The Mess in Messier 4

Posted on Thu Dec 27th, 2018 @ 11:43am by Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci & Lieutenant Commander Meilin Jiang

Mission: S1E2: A Temple To New Gods
Location: USS Resolute, Mess Hall
Timeline: MD2 - 2000 hours

Replicators. Finally, replicators. After two weeks of emergency rations on Carpathia and a day of meals that had been brought to her by the overly attentive Keth, finally Bahat Riya stood in front of a wide-open replicator and could make her own meal choices.

"Computer, bread."

The replicator waited patiently for more details.

"Computer, bread."

"There are six hundred eighty variations of bread on record," the replicator said pleasantly. "Please specify."

Bahat sighed. "All of them." When the computer made a confused beeping sound, she shook her head. "A joke, computer. Give me sweet bread with high elasticity and moderate wheat content, and a cheesy dense soup to dip it in."

The replicator chewed on that for a moment before giving an affirmative beep and generating the requested meal in a set of simple yet functional ceramic dishware. Her mouth watering with anticipation, the Bajoran woman took up the tray and rotated to look across the mess hall. She hadn't had much contact with this crew outside of the staff briefing, but surely there was a likely option... Yes.

As she approached an open seat next to her target, her foot caught on a chair leg. In slow motion, she watched the bread and soup tumble from her hands and sail toward the young woman before her.

In one fluid motion, Meilin pivoted to one side, grasped the upturned bowl in her hand, and recaptured the airborne soup and bread. She flourished the steaming bowl in the palm of her hand and presented it to Riya. "I believe you dropped this," she said winsomely.

Bahat stared at her, mouth agape. Eventually she remembered to move her lips to form words understandable by sentient beings. "How... what?" She sank into the seat next to the science officer. "What?" she said again.

Right next to where Meilin sat was Mara, seated with her own half eaten meal in front of her. She had seen the whole incident and was almost as flabbergasted as the other woman had been. “That was incredible,” she said.

Meilin pursed her lips in a blush. "I am a student of the Tao," she said modestly.

Bahat glanced at Mara to see whether that was a complete explanation to a human. She busied herself with checking over her dinner, as if to verify that what she'd just seen had actually happened. "What is the Tao?" she asked. Perhaps it was a secret Starfleet special forces training program.

"I'm not clear on that, but it means she's pretty awesome," Mara said. "I'm Mara Ricci."

"Right, you were at the briefing back on the station," the Bajoran woman nodded after squinting at her face for a moment. "You modified those runabouts so that we could maintain contact with Carpathia and Canopus. I'm in your debt, Commander Ricci." She took a bite of bread and looked back at Meilin. "And now yours too."

"Oh, that's right," Mara replied with a warm smile. "I thought you looked familiar." She really needed to pay more attention to those around her.

Dania had watched the scene from her place in the line for the replicator with quiet amusement. Student of the Tao or not, to an outside viewer not in the know, Meilin Jiang performed an act of magic.

Now, the norwegian was walking over to her colleagues and the woman she had interrogated when she and Harrison had first arrived.

"I'll understand if my presence causes discomfort," Dania ventured as she stepped closer with her tray, "but would you mind if I joined you?" Though she gave Ricci and Jiang a look in turn, her eyes focused on Bahat.

"Fine by me," Bahat said, keeping a smile on her face. She refocused on Meilin. "So is it possible to learn this ability? Seems like it could come in handy out beyond the edge of space."

Meilin flushed at being the center of attention. "It is not an ability. It is wu wei, action without force of will. 'Going with the flow,' I think, is an old Earth aphorism."

Dania sat, listening to Meilin explain what she did. "Fluidity in motion. Well it certainly looked like it from my end. Take a long time to get it perfected? Going with the flow, I mean?"

The norwegian took a sip of the herby smelling liquid in her glass, before taking a bite of her egg salad sandwich.

"The harder one tries, the further away one gets," Meilin said cryptically. "Rather than struggle against conflicting forces, yield to the harmony of opposition and become one with all that is." Smiling at the confused looks of some of the others around her, she concluded with, "Without that and other wisdom from the Tao Te Ching , the practice of tai chi chuan is irrelevant."

"What a wonderful way to say you need to experience both sides of the coin." Dania chuckled. "Though I do understand that outlook. We learn by understanding, more than by opposing."

Meilin gave an approving nod. "An oversimplification, but not an untoward one."

Chewing both on her bread and on what the science officer had said, Bahat grew pensive. After a moment, she ventured, "If I'm understanding you correctly, there are some Bajoran sects that practice their faith in similar ways. They feel that the best way to experience the will of the Prophets is to explore the connection between the self and one's environment, to integrate into the larger..." Here she struggled to find the right word. "In Bajoran, there's a term that means a combination of environment, ecosystem, society, situation. But those followers try to fit into their place, like a piece of a puzzle."

An inner light shone in Meilin's eyes that was not there before. "Fascinating. I was aware of Bajoran religious theories such as the pagh which has analogues with other cultures, such as the Vulcan katra and the Taoist hun and po, but I was unaware of monist variations within the Bajoran faith. Is it a small sect?"

"Small," Bahat confirmed, keeping a pleasant smile on her face. No need to spoil the meal with the reasons why. "I've only met a few."

"A pity," Meilin said, "but not unusual."

"I've never heard of a large sect," commented Mara. "Once they get big, don't they get called a denomination?"

Dania took another bite, listening quietly. She herself didn't believe in discussing religion, as to her it was a personal thing. That and it usually lead to disagreements or even full blown arguments. So the norwegian of the old norse pantheon sect contented herself with listening to the exchanges.

"Might be a human thing?" Bahat wondered as she dipped more bread into her soup. "Or at least, it isn't a Bajoran term. Who knows what we'll find out here in Messier 4--maybe the indigenous species here will have their own perspectives on monism to share. What brings all of you out so far?"

"I'm good at sticking my nose when I shouldn't and uncovering details people want to keep hidden." Dania replied matter of factly, "don't get me wrong, it is my job, but sometimes I have the luck of stumbling onto things I wasn't looking for and..." she took a sip, "getting into trouble for it. So I keep getting the weird assignments. Though, this is as good a fresh start as any, I reckon."

Meilin nodded. "Messier 4 is certainly full of opportunities. Were it not for the Long Jump Project, I would still be bound by one assignment after another in Starfleet Security." Her tone fell low near the end, signaling her personal distaste for such experience. "I look forward to the discovery and exploration first promised to us at the Academy."

"I'm currently Starfleet's leading expert in unknown alien technology," Mara replied without a hint of narcissism, "and what's more alien than this? Plus, I hear there are hints of ancient technology that bears a resemblance to the alien ship on which I served awhile back. I wanna check it out. I'd love to find out if the Odysseus came from here."

Bahat nodded at the rest of her dining companions. This was coming together nicely. "Seems like we're all looking for a new beginning here, one way or the other. Considering how things kicked off, I'm glad that I'll be spending the rest of my time in Messier 4 with such charming young women." She dipped her last bit of bread into her soup and raised it in a toast. "Fresh starts."