Something To Get Used To

Posted on Thu Aug 4th, 2011 @ 4:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Aral Aix & Senior Chief Petty Officer Julia Neral & Crewman Jordan Aviro

Mission: Tomorrow's Arizona
Location: Science Lab 1, USS Arizona
Timeline: Prior to Departure from SB900

Aral Aix entered Science Lab 1, it was the largest of the Labs aboard the Arizona and it was equipped for general purpose scientific research, its capacity greatly enhanced by the vessel's integrated holographic technology. It seemed to be permanently staffed by anywhere between six and ten NCOs and it formed the centre of scientific endeavour onboard.

"Has the Senior Chief arrived yet?" The Lieutenant Commander called as he entered the laboratory. Despite having served as the Chief Science Officer for some weeks, he was still yet to learn the names of everyone in his department.

"No sir." Replied a Bajoran technician that Aral half recognized.

"Aviro isn't it?" Aral stated.

"Jordan." The Crewman corrected, "Bajoran personal and family names are reversed, sir." Aral accepted the correction. He didn't have the heart to tell the young man - who looked about nineteen - that he simply not afforded him the courtesy of addressing him by surname.

Aral nodded. "I'll be in," he paused looking for the right word, "... that." He pointed towards the sparse compartment that passed for his office; it was partitioned from the main lab by a glass screen. "When she arrives, send her in." With that the Chief Science Officer retreated to his desk.

---

Julia hurried along the corridor, making rapid progress. Not that she ever really took her time getting anywhere (she wasn't fond of wasting time), but now her legs were moving faster than normal, carrying her towards her destination- Science Lab 1. Only recently had she received her transfer orders assigning her to the USS Arizona from her old posting on the soon to be decommissioned USS Minerva, so she still felt rushed.

Wanting to make up lost time, she had only briefly stopped in her small quarters after arriving onboard the ship- just long enough to drop off the bag she had been carrying and quickly freshen up so that she wouldn't look like she had been traveling.

Her first order of business was to visit the main science lab on the Arizona. While she was of course familiar with the basic schematics, she wanted to get a feel for the actual layout and hopefully get to know some of the other officers that she would be working with.

As she walked through the doors into the main area of the lab, Julia took an appreciative look around- it would be nice to work here. It didn't take long for her presence to be noticed by one of its occupants.

Aviro had been working on a remote level one diagnostic of the lateral sensor array, for some reason the Chief Science Officer's obsessive interest in the lateral sensor array seemed to be inversely proportional to Aviro's boredom with it. He caught sight of woman taking the tentative steps of a newcomer to an area and approached, taking a second to check her rating pin.

"Excuse me Chief." Aviro began as he stood up from his stool, rounding his console and approaching the woman. "The Commander is waiting for you in there." He Bajoran pointed through a glass screen where a Trill male with dark features sat with his feet firmly on the desk working diligently on a tabletop sized PADD that rested across his knees.

Julia nodded. "Thank you, Crewman Jordan." There was only the slightest pause as she took the brief moment required for her to recall his name, enjoying the short flash of surprise on his face that followed. As soon as she had received her transfer orders, she had started the task of memorizing names and faces- first the senior staff, then the NCOs starting with the science department which was about as far as she had gotten yet. Luckily one of her blessings was a talent for remembering people- which hadn't been more than mildly useful until she started serving as the CoB.

She approached the office, looking inside.

Feeling the weight of another's gaze upon him Aral Aix looked up, the movement caused the large PADD to slide down his legs and rest in his crotch. "I've never cared for knocking either." He shifted about in his chair, depositing the PADD on the desk and returning his feet to the floor. Standing, he rounded the desk and approached the woman with interest. "And what exactly are you?" As if to underline his question, Aral approached the woman and peered at her markings, eyebrows and ears.

A bemused smile lifted one corner of her mouth, a slight twinkle in her eyes- but still remained professional. "Senior Chief Julia T'kaya Neral- half Vulcan and half Trill, sir." Julia met his gaze as he approached.

"Of course you are." Aral replied, the woman's confident, friendly voice had brought his attention back to the situation. However he struggled to take his gaze away from the intersection of her eyebrows and markings. "I am Aral Aix, Chief of Science and Second Officer." He said by way of introduction, although given the situation his scientific responsibilities were fairly obvious. "Can I offer you something to drink?" He gestured to the replicator, managing to pull his eyes away from her eyebrows.

Julia had relaxed slightly from her earlier stance when he proved to be personable, as the brief glance she had taken at his personnel file had suggested. That was a relief- she had worked with some unpleasant characters before, both unkind and excessively uptight, neither of which she enjoyed since they made her job harder and created an less productive environment. "You may...a glass of cold water would certainly be acceptable."

Aral's heart sank at the woman's reply, she was clearly as much vulcan as she was trill; whether the woman could combine vulcan logic with all that it meant to be trill Aral was unsure, but he suspected a great deal had been lost between the two poles. He retrieved water for the senior chief and a raktajino for himself and placed them on the giant PADD which covered the width of his desk. "It's wonderful to get a linguist... and I see you're also down to be the Chief of Boat." He gestured for her to take a seat. "Have served as Chief of Boat before?"

Her brow furrowed imperceptibly as she noticed the shift in his expression- that reaction hadn't been what she wanted. "Thank you." She took the offered seat and faced him. "For about a year on my old posting, the USS Minerva. She was a smaller and older ship than the Arizona is, but the role is not new to me- anymore, at least." There was a wry tone to her last few words as she smiled slightly. It had been an interesting adjustment expanding her official purview beyond simply the science department, but also quite rewarding.

"Good." Replied the Second Officer. "But I don't want to neglect your own department either. Not that I'd imagine you would." No doubt her vulcan efficiency would make her an exceptionally diligent officer. "I am new to the Arizona myself and I've got a feeling that our little science experiments out there have gotten used to an easy ride." Aral remembered the time he discovered the astrophysicists outraged to the point of inactivity - incandescent with apathy as Zalia would have said - at the outage of the lateral sensor array.

He was correct about her- there was certainly no danger that she would not do her work in the science department justice, it was too important to her, and it had been her life for so much of her career anyway. That faint smile graced her face again at his last statement- Julia had certainly put out a few fires among fellow crewmen that had been the result of that very condition. "Indeed...I've certainly known scientists to get too attached to things running as they want."

Aral nodded. "I would suggest you make a point of introducing yourself to the Commodore as well." He paused searching for the right words. "He takes a little getting used to." As, I am sure will you.