Misalignment

Posted on Sun Sep 25th, 2022 @ 2:51am by Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Evelyn Reynolds

Mission: Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: Messhall
Timeline: Somewhere in the wibble wobble
4099 words - 8.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Evelyn had underestimated how much she'd come to rely on the relative predictability of one cargo bay. With the Mary Rose's situation plummeting to the extremes it had, the blonde scientist was as grateful as the next person not to have frozen to death in the weak orbit of a desolate moon but rescue and recovery had brought with it a delayed sense of disembodiment. Trapped in the dark, buried beneath blankets, she'd made a promise that at least gave her some sort of preoccupation but there was still the small matter of having to integrate into a crew that had absolutely no idea where she'd come from or why she was there.

And she very much wanted it to remain that way.

Meal times had become the most problematic. After she'd initially assisted in returning equipment to Sickbay, and treating some of the residual ailments that were perfectly normal after such an ordeal, Evelyn had spent most of her time in her temporary quarters reaching out to families and colleagues that would assist in her proposed career transition. Establishing her own narrative, rather than what Starfleet was officially trying to put out there, had been a priority at least amongst those who mattered most to her, and then there had just been mounds of paperwork. Accreditation to pass. Orders to place. Where she could, she'd made do with the tea she could brew in her own quarters but the ship had just exhausted a lot of its resources and, with the best source of nutrition coming from the fresh produce sent up from the planet below, invariably that meant having to seek out the day's menu.

She lingered in the doorway.

As she had hoped, the area wasn't very crowded. Leaning into her cane, a swift scan of the room made note of the number of occupants and allowed her to select an intended table closest to the door. A fluttered blink of surprise gave a moment's pause as the serving staff shooed her towards a seat with promise of table service, and then the wary blonde ambled to take a place with an irrational concern that she was about to be delivered something she shouldn't touch. People were generally quick to try and accommodate her obvious injury, that much wasn't a shock. But not being able to watch to make sure the food on her plate had come from exactly the same dishes as everyone else's was a paranoia that instantly annoyed Evelyn. There had been a time when she wouldn't have thought twice about this. Now, she was exhausted by the compulsion to overthink everything.

"You look like my aunt would; if a stranger offered her dinner." Kali opined from a seat at the table Evelyn had been guided towards. The remark didn't have a judgemental tone to it so much as a 'stating the obvious; possibly intrigued by it' one: Kali didn't usually go in for anywhere near the level of caution her aunt and parents did, who tended to covertly scan nearly everything they ate or drank first; indeed, if she thought a situation or environment was decent, she didn't even consider it let alone do it...Though, the last decade or so, she'd had more occasion to be in definitely not decent environments where she had absolutely behaved with more caution herself. Maybe she was misreading it, though; and the pause was entirely unrelated. Or was less related to taking the table service and more related, probably, to the table's occupants...Wouldn't be the first time or even the tenth time in Kali's life she'd had people not want to associated with her before they'd even actually met her. "Don't worry; I don't bite." She joked, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice as she waved a hand slightly at the open seat the kitchen staff had indicated. "But don't order the fish, though." Kali made a face that was perhaps incredibly immature for both her chronological and even her species-lifespan-adjusted age, but nevertheless made it known that the fish was not up to par.

Had their positions been reversed, the diminutive woman probably would have had a literal arsenal of responses at her disposal that would have made for a very awkward conversation later down the track. Evelyn, even with her Starfleet training, was not the type to come up fists-flailing, though the unexpectedness of having a dinner-mate had gifted her a muddled fight-flight response that made it a distinct possibility for a split second. Beneath the table, her knuckles whitened as she gripped the handle of her cane. "I'm not overly sure I've been given a chance to order anything," she pointed out, desperately scrabbling to cobble together some manners.

“That’s good, then.” Kali pushed a PADD with the day’s choices over towards Evelyn from where she’d shoved it to one side of the table earlier after finishing with it herself. “Means you didn’t order the fish.” One got the feeling that perhaps Kali herself had, then had found it objectionable enough to discard in favor of her current choice, a cheeseburger and fries. “Burger isn’t too bad, though. Comes with a milkshake, too.”

It wasn't polite to stare. Eons of breeding had gone into the reservation that caused Evie to drop her gaze to the menu rather than gawp at the woman's over-familiarity, though it took her a moment to actually focus on what was written on it. Like a bug trapped in a spider's web, she couldn't see a way out of the enforced encounter and shifted in her seat to adjust her posture to something a little more suitable for aloof courtesy. "A little heavier than what I'd normally choose but I'll take that under advisement."

Well. Maybe her 'human' playbook was failing a bit here, Kali thought: 'I'll take that under advisement' was the sort of thing she expected to hear said by a senior officer; and the sort of posturing the other woman was shifting into was the human version of what she'd expect from her aunt in a public setting: Exactingly choreographed and performed 'dignity'. "You were one of the passengers, right?" Kali threw out casually; though in truth she already knew the woman's name and basic details, garnered in the long list of 'very basic checks' she'd done on nearly everyone aboard the ship by now. "I'm Kali, the flight chief."

As much as handing over personal details flew in the face of Evelyn's compulsion to tuck herself away for long enough that she fell off most radars, there was no point denying the fact that this was her crew now. She'd submitted to Jake's persistence, had carved out her own way of being useful, and was now a committed affiliate. Withholding her name was pointless. "Evelyn." Then, because the other woman had provided some further detail, the blonde paused before adding, "I'll be assisting your medical team."

"Oh! Great." Kali remembered Beya's discussion at the party of her frustration at finding accessible training; and the basic data on Evelyn that had indicated she was a doctor. That fit, then. "You're a friend of Jake's, right?" Kali took a long pull of the straw in her chocolate milkshake.

It took exactly half a second for Evelyn to realise there was nothing surprising about her companion's tenacity for preemptive data analysis. Truth be told, Kali's visible heritage was playing its part in making it difficult to shift the stubborn sense of unease and distrust. Jake had, multiple times, reassured her and vouched for the crew, had promised to shoot them out an airlock himself if they proved to be somehow aligned with any plot to extract her. She had navigated interactions with the two medics, and with Cassie, and several of the other crew in passing with relative capacity to force herself to relax but this was different. Logic was telling her one thing; her survival instinct was reminding her of another.

"We've known each other for years," she agreed.

"I knew Burnie before this, for my part; we served together back when we were both in the fleet." Kali shoveled a couple of fries into her mouth in a move that would have had all her ancestors despairing at the direct use of her fingers to do so.

Eventually making a decision, Evie quietly ordered from the patient staff member and then took a moment to succumb to her own chastisement. These are Jake's crew, play nicely. Turning back to watch the pilot eat, the doctor remained quiet for one beat too long to disguise the awkwardness of it and then furrowed her brow faintly. "The chief engineer, right?" As it turned out, scrutinising the manifest had not proven always helpful in identifying everyone.

"Yeah. Other than that, I didn't really know anyone on board here. I got picked up more recently when the ship responded to the Holoworld wreck. Hell of an end to my cruise vacation, but I survived it, which is more than can be said for most of the other passengers. Didn't really have anywhere else great to go, so I accepted the job offer here."

It was, rather unexpectedly, a barrage of sudden information. Without context, and being the first time she'd met the woman, Evelyn found it difficult to keep up. Oliver had eluded to a few of their misadventures in the past, and this being the only reference point she had, Evie scrabbled to pluck something from her meagre understanding to add to the conversation without falling into the trap of over-sharing her own situation. "So you avoided their mystifying body-switch conundrum then?"

"Oh, that. Yeah. That was before I was aboard. Not sure I entirely understand what that one was about either, other than 'weird'. Though, 'weird' kind of described the Holoworld wreck, too; apparently the computers went ape, crashed the ship, and most of the crew and passengers got killed by the holograms while one of the other passengers and I were unconscious after the crash. Very freaking creepy." Kali proved she was, in another contrast between Romulans and Vulcans, definitely not a vegetarian by taking a bite of what little remained of her cheeseburger.

"Yes." Evelyn faltered over the inadequacy of her agreement. Kali's interpretation of events was far more straight-forward than Oliver's, who brushed over the ugliness of most things Evelyn had learnt. Scrambling to muster her manners once again, the doctor inhaled slowly and managed, "You had a lucky escape then."

"Basically. Their emergency supplies turned out to suck; so it was good someone showed up before we ran out of food, too. Think they should've renamed it the Space Titanic." Kali polished off the burger with another sip of milkshake. "What brought you out here?"

That question again. It had dogged her on Freecloud, and had been central to every strange look she'd received whilst trying to hide in her blanket fort during the Mary Rose's recent emergency, but even with some direct experience in formulating a feasible response, Evelyn still didn't really know how to answer truthfully without being too honest. "Paying Jake a visit has turned into him convincing me to stay." It wasn't completely inaccurate. "Apparently they've had a little trouble maintaining a dedicated doctor."

Kali had had too much experience both as a Romulan (during her brief few years recently among her 'own' people) and as a former intelligence officer watching others ply that trade with how one might answer a question while also not really doing so, and the omission was fairly obvious to her. Still, she noted it, but didn't point it out directly. "Yeah. Though I got good care from Beya and Oliver, the two times I've needed any. Though it was fairly minor both times."

"They are exceptionally capable," Evelyn agreed, at a pace that was a little to swift to disguise her willingness to move on. She paused as a bowl of soup and accompanying bread appeared in front of her, and took a moment to appreciate the comforting smell before picking up a knife to dig into the butter. "Having an opportunity to offer them viable certification certainly made agreeing to stay an easy prospect. I expect it won't be too long before they're teaching me a thing or two."

"Oh, that's good; something they'd been hoping to get." Kali supposed in the end she sympathized so much with Oliver and Beya in that area for the exact sort of reasons that had come up between them in her past conversations with both: She knew exactly what it was like, to have people look at you and see the enemy; to prejudge you before giving you a chance, or to continue to do so even once you'd proven otherwise. She wondered briefly whether or not anyone had spelled out to Evelyn the same impending association with the Rangers that had been part of why she'd stuck around; if the other woman knew exactly all of what she was potentially getting into or not. "Jake give you any heads up on exactly where things might be headed, over time, with the ship? May want to ask him about that, if he didn't." Kali threw the comment out there as a way to give the indication that if not, it might be something she'd want to inquire on in the spirit of 'buyer beware', without having to divulge the information herself if they'd chosen not to yet.

Once again, the sensation of being dug into, of being flung into the prospector's pan and rattled around until something shiny filtered to the surface, settled as irritation across Evelyn's shoulders. As far as interrogation tactics went, this was infinitely more pleasant than her last experience with a Romulan's techniques, but the intrusiveness of it still grated. She dipped a chunk of bread into the soup. "I've spoken with both Jake and the Captain regarding their intentions. From what I can gather, they've adjusted their recruitment documentation to reflect the new pathway so there likely wouldn't be a place here for me had I not agreed."

Kali nodded, accepting the 'saying something without saying it' answer in this case since it was in keeping with the 'asking something without outright saying it either' she'd done directly beforehand. "Honestly, part of what sold me on things. Considered it for awhile now but...timing was never right." She tilted her head sideways slightly. "You used to be Starfleet, too, right? Like Burnie and me; or Jake and the captain."

The shift of the doctor's jaw was immediately visible. A spoonful of soup, a mouthful of bread, and the arrival of her pot of tea gave ample excuse to avoid eye contact. "That's right."

If she'd had her eyes closed and didn't know who she was talking to, Kali would've practically sworn this was a conversation with another Romulan, the way Evelyn appear to have an...allergy...to providing much information even in response to questions, and appeared to react to the questions themselves as an unwelcome offense. Except...she'd seen her speaking to others, back during the cargo bay days; and she seemed to get on fine with at least Beya and Oliver in addition to Jake. Which had Kali, noting the tightened jaw, learning towards thinking it might just be her the other woman had an issue with. If so, she couldn't say she hadn't experienced this sort of thing before dozens of times over the years, humans or Tellarites or assorted others who seemed fine with one another but not with her. Though each time she encountered it, it still flared up in hurt or anger or both to be confronted by it.

"Seems like a decent number of us were. Though, one way or another, also a decent number of bad or just weird ends to it for folks. I suppose I'm a more extreme example of that, though." Kali finished the last of the milkshake, hoping she'd succeeded in keeping any of her emotions from her dawning hypothesis from showing on her face.

"I don't know if you'd count Jake's attempts as valid," Evelyn once again slid the topic sideways, comfortable enough to use her friend as a shield. "He realised quite early that it wasn't for him." Their time together at the Academy seemed such a distant thing, though it had ultimately been quite serendipitous if one was to consider how quickly he'd abandoned the career path after graduating. He was the one tenuous strand, the only 'alternative pathway' she had been able to seek. Something about evoking his name caused something inside Evelyn to buckle in resignation. She had to work with these people. They were curious. They're not going to knife you in the back and throw you back into a cell.. Over a poised mouthful of soup, the doctor offered her uninvited lunchmate a faint smile. "Not that he needs to be told he drew the correct conclusion first."

"Yeah, he mentioned something along those lines; sounded more of just a mutual parting of ways. Definitely beats my 'plea deal to avoid prison after socking three admirals'." Kali said ruefully, before her voice turned more forceful for a moment. "Though, they deserved it."

The arch of a single eyebrow showed impressive muscle control, such that it might almost have counted as a point of mutual respect. The longer the other woman spoke, the more Evelyn realised that she was making a considerable amount of references to her own situation. Perhaps, a new possibility presented itself, all these questions were just an attempt to goad interest. "If they were simultaneous attacks, then I'm inclined to agree, if only to point out the poor reflexes of the remaining two." There was a hint of humour to her tone, though it was laced with slight hesitation. Punching Admirals was not a physical opportunity that most officers found themselves with.

"Honestly kinda more sequential; though, with headquarters offices and all, it wasn't a long trip." Kali paused. "If I could do it over again I'd probably have picked different targets though, to start with. The folks I really wanted to get at most, who'd really made the decision. Security had me surrounded by the time I'd hit the third guy though, on the way to the chief of the fleet's office, and I woke up in a holding cell."

Woke up in a cell.

It hit oddly. Empathy? In a way. Certain emotional resonance, an uncomfortable ability to relate even though the circumstances were different, as likely were the behavioural choices by those in charge of each incarceration. There was a time where Evelyn would have been much more certain of that, much more inclined to view the other woman's experience as a process that favoured justice and logical consequence. That trust had been obliterated and it was difficult to keep the bile rising in her throat from spoiling her appetite. The doctor regarded the pilot quietly for a moment. "The Admiralty's capacity for accepting constructive criticism could likely do with an overhaul," she eventually replied, a soft huff that would have been laughter had it contained any humour following.

"I'd just as soon see certain of them - and definitely the councilmembers who pushed the decision - put on trial themselves." Kali's eyes smoldered with a rage that would probably never be extinguished when it came to the topic at hand. "Billions of people died because of their decisions."

There didn't seem a lot to say about that. Certainly, even before her own ordeal, Evelyn had grown concerned about Starfleet's priorities. Not through anything gleaned from daily operations, but through information she had become quietly privy to by sharing a bed with a man who was determined to forge his own pathway to eventual Admiralty with whatever tools became necessary for the task. Jack didn't tell her much, which had served as a very vital relief when she'd been pressured to surrender details she wasn't in possession of, but Evelyn wasn't a stupid woman. Reading a room was more about establishing foundational belief than uncovering specifics. She chewed quietly on the last of her bread, a hand slipping under the table to apply pressure to her knee as a spasm of pain seemed to sympathise with the Romulan's fury. "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.." This time, her smile was marginally more relaxed. "Roosevelt had a way with words."

"'Nothing' is what the admiralty and the Council really seem to excel at. Swear every time I go to vote I feel like I'm picking the 'lesser of two weasels'." Kali rolled her eyes. "Hard to believe I would've been a politico of sorts myself someday, if my parents had stuck around the Empire." She grimaced, clearly entirely uninterested in the idea of a universe in which she would have been inheriting a seat in the Romulan Senate.

Evelyn had to hand it to the other woman; for someone who asked a lot of questions, Kali certainly provided her fair share of reciprocated responses. Most of the time without prompting. "Perhaps you would have exceled where others have failed," the doctor offered smoothly, before taking another sip of soup.

"Maybe. Maybe not. The RSE Senate - and definitely the Tal'Shiar - had even more to answer for than the Starfleet admirals and the Federation Council did." One corner of Kali's mouth turned up slightly; though one got the feeling that if it had resolved itself further into a full smile, it wouldn't have been one a human would've been comfortable with; but rather something downright vindictive. "Never got close to any of them myself of course; but my understanding is my aunt chopped about eight of her Senate colleague's heads off in duels back after the nova; so...Good start at least, I guess." Suddenly Kali flushed dusky olive for a moment and looked a tad sheepish, as if recalling something a bit too late. "Uhh. Sorry. Forgot humans aren't quite as keen on that sort of thing."

There was not, as it happened, a lot of information in the British Book of Very Good Manners about how to handle a sudden topic swing into assassination and decapitation. Evie had paused with a loaded spoon partway to her mouth and, at first, the best course of action seemed to be to continue with the mouthful. "No offense taken," she eventually decided was the best way to handle it. "Volatile times don't always make for easily sanitised recounts."

"I swear I used to have my life together...Mostly, at least." Kali said, the blush deepening slightly. "It just kind of fell apart quickly in '85 and kept at it after that." Though in all honesty, when Kali applied a ruthless inner eye to things; perhaps it had been at least slowly falling apart since she'd left being a pilot for intelligence's offer at the tail end of the 70's; it just came to a sudden acceleration and crescendo in '85. (Another vulcanoid assessing it all might have added a second opinion on things; namely, that it had been foolish of the fleet to promote someone so young to higher ranks in the first place. They might have a point on that: She'd made a much better lieutenant than she had anything after that.)

Of all the things to prompt a genuine smile from the human, albeit a rather tired one, that sentiment seemed the most unlikely. Nevertheless, either the pain in Evelyn's knee had finally worn her down, or the soup had placated her. Or perhaps it was the palpable discomfort of the other woman who, as it turned out, had not attempted to stick a tranquillizer into her neck and cart her off for questioning. Paranoia, especially at its most irrational, became too exhausting after a while to maintain. Setting down her spoon, Evelyn reached for the small teapot that had been left to brew and conceded, as she tipped the spout to fill her cup, "That makes two of us."