Songs of Home

Posted on Thu Aug 20th, 2020 @ 6:06pm by Jinx Jorasco
Edited on on Thu Aug 20th, 2020 @ 6:16pm

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: SS Mary Rose - Lounge
1306 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It was a quiet one in the Rosie's crew lounge. Most of the crew were on shore leave, or following up the leads on the missing Captain Gregnol. For one not necessarily attached to the crew, it was a strange state to be in.

Perrie hummed a little tune as she sketched absent-mindedly in the little notebook she kept with her. Not one to use a padd regularly, she'd picked up an old Vulcan calligraphy set a few stops back and had been using the parchment as a canvas for doodling and a creative outlet. Just as she'd finished scrawling, she reached for her nearby cup, only to be alarmed by the small cat-sized creature staring at her from the table.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Why, you're an interesting little one." She smiled and whistled another little melodic tune to see if the creature would respond.

The cat-sized creature, some kind of reptile reminiscent of Earth raptors, opened a mouth full of jaws and let out a sound that sort of mimicked the whistle the Human woman had just made. Then it looked at the woman with a large eye, as if sizing her up, for lunch or friendship, it was hard to tell.

“Zambi!” a high voice called, and the reptilian creature seemed to perk up. It spun around and darted off, but not very far, hopping from table to table until it reached the door, where a very small woman, no taller than three feet in height, entered. She was pulling her red hair back, tightening a pair of ponytails that sprouted from her head. She stopped when she saw the Human woman.

“Oh, was she bothering you?” she asked. “Sorry about that.” She hadn’t met this woman before on the ship.

"No, no, not at all!" Perrie smiled warmly as the creature's owner -- at least, she assumed owner -- appeared. "She's beautiful. Zambi, did you say her name was? I've never seen anything like her."

“Yes. She’s a bit of a rascal,” the tiny woman said with a laugh. “It means ‘Beautiful’ in my language,” she explained, scratching the raptor’s eye ridges. “Do you want to give her skritches?” she offered. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t bite.” She moved closer to the other woman and said something the translator didn’t pick up.

Zambi hissed, but settled, her nostrils sniffing at the Human woman.

Perrie tentatively held out her hand, letting the small creature assess her, then she ran her fingers over the crest of Zambi's head. "So appropriately named. She really is so cute." She smiled at the newcomer. "I'm Perrie, by the way. I don't think we met properly. I'm hitching a ride with you all."

“I’m relatively new to the crew,” Jinx said, “though I’ve seen you around. Just never got your name. I’m the science officer, Jinx. Which I know isn’t a good name in Human terms,” she said with a chuckle.

"Jinx! That's such a cute name!" Perrie grinned. "Well, in Human terms. 'Peregrine' is a bit of a strange name too, so we're a little alike in that sense."

“To wander, if I get my Standard correct?” Jinx said with a smile. “Seems fitting, out here in the black. What is it you do, since you are not a crew member?” the small woman asked.

"Well, I wander!" Perrie laughed out loud. "Really, that's all I really do these days. There's freedom and beauty and inspiration in just being out among the stars. It inspires me to drift among them, to take in the sights and sounds and smells of these distant places. My mom used to call it wanderlust. I think that's really how I feel. A desire to wander and explore."

Jinx smiled. “My people have a similar idea,” she said. “It’s how we colonized our Confederation. Always the desire to see the next star.”

"You know, I've never been out that far. I'll have to visit your world one day. It sounds like you have a culture worth writing home about," Perrie smiled. "And such cute little creatures such as this one, too!" She ran the tip of her finger down Zambi's elongated body.

Zambi seemed to purr, and nuzzled against Perrie’s finger.

“Yeah, not many of you come out that way,” Jinx said. “We have some dealings with Narendra Station, and hire out our scouts for the exploration of the Shackleton Expanse to your Federation survey vessels. I served as a scout for a while, before I was assigned to our liaison on Narendra. That is, until Orion raiders got me.”

"Orions?" Perrie was surprised. "Gosh...were you okay? What happened?"

“I was heading home for leave,” Jinx explained, “when I ran into an Orion raider. Tried to evade them, but they knocked out my engines. They thought I would fetch a good price as someone’s pet. Not much I could do until we got to the auction. They don’t quite make manacles sized for me,” she said with a grin, holding up her tiny hands. “I managed to slip free and get lost in the crowd. Then I started hopping on any ship I could to get away. That’s how I ended up on the Mary Rose.”

"That's terrifying!" Perrie exclaimed, suddenly very emotionally invested in the tale. "I can't imagine being in that situation. But at least you're safe now. I've had a lot of close calls, but never anything quite like that."

“Where do you come from?” Jinx asked. The woman looked Human, but Humans came from all over now, not just Earth.

"Oh, I'm from Luna originally. My mom worked at a school there, my dad had a job running a transport hub. Pretty simple beginnings, really. Nothing special." Perrie just shrugged. She wasn't usually up for talking about herself in great detail; for some reason she felt like it made her sound a bit self-centered. And she'd worked hard to get where she was. "Being back there is nice, but I find it a little...boring."

Jinx smiled. “I understand that feeling,” she said. “It’s why I joined the Confederation Defense Force, and why I volunteered to work on Narendra Station. Such new and exciting things to discover!” she said. “But I miss home, too,” she admitted.

"Exactly!" Perrie smiled. "It's why I'm out here too. Home is home, but I just love being out here discovering new things, new people, new inspiration." She winked at Zambi, who seemed to be making herself comfortable next to the sketchbook. "Especially cute little things like this one."

Jinx chuckled. She dug out a treat and set it in front of Perrie. It looked like a dead mouse. Zambi perked her head up, but otherwise didn’t move, her eyes laser focused. “Give her a treat. You’ll have a friend for life,” she told Perrie.

Although cringing just slightly at the pretty gross carcass she'd just been handed, Perrie did offer it in the palm of her hand to the tiny raptor. As the creature pounced on it happily, she found herself smiling. It was a strangely heartwarming experience. "I guess Zambi has a friend too, then," she smiled.

Jinx laughed and reached over to scratch the raptor’s eye ridges. “That she does,” she said. “I suppose I’m keeping you from your work, or whatever,” the little woman said. “But feel free to stop down at the hydroponics bay sometime. I set up a nice still down there, if you ever want something to put hair on your toes,” she said with a smile.

"Thank you. I'm sure I'll visit, if only to see this little one again." Perrie grinned, scooping up her notebook. "It was so very nice to meet you both."