacari. Oh, oh okay." she took a breath. Both forms took a breath.

"I'm a Dalacari." she paused, and then her other form spoke. "I'm... a Dalacari." a pause again. "Dalacari are binary creatures. Two bodies, one mine. One soul." she offered.

"My name is Mel Torma."

"My name is Mel Torma."

She paused, "I understand that, to single instance lifeforms, meeting a Dalacari for the first time can be daunting." she offered, a smile on her twin features.

"It helps to think of me as just one person. Because I am." her twin offered, and a giggle was shared between the pair.

Aarva's head spun. Both women were Mel Torma. Both women were, despite being seperate entities, were in essence the same person. What happened if one died? Did the other also expire, wherever she was? What if- Aarva told the bit of her mind that was still asking questions to shut up. In situations like this, she'd learned the best way to deal with them was to simpy not think about it too hard and accept them. Just treat the twins as one person. It seemed easy enough to do.

"Okay." She said dumbly. "So, uh... Mel. What do you do on board?' Having two bodies must make it easy to do complicated tasks, she thought. Maybe they- she- was an engineer, she thought, or a security officer. She'd definitely surrender and be arrested knowing she could quite literally encounter this woman twice.

"I'm the head of the Science department, and for a very brief time I was the head of a robotics section. Mostly because we found a set of abandoned Dalacari..."

"... drones, and they needed someone to tell them what to do." she offered. "My people use drones to simplify our day to day life, and to keep us safe, and to handle our manual..."

"... labor, and our transportation, and ... okay so we use drones in many, many aspects of our lives." she giggled. "And yourself?"

"I'm in engineering. I'm a robotics specialist." Drones? Now that was interesting! Aarva wanted to hear more now, confusion mostly forgotten. "Could you tell me more about these drones? Are they on board right now? I'd love to see them if they are!" She said excitedly.

"Sadly no, they had to stay behind and guard the wreck of another ship." she replied, "But I can tell you all about them. Back home, and aboard Dalacari craft, we use drones for..."

"... many many aspects of our lives. Not just military applications but logistical. They keep us safe, and handle the jobs we didn't want to have done because they were..."

"... menial or dangerous. Between them and the Thinking Engine system, most of our needs and wants are met with ease, which allows us to pursue any ventures that we want." she paused. "Want to ..."

"... be an author? An explorer? Dalacari society allows for the average citizen to pursue whatever fancy they want, as all the needs of society are handled." she gave a sigh. Content, longing. "I miss it, sometimes."

"Oh." Aarva deflated a little bit. She'd been hoping to be able to see some of those drones that supposedly did everything their creators needed to do. She wondered what they were shaped like; they definitely had to have arms of some kind to pick up and put down objects and be fitted with tools for precision work. Maybe they floated around with anti-gravity engines, which would surely make maneuvrability a non-issue. Maybe they were just spheres with lots of arms and attachments and a computer interface, and possibly some means of recharging. Whatever they looked like, they certainly sounded like a godsend. Speaking of a godsend.

"What's the Thinking Engine system? Is it an artificial intelligence or something?" She asked. "What does it do?"

The forms emphatically shook their heads No. "Oh no no no, no no." the pair alternated, quickly. "Dalacari aren't allowed to research synthetic intelligence. It's part of the Three Dawn Accord." and then the binary being paused. There was no way she'd know what that meant, Mel. C'mon, think!

"That's the long-standing accord and alliance we have with the Ts'usugi, our neighbor and closest ally in the home systems. It establishes the union of our peoples, the..."

"... outlines of any military alliances, and the exchange of scientific ideas and concepts." she continued. One spoke, one ate. It was a nice balance. "When they found out that roughly ninety seven..."

"... percent of our military and residential assistance was supplied by drone technology, they kindly asked us in writing not to research into synthetic intelligence." she explained.

"The Thinking Engine is the heart of our drone control systems. Ring Array Quantum Computer systems, running next generation prediction model calculations. Their entire..."

"... function is to calculate the most direct course of action to achieve a desired end goal. Whether it's victory over an enemy, or making sure that someone's morning..."

"... starts off just right. Morning routines, fastest commutes, tracking trends, updating lifestyles... Oh Dia, I miss home so much." the pair grew wistful, a far off dreamy look in their eyes.

It was so disorienting, hearing the twins so seamlessly finish each other's sentences like that. They really were of one single mind indeed.

So their drones weren't very intelligent. Give them a specified set of instructions, they carried out those instructions and that was all. When they had no instructions they were lost and without purpose. Aarva could see the perceived need for a precaution like that, but even so, it still sounded quite sordid an existence to her.

"It sounds so... efficient." She commented. "My home is... ah, I've never been to Kaminar. I was born and raised on Earth, you see." Her cheeks flushed pink at that. What kind of alien had never been to their home planet at least once? "But I hear it's lovely, with lots of plants and natural beauty. I'd like to visit when I get the chance next time. I'd like to see your home once too, if we ever go there." And yes, she did mean that. She was in fact dying to find out just how the Dalacari people as a whole functioned with this binary system of theirs, with effectively two people making one decision and literally being in two places at once...

"Oh it's so fabulous. You wake up in the morning and your breakfast is already ready, your route to work is already planned, there's a poll to pick the next week's weather, there's...."

"... listed activities planned in the local region, restaurants updating their menu based on local trends, fashion updates, luxury schedules... you can go shopping whenever..."

"... you want and not have to worry about your bags. Cause, yes, replicators can do a lot but sometimes you just gotta go out and SHOP!" she sounded so excited. Wake up, and your whole day is predicted. Everything. Food, schedule, drink, route, shopping. Even being spontaneous seemed predicted.

"Oh I'd love for you to visit. I have a simulator room program for a little villa back on Dalacar, which is good as a demo but it can't beat the real thing. Mostly because..."

"... the Gladiator isn't equipped to actually simulate a Thinking Engine, so it has to pretty much guess." she took a pair of breaths to calm herself from her enthusiasm. "But, I'd love to see..."

"... Kaminar. It sounds so natural. So peaceful."

"I... guess we could go on the holodeck and discover it together." Aarva suggested. It felt weird to her, visiting her homeworld first on the holodeck, but hey, never too late for some self-discovery. "Just let me know when you want to go, and we can go. Though I'm afraid I can't explain very much about it to you." She chuckled sheepishly and buried her face in her drink, which seemed to be a mug of sweetened iced tea. Weird. "Maybe we could visit your home on the holodeck first! You can tell me all about it, I'm sure."

Mel listened, and then gave a pair of soft smiles, "Hey, it's alright, you've never been there so the only things you know are what's in the brochure. Besides, I'd much rather your first time home be for..."

"... real. The feel of the grass under you, the smell of the air, that tiny little rush to a simpler time when you see something move out of the corner of your eye and..."

"... you just wanna chase it but you can't admit that out loud to folks because they all evolved from Prey animals and you're the only crewmember who evolved from..."

"... Predatory stock and... oh, hey, sorry. It's an interesting little notion." she paused, "So, modern Dalacari evolved from a swarm predator ages back. The little bugger had..."

"... a rudimentary cloud empathy with the rest of its pack, so the whole thing moved and acted and hunted as one. Narada Vash, the Fog of Teeth, is their name." she explained, jumping topics almost on reflex before getting back to the topic at hand.

"But no, I want your first step on your homeworld to be the real thing. Besides, Federation simulation rooms are nice but, pfft, Dalacar has environmental simulators..."

"... to put them to shame. Next time we're back in the home sector I'll see about asking if we can hit a Republic colony. Maybe see if the Slate are hosting a religious..."

"... sermon there, that'd be interesting. Or at least VERY comfortable to sleep to. Oh I know someone back in secondary academy who had a sleep study with a guest speaker who ..."

"... was a Slate, said it was the best night's sleep they ever got." Mel was very animated now. "Besides, if I tell the Captain that our chief of security couldn't beat one in..."

"... an Arm Wrestling match, he'll divert course in a heartbeat." she giggled, an oddly stereo sound from the Dalacari.

"But, just be warned, Dalacari are accustomed to a higher than normal gravity. One Point Three to be exact. Our colonies use gravity stabilizers to make it comfortable for us..."

"... and we use gravitic exclusion fields to make sure life at One Gee can visit. Just be careful when stepping off a path. Was it Blue Means Goo, or Red Means Dead?" she mused, a smirk on her features.

"I'm teasing! We'd never use terms like that on the tourism books. You'd be fine, FINE! Dalacari are awesome when it comes to guests!"

Aarva stared at Mel, mouth hanging partly open. What was a Slate? One Gee? Goo? Dead? Goodness gracious. Mel's home planet sounded like a riot - but also quite exciting. If they'd had to make an entire brochure for the planet clearly it had to be quite well known. "I'm sure I'll be." She reckoned with a giggle. "What's the food like? I'm curious. Don't worry, I eat most things. Except chillies. I hate those."

"What's the food like?" Mel asked, as though to confirm the question, "We're a fabricator capable society, the food is however you like it to be. Oh but they cook it however you want. They, meaning..."

"... the chef at whatever eatery you're at, and yes... if you really really REALLY want, you can have the raw materials fabricated and then have a drone prepare it for you." she offered.

"It's for the show, though. Food preparation drones are very festive in their antics. By design." she paused, "But, well, we're obligate carnivores, so most of the dishes you'd..."

"... find in Dalacari settlements is going to be, or include, meat of some form. Though, as a fabricator society we can cater to the consummate consumption of any guest." she paused again, "Even ..."

"... the Slate, though to be directly honest, since they're lithovores, it cuts out the shipping drone to just have them eat the ground directly." she giggled.

"You don't like chilis? Is the the spicy bite, or the flavor?"

"Eheh... a bit of both, actually." Aarva admitted sheepishly. "Which is kind of a shame. I've heard Kelpiens have many, many delicious spicy dishes." Her cheeks colored pink from embarrassment. She'd always felt not Kelpien enough - not connected enough to her own culture, not liking many of the dishes her parents made, couldn't speak Kelpien well, not tall and lanky... yeah, in many ways she was much more human than Kelpien and it'd always left her to wonder if that was necessarily a good thing.

"Your homeworld sounds lovely, Mel. Is it a popular space tourism destination in your part of space? Surely it must be with all these drones."

"Well, the Ts'usugi often host shore leave on Dalacari Republic worlds due to the accommodating nature of our settlements. The autonomous nature of many of our stations and..."

"... resupply depots helps for lengthy travelers. The Triliark enjoy our adherence to natural wonder accords. Parks, lakes, low pollution and impact. That sort of thing." she explained.

"They're very environmentally minded, so they want worlds to be beautiful. And well, so do we." She giggled. "And the Slate enjoy the high gravity systems that we prefer, though honestly..."

"... they hold any planet with a warm core as sacred. They just enjoy that we take care of the worlds we're on." she continued. "All in all, the home sectors are PRETTY busy, to think that..."

"... Starfleet thought it was mostly empty before one of their craft accidentally made their way out there. The Ts'usugi kept most of the interested parties off their trail, since we realized that..."

"... the Voyager wasn't invading, it was just lost and wanted to go home." she paused, to catch her thoughts. "Truth be told, I'm not a super big fan of chilis myself. They always wind..."

"... up hitting me different, then I have half a mouth on fire. Or half a stomach ache." she admitted. "Next time I'm feeling homesick, I'll cook you up something from home."

"And by cook, I do in fact mean replicate."

"Because I can't cook. Not even a bit."

"I can barely make ice." her tempo changed, perhaps because she was mildly embarrassed about the admission. Though, when you have an army of drones willing to wait on you hand and paw, why bother to learn how?

"No. Way. Your planet is in the Delta Quadrant!? I've always wanted to know what it's like there." Aarva instantly sat bolt upright, suddenly even more interested in their conversation. There was no Starfleet cadet that had never heard of Voyager's exploits in the Delta Quadrant - which was impossible considering it was an entire chapter of their textbook on Federation Starfleet history - she'd rather liked the idea of exploring an entirely new region of space no one had ever charted. Everything must've been new to them, species, planets, spatial conditions, technology, absolutely everything. "And I really don't mind replicated. I'd love to taste your people's food."

"Well we call them the home sectors, I don't know why Starfleet cartography decided on Delta, since all four quadrants meet in the center... but that's a discussion to have..."

"... later. With different departments. But in any case, yes. Dalacar is located in what Starfleet considers the Delta part of the map. As for what it's like, well it's just like..."

"... any other part of the universe. Except we have the Slate. And the Koldoran..." she shook her heads. A dark topic perhaps, "... and we have the Trimax. And Ketram." she paused to shift her focus.

"And, we have to worry about Fera. Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous unless you essentially go to a planet that has it. And they're all mapped and marked. And patrolled."

"HEAVILY patrolled." she put some emphasis on that one. "As for food, as long as you don't mind replicated, then I'm a six spoon class chef." she giggled. "Tomorrow, then? Or whenever you're free?"

"Tomorrow sounds wonderful!" Aarva said, smiling widely at having made a possible friends... friend. Just friend. Two bodies, one person. "Your quarters, then? I don't mind replicated at all as I've said, so long as I get to try what you eat."

"Then tomorrow it is." the pair announced in unison, "Sorry, intense moments catch my entire attention." spoke one, while the other just returned to eating. "And yeah, I'll have my space tidy enough for guests by then."

"That sounds lovely. I'll see you tomorrow, then." She was going to have to get used to this highly unusual woman in her life as a friend now, with all her eccentricities and such, but that was fine. Aarva was merely pleased that she'd made a new friend.