Introductions all round

Posted on Saturday 28 November 2020 @ 20:43 by Captain Melody Jones & Civilian Sansa Draxx-Jones & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix & Commander Caroline Miller & Lieutenant Marbim Rejal & Lieutenant Commander Hayley Godding & Lieutenant Breana Rathburn & Lieutenant Nir’anyar & Major David Scarlet

Mission: A Whale of a problem (We're going to need a bigger boat)
Location: Various
Timeline: MD7 0900
6009 words - 12 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Melody pressed the door chime to the guest quarters and waited. The door opened and Fay stood there waring a fitted grey one-piece bodysuit that seemed to hug her body.

Melody frowned at her choice of garments. It was definitely not something Sansa would wear, or at least not something she had seen Sansa wearing.

Fay did not pick up on Melody's disapproval on her wardrobe and was more surprised to see her. "Good Morning Melody. When we were told someone would show me around the ship, we did not expect it to be you. We were thinking that a security officer..." She stopped short of saying Hayley.

"I decided who better to show you around than the Captain." Melody said. " Urm.... Your outfit?"

"Yes. Sansa picked it from the selection available. I myself am unaccustomed to wearing clothes. It seems.... practical".

"She did, did she? I'm sure." Melody said, deciding to raise that point with Sansa alone later. "Shall we. I thought we would start with the bridge and work our way around visiting the major point of the ship and finish in The Round Table?"

"Ahh yes, Sansa has mentioned that place. She likes to go there. We would also like to see the Arboretum. Sansa has described living trees and plants. Sounds wonderful."

"Of course." Melody gestured for Fay to follow her. "How did you find sleeping?"

"A most curious activity. Spending so much of your time unconscious. I did experience some strange images during this time. They made no sense. Sansa has explained they are called dreams. We have nothing like that. A very interesting concept."

The pair boarded the turboloift and stepped out on to the bridge. "This is the bridge, command centre of the ship. This is Commander Rejal. You've already met Commander Miller and Lieutenant Tillatix.

Sav's tail shook once in acknowledgement of Fay/Sansa's introduction to the bridge by Melody.

Getting up from the Captain's chair, Miles looks the young lady up and down. "So this is our guest, pleased to meet you miss."

Fay inclined her head to each intern but noticed something. "Where is Hayley?" she inquired.

Melody was not surprised by the question. "Lieutenant Godding is taking some time off for the next couple of days."

"Oh," Fay replied, her expression looked slightly disappointed for a moment but quickly returned to a neutral expression.

Catching the expression, Miles asks, "Do you plan on staying with us for a while, or is this a temporary assignment?"

"The exact length of my stay has not been determined yet." Fay replied honestly "But this is not a permanent arrangement. I will be returning to my home to share what I have learnt here."

Just then Captain Andersson entered the bridge. "Good morning. I must thank you for our hospitality Captain Jones. The quarters on this ship are truly remarkable. It's going to be difficult getting my crew back onto the Darwin."

Ensign Weathers, covering the Alpha Shift position at tactical noted an alert on her console. "Incoming subspace transmission from Starfleet, Captain."

"On Screen." Melody replied.

The viewscreen came to life with the image of Admiral Hollins. "Greetings from Starfleet Command Captain Jones. Congratulations on making peaceful contact with the Megapteraians and the safe recovery of the USS Darwin and her crew. Captain Andersson, I'm glad to see that you're all ok we look forward to having you back with us. The Starship Billington has been dispatched to the Megapteraians planet to continue with diplomatic relations and monitor the people who have remained on the planet." She then noticed Fay standing next to Melody. "I take it you are the Megapteraian representative?"

"I am. My name is Fay. Sansa was very kind in volunteering herself for this to be possible." Fay replied.

The Admiral nodded. "Well, we're going to get a chance to meet in person and you'll get a chance to see Earth first hand." She turned her attention back to Melody. "I've reviewed your report and I'm ordering both the Merlin and the Darwin to return to Earth for a full debriefing. Safe journey and we'll see you soon. Hollins out."

The Admiral's image was replaced once again by the planet.

"Well Captain, It looks like we're heading home." Melody said to Andersson. "I'm assuming you'd like to get back on board the Darwin."

Andersson smiled "Indeed. You have a fine ship Captain but I would like to get back in my chair. Who knows what will happen when we get home. Maybe we'll be given a new ship?" he mused before continuing. "The Darwin is fully operational and it will take about half an hour to get everyone on board and make final preparations for departure. Just be aware our cruising speed is warp 7. We can push warp 8.9 but then things start to come apart."

Melody turned to Rejal. "Make preparations to get underway Commander. I'll be showing Fay around the ship."

Nodding his head, Miles replies, "Yes Mam, I'll notify main engineering and then alert the crew." Looking over to Andersson, Miles smiles and holds out his hand, "It's been an honour to meet you Sir. Welcome to a new century of possibilities. Once we get the go ahead from you, we'll head for home."

Tapping his comm badge he says, "Main Engineering, this is Commander Rejal. Please prep the engines for a return trip to Earth. To accompany the Darwin we'll try to keep around Warp 7. Lieutenant Rathburn if you have any crews aboard the Darwin please have them beam back in the next 15 minutes, Rejal out."

Pushing a few buttons on the arm of Melody's chair, an all stations alert rings out, "Attention crew. The Merlin has been ordered to return to Earth with the Darwin. Please get preparations underway, we will be heading for home in 30 minutes or so, Bridge out."

She then moved over to Sav'ena. "Lay in a course for Earth, warp 7 Commander. We'll depart as soon as the Darwin is ready to accompany us."

Sav smiled to Melody as she responded, "Aye Aye, Sir. The course is laid in, Merlin will depart upon Darwin's Mark."

"I'll be on the Darwin if you need me and I'll contact you as soon as we're ready." Andersson added to Rejal before heading for a turbolift.

Fay had moved over to Sav'ena at the helm with Melody. "I saw you in the Etheria. Sansa tells me you're the one who flys the ship. You are from a different planet than Earth yes?"

As the Merlin was in stable orbit and it would be about an hour before the Darwin was ready to depart, Sav turned to fully face Fay. She churred gently and replied, "Yes, and Yes. I am a Mephetian, a race from the L'Tandrey Protectorate. My family immigrated to Apollonia in one of the frontier zones of the Federation." Sav mused, then asked, "Has anyone of your planet ever left it before?"

"I am the first of our kind to ever leave our planet." Fay stated. "It would be interesting to hear about humans from your perspective and of your experiences at some point, if you would be so kind?"

Sav gently laughed/churred. "I could try. I mean, I grew up among Terrans and a few other races on Apollonia so I didn't fully grow up in a Mephetian culture... well, I did grow up with my core family, so yeah, I could give some of my perspectives." Sav made sure to state some, as other parts of her experience with the worst that sentients could do she definitely would not share. She glanced at Melody, so happy she was spared what Sav had personally experienced.

Hearing the conversation between Fay and Sav, Miles calls out, "There are several other crew aboard who are also not human, for instance, I am Cardassian. My people reside on the other side of the Alpha quadrant, close to a wormhole that leads to the Beta quadrant. Sav and I can help find others willing to meet with you if you would like."

Fay turned back to him. "Thank you. I will keep that in mind."

Melody came up to Fay "I see you're making friends. Shall we continue our tour?"

Fay nodded. "As you wish Melody. I look forward to speaking with you later Sav'ena."

Sav churred and smiled to Fay as she answered, "Same here, Fay. Don't forget to let Sansa have some time as well, mm'kay?" She turned back to her station, placed a hand upon the helm, and once more rejoined the Merlin once more orbiting the planet while tracking how the Darwin was doing.

As Sav went through ship specs for the Darwin to note any discrepancies for variances in warp, she discovered that the Darwin was before the enhancements of the Warp Drive. She now spoke up, "Captain Jones, Helm. Darwin Warp Speed 7 is actually less than ours. If we want to stay near them, might I suggest Merlin Warp 5.7622, which would equal their 343 Speed of light do to the differences?"

“Yes, good thinking Commander. We want the Darwin to stay with us in the trip back. We might have to make allowances for the Darwin, it being an older ship. Stay alert and adjust our speed as needed.”

Sav churred and replied, "You got it, Captain, Ah'll get it done."

Caroline walked forward and smiled. She addressed Fay/Sansa. "How are you finding things?"

Fay smiled back at Caroline. "Some aspects are taking time to get used to like flying among the stars, sleeping, eating, wearing clothes but Sansa is providing me with help and she intern is learning much about me and my race."

"That's good to hear," Caroline said. "If you have any questions or anything I can help with please don't hesitate to come have a chat."

"Thank you" Fay replied. "That is very kind of you."

Melody gestured to Fay. "Shall we?"

Melody and Fay entered the turbolift. "Since you expressed an interest in the arboretum, we'll start there."

Fay Smiled. "I appreciate that Melody."

The turbolift came to a halt and the doors opened to reveal Hayley waiting for the lift. Fay's eyes seemed to go wide.

"Good Morning Hayley." Melody said, recognizing that she was off duty. "I was just giving Fay a tour of the ship."

Wearing light blue jeans and a white top, Hayley was very clearly not on duty, especially with her hair down as it was. It was just her rotten luck to run into Melody and the Fay/Sansa amalgamation. Off duty or not, respect was still due to the Captain; "Good Morning Captain." She replied. "So I see. I hope the tour is proceeding as well as you'd expect, Miss Fay?" She really hoped that the nature of her tone wasn't overly detectable. She was doing her best under very difficult circumstances, but it was important to keep calm and collected as becoming emotional.

Mathias came up behind Hayley, he was planning on heading to The Round Table, and had planned on catching the lift. He spied Commander Jones and a red-head who looked like she was related to Jones.

"What a pleasant happenstance, a chance to meet two more of the crew." giving them a smile of greeting. "Greetings Commander, I was just getting ready to go to the Round Table. I've not met these crewmembers yet. Would you be so kind in introducing me?"

"Good Morning Lieutenant McPhee." Melody said. "This is Lieutenant Godding, our chief of security. This is Fay, the representative from the Megapteraians who is spending some time with us and my daughter Sansa."

Fay closed her eyes and when they opened again, it was Sansa normal eyes and normal speaking voice. "Hello Lieutenant. It's nice to meet you." She smiled at McPhee before glancing back to Godding. "Hayley, we were just showing Fay the ship, starting the Arboretum." She hesitated, not wanting to push Hayley into joining them but hoping she might ask to.

"I see." Hayley said, carefully. "You always do enjoy going to the Arboretum, don't you?" She said, a smile on her face as her eyes watered. She turned away quickly to get herself back under control.

"Pleasure to meet the three of you." Mathias stated, giving a slight bow. "I am honoured. He looked intrigued by what Commander Jones had stated. "Would you mind if I were to come along with the tour? It would give me a chance to see more of the ship as well as other crew members."

Melody shrugged. “It’s fine with me. Sansa? Fay?”

Sansa nodded, she had noted Hayley trying to hide her feelings but decided not to say anything with her mom there. She then closed her eyes and when they opened Fay had returned “Yes by all means. I would like to get to know as many people as I can” Fay said in her unusual echoing voice. Then added, as if she were trying to be casual... probably Sansa’s influence “Would you like to join us Hayley?”

It was a dilemma to be sure, not wanting to appear rude to Mathias yet trying to put distance between herself and Sansa/Fay. "I was actually heading off somewhere..." She said, not looking at Sansa/Fay directly for fear of the disappointment she'd see in her... their eyes...

"Oh." Fay said. "Well, I hope we can meet up when you are available." Her voice sounding disappointed, but her face remained neutral.


Mathias was picking up on the underlying tones that were there between Godding and Sansa/Fay. From what he could tell, there was a relationship between Sansa and Godding. And with Sansa being the host for Fay, it was putting a strain between Godding and Sansa. He could compare it to a trill, who had just been joined with a new host. He also picked up on something else. Fay seemed to have an attraction towards Godding. There might be the start of an uncomfortable love triangle.

"I'll accompany them if you'd like, Lieutenant Godding. I am interested in learning about Fay's culture, while she is learning about ours. It would give great insight as to how they live. Perhaps Lieutenant Godding, you and I can grab a coffee later?"

"Certainly." Hayley said, putting on a brave face and as much of a smile as she could. "I look forward to it."

“Right then.” Melody said, “The arboretum is this way.”

=== The Arboretum ===

Upon entering the Arboretum, this was the first time that Fay looked genuinely impressed. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This place is amazing. So full of life..."

Mathias gave a smile to Godding, he did hope she would come with them, but understood that she wasn't comfortable about it.

"The Arboretum is beautiful, the very essence of life is contained there, and the heart of the ship besides Engineering." giving Sansa/Fay a gentle smile.

Fay was still observing the plants and trees as she responded. "We do not use machine technology as you do. In fact, I am the first of my kind to leave our planet. The probe we used to contact the whales on Earth was more grown the constructed.

"How was the probe grown?" Melody asked, intrigued to find out.

Fay frowned. " I'm not sure I can put it in terms that you will understand. Our collective mental energy was used to change and combine the elements that were present in the water around our physical bodies which contains millions of tiny particles.

"You're talking about changing the chemical and atomic structure of elements to combine them together?" Melody asked astonished. "Using the power of your combined minds."

"Much like the living stone that was starting to cover the ship? That would take a lot of mental power to do something like that." Mathias mused.

"Yes. The effect extended from the surface to encompass the entire planet. We use it to sense objects in orbit of our planet. The probe took a great deal of energy and time to construct."

The trio stayed a while longer in the arboretum when Fay looked at eh other two. "I enjoy this place, but I'm sure there are other interesting places to see on your ship Melody. I shall return here later but for now, shall we see more?"

"Suits me. Coming Lieutenant?"

"Yes, I am intending on staying on this tour." giving a smile.


=== Sickbay ===

"This is sickbay" Melody said as the trio entered. She continued to explain to Fay. "This is where injured and sick crew members are brought and are looked after and treated by our medical staff.

Fay looked around curiously.

"How do your people deal with injured and sickness?" Melody asked.

"Physical injuries are uncommon but as we used our mental power to grow the probe, we more normally use that power to repair any damage to our physical bodies," Fay answered as she studied some of the medical instruments that were out.

"The mind healing the body." Melody mused impressed. "Ah, here is one of the medical staff now. This is Doctor Ch'rehron, our chief medical officer whom you've already met."

Mathias gave a nod towards Kyhl, "Pleasure to meet you."

"Hello everyone." Kyhl greeted warmly. She gave a quick smile and nod to Mathias as he spoke. "I'm glad you dropped by."

"Sansa..." the Benzite Doctor approaching from the opposite side of sickbay noticing the distinct shift in eye colour that was seen on the planet surface. "My apologies, Fay. I was one of the medical officers to attend you on the surface. I'm glad we have chance to meet under more relaxed circumstances!"
Anya smiled at the young women but still not fully understanding the union between the two beings. She would have dearly loved to pop the girl into a medical scanner and see what she could unearth.

Kyhl grinned at the eagerness of Anya. At least she didn't end up with a shy Vulcan or something. "Actually, when you're finished with your tour I was hoping for a chance to do an in-depth scan of SansaFay." She spoke the names together as one to give acknowledgement of the current intertwining of souls. "A human mind and body usually only has one conscious to deal with so it would be prudent to make sure there aren't going to be any lingering effects or issues while you remain together."

Fay acknowledged Nir'anyar "It's quite alright." Before turning back to Kyhl "Of course Doctor. We would be happy to come in for a scan. I would not want to injure Sansa in any way."

"I will be dropping by to have my annual physical due to my newly arrival on the ship." he stated pleasantly. Even though he had been given a clean bill of health while on the station, he was still going to follow protocol.

Mathias was also interested in the other doctor who had approached. He'd never met a Benzite before and was definitely desirous in finding out more of her people. He was very glad to have been sent here.

Mathias also became more intrigued, he did wonder just how the sharing of two personalities of one body was affecting Sansa's body. Could it be causing some strain?

"Thank you Doctor," Melody interjected. "We won't take up any more of your time." She inclined her head towards Anya "Lieutenant." Before turning to McPhee and Fay. "Shall we continue?"

Fay nodded. "We shall return after the tour Doctor."


"Um.. Dr. Nir'anyar, since you seem to be new, would you like to accompany us on this tour as well?"

He looked at Melody and Dr. Khyl. "If that isn't a problem with either of you." he had a thought as to having the Benzite doctor come along, for observation of Fay/Sansa and so he could observe her as well as getting to know her.

Melody smiled. "The more the merrier, Fay?"

Fay nodded. "Absolutely."

"I would be happy too... With Doctor Ch'rehron permission of course! I have yet to have a true explore of the ship myself!"
And it was something of an appealing prospect. Getting to see the ship, meet the other crew and observing this fascinating union of two beings.

"We have things handled here doctor. Go ahead." Kyhl replied with a smile.

=== Main Engineering ===


While her office had its uses, there were a few things that kept her from spending a lot of time in there. For one, it seemed to be lacking her attention and the other was the fact that more often than not she enjoyed being out in the middle of everything. Like now, She'd given Doyle some time to go spend with his son and a few other officers that had family a little extra time off while she hung out in main engineering running some diagnostic test on different area's. After all, the last thing she needed was that junk that had tried to engulf the ship to have somehow damaged something that might not have gotten caught.

Of course, the extra time spent in Engineering had led to one small problem... Snowball. So she'd fixed that issue by leaving her office door open so the little black ball of fluff could hide or explore the area if the cat wished. With a PaDD in her hand, she made her way around the computers as she checked results, jotting a few notes on the Padd at times as she muttered to herself every so often.

"Alexa, can you go check the emergency battery system down on level 33,." Rathburn asked the younger Ensign with a warm smile. While the test hadn't shown much wrong dow3n in that area, she knew the hit it had taken with the extra usage and wanted to double check and make sure it would be fine for the next time.

"Aye Ma'am." She replied, likely happy to be getting out and doing something more than staring at the computers still. Grabbing one of the tool bags, just in case, she headed out. Leaving Bree to go back once more to studying the computers.

The door opened and Melody entered followed by Lieutenant McPhee and Fay. Melody gestured around the room as she spoke. "Deck 26, Main engineering. There is the warp core which provides the power for faster than light travel. Inside the reaction chamber matter and antimatter collide and annihilate one another in a controlled reaction. The product, which we call warp plasma is then transferred to the nacelles in order to generate a warp field."

Although most of the technology side did not interest Fay, the concept of faster than light travel seemed to pique her curiosity. She held out her hand in the direction of the core and cocked her head to one side as if listening to music only she could hear. "Incredible." She commented softly. "It's like it's singing. Do you not hear it? It's really quite beautiful."

The gentle thrum of the core was all the Melody could hear, but it seemed to be touching Fay on a deeper level.

"I can indeed hear the music, just think of all this sort of music permeating throughout the vessel, enchanting indeed." Mathias remarked.

"Ah, Lieutenant Rathburn!" Melody caught sight of Breana and waved her over. "This is Lieutenant Rathburn, our Chief Engineer. This is Lieutenant McPhee of joined us recently and this is Fay, our visitor from the Megapteraians.

Ahh... the Commander... meh, she had company, so now likely wouldn't be a good time to talk to her, Bree thought to herself as she headed over to join the arrivals. Though as she headed that way, a fluffball was also darting over seemingly suddenly interested in the company, one in particular as it rubbed up against Fay's ankles.

A slight nip at her lower lip as she spotted her cat, she quickly spoke. "Good to meet you, though the Lieutenant and I have met." Rathburn said with a warm smile before turning her attention to... wait, wasn't that? A flickering of confusion touched her features before she quickly tried to hide it. "Good to meet you, Fay." Fingers wiggling at her side as she tried hard to get the cat's attention away from the visitor.

"Yes, Lieutenant Rathburn and I have met, only briefly but she has already shown what a capable person she truly is."

Breana couldn't help but to smile a bit more hearing McPhee, but kept her attention on Melody as she asked hesitantly "If you don't mind Commander, may I have a word with you in private sometime? Perhaps one of my people can show them around?"

"Of course Lieutenant. Shall we use your office?" Melody turned back to the other two. "Lieutenant Zanders here will show you around while I talk with the Chief."

During this, Fay had picked up the cat and was staring intently into its eyes. The cat on its part seemed perfectly relaxed. After a moment, Fay looked at Breana. "She likes you very much but thinks your talents do not include singing while you shower. Also, some chicken would be nice from time to time." Fay set the cat back down.

Breana started to say something as Fay picked snowball up, the cat usually had a thing with strange people holding it. Yet, he seemed fine with Fay so she kept quiet. That was till Fay started to tell her what the fluffball had said. While she might have thought the woman was a bit strange in thinking cats could speak... She went dumbfounded when the woman mentioned her shower singing... after all, no one knew she did that and a deep blush of embarrassment touched her features. "I'll... I'll remember that." She muttered after a fleeting moment.

Melody led the way into Breana's office. "So, what's on your mind Lieutenant?"

Leaving Zander to now go show the other two around, Rathburn headed with Melody to her office. With a deep breath as she tried to recompose herself and gather her thoughts she finally spoke. "I just have some curious questions. "Fay, and your daughter... are they really one in the same now? I'd heard... rumours that they were... But I... well, had to ask. That and your making peace with them, they really have the effect to be able to put rock hard gunk on ships? The kind of gunk, cause well... she still had no technical name for the stuff, that can drain energy and cause havoc on things." Hmm... Java and nervous ramblings seemed to really do a number on her as that country twang was heard a little more in her voice as she... rambled with her questions.

“That’s a lot of questions,” Melody said as she pulled out a chair and sat down, indicating for Breana to take the seat opposite.

“Where to begin?” Melody mused. “You remember our good friend the Puppet Master?”

"Somewhat, there was talk of him back when I first arrived on this ship." Breana said with a slight frown as she prepared to take this information in.

“The Megapteraians are physical entities but their consciousness exists in…. anther plane they call the Etheria. That’s what the away team were in while we were on the planet, along with the crew of the Darwin. The Puppetmaster had managed to infiltrate the Etheria and turned the Megapteraians against us. I suppose that part was relatively easy as the only information the Megapteraians had on us came from their communication with the Humpback whales. However, we managed to expose the Puppet Master for what he really is and yes, I was able to make peace with the Megapteraians. That's when they agreed to release both ships and crews. Part of the arrangement is an exchange of ambassadors. Several diplomatic officers have been left on the planet and Fay, who is on the Megapteraian council is sharing Sansa’s body for a time. Sansa ended up on the planet as a result of the Megapteraian resistance who were trying to warn us about the Puppet Master but that’s another story.”

She took a breath. “So, Sansa volunteered to have Fay share her body. I can’t say that I’m overjoyed with the situation and her father… is still coming around to the idea but as Sansa says, it’s an enormous opportunity and Fay would not be able to stay in Sansa if she were not willing. Sansa is still in there, she can hear and see everything that is happening, and it is possible to speak directly to her. Anyway, Fay has explained that the Megapteraians use their combined mental energy to manipulate structure on the molecular level, possibly even the atomic level. They can combine the elements present in their ocean, atmosphere, even in orbit to create things. That how they created the island, the probe, the cocoons the away team were concealed in, the stuff that covered the Merlin and the Darwin and they’ve demonstrated in the past using signals to drain energy from Starships.”

Rathburn listened with a furrow of brows as she took everything in. A slight cant of her head in a moment of thought. "Just a thought, it wouldn't really be my department, but perhaps Fay could talk to at least the science department and give some idea's of how they do it?"

"We could definitely ask her." Melody mused. "She seemed to imply it was the collective mental energy of her race but she was a bit vague on the specifics. They don't view it as technology as we do but rather an organic process. She referred to the probe and the island being grown rather than built. Fay is quite willing to answer any questions so you might want to talk to her yourself. Anyway, presently we've been ordered to return to Earth McKinley station along with the Darwin and I've got to debrief at Starfleet headquarters."

Breana smiled and nodded. "I may try and take a little time to talk and get to know her, maybe ask her a few questions. But for now then, I better let you get back to her and me back to work so our trip to Earth will go smoothly." The thought of heading back to earth had her filled with some mixed emotions, but those thoughts she worked to keep hidden within and simply kept that smile upon her features.

"Just no singing in the shower?" Melody asked as she tried to suppress a smile as she stood up. "Well, everything down here looks to be running at peak efficiency as usual. Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all Commander... and Thank you." Bree replied with a slightly sheepish look. Still, a bit bewildered at the fact that the new guest could read animals minds. But then again there were species that could read humans minds, so... it is what it is.

Melody chuckled. "No problem Lieutenant." They re-entered engineering. Melody called out to Fay and McPhee. "Are you ready?"

Fay came over to Melody "For something technological, I find this room... fascinating. And Sansa has told me you like this device also, well you like the speed it provides. But by all means. For now let us move on." Fay looked at Breana "May we talk at some point. I would... like to know more."

Mathias looked with great interest in the engineering area, and even smiled at the conversation which Fay/Sansa had with the cat. He looked over towards Anya.

Mathias leaned towards Fay/Sansa and Anya, "You know, I am tempted in coming into Engineering with my panpipes and seeing if I can create a piece of music, from the musical notes I hear."

"With all due respect, and for the wellbeing of the engineering crew, I would not accompany you... I am what the Humans call Tone Deaf... Commander Miller once commented on my ability to shatter crystal" The Benzite chipped in, very matter of fact.

"I'll welcome a chat with you anytime." Breana replied to Fay finally. Her cheeks still a tinge red with the talk of singing and music. Damn cat... chicken be dang, all that cat would be getting is kibble from now on. Alright, maybe not... but she sure was going to tell snowball that.

Fay let out a small laugh at Anya's comment. "Sorry, Sansa found that quite funny." She quickly composed herself. "We are ready Melody. It is was nice meeting you." She added to Breana and Zanders.

=== The Round table ===

Melody and party entered the Round Table and Fay was instantly drawn to the streaking stars out of the front windows. Melody gestured to a table close to the windows.

"Your ship is... quite fascinating Melody. Thank you for the tour."

"You're welcome Fay." Melody said. "We will be arriving at Earth in about a weeks time so it gives you a chance to explore all of the ship and get used to a relatively small group of people before you experience Earth. It has a quite diverse ecosystem ranging from deserts to rainforests and of course, the oceans."

Fay beamed "I 'm looking forward to it."

"I concur. There are so many beautiful places on Earth." Mathias remarked with a smile.

Melody nodded. "I don't get to visit enough myself." She added as the waiter came over and placed a try on the table with a pot of tea and one of coffee. Melody poured a cup of coffee for herself. "Tea or Coffee Fay?"

Fay looked at the liquid in Melody's cup curiously. "I've never had either so..."

"Well try this." She poured a small cup of coffee and handed it to her. Fay sniffed it curiously before taking a cautious sip. She wrinkled her nose. "Oh my.... a very... unusual taste." She thought for a moment. "I can tell Sansa likes that but I'm afraid I find that quite foul."

Melody let out a small sigh "Well, You're defiantly different to Sansa. I believe she's quite fond of her coffee."

Mathias motioned towards a table near where Commander Melody and Fay sat. "What do you like to drink, Anya?" he asked.

Then he looked towards Fay, "There is another drink that I like, its hot chocolate."

"Have you tried it?" he looked towards Anya.

Anya had remained silent, content to just observe and enjoy the comprehensive tour of the ship so she was taken something aback when a question was directed at her.

"I have indeed tried hot chocolate... Commander Miller introduced me to it when we were at the Academy together... She put something in it, forgive me if I get the name wrong, something called Mosh Melons... little white blobs of sugar I believe"

"They are called marshmallows. They are really good in chocolate, also roasted over a campfire."

Fay looked at Mathias for a moment, before turning back to Melody. "May I try that, this hot chocolate?"

Melody nodded "Of course." She got the attention of a waiter and told him what Fay had requested. He returned a moment later with a cup which he set down in front of Fay. Again, she smelt it cautiously before taking a sip. "This is much nicer" she finally commented, with a small smile.

Anya could remember her first taste of the sweet hot beverage and it was not much different to Fay's reaction now.

Mathias ordered a chocolate as well.


Melody smiled and raised her cup. "A toast. To new friends."

Fay frowned for a moment but she raised her cup also, getting the feeling from Sansa it was the right thing to do. "New friends, and new experiences" she repeated, stealing a quick glance at Mathias first before looking around the group and finally back out at the stars streaking past outside the window.

"I certainly will agree. To new friends!" Mathias said raising his cup of hot chocolate towards the others.

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