Greeting Sorine
Posted on Mon Apr 10th, 2023 @ 10:15am by Lieutenant Sorine Kaida & Lieutenant JG Andrew Griffin
Edited on on Mon Apr 10th, 2023 @ 9:28pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
The Hunt Begins
Location: Lounge - Deck 5 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD004 1000 hrs
-Lounge-
Andy was feeling thirsty. He knew eating all those pastries when meeting the Captain was a bad idea.His nerves had taken over his stomach.Now he needed to wet his whistle.
Griffin selected a large mug of tea minus sweeteners. Then looked for somewhere to sit. As Andy moved along he saw someone sitting alone.
“ Hello May I join you?” He asked
Kaida looked up, rather surprised at being addressed in a fairly empty lounge. She nodded and then realized it would be rude not to speak. "Yes, of course." He didn't look familiar but then no one around here would as she hadn't met most of her fellow officers yet. "Kaida," she said, passing over her family surname and the tradition of using it first instead of the given name. Lord knows she'd explained that plenty of times in her life, especially because she'd been raised by humans and they found it very confusing most of the time if they hadn't served with a Bajoran officer before.
Serving on DS9 Andy had served with plenty of Bajoran officers. So he was a little surprised to hear Sorine use her given name first. He hoped this was not going to be a bad omen. After all he was pairing up with her.
“ Hello Andy Griffin. Are you Lieutenant Sorine?” He asked.
"I am." Kaida didn't realize that he might have been looking for her. "I guess we'll be working together I heard." She wasn't sure what to think about a new partner.
Griffin could tell Kaida had misgivings about him. Well it was only natural after all he was a newbie here. But how should he reassure her. That he was just some flash in the pan.
“ I must say your food replicators are very good. This mug of tea actual tastes like Assam tea. It even has the correct ratio of milk. I know you have misgivings about me. Which is understandable as I am a newbie and time will tell. But I can assure you that I am a team player.” Andy said.
Kaida looked up at him surprised. "Oh I wasn't even thinking that. I'm fresh off the boat here myself. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. I just wasn't sure where to start getting to know you. I'm not great at the social stuff. I'd prefer to read a book father than have a conversation most times."
“ Me to. I am not usually running around shaking hands and saying hello. But after two years on DS9 guarding drunken Klingons and stopping bar brawls. I feel like my career has begun again. What authors do you like?” Andy asked
"Oh I guess I'm kind of a traditionalist, I prefer ancient classics like Jane Austen and Agatha Christie. I don’t always read mysteries either. Well obviously. " She said as she thought about mentioning Austen.
“ I am not up on Jane Austen but I do like Agatha Christie her Miss Marple books remind me of the village were my Grandparents live.” Andy said
"Interesting. Unfortunately I haven't done a lot of traveling on Earth. I pretty much stayed in the one spot after I was adopted. My mind wouldn't let me focus on anything but what was happening back on Bajor." Kaida didn't really feel like sharing anymore of that particular time in her life. "But someday I'm going to go back and explore, see more of all the planets I haven't yet explored. Do you like to travel?"
“ Yes. But have not had much experience really. Most of my holiday time was spent on Earth. You see my parents run a Kelp farm on the east coast of England. I did once spend a month at a Bajoran monastery but that was to guard against a rogue Cardassian looking to resurrect Gul Dukat.” Andy replied.
"Kelp?" Kaida asked, the word didn't seem to register with her despite the fact that she was fluent in both Bajoran and Federation Standard without the use of a translation device. "Oh yes, " Kaida said, shuddering at the thought of Gul Dukat. "I'm told it's very beautiful. I haven't been back since I was a child. Someday I will return." Someday when she could finally let go of what had happened to her parents and brother. Until she solved that particular mystery she didn't think she could face things in her hometown. Too many bad memories. "Do you miss it? Where you were raised I mean?" She didn't know what made her ask it as she generally wasn't that curious about her colleagues.
“ On Earth I was raised in Great Yarmouth. It’s a heritage coastal town on the East Coast of England. Thankfully they shunned all modern looking buildings to keep it as it looked in the 2020’s even the hotels are made to look old fashioned. Just off shore there used to be a wind farm. It was moved and my parents set up a kelp farm in the area. But for my education I went to Scotland to one of Edinburghs top boarding schools.You see as a kid I was a bit of a rascal.” Andy said.
"You didn't blow up the kelp did you?" Kaida asked, still not quite understanding what that was. But she intended to look it up later. Kaida couldn't call herself a rascal, she was a quiet and responsible child, perhaps too responsible. A lot had been placed on her shoulders as a child on Bajor and she had never forgotten her sense of responsibility. "How did you get into investigations?"
“ Oh no. You see when I was kid I was quite small so a good target for bullies. So I learned a rather unique way to fight back. I would literally drop to the floor and grab their groins. Quite a few of them were turned into Sopranos I held on for ages……..I got the nickname of the Grabber. Anyway how did I get into investigating? It all started at boarding school in Glasgow. I joined an after school club reading club they had these really old paper books. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. I read the Speckled Band and I was completely hooked. Agatha Christie , Terrance Strong even Lee Child. As I read it became clear that this is what I wanted to do. To be an I investigator. How about yourself?” Andy asked
Kaida was trying her hardest not to laugh while he was speaking. She looked thoughtful as he explained how he got into investigations. Kaida had read none of those as a young child. It wasn't until she came to Earth that she'd become aware of them. Her history of investigations started earlier than that. "Oh," Kaida replied, supposing he'd find out sooner or later. Everyone did. "My family disappeared when I was 9. That makes you want to solve the mystery."
“ I am sorry to hear that. As you know I was stationed on DS9 so I saw and heard first hand of all the terrible things that happened to your people. You have a beautiful home world I really enjoyed the Monastery of the Kai gardens. It was hard to believe anyone could do such terrible things.” Andy said
"And yet we are the ones who have to investigate the terrible crimes. Do you have any faith in people left?" Kaida asked curiously. She wanted to believe despite everything she'd seen that deep down most people were good. But it was hard, after everything her people had been through, everything that happened in the history of Earth or of any number of planets, that there was goodness.
“ I know in our job we deal with the bad side of our society. But not everyone is out to kill the other person. There is an old Earth religion that believes in balance.Where ever there is light you must have darkness. This is the only way light can shine through. In a way we must have balance to do our job fairly.” Andy said.
"Hmm," Kaida replied, thinking about what he'd said. She was glad someone could see things that way. Perhaps there would be a balance between them. She would be more pessimistic and he would be optimistic. "That certainly is an interesting way of thinking of things. Do you consider yourself a religious man Andy?"
“ Not really. My parents are marine scientists so they pretty much taught me all about evolution and all that. The scientific ruling on Earth is all life spawned from its oceans. But personally I am open to religion
after all I have witnessed in my travels so far. Not everything in the universe could have crawled out of their respective oceans.” Andrew replied
"Hmm. It's something I've thought about a lot. My parents, that is my birth parents were religious. They believed in the profits despite everything they had seen. I don't know. I believe in something but I've never been able to identify exactly what that something is." She took a sip of her drink. "I should say I want to believe. But I lack faith."
Andrew was feeling a little uncomfortable going down this path. He felt that he was not overly qualified to talk about faith. Plus after his very last assignment on DS9 before leaving. Had centred around stopping a cult from trying to bring Gul Dukat back from the dead. So Andy really wanted to avoid talking about that.
“ So did you say before that you were also new to this crew?” He asked.
Kaida nodded. "Brand new. I've only met a couple of people on this crew. Are you all settled in yet? If you are, would you be interested in doing a little bit of climbing with me on the holodeck? I consider it a great way to get to know one another."
“Oh yes. It’s a nice ship and it kind of makes a change being able to flail one’s around around in the morning. Without careering into a bulk head banging one’s elbows. Climbing. Never really did much climbing. Great Yarmouth where I grew up is rather flat. But when I was at school in Scotland I did a little bit. So why not. I wonder what our first case will be?” Andy woundered.
Kaida shook her head. "I'm sure something will pop up soon, it always does. Come on. No time like the present. Let's see what you've got in the holodeck," she joked, holding out her hand to him to help him up from his chair. "We can't sit around all day."
“ Lead the way.” Andy said.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Sorine Kaida
Criminal Investigations Officer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Andrew Griffin
Criminal Investigations Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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