Liha/Jasper

Posted on Sun Aug 16th, 2020 @ 3:50pm by Liha t'Ehhelih & Jasper Offermans

Mission: Mission 12 - Railway
Location: Mess Hall
1825 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Liha picked up her order from the replicator and walked toward an open table in a far corner. She was moving a little slower than normal since she was still a bit stiff after surgery, but any level of discomfort was worth it to not be in medbay any longer than necessary. If Quin had stayed on, he'd probably have had some remark about that, or about Romulan pride, but he hadn't so she was free to hide her discomfort without anyone nagging about it. As she crossed the room, she noticed a stranger enter. He might be a passenger - they picked up a few of those - but after recent events she was feeling suspicious. She could almost hear Quin make a comment about Romulan paranoia, but what humans called paranoia, Romulans called 'sound survival instincts'. She altered her course slightly, toward a table with good view of the room so she could quietly keep an eye on him.

Jasper had made sure his gear was all back in his room and cheerfully entered the mess. He walked over to the replication without much attention to who was there then just before he ordered he spotted Liha. Smiling, Offerman ordered fried chicken with mash potatoes and biscuits with a side of sweet corn and took his trey over towards the table where the woman was and smiled at her, "would you mind some company?"

If he was an Equinox spy, he was a chipper one. Not that that meant he wasn't one - sociable was a good game for a spy to play. Deciding that watching him would be easier with him seated in front of her, Liha nodded. "Have a seat."

The man smiled and sat down, "I'm Jasper Offerman, work in operations." He picked up the glass of weather he had and took a sip, "just came back from a trip and it looks like there are a lot of new faces around here."

Liha relaxed - slightly, she was still going to check that he really was returned ops crew later - and returned a smile. "Liha t'Ehhileh, I'm in engineering. I came aboard with Burnie." She paused. "I suppose you may not know him either. He's the Chief Engineer now."

Jasper nodded his head in recognition, "no, I don't know him either." He chuckled as he scooped a bit of mash potatoes onto a fork, "another person I'll have to meet."

"Then," the man began, "is Avalon Hadley, she works, or at least worked in the hydroponics lab."

"Look for someone who looks like he's just walked away from an explosion, or is planning to - that'll be Burnie," she replied with a grin. "But Hadley... I think she's here. I haven't had much reason to visit the hydroponics lately."

Jasper laughed at the woman's description of the new Chief Engineer, "let's hope he just looks like he has." He nodded and continued, "well, Avalon the only reason I would have to go there."

An eyebrow edged up, and she took a bite of the pad thai that was one of the few palatable meal options. "Is she the reason you came back then?"

The sandy blonde-haired man chuckled and he nodded affirmatively, "she probably played the biggest roll in my decision, but the Marry Rose has been my home for many years."

"What brought you to the Marry Rose Liha?" Jasper's eyes sparkled and he smiled broadly, "we all have our season for joining this ship of fools."

"Looking for work," Liha shrugged. "Burnie and I ran into Gregnol and Jea at bar, and they were looking for engineers, so we signed on." She took a sip of her tea. "so far, it's been ...interesting."

Jasper smiled and nodded, "we can always use engineers on this old boat," he commented. Then chuckled, "she's been around a long time but I love her."

His chicken wasn't near as good as he remembered, course they had a cook not a replicator then he thought of something else, "anyone mention the transporters to you Liha, I mean that some of us were stuck in it for a long time?"

"Yes." Liha nodded. It had been strange learning of it at first, and stranger to think there were humans on the ship technically older than her parents, but she had gotten used to the idea by now. "You were one of those then?"

The man nodded and chuckled, "Ensign Jasper Offerman at your service. Shouldn't ever need to sleep now, got that out of the way all at once."

"If only it worked that way," Liha laughed. She could go without sleep a lot longer than humans, but it was still an inconvenient necessity. "So, let me guess. You left to see what the galaxy was like now, and having had a good look at it, decided you rather be here." That was more or less where her own motivations fell at the moment.

"Among Friends," Jasper said with a smile, "and there is something familiar about the place even though they have changed so much of it, we certainly didn't have a replicator like this one, and what happened to Chef, we had someone preparing meals for the passengers and crew."

"A chef? On a Starfleet ship?" A slanted eyebrow tipped upward, but then Liha remembered that he'd served back when her grandfather had been young. "Then again, I think I recall my great-uncle talking about how on old Galae ships discipline for minor infractions was working in the mess."

Jasper laughed, "no, no, we had a chef, a real chef, when I left that prepared hot meals for us, and they were great."

Liha shook her head - but then Starfleet put kids on starships, why not extraneous personnel like chefs? "I don't think I've ever been on a ship with a chef. Replicators are pretty standard." She frowned at her plate of just tolerably human cuisine. "Though someone who could make real food would be a nice change."

"That's why the Mary Rose had a chef," Jasper tried again realizing she still hadn't got the point that this was after he was released from the transporter, "this old ship takes passengers, there is a large pool and other amenities just for them, we had a cook, there were three or more entrees per meal side dishes, desserts and fresh fruits, ok and fresh coffee."

"Ah, I had thought you meant back before," she laughed, and then gave a sly grin. "I had always heard Starfleeters were soft because their ships were so cushy, so a chef seemed like a possibility."

"Really?" Jasper's forehead wrinkled deeply. "I'm not quite sure what you're comparing it to but I don't remember it being much of a pleasure cruise." He tilted his head and continued, "we had a cook, not a chef and I don't remember him being that good. but that's because replication was pretty new and, well, unreliable. They used our capability primarily for replicating parts. Quarters, for those of us that were enlisted and lower ranks like mine shared quarters, bunk beds and they were pretty small. " The man chuckled, "I thought something was wrong when I was assigned my quarters on Mary Rose, "it seems so massive I thought it must be a department head's quarters."

Liha nodded. "Yes, last time I was on a warbird, only senior officers got single quarters. Enlisted had bunks in the corridor near their duty areas and like you, junior officers shared rooms with bunks - four to a room, rotating use of the bunks between first and second shifts."

Jasper shrugged, "looking at it that way, we probably were living in more luxury than I thought."

"It wasn't so bad." Liha shrugged. "You always had a warm bed."

"And to think I complained about ration pack 07614-C." Jasper chuckled, "there were times when we double-bunked, but not all the time."

"It hardly mattered for me. My service was during the Dominion War, so we were all too occupied with the fight to worry about creature comforts," Liha explained, then frowned at her meal. "But I admit, I miss even warbird viinerine now."

Jasper nodded, "at first, we were just trying the ship out, she was brand new, and, for me rather amazing, it was all fun and games until the.." The man stopped and looked down before he continued, "it might have been better if we had run into an enemy aboard another ship, had an idea what we were getting into but, we didn't, no one had ever heard of such a creature that we knew of anyway." We were attacked by this, cloud-like thing. it could pass right through walls and would pull all the red blood cells out of us."

Jasper shook his head trying to get the image back out of it, "we, those of us trapped in the transporter, were the only ones that survived."

"I've heard of it from the others, and there was a story that early warbirds tried to hunt it. It doesn't eat green blood, but it had scientific interest." Liha considered that for a moment. When she'd first heard it discussed - or overheard, since the discussion had been between tutors and her science-prodigy younger sister - the issue of interest was the creature's ability to time sync and create gravity fields. But now that she was older and more aware of how the Tal'Shiar thought, she had to wonder if the goal hadn't been to control or replicate its ability to attack iron-based blood, a property of both humans and Klingons, who were mortal enemies at the time. Not that she was going voice that thought to anyone on this ship Ever. "Particularly that it could move in and out of our space-time to evade weapons. Unfortunately, that ability also allowed it to escape."

"Well, yes," Jasper admitted swelling, "it did evade anything we tried, except the transporter."

"It was a clever escape hatch," Liha admitted. "Just a strange set of circumstances that no one got you out sooner."

"That is true," Jasper said in a thoughtful tone.

His meal was just about over and he didn't really want to dwell too long on the nightmarish experience. He drew in a breath and chuckled, "well, I imagine you have more to do than listen to me complain about my past. I do appreciate you listening."

"Always something for engineers to do on this ship," she agreed with a sigh, and finished the last of her tea. She always felt a little awkward with human pleasantries, but she was glad to have spoken with him as it reduced the need for less direct scrutiny. "It was interesting speaking with you. I hope your return here goes well." The last was meant in earnest. She knew too well that returns home often did not.

OFF:

Jasper Offerman
Operations

Liha t'Ehhileh
Engineer
(PNPC Burnstein)