Chance Meetings

Posted on Thu Apr 28th, 2022 @ 9:14pm by Commander Paige O'Halloran "Banshee" & Commander Kaelyth Solmarr

Mission: To Keep Moving Forward
Location: Outside / Near Paige's Office
Timeline: 2388/08/26 1030 (August 26 2388 10:30am)

Kaelyth had only intended to walk the campus a bit, just let himself feel it. Every planet had its own unique resonance, and he liked to take them in, let the vibrations wash over him and slide through him, resonating off of the shaelyth throughout his body. Some things resonated beautifully with the shaelyth, but others were, at the least, disharmonious and at the worst, painful. So far, he had not encountered any of the painful ones here, but he suspected they existed. There was something old, ancient even, about this planet. Something in its resonance patterns was... felt... off to him, but he had not found that something yet.

One of his ever-present entourage of felines made a sound that alerted him that something in his immediate environment had changed. He paused in his walk, glancing around both to center and locate himself in relation to the campus as well as discover what the feline was alerting him to.

It was not difficult to locate the source. He was no longer alone. Blinking at the very lovely lady -- he should know who she was, but his mind refused to release the name to him. That was unusual for him as once he had met someone, he committed their name to memory, and he was certain that he had met her. He smiled his normal, warm and kind smile. "Hello. Please forgive me, but my mind seems to be slow to refocus today," he offered with a small chuckle at his own expense. He moved a pace closer but stopped outside of her personal space.

Paige, on her way to yet another meeting -- it seemed more and more of her life of late was one meeting or another -- paused her brisk walk, her mind flipping through its mental record. She didn't know everyone by sight but did try to at least get to know the senior staff. She knew him by record at least. "Paige O'Halloran, Chief of Security and Tactical." She introduced herself with a warm and polite smile.

Taking her hand, he gave it a firm but gentle shake then released it. Now that he had gotten a chance to refocus on the here and now, he did remember her. They had met briefly, but in his meditative fog, he had forgotten this. Shameful for a Speaker, but understandable. And she did not seem to be distressed by it, so he pushed it aside and smiled in return. "I am sorry, Commander O'Halloran. I remember you now. I fear I was so deep in my own thoughts that I did not, at first, recognize you." Giving a moment of thought, he added, "I believe I may have seen a request or two for assistance from one of my staff. I hope their work was satisfactory?" He guessed it must have been, though, or he would likely have seen a complaint with her name on it.

Her returning smile was polite but genuine, Paige didn't do fake. "Not ta worry." She said in he Irish accented English. "They were grand. They were able to keep up with requests which I know were flying fast and furious whilst we were first getting settled." It had been a great help to have such an effective operations department as everyone flowing in tried to find their footing and get established. "Speaking of which you getting settled well enough?" she inquired.

Settled. It was an interesting choice of words, he thought. He knew what she meant, but he always had to remind himself that Humans did not always use the word in the way that he had learned it. He smiled that warm smile of his. "If you are asking of my comfort level with my position and my living arrangements, then yes," he answered, hoping that he gave no offence with his clarification. "And you? Are you settling well?" It was only polite, after all, to show the same level of interest as she had, wasn't it?

She nodded, "Oh grand, just grand. My husband and I've a house off base on a wooded plot. Never had so much space before, I think this assignment is going to spoil me." She replied easily.

The tilt of the head again answered her statements. Spoiled? Again, the difference between the denotative meaning of the word he had learned from Kiyanna and the language database and the colloquial meaning of the word struck him. Fortunately, these two colloquial references he knew. "It sounds lovely," he commented genuinely. "I am the opposite, I fear," he admitted, "having lived on a ship built for many occupants with only myself and the Artificial Intelligence has acclimatized me to having a good deal of space. What I have here is smaller by comparison, but I do find that I like it. There is something cozy about the smaller space."

Paige looked curious, she had not memorized everyone's background. "I did not realize. I've just been sharin' space on ships with many others, oh for years now. I've never had so much space in my career. not sense I was ta home." She replied thoughtfully as they walked, "Ifin it's too personal don't answer but what's up with the ship of many for one?" She asked curiously but willing to let go if he didn't feel like sharing.

Kaelyth took a moment to process her question, finally parsing it together in what he hoped was the correct form. "If I understand correctly, you are asking me why a ship built to carry so many only carries one... yes?" At the look of affirmation, he saw, he nodded to himself. "That is a bit of a long tale. I am not averse to telling it if you wish to know; I am merely warning you that it could take some time to fully tell as it involves my world's history as well as that of the ship herself."

Paige looked thoughtful, "I would like ta hear, we Irish love a good story well told but perhaps now is not the time. I shall talk to Ta'mas perhaps if you wish we could all go out for a drink, then the story may take as long as it takes. A good story should not be rushed." She said as they neared the main headquarters building.

Kaelyth nodded in agreement. "I could not agree more. And I would indeed enjoy conversing with both of you." As they reached the building, he stepped aside to allow her to precede him into the building. The doors sliding open on their own precluded the gentlemanly gesrture of holding a door for a lady, but he could still allow her to enter first. "You may contact me at any time."

Paige nodded, walking in, "I'll follow up with you on that." She promised, "on another note for appointments I have some requests for Security from Operations, should be in yer inbox but if you've any questions or concerns about any of it I'll be chained to my office this morn having my semi regular battle of the paperclips." She joked. "My arch nemesis." She said as they walked the main hall.

Kaelyth was about to nod to her statement of being chained to her office -- he guessed at the meaning there -- but her last bit confused him. He tilted his head again in his standard pose of non-understanding. "Please forgive me, but I do not understand. Paper clips?" The name suggested an object designed for holding papers together, but to his knowledge, Starfleet did not use paper any longer. So was there a colloquial meaning that he was unaware of?

She paused in walking and then gave a short laugh, replying with a smile, "Right sorry I sometimes slip into slang. Paperclip ta mean all the reports, forms, and other office bits that seem to be attempting to drown the schedule of any and all senior officer types."

Kaelyth frowned in thought for a second then nodded, the froiwn being replaced by a smile. "Ah, I do understand. I have a theory that report PADDs breed when one is not around to view them doing so." It was intended as a joke, but he had been told a couple of times that his sense of humor was... odd.

Paige laughed, a sound of great mirth that flowed through the hall for a few moments. A crewman poked his head around the corner puzzled but then drew it back deciding it wasn't his gig. "Truth in that." She regained control but her eyes were bright in remembered humor. "Speaking of which if you've time this morn, I did have a few items to discuss. In your own time of course." She said to indicate no real hurry but she did want to get these off her list.

Kaelyth laughed softly with her then nodded to her statement. "I have some time now if you wish," he offered. "Or later if you prefer. I am fairly flexible in these matters." Given that her tone and body language had suggested to him that whatever it was had no immediacy to it, he saw no reason to be overly pushy. After all, whether it was now or later, those PADDs on his desk would breed either way, so it hardly mattered to him when the PADDs commenced their coupling.

"Fine with me." She smiled "Do you like tea?" She asked as they headed towards her office.

As she opened the door, one of the entourage of felines that seemed to be Kaelyth's eve-present companions darted in and began to explore the room. Kaelyth did not notice but continued the conversation. "I do indeed. It is one of the few beverages that are similar to those from my home," he answered. "Do you have a favorite flavor?"

"Never met a tea I didn't like." She replied bemused by the cats antics. "I'll make something up and we'll get going." She replied thinking this assignment was getting more interesting all the time.

Kaelyth smiled again, pleased that they shared the love of tea in common and that she seemed so easy to work with. He followed her into the office, and the doors closed behind them.