A lifting meeting

Posted on Thu Oct 28th, 2021 @ 11:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Mel Torma & 1st Lieutenant Kyle Walken

Mission: A New Legacy
Location: Turbolift 04
Timeline: After "Clearing The Air"
2582 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Kyle had finally gotten time to get his footlocker in order in the barracks. After being reassigned to the Arcadia he was thrown straight into the mission and didn't get the chance to take inventory or set his things where he liked them. Walken had some time before he goes through the rosters and truly integrates himself with his fellow marines. Getting on the turbolift he left Deck 35 and was heading for Deck 10, a nice drink was calling his name. Walken hated synthehol but most of his bottles of real booze were still in storage and would take time to get.

Before the lift reached its destination it stopped at an early deck. When the doors swished open the binary form of Mel Torma was on the other side. "Oh, umm, sorry. Hello." she greeted, as each form took the time to make its way into the turbolift. Roomy, but still three bodies was about the limit of comfort. "Sorry. Umm, Deck 10. Oh, then continue." and the lift went on its way.

Her other half, silent up until now, took the time to introduce. "Mel Torma. I think I remember you from the mission. I don't mean to sound rude, but I was more focused on staying intact and whole than getting everyone's business cards." she offered a hand with a smile. Wide smile, but no teeth.

Walken took notice of the rank pins on the collars, he remembered them from the room. "No need to worries Ma'ams, I'm used to that. A marines job is to get things done, no worry about who knows your name. At least that is what my old man would say." He took the hand that was offered and shook it.

"I'm only one Ma'am, thank you." she giggled, a sound that went from one form to the next. "I appreciate it, none the less." she paused in thought for a moment, "You know, we don't have Marines in Dalacari society. The very notion of what you do is fascinating, I just..." and she stopped. Boom. Done.

Her twin picked up the conversation with no delay, as though it were her speaking the entire time. "... though you should know. Keeping people safe is the most wonderful thing a Dalacari can do, so what you did means a lot to me. Also, if it's more comfortable, you can..."

"... call me Mel, or Torma. Just one though, I'm not a Mel's, or a Torma's." she pointed out.

"My apologies Ma'am, I'll be honest I don't know a lot about your kind so forgive me for my ignorance or if I make mistakes I mean no offence," Kyle states, he frowns a bit. "It's not all protecting thou, we are a military force." He turns between both bodies. "Heck there are things I know I wish I could talk about but most of it is covered in red tape."

The turbolift had reached its destination as the doors open, "Lieutenant Commander Torma then, sorry it was rude of me to not introduce myself. Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Walken."

Mel offered a pair of smiles, "Forgiven, and it's no bother. We're all explorers after all. Would you mind if I joined you?" a pause, "Unless you're meeting someone already, Mister Walken." she offered a way out.

"Red tape, red tape, that's Terran slang for Bureaucratic impediment, right?"

"No plans to meet anyone, I only know about three people on board at the moment. So I would be happy to have you join me, Lieutenant Commander. As for the red tape that is what it is word for word, a man I once trusted...he choose to go into business for himself instead of the Federation."

She gave a nod and followed him to the lounge. A table for three, well technically two but she counted as a pair for the purposes of drinks, though she wasn't two thirds of the check. Oh wait, she kinda was.

"I find the notion of slang so interesting, as a language vector. Trust me, the first time I heard someone say someone was two faced, ooooo I nearly lost it." she admitted with a smirk. "This man you mention.." her twin continued, "You say Once trusted. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm not very good at picking up single instance body language yet, so if it's not something you want to talk about, please be direct."

Kyle took a seat, "With each culture having differences it can be weird sometimes." His face was stern now. "Not too much to talk about really, my former battalion Captain executed an unarmed and surrender combatant. He took justice into his own hands, he wasn't any better than the Gorn he killed."

No sooner had she settled in then a shocked look passed from one face to the other, "Oh dear, I'm sorry you had to experience that. I won't push any further." she paused for a moment to let the subject literally pass. "And yes, figuring out where to look on someone to find out..."

"... if they're being honest, if they're holding something back, sometimes it's tough. Lucky for me, smiles are universal. Though Klingon smiles just seem to show..."

"... teeth, which I mean, we have those, but we also learned that not everyone has predatory evolutionary origins. So showing teeth isn't always the best step." she rambled a bit, then shook her heads. "I'm sorry, bit of a chatterbox. Dalacari are social creatures by nature. We thrive in gatherings."

"Ask me anything." she said after someone came by for their drink orders.

Kyle orders simple synthehol, despite his hatred of it, he pauses as he listens to Mel speak. "Well I honestly don't know anything about your kind, I guess my first question is are you always born with two physical bodies? Or are there situations where there can be more or even singular bodies?"

"Choice Paralysis, sorry." she relented, then considered his question. It was interesting to see her at work, since once form could speak while the other took a sip of whatever fruity colored beverage she ordered, and they'd then switch back. Nothing she did was ever done once, it seemed.

"A complete and whole Dalacari is always a set of twins." she indicated herself. Herselves. "We evolved from empathic swarm predators, and over time the swarm got smaller and smaller..."

"... until the swarm became a swarm of two. Every birth is twins." she got around to actually answering his question. "Which also means I need two seats on every evacuation..."

"... shuttle, so please don't split me up." That wasn't a joking tone. She paused for a moment, "On that, I *can* split my attention, but it's exhausting to do. I think about thirty feet is my comfort limit before..."

"... I start to get jittery, but yeah, I can sit on the couch while getting myself a drink. Further than that, and each of my forms starts to try to remember everything it can until I can..."

"... kinda pull myself back together, as it were. While we're alone and separate, we call that sensation Ghosting, and it's weird. We instinctively look for ourself," she was quiet for a moment, before her other half picked up where the first ended, "There's a medical condition we have when one of our forms is gone for good. Stranded." she shook her heads. "It's terrible. The affected..."

"... Dalacari withdraws, becomes lethargic. Wastes away. The Republic does all it can for them but sometimes, the only mercy left is a final peace." she took a pause for both forms to take a sip. This weighed heavily on her soul. "Sometimes they go insane, homicidal even."

"Please don't separate me."

Kyle took a drink wishing he would have just broken into the storage room that had his real booze. "So back when your people were swarming predators, did they also control a large number of bodies with one mind and then over time as your kind became more complex it was fewer bodies? Or am I overthinking this way too much?"

He pauses to think about Mel's words about what happens to Dalacari who lose their pair. "I don't think you need to worry about me trying to separate you, Ma'am. Unless this is an active battlefield you really don't need to listen to word I say." The marine laughs quietly.

She gave a nod, "We still have them in zoos, which I guess sounds kinda weird now that I said it out loud." she giggled, "Also, we keep them in a special enclosure so folks don't..."

"... get too close to them. Getting too close usually causes headaches and nausea in Dalacari. Maybe some old primal sensation, an ancient connection, I don't know. All..."

"... I do know is yeah, you pretty much nailed it. Lots and lots of animal minds, moving with one guiding purpose. Responses to stimuli, danger, food, the whole flock..."

"...responds as one. It's really kinda creepy to watch." she paused, "And, as for the separation consideration, I really appreciate it. Though trust me, rank or not, if we're in..."

"... an active firefight, and you tell me to duck, I'm ducking." she giggled.

"You keep unevolved Dalacari in zoos? I am surprised the Federation hasn't thought of that as some sort of ethics issue." Kyle shrugs it wasn't his issue to deal with. "Thanks, you have already proven to be better than the old Chief of Security I had to work with."

"Humans keep monkeys in their zoos. I was lead to believe that they were the progenitor species." she looked confused. "I mean, we STILL have Narada on the planet, well I mean..."

"... not anymore, we expanded and nearly destroyed their native environment. We did the best we could to simulate their native environments but there's..."

"... not a lot left." she paused for a moment. "I'll take that last bit as a compliment. Though I'm sorry you had to deal with someone who couldn't see the value in an experienced opinion."

"I suppose that is true." Kyle nods slowly as he leans back in his chair. "Nothing to be sorry about it was just someone too young who got a little too much power, went to his head. Tell me a bit more about yourself, I can see from your uniform you work in either science or medical? Curious to know about who Lieutenant Commander Torma is."

"Sciences. Never had the stomach for medical classes." she admitted. "As for who Mel Torma is, she's a friendly free spirit, a bit of a risk taker as far as Dalacari go." a smile on both features.

"Though, she's very much against violence. She'll defend herself if needed, of course." Mel smiled, and shook her heads, "I'm a terrible shot, though, so please don't ask me to..."

"... aim at anything mission critical. A friend of mine was a sharpshooter back in the Academy of Sciences and Advancements. Now he could hit the shine off a belt buckle." she mentioned.

"I like making friends, and I honestly believe that there's always a non-violent solution to a problem. It's just the Dalacari way, I guess. We turned away from rampant..."

"... violence a long time ago, and left the dangerous work in the hands of our drones. Now, the Dalacari relax and live a life free of concern and labor. We do what we want."

"I wanted to explore, to see the stars, and make new friends among them." she gave a pair of grins from across the table, "And what do I need to know about Kyle Walken?"

"Science? Looks like you will meet my twin at some point then." The young man listens to her tale taking in who she is ready to explain a bit about himself after she asks who he was.

"Well Kyle Ulysses Walken tends to be a very simple person, I'm the oldest of three siblings, and you could say I'm keeping the family tradition alive. I was basically raised to be a marine. Lost one of my best friends six years ago during an operation. Managed to end up a POW twice, though one of them was a ploy to infiltrate a secured Gorn prison camp."

Kyle pauses as he reflects on his time as a real POW, nothing nice about it. Watching others being killed, others were even eaten by the Gorn. The mental scars were there but the one thing he knows is the Gorn never broke the marine before his rescue.

"Sorry got lost in thoughts there for a bit, I've mainly served as the sharpshooter of any unit I've been attached too otherwise I tend to lead a squad as an NCO."

The full attention of a Dalacari was almost something you could feel. One personality, one sentience sure. It was the two bodies. Two sets of eyes, two sets of ears, watching and listening. When something concerned her, both forms wore the worry, when something sparked her curiosity, both forms perked.

A tale of service at the cost of lives. The same tale no matter where you went in the cosmos. Such a sad tale, and to hear it told so well.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I'm certain they'd be thrilled at the man you've become." she offered first, "And, NCO is an abbreviation I know, but unfortunately I also know what..."

"... POW means. I'm relieved that you only had to suffer that once, despite the second time being a ploy I can't imagine it was an enjoyable stay." she paused for a moment, "We have our own..."

"... problems back in our section of space. An expansionist militant race called the Koldaran. They employ a deadly fighter stratagem which is why the Ts'usugi and our ..."

"... people still use fighters to counter. The Ts'usugi use flesh and blood pilots while we use drones. Before joining the Federation I was never taken prisoner or anything similar..."

"... but, that changed this mission. It's a horrible feeling, and one I don't need to explain to someone who's been through it. It's terrible... I'm so sorry you had to go..."

"... through such a terrible, terrible experience."

"No need to be sorry, I have moved past this. In this line of work you have to learn to deal with this, I took time and went through therapy. Even if I don't always agree with it." Kyle nods as he finishes off his drink. "Hopefully next time Starfleet Intelligence won't just wing it and actually learn something. How are you holding up, I'm not a consular but I've been through worse so if you need to talk about it I'm here."

"I appreciate that. Give me a day or two to let the excitement run out of my systems and then I'll take you up on that." she finished off her drinks as well. "Well, I think I should be..."

"... heading back, but thank you for letting me join you, and the conversation. If sciences can ever help, just come ask. If the door is locked, there's a problem. Otherwise..."

"... my time is your time."

"No worries, I should get back to the barracks and study the roster. Got to learn the names of those I will be working with. Say hi to my sister when you meet her, I'm sure the three of you will work well together in the sciences." Kyle nods and with a smile, he stands up and makes his way into the hallway and walking towards the turbolift.