When Worlds Collide

Posted on Thu Nov 11th, 2021 @ 1:38am by Lieutenant Irynya & Lieutenant Kennedy Ryan Walsh & Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant Timmoz

Mission: Starbase Shoreleave
Location: Junior Crew Quarters - Deck 4
Timeline: Mission Day 4 at 2145

Previously...
Timmoz's mouth opened to speak but the hushed sigh of the quarters' doors opening stopped him. Inside stepped a tall, skinny person with a mop of sweaty, curly hair. He was very pale and lanky, dressed in spandex shorts and a wet SOJO t-shirts stained around the neck, small of the back and underarms. he stooped and rested his hands on his knees, panting softly.

"Hi Iry," the stranger panted. "How-" he stopped when a strange and earthen scent browbeat his aquiline nose. Noah glanced more exactly to see a strange man- a strange Orion man- wrapped up with Irynya. He wore strange, slinky black clothes with his arms and most of his chest bare. "Uh... H-hi?" Noah said. His dark eyes swept to Irynya and back, dissonance prickling his anxiety about what he'd just walked in on.

And now...

Irynya couldn't help a pang of sympathy for Noah, particularly in light of the topic she and Timmoz had just been discussing. With slow deliberateness, she shifted, eyes on Noah the whole time. She didn't pull away from Timmoz, but she did straighten slightly, moving her hands so that it was clearer where they were. Every move she made was designed to calm and de-escalate, to reassure and clarify without words what Noah had walked into. She grinned encouragingly at the younger man, while her eyes darted over him, unable to miss his attire in the mix of this circumstance.

"Noah, this is Lieutenant Timmoz," she said, voice soothing, "He and I served together on the Adelphi. He was originally assigned to the Sojo before being re-assigned temporarily."

She turned slightly to address Timmoz then. "Timmoz, Midshipman Noah Balsam," she introduced before adding, "The one I adopted."

"Oh." Noah hesitated his way through a nod. His eyes stayed on Irynya during her slow drift. He wasn't perturbed but it was strange to see his friend cuddling with someone other than Kennedy. Especially one he had never seen aboard ship before. When he heard the rank, Noah stiffened, tightening up his stance while Timmoz looked on with more amusement.

The Orion straightened with his own casual air, surveying the Cadet with a quick gaze. "Ah. Irynya has mentioned you a few times since I came aboard, Midshipman."

"Yessir," Noah said clearly.

Timmoz smirked, "I remember this phase," he mused to Irnya with a gentle gesture at the boy, "But I didn't do it myself. An officer in the room, and cadets go as rigid as a body on Rigel X." He clucked with bemused merriment, "We are all friends here, Midshipman Noah Balsam. Relax before you sprain something."

Noah hesitated and then swung into an easy stance. "N-nice to meet you. Um. Are-are you serving aboard here or... on um, on-on the station?"

Timmoz clarified, "The Sojourner is my post."

"Sorry Noah," Iry said with a half apologetic shrug, "I should have been more specific. Timmoz is our Chief Flight Controller." She met his eyes, expression intent, "The one who I have been filling in for.".

Noah's mouth rounded in a voiceless, Oh. He nodded a couple of times, still not quite understanding what he was bearing witness to. The cadet tucked his curls behind his ear, a motion that Timmoz followed with his gaze. Noah watched him, trying to discern why this strange man was smiling at him.

Shifting again Iry sat forward, snagging her glass of whisky and Timmoz's, the latter glass exchanging hands with long green fingers. "Replicate a glass and join us," she invited, head tilting to her other side. She pulled her arm away from Timmoz's abdomen, opening her other side up if Noah wanted to sit. And then, with some deliberateness, she added. "It's warm over here."

Noah hesitated, "Are-are you sure I'm not interrupting?" He gestured at them.

Timmoz's smile broke into a chuckle, "What do you think this is that you are interrupting?" He glanced slyly at Irynya and then back, "And what makes you think one more wouldn't be welcome?" Noah shifted and he opened his mouth. Timmoz spoke over his initial stutter, "We're just friends, Balsam. That haven't caught up for months." He gestured at the drink, "So join us and have a drink."

Irynya watched the exchange between Timmoz and Noah with interest for a long moment and then, seeming to come to a decision, unwrapped herself from Timmoz and made her way over to the replicator, lacing one of her arms through Noah's as she want to drag him along.

"Rocks glass, with ice," she informed it, turning to Noah with a wink.

She spoke quietly then, her voice pitched specifically for Noah's ears. "You remember how there was a lot of touching, generally, when we did this?" Here she lightly dabbed Noah's forehead with her forefinger. "This," she tilted her head to Timmoz, "is a lot like that. Risians and Orions are both physically emotive races. I'd snuggle you the same way I'm snuggling him without blinking if I thought you'd be comfortable with it." She searched his face for a second, trying to gauge if he understood what she was saying. "Besides that... you've had a ja'risia ceremony. That makes you Risian by adoption if not by birth."

"Oh," Noah said more privately between them. Noah glanced at Timmoz and then back. As conspiratorially he whispered, "Why's he looking at me like that?"

"He thinks you're hot," she said straightforwardly. "He's not wrong." She shrugged lightly a small smile on her face.

She picked up the rocks glass then, offering it to him. "I want you to be comfortable, but I also would love you to join us. I think you'll find Timmoz interesting."

Noah glanced at the Orion again. "Um. I-I need to change first. I um, had to do a calisthenics test for my Academy credits." Noah's wide mouth faltered and then drew up. "If-if that's OK? I-I mean I would but..." his nose wrinkled, "I-I'm kind of gross right now."

Irynya's smile broadened to a grin and she squeezed his arm where she had hers looped through it. "Absolutely. Go get comfy. Then come drink with us."

Noah, who was still digesting what she'd said to him, robotically turned and walked to his door. he glanced back at the pair of them and then stepped inside. The whisper of his door gave them back their privacy- for the moment. Timmoz issued a chuckle and reached for his glass. He sipped the scotch within, rose, set it down and stretched.

Irynya shook her head, chuckling. "He's onto you," she said, returning to Timmoz and picking up her own glass to take a sip. "But he says he'll join us."

Timmoz chuckled, "No, he's not," he said with a purr, whilst he reached back and undid his hair. With a pop his hair began a quick bristle out into its normal orb of frizz and curl. "He's innocent. I would not say hot." Timmoz smiled, "He's... cute," Timmoz gestured at the closed door, "But he couldn't handle me." Timmoz smiled toothily. "He has a nice seat. He would be too anxious to enjoy what I could do with it."

A warm laugh escaped the Risian at Timmoz's description. So he had heard her. She shook her head at him, laugh simmering to a chuckle. It was a welcome to change to discuss things like this so openly.

"He's teachable," she said with a wink. "And I do think he's hot, though there's little I can do about that for now." She raised her glass tilting it in the direction of his room. "If it's a decision between you or I, though... I call dibs."

The Orion tucked lips, smiling around another sip. "Mmm, if that day comes, enjoy," he said. "Is this Doctor-Assistant of yours similar?"

"Teachable?" She asked, eyebrows raising suggestively. "He seems open to being taught. And I am a patient teacher." She grinned wolfishly at him, downing the last of her drink.

"Another ball of ice?" She asked, indicating his glass with her own as she made her way over to the replicator.

Timmoz shook his head as the offer of ice. "Straight alcohol now," he replied. He sat back down on the couch and leaned into the cushions. "I noticed a lot of damage to the ship," he said, toppling his hands on his head, "What happened."

Iry returned from the replicator quickly, snagging the neck of the whisky bottle and tipping a few fingers into each of their glasses as well as Noah's. Handing the ice-free glass to Timmoz she returned to sitting next to him, sipping the freshly poured liquor slowly.

"Blanket on or off?" she asked taking another quick sip from her glass before balancing the glass on her thigh, one hand on it lightly to keep it from toppling.

Timmoz gestured at it, while he listened, "On." He sipped the drink and was puzzled how the liquor had a slightly different flavor to it without ice.

Tucking her glass in one hand the Risian reached across them, pulling the blanket back across them both. She pursed her lips then, considering how best to answer his question. "Finding Captain Kodak's people was... a bit of a scavenger hunt," she explained. "Most of the exterior damage... well... all of it at this point... was from rogue mining drones in the Ankerus Asteroid Cluster. A bit of that may have been my fault. We had poor visibility at Ankerus and the drones were attaching themselves to the ship. I may have done a bit of... fancy flying... to take some of them off the hull."

Timmoz nodded whilst he again moved his arm around Irynya's shoulders. "Drones attaching to the hull," his brows popped, "Did Tactical fail to rotate the shield harmonics and polarize the hull?"

Irynya chuckled, the sound less amused and more strained than she liked. For a brief moment she was self conscious, but the uncertainty passed quickly. "There were drones on the ship too," she explained burrowing back into Timmoz's side as she did. "They were programmed to attack us. The bridge was damaged pretty badly, but yes, at some point tactical rotated the shield harmonics and polarized the hull."

A dark look crossed her face, brows knitting while she blew out a long breath. She had come far in the last month, but some things felt a touch too close still. "By the time we realized what was happening and Sharrina got the shields and hull sorted, several of them had attached themselves with grapples. It was..." she hesitated, "... It reminded me of the Vidiians attaching themselves to the Adelphi. I got some off by rolling us, but they were inside the shields. Scraping them was... more expedient."

She sighed, lifting her glass to her mouth with her free hand and taking a long sip.

Timmoz's eyes lowered. There was a species that he found impossible to put out of his mind- and his green blood, his passions, his Cluros demanded more. He wanted to get even, against a faceless mob that took faces, and had worn the face of Adira Tan. He'd blown them all to Bunjeezu's bony clutches, but it gnawed at him that some likely escaped. He too sipped his drink.

"Have I told you the story about when a V'draysh Centaur-class chased us into the Azure Nebula? Straight into an old Klingon mine field from when they and the Romulans were still pretending to be allies?" He shook his head, "Latch and detonate drone mines."

Irynya twisted slightly looking up. She returned her open palm to Timmoz's lap, offering it to him should he want it. "I don't think you have, but even if I am wrong tell me anyway?" Her statement came out like a question, making her interest in the story clear, but giving Timmoz an out if he didn't want to regale her in-depth. She was warm and relaxed and she didn't know when Noah might reappear. For now she was happy to simply float from topic to topic and enjoy the safety of mutually agreed touch.

Timmoz looked at her hand in his lap and closed his own fingers into it. It was feverishly warm--but that was Orion biochemistry, not illness. Orions ran hot compared to many species. "The name of the ship was... USS Zapata if I remember right," he said. "We were pack mules for our contact..." his mouth twisted, "We never learned the cargo but considering it was in the Azure Nebula, it was weapon and shield parts." He gestured, "Unimportant. The Zapata closed to interdict us. Something had gone wrong with our cover using a Gorn transponder. The V'draysh know not to interdict the Gorn unless they want a fight," Timmoz slyly smiled, "So, we mimic their transponders. Well anyway. They chased us into the nebula. Our little Interceptor didn't have a chance against a ship like that."

Timmoz stared at her pale fingers in his green, gentle grip. At that moment the door to Noah and Kennedy's room opened. The lanky stick insect of a brunette smiled a too-wide smile, cautiously. He'd changed into pajama pants and a billowy, loose henley that covered his fingers. Timmoz continued, sliding his gaze away as Noah hovered. "We fled into the deep part of the Azure Nebula on the Klingon side. He'd taken damage to our impulse drives and shields... and our weapons weren't going to breach the shields of a Federation starship."

Noah's brows furrowed and he glanced at Irynya, but said nothing. "The first drone mine hit our side... we didn't see it coming. Mining that part of the nebula was an illegal action between the Romulans and Klingons and they didn't bother to tell the V'draysh about it either. The Zapata took two mines and lost one of its nacelles. Well we were dead if we couldn't keep them off us. So we dropped all of our power signature. We turned everything off. So the drone mines couldn't detect us." He shrugged, "We ended up drifting for days before we could make a run for it for our asteroid haven." Timmoz glanced at the hovering Cadet, "Have a seat," he instructed, "I don't bite unless you ask me to. Anyway... I'm assuming a total power drop wasn't an option on Ankerus?"

Irynya winked at Noah, straightening slightly so that she was still tucked under Timmoz's arm, her closest hand in his, but freeing her other arm and side. She tipped back her whisky, round ball of ice clinking to the bottom of her glass as she leaned slightly forward and set it on the table. She pointed to Noah's glass and then patted the sofa next to her. "It's warm and snuggly over here," she remarked. "You can have as much or as little of that as you like, but if you're comfortable and want to stretch out then head here," she pointed to her lap, "and I'll fiddle with your hair."

Noah hesitated with a slide of his fingers along his tricep. He felt like he was intruding on friends catching up--a sort of odd, nagging feeling of being a third wheel. "I'll-I'll start with sitting... I don't w-want to interrupt too much." He said while he lowered himself down in the seat next to his friend. He eyed Timmoz sidelong, watching the man sip his drink.

She shot Timmoz a look then. It was an interesting dynamic being in the same space with both of them. Timmoz was fully comfortable with body language as an indicator of what kinds of touch were and weren't ok. It took only a look or a twitch and he'd react with clarity and without words unless absolutely necessary. Noah, she had noticed, was less inclined to respond to physical cues quickly and so she directed more for his benefit than anything else. She was fully prepared, though, for Timmoz to give her a hard time about being hyper aware of Noah's Humanity over her Risian-ness at some future point. Still, these things were slow things... introductions that took time and comfort to enjoy.

"I-I've never seen an Orion before," Noah said.

Timmoz turned his glass and gazed over it, "You have now."

Irynya noted the exchange, squeezing Timmoz's hand lightly and giving him a be nice sort of look. For all they had been discussing the dismissal of their own cultural mores earlier, she still wanted Noah to be comfortable. At her very core-self connecting people she cared about mattered.

"Noah was on the mining depot at Ankerus. Pretty sure we would be in significantly worse shape if it weren't for his work with the systems down there," she told the Orion. As she spoke, she shifted slightly, thigh brushing Noah's lightly--an echo of other times they had sat comfortably together. Her body language, now, was designed to soothe and reassure. She kept her posture open, leaving space for Noah if he chose to come closer.

"And no, if we had turned off all power we would have smashed into an asteroid. The belt was thick and it was a tricky piece of navigating to get us in and out again," she added answering Timmoz's earlier question.

[ Corridor, Deck 4 ]
[ Concurrently ]

Doctor Kennedy Ryan Walsh had been invited to Starbase 2's Promenade by his nurses for dinner, which he had taken them up on. Miriam had told him that under no circumstances must he come to dinner wearing his uniform. He came with a light blue, collared buttoned-up shirt with a purple bowtie with matching dress slacks, dark brown leather boots, and a matching belt.

Doctor Ryan Walsh had noticed that the his former Academy classmate, Lieutenant Gosia Nowicka, was dining at the same restaurant. He didn't know if she had spotted him or not. He didn't want to risk another run-in with her especially after his encounter with her on the Miranda.

Kennedy came to the door of his quarters and it swooshed open. He took a step inside seeing Irynya and Noah sitting closely together. Then he almost missed the green-toned man next to her. His eyes zoned into the face focusing on the horrors he faced on before he fell forward, "Cho'thil...... Oh no not Giorgou." passing out instantaneously as he hit the floor.

It seemed like everyone froze as several things happened at once. The doors leading out to the corridor swooshed open, the arrival of either Sheldon or Kennedy a surprise to the denizens of the couch. Three sets of eyes turned, on instinct, to see who was entering the room and Irynya's further description of the Ankerus Asteroid Cluster trailed off. Kennedy had been in the room less than 30 seconds, making it only a few steps into the space before Timmoz's presence registered. As recognition, then confusion, then panic dawned on his face Irynya swore. "Shit."

And then he fell.

Time seemed to speed up then as the Risian scrambled out from under the blanket, quickly, but gently, releasing Timmoz's hand and hurrying over to the bundle of limbs that was Kennedy on the floor. She hadn't been expecting him back for another hour... maybe two... The thought ran over and over in her head. She knew full well what image had run through his head and guilt ran through her. She should have interrupted his outing. Let him know what to expect.

Quickly and with some precision she looked him over, satisfied that he wasn't injured in any significant way before looking back to Timmoz and Noah.

"Well, this wasn't exactly how I planned to introduce you..." she said, the humor of the statement dissonant with the tone of her voice.

Somewhere in Irynya's extrication between the two lanky bodies there had been a squeaky-yelp. It's origin came to light when the Risian looked back at the two. Timmoz had hastened his own stand- more out of curiosity, the sheer strangeness, of a man walking in the door, saying a sentence that seemed inexplicable to him, and then promptly falling. Noah, meanwhile, had a rictus of a grimace on his face, somehow a bad marriage of apology for being in the way, and trying to mask the fact that Irynya had stepped on his long feet.

Timmoz's brow rose as Noah hobbled over and squatted down to cradle his roommate's head in his lap. "Index," he said. A pale as milk, androgynous figure appeared, "A-activate LMH."

Timmoz crouched down next to the Risian, "You know how to pick them, Kava-ri," he murmured with a degree of charm. "What is a Giorgiou?" As Timmoz drawled honeyed, bemused comfort, the shimmering phase of a hologram replaced the visage of the Index--one donned in white shouldering and the vague ear-points of partial Vulcanoid heritage.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

A Joint Post By:

Lieutenant Timmoz
Chief Flight Controller

Lieutenant JG Irynya
Assistant Chief Flight Controller

Lieutenant JG Kennedy Ryan Walsh
Acting Chief Medical Officer

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist

And a special guest appearance by the Long-term Medical Hologram