Star Trek: Starbase 777

The picnic area allows you to take your pick between checkerboard blankets & tables with matching tablecloths. Each setting is decorated with a vase of flowers.

Having grabbed a few snacks and, frankly, made off with a pot of tea she'd sampled and enjoyed (there were more, it was fine), Neya settled down at one of the free tables, dress draping over the bench on her side of the picnic table as she watched other people come and go. She had grabbed mostly sandwiches, not really up for anything too sweet, though she'd been intrigued by what a cake made of carrots would taste like.

Ekhesai could hardly see through her mask, and opted to take it down, resting it on top of the brim of her hat. She'd loaded her plate with macarons, fruit, and a tiny sandwich, and was presently looking for somewhere to sit. "Arata'Neya, right?" Ekhesai lingered near a not quite empty table, smiling sheepishly. "I don't think we've met formally, but we may have crossed paths. I'm Ekhesai! Is - Is it alright if I have a seat with you? Totally cool if not!"

Neya looked up from studying her little sandwich (what is a cucumber?) to see the bubbly Trill-Romulan standing at her table. "Yes, of course! You're the cadet, right? I forgot your name, I'm sorry, but you can sit down." She tried to remember what her name was, but it wasn't happening. She put the little sandwich down, not entirely sure if cucumber and cream cheese was her kind of combination. "How are you? You look very nice, I like the pink and blue."

She beamed and took a seat, immediately stuffing her face with the green macaron— ah, fuck, pistachio. Ew. She swallowed to be polite and set it aside on a napkin. With her mouth now NOT full, she spoke up, "Aww, thank you! My roommate helped me pick stuff out, I thought it was cute too. Your dress is sooo pretty, I love it! We're kinda matching." Ekhesai giggled. "What've you got? I've never been to one of these things before, do they do it a lot...?"

"Thank you, I like this one a lot. Pink is one of my favourite colours," and it was crazy to think that four years ago she hadn't even known you could have a favourite colour, "but I like blue a lot too." She looked down at her plate trying to remember what everything was. "These are the sandwiches that looked good to me, though the cucumber one, I think, I didn't like it. And the cake with carrots, I wanted to know what it was. I'm not sure if events like these happens more often, but I think this winter there's going to be a ball?"

"Oh, my mom's been raving about the ball since she found out I was stationed here. She, um, wants to go dress shopping back on Trill soon." Ekhesai wasn't too thrilled at the idea of getting a dress. Her mom would be fine with that, she just had to... communicate it without anxiety shutting her down. That was the hard part. Tapping thrice against her knee, she continued, "The carrot cake? It's got cream cheese icing, it's pretty good, you should try it. It's my dad's favorite cake. I don't like cucumbers either, so I don't blame you. I got, um, a cheese sandwich.. there are so many kinds of cheese, I've never even heard of this before!" The Cadet blinked and shook her head, turning green to the tips of her ears. "Ah, sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"You can ramble, I'm listening. Which cheese is it? I have two, I think, not counting the cucumber one. I am excited to try the hummus sandwich, I keep getting recommended to use hummus as a dip for my fried grasshoppers." Sadly, they did not serve fried grasshoppers at the buffet, as far as she'd seen.

The last time Sykes had a picnic was…never, now that she thought of it, unless you counted eating outside in any capacity. In which case, Sykes had done that before, but it was just some sandwich she fished out of a lunch pail and sadly ate while seated atop a rock or piece of debris. Not the best of memories. She glanced down at her plate, having grabbed an assortment of fancy…stuff. And a sandwich. Or two. She wandered over to where Neya and Sai were at the moment, smoothing out her skirt, “Y’all mind if I sit a spell?”

"I don't even remember, to be honest." Ekhesai squinted at her cheese sandwich, seeing flecks of white and yellow alike. Her extremely serious cheese analysis was soon interrupted by a newcomer, however! "Oh gosh, yeah, totally, if it's okay with you?" She glanced to Neya for approval, but kept gushing on anyway, "Your dress is so pretty, I love the tie!"

Neya had a firm grasp of Federation Standard, alright, she'd been speaking it for most of her life by now. But honestly she was a little lost as to what this person was saying. Luckily the cadet knew... from the reaction, she figured the spell had little to do with it, and this person was just asking to sit down. "Yes, of course. I'm Arata'Neya, nice to meet you."

The CYSEC agent grinned at Sai when she offered her compliment, “Much obliged, darlin’. Wasn’t too sure what all I wanted to go with for the theme, but I think it works out fine, heh,” And she took a seat beside Neya. Sykes’ nails were a similar color of yellow to her outfit, having painted them for this event. Though, she did like yellow! “Sykes, nice to meet y’all.”

Ekhesai still didn't know what cheese was in the sandwich even after eating it, but she liked it just fine. No big deal. "Ekhesai! It's nice to meet you too, miss. Are you an officer too?" She didn't know if she'd ever seen her before, but meeting new people was always fun.

Sykes wasn’t too certain what was in her sandwiches either. Cucumber something, or cheese, or…who knows. She wasn’t picky about food. As long as it tasted okay, she was eating it, “Yes’m, I’m an intel agent. Recent posting, you get it,” A grin, and she took a bite of one of her sandwiches, “Last base I was at, there weren’t any tea parties, heh.”

Seeing Ekhesai, Mirrim made her way over to their table with a small smile. “Hello there, dear.” She nodded at Ekhesai. “Good day to all of you.” She nodded at the other people at the table. Neither of them were known to her as far as she remembered. “Apologies for interrupting, but I just had to ask whether you ladies still have a free seat for me?” After instinctively trying to wink with the missing eye behind her eyepatch she winked with the other one.

"Ah, this is my first one since I'm on my cadet cruise. I've never been to an adult tea party before. I just played tea with my dolls when I was like, six." Ekhesai wasn't fond of most teas, as far as she knew, so she just had some water. Oh— Mirrim! Somebody she recognized! "MIRRIM, hi! How are you?" She didn't answer this time, letting Neya take over since it was originally her table. They did only have one (1) seat left at this particular table, so!

"Sure, it looks like we're having a party. Take a seat! I'm Arata'Neya." Neya hadn't expected it to get so busy within like, fifteen minutes of her sitting down, but she didn't mind it in the slightest. It felt a little like how her friend group in the Technical Academy formed.

“Heh. Your dolls had a real fancy time, then. I think mine were fightin’ dragons,” She grinned, before nodding toward Mirrim, “More the merrier, yeah? Sykes. Fine to meet ya,” She turned her attention back to the plate she’d arranged. The sandwich she took a bite of was cucumber, she had clicked those puzzle pieces together, “Cadet cruise, huh? Rest ‘a y’all been here a while?”

Ekhesai enthusiastically patted the place beside her for Mirrim to sit. Once she did, their table would be full. Very fun! This was a good idea after all. "Oh no, they were also fighting dragons. They just had tea party breaks sometimes too."

2

"It's been a few months for me. I spent some time on the USS Iphis before coming here." It hadn't been a particularly prestigious placement, but she'd liked the work well enough. It was just about the only thing the could comment on in the current conversation, as she'd never had any dolls, so she couldn't play with any... not that she'd been a child for any significant length of time, either, so perhaps that was just one of the many experiences that would forever be lost on her.

"I've been well, dear. I hope you have been too?" She smiled, turned to Arata'Neya and Sykes and gave the two of them a small curtsy before sitting down. "It's a pleasure meeting both of you. I'm Mirrim, as you probably could have guessed. Gajina had been at countless tea parties, Mirrim hadn't. "My first pasting didn't last long enough to have a tea party, I was on medical leave within the first week. But I did do play tea parties with my nephew. There were dragons at the tea parties."

"Oh my gosh, I should get a dragon plushie.." There were a few on her bed, including her favorite black dog, but a dragon would be SO cute. "I'm kind of nervous. Attending the academy was my first time being away from home, and I'm kinda scared that when I graduate next year— oh, man, I'm graduating next year—" Elements, this lemon cake was SO good, "that I won't be here and I'll have to meet a bunch of new people... you know? Is that.. Is that hard?"

1

“Can’t say I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving aboard a ship proper,” She said to Neya with a smile. She drummed her nails against the table for a moment in thought at Neya’s question, letting out a hum, “Speakin’ as a person who went through the academy in her thirties, I might not be the best of folks to ask, but…you’ll be fine. I mean- You’ve been meeting people ‘round here, yeah?”

Damn, her thirties... Neya wasn't even ten yet. "Class settings are easy, since you see certain people all day every day. But leaving your room usually ends with meeting people, and you always have your immediate colleagues to befriend, too." Not that Neya had, particularly... okay, she hung around Senang occasionally, and they were pretty cool, but mostly if Neya was lonely she just called Charity. "And your old friends don't go away, if they're any good."

"Exactly as far as I can tell you're doing just fine. It's not always easy, but you are a darling, they would be foolish not to like you, whether it be here or somewhere else, don't worry too much." Mirrim gently patted Ekhesai's shoulder. "Well I served on a ship for a few days, which I don't think really counts, but I moved to a place I knew no one at when I was about 10 and while that was a big change you get used to it." Gajina had of course moved quite a few times, including onto a new ship, but neither could she tell them that, nor had those moves been any more difficult. (edited)

Feeling a little more at ease, Ekhesai cracked a sheepish grin. Right. It was a little hard, as a once sheltered kid, moving around and making new friends, but that was just the way of Starfleet, wasn't it. "I do hope my first station is here, though. I like it here. Everybody's really nice, and I get to have tea parties, so!"

“It sure is a nice base,” Sykes offered, having already finished up her first sandwich. She didn’t think she was the best at advice, but hey, being a bit older and having come from a sheltered place of her own gave her some experiences, “My first posting was Starbase 89, which was nothin’ like this place. It was small and quiet. Y’all have plenty of excitement out here, heh.” (edited)

"The Iphis was decently quiet, we were a designated training ship. So aside from any excercises we create, we didn't really see any real trouble. It wasn't bad, but I prefer a little more action, if only in having sparring partners who don't require an explanation every other move." She'd liked her colleagues on the Iphis well enough, but she was a creature bred for warfare, she was never going to be happy sitting on a ship using a fraction of her strength to only ever teach people far weaker than herself. "This Starbase suits me far better, so far," she added, before finally taking a bite of the carrot cake. It was... sweet, she concluded disappointedly.

"I must say I agree with you both. This starbase is far better than my first post, if only because I prefer my workplaces not literally blowing up in my face." Mirrim smiled and tried one of the cookies she had picked up. It was good. "I also really like how many different people and places this starbase has, especially compared to smaller ships."

Twelve entered the Picinic area. She'd squirrelled away a small meal on her person in a pouch settled into a pocket before she'd arrived which made this place the logical destination for the Liberated Borg. Or well, at least they reckoned so. As they stepped inside, Twelve looked around and considered their surroundings, gaze calm as it alighted upon the officers who were engaged in a conversation off deeper into the area. Moving closer to said officers as he spotted them, Twelve waited until they reached a point where any words could be heard before they greeted them. "Greetings we hope you don't mind our brief interruption, but we wished to greet you all before we settled in for our picnic lunch therefore, greetings all." She then started to settle onto one of the picnic blankets situated a bit too close to the group but at the distance calculated ensure that while conversation could be maintained she wasn't too close. She was conscious they seemed to have already established a social unit within this wider 'formal' event arranged by a individual within this wider collective of individuals. She was also conscious people tended to not want such things disrupted.

"Hi, oh, uhm. Goodbye, I guess?" When Twelve immediately walked off again, Neya turned back to Mirrim. "I like explosions, but I can see why getting caught in one would colour your experience of your workplace. I agree though, it's nice to be able to see new people every day. I liked my colleagues on the Iphis, but it was always nice when we got a new batch of trainees."

"Not good bye, more we do not wish to otherwise interrupt your conversation further while we eat our packed lunch." The Liberated Borg El-Aurian responded then as they idly noted the tone of response she'd received. The response one she idly logged for later, resolved to dissect the response and the situation to see what had ended up going wrong and how the conversation and how they'd conducted it. They'd then settled down to eat their packed lunch as their stomach started and rumbled a complaint about not being fed recently. A development that had occurred, despite her having regenerated recently. Not that that concerned them much, as she had then indulged in nutritional supplement number 224 paired with a block of nutritional supplement number 225. (edited)

Ekhesai waved politely, but had nothing left to say. If she didn't want to be part of the conversation, so be it, that was her decision. "Also a fan of explosions. Um, not murderous ones though. I know a lot about torpedoes," she admitted sheepishly.

Twelve noted the response, noted that the conversation happened to be on going and idly noted the subject of the conversation in progress that continued within earshot. Given its tactical nature, Twelve arrived at the provisional conclusion there wasn't anything that could be added by her if she elected to attempt further engagement in the conversation. She further arrived at the conclusion that she'd accidentally closed herself out of further involvement anyway and logged the conversation away mentally in her eidetic memory to be analysed. She'd eat then find somewhere else to be, she resolved then as she continued to eat.

"Technically torpedoes cause murderous explosions," Neya pointed out. She didn't mind murderous explosions personally, but to each their own. What she did think was a little weird was the... she didn't know what species they were, but the person who interrupted them, left them immediately, but settled in close enough to them to continue talking to them. Either join in or leave, maybe? That was probably impolite to say, though. "Are you planning to become a torpedo specialist, Ekhesai?"

"Yeah!" Oops. That was right, wasn't it. "My grandpa was a tactical officer, and he told me a bunch of stories. I wanted to be in it like him. What's - what do you specialize in?" She inclined her head a little, another macaron down the hatch.

Once they finished their picnic meal, Twelve smoothly slipped up onto their feet then idly started off away from the group she'd settled in close to. Not within their group but near it, how someone tended to be when they weren't yet sure people would be okay with other people joining in. At least, that was what she'd initially assumed. It'd seem that wasn't in fact the case and she should have just continued her interruption or something. She wasn't sure yet. Something to be discussed with someone who happened to be a bit more knowledgeable than a liberated Borg who quite missed her time in the cooperative. She then headed off in the direction of the orchard.

"I'm a combat analyst, I specialise in ground combat specifically. It's what I was created for, and I didn't see a reason to change that bit." She'd already changed so much over the years, but at her core she was still Jem'Hadar; created for the thrill of the fight.

"'That bit'?" Ekhesai parroted, leg bouncing as she folded her hands on her knees. "Was there something else that you changed? Wait, no, actually, that's a stupid question, obviously you're a Starfleet officer.."

Neya shot Ekhesai a quizzical look. Like, yeah, she changed from the Dominion over to the Federation, but- "My gender, Cadet..."

The Intel agent, mostly off in her own world, choked on her tea for a moment when Neya said that, laughing softly to herself, “Ah- Sorry, sorry…heh,” She shot Neya a grin, “I changed that bit, too.” Trans women solidarity. (edited)

"Oh!" Ekhesai, green in the cheeks out of embarrassment, ducked her head. "Right, right! That's really cool, sorry, maybe I should've.. ack."

Oh, this poor Cadet. "You could have assumed, since the species standard for Jem'Hadar is male. But I like the normalcy that comes with being in the Federation." She appreciated Ekhesai not assuming anything, but also... she could have! She could have.

“Folks weren’t too keen on it where I came from, either,” The agent shrugs, “But comin’ over to the Federation side of the line let me actually…be Carissa,” She paused, “…damn, I was trying so hard to be cool ‘n mysterious when I just said my last name earlier, heh.” (edited)

"We could have looked you up on the crew roster, if we were that bothered," Neya pointed out, not unkindly but very directly. "I like the name Carissa. I picked Arata'Neya out with friends at the Technical Academy, I couldn't figure out what to be called."

She gave Neya a teasing grin after the roster was mentioned. Yeah, fair point, but Sykes liked being a little shit, “Hey, whaddya know, I like the name Carissa too,” She laughed. Ah, a classic joke, “And Arata’Neya’s a pretty nice name, too.”

"They're both really pretty," Sai piped up. If she felt like she had to choose a name, what would it be? That was something she thought about from time to time. "And, ah, I'm happy you're both happier."

3

The older woman grinned to Sai and clinked her tea cup against the cadet’s, “Cheers, cadet.” She chuckled.

"Cheers!" Ekhesai beamed, significantly less embarrassed but still just a little bit sheepish nonetheless. This was turning out to be a great day, wasn't it?

"I do agree, your names are both very beautiful. The name choosing skills at the table are clearly through the roof." She smiled and silently included herself in that, after all she'd not regreted being known as Mirrim once in over a decade now.