That new room smell

Posted on Sun May 16th, 2021 @ 9:33am by Ensign Kateyo Fenn

Mission: By Artemis' Bow
Location: Kayrah's personal quarters, USS Athena
2502 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

Kayrah was heading for her quarters after an eventful day on the bridge. Things were progressing a lot faster than she had imagined when she first set foot on this ship. She had requested an engineer to come to her quarters to fix the replicator, it had been on the fritz when she had just arrived and would only replicate lukewarm products, regardless of the requested temperature. She had just been glad that she hadn't asked for ice cream.

Her lounging around the bridge for a bit after her shift meant that she was coming to her room a bit later than she had intended, she just hoped that the engineer dispatched to her service request hadn't been sitting there for twelve minutes already as she rounded the corner to get to her quarters.

Teyo was annoyed. After an extremely stern talk from Xavier, he was trying his best on this ship, he was actually trying to be the Starfleet officer the universe expected him to be. This meant that his hair was cut within regulation, his uniform was freshly pressed and his boots were polished. 'My boots are polished!' He thought to himself. He was kind of disgusted, he hadn't polished his boots since the first day of the Academy, it was his thing. But, it was a new ship and he was trying.

The reason he was annoyed was because, for some reason he had been put on the maintenance crew, maintenance, like a general dog's body. He was a propulsion specialist. He could realign the warp coils in his sleep. He could adjust the impulse engine manifolds blindfolded. 'I'm pretty much a genius, and they have me fixing replicators for senior staff who do nothing but get junior officers to do their dirty work and take all of the credit for it' he thought with pure disdain. And to top it off, whoever this Lieutenant Kayrah was, they were late. Normally Teyo would have given up by now and moved on to the next BS job on his neverending list, but he was trying his best. And so he waited, growing more annoyed by the second.

"Ensign, hi, I'm so sorry for my tardiness, I hope you haven't been waiting long," The Risian made her way over to in front of her quarters and extended a hand to the Trill engineer, who clearly took Starfleet protocol very seriously, "it's my first day here, there were some things that needed sorting out with the beta shift tac/sec officer." She had a wide smile and opened the door for them, "don't mind the mess, I'd offer you a drink or some food, but I think the best I can manage is an Andalusian gazpacho." She hoped to break some of the awkwardness that usually came from visiting a stranger in their personal quarters.

Any annoyance that Teyo felt melted away instantly once he locked eyes with the beautiful Risian, he really was a sucker for a beautiful person, which in his head was most people, one couldn't be too fussy when exploring the deepest, darkest regions of space. "No worries Lieutenant," he said as he shook her hand. "Ensign Fenn, here at your disposal," he added as he stuck his chest out slightly, almost peacocking.

He followed her into the quarters and shook his head at the drink offer. "I'm quite okay, thank you. What seems to be the problem here?" He asked trying to stay professional, it most likely wouldn't last.

Kayrah had expected her rather detailed report on the replicator's malfunction to have been shared with the engineer sent to look at it, though it did explain why her gazpacho joke had fallen flat, "it serves up everything I order at a very pleasant 28 and a half degrees Celsius." she sighed a bit, it had been huge let down when she wanted to grab some quick breakfast this morning, "works fine for croissants, not so much for banana oatmeal." she pointed at the replicator in the corner.

Without thinking too much of it she immediately kicked off her boots, balled up her socks and threw them in the general direction of her bedroom and she pulled her uniform shirt over her head, balling it up and lobbing it in the same direction as her socks to be reclimated later.

"Who doesn't like cold oatmeal?" Teyo asked as he rolled his eyes in an overly sarcastic manner. "I'm sure we can get you sorted in no time," he added as he opened his tool kit and pull out his tricorder and hyper-spanner. He watched as she pulled off her uniform and tossed everything on the floor. "Is your reclimator broken too?" He asked with a smile on his dark face.

"What are you, my wife?" Kayrah immediately shot back, before adding a laugh and then "nah, I thought it was bad manners to walk out the room. Figured I'd grab it when I went for a shower when you left." She leaned against the wall near him, "Cold oatmeal, I'm not a fan off but could've stomached, it's the tepid banana I couldn't stand."

"You don't have to wait for me to leave before you have a shower, honestly don't mind me," Teyo said with a glint in his eye.

"I think I'd rather wait," Kayrah looked over his shoulder before she realised she was hovering, "Oh, I'm so sorry, must be super annoying. I'll just casually go lounge on the Starfleet Standard issue couch they installed for me." She pointed across the room, "you get to do this sort of stuff a lot, or do they only wheel you out for premium service to senior staff?"

Teyo was annoyed that she hadn't taken him up on his offer, but really what did he expect? She mentioned a wife, something he had completely ignored in the heat of the moment. He made his way over to the replicator and flipped open his tricorder. It hummed and bleeped as it scanned the unit for signs of external and internal damage. "A little too much," he answered, unable to keep the frustration out of his voice. "Like you, I'm new here too. I'm a propulsion specialist, but I think the Chief is putting me through my paces, before I get the 'good' assignments." He pressed a few buttons on the tricorder before he continued. "Not many Risians in Starfleet, what's your story and how did you end up in security?"

"Ehm. Yeah, good question," Kayrah reached for her guitar that she had taken out of its travel bag and propped up against the armrest. She absentmindedly started to pluck away at the strings, "Risa is such a dull place, everything is planned and organised all the way down to the weather." she played a soothing melody, "everything for the pleasure of our honoured guests" there was a bit of a sigh from her, it was clear she was happy to be away from there for a bit, "had to stretch my legs, get out." she played on, "I was working for the Stormriders back on Risa, a Zero-G Football team, worked with the offensive team. Made you think tactically in three dimensions." She continued playing and the melody picked up in tempo, "So I'm much more of a Tactical officer than a Security one, but my culture and upbringing gave me a knack of dealing with people and many of the smaller vessels combine the duties into a single department." She shrugged a bit, taking the melody she was playing to a natural conclusion, "it almost feels like a side-gig, I take a lot of extended leave to go back home."

Teyo was completely mesmerised by the melody and the elegance as her fingers stroked the strings. Like most people of her species, she was beautiful and oozed grace and poise. "If I had the chance to live on Risa, I don't think I would ever leave. The weather, the culture, the traditions, the sights, the men, the women... if I was to believe in heaven, I think Risa would be it."

"It's amazing," Kayrah admitted, "for a summer or an extended leave. It's all so controlled and planned and, wait, I'll show you." She started playing a melody. It was smooth and nice and took you on a pleasant trip to somewhere sunny. It ebbed and flowed really nicely but never really strayed too far from its basic core melody. She played for about a minute before stopping, "that was pretty nice right, something you can play at any time and place. People don't really mind." She then started playing again, the same core melody to start with, but it didn't take long for her to stray from the path, throwing in a notes ladder that completely changed the vibe, suddenly getting very dark undertones. It got stuck in that melancholy for a moment before a bright note pricked through. Then another. They started to add together before it came back to that familiar melody as she finished the second little bit, "now, which one feels better?"

Teyo's tricorder lay forgotten in his hand, the bings and bleeps all but disappeared as Kayrah's playing was the only sound in the room, in the sector. The melody was so enchanting and all he wanted to do was listen to her play and then pull her close and start dancing with her. The music would obviously stop if he did that, but they would make their own melody, a melody of two. "The second one," he said when she had finished. "There was more to it, more emotions."

Kayrah nodded, she agreed, everyone always agreed, it was the best way to explain to surprised people why she'd rather be on a ship than on the paradise planet, "Risa is like the first melody." She went back to playing the soft melody to fill the silence, "it's an amazing backdrop for great things to happen to you. Holiday infatuations, impulsive decisions to order that fish dish you've never even heard of, going rock climbing for the first time." She shrugged a bit, continuing to play the background music, "it doesn't lead to a fulfilling life."

"I understand," the Trill responded earnestly, "well at least I think I do." He eyed the woman for a moment or two, she was certainly intriguing and had much more depth than he had initially suspected. He supposed his first assessment of her was unfair, he had prejudged her based on her race and her beauty. Of course, not everyone wanted to live in 'paradise' where was the fun in that? In paradise the unexpected never happened, everyone was so thrilled to not have the same struggles of their ancestors, they had almost forgotten how to live. That was no way of life really. As a self-proclaimed instigator of mayhem, he should have understood this much quicker than he had done. "It makes total sense, I hope I didn't offend you," he said sincerely.

"I don't offend that easily, Ensign" Kayrah smiled and leaned back, "so, any chance I'll be having a steaming hot curry tonight? Or would I be better off in the mess?" She nodded in the direction of the replicator as she absentmindedly played away on her guitar. It had been a long day and it would be good to get a hot meal in her.

"Oh right, the replicator," Teyo said, completely forgetting why he was there in the first place. It looked at the forgotten tricorder in his hand that was still beeping and flashing, telling him the answer to a query he had requested what felt like hours ago. "It's just a problem with the thermostat regulator," he said to the woman who was still playing away on her guitar. "It's an easy fix." He closed the tricorder, put it away, and started pulling a few tools out of his kit. He opened the front panel of the replicator unit and started to pull out a cylinder-shaped object. "Shame really, if it was something a bit more complex I would have the best excuse to ask you out for dinner."

"People shouldn't need excuses to ask for the company of other people," Kayrah changed the melody to a more mysterious theme, making the situation a bit more dramatic than it ought to be. There was a small part of her that enjoyed putting people on the wrong foot.

Teyo pondered this for a moment, the words themselves were true and he normally was more forthcoming in situations like this. "You're right," he conceded. "So would you like to have dinner with me later this evening?"

"That sounds lovely," Kayrah responded with a smile, "come pick me up when you finish your shift, you know where to find me after all." She finished plucking away at the guitar leaving an awkward silence between the two of them, "now, if you'll excuse me I have to get ready for a hot date tonight."

Teyo smiled, "erm... okay," he said a little baffled. He was used to a bit more back and forth before getting a date. He clearly forgot how straight to the point most Risians were. He was about to leave the room when he remembered he was still 'on the clock' so to speak. He replaced the cylinder component he had removed and scanned the unti with his tricorder, the readings were normal. "You're all set," he said to the woman as he closed up the unit.

"Computer, Risian spiced tea, warm, extra sweet." Teyo watched as the golden coloured drink materialised on the replicator pad. Before he grabbed the drink, he could feel the heat coming from it, indicating that his repair job had been successful. He took the drink and placed it on the coffee table near where Kayrah had been strumming, nonchalantly, on her guitar. "Something to get you in the mood for tonight," he said with a smile. He hoped that she would appreciate the aphrodisiac from her homeworld. "See you later," he said, grabbed his toolbox and made for the door.

"See you soon," Kayrah put her guitar aside and reached for the tea, she raised the cup in thanks to Kateyo before he left the room. When the doors closed behind him she got up from where she was sat and headed to the replicator, she had never really cared for her people's spiced tea, and when it was replicated it lost all of the properties it was tauted for anyway. She placed it back into the replicator and made the computer take it back. She just needed a little something to get her to the dinner date with the Ensign, so she ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, which would do for now. With the plate in hand, eating the sandwich as she walked, she made her way over to her bedroom. The arduous task of finding something nice to wear had only just begun.