Star Trek: Starbase 777

Having been here the whole time of course, she stepped into the turbolift. This was her first time in such a big elevator, but the fact that it could hold basically the whole engineering team was a plus... but Elevators were always awkward right? Did this one have music at least? Just the thought of such a prolonged silence made her skin crawl. Still, she found a comfortable place in the back, and offered room to the others who were also walking in

"Actually, I wanted to ask," he began as the Romulan stepped into the turbolift, looking at Serin, "about that long name of yours - how did that get made?"

Following Juler into the homosexual turbolift, he replied, "Tradition, mainly. Are you aware that many Vulcans do not have last names? Well, my Vulcan family comes from a place with a different way - we have incredibly long surnames. For my name in particular, though, the firstborn child is always named Serin, and it's said if you say the firstborn's first and last name in full three times, with perfect pronunciation, you'll summon en eldritch being, who will either grant you one wish or torture you for eternity." He had no idea if that was true... Although he had met a Q, who were eldritch beings as far as he was concerned. Said Q had, indeed, offered him a wish and then tortured him for eternity by making everyone he'd ever known and loved forget he existed, so perhaps his name was less of a summoning ritual and more of a prophecy.

Having entered the turbolift along with Dagis, the two short Ferengi stood and waited for it to arrive at its destination, entirely unaware of the gayness said turbolift had about it. Sodor's gaydar was failing, clearly.

Lapan followed everyone into the turbolift too, listening intently to Serin's story and whistling with awe at the mention of an eldritch being. That was some superstition... all for a child's name! He was suddenly glad his name was just Lapan.

She wasn't here the whole time, however, Copia had just arrived right after everyone else, just in time for the turbolift doors to have closed. Damn naps. Huh! Damn naps. Sounded like a fun thing to say. Anyway. Copia was here now in the turbolift aside everyone else. "My deepest apologies for my tardiness," she said, out of breath. "My system, for some reason, did not auto-wake me from my nap given the arrival of the Kinaen. How may I be of assistance in this moment?"

"Were you Romulan, I'd say there's some khalagu trickery going on," he replied, nodding along Serin's story. Despite being separated to the point of becoming two different species, the Vulcans and Romulans both had surprisingly rich spiritual cultures. Only where Vulcans actually practiced spirituality, the Romulans just basically had their own Lemegeton. Go figure. "Has anyone ever come close to succedin'? With the full name, that is?"

He shook his head. "None besides me, I'm afraid. It's a bit of a tongue-twister, and the proper pronunciation actually isn't a modern Vulcan accent. It's an old name, so it plays by old pronunciation rules." He paused for a second, looking up at Juler and giving him a cheeky, challenging grin. "Feel free to try, though."

Lapan liked a challenge... from a young age he'd been mimicking sounds he heard, and he spoke Vulcan well, though his familiarity with older Vulcan was minimal. He chirped absentmindedly, wondering if he should offer... he didn't want to summon an eldritch being, but it would be kind of nice to get someone's name right, right? "If you say your own name one more time, I can try! I just need to hear it properly first."

"Alright. One moment." He cleared his throat, and then said: "Serin-Eshi Ser Fah’Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth." Serin-Eshi was said almost like one word, and Fah'Mohrs was said with a glottal stop in the middle, where the apostrophe was. Signor, even though it sounded like the Italian word, was not pronounced the same way at all. And, interestingly, for some reason the first Serin and the second Serin had different pronunciations entirely.

Woah... that truly was a name and a half. Lapan repeated it in his head a few times, just to make sure he had it down... Serin-Eshi Ser Fah'Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth, Serin-Eshi Ser Fah'Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth, Serin-Eshi... yeah, he probably had this. He cleared his throat, once, then chirped abrasively to clear the second pair of vocal chords, then took a deep breath and- "Serin-Eshi Ser Fah'Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth." Lapan finished the entire name in one breath, then visibly lit up when he realised he hadn't stumbled over his words at all. He looked genuinely surprised at himself, a look that quickly morphed into eager self-satisfaction. "And, was that close?" he asked, chirping excitedly while speaking, which impeded his ability to be understood slightly but not enough to really mess with anyone's ears, provided they weren't already hard of hearing.

Wow. Five had nothing meaningful to add, but he had been listening intently and definitely heard everything that's happened. "Impressive..."

"Correct. Well done. Now try saying it three times, and perhaps we'll be contacted by a higher power." He wasn't sure what was going on with this person - did they have some sort of enhancement to their voice, or was he just really good at mimicry?

"I don't think we need any higher power contacting on a repair mission," he chimed in with a nervous little smile. Didn't need another accidental-kidnapping, that was for sure!

"Serin-Eshi Ser Fah'Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth, Serin-Eshi Ser Fah'Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth, Serin-Eshi Ser Fah'Mohrs Ed Signor Seroth Seira Fandall Serin-De-Sieth! It does get easier the more often you say it, I think. I just hope it won't become a tic of mine." Which was a genuine concern with anything Lapan repeated often at once, but he had hope that the name was too long to actually internalise it and start ticcing with it... wouldn't that be embarrassing, getting someone's full legal name as a vocal tic? He'd probably actually hurt himself trying to hold that one in.

2

The turbolift's lights flickered as it's frame shuddered. Then it stopped.

4

"Uh- Sorry, chief?" Lapan responded sheepishly to Five when the entire ship seemed to shake a little. He sure hoped that didn't actually mean anything and was just a coincidence! Oh gods, what if he summoned an eldritch being... he was just here to repair some systems!

Copia furiously typed on her PADD to document the findings of this, er... summoning, it seemed. Although, she hadn't been in too many situations where she felt fear, this was turning to be one of them. Thankfully, she didn't show it much on her face or in her body language. She just documented as she was supposed to.

As the lights flickered and the shuddering occured, not one for being supersticious, Dagis raised a mental eyebrow as she looked over at the chief engineer. "What was that about both of your lifts being in working order, Arrain?" She teased.

She stumbled a bit as the turbolift shuddered, but quickly regained her balance. Being stuck in here with so many people... well, things could be worse she supposed. Trying to lighten the mood, she gave a small smile and pipped up. "Anyone willing to crawl through the elevator shaft?"

Copia looked at Coda, not really sure what to say other than: "Well, I'm... made of metal so I can do it...? Maybe? Am I too big?" (edited)

"Perhaps the ship is talking to us," Serin said, half-joking. "Ship, I'd very much appreciate it if you'd let the lift continue."

She looked at Copia a little sheepishly, sort of sad her joke didn't land as she intended it to. "Ah.. Well, I wasn't really being serious... I mean we could probably fix it from inside here if it doesn't start up again...."

1

While the commotion happened, Juler paused, face blank, before furrowing his brows and looking somewhere up. He put his hand on the turbolift's wall with a quiet "now, cut it out..."

4

With reluctant sounding hiss and rumble, the lights turned back on, and the lift continued it's movement as normal.

5

"It wouldn't be the first time I've fixed one of these turbolifts," Five offered thoughtfully, half-joking. Last time was a bit of a mess, all things considered. At least everything was doing a-okay now.

Lapan took Serin's lead, also talking to the ship. "Thank you, Kinaen! We'll fix you up now!" With a four year old son and also a general lack of common sense, this was hardly the first time he addressed technology directly.

The noises... It really was like some kind of creature. He'd heard similar rumbles in the tubes of 777, though. Sometimes large machines grumbled and rumbled like that. "The gullet of the beast..."

"There is no way you just fixed the turbolift by talking sweet to it... right? I mean if that worked every time on 777 you wouldn't need a whole department of engineers!" (edited)

He blinked, puzzled: "What do you mean? It was just a hiccup in the system."

"Sounds like the words of a non-believer," Serin said. "Sometimes weird things work." Like turning something off and on again.

Copia's head tilted as she responded to Juler. "As recorded by my audio sensor interface, arrain, that you spoke the words 'now cut that out' directly before the turbolift began functioning properly once more."

Deciding to keep his mouth shut for the time being, far more superstitious than Dagis was, Sodor simply remained ready to take holophotos of the work when it eventually began.

Lapan nodded emphatically in with Serin. "I remember an old joke about being nice to technology, because once Artificial Intelligence takes over, they'll remember those who showed kindness. Of course, things like that never happened, but a bit of kindness goes a long way, even when you think the one you're talking to or about can't hear you!" That was how he raised his son, too. The universe could never have too much kindness.

"People talk with technology all the time," he shrugged with a smile, because well, they did. "Ooh, think it's our stop!" The doors opened on the #engineering-corridor level - time to go!

He darted after Juler into #engineering-corridor, eager to get a head start before all the long-leggers behind him started moving.

Again, Kaylee had definitely been here the entire time. She prepared herself to help in anyway an equipment technician could. Following the rest, she headed into #engineering-corridor

Copia felt a slight bit of suspicion here but followed into #engineering-corridor. At the very least she hadn't seen any vents for anyone to vent in or out of. Now THAT would have been sus. (edited)

Like a sheep she followed the rest

1

Despite her old Section 31 training screaming at her to not even slightly trust a single word Juler said, Dagis instead opted to ignore it, letting her paranoid self be left far at the back of her mind as she headed out of the lift with the others.

Sodor, on the other hand, opted to take a cool holophoto of everyone leaving the turbolift into the engineering corridor, only nipping out at the last seconds before the doors closed behind them.