Practicing Our Languages

Posted on Thu Jul 9th, 2020 @ 12:55am by Lieutenant JG Mattias Constantine & Ensign Kathryn Bell

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Deck E - Mess Hall
Timeline: Day 34, Month 2, Year 0 17:30
1747 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Tray after tray of Vrav algae sat under the heating elements of the mess hall's hot line. Having had little else to eat for the past few weeks had taken most of the joy out of what was normally a hub of social activity on a starship. Back on Earth, it was approaching lunchtime on the west coast of the North American continent on a picturesque Friday afternoon, but the grim faces of those sitting at the mess hall table portrayed an image not all that dissimilar to the dull deck plating that they were standing on.

To combat the monotony, Lietuenant JG Constantine had adopted the strategy of using copious amounts of the one condiment that the ship had in excess. Mainly composed of vinegar and hot peppers, the pungent liquid served as the perfect contrast to the algae, which very much tasted like it was cultivated on stagnant water. More than one crewmember had voiced an opinion favoring the taste of pond water over the taste of the algae, but it was keeping them alive. The genetic modifications the Vrav had done meant that the aquatic plant was unusually nutrient rich.

"Oh, hello Mister Jones, good to see you," Constantine waved and smiled at the hydroponics specialist sitting in the corner. Rather than bother him, Matt turned to take a seat at an unoccupied table nearer the middle of the mess. As he turned, he saw someone in his periphery but did not react in time to avoid bumping into them.

"You clumsy fool," Matt chastised himself in Vulcan before returning to Standard. "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. Are you okay?"

"Fine, Sir... Your accent is clearly human, but not too dissimilar to a man of the northern plains." Bell gave him a smile, then switched back to Standard herself. "I don't get much of a chance to practice my Vulcan--I think you'll agree that our science officers are a bit... Intimidating? Though, perhaps, given our current circumstances, I should take time to approach them? And, perhaps, their attitudes will change..." She stopped, then blushed scarlet. "I'm sorry, Sir. Ensign Katheryn Bell, medical officer. I get carried away sometimes." Her east coast Scottish accent was very much in evidence now.

One of the chef's assistants tapped her on the shoulder. "Relax, love... Here--thought I'd bring this out to you myself." The other woman held out a mug of tea.

"Thanks, Renee." Bell took it, then sipped it. "Much better."

"See you around... Lieutenant." The other woman withdrew, and Bell said to the communications officer:

"Sorry--my fiance. We applied separately to the Atlantis, and we haven't had much time to see each other. Little things like this..." She stopped again. "I'm sorry, Sir--you must be bored silly with me."

Mattias had started to respond, but waited until after Ensign Bell accepted her mug of tea before wishing Renee a pleasant day. He smiled at the mention of their betrothal, having been heretofore unaware that anyone on the ship was engaged. There was a chance that the medical officer before him had been around for his onboarding physical, but he couldn't be sure if he had ever introduced himself. Even if he had, he wouldn't have had the time to do so properly.

"Congratulations to you and Miss Renee, Ensign Bell. I wish you both well. It's a pleasure to meet you. Lieutenant Mattias Constantine, communications officer and amateur of the Vulcan language. And for the record," he tilted his head slightly to one side, "anyone who takes the time to learn another language is far from boring. Do you have a moment? Care to sit?"

"I do, as a matter of fact... Thank you." She walked over to a table and pulled out a chair, sitting in it and gesturing the lieutenant to take the other chair.

Matt stepped over the back of the chair and sat down across from her, carefully balancing the plate on his tray as he did so. Per usual, the tall communications officer had his metal water bottle with him. The first signs of condensation on the outside of the sleek container were just becoming visible. Constantine took a sip before turning his attention back towards Kathryn.

"So Ensign Bell, how have you been holding up? The Vrav loom like a storm cloud - I can't wait to be rid of the bastards."

"Stormclouds you can outrun, and we will outrun them... I'd rather make peace if we could, but it doesn't look like that's possible... Its your job to try and break through to them... As for how I'm doing,"--the medical officer frowned pensively--"days aren't too bad. Its nights, when the walls of my quarters close in around me, and all my hopes and dreams seem to shrivel and shrink around me... Then its difficult."

Listening to Ensign Bell between bites of algae "steak", Matt nodded as he heard a more descriptive and emotionally charged version of the same conversation that he assumed most of the seventy-odd remaining crew were having among themselves. He brought his napkin to his mouth and wiped away a bit of sauce before it had a chance to drip into his beard. There were certainly relatable overtones to how they were all feeling. The loneliness. The dogged determination. The fine line between hope and despair.

"I can empathize with the feeling. I think a lot of people can," Constantine inclined. "Our diplomatic option didn't pan out so well. It's getting more difficult to see a peaceful resolution, but there's always hope, right?" The corner of his mouth turned up into a grin. "Anyway, you gotta tell me how you got to be so good at Vulcan. You're the third human I've run into with more mastery of the language than me."

She laughed. "Not all that interesting. My parents are both academics, and there was a visiting Vulcan professor and his wife at one of the universities my parents taught at over the years. They had a daughter, and she and I happened to be in the same class, and her English wasn't that great. I had to learn fast to help her out, and we've kept in touch. It was actually rather amusing--at one point, I swear she had a crush on me." She giggled in fond remembrance.

"Oh, now that's cool," Mattias subconsciously drew some shapes in the air with the end of his fork. "Being able to learn Vulcan from a native speaker and a friend would've been awesome. You see, I got started late, and it was under the tutelage of a xeno-linguistics professor who most definitely did not have a crush on me," he chortled, recalling his time prior to entering officer candidacy school. "Anyway, Commander Leroux and Ensign O'Connery can both speak Vulcan very well, and I'm trying to get better. We'll have to practice some time."

"That's wonderful!" Bell grinned and took a bite of her sandwich. "Next time I see either of them, I'll have to show my own proficiency... My writing could use a bit of work, though--reading it isn't too difficult, as long as you're in the right mindset."

"I see. We might be able to help each other then, Ensign Bell, because the written part of the language I can help you with. Calligraphy, script, or handwritten - take your pick," he grinned. He hadn't expected to get into a conversation about his line of work, but it was a pleasant distraction from the percussive, clicky language of the Vrav. "I'll send you some textbooks I have on the subject, hold on." Constantine retrieved a PADD from his jacket pocket and scrolled through a list of his files. Finding the resources in question, he transferred them over to Kathryn's PADD, pending her acceptance.

Bell tapped her thumbprint on the icon. "Falor's Journey, an intertextual edition? I've been looking for a good critical edition of this for quite a while. Thanks! ... On a more serious subject, any luck with the language of our new... Friends? I took a look at a couple transmissions--sounds like a dialect of Xindi Insectoid, though more on the humanoid end of things."

"Yes. Thanks to Ensign O'Connery's help, we were able to scratch together a translation matrix that we were able to download into one of our portable translators. We disassembled a Vrav communications device to develop the algorithm," Mattias explained as he top another drink from his water bottle. "It worked at the negotiation, but somehow I doubt they came to negotiate in good faith. You're right about the language, though. It is very percussive and clicky. And as it turns out, a lot of it is ultrasonic in nature. They could hold a conversation like we're having right here and we'd be none the wiser."

"Oh fun..." The young woman looked around nervously. "You don't think they've infiltrated us, do you, Lieutenant?"

"Here? On the ship? No. There's no evidence that they have any advanced surveillance technology. And I certainly think we'd notice one of them wandering among us," Matt shrugged, wondering if such advanced applications of science were possible. "In some respects, they're a few iterations behind us technologically speaking, but they certainly have the ability to keep up with us and take a potshot here and there."

"Oh thank God... Yeah--injuries in Sickbay are consistent with that... Speaking of, we might be needing more medical staff--or at least people who can give medical aid. Are you interested?"

Placing his fork down on his tray, Constantine wiped his mouth clean with a napkin as he thought about the ensign's proposal. The harsh reality of the moment was that as the crew dwindled, there were fewer of them around to perform the same number of jobs as a full complement of crew. It was a short jump from that reasoning to the conclusion that eventually, they would all have to wear multiple hats in their fight for survival.

"Uh, yeah actually, I think that'd be a good idea. Barring any further interruptions from the Vrav, we should definitely schedule something."

"I'll talk to our CMO, see what can be arranged, and I'll let you know. Sound like a plan?" she asked him.

"I look forward to it."

OFF::

Lieutenant JG Mattias Constantine
Chief Communications Officer
NX Atlantis

Ensign Kathryn Bell
Medical Officer
NX Atlantis