Star Trek: Starbase 777 - senior-staff-corridor

Rakim paced down the corridor toward his quarters as he first watched the arrival of the CCed message from Diatri getting the ball rolling for an approach to his son for contact. Seeing it had arrived, Rakim's jaw worked a bit as he slowed, looked the entirety of the message over and then resumed his previous pace. Resumed it for long enough for his PADD to remind him that he happened to have a report to be doing. Reasoning that he happened to have a bit of time to burn before he got his yes or no, Rakim clutched his PADD tightly. Perhaps too tightly as he turned and beelined for the mess hall. The El-Aurian resolved to have the report finished before the next message arrived, hopeful that it might have helped him calm down by then.

It was quiet as Giles paced down the length of the corridor, only noting a few other people milling around as they went about their way. How strange it was that being back aboard Starbase 777 felt odd, yet so familiar… Like somehow no time had passed at all, but a subconscious feeling that things were different had still sunk in. Upon leaving just short of five months ago the Trill had been quite sure that he wouldn’t be coming back. He had left in silence, as Intelligence officers tended to do; making no fanfare upon an arrival or a departure. The only thing that he had gone through with was saying goodbye to a certain Ferengi aboard – how could he not – and as he traversed familiar corridors to navigate the station, he found his mind drawn to her. How he yearned to be a few decks above, knocking on the door of the COO’s quarters to surprise her with his re-appearance; or decks below, perhaps, appearing at her office as he had tended to do. But: as unfortunate as it was, he was here for business, not for reunions (however brief). While his previous posting aboard 777 had been from Starfleet Intelligence, he now found himself back aboard on behalf of the Symbiosis Commission instead. How he disliked the organisation – and how he loathed having to do work for them – but with recent events, he had gone out of his way to… Reconcile with them. To plan. Somehow, securing the knowledge that his symbiont would in fact be joined again had turned into him briefly offering his services to the Commission; re-paying for having been a host who had murdered to obtain a symbiont, and then for subsequently being illegally joined in the this lifetime. He had gone to lengths to explain that none of that was his fault – it wasn’t as if he had consented to Section 31’s joining of himself and Ruhko – but the organisation was keen to have him pay for those actions… Just like he had devoted years now to Starfleet Intelligence, repaying them too.

23:06

It had been lifetimes since he had served as a field docent who evaluated prospective candidates for joining. While he would have preferred not to do the Commission’s bidding in this lifetime, if it meant that he had secured a future for Ruhko then he would do it… And upon hearing that he would be tailing the initiate to their new posting on Starbase 777, that had certainly sweetened the deal. And so here he was: back aboard Starbase 777 for what he presumed would be the last time, this time around; Starfleet uniform donned again, and now en route to meet the initiate that he would be evaluating. Even as he paced the corridors he found his mind being drawn to what else lay aboard the station; Lieutenant Dagis, other acquaintances (read: friends,) new Intelligence officers who he had missed the arrival of… But unfortunately, all of them would have to wait. The sooner he spoke with this initiate, the sooner he could do other things; and so it was without haste that he chimed the door upon arriving at Lt. JG. Marva’s quarters, awaiting a response.

Kaylee exited the turbo lift and ran down the hall to a half open door at Essen's quarters.

Terry followed the other out the room. "Yeah, let's hope the lifts work, I got trapped in one once and I don't want to do that again. And I've had yellow allerts before, just not here. Previous postings." He shrugged, listening to the other. "So the ship docked and things got weird. So that's a technical problem or a haunting." It was a cheap attempt at lightening up the mood, but it was worth a shot. He cleared his throat. "So uhh... any idea how a ship docking could cause this?"

"Aye.. lets hope they do." Vara'l responded at first before the lights as they returned with a vengeance caused him to pause as he turned and blinked away starts. "Been trapped in one before as well, during..more turbulant times, left that one via the top hatch." He commented before his eyes clouded again and he added. "Not got brilliant memories of some of the yellow alerts I've experienced." The Romulan continued along the corridor and once they arrived in proximity of the turbolift, pulled out his tricorder as he started a scan and proceeded to address what they'd attempted to do to by way of lightening the mood. "..Nice attempt to lighten the mood their counsellor." He commented then. "Whatever it is, I suspect the captain'll be ordering a away team's formation to explore that ship sooner rather than later." Vara'l continued as he reached the door and looked to his tricorder. "Hmmm" He then commented after a moment as the events in #current-situation caused him to pause. "...I think it might be best if we take a Jeffries tube."

21:08

"Looks" He started to explain. "Like whatever has occurred is disrupting alot of station systems in a way that probably means we'd be stuck in a turbolift if we were to try one."

21:10

The Romulan turned to the other then and then proceeded to say. "That means we'll likely be parting company sooner rather than later, so I feel given what you said I probably should ask, you know where you're going in the tubes to get to your post?"

"Yeah, let's not risk getting stuck in a turbolift, personally I just sat it out when I got stuck in one and while I'm not particularly claustrophobic, I don't think I can do that kind of boredom again." Terry gave a smile that conveyed a twinge of embarassment in response to the question. "I haven't the slightest idea how I'd get there." He shrugged. "I mean, I'd probably make it sooner or later, always do, it's a surprisingly reliable system, I've been relying on it for years, but you can't really call that 'knowing where you're going', can you?" He stretched a little. "You know, I grew up in a pretty small town and it's honestly somewhat humiliating how often I had to call one of my siblings to come get me because I had gotten lost in either the town or the adjacent woods." He chuckled at the memories. "Harvey still teases me about that during family dinners sometimes..."

"I'd rather not do that particular kind of boredom again either in all honesty, its never been pleasant to be stuck in Starfleet turbolifts." He responded before he then smiled warmly at the other when they proceeded to reply in the negative to his query about knowing where exactly they happened to need to go to get to where they were going. "I admit, that'd probably not count as knowing where you were going no in most views, no." Vara'l mused before at the others comment about where they grew up, the Romulan allowed himself a very brief and slightly reminiscent smile, as real a smile as one could have mustered when they happened to control their emotions with a occasionally iron fist. Impassive currently storm grey eyes something that watched the other from in a face that smiled, a warm core of emotion something that only occasionally poked through the clouds of grey that concealed so much. "Sounds like you've got quite a good group of siblings there, Counsellor." He commented as he turned and proceeded to walk the short distance to a access point into the tubes, turning once he reached it and proceeded to say. "If it'd help you find your way, I'm happy to loan you my PADD with a Map and accompany you part of the way, cant come with you the whole way but there's a route there that diverges a tad later on from the one you'll need to utilize."

"Oh, I grew up in a patchworked family, five parents, six kids, if we account for the grandparents, aunts, uncles and other extended family that get's large quickly, let me tell you. We once actually tried to get everyone together for a dinner and we had to basically rent out a restaurant. Anyway, that's five siblings, I love all of the little bastards dearly." He smiled, noticing the other's smile. "You got any family, my friend?" "And yeah, sounds like a plan, I'm good without the PADD, trust me, if maps helped I wouldn't even have landed myself in that mess hall earlier, but the company is always welcome." He got into the tube. "Hells, maybe we'll see something weird that'd tell us more about what's going on. I mean, it'd probably confuse us more, but hey, one can hope."

"Thats quite the family there." Vara'l smiled warmly a moment before he nodded a tad at their question. "I do." He paused before he elaborated. "I've a biological son who's in the Republic navy like I was, my adoptive son Telim and a assortment of family members adoptive or related, only the two parents though.. just a collection of uncles, aunts and cousins along with one sib." He informed the other. "Wherever they might be, Elements be with them." "Telim, my son on the station with me, is my adoptive son.. was oathed by his mother to look after him." He looked distant then as grief briefly clouded his face before it was very visibly and rapidly suppressed in a.. potentially unhealthy manner given the situation. Not that the nature of how he suppressed the unneeded feeling concerned Vara'l right now, with the situation they happened to be in. Needs must. "She's gone now, elements guide her soul to a deserved rest." When the other declined the PADD but accepted the company, Vara'l followed them into the #jefferies-tubes as he responded. "Fair enough and well, we can hope though..I rather am hoping we dont so we can swiftly get to our duty stations, better places to be for experiencing well...something weird."

[D] Summoned by the PA, Vara'l kept his word and accompanied the other in the Jeffries tubes for as long as possible before he departed with a polite farewell and headed for the airlock

Kaylee went down the hall to the turbo lift, helping Essen on the way.

All Essen could do was say, "Weeeee! This is fun! We should do this more often for fun!" Both of them headed for #turbolift.

Essen, holding hands with Kaylee, looked at her girlfriend with innocent, sweet eyes. "Fingers crossed nothing else out of the ordinary interrupts us again, yeah?" Essen joked with Kaylee. Kaylee was brighter than the brightest sun. She was more carefree than the most fluid river. Essen dearly loved her... And she was certainly no longer afraid to show it. Both made their way into #lt-jg-essen﹢lt-jg-rajan. (edited)

Copia kept a steady pace, but didn't really have any reason to rush to her quarters. She pressed the door, before it opened and she entered #lt-copia﹢lt-maloor.

Yoro'clis walked through the door and into the corridor with Copia, unsure about what he should do for the next few minutes. The two still needed to talk as they walked after all. He decided to see exactly what this whole counselors office and mental health thing was. The Elder was not familiar with the terms. "So what is it that doctors do at this officer?" He felt like this was on one of the reports somewhere, but then he did not remember that particulars

Copia continued alongside Yoro'clis, feeling a lot more secure that he would be there and monitoring her while they made their way to the counselling offices. "In truth, sir, I myself have not experienced it myself," Copia said. "However, from what I already know, the mental health counsellors nurture the minds of officers or patients who may be having difficulty emotionally or mentally, or even just to act as a resource for officers or patients so that they may develop in a healthy way in regard to their mind. I apologize as I do not have experience myself with counselling - as an android, I... Never thought I would need it, until now." Copia wasn't afraid to take that step in the right direction - both literally and metaphorically, as she was taking a step in the corridor towards the counselling offices.

Yoro'clis nodded along, not understanding what he was hearing. Why would one need their mind nurture or have emotional difficulties? He was not familiar with all of these different ideas and was not sure how to approach them. "I do not really understand these mind doctors, counselors you called them." The Elder was starting to understand just how different Starfleet and their officers were. Both Copia's breakdown and this sort of mental health help were things that were simply not things in the Dominion. Jem'Hadar lived simple lives where they followed orders and understood that every action and injury was for the Founders. If one had their faith then one did not need anything else. "Things are different here however. If they will help you with your battles then use them."

CW: mental health Copia was a bit confused - did the Jem'Hadar not have any mental health counsellors? "The mental health counsellors who serve on this vessel," Copia said. "They intake patients who arrive at their offices. There are a variety of reasons they consult these counsellors." Copia took a breath. "In my specific case, I am hoping to gain knowledge on how to better appreciate and love myself. While I myself am not able currently to regain my former resolve in that regard, I foresee a major shift, however long it may take, in my self-esteem." Phew. That bit was over. "Some patients simply wish to be able to express themselves in a confidential environment, where the counsellors are there to listen and support them. Other patients may have much higher priority and much more serious ailments that may impair their ability to live life to its optimal quality." She felt a bit of confidence restore in her mind, as she explained this to Yoro'clis. "And, as there are many officers on this starbase and on other vessels, with all types of different jobs, backgrounds, and outlooks on life, the counsellors are available to receive patients to nurture their mental health."

Yoro'clis continued to nod along, still not exactly understanding what he was hearing. In the Dominion any lack of faith was quickly rectified by the Jem'Hadar's first. There was no need for medical doctors for that sort of thing. "How different. Our craft do not even posses doctors." In the Dominion Jem'Hadar were relatively expendable, bred in tubes and trained in little time. Things were chaining slightly, but then Yoro'clis was not around for any of that. He was used to the old ways for better or worse. The Jem'Hadar had their faith and their missions and needed very little else. The idea that there was an entire hospital in a military installation was still somewhat amazing to Yoro'clis. He knew that this was technically a civilian base, but then the Elder lived his life surrounded by soldiers and tacticians. Perhaps this station served as a trading outpost and hosted civilians, but it was still a Starfleet base. As Copia had said, the base had people with all sorts of outlooks. Yoro'clis simply had a rather simple yet devout outlook on life. All was for the Founders and all that happened was the wish of the Founders. "It is good to hear that they will help you with your issue still. Do what you must."

Copia considered it for a second, before approaching the turblolift. "Perhaps the counsellors can allow a better understanding themselves, if you are willing to listen," Copia suggested. "They will provide a better description than I can." Copia invited Yoro'clis inside with her in #turbolift.

"Perhaps! Although some phrases do not really translate well. We have a lot of words that simply do not exist in Standard," Rai explained ,the first term coming to mind being 'conspirator'. Luckily with a station full of Romulans that wasn't very odd to hear, but he would imagine on any other Federation world it probably would have raised some eyebrows to hear a bunch of people were talking about a conspiracy. No dasterdly plots here, only a polycule. "Oh, it is! My father works there, he's a waiter. His name is Tiravurik if you ever see him. About my height, wears sunglasses all the time, and he is very friendly," Ironically it was Rai who visited Tiravurik the most. He always invited his brother to join him at Surak Snacks, but his brother seemed to still be going through the too-cool-for-family phase. Weird because their friends absolutely loved Surak Snacks and Tiravurik. Rai took careful steps out the turbolift and glanced around as if looking for any hidden assassins. Real fear! "Now to find which door is yours, I think you are currently in a solo yolo situation at the end of the corridor," Rai said, attempting to use the very few Standard slang words he knew. Little did he know it was... Not the right context.

Alyssa nodded. Just like the idioms that didn't translate well from Standard, other phrases didn't translate from Rhiannsu. She found it so curious that there were so many similarities and yet so many differences. That made her want to know more. "That makes it a challenge even more worth taking on! I'll definitely consider it further as something I might want to try. Just makes me that much more embracing of IDIC than I already am." Alyssa listened closely as Rai went into Surak Snacks, and his father as well. "I'll have to look out for him! Just hearing you talk about him I can already sense he's friendly," she said. "No reason why I couldn't stop down there from time to time to grab a snack. Might be fun!" Then, when Rai searched for Alyssa's door, she also looked around to see which one was hers. This station had more officers in it than she thought! Of course not a bad thing - just more difficult to navigate the first time. Then, she approached a door with her name spelled out next to it. "I think this is mine? And solo ain't a bad thing. I'd say I'm a little hard to handle at times. And I wear that on my sleeve."

"I will support your journey! But if you choose not to go ahead and learn Rihannsu or Havrannsu it is alright, they are not very useful languages. I think any of the Federation languages would be much more useful, perhaps Vulcan?" Vulcan would also be a great introduction to Rihannsu seeing how the Romulan language was derived from ancient Vulcan. A good chunk of their words had Vulcan roots, very similar to that of Standard and another ancient Terran language. "Yes, if you do, tell him I referred you," Rai said, knowing that his dad would be happy to hear that he told more people about the restaurant. He walked slowly down the corridor, making sure not to go too fast and risk losing Alyssa or running into anyone. Being 7 feet tall meant it was easy to accidentally cut someone off. He was a little above average height for his species, but very much above the average height for many other humanoids. Once they reached Alyssa's door, Rai gave her a bow and waved both hands. "Here it is. And..." Rai paused, assuming the last sentence was probably an idiom and Alyssa was not hiding anything on her sleeves. "Yes, I hope you will settle in well. I will see you at the tactical pizza party!"

Alyssa nodded respectfully. "Absolutely! See you then, Captain!" Alyssa opened the door to her quarters and walked into #deleted-channel.

Vara marched forward towards Copia’s quarters.

Rakim departed his quarters, a package clasped gently under one arm as he headed to the turbolifts.

"Hehe, you said ass..." He said, suddenly returning his attention back to his brother after zoning out looking at the lights. While he listened to him speak, he started to look more and more confused, hearing Ceedar use such big words that he'd need a lot longer to figure out. Once the lift arrived at their deck, Forrest was quick to step out, always leery of anything that can move that fast without you even noticing. "Yeah bro, I love being efuckicentiy doing our jobs, if these beds are bad, I'm gonna like, totally complain to Mom or Willow or something!" He exclaimed, before turning to his brother with a cheeky grin, bouncing up and down on his heels with clear excitement "Bro lets race! Last one to our quarters is stinky poutine dude!" He said, not even giving Ceedar a moment to consider before bolting off at top speed.

After rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue at his brother, he also stepped out of the lift, nodding along as the other horribly mispronounced the word that he also didn't know how to pronounce. Perhaps the word 'efficient' was the friends they made along the way. "Dude, yeah, if they fucking suck, we gotta do something about that, bro, I don't care if we gotta complain to the Captain or what, man, ain't no way I'mma deal with that again." And then - shit, this was a race now??? "Hey, that's cheating, bro!" Ceedar shouted after he started running after him, that was sooo unfair that Forrest got a head start! Whenever they ran a proper race, they either tied, or it was pretty even - if one of them one two races, the other ended up also winning two. It was some weird balance of the universe. But not when one of them got an illegal start! Still, though, he made his best efforts to beat his brother running down the corridor to #deleted-channel .

Vara'l departed his quarters and made straight for the turbolift. From there, he intended to go to the Eventide and the mission he'd spotted mentioned. He'd already ensured that arrangements were in place for Telims care during that time with his babysitter and with a family member who'd agreed to take some babysitting responsibilities so felt comfortably ready as he headed in that direction with his ready bag settled onto his shoulder.

Alyssa stepped out of the turbolift and made her way to her quarters #deleted-channel.

Vara'l stepped out of the turbolift and made his way to his quarters. #lt-cdr-tr’hara