Dinner Date

Posted on Mon Feb 6th, 2017 @ 11:00pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Maica III 47 & Akira Zhuri

Mission: Refit Rondo
Location: Senior Officer's Mess

Enalia was grinning like a cat that had eaten a few canaries. She'd just approved a visit by Maica and Andy and invited them to dinner with herself and Maica III. Now she just had to get Akira to join them.

Tapping her comm badge, Enalia composed herself. "Akira Zhuri, you are formally invited to attend a dinner in the USS Hera's Senior Officer Mess at seventeen hundred hours this evening. Casual attire. Holographic versions of all foods will be made available for you. Attendance is mandatory."

Akira wasn't certain she was ready to deal with much of anything at the moment, but since the dinner was mandatory, she managed to pull herself from the diagnostics program that was running on her in the holodeck. The program was also working to rebuild essential functions that had been lost during the Katana's demise, but she was still capable of leaving and attending dinner. She didn't know much about what was and wasn't appropriate attire, so she was wearing a simple dress and leggings that had become her 'normal' attire back on the Katana, and at the appropriate time she made her way down to the Senior Mess Hall.

In the Mess Hall, Andy paced along the length of the long dining table that had been fixed up with a varied dinner. "I should go check on her," Andy insisted with a scowl, not liking all this waiting around stuff.

Maica and Maica III were occupying themselves with making faces at each other and comparing experiences. Maica was from another universe and survived long enough as an android to escape her creator, join Starfleet, and find love while getting a new body while Maica III hadn't survived being an android, was remade into a hologram, subsequently escaped, started her own information business, and was the 47th unique 'copy' of the original third rendition of Maica.

As Maica and Maica III were making faces at each other, Enalia offered Andy a glass of Findian brandy, swirling the golden liquid in her own glass as she spoke. "She'll be here soon enough. I bet she'll walk through those doors at exactly seventeen hundred."

Andy accepted the brandy with a sigh, knocking part of it back just to get that buzz that would take the edge off her nerves; the rest she would save and savor. "Meh, not like I ain't got nothing to occupy my attention here..." she muttered, watching her wife make faces are her holographic counterpart. "I would love to get a peek under your hood and play with your heuristics," she said to Maica III.

"I can send you some of my data, but without an agreement with the others, that's all. If you want a full copy, we'll likely ask for a full copy as well." Maica III replied with a wink and a nod to Andy. "We're as curious about Maica as you are about us."

Enalia chuckled softly before sipping her brandy. "Yeah, she's the forty seventh independent version of the third rendition. They keep their base code pretty secret to prevent tampering and what not. In fact, her actual core is hidden in my quarters and only ties into the ship systems enough for power and to interface with the ship wide holoemitters."

Andy nodded understandingly. "All right, now you two make out," she said to the two Maica's. Maybe it was a bit uncouth, but it was simply her way of masking her unease and nervousness.

Both of them just shrugged and grinned before going at it, locking lips and letting their hands explore each other in a decidedly PG manner.

"You're welcome," Andy said to Enalia with a gin as they watched the two Maica's kiss.

And just as Enalia had predicted, right at 1700 hours, the door swished open and there was the blue-skinned hologram Akira. She hesitated in the doorway before entering the room fully, surprised to see not only Andy but also two Maica's (why were they kissing?!).

"Hello," Akira said timidly.

Maica broke off from Maica III and walked over to Akira, pulling her into a big hug. "I'm sorry we couldn't get here earlier. We had a humanitarian aid mission to hand over to another ship and the Merlin's engines aren't the fastest."

There was a rigidity in Akira's form when Maica hugged her, a remnant of Ari's behavior that she had absorbed when she absorbed his data. "It's okay," Akira said in a subdued tone, putting her arms around Maica slowly. "Ari has missed you..." she said, holding Maica tightly.

"I've missed both of you so much. How are you handling the merger of his data with yours?" Maica asked.

Enalia headed over to the table and set her glass down at her seat while Maica III sidled up and latched onto her arm.

"It's hard to say," Akira answered with an expression of frustration. "Some things I understand better now that I have his experiences to draw upon, but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier to deal with all the things I feel."

"Well we're here for you," Andy said, moving closer to where her Maica was with Akira. "All you gotta do is ask for help," she said, something they all knew Ari had trouble doing.

"I know," Akira said with a nod.

Maica III spoke up as well. "I may be a different Maica from your mother Maica, but if you ever need anything, I'm here as well."

"I however, expect great things from you. I'll still support you in any way you need, but I'd like you to officially become the Operations Chief for the Hera, effective immediately."

"Oh... okay," Akira said hesitantly in response to Enalia's offer.

"I'm not so sure she's up for accepting any offers yet," Andy spoke up. "I ain't even had a chance to check her matrix to make sure it's stable and self-sufficient, and she's clearly having trouble coping emotionally!"

Enalia nodded understandingly. "The position is yours if and when you want it."

Akira considered Andy's objection before once again responding. "I will need some time to adjust, but I accept," she said. "I know I'm more than the function for which I was created, but I do want to make myself useful," she affirmed.

"You can always come back with us," Andy offered instead. "There's plenty of room for a good Engineer on the Merlin."

Akira looked out the great window through which she could see the stars and one of the spaceframe pylons. "I will think about it, but for now my acceptance of Captain Telvan's offer stands," she said distractedly, wandering over to the window to watch the stars.

Maica clasped her hands together over her heart. "I'm sure you'll do wonderfully no matter what you do. Just remember that we're only a call away if you need us."

"Thank you," Akira said distractedly as she stared out the window. Now that she had Ari's experiences, she had an appreciation for things she didn't have before, and this beautiful view was one of those things.