Meeting the 2nd Officer

Posted on 05 Sep 2021 @ 1:00am by Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari

Mission: Picking up the pieces
Location: Science or another place
2520 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

[On]

Another day of going through paperwork and poring over information about various happenings in in the quadrant the Andromeda was currently in. They had to keep track of what went on at the Agora Crossroads. Ethan had sources, contacts and had been there a few times since he'd been assigned to Starbase 308. Wearily he rubbed his eyes, then something caught his attention. Lieutenant Commander Datari had been there at Agora Crossroads, rumored had it that he'd been captured there and was held prisoner. Unfortunately Ethan hadn't been in that area to help out. However it might be time to go meet said officer.

"Computer, what is the location of Commander Datari?" and when he got the location, Ethan would be heading there. Most definitely time for them to meet.

Today, Aidan had resigned himself to a day in his office, hoping to finally pore over one of the alien languages they'd recently encountered. Science chief though he might be, he refused to ignore his true passion: linguistics. He looked up from his work when there was a knocking on the door. "Come!" the Trill called, a mild frown of annoyance crossing his face.

Ethan stepped in, his eyes panning over the chief science officer then around the office then back to the trill behind the desk. "Sorry to disturb you, sir, however I wanted to meet the command staff of the Andromeda. I'm Lieutenant Ethan Smith Assistant chief of intelligence"

"Sure," Aidan gestured to the seat across from his desk and turned his PADD face down. "Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari, Chief of Science and Second Officer," he added, "I'm a busy man lieutenant, please make it quick, what can I do for you?"

"Well besides meeting you face to face, I had a question or two about something. It is about Agora Crossroads. That is if I can talk to you about that. I had heard rumors of you being there. " Ethan stopped for a moment as he tried to figure out a way to word his next question, then decided to see if Datari had something to say before Ethan continued.

"I was there," the Trill answered, "it's not one of my favourite subjects however. I got very injured during my...stay. I will answer what I can, but I can't answer all questions."

"I actually was there, well not where you may have been, and not where I could help anyone out either." Ethan replied. "I had heard rumors of someone from Starfleet having been captured. And I ended up finding out that it was you. Anyway, is there anything I can do for you or anything you can tell me where you were at?"

Aidan shook his head. "I don't know where I was exactly. I can tell you I was treated quite well, as far as the circumstances allowed anyway. I was punished when I tried to escape, and when I refused to serve. A final time was when I strayed somewhere I apparently wasn't supposed to go, and I resisted being restrained. But other than that, I was treated well. I had something to do, I had fresh food, fresh clothes and access to means for personal hygiene."

Ethan nodded. "Well other than the harsh punishment you had faced, at which I am still sorry you went through that. But glad you had the other necessities. I know of others who don't even do that for their captives. The stuff I've seen there." he shakes his head as if to clear it. "Well I don't suppose you want to talk anymore since you did say you were working on something...Out of curiosity, are you also a language teacher? I've been wanting to brush up on my languages."

"The Don I was... enslaved... to..." Aidan hesitated for a moment. "He is different. He believes that by treating workers well, they are more productive. Relationships are allowed, children are born. For some odd reason, from what I observed they were actually happy?" He shook his head. "If I hadn't had Emme, or a baby on the way at the time, it might've been different. But I had a duty, no an obligation, to return to them. If you want more inside information, you'd best speak to Iola. She's the Don's right hand, his envoy. She knows far more than I do."

He sat up a little straighter. "Linguistics is my area of expertise...what are you looking for?"

"Well, I do know a bit of Vulcan, Romulan and Klingon but could do with some brush up. However there is Orion I'd like to learn and some other Earth languages besides French and Spanish I'm interested in learning. Think you could help me out there?" Ethan replied.

"I do happen to speak all of those languages," the Trill answered proudly, "which would you like to start with?"

"Well, with where we are, I am wondering if learning the language of the Orions would be more useful than Italian." giving a bit of a smile. "I know some phrases but.. they are not good for polite company." Ethan chuckling slightly.

"Orion may be more useful, and not all Orions are like that. You are aware we have a few on board?" Aidan shook his head in dismay. "One of them was actually of great help to me during my captivity, and she's on board now. She's the envoy of one of the Dons."

Ethan nodded, "I had heard of the Envoy... Iola is her name? And yes, I wil agree with you, Orion would be of great use."

"Yes Iola, though she's still learning about her culture. She's never been on her people's homeworld and as far as I know, hasn't really met any other Orions. She was raised on that planet, and she has no memory of anyone other than her Don and whoever raised her to be a servant. She's the Don's personal assistant, and liaison." He smiled fondly as he talked about the woman. "She could only sign, and write, when I first met her, she had never learned to speak. So...perhaps you can practice with her?"

Ethan thought over what Aidan had said then nodded. "Okay I don't mind at all. You can be the teacher and we can practice. Works for me." giving a smile. "I am looking forward to furthering my education."

"I'm happy to assist lieutenant," the Trill smiled, "was there anything else you needed?"

Ethan thought over a moment or two then shook his head. "Nothing else comes to mind. Are there any questions you might have for me?" the intelligence officer asked.

"None that come to mind at present," Aidan answered, "unless there's anything you can tell me in regards to the other Dons in the Crossroads? Or have found anything of scientific interest?"

"I've not gotten anymore information as to the other Dons but I will be checking in with my sources. And nothing on anything scientific yet, I will have to go through my logs just in case I have something there." giving a smile. "Well since I've nothing more, I'll be seeing you later sometime as even with this ship the size of this one, paths do tend to cross." rising up from the chair. "Thank you for your time."

"That they do." Aidan smiled as he rose as well. "Tell me lieutenant... what do you do for fun, when you're not learning additional languages?"

"Well I have varied interests, when I was on Starbase 308 I performed magic shows. Another thing I do like to do is make jewelry. I do like to keep up with my skills in knives and swords and phasers. " Ethan stated to Aidan.

The Trill's eyes lit up at that. "Swords?" he queried, "and what kind of knives?" He grinned. "I have swords, and some Andorian bladed weapons."

"I have in my possession, two kriss blades, they are the ones which are curvy. and a bat'leth as well as a mek'leth also have a katana and a ninjato." he looked with interest. "Andorian blades, that sounds intriguing."

Aidan shuddered. "Klingon weapons," he muttered, shaking his head. Despite all these years, he still had a profound dislike towards Klingons and anything associated with it. "Andorian swords, and an ushaan-tor. And I have two ancient blades that were a gift from my first boyfriend... an extinct Mayan culture. But not Terran... they were a species he knew when he was uhm... younger." Aidan smiled thinly. "My boyfriend was El-Aurian."

Ethan nodded, "I see, the El-Aurians have seen quite a bit in their lifetimes. I do believe the Borg decided to eradicate their home planet, much like that Planet Killer did in Kirk's time." the intelligence officer remarked. "From your reaction to my mentioning the Klingon blades. I take it you have a very strong dislike for them?"

"That's an understatement," the Trill answered softly, looking away. "Klingons killed him... right in front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop them." He shook his head. "It's quite some time ago now as I was just eighteen then, and I don't harbour the hate anymore that I did then, but yeah... I don't like Klingons."

"I do have a couple of Klingon friends or more. I have no idea what they see in me, or why we are friends but hey" Ethan shrugged "At least we are friends. I am sorry your loved one had been killed though, its not something that anyone would be wanting to experience."

"Probably something ado with honour," the Trill ventured carefully, "though these had no honour.... they killed a defenseless man." Though long ago now, the memory was still a painful one, and Aidan swallowed a few times. "Like I said... I don't really hate them anymore, but I doubt I'll be friendly with one anytime soon." He sighed, shaking his head again. "It's not worth dredging up," he finally admitted, rummaging around in his desk for a moment, then tapped a few controls on his computer. After a minute or so, he handed a PADD over. "This should help you with the basics of the Orion main language," he finally said.

Ethan gave a nod, "Killing someone who was defenseless, that certainly is a dishonorable action, but there are those who don't care. In their mind the Federation have no honor either, so they wouldn't care if someone has no weapon. " he walked over and accepted the PaDD from Aidan, "Thank you, I'll definitely put this to good use." giving a slight smile. "Well now I'll head back to work, well, make that after I go get some dinner. It is after shift. Sometimes I get caught up in sifting through the information that trickles in. All part of being in intelligence."

"I know what you mean, I've been Intel chief for a short time myself. Even underwent interrogation training, which probably was one of the hardest things I've ever done...duty wise." Aidan nodded in understanding. "I'm heading home shortly myself, spend some time with my little girl and with Sherlock. Poor thing feels terribly neglected, and I suppose I have..." He smiled guiltily at that. "If you encounter any issues with that PADD, come see me and I'll set you up with Iola."

"I will definitely let you know, and enjoy your time with your baby." Ethan smiling. "A child is a very precious being. Very precious indeed, and should not be sold on the market." a distant look came into his eyes, he stood there for a few moments in silence and then blinked as if coming back to the present. "Well I must be off. Thank you again, Commander Datari." turning to leave.

"Did you lose someone on the markets?" Aidan asked quickly, having caught the absent look. He considered it an odd remark to be made just out of the blue.

Ethan turned back to look at Datari, "No, I didn't lose anyone at the market. I stopped a shipment from making it there. Just that remark you had made about your child, just brought up a mostly recent memory. A kiss of a grateful five year old girl thanking me for a new pair of shoes." he chuckled. "For just a moment, I caught a glimpse of what it would be like to have a child of my own, and hear a child say, 'I love you' brings solace to a person's soul." looking at Aidan. "Thankfully, the planet killer was stopped before it reached her home planet. And don't worry, they don't know I am part of the Federation. "

"To be fair, I never even dreamed of having a child," Aidan admitted, "at least not before marrying Emme. And even then we never really planned for a child, but I'm very happy that I do have my little girl. I feel it was meant to be, even if Emme and I somehow have grown apart."

"That is sad when that happens, I hope to find a woman who can deal with my quirks overlook my faults and see my good qualities. Someday I will find her, and we raise a family, hopefully. Until then I just work and progress in other matters." Ethan remarked.

"And perhaps you will find the man of your dreams," Aidan supplied, "you never know how things might go. I never thought I would marry a woman, and yet here I am. Our love was unique and not like anything I had experienced. Different but no less real." He shrugged. "Before Emme I had never even considered dating a woman, it just didn't occur to me."

"I am strongly heterosexual, Commander. Nothing against people's choice of whom they love but, I have found that my tastes goes towards women. And I am not going to change my mind. Hope you don't mind my being direct. If I were a woman, I would find you attractive and I am confident in myself to even say you are attractive. However I do not have any desire to explore a relationship with someone of my own gender. I have had offers but I have said no. I can extend friendship though, if you are of a mind to accept a possibility there." Ethan looking at Aidan.

"Oh I wasn't making any suggestions, especially not between yourself and me," the Trill waved it off, "I'm just saying you might be surprised. I always thought I was homosexual. I know it's said joined Trills are actually pansexual but I'm not joined. And I don't think I'll ever find a woman like Emme again." He grinned at the man. "Friendship however I gladly accept, one can never have enough friends."

Ethan gave a nod and a smile. "Well, I do welcome having friends, they make life a lot better. Well, off I go, and you have a great day with your precious one." with that he turned and headed down the corridor, then disappeared around the corner from view.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Ethan Smith
Assistant Chief of Intelligence
NPC: Hawkins

Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari
Chief Science Officer