Waffles and Saag Paneer

Posted on Wed Nov 13th, 2024 @ 12:36am by Lieutenant Irynya & Lieutenant Commander Victoria Cross

Mission: Mean Green Queen
Location: Deck 7 Aft Observation Lounge - "Debbie's Diner"
Timeline: Mission Day 7 at 2000

Debbie's Diner was a throwback - A throw WAY back, to a time before even Victoria's grandfather and beyond that, back when petrol cars roamed roadways and Australia was building suburbs around cities and improving it's electrical and water grids. It was an era of life that Victoria had only really read about, and read she did throughout her Academy days and beyond. She dug it- The archae-anthropological curiosity of it all. The Second Officer sat in a booth, looking over her PADD, occasionally sipping from a warm cup of coffee after her day's work, a freshly replicated stack of waffles to it's flank. She exhaled, drawing a stylus from her personal computer's utility slot and began to write something across the PADD's screen, blissfully unaware of the world and cosmos outside the window.

Irynya was in civvies. Going to Debbie's in civilian attire wasn't exactly odd for her, but in this case she'd used some of her replicator credits to replicate something comfortable. She still hadn't been allowed back into her room and...

She felt a bundle of nervous uncertainty settle in her gut.

Going back wasn't really a thing anymore. At least not to stay. The next time she set foot in her room it would be to box up her things so the dots could deliver them to new quarters. She still hadn't talked to Sheldon or Noah or even Dravor who, as far as he was aware, would be rounding out their foursome, not joining the other two men only to have one more new opening in the room.

She sighed and scanned the room settling on one of the little tables near the booths and settling in to wait for one of the servers to come by on their skates.

Victoria was quick to catch on to Irynya's arrival. After a moment of thinking of her next move, she fell into the old track of 'What would my dad do?' and unflapped her service jacket to stow her PADD away inside of an inner pocket. She stood, grabbing her waffles and coffee, and approached the solitary Lieutenant and offered her a smile. "G'day! How was your first day, Lieutenant? If I'm not imposing, may I join you? I promise, I'm not gonna be a scary superior officer. I think it would be to our mutual benefit if we get to know each other a little better if we're going to be sharing the bridge, yeah?"

Startled, Irynya looked up and then settled quickly smiling back at the Australian woman. She liked the sound of Victoria's voice. It held a lilt that felt playful and fun to her making the Ops Chief sound ever optimistic to her. "Please," Irynya said, indicating the other three spots at the small table. "You're more than welcome. The first day was... well... kind of like the last one, just with a different set of pips." A quiver of nerves tried to make themselves known and she shoved them back. She'd worked with the senior staff plenty of times. Just because she was one now didn't mean they had suddenly turned into some sort of unknown creatures.

She waited for the other woman to settle herself in one of the seats, giving her order to the ensign on skates that rolled up to her table before spreading her hands on the table in front of her, palms up. "What would you like to know?" she asked. "I'm a fairly open book."

Victoria settled into a seat and placed down her waffles and coffee. "An open book, huh? Okay." She took a sip of her coffee and thought for a moment. "What motivated you to join Starfleet? What do you think of our mission? Climbing the ranks as you have, it's good to maintain some perspective on what's going on, so I'd like to hear your thoughts. Personally, we've been through a lot of stress over the last few days. A lot of new faces, a lot of drama on the station, so it feels like we haven't been able to settle on our feet very well and take stock of what's going on. But that's just me."

Iry was quiet for a moment, head tilted slightly to the side as she listened and considered the 2XO's questions. They weren't easy ones. Or at least the second one wasn't easy. The first wasn't a new story for her to tell so she decided to start there.

"On Risa my parents run a shuttle business for tourists. They offer low and high atmosphere parachuting for the thrill seekers and tours for the ones who want to see some of the beauty around Delphi. The whole business is run through the Grand Delphinium where they do their bookings. I grew up on the resort and was learning to fly the shuttle by the time I was a pre-teen. I did some of the tourist runs by the time I was 16 and by 18 they started talking about adding a second shuttle. But I was just then finishing school and thinking about what I wanted to do."

She paused as her food arrived, a small white ceramic dish next to a mounded bowl of rice on a tray. Saag paneer. Comfort food... or at least one of the many that Noah had introduced her to. For whatever reason the savory cheese and spinach dish held a particular sentimental value to her on top of being delicious and she was, after all, feeling sentimental. She spooned a bit of the dish and some of the rice onto a small plate and scooped them together on a spoon before popping it in her mouth and sighing.

Victoria noted the Saag paneer, and quietly took a bite of her waffles as the younger officer spoke. Risians weren't common in the service, but Victoria knew some universal annoyances, such as living up to her family's expectations and living within a framework they'd set. Her mother, particularly.

"So for a while I thought I wanted to take over my parents' business. Or... I suppose I thought I should want to. And I had... a partner... for a few years who was settling in to run his own business at the Grand Delphinium. It just... it seemed to make sense and was easy and I love Risa dearly."

She paused again, scooping up some more of her dinner as her stomach gave an irritated rumble. She really was hungry. Chewing thoughtfully, she set her spoon down, making sure to swallow before picking back up.

"But I always wanted to see more than Risa. And I always wanted to do more than just pilot the shuttle. Easy rides up to the lower atmosphere or out to the same tourist locations... they're fine when you are just starting out, but I could do those runs in my sleep. So I applied to Starfleet to be a pilot. I didn't honestly think I'd get in. There really aren't that many Risians in Starfleet. We're not exactly known for our adventurous spirits." She shrugged, and pulled a glass of water close, sipping it and giving the 2XO a chance to react.

"I'm really proud of you for recognizing that you had a dream and following it." Victoria said after a moment to collect her thoughts. "The spirit of adventure is in all of us, it just manifests in different ways. My mother is a marine biologist who's spent the majority of her career cataloging lifeforms in the abyssal depths of the Pacific back home. That's pretty exciting, but the Cross' family has a huge amount of people who just .. run bookstores, or raise children, or paint, or what have you. It's all still an adventure, just different."

She sipped her coffee. "When my father passed away, I was anxious about what I wanted out of life. So I studied abroad, went to Vulcan. Met the love of my life, and she kind of goaded me into following what I wanted all along, to follow in me dad's footsteps, you know? I was born to travel the stars, just as my father did. You were too, you just didn't realize it until you did. Happens to the best of us." She offered a smile.

The pilot was silent for a long moment, considering and giving herself a moment to process the idea not only of the background that the 2XO had shared, but also the idea that she was proud of her despite not knowing her well. It was, she thought, a terrifically Risian perspective. Or at least the outward version of one. "Thank you," she said finally, setting her cup on the table and wrapping her hands around it, fingertips touching the cool sides. Absently she drew slow circles in the condensation on the outside of the glass. And then, curiosity unable to truly be contained, she added, "You met the love of your life on Vulcan?"

Irynya had gone and done it now. "Oh, T'Kass! Yes, my wife. I was backpacking through Vulcan, so to speak, to try to find myself, and she was a student at the Science Academy. She and I got married at the Cliffs of Surak and moved back to Earth after a few years. She's working as a schoolteacher for little kids in Brisb'n. When I got my posting here on the Sojourner, I almost didn't go, because it would take me away from her, but she wouldn't hear any of it. I- oh, I'm off on a tangent about her, sorry." Victoria's cheeks pinked, and she crossed her arms on the end of the table, barely constraining a smirk. "She's my best friend, mate. Can't get her out of my head. Anyway. Uh." She paused for a thought. "Thoughts on the skipper?"

Cross's enthusiasm for her partner was palpable and despite the disorientation Irynya was feeling with all of the events of the last few days she couldn't help being warmed by it. She knew of a few Vulcan-Human pairings, but also knew they weren't terrifically common. She was tempted to encourage the Ops chief to go into more detail just so she could sit and enjoy the other woman's enthusiasm, but before she could do so she had shifted the conversation. Not before her comment about T'Kass being her best friend... who she couldn't get out of her head... had a moment to filter in and take hold reminding her that her own best friend didn't know about her promotion yet... and all the change it also entailed. Anxiety pressed on her chest and she set her spoon down a moment, blinking as she considered that she hadn't told Noah yet. Sure... it wasn't the same as leaving a spouse in another quadrant... but changing quarters and not encountering Noah or Sheldon in the same daily way felt uncomfortable and she hadn't yet sorted out how to address that discomfort.

None of that, though, moved beyond her thoughts. Instead she quirked a brow at Cross and asked, "The skipper?"

"Oh," Iry responded, understanding now what the other woman meant. "Captain Kodak is, by far, one of the most fair and honest commanding officers you could serve under. I served under him on the Adelphi before this and, honestly, was relieved when I was assigned to the Sojourner. He's always been open and available to those of us in the lower ranks even though we're not... I mean..." she paused and frowned slightly, "even though I wasn't senior staff."

"Truth be told, I was only on one ship before this. I went through the enlisted officer course in the Academy and served a five year mission aboard the Rendlesham. My captain there initially was the kind who created distance between the decks, but I was a junior officer, so I had to meet with him with my Ops Chief on occasion. True leadership is knowing things can change at any moment. There's an argument to be made for both distance and being open, truth be told. I'm really happy the skipper is the kind of man who is capable of listening, taking advisement."

She picked at her waffles and took a few bites, dipping them in butter and syrup. "But you - You're the pilot now. You've got hot shots to look up to, like Erica Ortegas and Hikaru Sulu! I - I could never be a pilot for a starship like this." She cracked a smile.

Or Timmoz. She thought to herself, unable to think of her former chief without a touch of bitter sweet. "I don't know that I even come close to their league," she said out loud, grinning in a way that somehow conveyed both a bit of humility and the fly girl pride that all pilots were known for. "But I think I've got a fairly good handle on Sojourner and her needs. And I'm looking forward to more opportunities to pilot the Waverider."

The Waverider shuttle had been one of Timmoz's personal favorites and, in the tradition of flight chiefs who treat their best shuttles like pets, Timmoz had claimed her as his from the first day he set foot back on the ship. He'd even lived in the Waverider for a short period of time, finding it more comfortable than whatever was going on back in his own quarters. Iry made a mental note to replicate one or two of his gauzy swathes of fabric to hang back up somewhere she could appreciate them.

"If you know the Sojo and understand the responsibility, then I'm excited to see what you can do. I'm sure you'll do great. I didn't get to know Timmoz very well, but I'm sure he'd be thrilled you're the one filling in for him, you know?"

She finished her waffles, and took a drink of her coffee. "We're all flying by the seat of our pants and doing our best, you know?!

Iry nodded at that, her smile less of a grin and more contemplative now. That Timmoz would be proud of her seemed to be a common thread. And she did think it was true. She would just also have given an arm and a leg to hear it from him himself. The fact that the last time she's spoken to him had been prior to their arrival at Hukatuse and had something to do with immensely banal work-related minutiae bothered her even though she knew this was how things worked sometimes.

"I suppose, in my case, we're all literally flying by the seat of my pants," she quipped, deadpan, though her eyes flashed with amusement for a moment before she returned to the conversation. "You also wanted to know what I thought of our mission, right?"

"I absolutely do. Given the recent events and your promotion, I was curious if your perspective on the Sojourner's trip has changed at all since you've come on board. Also, part of the whole job description as the Ops chief. Communications and such, getting a good idea of what's eating people, right?" She cracked a smile. "Personally, I'm not keen on being thrown in a mothballed prison and getting jumped in said prison by thugs, but I'm sure James Kirk and others got put through hairier problems."

Cross's reference to the fight that had led to Timmoz's return to Pathfinder gave Irynya pause. She made a valid point, but also it stood to the Risian as a stark reminder of just how dangerous the Delta Quadrant was. A reminder that really hadn't felt this real since they'd limped back to the Alpha Quadrant in the Adelphi. She paused, sitting back in her chair and picking up her drink to sip slowly, buying time while she gathered her thoughts.

"That's an interesting perspective," she commented after a moment. "I don't think any of us truly grasp what we're going into until we're in it. We can prepare and prepare and be the best in our fields but even then no simulation will ever truly reproduce what it feels like to find yourself face to face with something truly alien." All of this was delivered in a thoughtful tone almost as though she were telling herself more than she was Victoria.

She set her mug down.

"This is my second tour in the Delta Quadrant," she continued. For a moment she couldn't quite decide what to do with her arms. She settled on crossing one over her chest to grasp her bicep while the other settled in her lap. "I think our mission is important," she continued, "but also one of the more dangerous missions Starfleet has to offer. In some ways it feels more like what James Kirk might have encountered then, say... Jean-Luc Picard. There was more discovering going on with less support and that's really what we have here. Our whole... mandate... is to explore. To expand our understanding through meeting other cultures, learning about them, and finding value in them. But even though space is big it doesn't seem to be truly infinite. Or... at least the amount of space we've been reasonably able to explore isn't. So coming here is the most obvious thing to do. It's just... truly frontier work. And because of that we should never underestimate what we're walking into."

Hazel eyes tracked the Ops officer across the table, curious to see how she would reply, but before she gave her the opportunity to do so she added, "What do you think of our mission?"

"I think.." She gently folded her hands together, finding her words, "I think what we're doing is extremely important. The bleeding edge of exploration isn't within the Alpha or Beta quadrants, it's here. Voyager's mission through the quadrant was predicated on returning home at all costs, but now - workers like you and I can explore at our leisure without any dire notions of survival. There is so much in the Delta Quadrant no one has ever seen. It is the ocean floor of the breadth of Starfleet's reach. Back in the era before biometric scans and reinforced hulls, bathysphere and submersible divers would head into the hadal abyss of Earth's oceans and each time they did, they would see and discover something new. Each trip into the Delta Quadrant is just like that."

"We could discover a civilization that makes ours look like children playing spacemen, or we could discover rare anomalies like cosmic filaments and what have you. I couldn't be more pleased we're all taking this journey together."

Something inside Irynya released at that as if she'd held some tension that she didn't even realize was there until just then. A smile, small but warm, pulled at the corners of her lips. "Me too," she said.

=/\= A Mission Post By =/\=

Lieutenant Commander Victoria Cross
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Irynya
Chief Flight Controller