Star Trek: Starbase 777 - nizzie′s-sushi-nibbles

Halcyon walked inside, looking around. She hummed an old Terran song, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”. She wore a red leather jacket over her Starfleet uniform, and had many ear piercings. Her hair was dyed purple and looked like it had been hastily cut with kitchen scissors.

There was some Terran vapourwave music playing in the background, the restaurant worker immediately poked her head from the counter. "Ah hello! You must be a customer, yes?" She eventually stood up to her full height. She had Cardassian ridges and grooves on her face and some Kelpien patterns.

“Yep, I’m a customer. Heard about the new restaurant, had to try it out.”

The hybrid grinned. "Feel free to look onto the interactive menu, you name it and I can make it."

She looked over the menu. “California rolls, please.” She said.

"A California roll it is then!" The chef went to pull out some ingredients and started on making the rolls. "Have you been on the station long?"

“About a week! I work in the medical division- it’s been great so far. You?” She replied. She loved her job. Pathology was her calling in life, and she didn’t feel complete if she wasn’t at either a microscope or an autopsy table.

"I have been here for three days actually! Mostly setting up here. Heard there were new personnel arriving and wanted to share them my art." She began to prepare the rice. "The medical division sounds super interesting. I'm S'Laurn by the way."

“I’m Halcyon. I don’t see much of the lifesaving surgeries and miracles. Mainly I see patients when they’re already dead. Or I’m working with tissue samples. Either way, I don’t have to talk to living people, so I can blast shitty music all I want!” *She said. Her music taste was awful, and she knew it. She was proud of it. She worked alone, she had that privilege

"Already dead? So you try to find out how they died or the like?" She started cutting up some of the ingredients. "Sounds scary for some individuals but at least you got your music!"

“Well, that’s the purpose of an autopsy, so yeah. Better than tissue samples. Too long staring through a microscope will give you eyestrain.” She commented.

"Well hey, at least you're not staring at a microscope right now. You're eyes are thanking you." S'Laurn laid out the rice on a sheet of seaweed and started putting the ingredients into it. She then rolled it.

“My eyes have had a personal vendetta against me since I was eleven. My wrists are next.” She said, tapping her glasses. She was nearsighted, but she liked her glasses. Her brother was farsighted. She likes how that made them opposites in a way. Carpal tunnel syndrome was nothing to sneeze at. She’d have to take a break soon, for her own health.

"I'm sure there's some medical treatment for the wrists though? I remember hearing about someone who had specialized visors." After rolling, she then cut the rolls into bite sized slices and placed them onto a tray. S'Laurn carefully went around the counters and set the tray down where Halcyon was. "Maybe your fellow doctors could figure something out."

“Oh no, I just need to take a break from typing so I don’t get wrist problems. I like my glasses, I’m keepin’ em.” She said. She took one of the rolls and popped it into her mouth. She chewed it and swallowed, before speaking again. “These are really good.” She said.

"I'm glad you like them. Would you like a glass of water? Also I think glasses are stylish, I once had an Aenar customer in the past and her visors looked a bit uncomfortable..."

“Sure, I’ll have a glass of water.” She said.

She nodded and hurried to a replicator. "Would you like ice in that or room temperature?"

“Ice, please.” She said.

"One glass of water with ice." The replicator chimed, and S'Laurn takes the water and handed it to Halcyon.

“Thank you!” She said, smiling.

She finished her food quietly, leaving the correct payment at her table. She left with a smile. Lorin would like this place if she wasn’t a vegetarian, she thought.

She picked up the payment and gave Halcyon a friendly wave of goodbye.

1

[D] After a successful day of work, everyone's favourite Bajoran-faced scientist walked into a new restaurant on the promenade! It was just called 'sushi place', but he knew more than anyone it was never good to judge a book by its cover. Nalas was still in full uniform, blue stripes along the neckline and cuffs of his sleeves. He had fluffy dark brown hair that was neatly styled today. For his make up he had the typical dark red smokey eye, contrasting nicely with his jade coloured irises. The nose ridges and earring pointed to his Bajoran heritage, but the design of his earring was clearly Cardassian. Bright green gem with dark red metals, he was certainly a bit of an oddity.

The tall lady then poked her head out from the counter. "Oh my goodness, another customer already? Please do take a look around!" She brought over a PADD of sorts of the menu on it.

Nalas' ears perked up when he heard the voice and was presented with a PADD. Another Cardassian! He grinned as he took the PADD and began to look through the menu. he had some sushi on earth, although he went to the academy in France which was not exactly known for having authentic sushi. "Hi, you're Cardassian too?" Nalas said as if he wasn't a fully Bajoran looking boy just out here speaking fluent Cardassian. He was truly an enigma at first glance. "I would have never guessed a Cardassian was making sushi, actually, I wish we had sushi on Cardassia Prime."

She grinned, impressed before replying back in Cardassian. "Half actually! My father was a Kelpien. I grew up near the shores on Kaminar. Read about the human cuisine of sushi and learned how to make it with my father." Nodding, she continued. "My name is S'Laurn!"

"Kaminar, oh I never heard of it," Nalas responded, his eyes twinkling with excitement of being able to speak Cardassian and not rely on the UT. Kelpien, that explained the unknown planet, he honestly didn't know much about it. "Nice to meet you S'Laurn. I'm Nalas Za'ari, but my Cardassian name is Sissil," It was always incredibly awkward having to introduce himself to other Cardassians as Nalas, but it's not like he chose to be named Nalas. No, that was his mother trying to instill the courage of the Bajoran resistance fighter into her son through his name. "I grew up on Cardassia Prime, Culat province. It was nice, but the food was kinda bland. Hmm, what sort of sushi do you recommend?"

Walking into the resturant, Tyhr looked around, taking in the rather lovely decorations, before turning to Ace, gently taking his larger hand, and looked up at the man, biting his lip slightly, antennae curved back on his hair with anxiety. "I will admit I am rather nervous to meet your sister, I hope I don't prove to be a dissapointment to her...her approval is important to me, because you are imporant to me." He said, eyes wide and glassy, emotion much more apparent on his visage than usual. He leaned closer to Ace, hoping his physical prescence would calm him slightly.

Halcyon walked in wearing a black tank top and red shorts, she was just going to relax and wait for the ball until she got the message from Ace. When she saw him, she walked over and waved, repressing the urge to just run up and hug him. “Ace! How are you? Oh, and hi, Tyhr.” She said, a smile on her face.

Ace stood up to hug her, before he sat back down at the table with Tyhr. Halcyon sat across from the two of them. “Hi, Hal! It’s so good to see you again. It’s really lucky the Rapture ended up here!”

Taking a seat next to Ace, he watched the two siblings interact, before turning to Halcyon, a small smile on his face, sometimes he wished he had siblings, alas, he could still enjoy how much Ace and his sister seemed to get along. Before speaking he scooted closer to Ace, trying to quell his anxiety. "Hello, it is quite agreeable to meet you, Ace has spoken quite bit about your past exploits and adventures. I must say just how fascinating this station is, I've never been onboard a structure in space quite so large. You must enjoy it here. Rapture is large, but nothing compared to 777." He said, full attention on his Human's sister, grateful the interaction was going as smooth as it was.

“Oh yeah, 777 is huge! What’s it like for you on Rapture?” She asked. She took off her glasses and wiped them with the glasses cloth in her pocket. They had been fogging up and it was getting a bit hard to see. She was very nearsighted and was blind as a bat without them.

Ace wrapped an arm around Tyhr and smiled. “So, what do y’all want? I can pay.”

He grinned up at Ace, snuggling into his side, before answering Halcyon. "Its quite plesant, full of very compotent individuals, your brother being one of them. We go on varied, sometimes dangerous missions as well." Turning back to Ace, he looked at the menu placed between them and choosing what he would like to eat. "I will have the salmon noodles and a bowl of seaweed soup. What will you all have?"

“Ah. It gets a bit boring in the Medical division sometimes, but when it’s busy… oh, it’s busy. Oh, and I’ll have the salmon sashimi, it looks good.” She said. She was interested in Tyhr, he seemed like a nice man. She was a bit protective of her little brother, even though he was only two years younger than her.

"I can imagine during times of crisis, it would be quite tense. Especially with a crew the size of 777's. I find it interesting that both you and your brother are in Starfleet, did one of you join first?" He asked, addressing the both of them, head tilted in curiosity.

Ace ordered the same thing Tyhr ordered. He was simple like that, it was true. “Hal joined first. I joined two years later when I turned 18. My brother didn’t join at all. He’s the outlier of the family since both of our parents were Starfleet too.”

Intrigued, he looked between the two, head tilting to the side in curiosity. "Interesting, it sounds like you have quite a large family. I am the only child of my parents, and none of the have siblings, we are a rather small one. I can imagine you two had some unique experiences growing up." He pondered for a moment, setting his menu down, moving closer to Ace, relishing his comforting, familiar prescence.

22:15

He turned to Halcyon, face set in mirthful determination. "I have a question for you Halcyon, although I am not sure how Humans address it."

“Yeah? What about?” She looked at him through her thick glasses, which were fogged up again. Nearsightedness ran in the family, as did weird eye colors. Hence her blue eyes and Ace’s green ones.

“Yep. And that not counting all my cousins. Hell, I probably have family that actually lives on Earth.” Little did he know, he did! A cousin on his mom’s side that lived in Austin.

"'Quite interesting, I have thought about living on Earth on occasion." He said thinking about his parent's desire to move to the planet following their retirement. He turned to Halcyon, brow furrowed momentarily, before he relaxed sligthtly. "Again, I am not entirely sure how Humans conduct this, but on Andoria we ask the most senior member of desiree's family permission, so now we have the occasion to meet in person I ask. Would you allow myself to ask Ace to be my boyfriend?" He said in his typical blunt fashion, a slight blush tinting his face, quickly looking over to Ace to judge his reaction.

“Of course! But be warned, treat him badly and I’ll take a shuttlecraft to your ship so I can kick your ass. Just kidding, I trust you.” She laughed and smiled. She was a pretty trusting person. Of course, neither her or her brother had been through any significant trauma in their lives, so they were trusting by default.

He gave her a slight smile, appreciating her protectivness over her brother, a good sign of a healthy sibling relationship. He was glad Ace had her. "I would expect so, people treating partners badly is extremely illogical, and especially with someone as special as Ace. Thank you for trusting me." He turned to Ace, an earnest, expectant look on his face, and a flaming blush overtaking his face and neck. "Ace, would you be agreeable to being my boyfriend? Now that your Sister has consented."

Ace gave a big, bright smile, and wrapped Tyhr in a hug. “Of course I would love to be your boyfriend! You’re awesome and I’ve been thinking about asking you out for like a few days now.”

For the first time in quite a long time, he smiled a wide, bright grin, cheeks flaming, and snuggled into the hug, very pleased Ace had agreed. "That is quite relieving to hear, I had been pondering this, but wanted to wait until I was able to get in to contact with one of your family members, as is custom on Andoria. You are...quite a special person to me, and I'm pleased the feeling is mutual, I will endeavor to be the best partner as possible for you in the continuing future. I am very grateful to have met you."

“Me too. We should do some party stuff once we finish eating! We’d have to go change into suits, but yeah.” Ace had a very haphazard outfit to put on! Funky tie, snowman pin, a suit that did not go with said tie. He was a fashion genius! Just like Aella.

"That sounds quite enjoyable, I have a rather fetching outfit for the occasion that I believe you will appreciate." He said with a slight smirk, Ace would love the outifit he had been saving for just this occasion. "I'm looking forward to it, I have not been to a social engagement like this since I still lived with my parents."

“Knowing Ace, he’s got an outfit that makes no sense locked and loaded. Right?” She asked her brother. She herself had a lovely red suit- with an awesome tie too.

“Absolutely. I’m shocked you would think I wasn’t going to violate the dress code in an extremely petty way.” He laughed. He thought of his pink tie with smiley faces.

He quirked up one perfectly manicured eyebrow, thinking about what Ace had in store...he was sure that Ace would look quite handsome in whatever he wore. "I will even admit that violating the dress code is quite...entertaining. What I'm planning on wearing definitely violates it."

“We can violate the dress code together! What else would a couple do?” As if C’Sara wasn’t out there wearing a Santa-adjacent minidress right now. C’Sara won the Fuck The Dress Code competition.

He gave Ace a beaming grin, before blushing a dark blue, hiding his face in Ace's shoulder, we he spoke it was with barely contained laughter. "This is shaping up to be quite an interesting date...I think you will appreciate my outfit." He said with a slight chuckle.

Their food came, and Ace began eating his soup and noodles. He was pretty hungry, after all. “I’m so excited!”

He pulled back from his boyfriend when their food came...he was much hungrier than he thought he was, digging into his food with vigor, there was just something about non-replicated food that was better. "I wonder if we will run into anyone else from Rapture while we are here? I assume quite a few people have come over."

“All of my friends are over here. Even T’Asha, which was kind of a shock to me since you’d never think she was the type to go to parties. I still have to pick out Christmas gifts for everyone, though!” He laughed. He thought of his old Academy friend, back from Starbase Hell to go fuck around and find out on the Rapture. Ace could never survive working on a starbase.

"As I am still relatively new to Rapture I still have not made many friends of my own yet, I would be quite interested to meet yours." He gave Ace a smirk as he finished his meal. "I am generally not one for parties either...but today I feel like celebrating." He said, pulling out a few strips of latinum and placing them on the table, giving his boyfriend a sligthly cheeky smirk, as Ace had said he would pay. Tyhr, despite outward appearances knew how to tease, and quite enjoyed it.

“No! You’re not paying!” He laughed, pushing Tyhr’s latinum back to him. He put his own latinum down, enough to pay for all of them.

“Don’t you dare. I’m paying for my stuff.” She gave Ace back the latinum that would have paid for her food, and put her own on the table, all the while wearing a shit eating grin.

He grinned sligthly and shook his head incredulously at the two, raising his hands in mock surrender, his antennae curved forward with barely contained mirth. "It was worth a try...you two are amusing."

“Thank you. So, should we get dressed for the party?” He asked. He had some cool ties to wear and snowman pins to pin on.

“I have to change too. It’s been great meeting you Tyhr. Treat my brother well and you won’t be seeing me in a shuttlecraft with a baseball bat.” She smiled, got up from her seat, and walked out the door.

He nodded to Halcyon, a slight grin on his face, before leaning into Ace in a somewhat protective manner. "I won't dissapoint you." He turned to Ace, standing, and give him a wide smile, a slight blush on his face. "Lead the way...boyfriend." He said with a slight giggle, before standing and hauling up Ace with him, walking out of the resturant.

1

[D] They were still getting used to the station, they had to admit to themself. Even if they were doing their best, they still felt like they did not entirely fit in -- though, they mused, that was entirely their own fault. After all, they often looked from the outside, and never really let themself into the lives of others. Maybe they should start... What mattered was that Ych'a had entered a sushi place, planning on ordering something small and sitting alone with their thoughts. They were off duty for a while longer, after all, and they had time to spare.

[D] Here he was, Nalas was back! He was on his mission to try every restaurant on 777 to create a comprehensive list of things him and his mother could enjoy. He was scientist after all, if he could try every option, why not? He was even going to venture to the Klingon restaurant, but maybe he'd ask his boyfriend to accompany him for that. Although Nalas was off that day, he was wearing his uniform because just being in uniform made him feel more motivated to work. He had his PADD with him to record his findings! This was only Nalas' third restaurant on his little food tour of 777 and so far it was going great! It really paid to have a father in the Cardassian Intelligence Bureau, he always had spending money. Maybe he could have been more frugal, but hey, he was technically Bajoran and his father was Cardassian. Reparations. Anyway he looked around when he entered the restaurant and saw-- the station deputy? Clearly having no fear, Nalas approached them. "Hey, here to try out some sushi too?" Nalas asked with a silly smile on his face and his PADD clutched with both hands.

2

"Why..." They seemed speechless for a moment before they allowed a smile to cross their face. A fellow officer, they thought they had seen the file when they were reading up on those that they were to command. "yes, I have decided to enjoy some sushi today, a touch different from my usual Plomeek Soup and Ice Spice Tea, but I trust that it will be good." They responded in kind, trying to be as cordial as possible. They even raised their hand in a traditional greeting. "Live long and prosper" their voice was quiet, and almost flat, but that was quite normal for them. "Would you care to join me? I have been trying to meet as many different people on this station as I can," They offered as they gestured to the seat across from them.

Despite being in the face of such authority, Nalas' smile didn't waver. He wanted to make a good impression, especially considering the commander could have seen his name on the 'top list of tardy officers' because very rarely was Nalas on time for his shift. Never incredibly late, but certainly over ten minutes late as he had to fight the turbolifts on some days. "Live long and prosper!" Nalas repeated the greeting with enthusiasm, mimicking the other's gesture whilst holding his PADD in the other hand. Thanks to his boyfriend for teaching him how to do it properly, it was hard to hold his fingers in that position. "Yes! I'd love that!" Nalas bounced over to the seat across from the commander and plopped down. He placed his PADD on the table and grabbed a menu. "I'm an exobiologist. Nalas Za'ari, son of Gul Za'ari," Nalas said with a proud smile on his face, speaking his French-accented Standard as always. "C’est un plaisir de faire votre connaissance (It is a pleasure to meet you), Command Ych'a," Nalas switched to French, wanting to impress the commander with his knowledge of not just Standard but also French (which he was ironically much better at). "What kind of sushi do you like?"

2

"It seems you already know my name, but I am Ych'a, child of Professor Avarak and Syvar. You know French? That is quite admirable," They nodded a few times, rather happy with the effort that Nalas had put forth into the interaction so far. (They were rather curious, of the mention of a Cardassian father, but they woulf not press). "You don't need to try and impress me in any way, if that is what you want to do, I prefer to speak as equals," They finished before they looked over the menu, rather content to spend time in the company of another. "I am quite the fan of any tuna sushi, though I have a particular love for nigiri. What about yourself? Is there any sushi that you find yourself partial towards?" offhandly they wondered whether their particularly formal way of speaking might push others away, and that really was not the intent, they just struggled when they tried to be even less formal.

"Ohh, child of two professors, that's impressive!" Nalas said with an enthusiastic nod. He leaned forward in his seat to show that the commander had his full attention, it wasn't everyday when he got to talk to one of the senior staff members (who wasn't Evoras). Now that Nalas thought about it, three senior staff members were Vulcan! His boss of course, then there was the CEO, and then the deputy! How cool! Maybe he should learn more Vulcan. Even though his superior officer said they didn't want this to be a formal affair, Nalas couldn't help but want to convey his best image in this interaction. He knew he was a small fish in a big pond, just a lieutenant junior grade with a whole ass commander! "Tuna sushi! Yea, mm I like the calligraphy rolls," Nalas looked through the menu which had multiple languages and pictures, but of course Nalas wanted to try and speak Standard to the best of his abilities. He felt a little confidence boost after the other had complimented his French, now he wanted to further show off his (not very good) linguistic abilities. "My mother is coming to visit so I was hoping to try a lot of things so I could give her recommendations. I was thinking of the... Assorted platter, it's a lot of food, I'd pay for it, but would you wanna try it out with me?"

The Commander themself was listening intently, head tilted slightly to the side as the other spoke. It was not every day that they got to speak with some of the more junior officers, and they thought it would be an excellent time to see how they thought about life on the station as a whole, from a different perspective than just those who held some sort of power. "Your mother is visiting? That sounds lovely, it is good to know that you are putting in such an effort for her, I hope she appreciates it," they offered another smile, thinking that given the current topic of conversation, that might be the right thing to do. "You do not need to worry about paying, I invited you to dine with me, so it is only fair that I pay for the food itself, and the assorted platter sounds like the most logical option here," they nodded before they ran a hand through slicked back hair, deciding to ask some of the questions that they were posing to everyone that they met, "How have you enjoyed life on this post so far?"

Nalas may not have been the best communicator, in any language, but he sure was passionate. He was happy that the commander didn't seem to mind that he was a little awkward. "Yep! I really wanna show her a nice time here. I want to be a good son," Nalas' comment was casual and light hearted, but he really meant it. He had a lot of regrets when it came to his relationship with his mother. Unlike a lot of his friends who had similar family problems, Nalas knew he was to blame for much of his mother's suffering and he felt awful. The worst thing about it was no matter how he treated his mother, she always loved him unconditionally and he admired that trait in her, "No no, I can totally pay!" Nalas chimed in, waving his hands around. "It's kinda expensive and I know I'm gonna eat a lot," And with that Nalas waved the waiter down and ordered the assorted platter along with two plates for each of them. Once that was done, he turned back to the commander and leaned forward on his elbows. "It's good! I've been here about a year now and it's honestly been amazing. I have a super cool and fashionable boyfriend and I'm also on a mission to kiss every available hot guy on the station!" Nalas said right before realising maybe he shouldn't have announced his mission to smooch every pretty boy on the station to the deputy but-- well it wasn't illegal! He was an adult, he could kiss whoever he wanted! Still, a bright red blush crossed his cheeks and he leaned back and shook his head. "Uhhh uhh-- yeah! Anyway, what about you?"

1

1

"Being a good son is most definitely an admirable goal. After all, I wish to be a good child for my parents -- though I do worry sometimes about whether my choice to take up a career in Starfleet instead of the Expeditionary Group has caused them some sort of displeasure. But... perhaps the only way to know that is to ask," They saw it as a good opportunity to bond, let those around them know that they had struggles the same as everyone else, even if they seemed to be in such a position of power. They were still only human -- or rather, only Vulcan. They were about to argue, state that it was only logical for the higher-ranking officer to pay in this situation, but his second statement caught them off-guard. It was interesting, of course, that someone would feel so comfortable around the station deputy, comfortable enough to say something such as this, but it made their own job of integration all the more easy. "As long as your quest does not effect your duty I offer you no judgement," they assured in an even tone, "As for myself, I hope to become an adequate station deputy. I was a first officer for a time, and this is my first position on a Starbase Proper, so it will take some getting used to," they finished with a nod.

"I think your parents would still be proud! Being the deputy on a starbase is pretty big!" Nalas said, extending his arms out to visualise his words when he said 'big'. Although he was not Vulcan, he know how big a deal the VEG was to a lot of them. As someone who was also raised in another faction, he had a great deal of respect for people who chose to leave home. It was easy to serve in an organisation full of the same people you grew up with, but it took a special kind of courage to serve in another faction. Even if it was an allied faction with many of your people serving, it was still a new experience. "Thank you!" Nalas laughed, happy that the deputy didn't judge him for his slip in silliness. Nalas' little nose wrinkled up when he grinned and his eyes curving into little arches. "Oh wait lemme order the food," Nalas said, waving down to one of the waiters and ordering their assorted platter. "I am sure you'll continue to do great! I mean nothing-- ehh," Nalas paused when he remembered the Science fair. Was Y'cha deputy during that? "Nothing super bad will happen-- at least nothing that you can't deal with! What was first officer like? Whoosh, I've never been station on a starship before, I was only on Terok Nor before this place!"

"I suppose you are correct, my current position is one that many might seek, and when I had participated in the exchange program initially, they were not averse to anything I had done..." Sometimes that was how they would rationalise, how they would find the logic in the situation. "Ah, I apologise. Thank you for being a listening ear as I speak of my own troubles," They finished with an apologetic bow. They could not lie, they felt rather 'excited' to try this assorted platter, new things had always intrigued them, and as an anthropologist, they had a duty to try as many new things as they could. After all, you could take a vulcan out of the science branch, but you couldnt take the science out of the vulcan. "I have been adequately briefed on the situation and dangers of serving on this base... and if you would like some stories about being a first Officer, I do have some of those as well, though I should warn you that I approach things in a detatched manner, and am not a good... storyteller I believe the word is."

2

"Any time! I hope to be a senior officer one day too-- and then a university professor!" Nalas said with a bright and shining smile. Despite his hardships and the jaded nature of many young Cardassians post Dominion War, Nalas was full of hope for the future. He could speak Cardassian, have a Cardassian name, and even hold citizenship on the planet, but the determined and hard-working Bajoran spirit was as evident as ever in everything he did. "I don't mind at all! I love hearing stories!" Nalas leaned foward on the table, using his elbows for support. He eyed the commander with stars in his eyes. "So what do you actually do as first officer? Coz the division heads handle the details about their own divisions and the captain commands the ship. It's a little unclear what first officer does," Nalas was not shooting for the position himself, but he was still curious. He was a scientist after all, he always wanted to find out things!

"That sounds like a Noble goal, especially being a university professor. I should know, after all one of my fathers was. I think I would like to do that as well, one day. That or take up a position as a research scientist. After all, I am an anthropologist by trade. But, I do have a question... what do you study? I know you are a scientist, but I have not had the time to read each officer's file fully." They asked, leaning forward and resting their elbow on the table. "As for what I did as first officer, I basically made sure everything that the captain ordered was completed or could be completed. There is more to it, of course, but I once read that the Captain commands the ship but the First Officer ensures first arrivals," Ych'a finished with a slight nod. "My time as a first officer required me to take on more duties due to the reduced state of the crew, however, that is the basics."

"I think we both could do it! I really want to teach at the University of the Union, to stand on the same stage as some of the greatest Cardassian scientists!!" Nalas said, raising his voice ever so slightly as he continnued to talk. As he ended his phrase he realised he was definitely talking way too loud for Vulcanoid hearing so he quickly lowered his tone and clasped his hands together. "Oh anthropology! I'm an exobiologist-- you know like stan talent, stan legends, stan EXO-- uhhh it's some terran alien band," Nalas laughed as he said that, waving his hand at his silly joke. "I mean, I was inspired by Crell Moset-- not by his war crimes, but his studies which....... Yeah war crimes, but I want to do science right without exploiting people," Nalas said, eyes filled with passion as he tripped over his words and attempted to get the phrasing right. "Ohhhhh sounds cool! I don't think I would wanna take on that sorta job, but it sounds exciting! I'm happy just being a scientist," Nalas said, nodding as he listened to the commander talk about their time as first officer. "Reduced state of the crew-- do you mean that your ship was understaffed? That sounds terrible!"

"In the same vein, I would find teaching at the Vulcan Science Academy to be quite pleasurable. Though, to do that, I suppose my contributions to the field must be... significant." They were listening intently, finding some sort of common ground with this officer, even if he was quite loud -- almost too loud for them to handle, but they would handle it all the same. "Wanting to do science without exploitation is a logical goal to have, after all, it is for the betterment of all that this work gets done. That is the nature of science and why we -- I mean you -- do what you do. " They seemed embarrassed for a second, after all, this was new to them, and they did often forget that their new career path was Distinctly not science related. They did not necessarily like speaking of the Khonsu, but since they were the one to bring it up, they decided to tell the story. "The Ship was attacked during the Borg Incursion. Many of the crew were lost, and those who remained had to perform their jobs in their place, in a ship that was falling apart around them."

"You can do it! Don't Vulcans live for like.. 200 years? You can have like 10 careers in that time!" Nalas said a little louder than he had planned, which made his cheeks flush. Nalas was fully capable of using his indoor voice, but he just tended to get a little excited. "I really hope so. I helped a few Bajoran scientists last year with genetically modifying a tree to try and keep it from being so flammable! I'm glad my work has aided the preservation efforts for the species," Nalas proudly told the commander about his adventures with the wood. Maybe it wouldn't make a difference what Ych'a thought about his work, but he wanted to put his best foot forward and make a good impression. "The Borg? Oh, that sounds terrible, but I'm glad you were able to make it through that ordeal! I'm glad I've never encountered the Borg," A brief look of concern crossed Nalas' face as he spoke. "I'm glad things are-- uhh mostly safe on the station, well..... Mostly!" Nalas said, remembering the horrors from the science fair, but he assumed Ych'a knew about that. Very soon, the waiter came to give them their assorted platter of sushi! Nalas was quick to grab one of everything. truly a hangry boy. "Woah, I didn't expect so much food, but I love this! Maybe that's why this was so expensive, good thing I'm rich af!"

[D] Ych'a and Nalas enjoyed their time together eating sushi and talking about their dreams and experiences. Ych'a themself left with a feeling that they got to know one of their officers a little better, something that they might kot have been expecting, of course, but something good all the same. Perhaps this would make them a better deputy!

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