Of All The Places

Posted on Fri Jul 15th, 2011 @ 3:26pm by Lieutenant Torrna Maliya MD & Lieutenant Commander Aral Aix

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Hydroponics Bay
Timeline: several hours after 'Helping Hands part 2'

Maliya was exhausted and sick of people. Funny that, given she'd been in charge officially for all of one shift, and a day unofficially. Idrani's surgery was long exhausting, and checking out everyone else just added to that tired feeling. She needed to get to sleep earlier tonight, and rest properly. But she was too hyped up and edgy. So the best medication she could prescribe herself was a cup of Vatra Tea and some relaxing meditation.

Yes, Maliya had actually fully embraced meditation nowadays. It helped her de-stress and relax. And if she didn't do that she'd not sleep well, possibly with a dash of nightmares, or even insomnia. So now, she was sat at a small crescent enclosure, dressed in her uniform pants and the undershirt, barefoot, the rest of her clothing neatly folded beside her, her long hair free of its restraint. Her eyes were closed as she sat cross-legged and just enjoyed the nature around her, and the quiet.

Given the events of the preceding 48 hours, it Aral Aix had been hitherto indisposed. He had neglected the Arizona's scientific life. It was an unacknowledged truth that a Science Department aboard a Prometheus Class vessel was a luxury; her scientific capacity was geared more towards collecting astronomical data through sensor arrays and small, mission based lab work. Science Officers aboard larger vessels and starbases were in the business of serious research. Aboard the Arizona Aral's job was more to be on hand to help with crisis management and - apparently - take care of Cowell's paperwork.

As such, it had taken the Lieutenant Commander a considerable margin before he was able to make a survey of his department's resources and introduce himself to his staff. Unhurried he slipped into the Hydroponics Bay a PADD in hand. The Hydroponics Bay was officially classed as a Science Lab, but it was as much a small arboretum as work place or food production line. It was clear the biologists and environmental engineers had taken care to simulate a real outdoor space. Soft, immaculately manicured grass was springy beneath his boots. The room was lit by artificial sunlight, it had been calibrated to give the effect of early evening.

Aral began his rounds, as a physical scientist he had little time for, or interest in, plant life. However he did appreciate how aesthetically pleasing it was. He meandered around the room, ostensibly familiarising himself with its layout, but in reality he was admiring its beauty. Aral walked past a willow tree and happened upon a familiar face.

"Hello nose... didn't expect to see you in the Delta Quadrant."

Maliya opened her eyes lazily, blinked for a moment then looked up with a smile. "Hey Spotty. Back finally, are ya?" she said as she stood up and dusted off, though there clearly was no dust to speak of.

She looked over at the Trill and studied him for a moment. He actually looked a lot more in tune with the environment than he was back in San Francisco last year when they used to meet at the meditation group run by Doctor Greylin.

"It's been what... nearly a year?" He paused and studied her face, "How've you been?"

She nodded, smiling slightly, "A year or so, yeah."

~He's changed...~ she though.

"I've been...hmm...pissed...grumpy, tired...irritated. That old goat of a Cowell bumped me up to Chief Medical Officer." she said finally, chuckling, "I was assigned as surgeon...then apparently he saw it fit to shake things around, so now I'm the boss, the Kid is my Assistant, and Doc Serran is the surgeon. I'm not thrilled...I wanted a quiet posting without all the Admin crap...but hey, the Prophets have a weird sense of humor...so here I am." looking up she spied his rank, "A Lieutenant Commander, Chief Geek?"

Aral nodded. "And Second Officer." He paused and admired what he thought might be an Andorian Conifer, "Which roughly translated means Cowell's paperwork bitch."

"All those years inside your gut and you still can't stand up for yourself?" she chuckled. "But hey, you're moving up in the Universe. Consider it an adventure, what can I say." she sat back down and patted a seat next to her. "And otherwise? How's tricks with you Spotty?"

She'd always liked Aix. He had a good sense of humor and a wealth of knowledge stored inside him. The fact that he was easy on the eyes notwithstanding, there was a dark spot on his soul or souls that she could understand. What fun they could have together here.

~More like mayhem~

=Memorial Gardens, Starfleet Heaquarters, San Francisco, Earth=
=August 2385=

The sky was blue and the day had been hot and dry. The immaculately manicured lawns of Starfleet Headquarters rolled away into the distance punctuated only by the occasional tree or ornamental shrubbery. Although San Francisco still enjoyed hot dry summers, the grassy knolls of Starfleet Headquarters were verdant, the product of hours of hard labour and military precision on the behalf of a team of gardeners that seemed to outnumber, and from the perspective of Cadets out gun, the Marine Corps. A corner of the south facing aspect was littered with Starfleet Officers balancing on white blankets in an erratic semi circle around a woman clad in white.

Amongst the officers was Aral Aix who had signed up for the class in order to escape his laboratory at the Academy for at least an hour. Prone to neither stress nor taking things particularly seriously Aix had been following the instructor's directions and so had attempted to exist variously as a tree, a snake, a sunflower, several small woodland creatures and an ornamental shrubbery, although he may have misheard the last one distracted as he was by the sheer hilarious decorum of the event. Presently he was balancing on his right foot with his left hand on his right shoulder blade while his right was outstretched as if he were some sort of spotted watering can and he had no idea what he was supposed to be imitating.

=Meanwhile=

Maliya had literally been shoved out of Medical today by both House and her own traitorous assistant Laura Hollins to go out and do something relaxing, she'd been bitching out too many people, staff and patients alike today. That coming from Gordon House himself, mister annoy everything down to a caterpillar spoke volumes about how much the Bajoran needed a break.

So, she was back in her appartment, stuck for what to do, when she struck an idea. Several of her patients had told her about the meditation sessions Counselor Frenna Greylin held on the grounds near SH HQ, kosst, Greylin had even invited her to come along a few times, and now was apparently the time to try it. That or go out on the town, get absolutely sloshed and sleep with anyone who was willing. So she'd do.......meditation.

So now there she was, dressed in a pair of dark blue training pants and a tank top, her hair pulled behind her ears with a bandanna of the same color, and a blanket in hand, looking at all the people in highly ridiculous poses, trying to...meditate.

~Right, so this is what it looks like. That's it, I'm out of here...~ she thought and was just about to turn around when Greylin spied her and waved her over, smiling gently at her. ~Sneaky bitch.~

Left without much choice due to a rather large audience, Maliya walked over to an empty spot and set her blanket down. She cast her eyes to the man next to her, a young Trill man and nodded to him. If this were any other situation, she'd have eyed him up decently and much longer, but the Greylin was ever watchful, so Maliya gave it up for now, and began emulating the postures that Frenna so kindly repeated for her benefit as she grinned cheekily at her.

~Sneaky bitch~

Aral felt the weight of the Bajoran woman's gaze. Unfortunately he was rather precariously balanced standing as he was on one leg with both arms outstretched to his right as though he was about to attempt archery with an invisible crossbow. Eventually Greylin brought the class down into the lotus position where they closed their eyes and chanted. Aix, fexible as he was, was able to sit without difficulty, although the composure necessary to achieve a sense of inner harmony had not reached him, he listened to the birdsong and atmospheric disturbances caused by the regular shuttles to and from Command.

Whilst the Trill failed to find his inner peace, Maliya was failing at it also, but her mind was on getting even with House and Hollins at the earliest opportunity. She opened her right eye and snuck a peek at the Trill and was unable to surpress a chuckle. So, he wasn't in shangri-la there either, Maliya couldn't help but wonder if anyone else was. So much for Frenna's hoodoo attempts to relax people.

After some ten minutes of inner peace finding, Greylin dismissed her class and scheduled another one for three hours later. As she stood up and began folding her blanket, Maliya looked at the Trill again.

"So, where's YOUR happy center, place, whatever it was she told us to reach?" she asked out of the blue, feeling like a talk.

That and a better look. Yes, she was incorrigible in some things.

"It's somewhere between Xanadu and the lost moon of Poosh." The Trill replied, "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a mighty pleasure-dome decree... Where Alph, the sacred river, ran... Through caverns measureless to man... Down to a sunless sea." He smiled at her as he recited. "I got through the entire poem in my head just trying not to laugh." He paused for a moment, "Where's yours?"

Maliya blinked in confusion as he recited the poem, not having the slightest inkling what it was about. She was a Doctor not a Scholar.

"Lahana Beach on Pacifica at night. Beautiful sandy beach with not many people about, with just the sounds of the sea about you." she replied with honesty.

She folded up the blanket under her arm and looked up at him.

"Name's Torrna Maliya, Greylin's a colleague.." she nodded at the trainer, "...so she roped me into coming, what's your excuse? Or do you actually think this crap works?"

How little did she know her opinion would change considerably on the benefits of meditation.

Aix shook his head. "I've never been one for cults," he gestured around with his hand as if it demonstrated his point. He paused and took a moment to look the woman up and down. "Aral Aix, I'm seconded to an Academy research project this year... this was an attempt to escape the lab for at least an hour while there's daylight."