04-04-2026, 02:11 AM
"All right, who are you?"
Ensign Erdini Lizia looked at the small human woman with the strange hair with a look of confusion that merged into the anger she was still feeling. The whole thing had happened so fast. Her beratement of the tattooed human hadn't been meant to provoke any of this, but she didn't feel guilty in the slightest over it. A brand new transfer to the Artemis, she wasn't familiar with anyone on staff but had been invited to this get-together by her best friend Nancy Ambrose, a fellow Engineering officer with over a year on board.
Seeing the tattooed woman and her outrageous getup had just snapped something inside her. Human standards of dress and nudity were ridiculous enough, but for a Bajoran of the Koldrane Province it was too much. Such an outfit was beyond offensive. She'd purposefully avoided Earth beaches and yet they still dressed like that even here? And since they weren't on duty on the ship she was more than happy to give her a well-deserved dousing. The slap had been reflexive, but she didn't really regret that either.
"I don't have to tell you anything," she responded to the small purple-eyed woman. "She shouldn't be dressed like that in public. The Prophets say that..." She paused. The human clearly didn't care. "Who are you?"
She heard a small "Lizia" warning from Nancy behind her and ignored it.
Robin met her gaze coldly. "Lieutenant Commander Mayfair, Chief Medical Officer." She hooked a thumb at Aeryn and Mara, now moving off. "Lieutenant Commander Miller, Chief Science Officer. Lieutenant Commander Calleja, Chief of Security. Lieutenant Beka Sydesh, Head Doctor. And you just stepped in it." The nurse saw the Bajoran woman's eyes widen for a moment, but the defiance was still there. She wasn't going to back down.
Good.
"Congratulations, you just assaulted a senior officer. And you've pissed off the Security Chief in the process, and I can't tell you what a bad idea that was." Gemstone eyes locked on Erdini's and the engineer saw something in them that gave her pause, though she couldn't say what. Something that caused a bit of a fear response that went deeper than a dressing down by an officer. "Name and rank. Right now. Because if I don't get it I'm going to have you beamed directly to the brig." She actually had no idea whether the Artemis was above them right now in drydock, but it didn't matter.
"Ensign Erdini Lizia" she said after a moment.
"Great first impression you've managed, Ensign." She pointed to Omdor Jaein. "That's your department head over there. Well done. I'm sure he'll be very impressed by you."
The engineer started to sputter out an excuse but the medic cut her off. "I don't want to hear it. You're a Starfleet officer. Is this how you respond to seeing something that offends you? Your opening move was to throw a drink in another officer's face."
"Did you hear what she said afterwards?"
"I. Don't. Care." Robin almost hissed the words out. Her frustration with the whole situation was building and she was tempted to have this arrogant woman thrown in the brig anyway. Erdini just didn't get it. She still thought she was in the right. "This whole mess is your fault and you're responding like a petulant teenager."
The young Augment took in a breath, let it out, and then coldly addressed the Ensign. "So here's the deal. I'm leaving it up to Dr. Sydesh if she wants to file an assault charge against you. I'd suggest you fix your attitude, apologize sincerely to her, and hope she's in a forgiving mood. Because if she isn't you'll end up in the Artemis brig under the tender care of Commander Calleja, the other woman you really pissed off."
This time the Bajoran's eyes went wide and she nodded, the fight taken out of her.
The carrot and the stick. That's what Captain Cardon taught me. Take it down a notch, try to defuse.
"Look, I get that you found her bathing suit offensive. It's pretty mild compared to some of the stuff I've seen, but on my home colony it'd be considered scandalous. But you're not on Bajor, and that rank you have comes with responsibilities of behavior. If you can't deal with something that trivial you're not going to last long in Starfleet. You'd best learn to control yourself."
The Bajoran nodded. There was still resentment there, and she felt like snapping off a response about how Sydesh didn't control herself, but it was best to just accept it and get this conversation over with before things got worse. She added Omdor to her list of apologies. She hadn't met him yet and it had finally dawned on her just how badly she'd screwed up.
"Yes, sir."
That was the only response Robin wanted. She didn't particularly want to deal with this self-righteous woman any further. She'd been around far too many like her, both on Iota Tau and the Academy. Ironically she'd been dressed down (so to speak) by a senior cadet once her freshman year because she didn't want to be nude around male cadets in the sonic showers. It wasn't mandatory, but all too many Earth humans felt their supposedly enlightened society was best for everyone. There was open-mindedness, and then there was being so open-minded that your brains leaked out. It was like it looped around to intolerance of any human who didn't share their values.
"All right. Now leave. I'm not going to risk this getting out of hand again, so go somewhere else. That's an order." With that the nurse turned and walked away, completely uninterested in any further response. She would need to talk to Beka about this later, but she had no more patience for the whole situation. She needed to talk to Tes Th’etellis now before she herself left, so she walked back over to the gazebo. Erdini quickly gathered her things and left.
"Sorry you had to see that," Robin said to the Andoran medic. She rubbed her temple in frustration and sat down, massaging her legs for a moment. The ache would fade rapidly. She didn't have the endurance of Khan-type Augment but her genetically-engineered body healed very rapidly and moves like that didn't result in more than a minute's discomfort. "Our crew is kinda crazy sometimes, but we get the job done."
Somehow we get the job done.
"If you want I'll be aboard next week to work on personnel updates. Swing by my office and we can do a more formal check-in without this sort of nonsense." She chucked. "Welcome to the Artemis."
== Tag Tes Th’etellis ==
Ensign Erdini Lizia looked at the small human woman with the strange hair with a look of confusion that merged into the anger she was still feeling. The whole thing had happened so fast. Her beratement of the tattooed human hadn't been meant to provoke any of this, but she didn't feel guilty in the slightest over it. A brand new transfer to the Artemis, she wasn't familiar with anyone on staff but had been invited to this get-together by her best friend Nancy Ambrose, a fellow Engineering officer with over a year on board.
Seeing the tattooed woman and her outrageous getup had just snapped something inside her. Human standards of dress and nudity were ridiculous enough, but for a Bajoran of the Koldrane Province it was too much. Such an outfit was beyond offensive. She'd purposefully avoided Earth beaches and yet they still dressed like that even here? And since they weren't on duty on the ship she was more than happy to give her a well-deserved dousing. The slap had been reflexive, but she didn't really regret that either.
"I don't have to tell you anything," she responded to the small purple-eyed woman. "She shouldn't be dressed like that in public. The Prophets say that..." She paused. The human clearly didn't care. "Who are you?"
She heard a small "Lizia" warning from Nancy behind her and ignored it.
Robin met her gaze coldly. "Lieutenant Commander Mayfair, Chief Medical Officer." She hooked a thumb at Aeryn and Mara, now moving off. "Lieutenant Commander Miller, Chief Science Officer. Lieutenant Commander Calleja, Chief of Security. Lieutenant Beka Sydesh, Head Doctor. And you just stepped in it." The nurse saw the Bajoran woman's eyes widen for a moment, but the defiance was still there. She wasn't going to back down.
Good.
"Congratulations, you just assaulted a senior officer. And you've pissed off the Security Chief in the process, and I can't tell you what a bad idea that was." Gemstone eyes locked on Erdini's and the engineer saw something in them that gave her pause, though she couldn't say what. Something that caused a bit of a fear response that went deeper than a dressing down by an officer. "Name and rank. Right now. Because if I don't get it I'm going to have you beamed directly to the brig." She actually had no idea whether the Artemis was above them right now in drydock, but it didn't matter.
"Ensign Erdini Lizia" she said after a moment.
"Great first impression you've managed, Ensign." She pointed to Omdor Jaein. "That's your department head over there. Well done. I'm sure he'll be very impressed by you."
The engineer started to sputter out an excuse but the medic cut her off. "I don't want to hear it. You're a Starfleet officer. Is this how you respond to seeing something that offends you? Your opening move was to throw a drink in another officer's face."
"Did you hear what she said afterwards?"
"I. Don't. Care." Robin almost hissed the words out. Her frustration with the whole situation was building and she was tempted to have this arrogant woman thrown in the brig anyway. Erdini just didn't get it. She still thought she was in the right. "This whole mess is your fault and you're responding like a petulant teenager."
The young Augment took in a breath, let it out, and then coldly addressed the Ensign. "So here's the deal. I'm leaving it up to Dr. Sydesh if she wants to file an assault charge against you. I'd suggest you fix your attitude, apologize sincerely to her, and hope she's in a forgiving mood. Because if she isn't you'll end up in the Artemis brig under the tender care of Commander Calleja, the other woman you really pissed off."
This time the Bajoran's eyes went wide and she nodded, the fight taken out of her.
The carrot and the stick. That's what Captain Cardon taught me. Take it down a notch, try to defuse.
"Look, I get that you found her bathing suit offensive. It's pretty mild compared to some of the stuff I've seen, but on my home colony it'd be considered scandalous. But you're not on Bajor, and that rank you have comes with responsibilities of behavior. If you can't deal with something that trivial you're not going to last long in Starfleet. You'd best learn to control yourself."
The Bajoran nodded. There was still resentment there, and she felt like snapping off a response about how Sydesh didn't control herself, but it was best to just accept it and get this conversation over with before things got worse. She added Omdor to her list of apologies. She hadn't met him yet and it had finally dawned on her just how badly she'd screwed up.
"Yes, sir."
That was the only response Robin wanted. She didn't particularly want to deal with this self-righteous woman any further. She'd been around far too many like her, both on Iota Tau and the Academy. Ironically she'd been dressed down (so to speak) by a senior cadet once her freshman year because she didn't want to be nude around male cadets in the sonic showers. It wasn't mandatory, but all too many Earth humans felt their supposedly enlightened society was best for everyone. There was open-mindedness, and then there was being so open-minded that your brains leaked out. It was like it looped around to intolerance of any human who didn't share their values.
"All right. Now leave. I'm not going to risk this getting out of hand again, so go somewhere else. That's an order." With that the nurse turned and walked away, completely uninterested in any further response. She would need to talk to Beka about this later, but she had no more patience for the whole situation. She needed to talk to Tes Th’etellis now before she herself left, so she walked back over to the gazebo. Erdini quickly gathered her things and left.
"Sorry you had to see that," Robin said to the Andoran medic. She rubbed her temple in frustration and sat down, massaging her legs for a moment. The ache would fade rapidly. She didn't have the endurance of Khan-type Augment but her genetically-engineered body healed very rapidly and moves like that didn't result in more than a minute's discomfort. "Our crew is kinda crazy sometimes, but we get the job done."
Somehow we get the job done.
"If you want I'll be aboard next week to work on personnel updates. Swing by my office and we can do a more formal check-in without this sort of nonsense." She chucked. "Welcome to the Artemis."
== Tag Tes Th’etellis ==