A Strange Meeting
Posted on Tue Oct 24th, 2017 @ 11:22pm by Captain Liarra Von
Mission:
A Day in the Life
Location: Hangar Deck 17
She had transferred to so many bases, and a few starships, that they had ceased to wow her. Starbase 332 was just another base, just another duty station. Handing her PADD across to the security officer on duty, she waited for the now standard reaction. Mad watched him look for the standard cojoined trill marks, and smiled at him when he came back to her. Lifting her shirt, she pointed down with one hand, drawing his attention.
"Do you want me to take Paxam out?" She calmly asked.
"Paxam?" The security officer asked.
"The Trill." His colleague answered. "Do we refer to you as Doctor or DCE?"
"Paxam's the doc, I'm DCE." Getting her PADD back, she glanced at it, picked up her bags and headed towards the nearest cargo turbolift. Stepping in, indicating her level, and straddling an empty cryostasis chamber, she held up her identification, to the four tech's in the cargo turbolift. "You are aware that cargo TL's have more gravity control stops then personal TL's?"
They looked at each other, then back at her when the cargo TL shot up to the command level, and she stepped out.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm Maddison Black, Damage Control Engineering & Station Maintenance, she didn't bother adding more to the list, here to report into the Base's Ranking Officer, before reporting into the Chief Engineer." She wrinkled her nose at the slight smell coming through the vents. “Do you realise you've got a leak in the waste management station?” The blank look on the men's face, gave her his answer. “You do realise that if the pressure gets too high the door's going to burst and the poo's going to run out into the coridoor, and down the TL shafts making one hell of a mess to clean up, and if it's been caused by some kid, or parent putting something down the loo, I'm not going to be very happy about it, neither is everyone else, given the smell that's going to be working it's way through the vents.”
Getting a nod, when an alarm went off, Mad grinned.
“Care to guess what just gave way?”
“Ah Captain Von, newly reporting Engineering Officer, who says the Waste Management Area has a major leak and we're going to not only smell it but have it through the base.” He didn't say what was leaking.
Identifying the conjoined Trill by her markings, Maddi wondered if she knew she was also an unmarked conjoined Trill. Taking in the rank, she identified her by her rank. "Your Waste Management Station, has just blown it's door, unless I'm wrong, poo, is now flowing out of the WAS, into the coridoor, and depending on how the base is rotated, towards the nearest set of TL's. It's going to go down the shafts, and if any TL's are open out onto that level, while more continues down to the TL holding area, and spread outwards and upwards as TL's are called upon. As for the smell, it's going to go through every vent, atmospheric, maintenance, JT, and any other opening. From experience, if you've got family onboard, chances are high a dirty nappy or toy, a child has seen their parents put down the sewerage link, has blocked the poo holding capsule waiting for sterilisation. I'm going to suggest emergency helmets with attached breathing regulators, your command area isn't high enough to avoid the stench, and it's going to make people with weak stomachs empty theirs and add to the occupation of medical."
Von wasn't sure what to think about everything that was happening. She had just walked around the corner when she was stopped in the corridor, just to be told about a waste management failure. "Thank you for telling me, Lieutenant. But is there a reason why you're telling me and not someone in the operations department?" She took a look at the gold uniform of the officer in front of her. "Then again, judging by your knowledge of the subject, I'm guessing you're in the operations department."
"Damage Control Engineering Specialist, among other things, and you're being told because you are the supreme ranking officer." Mad stated. "Question is, do you have problems with Maintenance and DCE combining, making more people able to be spread across this starbase, leaving the CEO to do what they do. Do you mind me asking when you were conjoined?" It was a private question, she didn't know if she knew she was a conjoined Trill. "I was conjoined at three."
Von studied her for a moment before her eyes lit up. "Paxam? Your name was brought up a few times when I was at the institute. I've only been joined for about ten years. As for combining maintenance and damage control, that's up to Commander Prescott. I'm no engineer."
"I'll talk to Chief of Station Maintenance, and then Commander Prescott, I'm not thrilled with the institute, they did their best to separate us, but it didn't quite work out as they wanted. Have you met your new quartermaster, she's joined with twin symboints, I met her at the institute. Not being disrespectful, I'm happy to help in anyway where it comes to being conjoined. I'm sure Carter would be happy to be involved, there isn't many twin symboints around." Mad stated. "Have you gone through the zhran'tara ceremony, a rite of passage where the current host comes to terms with the symboints previous memories. The Guardians believe non trills shouldn't be hosts, but aren't thrilled that some symboints choose their own hosts."
Liarra was almost amused by the flurry of questions. But she had no doubt that someone who had that many memories floating around without proper training would most certainly have a lot of questions. "I have not gone through the zhran'tara ceremony, though it is something that I have considered. And I still may. To be honest, I've been finding myself very absorbed in my work. I haven't really thought too much about personal matters. Nor have I really thought about the feelings of the Guardians or the Institute. I really only applied because of my mother. Neither she nor my father were ever joined. They had always hoped that I would, and I felt that I owed my mother to at least try before she died." She shook her head to clear old memories. "But that was many years ago."
"My family had nothing to do with our joining, they decided it wasn't suitable for a human to be joined, but by the time they found out we were already joined. I haven't spoken to them since I was three. There was an accident with Paxam's previous host, I used to shadow them around, when another host was needed we were lucky we had a CMO who was realistic to acknowledge joining Paxam with someone he wasn't prepared to be joined with was only going to cause problems, so the joining went ahead. You should consider the ceremony having access to previous hosts knowledge is a benefit."
Von nodded along. "I will definitely consider the ceremony, once I find myself with some more time. You seem to be holding up well enough considering your circumstances. I'm sure you've had plenty of counselling already, but if you need anyone else to talk to while you're here, Doctor Lantry is a great resource. You should look her up." Von hated to be rude, but she did have other places that she needed to be. "If you'll excuse me, Lieutenant, I do need to get going. But it was a pleasure to meet you. Perhaps we can talk some more sometime soon." With that, Von was on her way from the Lieutenant, still confused by the conversation she just had. Still, it had given her some things to think about.
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Madison Black [P: Tanner]
Damage Control Specialist
