Getting To Know You

Posted on Sat Mar 11th, 2023 @ 1:00am by Fiona "Fee" Maccafferty PhD & Lieutenant JG Ace Tidebreaker

2,419 words; about a 12 minute read

Ace bent over backwards and grabbed her ankles as she waited for Maccafferty in the Maelstrom's Park. It had been a few days since the Changing of Command ceremony, and Ace hadn't had a chance to explore yet. She was curious about the Vissian Chief Scientist and Vissians in general. Ace couldn't resist any longer and climbed up into a tree, stretching out on a limb that was two inches wider, one on each side, than she was, and crossed her arms, laying her head on them as she watched the passers by.

Fee's red hair would announce her appearance before anything else, the bounce of her braids in the slight breeze like a flag of sorts. She was nervous, as was her usual state of being (her counselor said "high strung and neurotic") and she wasn't really sure what the hell she was doing here. She found the tree that Ace had mentioned, and looked around, but not up. "Um...hello?" She said, her voice low. She wasn't much of a talker.

Ace had seen Fee approach, but due to how she was looking around and had a nervous aura (not that Ace could SEE auras, but being a Caitian did have it's advantages), Ace decided to quietly get down on the far side of the tree, and walk back around. "Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you," Ace held out a hand, bending slightly so as not to intimidate the scientist.

Fee jumped back a bit when the Caitian appeared. "BLOODY HELL." She paused for a moment to regain her composure. "Please don't frighten me like that!" She was easily frightened anyway, though. "Why were you in the tree? You'll get pollen on your...fur." Did they call it skin? Fur? She didn't know. She hadn't met a Caitian before.

"My apologies, Fee. I'm more comfortable up in a tree than walking on the ground. My fur's actually only staticky when I get overheated, so you don't have to worry about pollen today," Ace stretched again yawning as she hit that cat 'sweet spot'.

"I see. Anyway, hello." She put out her own hand for the handshake, before returning to her pocket quickly. "I suppose that makes sense, seeing as you're a Caitin. And it's ok; I am not allergic to pollen but I did worry it'd stain your fur. Do you call it fur?" She rambled.

[This is going to be quite the intriguing post] Ace thought with a soft chuckle. "It's fur on top of skin. Thankfully, even if I get stains, I made a special concoction that gets practically every stain out...some scrubbing required at times," Ace laughed softly as she pulled back her fur and showed the smooth skin beneath. "I actually have a small question of my own...what is a Vissian? I've not had the chance to meet one before," Ace cocked her head curiously.

Fee smiled. "That's good!! You can't quite turn yellow without questions, can you? Vissians are people from Vissia, of course!! We're in the Alpha quadrant, but the far edge, right on the border with Beta, actually close-ish to Vulanis. We're famous for our seafood!" She said. "I suppose it's only standout to ME. We're a neutral planet; we're not Federation OR any other faction. We'd just want to be left alone. I am the only Vissian to ever serve in the Fleet. So far." Hopefully, she had opened doors for others of her kind, though. "Hopefully, that will change."

"That would be amazing. Wait...SEAFOOD!? That's my favorite food! Opsi...sorry I yelled. Do your people have any particularly interesting customs? I mean, I'm sure all of them are interesting, but my catty inquisitive side's always wanting to learn something new," Ace grinned, twitching her tail excitedly.

Fee chuckled a little, but plopped down on the grass, a little ungracefully. She crossed her legs over each other, and looked to Ace.
"Yes, Vissia is 90% water. My father and I raised animals to eat as meat. A bovine-like animal, the Terrans might call them cows, and a bird." The intense poverty she'd grown up in hadn't dampened her enthusiasm, though. "Hmm, well. We don't carry our young ourselves. We use a middle man called a progenitor. I'm not certain how the process works, exactly, but my mother had been one before." She left that alone abruptly. "We also sleep with a mate before a first date-shocked the Terran man I was seeing at DS12!", she said, with a laugh. "If you can't be compatible physically, there's no point in the rest, is there?" She shrugged.

"What about you? Where do you come from, exactly?" Some Caitians were from their home planet, but others were dispersed throughout the universe.

"Wow! That sounds cool! Most cats hate water, but I love it! You had a farm then? A progen...what? Oh, it's like a surrogate! That's wonkers! But then again...kinda makes sense in a trippy sort of way. You don't want to fall in love with someone and then not be able to have kids with them. I'm from here and there. I've actually never been to the Caitian Home World...I want to though," Ace had caught Fee's momentary shut down, but allowed it to slide, knowing if she ever felt comfortable, Fee would tell her, and all Ace had to do was just be there and be a friend.

Fee was feeling a little more bold. She definitely preferred to interact with people one on one, and Ace seemed safe. "Where were you born, then?" Fee was surprised. She was the first of her kind to be in the Fleet in any capacity, and she was *still* surprised that some people had been born on ships, and had never seen their home planets. "I am glad that I have my ties to home; I do go back to see me Dad but I don't think I'll settle there. I prefer warmer climates," she said. Vissia had three seasons-fall, spring, and winter. It was rarely over 294.2* Kelvin, or 70* imperial. Nice, but... her pale skin craved the sunshine. "Can I ask you something? Are you born a kitten or a humanoid and turn, like the Jem'hadar?"

"I'm not sure actually. I think it was a ship, but my families' a bit nomadic, never settling in one place for more than a year or two, so there isn't a 'this is where Ace Tidebreaker was born' plaque anywhere. We look like this when we're born, though I think our fur's less fluffy then as we grow it changes texture," Ace ran a hand through her fur, making a mental note to brush it twice before she went to bed instead of once as it was being unruly for some reason.

Fee nodded her understanding. "What do you eat? I am suddenly hungry; we could go to the cafe or the mess hall. They don't have the same seafood we have on Vissia, but their fish isn't terrible. I need to have me Da send some rations." She missed him and the comforting foods of home.

Ace's mouth watered at the mention of food, realizing that she hadn't eaten yet. "Food sounds great! You're right about the fish...however, they make a pretty good chocolate mouse! It's actually been a bit hard for me to adjust to being here with so many food choices. Being nomads, we mostly stayed to just a few types of food: meats, some greens and fruits, but nothing exotic or that took long to make. On top of that, I feel like we had to run away a few times, so food was a 'what can you carry that's fast and light yet filling?'," Ace's ears drooped a little, wondering how things might have been different if she had been born into different circumstances.

"Sorry bout that. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my upbringing, but I just wonder sometimes about 'how the other half lives'," Ace snickered, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs of the past and be back to her happy self.

Fee nodded. "I understand. I grew up very poor on Vissia; we're only farmers. My dad took on some mechanic work for extra money, but most of that went to feed the animals. He says that's why I am small. We only had a cabbage type plant, and some of our bovines, and the fish. We had a creek running through the farm." She stood up. "Let's go, I am famished."

"Yeah! As a friend, may I give you some advice? Don't let ANYONE intimidate you! Use your size to your advantage! You know, it sounds like we have more in common than we thought. Although...I'd probably be in the creek all day!" Ace giggled as she stood up, stretched, dusted herself off, and started to skip towards some food stalls.

Fee nodded, and followed behind. "I was often. I like to swim! But I had to work, mostly, when I wasn't at school. Did you go to school?" She didn't know much about the Caitian culture.

"I was able to study under some Caitian teachers on our travels, but most of my learning was of the: 'If you wanna learn it, you gotta do it yourself' kind," Ace looked around for something that struck her fancy.

"Oooo! Now THAT looks yummy!" Ace pointed to a Kabob stand.

Fee nodded. "Aye, smells good, too. Let's go." She led the way to the kabob stand. She wasn't really used to eating food from a stick but she'd SEEN it from the Terrans, and so she at least knew how to. Or should. At Ace, she nodded. "I see. I wish me da had let me not go to school. Of course, I wouldn't be an astrometrics specialist, I suppose, but it was SO boring, and I didn't have a mum, and some of the kids were mean about that." She ordered something called chicken kabobs and a soda, and waited for Ace to order. "Let's sit outside if that's ok?" She asked her companion.

"True that! I'm glad you went to school, otherwise, we wouldn't have met! I'll have a sushi on a stick and a Arnold Palmer. Works for me!" Ace handed the vendor a small disk shaped item. Even though currency was no longer a thing, Ace liked to give businesses something to thank them for their services.

Fee took her rabbit Kabob and root beer and headed for a table close by. She watched Ace toss them a quark for their time, and realized she should've, too, because her father's voice in the back of her head came out. *Child, I raised you better!*. She stood up, held up a hand in a "wait" sign to her new friend, and went back to the vendor, offering them a quark, and then came back. "Sorry, me da reminded me I was raised right," she said, tapping her head. "What on Terra is an Arnold Palmer, anyway?" Fee wrinkled her nose at the woman's sushi on a stick as she bit down onto the meat on her skewer.

"Giggle An 'Arnold Palmer' is an old Earth term for sweet tea mixed with lemonade," Ace giggled as she showed Fee her drink. "My Grandma got me hooked on it as a kid...it's my fondest memory of her," Ace smiled at the memory.

Fee smiled. "We don't have either on Vissia, though we do use a tree root for a type of tea we have called Glug tea. It's rather bitter, though, and as a child, I hated it when me da made me drink it when I was ill." She was sick a lot. "What do you do here, on F1?" Fee couldn't recall. She was still overwhelmed.

"Giggle I've heard of something like that...had some too. Yuck! No worries, it's a big station. I'm the Chief Flight Control Officer," Ace smiled encouragingly as she sensed Fee's feelings of overwhelment.

"I am the Astrometrics specialist. I am the only one for the moment, so I guess I am also the Chief Astrometrics Analyst. Vissia has one of the largest Astrometrics programs in the Beta quadrant." Thanks to HER. It was her passion. It was a WEIRD passion, but what could she do. "We will probably work together a lot! I'll need to tell you IF they can fly. At the last Starbase I was at, the pilots often got upset with me because I would be the decider on if they could fly or not-if it wasn't an emergency, anyway." She shook her head. The pilots could be a lot. She ate some more of the rabbit and then asked R'elle some things. "Where are you staying on base? I know us civilians have a different housing unit. Maybe we can take turns visiting each other off of work; I have some Holomovies and stuff!"

"No worries on that front, Fee, I respect Astrometrics Analizers! I'm staying...er...somewhere. I'm still trying to get my bearings in this place! Holomovies!? Yes!" Ace grinned happily as her tail started to twitch.

Fee smiled. "Great. Yes, it's HUGE. Once you get your bearings, feel free to stop by Science and we can set it up!! Have you met anyone else yet? I think you and I are the youngest ones! I am not Starfleet, either, so that's a little weird.I went to University on my planet, and never really saw the need." She finished her kabob. She didn't eat much, but it was good. She wouldn't need dinner, later, but maybe a small snack.

"No kidding. It's hard being kids in an adult's world. Sounds good to me!" Ace smiled as she finished her food as well.

"Yawn...dang...now I want a cat nap!" Ace laughed as she stretched.

Fee laughed. "A nap would be lovely," she said. "But unfortunately, I have duty later." She stretched. "In the meantime, let's head back, shall we?"

"Yep...as that old Earth song says: 'hi ho hi ho, it's off to work we go!'" Ace giggled as she started to meander back toward the way they'd come in.

Fee giggled. "That's a funny saying! Let's go, the turbolift isn't far!"

"You know, this is turning out to be quite the fun assignment!" Ace chirped as she skipped along happily.

OFF:
Dr. Fee Maccafferty, PhD
Astrometrics Specialist
USS Maelstrom

Lieutenant JG Ace Tidebreaker

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