First Day - The Smell of Whale Shat
Posted on Tue Feb 6th, 2024 @ 4:28am by Ensign Aaron Soong & Commander Lorut Vila & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor & Ensign Jedda Khadja-Chata & Ensign Shiv Th'zhalner & Crewman Recruit Candice Kayne
2,926 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Lower Decks
Location: USS Intrepid - Cetacean Operations
Timeline: Post Mission Content
Aaron assembled in the slim fitting wetsuit-type uniform for his first day with the other Lower Decks crew. Fortunately, unlike the smaller class ships, they didn’t have to room in one long hallway and shower in coed showers, not that he was shy or lacking.
However, today would be the first time he would meet his new roomies. That was tight! They were packed 4 to a room instead of two dozen down a dingy hallway. It was still better!
"What are you wearing?" Jedda asked as he arrived and saw Aaron was not in recognizable clothing. He hovered near the door, not sure of the large room.
“Standard issue Cetacean Ops uniform. Keeps you warm in the pretty cold water…or didn’t you read the briefing? Some wet work may be required! You’ll be awfully cold in that!” He countered with some amusement.
"I know how to read," Jedda answered with a degree of defense that came from a history he wasn't ready to discuss yet. "That is definitely not in my standard issued uniform collection."
"If it's still water and not a block of ice, I won't get cold, but I do like these suits," Shiv responded as he entered the room carrying a bundle in his arm. "They help you maneuver in the water too. Shaved almost a whole minute off my 500 meter! Don't worry, I brought extra." The Andorian held up the bundle in his arms.
FNN Reporter Candy Kayne showed up. "HIiiii," she said, in her usual sing-songy voice. "Like, what ARE we doing?" she asked.
"Jumping in a lake, apparently." Jedda answered. He took the extra suit from Shiv. The size was close, but possibly a little tight. He peeled off the top of his uniform and worked on changing into the strange "standard issue" suit.
“It’s actually a small ocean that’s kept looking immense with all the holoprojectors, so while they know they’re on a starship, for all they know, it’s the size of a planet!” Aaron answered. He was also jiving on how none of them could tell he was a new synth. The most human synth yet!
"Ooh, fun. I saw the brief and thought I'd stop by and see what I could see. Maybe do a little write uuppp," she said, putting a lilt at the end of her words. "Look at YOU, you look like a little seal!" She squealed at Aaron. "Oh, I should go change. Be right back!!" She trailed off down the hallway to find a locker room to change. She had a black one-piece swimsuit-this wasn't the time for a sexy bikini, she was told.
Aurora was just finishing her check list.
"Lieutenant JG Aurora of the House Of Kor to Ensigns Soong, Khadja-Chata, Th'zhalner, and Ms. Kayne get your butts down here on the double!" Aurora barked.
Charles and Darwin popped up and started chittering at Aurora.
"I'm just making sure the newbies know I'm in charge. I'll ease up on them later," Aurora chuckled softly, throwing each of them three fish.
Chuckling, Candy appeared. "I am not Starfleet, you know," she said. Still, she stood there, waiting. It would be a fun adventure.
“Hiya! Oh! I mean ‘Hello’. I mean, “Reporting as ordered, ma’am.” Why the hell did he have the jitters? It wasn’t his first day and the only reason he was an ensign was because he had served Triton Seabase solely as a Synth ambassador. There was no reason for that here, on Intrepid.
Jedda hopped his way toward the Lieutenant jg, the waist band of the uniform bottom finally found its way into position.
"Duly noted, Miss Candy. Looking good, Jedda. Alright, at ease, kids. I'm not all blood and guts...except if someone messes with my babies," Aurora waved her hand, and all the dolphins and orcas jumped into the air and soaked the group!
Jedda blushed at the notice but it was cooled by the splash of the wildlife. He wiped the water out of his eyes with the back of his hand as he considered why ocean creatures would be on a star ship - much less, why he was standing in the room with them.
"Welcome to Cetacean Ops!" Aurora laughed as she shook water from her hair. The Cetacea all chattered at Aurora accusatorily.
"Hey, I'm just giving them the same reception y'all gave me my first day...and I'm aquatic!" Aurora chuckled as she gave everyone a rub and a fish.
Shiv might as well have jumped in with as soaked as he got from the from the aerial display the dolphins and orcas put on. He had been standing next to the water's edge and felt the brunt of a large wave jumping back too late. "Heeyy!!" He squealed, jumping back a little too late. "I guess I should have put one of these on sooner," he said tossing the wet suits aside. "Good thinking, Aaron!" Shiv admitted.
“You’ll probably still want it. The water is pretty cold,” Aaron admitted. He could still feel the cold water on his head and running through his hair. “Is there something we ought to be doing, Lieutenant Aurora?”
Candy dove expertly into the water, and then surfaced quickly. "Can I pet one?" She asked, aloud. "They're SOOOOO CUUUUTEEEE."
“They are sentient beings,” Aaron answered back. “How would you feel if somebody thought you were cute and wanted to pet you?” Aaron asked, quickly added, “Please don’t answer that question…”
Aurora laughed as she listened to the kids chattering.
"You are right, Aaron. While they are open to petting...they DO need their space and will approach you if they want affection. Ok, enough chit chat! Work assignments! The poop filters need cleaning, the saline levels checked, the oxygen scrubbers cleaned, checked, and recalibrated if needed, crystallization deposits need to be removed, the octopi will show you where those are and...Hey Bob, Tom, where are you rascals hiding!?" Aurora spun in a circle, then spotted the two playing 'Hide and Seek' in the far corner of the tank.
"Found you two! Come say hi to our new Chumwalkers!" Aurora turned back to the group.
"'Chumwalker' is what I call newbies to the water world. You then move all the way up to either Sharks, Orcas, Dolphins or Cephalopods...I actually snagged those four 'house names' from the book: 'Daughter Of The Deep'," Aurora blushed self-consciously.
Candy just nodded. "Yes..." but cut off when Aaron said he wasn't asking, really. She just shrugged. "Ok, I will wait for them to come, I guess," she said. This was going to be a really COOL article to write. "Who are Bob and Tom? Why do the octopuses have human names?" She asked. "THE WHAT scrubbers?" She asked, again. What was happening? She was an FNN reporter, not a janitor! Oh, God, what if she broke a NAIL? Barf.
"Do you have that list of jobs written down?" Jedda asked. It was a long list and tracking tasks was not his forte.
Aurora bit back a chuckle at the look of HORROR on Candy's face!
"Yes, Jedda, the list's over on that wall. Tom and Bob were named by the Captain and Commander Vila...hey! You scallywags!" Aurora giggled as both octopi attached themselves to her arms. Charles swam over to Candy and showed his belly, flapping a fin at her and making a small 'oooo' nose.
"That's whale for, 'please scratch my belly!' Go ahead, Miss, Candy," Aurora waved her octo occupied arm.
Candy nodded, and carefully reached out to rub the whales' bellies. "Ooh, I didn't know they'd feel a little rough. They're so cute and sweet," she said. "I think they will be my favorite fellow crew," she said, with a giggle.
"Ok, ok! I'll feed you sillies!" Aurora giggled as she pulled two small packets from her pocket and held them in her palms. Both octopi grabbed them and chowed down.
“I’ll take the oxygen scrubbers, if it’s all the same to you, Lieutenant, then move to crystalline deposits if no one else already has them done,” Aaron said, marking them off the task list.
"Sounds good, Aaron!" Aurora nodded approvingly at the kid's initiative.
"Poop filter," Jedda said as he took the list from Aaron. "I suppose that's the technical name for the system? This is not what I had in mind when I joined a military organization." He turned back to the large tank and watched the octopuses molest the science officer. "Do one of them show me how to do the filter cleaning?" he pointed at the tentacle monsters while he asked Aurora for more directions.
"They can both help if they want, up to them...and I have NO intention of calling the system by its PROPER name. 'Poop filters' a much more accurate...and funny, name," Aurora chuckled softly.
Candy heard "poop filters" and swam over to Jedda's side. "I will....watch. For research," she said. Ew, animal poo. Her own was gross enough to think about.
Aaron laughed. “Come on, man. You’re talking about whale shat, you’re going to need more than a couple of octopuses to help you.” He turned and eyed the last Andorian standing. “You might want to pop on a wetsuit and some dive gear, my friend.”
Shiv walked out the side room after struggling with his wetsuit for longer than expected. "Hey why didn't you tell me these things were so hard to put on?" He whined. "What did I miss?" He asked, looking around obliviously.
"Not too much, Shiv. Aaron and Jedda have already picked their jobs, so you have the responsibility of checking the saline levels" Aurora smiled at the whining...remembering others in her class who didn't like the suits.
Candy waved at the Andorian as he finally joined them in the water. "You can join me in supervising," she offered. "You know, my parents were really mad that I became a reporter instead of a nurse like my sister, but I think it's WAAAYYYYY more interesting. Does my sister get to watch people clean things? NO. Does she get to pet whales? Also no. Can I help? As long as I don't break a nail, I think I will be ok," she said.
Aaron sidled up to the new News reporter. “Candy, right? So what’s the deal? A fluff piece for the Federation? All the people watching the return to space with the kinship of our Earth cousins?” he asked, knowing he was belittling her a little.
Candy didn't catch his sarcasm. She wasn't smart enough for that.
"Exactly!!" She said, excitedly. "The people will just eat this UP," she said, making her voice kind of nasally.
“Anyway, you can stick with me. The job isn’t glorious, but it’s ours. And my job is a lot better than handling whale crap. I mean vats of the shit…well, literally.”
Aurora listened to the 'youngsters' talk...stifling giggles at the 'as long as I don't break a nail' and 'fluff piece' comments.
[Boy, with THAT attitude, she's gonna get in trouble sure as breaching!] Aurora thought.
"We'll rotate who does what so that if something happens...which it won't so long as you do your jobs right...everyone'll be versed in how to keep the aquatics happy," Aurora walked over to the chore chart...thought for a moment, then put a schedule for who would do what for how long when.
"Wait," Jedda said. He had the hatch open to access the large filter space and found grav lift with a shovel nearby. One of the octopuses had, indeed, shown him where it was while the others were chatting. "Rotate job? Like, for today? How long am I working down here?" Was he being punished for something? "I'm not a Crustacean Operations Officer."
"For this whole week everyone'll be at the job they're at so that they will know how to do it as perfectly as possible, then after that it'll be a two day a week shift unless something happens," Aurora threw the boy a 'life line', trying desperately not to laugh at how scared he sounded.
"And in case anyone's wondering, I'm not into 'punishment by job assignment' as some Department heads are," Aurora gave another 'life line' to the group as a whole.
Jedda set his jaw, not pleased with the how tickled the Lieutenant was with his displeasure. "Sir, this isn't my first trip around the quadrant," nor was it his first rotation through department rotations. It was a stupid practice, putting the lower ranks into jobs they were never trained for. It was a poor staffing practice, antiquated and pointless. "And in my experience, when it comes to training people to do a job they're not accustomed to, there always has been someone to actually show me how to do the job - a humanoid, or a sentient species that has the ability to communicate instructions in a language I can understand." He held a shovel and rubbed his head as he addressed the concern that he did not know, exactly, how he was to continue the random job he had picked from the list.
As he took a step back, his heel caught on the lip of the access hatch and sent him off balance. He tried to use the shovel to catch himself as he stumbled, but the fall was inevitable. The squish and splash of filter feces was loud and messy as Jedda landed in the collection vat.
“Holy shit!” Aaron yelled. Looking to the News reporter he said, “I hope you got that on your recorder?” He couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Jedda’s situation.
Candy watched, horrified, as Jedda slipped and fell INTO the animal feces. "OH, ewww," she cried, loudly. "Lieutenant Aurora, should I call...medical?" She asked. She didn't know the protocol. She swam to Aaron, steering far and wide of any animal poo.
"Are you ok? Do you need help? Hey, Aaron. Can you help Jedda? Shiv?" she looked to the men, helplessly. She wasn't Fleet, she didn't know what to do. She offered a hand to the man, though.
Aurora was having so much trouble keeping her composure. She was NOT happy Jedda'd ended up in the shat...but she also couldn't keep a straight face about the news girl thinking that MEDICAL was needed!
"We don't need Medical, Candy...just gotta get up there and pull him out. Here, Ensign, take my hand," Aurora climbed up onto the collection vat, and also reached a hand down to Jedda.
"Eww," she said. Then, something terrible happened. Just as Jedda was righting himself, she stepped forward, but since she was not paying attention, distracted by Shiv in his tight wetsuit, she accidentally knocked Aaron into the poo pile, as well.
Aaron felt her at his back and then shoving him over. “What the fu?” Aaron managed to get out before he landed on his back in the whale poo. All he could think was to stay buoyant, so he didn’t sink in.
"OH MY GOD," she said, but quickly pulled herself out of the water.
She was going to be in a LOT of trouble, even if it was an accident.
Shiv laughed from what he considered a safe spot in the water. "I don't suppose there are hoses or showers around here?"
Aurora was so totally OVER this whole crazy situation...but she had to be the adult in the room, so she calmly grabbed both men and hauled them up onto the lip of the tank without breaking a sweat.
"The showers are over there. I'm sorry everyone, I guess I'm so used to being around people who know how to do certain things I kinda...you know what, you're a good group of kids, so I'm just gonna change my tactics and PROPERLY teach you all the jobs myself from start to finish!" Aurora announced, earning approving chatter from the cetaceans.
Jedda took a step towards the showers, then stopped. His mouth had been open when the Lieutenant had dropped Aaron on him moments ago. He tried to ignore the tang of shit, but the smell surrounded his delicate senses and he erupted, spewing his breakfast of waffles and eggs all across the decking of the cetacean's room. "Bleeh," he heaved again. That was a taste that would not be leaving fast enough.
"I'll clean that up while you two shower. I don't suppose it'd help to tell you that I did that once myself?" Aurora shivered at the memory.
Candy pulled herself out of the pool. She crossed to a replicator and ordered up some soap and such for the men, and handed it off. "I'll go...somewhere else so you guys can clean up in peace," she said. "Don't worry, this part won't go in the newspaper!!" She was a bit dim but she wasn't mean!
“I suppose that’s something,” Aaron responded glumly. His blond hair was now a shade of grayish, fetid and smelled of something he couldn’t wash away soon enough.
Aurora grinned, impressed that the Chumwalkers were pulling together so quickly.
[They're gonna make a great team someday,] Aurora thought with a teeny bit of pride.
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